Carter had barely made it off the stone steps in front of the Gate when she coughed again. Three, four times, then a sip of water, then two more. "You sure you're good?" Jack asked.

"Yeah." She gave him a nod as she packed her canteen away again. "The air's just different. It's dry, I think."

If it was, he couldn't tell. "But you're good."

"Yes, sir."

~/~

She wasn't good. At least, not by Jack's definition. Each coughing spell seemed just a bit longer than the last, but she was keeping pace, not struggling for breath. A few fits never killed anyone, he supposed, and he'd had more than his fair share of lingering coughs weeks after every other symptom had vanished. "Can I have a second?" she asked after a sip of water.

"Hold up," he ordered, and Daniel and Teal'c stopped on the path ahead of them, looked back briefly for the reason, then continued their conversation as Carter dug an aluminum pouch out of her pack and moved it to a more accessible pocket.

"Okay," she said, slinging her pack back across her shoulders and starting down the path again. She pulled a cough drop from the pouch, unwrapped it, and popped it in her mouth.

"Do those actually help?" Jack asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, they do. It's something about the menthol. It really does work; don't ask me why."

"You mean you haven't researched it nine ways to Sunday? Carter," he drawled in disbelief.

"Considering I gave myself whiplash from coughing so hard, sir, I didn't exactly have time to look it up," she defended. "All I know is it makes my lungs stop spasming." But she coughed again. "Mostly."

"Maybe because the cough drops they make these days are more candy than anything else."

"Oh, not these, sir," she pressed. "I got the super-mentholated kind. The 'two steps from licking VapoRub' kind. The kind that makes children cry and beg their mothers for mercy."

Jack snorted, then chuckled. "I don't even know where to find those anymore."

"Ask Daniel. I know he went to a few places, though."

But whatever the archaeologist was chattering to Teal'c about so animatedly was something Jack was almost definitely not interested in, and he had no desire to risk getting himself involved. "Nah. I'll just guilt trip him to buy me some next time I'm sick."

She laughed. Then coughed. "That works, too."