The Arrow of Eros

Dr. Janet Fraiser looked up as General Hammond entered the infirmary, frowning briefly at her two still unconscious patients.  Janet winced as she considered what the man must have been thinking.  She still had a hard time believing the story that had accompanied the two officers now occupying beds in her infirmary.  If it weren’t for the fact that the General himself had told her what happened, and that she’d seen so many strange things in her time at the SGC, she’d never have believed it.

“Sir,” Janet addressed the General before he could even speak, knowing exactly what he wanted to know.  Perhaps even what he wanted to hear.  Unfortunately, modern medical science wasn’t cooperating yet.  “The first scans and preliminary blood work don’t show anything out of the ordinary in either of them, but we’re still waiting for more tests to come back.  They haven’t woken up yet.”

General Hammond frowned again, his forehead wrinkling.  Janet knew the General was aware that these things took time, especially when dealing with anything alien, but he was no doubt impatient to find an explanation for why one of his best officers went on what was essentially a kissing spree for no reason.  Hammond had shared his suspicions about the alien artifact being the cause, but he would need more than suspicions to convince the brass not to file a charge of fraternization, among other things.  Janet knew it was up to her to find something to help keep her friends out of trouble.  Unfortunately, she didn’t have any leads yet.

Hammond had just opened his mouth to voice another question, but before he could, the Colonel groaned and stirred.  Janet and Hammond turned toward his bed, everything else forgotten for the moment.  O’Neill was just rolling over and brought his hands up to cover his head as if the lights bothered him or he had a headache.  “Ahhgghh.  Why do I feel like I just got zatted?” he mumbled from behind his hands.

“That’s because you were, Colonel,” Hammond told him in a stern tone.  Janet had to smother a smile and remind herself that the situation was quite serious, even if the unfortunate Colonel didn’t realize it yet.

“Aw crap,” Jack spread his fingers, peering up at the General glaring down at him as if to verify he was really standing there.  “Sir,” he added belatedly.  This time Janet did smile, but managed to hide it as she busied herself with vitals.

Hammond either failed to see the humor in the situation, or he was more successful at disguising it.  “Colonel O’Neill, I hope for all our sakes that you have a good explanation for what you did,” Hammond demanded with a frown of displeasure.  He looked like he was beginning to develop a headache.

“Ah.  No.” Jack said, obviously before he thought better of it.  Hammond’s face darkened, and Jack winced as if realizing for the first time since awakening that he was treading on thin ice.  “Sorry sir.  I really don’t know what happened.  There was just this buzzing… thing,” he trailed off lamely as he tried to explain.  He winced again, hiding his face behind his hands once more with a groan.  Janet knew he hated getting zatted.  Somehow though, she doubted he’d get much sympathy this time.  But when did he ever?

Over his head, the doctor exchanged a glance with General Hammond.  She knew from his look that they’d both been hoping the Colonel could provide them with something a bit more tangible than “I don’t know,” and “buzzing thing.”  It didn’t help that Colonel O’Neill was infamous for vague descriptions and coming up with unique terminology for things he let other people worry more about.

“So you don’t recollect any of the, uh,” the General cleared his throat, “Incidents?”  Hammond tried another tact, and Janet saw right away where he was headed.  Perhaps the Colonel wasn’t being vague after all.  Impaired memory would certainly help the man’s case, a temporary lapse of awareness that would allow them to not hold the man responsible for his own actions.  Maybe even hallucinations or alien influence.  They certainly fell on that one often enough around here.  Perhaps she could find something to support it, and mentally filed the information away, already considering further tests to prove or disprove the theory.

Unfortunately, it was not to be.  Hammond’s fragile hopes were dashed as soon as Jack opened his mouth again.  “Oh, I remember all right,” Jack answered ruefully, oblivious to the returning frown on the General’s face and Janet’s quickly buried disappointment.  “I just don’t know why I did what I did.”

Well that complicated matters. 

The doctor thought furiously, trying to come up with some other tangent to explain away the current problem and could see the General was also thinking hard.  They were both interrupted by a soft moan from the next bed.  O’Neill levered himself up instantly, his own discomforts forgotten.  “Carter?”

“Here, sir,” came the muffled reply.  She had one arm across her face and looked like she might be happier pulling the covers over her head and disappearing.  Janet had already hurried over to her side, fussing with the monitors.

“Don’t tell me you zatted Carter too?” Jack said, exasperation evident in his tone.  Anyone could do anything to him, and it would slide off that thick hide of his.  But do something to one of his team and it got under his skin quicker than one of the needles he always griped about.

“It was the only way to get the two of you apart, Colonel.”  Hammond’s face had returned to a look of extreme displeasure.  Either that, or he was developing a case of serious indigestion.  The Colonel squirmed under his stern gaze.

Sam moaned and stirred again, stretching slightly as she sat up with Janet’s assistance.  “Ooohh.  And I thought it was just a dream,” she said airily, startling Janet.  Sam seemed unaware that her statement had brought the attention of everyone else down upon her.  The silence stretched and she blinked if realizing what she had just said and turned a brilliant shade of red.  Apparently, not all of her numerous neurons were firing correctly yet, at least not the ones responsible for discretion and better sense. 

“Uh, I mean I thought I imagined it,” she tried again, and flinched as she realized that wasn’t really any better.  It was all Janet could do not to mirror the expression, very aware her friend was merely digging herself a larger hole.  “Um, never mind.”  She stared down at the bed, refusing to meet anyone’s eye.  Janet patted her arm sympathetically, and then picked up her chart to make some notations.

General Hammond coughed, shifting slightly.  Obviously, he was realizing he wasn’t going to get any helpful information out of either officer until they’d had a chance to recover.  “I expect a full report from all of you by the end of the shift,” he ordered before turning abruptly on his heel and striding from the room.  For now, he looked like he intended to forget the conversations in the infirmary had even happened. 

Janet looked after the departing man and frowned at being included in the General’s order and displeasure.  She had done nothing out of the ordinary after all.  She sighed.  Orders were orders.  Turning back to her reluctant patients, Janet ignored twin groans as she spoke, “Well, looks like we all have work to do hmmm?  Let’s start with a few more blood tests.”

Several hours later, Major Carter was frowning down at the alien artifact lying on her lab table.  Upon her reluctant release from the infirmary (Janet seemed to be trying to run every test known to man, and some she’d just invented) she’d been ordered by General Hammond himself to work with Daniel in trying to decipher what it did and how it worked.   One look at the General’s face had made Sam almost wish to be back in Janet’s clutches. 

Almost. 

Instead, she’d made herself scarce, disappearing into her lab.  Over the past few hours she’d run every scan and taken every reading she could think of and was no closer to cracking the mystery than when she had started.  It didn’t help that her emotions were all jumbled and her mind kept drifting back to the forbidden kiss she’d shared with her CO and the sensations she’d experienced.  Her cheeks warmed at the memory, and she was unaware she was staring off into space.

“Sam?”

Nearly dropping the scanner she held, Sam whirled to face Janet, hoping she didn’t look too guilty.  Hastily she set the scanner down, and then wished she hadn’t when her hands itched to be doing something.  “Uh, hi Janet,” she stammered, running a hand through her hair.  Quickly she turned towards her laptop, inputting the latest results and hiding her reddening cheeks.  Waking up in the infirmary this time had probably been the most embarrassing time she’d ever woken up there.  And while Janet hadn’t taken advantage of their friendship to dig for information on what had happened, Sam had seen the curiosity brimming in the other woman’s eyes.  She didn’t think her face could get any hotter, but somehow it did.

Eyeing the taller blond woman critically, Janet crossed the room to stand next to Sam.  “How’s it going with your analysis?” she asked, still watching the Major, but making as if to peer over the other woman’s shoulder at the data.

Sam frowned, and turned to look at the arrow, almost sighing with relief when Janet avoided the questions Sam was sure were on the tip of her tongue.  Science was a safe topic.  Usually.  “Not very well, I’m not really getting anywhere,” she admitted.  “You?”

“Yeah, I guess,” Sam replied reluctantly, “I was just about to see if Daniel had found anything in the notes and photos SG-2 brought back.”  Still studying the arrow, Sam missed the strange look that appeared on Janet’s face. 

Shifting slightly, Janet smiled suddenly.  “I’m sure you have other things to be doing, why don’t I go ask Dr. Jackson to come to you?” she suggested, almost cheerfully.

Still preoccupied, Sam only smiled slightly in relief, oblivious to Janet’s sudden mood change.  She’d just thought of another test she’d like to run.  “Would you?  That would be great.”  Already buried in new calculations, Sam never saw the look of anticipation that appeared on Janet’s face as the other woman left the room.

Twenty minutes later, Sam was ready to give up.  The test she’d just run had also shown nothing to explain the Colonel’s actions, and her thoughts were growing increasingly distracted again.  There wasn’t even anything anomalous about the object, except that it gave off a continuous low level of energy.  Not enough to really worry about, and certainly not enough to affect anything, at least not at any appreciable distance.  In fact, the signature barely reached past the lab table and the sensitive equipment on it.  It was so faint that it was even likely that SG-2 had missed it, although it was possible that the signature hadn’t been present until the Colonel touched it or it had passed through the gate.  She wouldn’t even be able to determine if that was the case since the standard field equipment for detecting such things wouldn’t have been sensitive enough to detect it.

Whenever it had activated though, the energy level was fairly constant, aside from one small surge approximately half an hour ago, but nothing Sam had done to it had caused the spike to recur.  She was just about ready to write it off as an equipment malfunction.  Sam rubbed the back of her neck and studied the cold dregs of coffee in the bottom of her mug thoughtfully.  Glancing at her watch, Sam frowned as she realized that Daniel should have shown up by now.  She could really use his input to decide where to go next in her studies.  There had been more than enough time for Janet to get to his office and ask him to come here.

Figuring that Daniel had likely gotten sidetracked on his own studies, Sam decided to take care of two things at once.  She would track down the errant archeologist herself, luring him out with the promise of coffee since she was sure he could probably use a refill just as much as she did.  Taking her mug, Sam left her lab striding purposefully and nearly ran smack into Colonel O’Neill.  “Sir!” she exclaimed, narrowly missing the collision.

“Carter!” Jack cried, grinning cheerfully, “I didn’t expect to run into you here,” he said.

Sam narrowed her eyes at him.  What did he mean?  They were just outside her lab, where else would he expect to run into her?  Deciding to ignore it, since the sight of him drove her to thoughts best not acted upon, she shrugged, fiddling with the handle on her mug.  “I was just on my way to see if Daniel’s found anything that could give me a hand with the artifact, sir.”  Not waiting to see if he followed, she started off down the hallway, trying to put a little distance between them.

It was not to be.  Jack fell into step beside her.  “So.  Find anything yet?”  He jammed his hands in his pockets affecting a casual appearance, but Sam thought he looked tense.

Giving her superior a sideways glance, Sam turned down the corridor that led to Daniel’s office.  “No, sir.  I haven’t even been able to figure out what it’s made of yet, let alone how it works,” she admitted ruefully.

“I’m sure you’ll figure it out eventually Carter,” Jack told her confidently.

Sam didn’t hear him though, for she had just stepped into Daniel’s open office door, the scene before her stopping her dead in her tracks.  Behind her, Jack literally walked into her, her sudden stop giving him no warning.  He was forced to grab her arms to keep both of them from losing their balance.

Sam barely noticed.  “Uh, maybe we should come back,” she said, taking in the sight of two of her closest friends locked in a passionate embrace while trying to ignore the close proximity of her CO, his breath hot on the back of neck.

“I have a better idea, Major,” Jack said, his voice deepened huskily and stirred her hair slightly.