The look on Joyce's face was as priceless as Jack's had been. Tears brighten her eyes for a moment and then she blinked them back. Then she stood up and walk toward Cordelia and D.J. Holding out her hand, she said. "Welcome to the family, D.J., I'm your Grandma Joyce."
D.J. tentatively reached a hand out and touched Joyce's hand. Her hand glowed, brighter then it had when she'd healed Xander or any of the others during the virus. Alarmed, Xander grabbed her as she passed out.
"Tara, quick! Do an evaluation, make sure she's okay. Whatever she just accidentally healed in you Joyce, is bigger then anything she's ever dealt with."
"I didn't know anything was wrong with me." Joyce said, equally as alarmed, as Tara moved to get her supplies. "Aside from tension headaches, but I've had those for years."
'"I doubt they were tension headaches, Joyce." Xander said, grimly. "Tension headaches wouldn't have triggered her ability. One of my teammates gets them and it's never triggered for them. It's too late for Tara to evaluate you or a doctor to examine you. Whatever you had, D.J.'s fixed it."
"Will she be alright?" Joyce asked anxiously.
"I hope so. When we first found out about her ability, a virus was affecting most of our people. She healed five people before we realized it was taking a tole on her. She slept for nearly twenty four hours, before recovering. It's one of the reasons, our teammates and other members of our group are willing to keep information about it out of reports. The effect it has on her so drastic, testing could damage her. And you know there are people out there who just won't leave well enough alone. They'll convince themselves there's good reason to study her. That it could help others. Or some people will think they could profit from it in some way. And there's people who would fear her and thinks she's a demon, like Tara's family did. Or others that will think she's an angel or something. She's none of those things, she's a little girl, who never asked for any of it. She's been through enough in her life, she doesn't need more. Joyce, this isn't your fault, you didn't know. We don't blame you, so don't blame yourself."
"I'll try, Xander. It's hard not to. I'm the adult. I hope this doesn't set her back, it was so brave of her to reach out, given her problems."
"Courage is one thing my little girl doesn't lack." Xander said, watching Tara do her evaluation.
"She's exhausted, Xander." Tara said. "I'm not seeing any damage. But her energy levels are really low. She's going to sleep for quite awhile. How long, I don't know. Days probably."
"Then we need to have her monitored. We need to get her to the base in Colorado. Janet is familiar with her issues and has equipment she can monitor her with. I'm afraid we're going to have to cut our visit short. We'll keep you in the loop on her recovery, I promise. We've got to get back to the hotel."
He and Cordelia raced back and once there, called Jack, who was still in Colorado Springs.
"Jack, we need emergency transport. D.J. touched Joyce and accidentally healed her of something Joyce didn't she know had, something big, like cancer, maybe. D.J.'s unconscious and unresponsive."
"I'll notify the orbital station of an emergency transport. Stay where you are, they'll look for your transmitters."
Xander and Cordelia each put a hand on D.J. and waited for the tingle of the transport beam to catch them. The technician didn't stop to ask any questions, just beamed them down to the SGC infirmary.
D.J. was immediately grabbed by the medical personnel who rushed her to an exam table. Blood work was drawn and per Dr. Fraser's standing orders regarding D.J or Xander, held for her to evaluate personally. She was on the way, Jack having called her when he hung up with Xander. They began hooking her up to various machines, noting a slow heart rate and low brain activity. Janet arrived and whisked D.J. off for an EEG and MRI. In the end, all she could find was the same thing Tara had. Extremely low energy levels. She had D.J put in a private room and cots moved in for Xander and Cordelia, who weren't budging away from her. She had her fed intravenously.
"She'll recover." She told the anxious parents. "But it's going to take days. She's depleted herself of iron, B12 and other nutrients that help with energy levels. Even with medical intervention, it's going take days for her levels to rise back to normal. I'm putting it down as a sudden and overwhelming virus. It's the first time she's in the U.S. and being exposed to things she's never been exposed to before. I'm going to say, her immune system couldn't compensate. It fits the symptoms she's experiencing. Diarrhea and throwing up can rapidly deplete a body of vital nutrients. We just need to give her time and she'll come back from this."
Relieved, Xander called Joyce to let her know, the doctor's check agreed with Tara's evaluation, she'd be fine. Which relieved Joyce greatly.
Jack arranged for their car and luggage to be retrieved from Sunnydale. He, Daniel, Vala and Teal'C helped maintain a vigil and finally D.J. opened her eyes and saw her parents looking back at her. Janet kept her in the infirmary for two additional days to make sure she was back to normal before releasing her. The little family returned to Atlantis, the visit that had started out so great, had become a nightmare but in the end, thankfully, ended well.
