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With a soft groan Jack open his eyes, only to groan louder when he realized he was once again back in the SGC hospital and therefore he was a prisoner to somewhat gentle torture of Dr Janet Frasier.

Staring up at the ceiling in silence for a couple minutes, Jack tried to figure out what was wrong; what felt out of place. Slowly raising his head, he looked down upon a mass of jet-black hair that was using his chest as a pillow.

Jack continued to stare at the mass of black hair as Dr Frasier stepped up to the bed and took Jack's wrist in her hand while she looked at her watch. "Colonel?" she asked concerned, when she didn't get the expected smart remark from him as she took his pulse.

Jack looked up at Janet with a 'confused little boy' look then back down at the person sharing his bed. "Am I missing something?" Jack asked as he looked up at Dr Frasier once again. "Did I miss a memo about lack of beds?" he inquired, waving his hand over his bedmate.

"It was necessary," Janet stated as she jotted down his blood pressure and pulse on his chart. "For some unknown reason it appears that you and your companion are somehow linked together."

"Linked together?" Jack mumbled.

"Yes," Frasier said as reassuringly as she could. "We've found that if you're separated for more than 20 minutes each of you will have an adverse reaction."

"'Adverse reaction'?" Jack repeated back to the doctor. "Exactly what does that mean?"

"Convulsions," Frasier stated. "Both you and him will go into convulsions until reunited. The longer you're separated the worst the condition becomes. We believe that your bodies," Frasier nodded towards the young man sharing O'Neill's bed, "are excreting a chemical that when combined stops the convulsions."

Jack groaned in frustration at the doctor just told him, as his hand gently touched the other man's hair.

"At the moment we have him sedated until we can figure out what is going on," Frasier continued to explain.

"Wonderful," Jack said sarcastically as his head fell back onto the pillow and covered his eyes with his arm.

"How do you feel, Jack?" she asked as she noted that Jack's other hand was carding the younger man's hair.

Jack moved the arm covering his eyes so that it was now resting on the pillow above his head and stared at hospital ceiling. He opened his mouth for a moment, then closed it, his eyes narrowed, brow furrowed.

"Colonel?" Janet said her concern evident in her voice. "Are you in pain?"

"No. No, I'm fine," Jack said as Janet's question snapped out of his thoughts. "I'm just...."

"Just what?" Janet asked pulling up a stool and sitting down next to the bed. "Just what Jack?"

"Truthfully?" Jack asked more to himself than to Dr Frasier. Janet nodded her head.

"It's like... like I've just come home from a long trip?" Jack tried to explain what he was feeling. "Like I finally found my home... my place."

Janet nodded her head. "It's possible that the hormones are causing this reaction, to encourage those involved to stay together," she said more or less to herself as she made a note in Jack's files.

Jack snorted. "So it's like a drug. Stay together and feel good; try to kick the habit and suffer."

"Pretty much," Janet agreed with a shrug of her shoulder

Jack once again sighed of frustration. "My team?" Jack asked as he changed the subject. "Are they alright or were they taken too.

"They're fine Colonel. In fact they're been order them to stand down for the time being," General Hammond said as he stepped into the room. "I believed that Dr Frasier has also threaten them with a full body cavity exam if the step inside the hospital without a minimum of 8 hours of sleep."

"Sir," O'Neill said as a form of greeting.

General Hammond nodded to Dr Frasier in greeting.

"I'll be going," Janet said more to herself as she got up and left them alone

"How are you doing, son?" Hammond said as he walked over to O'Neill's bed, his eyes taking in the view of the young man sharing Jack's bed, his head pillowed on Jack's chest.

"Could be better," Jack said as he noticed his fingers running though Harry's hair. Frowning at himself, he continued to touch the soft strands. "I take it you know about the connection?"

Hammond nodded his head. "We have our best people on it trying to figure out what's going on; exploring every possibility. We're also trying to contact the Asgaard to see if they know anything about the new alien or for a way to break whatever been done to you and..."

"Harry," Jack said with a soft smile as he glanced down at his sleeping companion. "His name's Harry."

"To you and Harry," the General said.

"Right," Jack said in a drawn out tone of voice. "So I'm some alien fucking lab rat again but this time with friend?" Jack closed his eyes and let out a bone wearily sigh. "Just please, please tell me it was someone else beside Loki."

"Someone else," Hammond said as he tried unsuccessfully to hide his smirk.

Jack sighed. "I just wish someone would tell me what I did in a previous life to deserve all this shit."

"So do I," Hammond chuckled softly. "So do I."


~*~


With a yawn Harry rolled over and promptly landed on the hard cold floor.

"Good morning," Jack said as he leaned over the side of the bed and looked down at Harry, a smirk on his face.

Harry glared at Jack for a moment before realizing he was in an unfamiliar place.

"Where are we?" Harry asked struggling to his feet only to freeze when he notice the armed Marine guarding the room.

"In a military hospital," Jack said keeping Harry in the dark as much as possible.

"And how did we get here?" Harry asked as he hopped up onto the bed next to the one Jack was on.

"The same way you brought me to your house," Jack replied with an evil smirk and a twinkle in his eyes.

Harry's eyes narrowed at Jack. "I hate twinkles," he mumbled softly.

Jack blinked at him in confusion. "Twinklies? What's wrong with Twinklies?"

"Ah good you're awake," Dr Frasier walked into the room, clipboard in hand. "How are you feeling?"

"Fine except for where he," Harry nodded his head towards Jack as he rubbed his hip, "pushed me out of my bed and I landed on the floor." Harry gave her his best-injured innocent boy look.

Frasier glanced over at Jack, her expression that of a mother dealing with her misbehaving son.

"I did not!" Jack sputtered in outrage as he tried to defend himself from Harry's accusation and Frasier's glare. "He fell out. He rolled out of bed and landed on the floor."

"Colonel," Frasier said simply.

"He fell," Jack said once again. "I didn't do anything."

"Did too," Harry said innocently as he crossed his arms over his chest also as a self-hug.

"Oh you're good," Jack stated as he stared at Harry.

"Jack!" Frasier snapped at the Colonel.

"But... He..." Jack once again sputtered.

"Can you tell me where I am? What happened?" Harry asked drawing Dr. Frasier's attention from Jack. "I mean the last thing I remember was being at home. And being in my own clothes."

"I'm sorry..."

"Harry. Harry Potter,"

"Janet, Dr Janet Frasier, MD," Frasier said.

"Beautiful and talented," Harry said taking Frasier's hand in his, raising it up to his lips, Harry kissed the back of her knuckles.

"Oh please," Jack groaned from where he lay on his bed while a blush came to Frasier's cheeks.

Harry shot Jack a look, then asked, "is he always like that?"

"If you mean rude, crude and disrespectful then yes," Frasier said shooting Jack a look of her own that promised needles in his future, "but on very rare occasions he can be quite charming when he wants to be."

"That has yet to be seen," Harry's comment made Jack stick his tongue out at him but Harry didn't rise to his bait, he simply raised an eyebrow in response.

Frasier shook her head at the Colonel's behavior.

"So can you tell me what's going on? How did I get here? And why he," Harry said with a nod once again toward Jack, "was in my bed?"

"Excuse me, this is my bed," Jack spoke up in his own defense.

Harry crossed his arms over his chest, cocked his head to the side. "Really. And what exactly was I doing in your bed?" Harry glance down at the clothing he was wearing. "And in clothes I'm pretty sure that are not mine? And I don't seem to remember changing into them."

"Umm..." Jack stammered for once at a lost for a comeback to Harry's innuendoes while Fraise silently bit her lip.


~*~


"So how are you doing, Jack?" Major Louis Ferretti asked as he leaned against the door jam.

"Lou, you old dog! What are you doing here?" Jack asked as sat up and swung his legs over the side of the bed. "Should you be on planet P7T-whatever?"

"Two words for you," Lou said as he hopped on to the bed, next to Jack, "Shaun McKnight."

"Again!" Jack exclaimed with a chuckle. "What was it this time? Arm or leg?"

"Hip," Lou replied as he rolled his eyes.

"Ouch!" Jack said with a grimace. "How did he do that?"

Lou shook his head at the memory. "He tripped over what passed for a turtle there."

Jack blinked. "A turtle," he said.

"Yep." Lou looked around asked. "So where's the kid?"

"Frasier has him," Jack nodded toward a door that led to another section of the hospital. "She wanted to run some test on him during our 'window of separation'."

"Poor bastard," Lou said as he looked at the door with pity in his eyes.

"So..." Lou let the word hang out there between them. "How are you really doing?"

Jack ran a hand over his short greying hair as he let out a shaky breath. "Honestly Lou, I don't know."

Lou raised an eyebrow at Jack's comment but remained silent in the hope that Jack would say more.

"Part of me wants to go find /him/, to make sure he's safe." Jack stopped speaking as he gathered his thoughts.

"And the other half," Lou prodded.

"And the other half... the other half of me wants me to run. Run far far away as fast as I can. I don't know how but I know that kid is mixed up in something big. Something very big and very dangerous."

Not waiting for Lou to reply Jack hopped off the bed and started for the door to the rest of the hospital. "Time's almost up."

Lou followed Jack to where he stood watching the door. "We'll figure something out Jack," he said as he places a reassuring hand on Jack's should. "We'll get you out of this mess."

Jack turned and looked at Lou, sad but grateful smile on his face. "Somehow I don't think we will," he said as the door swung open.

Harry seemed to suddenly appear before Jack in a blink of an eye. As one, the two men let out a sigh of relief as Jack's arms encircled Harry's smaller frame.

"So this is Harry," Lou said as he rocked back and forth on the balls of his feet, his hands in his pant pockets.

Harry pulled back from Jack in surprise. His eyes raked over Lou, evaluating him as a friend or foe.

"Harry Potter, allow you to meet my pain in the rear, Major Louis Ferretti," Jack said as in introduction, keeping one hand on Harry at all time. "Lou meet Harry Potter. Don't believe anything," Jack warned Lou. "Harry claims that I pushed him out of bed but he really fell," He explained with confidence that Lou would believe him.

"I was pushed," Harry said with a smirk as he offered Lou his hand.

"I can believe that," Lou said as he shook Harry's hand. "Jack's the type of person who would push someone out of their bed."

Jack opened his mouth. Then closed it. Opened. Closed. "It was my bed and he fell," Jack whined. "And why is everyone believing him over me?"

Lou and Harry shared a knowing smirk.