Stargate SG1: Cocidian (10/11)
All disclaimers, notes, warnings and summary are in the Master post: Cocidian
Chapter Ten
Janet walked up to them just as the mission debriefing was ending.
"Doc, hey!" Jack called out. He jumped to his feet and stepped forward with Carter and Teal'c right on his heels. "How's Daniel doing?"
"Well, I've got enough information now to give a full diagnosis."
"Are you prepared to give a full briefing, Dr. Fraiser?"
"Yes, General," Janet replied with a nod.
"All right, Doctor. Proceed."
Janet took a deep breath, taking advantage of the second it bought her to collect her thoughts. There was a lot of information to give, and some of it might not be good. However, she knew that the most important information, and the one thing that the people assembled with her would most want to hear, would be the first words out of her mouth.
"He doesn't have meningitis."
Teal'c closed his eyes and bowed his head as a small smile made its way across his lips.
Sam closed her eyes as well, throwing her head back and whispering, "Thank God," to the ceiling.
Jack raised his fists in the air in triumph. "Yes!"
"Colonel," Janet began, wishing that the next news she had to give weren't quite so potentially negative. "It might be a little premature to celebrate just now."
"What?" Jack demanded, spinning to face her. "Why? You just said ..."
"I said he doesn't have meningitis."
Jack's eyebrows lowered in confusion. "And that's not a good thing?"
"What is it, Doctor?" General Hammond asked from above. "What does Dr. Jackson have?"
With another deep breath, Janet looked up and answered him. "Encephalitis, sir."
"Encepha... encephalitis?" Jack repeated, glancing at Carter and Teal'c to see if they knew what Janet was talking about. Teal'c's face was blank. Carter shook her head at him and shrugged. "What's that?"
"It's an inflammation of the brain."
"His brain's infected?"
"Yes, Colonel, it is." Janet saw the redeveloping signs of panic in Jack's eyes, the blood rushing from Sam's face, and the deep lines of concern etching themselves into Teal'c's forehead. "But," she added hastily, drawing their attention back to her. "It's not as bad as it sounds. When it's caught early, which his was, it is most often entirely treatable."
"What's the prognosis, Doctor?" General Hammond's voice sounded deeper than usual as he fought to keep his worry from showing.
"He's got a seventy percent chance of recovery ..."
"Seventy percent?" Jack looked to his teammates again briefly; two faces that were equally as shocked as his looked back at him. "So there's a thirty percent chance that he's going to die? Tell me how exactly that isn't as bad as it sounds."
Janet tilted her head and gave Jack the most annoyed expression she could manage. "Another thirty-six hours, Colonel, and his chances of survival would have fallen to twenty. That's how."
"Treatment plan, Dr. Fraiser?" Hammond hoped the question would bring the impromptu briefing back into focus before either Jack or Janet said something they would later regret.
Janet nodded, moving her gaze from the colonel to the general. "He's been sedated since we performed the spinal tap, but I've just discontinued it. I've already gotten him started on acyclovir, which is an antiviral medication that has proven to be effective at combating encephalitis. We're also giving him large doses of IV indomethacin. It's already served to bring his fever under control, and reduced some of the swelling that his MRI was showing. We won't know for certain until he regains consciousness, but it should serve to relieve his pain as well."
Janet paused long enough for the information to sink in before continuing. "There is a possibility of long-term effects from this, General. Short-term memory loss, retrograde amnesia - we shouldn't be surprised if he doesn't remember anything that happened after he started showing symptoms. Depending on the amount of damage done to his brain tissue, he might be looking at recurrent migraines, or chronic seizures, or even develop epilepsy."
The blood had noticeably drained from the four faces watching her. Janet took another deep breath and made her voice as positive as possible. "All things considered, General, his chances for recovery are excellent. As I said, Colonel O'Neill and the others getting him back here as quickly as they did can only improve his chances. I think we got to him in time. He'll have to stay in the infirmary for a while, but I expect him to recover fully."
"How long?" Jack asked.
"He'll have to stay here for at least a week, possibly two."
"Two weeks?" Janet saw the look of dismay on Sam's face as she asked the question, and realized that she had forgotten to tell them the second thing they most wanted to hear.
"You won't have to stay here that long. Encephalitis is nasty, but it's not transmittable."
"So the quarantine ...?" Sam began.
"The quarantine is lifted. As far as I'm concerned, the three of you are free to go."
Sam and Jack flashed each other small smiles as they removed their masks; their concern for Daniel's well-being ran deep, but neither of them had particularly enjoyed the thought of being confined to the infirmary for two weeks.
Teal'c lowered his eyebrows in thought, and tilted his head slightly. "If this illness is not contagious, how then did Daniel Jackson become infected?"
"Um... yes." Janet stammered slightly as she gave them a nervous smile. "Well, that would be my fault."
"Your fault?" Jack didn't even try to disguise the disbelief in his voice. "How?"
"His blood work showed traces of varicella."
"Varicella?" Sam repeated. "That's the chicken pox."
"Yes, it is," Janet answered with a nod. "Which Cassie had, two weeks ago. Daniel... Dr. Jackson came to sit with her one afternoon while I ran some errands. He told me that he thought he'd had it when he was a child, but he really couldn't remember for certain." Janet flashed a nervous grin. "I guess he hadn't, after all."
Jack scratched the back of his head. "So, Cassie gave Daniel the chicken pox, and... what?"
"And the virus entered his bloodstream and eventually made its way into his brain. He would probably have had a small rash a week or so ago. He doesn't have one now, so it couldn't have been a bad one. Odds are he wouldn't have thought it anything more severe than dry skin or an allergic reaction to something he'd come in contact with. And that's if he even noticed it at all. I didn't see anything during his pre-mission physical."
Jack shook his head and snorted softly. "Only Daniel could get a brain infection from the chicken pox."
Janet only shrugged in response.
"What about his injuries, Doctor?"
"His other injuries are minor, sir. He's got a mild concussion, which accounts for some of his symptoms seeming more severe than they actually were. His vomiting could have been a result of that, or in response to the morphine he was given for his pain. He has no fractures, and no internal injuries. Basically, he's just got a lot of surface damage. It looks much worse than it actually is. That's all, sir."
"Thank you, Doctor. SG-1, you're released from quarantine. Based on the information you gave me earlier in your debriefing, I'll be ordering P49-635 locked out of the dialing computer. You're all on stand-down until further notice." Hammond smiled down at four people standing beneath him, and then at the sleeping man on the gurney in the middle of the room. "We'll give Dr. Jackson all the time he needs to heal completely before sending you out again. For now, I expect all three of you to shower, change your clothes, and rest until Dr. Jackson wakes up."
"Yes, sir, General," Jack replied with a smile.
Janet started making her way back to Daniel. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Sam turn toward Teal'c and start whispering excitedly. She smiled to herself, glad that the briefing had ended on a mostly positive note after all. Her smile faded when she felt the hand on her arm and heard Jack O'Neill's voice behind her.
"Hey, Doc?"
Janet's face was completely professional before she turned toward him. "Yes, Colonel?"
"Daniel's gonna be okay, right?"
The professional demeanor shattered, and a smile broke through again. "Yes, Colonel. I think he's going to be just fine."
Jack heaved a sigh of relief and returned the smile. "Hey... how much longer is he gonna be asleep?"
Janet glanced across her shoulder at Daniel, then back at Jack. "Most likely another six hours or so. I don't want to sedate him again because he doesn't need it. His body will tell him when it needs to rest. But I want you to understand that he's going to be sleeping a lot for the next few days."
"No... no, that's okay. I just... I wanted to know ..."
"So you could be here when he wakes up?"
Jack lowered his head. "Something like that, yeah."
"I'll tell you what, Colonel. As long as you're not back any earlier than five hours from now, I'll let you stay with him as much as you want. All three of you."
Jack lifted his head quickly and leaned forward. "Thank you," he whispered.
"You're welcome," she answered just as softly. She winked at him quickly before turning and walking away.
"Thank you," Jack repeated to her retreating back.
"Hey, Colonel!"
Jack turned back around to face Carter, who was still standing near the wall with Teal'c. "Captain?"
"You still haven't answered that question, sir."
Jack's face lit up as an idea came to him. "The question isn't what am I doing for Christmas, Captain," he responded, quickly covering the distance between them. "The question is - what are we doing."
"Sir?"
"Come with me," he replied, stepping between them and motioning with his hands for them to follow him out the door. "I'll show you."
Chapter Ten
Janet walked up to them just as the mission debriefing was ending.
"Doc, hey!" Jack called out. He jumped to his feet and stepped forward with Carter and Teal'c right on his heels. "How's Daniel doing?"
"Well, I've got enough information now to give a full diagnosis."
"Are you prepared to give a full briefing, Dr. Fraiser?"
"Yes, General," Janet replied with a nod.
"All right, Doctor. Proceed."
Janet took a deep breath, taking advantage of the second it bought her to collect her thoughts. There was a lot of information to give, and some of it might not be good. However, she knew that the most important information, and the one thing that the people assembled with her would most want to hear, would be the first words out of her mouth.
"He doesn't have meningitis."
Teal'c closed his eyes and bowed his head as a small smile made its way across his lips.
Sam closed her eyes as well, throwing her head back and whispering, "Thank God," to the ceiling.
Jack raised his fists in the air in triumph. "Yes!"
"Colonel," Janet began, wishing that the next news she had to give weren't quite so potentially negative. "It might be a little premature to celebrate just now."
"What?" Jack demanded, spinning to face her. "Why? You just said ..."
"I said he doesn't have meningitis."
Jack's eyebrows lowered in confusion. "And that's not a good thing?"
"What is it, Doctor?" General Hammond asked from above. "What does Dr. Jackson have?"
With another deep breath, Janet looked up and answered him. "Encephalitis, sir."
"Encepha... encephalitis?" Jack repeated, glancing at Carter and Teal'c to see if they knew what Janet was talking about. Teal'c's face was blank. Carter shook her head at him and shrugged. "What's that?"
"It's an inflammation of the brain."
"His brain's infected?"
"Yes, Colonel, it is." Janet saw the redeveloping signs of panic in Jack's eyes, the blood rushing from Sam's face, and the deep lines of concern etching themselves into Teal'c's forehead. "But," she added hastily, drawing their attention back to her. "It's not as bad as it sounds. When it's caught early, which his was, it is most often entirely treatable."
"What's the prognosis, Doctor?" General Hammond's voice sounded deeper than usual as he fought to keep his worry from showing.
"He's got a seventy percent chance of recovery ..."
"Seventy percent?" Jack looked to his teammates again briefly; two faces that were equally as shocked as his looked back at him. "So there's a thirty percent chance that he's going to die? Tell me how exactly that isn't as bad as it sounds."
Janet tilted her head and gave Jack the most annoyed expression she could manage. "Another thirty-six hours, Colonel, and his chances of survival would have fallen to twenty. That's how."
"Treatment plan, Dr. Fraiser?" Hammond hoped the question would bring the impromptu briefing back into focus before either Jack or Janet said something they would later regret.
Janet nodded, moving her gaze from the colonel to the general. "He's been sedated since we performed the spinal tap, but I've just discontinued it. I've already gotten him started on acyclovir, which is an antiviral medication that has proven to be effective at combating encephalitis. We're also giving him large doses of IV indomethacin. It's already served to bring his fever under control, and reduced some of the swelling that his MRI was showing. We won't know for certain until he regains consciousness, but it should serve to relieve his pain as well."
Janet paused long enough for the information to sink in before continuing. "There is a possibility of long-term effects from this, General. Short-term memory loss, retrograde amnesia - we shouldn't be surprised if he doesn't remember anything that happened after he started showing symptoms. Depending on the amount of damage done to his brain tissue, he might be looking at recurrent migraines, or chronic seizures, or even develop epilepsy."
The blood had noticeably drained from the four faces watching her. Janet took another deep breath and made her voice as positive as possible. "All things considered, General, his chances for recovery are excellent. As I said, Colonel O'Neill and the others getting him back here as quickly as they did can only improve his chances. I think we got to him in time. He'll have to stay in the infirmary for a while, but I expect him to recover fully."
"How long?" Jack asked.
"He'll have to stay here for at least a week, possibly two."
"Two weeks?" Janet saw the look of dismay on Sam's face as she asked the question, and realized that she had forgotten to tell them the second thing they most wanted to hear.
"You won't have to stay here that long. Encephalitis is nasty, but it's not transmittable."
"So the quarantine ...?" Sam began.
"The quarantine is lifted. As far as I'm concerned, the three of you are free to go."
Sam and Jack flashed each other small smiles as they removed their masks; their concern for Daniel's well-being ran deep, but neither of them had particularly enjoyed the thought of being confined to the infirmary for two weeks.
Teal'c lowered his eyebrows in thought, and tilted his head slightly. "If this illness is not contagious, how then did Daniel Jackson become infected?"
"Um... yes." Janet stammered slightly as she gave them a nervous smile. "Well, that would be my fault."
"Your fault?" Jack didn't even try to disguise the disbelief in his voice. "How?"
"His blood work showed traces of varicella."
"Varicella?" Sam repeated. "That's the chicken pox."
"Yes, it is," Janet answered with a nod. "Which Cassie had, two weeks ago. Daniel... Dr. Jackson came to sit with her one afternoon while I ran some errands. He told me that he thought he'd had it when he was a child, but he really couldn't remember for certain." Janet flashed a nervous grin. "I guess he hadn't, after all."
Jack scratched the back of his head. "So, Cassie gave Daniel the chicken pox, and... what?"
"And the virus entered his bloodstream and eventually made its way into his brain. He would probably have had a small rash a week or so ago. He doesn't have one now, so it couldn't have been a bad one. Odds are he wouldn't have thought it anything more severe than dry skin or an allergic reaction to something he'd come in contact with. And that's if he even noticed it at all. I didn't see anything during his pre-mission physical."
Jack shook his head and snorted softly. "Only Daniel could get a brain infection from the chicken pox."
Janet only shrugged in response.
"What about his injuries, Doctor?"
"His other injuries are minor, sir. He's got a mild concussion, which accounts for some of his symptoms seeming more severe than they actually were. His vomiting could have been a result of that, or in response to the morphine he was given for his pain. He has no fractures, and no internal injuries. Basically, he's just got a lot of surface damage. It looks much worse than it actually is. That's all, sir."
"Thank you, Doctor. SG-1, you're released from quarantine. Based on the information you gave me earlier in your debriefing, I'll be ordering P49-635 locked out of the dialing computer. You're all on stand-down until further notice." Hammond smiled down at four people standing beneath him, and then at the sleeping man on the gurney in the middle of the room. "We'll give Dr. Jackson all the time he needs to heal completely before sending you out again. For now, I expect all three of you to shower, change your clothes, and rest until Dr. Jackson wakes up."
"Yes, sir, General," Jack replied with a smile.
Janet started making her way back to Daniel. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Sam turn toward Teal'c and start whispering excitedly. She smiled to herself, glad that the briefing had ended on a mostly positive note after all. Her smile faded when she felt the hand on her arm and heard Jack O'Neill's voice behind her.
"Hey, Doc?"
Janet's face was completely professional before she turned toward him. "Yes, Colonel?"
"Daniel's gonna be okay, right?"
The professional demeanor shattered, and a smile broke through again. "Yes, Colonel. I think he's going to be just fine."
Jack heaved a sigh of relief and returned the smile. "Hey... how much longer is he gonna be asleep?"
Janet glanced across her shoulder at Daniel, then back at Jack. "Most likely another six hours or so. I don't want to sedate him again because he doesn't need it. His body will tell him when it needs to rest. But I want you to understand that he's going to be sleeping a lot for the next few days."
"No... no, that's okay. I just... I wanted to know ..."
"So you could be here when he wakes up?"
Jack lowered his head. "Something like that, yeah."
"I'll tell you what, Colonel. As long as you're not back any earlier than five hours from now, I'll let you stay with him as much as you want. All three of you."
Jack lifted his head quickly and leaned forward. "Thank you," he whispered.
"You're welcome," she answered just as softly. She winked at him quickly before turning and walking away.
"Thank you," Jack repeated to her retreating back.
"Hey, Colonel!"
Jack turned back around to face Carter, who was still standing near the wall with Teal'c. "Captain?"
"You still haven't answered that question, sir."
Jack's face lit up as an idea came to him. "The question isn't what am I doing for Christmas, Captain," he responded, quickly covering the distance between them. "The question is - what are we doing."
"Sir?"
"Come with me," he replied, stepping between them and motioning with his hands for them to follow him out the door. "I'll show you."