87
Coming downstairs very quietly later, they tiptoe into Jack's room, and climb into his bed, falling asleep quickly in each other's arms.
Jack awakens sometime during the night and realizes that Sam is gone. Glancing at the bedside clock, he sees it is 3:53. He must have dozed off again, because the next time he looks it is 4:16. Sam is still gone. He gets up to look for her and in the hall he can hear the sound of retching from the bathroom.
"Sam?" Jack calls softly through the bathroom door. "Are you okay in there?" The answer is a groan of misery. "Comin' in..." he says as he pushes open the door. She is sitting on the floor in front of the toilet, having clearly emptied her stomach's contents violently, her head leaning on an arm propped across the bowl. He crouches beside her and rubs her back. "How can I help?"
"Go 'way..." she mutters. "Y'don' need to see this. I'll be okay..."
Ignoring her rejection, he runs cool water on a washcloth and gently wipes her face. "You didn't drink that much. Headache?" he asks.
"No. Just heaves... oh!" She comes up on her knees and throws up again. He steadies her until she sinks back to the floor.
"How long have you been doing this?" Jack asks anxiously. "Should I take you to the infirmary?"
"No... must've been something I ate."
"What did you eat besides the pizza?"
"Salad. Dressing." She's leaning back against him now, exhausted. "Nobody else is sick..."
"Nobody else ate the salad," he points out. "I'll take a sample of it in and have them test it. Can you get up?"
"Hmm. I think so." But she is too unsteady so he lifts her to her feet and holds her there.
Daniel appears in the hallway, looking groggy and disheveled. "She okay?"
"Not really," Jack says, at the same time Sam says, "I'll be fine..."
"Seems to be a difference of opinion here," Daniel comments.
"Indeed," Teal'c, arriving behind him, adds.
Jack half-carries her into his bedroom and lays her down on the bed. "Go back to sleep," he suggests.
"Mm-hm."
He brings a wet cloth for her head, and an empty bucket to set beside the bed. She is already asleep. Daniel and Teal'c are hovering at the door. "Go back to bed," Jack tells them, trying not to sound worried. "She'll be better in the morning."
Daniel nods. "Call if you need us." He yawns and turns toward the living room. Teal'c heads back to the spare room. Neither seems to even notice that Sam is in Jack's bed.
Jack shuts the door and climbs into bed carefully. He moves over beside Sam and gently puts an arm around her. She turns toward his warmth in her sleep and he gathers her in gently against his side. After a while he closes his eyes and drifts to sleep himself.
88
Sam is still sleeping, curled up against him, when Jack wakes again. Sunshine is coming through his bedroom window. He can smell coffee—Daniel must be up. Cautiously, he moves away from Sam and sits up, tucking the covers in around her, and bending over to drop a kiss on her forehead. Her skin does not feel feverish as he brushes her hair away from her face. He is relieved by that, and also the fact that she was not sick again during the night.
He gets up as carefully as he can so not to disturb her, and pulls on sweat pants and a tee shirt. Hmm—he was wearing only briefs when he retrieved Sam from the bathroom last night. And she had on one of his tee shirts and a pair of panties. Wonder if Daniel and Teal'c noticed.
Well—too late to worry about that now. He glances over at Sam's sleeping form once more, and heads for the kitchen.
Daniel and Teal'c are seated at his kitchen table, each with a bowl of cereal. Jack always has extra Froot Loops, plus he keeps a large box of Cheerios on hand, since that is Teal'c's favorite. The package of donuts on the table has several missing.
"Hey, guys," Jack says, reaching for a mug and pouring himself some coffee.
"Good morning, O'Neill." Teal'c nods a greeting.
"Hi, Jack. How's Sam this morning?" Daniel asks.
"Still asleep."
"I didn't hear her up again," Daniel says.
"No. I don't think so," Jack says. "I'd've heard her." He gets a bowl and the milk from the fridge, and pours his own Froot Loops.
"Mm-hmm," Daniel agrees. He gets up and rinses his bowl and puts it and his coffee cup and utensils into Jack's dishwasher. "I have to go home and get a shower and some clean clothes. Then I'm going back to the Mountain."
Teal'c rises. "I shall accompany you, DanielJackson."
"SG1's off today," Jack points out. "You guys can just hang around if you want to. Take it easy."
"Actually, I have a translation to work on, Jack."
"And I am conducting a self-defense class for SG members this morning at ten."
"Okay. Well then, I guess I'll see you... probably tomorrow."
"I'll call later and check on Sam," Daniel says. "If you need us..."
"Yes. I'll let you know. Thanks."
Jack walks them to the front door, and waves as Daniel backs his car down the driveway.
89
Sam wanders into the kitchen half an hour after the guys have left. Jack is sitting at the table drinking more coffee and doing the crossword puzzle from the morning paper. He has been into the bedroom several times to check on her, each time seeing that she was still sound asleep. When he looks up into her face now the first thing he sees in that she looks exhausted despite the sleep.
"Hi," he says, getting up and pulling out a chair for her.
She raises her eyebrows at the gesture, but sits. "Thanks."
"How're you feeling?" He can't help the look of concern on his face as he asks the question.
"Okay," she says. "Kinda tired still. But not sick. Thanks for letting me sleep late."
"We have today off. Figured you needed the rest. Do you feel like eating anything?"
"Yes," she says, faintly surprised. "I'm actually kind of hungry."
"Well, I've got cereal or eggs. And the donuts." He sees her frown at the last suggestion. "How about scrambled eggs and toast?"
"That sounds good. Thanks."
"Coffee? I should warn you, Daniel made it."
She smiles. "Maybe I'll skip the coffee for now. Do you have tea?"
"I think so." He opens a cupboard and roots around a bit before coming up with a box of mixed herbal tea bags. She picks an orange flavored one, and he puts it in a mug of water and into the microwave. While that's heating he gets a frying pan and sets it on the stove, turning on the burner, and dropping a small pat of butter in. He takes the carton of eggs from the fridge and breaks two of them into a bowl and whips them with a fork. The microwave beeps and he gets the tea and sets it in front of her.
"Thanks." She sips the tea and watches as he adds milk to the eggs and then pours them into the pan and stirs them gently with the spatula. "Who taught you how to cook?" she asks suddenly.
"Oh, I guess I just picked it up." He pauses to drop two pieces of bread into the toaster, and then goes back to stirring the eggs. "Mostly out of necessity. Invested in a couple of cookbooks, even. Like the one you saw one up at the cabin."
The eggs and toast are on a plate in a few minutes, and he places it in front of her, with butter and jam on the side. It smells delicious.
"Oh, that's really good," she says after her first bite.
He pours himself another cup of coffee and sits down the watch her eat. He can't quite get rid of the nagging worry that he felt last night when she was so sick, but the sight of her eating with obvious appetite is encouraging.
She cleans the plate, and thanks him sincerely.
"Feeling any better now?" he asks. "You looked so tired when your first got up..."
"Better," she assures him.
But fifteen minutes later she is in the bathroom, losing her breakfast.
"Okay," he says, as she is lying exhausted on the couch when the bout is over. "I'm taking you to Janet."
"No," she protests. "Please, Jack! It's probably just a reaction to the stress of the past few days. I was running on adrenalin, because I was so tense and scared... now my body doesn't know how to get back to normal. I'm sure that's all it is. Just give it a little time." She hates how worried he is starting to look. She sits up. "See. I feel better already. Come and sit with me." He obeys after a moment, sitting down beside her and pulling her onto his lap, cradling her against his chest.
"I can't watch you being sick, Sam—whatever the reason. One more time and you're going to the infirmary."
"Okay," she agrees. "But I think I should just eat lightly for a while. I'll be okay. I didn't eat much at all while you... well, for the last few days. I never felt very hungry. My stomach was all tied in knots."
"You're not really making me feel much better about this, you know. Sounds like you weren't taking care of yourself at all. I'll get you whatever you think you can keep down. What would you like?"
"Mmm... jello?" she suggests.
"Of course," he says, rolling his eyes.
Naturally he has no jello in the house. He leaves her resting on the couch and heads for the store. On the way he dials the infirmary on his cell phone. When he gets Janet on the line he asks about foods that are easy on the stomach.
"Why?" she demands. "Are you sick?"
"No. Carter's stomach is a little off. She says it's nerves. I was wondering what I could get that she could eat."
"Let me talk to her."
Jack frowns. Shoulda known she'd want that. "I'm on my way to the store. She's not with me."
He can almost hear Janet thinking over what he has told her. He knows he's going to be in big trouble if Sam keeps being sick and he has to admit he lied. It may be even worse when Sam finds out he called Janet!
"Tell her to try well-cooked oatmeal or cream of wheat," the doctor says at last. "No milk—stay away from dairy. Plain toast or crackers. Clear soup—chicken and rice is probably the best choice. Also she needs to make sure she drinks plenty of water or clear liquids so she stays hydrated."
"Okay. What about jello?"
"Jello?" Janet gives a short laugh. "That should be okay. It's basically water and sugar."
"Thanks, doc."
"If she doesn't feel better by tomorrow bring her in here," she orders.
"Yes, ma'am." He's happy to agree to that.
At the store he buys jello, cream of wheat, saltine crackers and chicken-rice soup, grimacing at the thought of having to eat this stuff. But if it will help Sam...
And it does seem to work. The jello and cereal stay down and she insists that she's feeling better. She has cereal for lunch and nibbles on the jello throughout the day. Be evening she seems to be feeling nearly normal.
Jack decides it's safer to tell her that he called Janet, because the doc will surely say something to Sam the next time she sees her, so he rushes through a confession—"IcalledJanetandaskedherforalistofbland foods."—and then ducks and covers his head in not-so-mock terror, waiting for his punishment. Sam is laughing so hard at his antics that her mild complaint is pretty much lost in the giggles.
When Daniel calls that afternoon to check on Sam, Jack feels safe enough in telling him she is much better.
For dinner he heats up the soup and they share it, and he makes himself a couple of grilled cheese sandwiches, apologizing for eating them in front of her—but, frankly, he's starving because he hasn't eaten much today, either!
After dinner they sit on the couch with the lights turned down low and snuggle for a long time... just kissing and nuzzling and touching. Jack holds back from anything more ardent out of concern that Sam may tire more easily than usual. He is content just to have her in his arms tonight and know that she is all right. And in fact, she falls asleep by nine, with her head on his lap, and he pulls the quilt off the back of the couch to cover her, and then turns on the tv with the volume very low and watches a hockey game until after eleven.
When the game is over he carries her to bed—she is out cold and never stirs, even when he removes her jeans, leaving her in her shirt and underwear to sleep. He undresses himself and gets into the bed, wrapping his arms around her and falling asleep as soon as he closes his eyes.
89
It is 4:26 a.m. when Sam bolts out of bed and runs for the bathroom; Jack is just two steps behind her, and he kneels with her, holding her as she is wretchedly sick once again. It almost makes him weep to feel the convulsions her body suffers as it rids itself of her stomach's contents. By the time the heaving stops, she is limp from the effort. When she tries to stand, she passes out in his arms.
Frantically, he dials Janet's cell phone number. The doctor answers on the second ring, with the sure instincts born of responding to hundreds of emergencies—instantly alert and clear-headed. Five minutes later, with Sam wrapped in a blanket beside him, Jack is on the way to the Mountain.
Sam is still out when Jack carries her off the elevator into the infirmary. Janet is already there, and directs him to a bed where he puts her down carefully, then orders him out of the room in no uncertain terms and shuts the door behind him. Jack paces the corridor for a while, and then ends up sitting on the floor with his back against the wall and his eyes glued to Sam's door, watching it open and close several times as Janet and various members of the medical staff come and go.
89
He is still in the same place two hours later when Janet comes out and beckons him inside. He scrambles to his feet, nearly falling on his face as his numb left leg refuses to cooperate. He braces himself on the wall.
"Take it easy, Colonel," Janet tells him. "She's fine. We don't need you to break any bones."
"She's okay?" he manages, gritting his teeth to keep from groaning as the nerves in his leg scream back to life.
"Yes." Her voice carries certainty, although there is a concerned expression on her face. "Take your time."
An eternal ninety seconds later, when he can finally hobble across the hall into Sam's room, he finds her reclining against the raised head of her bed. When he enters, she lifts her eyes to his, and the look on her face stops him in his tracks.