A/N: Sorry for the delay folks. RL is busy. Good busy, but busy nonetheless. I'm aiming for writing at least one of these Campfire stories each week, if not two. Thanks to all who have been reviewing...the nice comments really do keep me motivated.

Set after Need and before Thor's Chariot on a planet and mission of my own making.

Remedy

Carter sat hunched over her steaming cup of coffee, trying to suppress the shudder as it ran through her body. She held her breath and took a long drink, hoping that would help. She grimaced as she shook with another spasm. It had started soon after they'd stepped onto P9J-726 and didn't look to be stopping anytime soon. Carter was relieved that this mission was going as well as it was, she didn't want to be coping with this while running from Jaffa. Or worse.

O'Neill watched his Second as she tried to hid her discomfort. She sat huddled over her coffee, her eyes on the fire before them, the picture of misery. It was too warm, really, for a fire, but they'd needed it for warming the water for their MRE's and as a source of light for the camp site. They'd even chosen to forego the tents, voting instead to sleep under the stars. Thankfully this planet didn't seem to have a small, biting insect problem, unlike the last. Jack suppressed his own shudder at the memory and noticed Carter doing the same. He didn't think his Captain would be cold, but...as she shook again, he finally asked, "Carter, you okay?"

"Ye-es, Sir." Her response was interrupted by another spasm.

"Carter."

Sam sighed and faced him. "Hiccups."

"Sorry?"

"Hi-hiccups, Sir. Can't sh-shake 'em."

Biting back a grin, O'Neill nodded and returned to his own dinner. Across the fire Daniel chuckled in sympathy while Teal'c simply looked puzzled.

"What is a 'hiccup'?"

Sam's response was cut short by a loud squeaking hiccup and she shrugged helplessly at Daniel. When he began his explanation, Carter sighed and leaned back. Damn, but she hated having these things. She got them occasionally, completely out of the blue. It was annoying and embarrassing, and there wasn't a damned thing she could do about it. As she listened to Daniel explain the intricacies of the phenomenon to the Jaffa, she tried again to relax and think of...nothing. Sam rearranged her sleeping bag, and bunched up her jacket to act as more of a pillow. Just as she was about to lay back, O'Neill's sharp voice startled her.

"Carter!" O'Neill barked.

She sat up immediately, "S-sir?"

"I'm ordering you to cease and desist."

"Yes, Si-ir." She shrugged, her face mirroring her frustration. "I'll g-get right on that, S-sir."

Daniel shook his head. "Jack, you can't just order Sam to stop."

Jack shrugged. "I was hoping to scare her into stopping."

"I do not understand, O'Neill. Why would frightening Captain Carter ease her condition?"

"Sometimes when you startle someone, Teal'c, it interrupts the muscle spasm I was telling you about."

"I see," said Teal'c, although he clearly did not.

O'Neill tuned Daniel out as he launched into a lengthy explanation of the various cultural remedies he'd read about for curing Carter's condition. Jack caught Carter's eye and shrugged, allowing a small smile to play across his lips. Poor Carter, she looked miserable. Across the fire, Daniel's storytelling lost steam as Teal'c rose and left to kel-no-reem before his watch began. The stillness of the night was broken only by the sound of the wind moving through the trees, accompanied by the crackle and hiss of the fire. And Carter's intermittent hiccups.

"Jack?"

"Yes, Daniel?"

"Why doesn't Sam call you by name?"

Out of the corner of his eye Jack saw Carter's head whip around and she sat up straight, her attention wholly on the archaeologist. O'Neill's opened his mouth to reply but Carter beat him to it.

"Be-because it's incredibly inap-p-propriate, Daniel. Colonel O'Ne-neill is my CO, he outranks m-me." Sam shook her head, wondering what had gotten into Daniel. He knew the rules, he knew what the protocol was, however ignorant of military structure he pretended to be. Sam couldn't even think of her CO as "Jack" in her head, let alone imagine calling him that. She instantly squelched the flush of warmth that flowed through her for a moment, wondering what it would be like to be on such terms with him...No, we're so not going there, Sam.

"Oh." Daniel looked from Sam to O'Neill and back again. "But Jack, Kowalsky called you 'Jack' all the time. You were his CO and outranked him."

"Daniel..."

"It's okay, Carter, save your breath. Daniel, Charlie Kowalsky and I were friends for a very long time, and it's...that's just how it was." Jack shrugged, glancing from Daniel to Carter, clearly wanting the subject dropped. Daniel actually had a valid point. SG1 was a much closer team...a tighter family...than his team with Kowalsky. He knew the other CO's of the other SG teams had relaxed the strict forms of address between team members, but he couldn't...wouldn't...let himself go there.

Daniel frowned and shook his head. "Whatever. Doesn't seem fair." He was silent for a few moments then rose and dusted off his trousers. "I'm gonna take a short walk before I turn in. Goodnight Jack, Sam."

"Don't go far, Daniel."

"I won't." As he stepped out of the light of the fire, Daniel added, "I still don't get the difference, you know. Between Kowalsky and Sam."

O'Neill waited until Daniel was far enough away before muttering under his breath, "The difference you nit, is that I was never attracted to Kowalsky."

Carter's sharp intake of breath sounded like a gunshot to O'Neill. Both officers froze, Jack still turned in the direction Daniel had taken, Carter caught halfway between sitting up and lying down. O'Neill's eyes slid slowly sideways to meet the stunned gaze of his 2IC. Carter's expressive blue eyes were wide, glistening in the light of the fire, her mouth open in shock. Neither said a word, both barely breathed.

Oh crap. I said that out loud. Crap, crap, crap.

O'Neill broke first, tearing his eyes away from Carter's and taking a deep breath to steady himself. Crap. Gotta fix this or there'll be hell to pay. The shit he could get into if she took this to Hammond. Damn, Hammond would have to split the team, and O'Neill couldn't stop the wave of unease that swept through him at thought of the team being broken up. Damage control. Think, Jack, think! Try as he might Jack knew that there was nothing he could do to unsay what he'd just said. Carter had every right in the world to file a complaint and he'd back her up one-hundred percent. Maybe Hammond would –

"Colonel?"

Taking a deep breath, Jack forced himself to turn and meet Carter's gaze. He automatically dropped his 'command mask' into place, only the small tic under his left eye giving away the turmoil going on behind his eyes.

Sam waited for her Colonel to face her, wincing as she saw him duck behind the façade of his command persona as quickly as he would dive to avoid weapons fire. She was still a bit shell-shocked by his inadvertent admission. Shell-shocked and secretly delighted. At least now she knew that the attraction she felt went both ways. It wouldn't go any further than that, she knew, but damn...it was nice to know it wasn't just all on her side. Having a crush on your CO? How cliché can you get, Sam? And we all know how much O'Neill loves clichés. Watching O'Neill slowly turn, she was struck by the flash of fear and...pain?...she'd seen just before his mask slipped into place. What would he be afraid of? It's not like I'm going to file a...oh. Sam gave O'Neill a gentle smile and was relieved to see his features soften in response. His eyes begged her to let his comment go, and she would, if only to set his mind at ease. Broadening her smile, she took a deep breath. Then another as something occurred to her. Her hiccups were gone.

She held his gaze for a moment longer, marveling at the depth of color and emotion she saw there. Finally, she said softly, "Thanks, Sir."

"Um...for?" O'Neill's voice was strained, his tension evident.

"Looks like Daniel was right." Off of her CO's surprised look she added with a grin, "Startling someone really does cure hiccups."

Jack's answering smile was slow in coming, but worth the wait. Carter watched his eyes light up, chasing the last of his reserved mask away, reflecting the smile that spread across his face.

O'Neill let out a barely perceptible sigh. It was okay. She's made it okay for him. And she seemed okay with his...whatever that was. He was a damned lucky man.

"Anytime, Carter. Anytime."

O'Neill let the last of his mask slip away as Carter released his gaze and settled back down onto her sleeping bag. She shifted and tugged until she was comfortable, resting her hands on her belly and laying her head back to watch the stars. Only when she was finished did Jack stretch out on his own bag, after carefully checking, as Carter had, to be sure his weapon was nearby. Mimicking Carter he folded his jacket into a pillow, setting it down near his 2IC's. If tonight he was closer to her than he usually was, neither mentioned it. Like his Captain, O'Neill lay on his back, his hands clasped behind his head, and watched the smoke from the fire trail lazily up to be swallowed by the sparkling night sky.