Sam hung up the phone, her eyes wide. Jack looked at her and immediately knew something was wrong.

"Who was that?" he asked.

"The facility where Janet went, there was an accident."

"An accident?"

"Apparently Janet was exposed to the Ebola virus."

Jack stood up in surprise. "Ebola? Where did she manage to find Ebola?! I thought that the virus mainly lived in Africa."

Sam shook her head. "I have no idea, the person didn't elaborate. All I know is that she's been placed in quarantine and is being watched around the clock for any symptoms."

"Who's been placed in quarantine?" Daniel said. He had entered the room just in time to catch Sam's last sentence and worry was written all over his face.

"Janet has, she's been exposed to the Ebola virus." Sam replied.

"I knew she shouldn't have gone!" Daniel cried out. "We have to go there."

"And the chances that Hammond will let us off this base are?" Jack said.

"I don't care Jack. We have to go, Janet needs us."

"Daniel's right sir." Sam said. "She needs to be with friends right now and more importantly, I have a feeling that whoever is responsible for Janet's 'accident' isn't human."

"I'll talk to Hammond." Jack said and left the room.

____________

"How are you feeling?" asked a disembodied voice through the speaker on the wall.

"I'm fine! Can you let me out of here?" Janet replied.

"No headaches? Chills? Weakness?" the voice asked.

"I said I'm fine. Now let me out!"

"You know I can't do that Doctor Fraiser. The symptoms may not manifest themselves until up to 16 days after infection."

"If you think I'm staying cooped up in here for 16 days..."

"Your lunch will be delivered shortly Doctor Fraiser. I suggest you calm yourself down."

"But this virus isn't airborne!" Janet called desperately. "I didn't ingest anything and my hand wasn't cut!"

"Please take a seat Doctor Fraiser. You don't want to stress yourself."

Janet snarled at the speaker and sat down on the bed. Her quarantine room was a bare, white room with four walls. The bed occupied one wall, with a toilet and sink directly across from it. A slot where a tray of food would soon be delivered was in the door that remained sealed and locked.

Janet's thoughts turned to Cassie and wondered what she'd been told. She hoped for Cassie's sake that she'd been told the truth.

___________

"So, what did he say?"

Jack looked at Sam and shrugged. "He must be feeling extra generous today, he said that we could go."

"Seriously? I was expecting more of a fight."

"So was I, and I had these wonderful replies lined up too. A transport is leaving in 20 and he wants all of SG-1 on it."

Jack looked around. "Where did Daniel go?"

"He mumbled something about his lab and left. I think he's really worried about Janet."

"What's going on between those two anyway?" Jack asked. "I've never been able to figure it out."

"I think it's a mutual crush thing. But don't quote me on that, I only know Janet's side of the story."

"A 'mutual crush thing'? Is that the scientific definition?"

"Sure, that's the first thing we covered in Scientists College. I know Janet's said how cute she thinks Daniel is."

"Cute? I think she's been hanging around Cassie a bit too much."

Sam opened her mouth to reply but then stopped as her brain registered Cassie's name. "Jack...do you think anyone has told Cassie where her mother is?"

"Hammond didn't say anything about contacting her."

Sam closed her eyes and opened them again. "She needs to know. She must be worried sick. Janet called her when we arrived back on base and told her that she couldn't come home. She promised Cassie that she'd call to check in everyday. I have to call her!"

Jack put a hand on Sam's shoulder. "You call Cassie." he said. "And I'll round up Daniel and Teal'c."

__________

SG-1 stepped off the jet and onto the tarmac; a young man was waving to them from beside a jeep. Jack led his team over to the jeep.

"Colonel O'Neill, sir!" said the young man, whose uniform identified him as a lieutenant, as he snapped off a salute.

"At ease Lieutenant." Jack said, not used to being saluted.

"My orders are to take you and your team directly to the base, sir."

Jack nodded, "That's correct. So let's get in the vehicle and get moving!"

SG-1 piled into the jeep and the lieutenant drove them to a non-nondescript grey building. They passed through the checkpoint and stopped in front of an entrance guarded by several men. SG-1 flashed their credentials and entered the complex.

Once inside, they were taken down a series of corridors. A different lieutenant was guiding them. "This way to the isolation rooms." she said. "Your doctor is being given the best care possible."

"The best care?" Daniel said. "She's not actually sick is she?"

"I'm afraid I can't answer that question." the lieutenant replied. "You'll have to talk to Doctor Malysh. He's from the Center for Disease Control and is in charge of her care."

The team was led to a small office at the end of a hall. Inside, behind a desk, sat a dark-haired man. He smiled at them all as they walked into the office. "You must be the SG-1 that I've heard so much about." the doctor said. "Please, have a seat."

"Tell us what's happened to Janet." Sam demanded after she sat down on a padded chair.

"Your Doctor Fraiser has, unfortunately, been exposed to the Ebola virus." Malysh said. "There was an accident in the lab, her hand slipped while using a scalpel and she cut through her gloves."

Sam cocked her head. "It's my understanding Doctor, that the Ebola virus is not airborne. Was her skin broken?"

"No, her quarantine is merely precaution. The Ebola virus is not something to be played around with. This is deadly serious, pardon the pun."

"Can we see her?" Daniel asked.

"I will allow you to see her, wearing appropriate contamination suits of course. In fact, I'm glad that you're here, she's been most irate since being put into quarantine. I'm hoping that your visit will calm her down."

Sam and Jack exchanged looks. It wasn't like Janet to become irate about anything. Janet was usually the very picture of calm.

Doctor Malysh stood up. "If you'll follow me, I'll take you to her."

__________

"Is all of this really necessary?" asked Daniel's muffled voice. He had been suited up in the spacesuit and was looking very uneasy. It had been decided that Daniel would speak with her first, though Sam was practically jumping out of her skin.

"It's merely a precaution Doctor Jackson." Malysh said and went over to a small, wall-mounted intercom. He pressed the button and spoke into her. "Doctor Fraiser." he said. "Your friends are here to visit you. I have a Doctor Jackson who's going to come in, okay?"

Sam couldn't help but notice how condescending the doctor's tone was, as if he were speaking a small child or a mental patient. She watched as Daniel was led through a hermetically sealed doorway and disappeared.

Daniel, who was feeling more than a little claustrophobic in his suit, tried to even out his breathing and follow the other figure in a white suit. He was anxious to speak with Janet.

___________

Janet had been picking at her evening meal when Malysh's voice announced that Daniel was going to visit her. Immediately she became alarmed that they were on the base. They were quite possibly in danger just by being here.

The door to her room opened and a two white-suited figures entered. One stumbled a bit and headed towards her, while the other hung back near the door.

"Daniel?" Janet asked, trying to look at the face through the hood. The hood bobbed an affirmative.

Daniel approached Janet and hovered near her bed. She looked tired. Her face was pale and gaunt and for a moment Daniel worried that she actually was ill.

"How are you?" he asked.

Janet shrugged. "I'd be better if I wasn't cooped up in here, being treated like a leper. I honestly don't think that I was infected."

"We're all worried about you." Daniel said. "Hammond is too, that's why he let us go."

Janet glanced at Daniel's escort. "You have to be careful Daniel." she said. "They're here and I don't think they want us to leave alive."

The hood bobbed again and the escort began moving towards them. "I can't stay long Janet." he said. "Sam's anxious to talk with you."

Janet looked up at Daniel, barely able to make out his blue eyes behind the clear faceplate. "Take care of yourself." Daniel said and then began to slowly walk out of the room. Janet wanted to call out to him, to tell him that it was Doctor Malysh who had cut through her gloves with the scalpel but she feared for her own life, as well as the lives of her friends.

__________

"She seemed alright to you?" Sam asked Daniel as she began suiting up to visit Janet.

Daniel shrugged. "She did seem a little out of it, not like the Janet we know."

"What did she say to you?" Jack asked as he helped Sam put her arms into the suit.

"She told me that she thinks they want us dead."

"Big surprise there." Jack said sarcastically.

"Is that all she said?" Sam asked. "You weren't in there for long, but surely she said more."

"There was a guard there." Daniel said quietly, gesturing towards where the same guard stood waiting. "I got the impression that she wanted to say more, but couldn't with that guy standing in the room with us."

Sam finished suiting up and was led by the guard into Janet's room. Janet greeted her with a smile and though Sam knew Janet couldn't see her face well, smiled back.

"Sam." Janet said. "It's good to see you."

"Yeah, you too. How are you?"

"Like I told Daniel, I'm perfectly fine. Look Sam, I wanted to ask you about something."

"About what?"

"The phone call. Did you know this was going to happen?"

Sam looked at Janet who was looking at her somewhat accusingly. "I have no idea what you're talking about Janet. I never called you."

"Yes, you did. I talked to you the day before this happened to me, you told me to watch my suit."

"I think that I'd remember telling you that."

"It was you Sam! I know your voice and it was you!" Janet said, sounding almost hysterical.

Sam shook her head, this really was a different Janet. "I called Cassie before we left." she said, hoping to calm Janet down a bit. "I told her that you wouldn't be home for a few days."

"Did you tell her why?" Janet asked, pushing a limp strand of hair from her face.

"Not the details. There's no need to overly worry her."

"She's a big girl." Janet said. "She should have been told the truth."

"I didn't lie to her!" Sam said, finding it difficult to deal with this Janet. "She was worried enough as it was."

Janet flopped back onto her bed almost dramatically and sighed. Sam stood still and watched her friend. Janet's eyes were almost wild, they kept glancing between Sam and the guard, who stood impassively by the door.

"Daniel was really worried about you." Sam said in a light-hearted voice, hoping to change the mood.

"Oh?" Janet asked, sounding almost interested.

"Yes, when I told him that you'd gone off the base, he was very concerned. He demanded to be the first to talk to you today."

Janet sat up, looking a bit more calm. "How's it going with you and Colonel O'Neill by the way? Have you guys talked about...you know."

"No, we've barely had time to eat and sleep let alone talk about that."

"This really a fine mess we've gotten ourselves into this time, isn't it?" Janet asked rhetorically.

"Nothing worse than before." Sam replied.

Janet pursed her lips. "You know how sometimes things aren't what they appear to be?" she asked, looking directly at Sam.

Sam furrowed her brow wondering where that statement had come from. "Sure, I know." she replied.

"Like how sometimes an accident really isn't an accident? A friend of mine once said she'd gotten her pants caught on a fence and ripped them, but she really cut them herself because she hated them."

Sam nodded slowly. "Uh huh. They must have been really ugly pants."

Janet looked at Sam and raised her eyebrows, nodding her head slightly towards the door. The guard still stood silently. Sam narrowed her eyes, catching onto what Janet was saying.

"So this friend of yours." Sam said. "What happened after she cut her pants?"

"Her mother locked her in her room and wouldn't let her out, she wouldn't even let her speak to her friends."

"Sounds rather drastic." Sam said. "Those must have been expensive pants."

"Extremely valuable." Janet replied.

"Well, I'd better be going." Sam said cheerfully. "It's getting rather hot inside this suit and I just knew I should have used the facilities before coming in here."

Janet smiled at Sam. "Thanks for dropping by." she said and waved at Sam before she and guard left the room.

___________

Jack walked around the room, looking up into corners and on the ceiling. He went over to Sam and whispered in her ear, "The room is bugged."

Sam nodded and absently scratched her arm. SG-1 had been taken to a room with only a few chairs and a water cooler. "So, Janet was telling me about this friend of hers." she said. "About how she lied about catching her pants on the fence."

Teal'c cocked his head and raised an eyebrow. Jack frowned. "Kind of a strange thing to be discussing Carter." he said.

"Her friend actually cut the pants herself because she hated them."

"Oh." said Daniel, the first one to catch on.

Jack picked up a dixie cup from beside the water cooler and filled it with water. "Water anyone?" he asked, holding the cup up.

"No thank you sir." Sam said. Jack shrugged and downed the water himself.

"The pants were extremely valuable and Janet's friend's mother was very upset. She locked the girl in her room and wouldn't let her out." Sam continued, hoping that Jack would soon catch on. Teal'c was already nodding and Sam knew he'd picked it up.

"You two sure talk about strange stuff." Jack said, pouring himself another cup of water. "You guys sure that you don't want any water?"

Sam sighed inwardly. "Sir, have you ever done something on purpose but then said it was an accident?"

"Sure, what ten year old boy hasn't? I used to trip people and then say it was an accident."

"Exactly." Sam said, staring directly into his eyes. Jack furrowed his brow and then said, "Oh." in an almost perfect imitation of what Daniel had said earlier.

Jack poured another glass of water. "I don't suppose anyone has any food to go along with all this water?" he asked, addressing both his team and whomever might be listening.

"So, what did Janet's friend end up doing?" Daniel asked.

Sam shrugged. "I don't know Daniel, we didn't get that far into the story. I'd imagine that either her mother calmed down and got over the incident, the friend broke out of her room, or some of her friends came to help her."

"I do not believe that her mother would have 'gotten over it'." Teal'c supplied. "I believe the best course of action for her friend would have been to recruit others to assist her."

"Exactly what I was thinking Teal'c." Jack said, crushing his paper cup in his palms. "But how would they go about doing that? Surely the mother was always watching."

Sam moved closer to Jack and leaned over towards his face. Jack's eyes widened and he tried to push her away. "Carter!" he said sharply. "This is neither the time nor the place for that."

Sam blushed and swore she heard Daniel laughing. She leaned towards him again, this time whispering in his ear. "These guys have got to be pretty stupid to not know what we're talking about."

Jack shrugged and threw his crushed cup into the trash. "I don't know about you guys." he said. "But I think I need to stretch my legs." Jack strode towards the door and waited there for the rest of the team to join him. He turned the knob on the door and then swore with disgust.

"Locked?" Sam asked.

"Ya think?"

"So, what do we do now?" Daniel asked.

"We wait." Sam replied. "They're going to come eventually, it's just a question of when."