Work Text:
THICKER THAN BLOOD
Doctor Jennifer Keller took a deep breath, absorbing the familiar and comforting scents of the infirmary. She may have only been on Atlantis for a few months, but she already considered the infirmary as hers and after the most recent illness and amnesia that had affected everyone except Teyla and Ronon, she was more than happy to have her infirmary—and herself—back to normal.
Well, almost normal. Amidst the hustle and bustle of life returning to usual, there was only one anomaly. Jennifer sighed, this time not finding the slightly astringent odor as comforting. Nodding and smiling at various staff members, she made her way to the last treatment bay. The curtains were drawn protectively around the corner alcove, keeping it well separated from the rest of the infirmary and any of the curious who might wander by. Jennifer ran a tight ship and was determined to protect her patient’s privacy and now that Katie Brown, their only other patient had been released, it would be easier to lockdown access to the one remaining patient.
Slipping through the break in the curtains, Jennifer asked, “How is she?”
Marie Cho, her head nurse, looked up abruptly from her place at her patient’s bedside, her features relaxing when she saw the doctor. Jennifer had no doubt that Marie would protect and care for her patient as zealously as a lioness tending her cub. “The same,” Marie answered, handing her the clipboard with all the latest vitals and other lab work.
Taking the clipboard, Jennifer quickly scanned for anything out of the ordinary, and as had been the case for the last three days, found nothing. Jennifer looked critically at her last patient. Colonel Samantha Carter lay unresponsive in the bed; she looked merely as if she were sleeping, her eyes closed, her expression peaceful, her respirations slow and regular. Her hair lay in a braid that curled over her shoulder, no doubt styled by Marie; dressed in a light blue hospital gown, her arms were carefully supported on pillows, the crisp white sheet and blanket tucked around her. If it weren’t for the cords, tubes and wires running from under her gown and the bed covers, all attached to various monitors and intravenous bags, one really could think she was just sleeping.
But Jennifer knew otherwise. Samantha Carter was in a coma and even with all the advanced technology to which she had access, she couldn’t figure out why. The Colonel should have woken up by now, or died. Katie Brown, who had been by far the sickest of the infected to survive, had recovered completely; as had John Sheppard, who as best she could tell, had been infected at the same time as the colonel. The secret to her delayed recovery was proving as much a mystery as the initial disease.
“What are your orders, Doctor?”
Jennifer didn’t like feeling helpless, but that’s exactly how she felt as she looked at her patient. Everyone else infected with the Kirsan fever had recovered once they’d been exposed to the aromatic fumes from the sap of the enchuri plant. Samantha Carter had not only been exposed that one time, but had also been administered a tea made from the sap, all with no real effect. Oh, she wasn’t acutely ill anymore, her blood samples were all coming back negative, but she hadn’t woken up.
“No changes, Marie,” she finally said. Even if they hadn’t been able to cure her yet, Jennifer was confident their new commander was getting the best supportive care available in two universes. Handing the clipboard back to Marie, Jennifer added, “I’ve sent for all of Colonel Carter’s medical records from the SGC, maybe there will be something in there to explain why she hasn’t responded to the enchuri.”
“When—” Whatever Marie had been going to say was interrupted by the sound of a loud and angry voice from beyond their curtained alcove.
“I don’t give a rat’s ass who your Doctor Keller is or what she’s ordered. I want to see Colonel Carter and I want to see her now!”
“General, sir, no one’s trying to keep—”
That was Sheppard’s voice, but Jennifer had heard enough, who did this person think he was, barging into her infirmary and making demands? Slipping through the gap in the curtains, she quickly closed it and found herself nose to nose with a silver-haired stranger. Her first impression was that the man was very angry and her second was that he’d be incredibly handsome if he was smiling instead of glaring at her.
“Who the hell are you?” the stranger snapped.
Sheppard elbowed his way through the small crowd of military and medical personnel that had gathered and much to her relief, took a position at her side. “Ah, General…this is Doctor Jennifer Keller. And Doctor Keller, this is General Jack O’Neill, head of Home World Security.”
“What can I do for you, General?” Jennifer’s voice wavered slightly, but she held her ground. She hadn’t missed the slight emphasis Sheppard put on the man‘s title and position, but no matter who he was, this was still her infirmary and Samantha Carter was her patient.
“I’ve brought you these.” O’Neill held out his hand and Lorne stepped forward quickly, handing him a silver attaché case. “This contains Colonel Carter’s detailed medical history and files.” Jennifer reached for the case, but he stopped short of handing it to her and growled, “For your eyes only, Doctor. Is that clear?”
“Yes, sir,” she found herself mumbling like some first year medical student called out by her attending staff during rounds. Clutching the attaché to her chest, Jennifer looked at General O’Neill with greater interest. Beyond the scowl on his face and gruff exterior she sensed something more. “You could have sent this by courier.”
“No, I couldn’t.” O‘Neill‘s reply was soft, without any of the earlier bravado and Jennifer caught a glimpse of his heart in his dark eyes when he asked, “May I see her, Doctor?”
“Of course,” she said immediately. “Colonel?” Jennifer looked at Sheppard, hoping he would correctly interpret her look, which thankfully he did.
“All right, everyone,” Sheppard said briskly. “Nothing more to see here.” He made shooing motions with his hands and the group slowly started to disperse. “Lorne?” The major stopped. “You stay here, wait for the general.”
“Sheppard, I expect a full briefing later today,” O’Neill growled. “You’re not off the hook just because the IOA sent me instead of Woolsey.”
“Yes, sir.” Sheppard actually saluted, which told Jennifer how much he respected, or feared, O’Neill.
“This way, sir,” Jennifer said. Marie pulled back the curtain and the two women stood aside as he slowly walked to the bed.
He didn’t say anything, merely stood at the side of the bed looking at the still woman. His gaze left her for a moment and moved briefly over the monitors, Jennifer didn’t know if the numbers and tracings would mean anything to him and he didn’t ask. He reached out almost cautiously and gently brushed at her bangs, his fingers lingering in light caress across her cheek.
“Is she in pain?”
“No,” Jennifer answered quickly, surprised at his question. She set the attaché down and walked to his side. “At least I don’t think so. Her vital signs don’t indicate that she’s in pain.”
“Is she in a coma?” He glanced at her then, the look of pain on his face catching her off guard. Samantha Carter was more to this man than just a valued officer or even friend.
“Yes and no.” A look of irritation flashed across his face and Jennifer hurried to explain. “Her EEG shows a brain wave pattern that’s closer to sleep than to a person who’s in a coma. We don’t know why, but for some reason she hasn’t responded to the cure for the Kirsan fever. Everyone else infected that was exposed to the enchuri plant has recovered. Even personnel infected longer have recovered.”
“Except Sam.”
Jennifer sighed. “Except Colonel Carter. It just doesn’t make any sense.”
O’Neill glanced towards the attaché. “Don’t you have work to do?”
Feeling like that first year medical student again, Jennifer snatched up the attaché and started backing away. “Marie will be here if you need anything.” She was going to add more, but O’Neill had already turned his back on her, pulling the nearby chair to the side of the bed and sitting down.
“I’ll call if I need anything, Doctor,” he said, effectively dismissing her.
Anything else she might have said about his curt dismissal faded when he took Colonel Carter’s limp hand in both of his and started talking softly. “Hey, Sam, you didn’t have to go and get sick just to get me to come to Atlantis to see you. I would have—”
Not wanting to intrude anymore, Jennifer quickly backed out, pulling the curtain closed. Marie and Lorne both waited nearby. “Give them some time alone, Marie. I suspect his visit is going to do more for our patient than any of our treatments.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jennifer took her place at the large table in the briefing room, setting her armful of folders down on the table. She chafed at the interruption in her study of Colonel Carter’s medical files, but her attendance at the briefing hadn’t been optional, so she’d brought the files in hopes of discreetly continuing her review of the colonel’s medical history, counting on McKay’s propensity for dominating any and all conversations to cover her actions.
Zelenka sat to her right, his pad open in front of him and muttering occasionally in Czech; McKay sat next to Zelenka, equally engrossed in his pad. Teyla sat on her left, radiating a calm that Jennifer envied, while Ronon, who sat next to Teyla, reminded Jennifer of a large cat readying to attack. Opening the top file, Jennifer resumed reading. She had decided to work backwards through the years, hoping that something in the colonel’s immediate past medical history would shed some light on her current situation. She looked up briefly when Lorne entered and took his customary seat at the far end of the table and closest to the door. She glanced quickly around the table; it seemed everyone was present except for Colonel Sheppard and their visiting general.
Jennifer looked back down at the folder and tried to focus on the neatly written notes of chief medical officer of the SGC from nearly a decade ago, the ink only faded slightly from the intervening years, but her attention kept drifting to General O’Neill. The man’s name came up on a regular basis in Colonel Carter’s medical file; Jennifer knew special ops teams developed a close bond but the bond between the members of Carter’s former team, and especially General O’Neill, seemed exceptionally close. Which really shouldn’t have surprised her, given his actions since his arrival on Atlantis.
She’d kept a discreet eye on him, and her patient. O’Neill had spent the entire morning at Colonel Carter’s bedside, barely eating any of the lunch that Marie had ordered from the kitchen for him, only leaving her side an hour ago. In fact, he’d been gone from the infirmary for only about ten minutes when the message was delivered calling for the briefing. A briefing that seemed a waste of time, her time specifically; Jennifer wondered irritably what he hoped to discover that they hadn’t already been reported ad nauseam to the IOA.
The door to the inner office suddenly swung open and Sheppard entered the room, followed by O’Neill. The General sat at the head at of the table, in spite of the fatigue that was heavy on his face, he looked confident and totally in control. She took it as a good sign when despite the grim look on O’Neill’s face, Sheppard lounged casually in the chair immediately to O’Neill’s right. Even though she was still anxious to keep reading, Jennifer waited patiently for the briefing to begin.
O’Neill’s eyes moved around the table and Jennifer tried not to squirm when it seemed his gaze rested longer on her and the pile of folders in front of her; but then they moved on and he finally spoke. “The IOA has a requested a full investigation of the recent events and certain…irregularities in the report.”
A swell of indignation rose in her with his words, considering the circumstances, she felt they had done everything they could. And by the various outraged comments, mostly from McKay, and other grumblings around the table, her colleagues shared her sentiment. She opened her mouth to add her comments as well when O’Neill held up his hand. “Quiet!”
Jennifer was impressed when it merely took a look from O’Neill to stop McKay mid-word and when he had the attention of everyone around the table again, O’Neill continued. “Everyone will have their chance to explain—to me—what happened. And may I remind you that I am probably the only person in either the Pegasus Galaxy or the Milky Way who will buy the whole ‘alien virus’ defense.” Jennifer ducked her head to hide her smile at the general’s last comment, apparently he did have a sense of humor after all.
“Now,” O’Neill continued, glancing down at a piece of paper in front of him. “Let’s start with you, Doctor McKay.”
Jennifer smiled again at the suddenly panicked look on Rodney’s face, but then he pulled himself together and started talking. “Yes, well, it all started when I went to see Katie…Doctor Brown, that is, in the greenhouse. She had this new plant she wanted to show me….”
Quickly tuning McKay out, she’d heard it all before anyway, Jennifer quietly opened one of the two remaining files on Samantha Carter. Keeping one ear open for any unexpected comments from Rodney, Jennifer started reading and was soon immersed in the details of a story almost too horrific to believe. It was a miracle that Colonel Carter had survived and god knows what kind of long term effects she could have developed. “Why wasn’t I told this?” she murmured.
“Doctor?”
It was O’Neill and he didn’t sound too happy with her interruption. She was none too happy herself and ignoring the curious glance from the others around the table, she looked straight at him and asked, “Why wasn’t I told that Samantha Carter had been blended with a goa’uld?”
The room went suddenly still and Jennifer could sense the avid interest in everyone around the table. Okay, maybe she shouldn’t have announced it to everyone, but dammit, the more she knew about her patient’s past medical history, the greater her chances of helping her. The General’s expression didn’t change, but Jennifer sensed a wary—and weary—curiosity when he commented, “It wasn’t a Goa’uld, it was a Tok’ra.”
“Goa’uld, Tok’ra, it doesn’t matter. She was possessed by a symbiote and dammit, I should have known about it!”
“What difference does it make?” Ronon rumbled.
“Maybe everything! Her whole physiology has been changed. Good god, not to mention everything else that has happened to her.” Jennifer stood up and hastily grabbed all the folders, not caring that she was about to break protocol by walking out on a meeting with the general. “I’ve got to get down to the infirmary.”
“Doctor,” Sheppard called to her. “We’re not finished!”
“It’s okay,” she heard O’Neill say as she hurried out of the room. “Let her go.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jennifer stifled a yawn; pushing back her chair, she stretched and then picked up her coffee mug. Taking a sip, she wrinkled her nose at the tepid liquid, time to make a trek to the break room and get a refill. The infirmary was on night time mode; with only one patient, staffing was minimal on the overnight shift, one nurse, two orderlies and the lone marine Sheppard had insisted remain posted to the infirmary as long as Colonel Carter was still a patient. And of course, their guest.
It was well after midnight, she’d been working on the enigma that was Samantha Carter ever since she’d left the briefing with her new found discovery. Armed with the additional knowledge, she’d discovered why her patient wasn’t getting any better, for all the good that it was going to do her—or Colonel Carter. She was a damn good at immunology but Jennifer was afraid what was going on in Colonel Carter was beyond her abilities and unless she came up with something very soon, she was very much afraid they were going to have to risk transporting the critically ill woman back to Earth
Sergeant Curtis nodded at her when she passed him on her short trek to get coffee, the pot was full, no doubt courtesy of Nokawski and there was even a plate of chocolate chip cookies. Munching on a cookie, Jennifer slowly headed back to her work station, making a short detour to check on her patient. Natalie, the night shift nurse, was smoothing out and tucking in her patient’s sheets, obviously having just finished positioning Colonel Carter on her side, carefully supporting her with pillows and blankets. As always, the monitors indicated nothing out of the ordinary, though Jennifer noted her heart rate was slightly faster.
“How is she?” Jennifer asked, forcing herself to remain calm as she abandoned her coffee and picked up the clipboard, scanning the most recent notations.
“Her heart rate is up and she’s got a slight fever,” Natalie said.
Jennifer felt the familiar frustration well up inside her as she put down the clipboard and carefully pressed the back of her hand to the comatose woman’s forehead. Her skin felt dry—and warm—and while she couldn’t be sure in the subdued lighting, she thought her cheeks were slightly flushed. The elevated heart rate and fever seemed to mock her, and at the same time confirm her suspicions—and conclusions—after the hours she’d spent reanalyzing and studying Samantha’s blood. “I want her on hourly vitals and if her temperature goes above one hundred and one, call me.”
“Yes, Doctor,” Natalie replied.
Jennifer wrote a brief progress note and after handing the chart back to Natalie she looked around curiously and asked, “Where’s our guest?”
Natalie smiled briefly. “The General went out to get some fresh air; said he wouldn’t be gone long.”
There was only one place on the infirmary level where one could get any ‘fresh air’. “Thanks, Natalie,” Jennifer told the nurse and decided to go in search of the General.
Retracing her steps, Jennifer slipped out into the main hallway; her footsteps sounded loud in the quiet corridor, there was no hiding her approach as she turned down the short hallway that led to a quiet balcony overlooking the sea. She found him leaning against the railing, staring out at the quiet night, the five moons bright slivers of varying size in the dark sky. Jennifer joined him at the rail, the breeze off the water was cool, a welcome change from her hours spent cooped up in her office.
“Beautiful night, isn’t it?” O’Neill didn’t say anything and she gave him a sideways look; he looked exhausted and her heart went out to him. “You should get some rest. I’ll have Curtis escort you to the guest quarters—”
“She’s getting worse, isn’t she, Doc?”
He kept staring out at the ocean and Jennifer wondered how he knew, and at the connection between him and Samantha Carter. Ignoring his question, she asked one of her own. “You and Colonel Carter have been together a long time, haven’t you?”
O’Neill finally looked at her, raising an eyebrow when he replied, “Been together?”
Momentarily flustered, Jennifer stammered, “Worked together…served together, you know what I mean.”
He actually smiled, though it was fleeting. “Yeah, I know what you mean. And yes, we have been together a long time.” He looked back out at the ocean again and his voice was so low when he continued, she had to strain to hear him. “And I can’t imagine life without her.” The pain and longing in his voice was poignant and while she hadn’t thought it was possible, Jennifer felt even worse about her failure in curing the Colonel.
“But,” he added, glancing at her. “You’ve haven’t answered my question. Is she getting worse?”
“No…I mean, maybe,” Jennifer hedged, in what was probably a vain hope that she was wrong. “She’s starting to show some signs of what might be a recurrent infection, but don’t worry,” she hurried to reassure him, “she’s getting the best care available anywhere.”
“I know, Doc. I’m not worried about her care.” He pinned her with a steady look. “I’m worried about whether you can find a cure. You said something earlier about it being important that you knew about her past blending with a goa’uld. Was it? Important, I mean?”
She hadn’t wanted to say anything until she was sure, but when she looked into his eyes, she found she didn’t want to lie to him. “It’s my fault,” she said. “I was so focused on her blood counts that I completely ignored the anomalies in her plasma.”
“What anomalies?”
“The protein marker left in her system from the death of the symbiote.” Jennifer shook her head, still mad at herself for missing something that should have been so obvious. “The bacteria that causes Kirsan fever is a clever little bugger. When I went back and reanalyzed Colonel Carter’s blood, focusing specifically on her plasma, I found the protein marker—and I found the bacteria. It’s attached itself to the protein marker, protecting itself from the toxic effect of the enchuri plant.”
“That’s good news, isn’t it? I mean, if you’ve found the bacteria, you can kill it, right?”
“If the enchuri was going to kill it, it would have already. Somehow the protein marker is protecting the bacteria.” She sighed and looked back out at the ocean, the waves glistened darkly in the moonlight, the normally soothing sound of the waves against the city doing little to help her mood. “If I only had a sample of the protein marker before she was infected with the virus,” she murmured.
She’d made the comment mostly to herself so she was surprised when O’Neill suddenly turned to her and gave her a wry grin. “You do, Doc. In me.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“This is insane,” Rodney McKay said, never looking up from his computer screen.
“I know it seems crazy, Rodney,” Jennifer said irritably. “But it’s our best shot at curing Colonel Carter.”
“Maybe we should take the risk and transport her to Earth,” Sheppard added. He didn’t sound as skeptical as McKay, but it was clear he thought she was insane too.
“Don’t listen to them, Doc,” O’Neill called over the quiet hum of the plasmapheresis machine. He lay on a nearby gurney, the large intravenous lines connecting him to the machine that was removing plasma components from his blood and returning the rest to his body.
“How will this help Colonel Carter?” Teyla asked, her voice grave and full of concern.
Jennifer wasn’t surprised that Sheppard, Teyla and Ronon and shown up once word had leaked out that they were working on a cure for Colonel Carter. She supposed she would be more surprised if they hadn’t, that and the fact that she’d had to send Ronon and Sheppard out for more enchuri root.
“If I can isolate the specific protein marker from General O’Neill’s blood that matches the protein marker in Colonel Carter’s, and if Rodney can reprogram the Ancient equipment that allowed them to bind the nanites to human cells at the molecular level, then we should be able to bind the enchuri root to the protein marker. I can then inject it into Colonel Carter and it should act as an antibody, attacking and killing the Kirsan fever bacteria.” Jennifer bristled slightly at the doubtful looks from Sheppard, Ronon and Teyla. “Theoretically, of course.”
“Ah, of course,” Sheppard drawled. “Theoretically.”
“And if McKay can do…that thing,” Ronon rumbled.
“Right, if McKay can work a miracle,” Rodney muttered;
Teyla frowned and asked, “How is it that General O’Neill possesses this protein marker from Colonel Carter’s plasma?”
Jennifer looked over at O’Neill and waited to see if he’d answer, which he did. “Myself, Carter and the Chief Medical Officer at the SGC were accidently exposed to a…parasite, I guess you’d call it, that was engineered to kill goa’uld symbiotes.”
“Sounds like a good thing,” Ronon commented.
“It is if you’re possessed by a goa’uld symbiote. If you don’t have one, then it just makes you crazy. Real crazy. Only thing was, Carter didn’t go crazy. Carter figured out it was because of the protein marker left in her blood stream when Jolinar died, the parasite didn’t affect her because it thought she’d already been ‘cured’.” O’Neill smiled slightly. “Before Doc Fraiser went totally bonkers, she managed to come up with a way that Sam could separate her plasma from her red blood cells—without all the fancy machinery Keller’s using—and then she injected me and the Doc with her plasma.”
Jennifer didn’t take offense at his slight dig at her ‘fancy machinery’ and by the look on everyone else’s faces, they seemed more disturbed by the image of someone drawing their own blood and then injecting it into someone else.
“So I take it the cure worked?” Sheppard asked, with a sly grin. “Because you know, sometimes it’s been a little hard to tell….”
“Funny, Sheppard,” O’Neill drawled. “Just remember I haven’t filed my report with the IOA yet.”
“Yes, sir,” Sheppard snapped off smartly. “I won’t forget, sir.”
“There isn’t any danger in messing with that nanite stuff?” Ronon then asked.
“My first question, too,” O’Neill offered from his bed.
“I’m not working with actual nanites,” McKay explained. He looked up and added in an exasperated voice, “You don’t really think I’d be that careless?”
“No, no, of course not, Rodney,” Sheppard said, turning his back on the scientist before he rolled his eyes. “Just checking.”
The plasmapheresis machine beeped and Jennifer went over to help the technician disconnect O’Neill, Sheppard trailing along behind her. Jamison had just removed the needles from O’Neill’s arm when Sheppard leaned down and murmured to O’Neill, “Do you really think this is going to work?”
From the other side of the gurney, Jennifer waited anxiously for his reply. O’Neill glanced at her and when he looked away she followed his gaze towards the corner alcove where the drawn curtains protected Samantha Carter from the curious. “It has to,” was all he said.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It took a nerve-wracking forty-eight hours to isolate the protein markers from O’Neill’s blood and persuade the enchuri molecules to bind with them; an improbable task made possible only because of the Ancient replicator technology. Jennifer shuddered a little every time she thought about their previous disaster with nanite technology, but if any good could come from their experiences with the replicators, then she prayed this was the payback. If it wasn’t, then she was very much afraid Samantha Carter would die.
And if her patient didn’t die before she could administer the cure.
In the forty-eight hours it had taken to manufacture their cure and prepare it for intravenous injection, Samantha Carter’s condition had deteriorated. Her fear that the infection was reasserting itself had proven true, Carter was in the throes of a full-blown relapse of Kirsan Fever, or at least as close to a full relapse as anyone could predict. And in spite of all their advanced technology, supportive care was all they could offer. The massive infection had started to send her organ systems into failure, slowly at first but it was only a matter of days…or hours until her condition spiraled out of control and it would be too late.
In a matter of little less than twelve hours she had required help to breathe; the ventilator cycled quietly, sending the life-giving oxygen into her lungs through a breathing tube; her blood pressure was barely maintained by the potent medications administered intravenously and her fever raged, the aspirin and acetaminophen administered to her almost useless.
It was a subdued group that gathered around Carter’s hospital bed; Samantha Carter may have only been on Atlantis a few short months, but it was obvious deep bonds had already been formed. Sheppard, Ronon and Teyla waited a respectful distance away, their somber expressions silently communicating their concern. Even McKay was subdued, of course, McKay had known her before her arrival on Atlantis and O’Neill…well, he had the deepest bond of all. And, Jennifer suspected, the most to lose if she died.
“Doctor, the saline is ready.” Marie deftly connected the saline bag to one of Carter’s peripheral intravenous lines, and clamping off the primary tubing, she prepared the line by flushing it with saline.
“Thanks, Marie,” Jennifer said, infusing her voice with a confidence she didn’t quite feel. Crossing over to Colonel Carter’s bedside with the large syringe full of the enchuri bonded plasma, Jennifer flashed back to medical school and the first time she had to suture up a patient’s wound. It felt a lot like now, everyone watching her and waiting to see how well she’d perform, only this time the stakes were a lot higher than whether her patient went home with a nice looking scar.
“Well, here we go,” she said brightly, screwing the syringe onto the port closest to Carter. “You can clamp the saline now, Marie.” Once the tubing was clamped, Jennifer slowly started injecting the plasma.
“How long before we know whether it’s working?”
Jennifer looked at O’Neill. “We’re not sure,” she admitted. “We only had limited time to run in vitro tests and what happens in a test tube isn’t necessarily the same as what will happen in a live subject. It all depends on how long it takes the bonded enchuri to identify and then kill the Kirsan bacteria.” Jennifer injected the last bit of the plasma and disconnected the syringe, nodding at Marie to flush it through with more saline. “All we can do now is wait.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Slipping through an opening in the curtains surrounding the corner alcove Jennifer asked, “How are you—”
“Shhh!” Colonel Carter whispered, holding a finger to her lips. “He just fell asleep.”
Jennifer forced herself to frown at the sight in front of her because it was the only way she could keep herself from grinning. General Jack O’Neill lay sprawled on his back across Carter’s hospital bed, his eyes closed, mouth open and snuffling softly as he slept. Samantha Carter sat on the side of the bed, an indulgent smile on her face.
“You know,” Jennifer said softly. “We can have a cot brought in here.”
“We wouldn’t have to do that at all if you would discharge me,” Sam commented.
Jennifer smiled. Only five days ago she had been afraid that Samantha Carter was going to die and now, she was complaining about being a patient. The enchuri-protein marker plasma infusion had been almost miraculous. Oh, there had still been a few very tense hours when her vital signs had continued to weaken, but about nine hours after the infusion, her fever had broken. It had taken her thirty-six hours longer to regain consciousness and the General hadn’t left her side during the entire time. Samantha Carter was still pale and weak, but Jennifer wasn’t worried, that would quickly resolve with time and rest.
“He never left your side, you know.”
Samantha’s eyes darkened and she reached over to O’Neill and smoothed her hand lightly through his hair. “I know,” she answered simply. The caress and moment were so intimate that Jennifer felt like she was intruding, but then the other woman smiled at her and slowly got off the bed and sat down in the chair where the General had spent hours watching her. “I know I was in a coma, but I also knew he was here, if that makes any sense.” She shrugged slightly, gently holding O’Neill’s hand as he lay sleeping. “He gave me the strength to hang on.”
Jennifer knew better than to question her patient’s feelings; how the brain of coma patients worked was still a mystery and she wouldn’t be at all surprised if on some level the Colonel had known that O’Neill was at her bedside. She didn’t want to pry, but her curiosity got the better of her and she casually asked, “You two have a very deep bond, don’t you?”
The Colonel gave her a look very reminiscent of the look O’Neill had given her when she’d asked a similar question and for a moment Jennifer thought she’d gone too far, but then
Sam smiled. “We’ve been together a long time.” The other woman’s gaze drifted back over to the sleeping man. “I can’t imagine my life without him,” she murmured softly.
“He said the same thing.”
Carter glanced at her briefly and Jennifer swore she saw tears in the woman’s eyes, but then she looked away. Quickly deciding she’d pried enough into her commanding officer’s private life, Jennifer picked up the ever-present clipboard and studied the numbers, pleased with what she saw.
“Well, Doctor?” Carter asked, sounding once more like the leader of Atlantis and not her patient.
“If your temperature remains normal for a full twenty-four hours—Ahh!” Jennifer said, holding up a finger when it looked like the other woman was going to interrupt. “Which will be at six o’clock this evening, then yes, I will consider discharging you to your quarters. But only if you agree to have someone available to look after you.”
Much to Jennifer’s surprise, the reply came from the supposedly sleeping man on the bed. “Not a problem, Doc,” O’Neill rumbled, not even opening his eyes. “I plan on looking after her for a long, long time.”
THE END