• SPOILERS : Forever In A Day, The Devil You Know
• SUMMARY : After Sha're's death, Daniel finds himself thinking back on the brief time they had together.
• WARNING: You're going to need the whole box of Kleneex on this one
• PG-13 [A] [S]

Daniel pushed open the door to the break room. In his hand he clutched a small strip of worn fabric. He headed over to the small coffee pot and snagged a mug off of the counter. He poured the coffee into the mug and then just stood there.

He toyed with the small strip of material. It was nothing really. Just a rag really, if that.

It was strip left over from the BDUs he had worn on the first mission to Abydos. The shirt had been pretty useless after the little run in he had with the business end of staff weapon. Sha're had used what was left of it for patches mostly, but this one strip she had kept. He could remember how she would use it to hold her hair back when she would grind the flour for their meals.

When he asked her about it, she would just say she liked the color, but it was more than that. She kept it because it was his. One of the few things he had with him when he came to Abydos. Something of his from his world. Something that marked her as his. His wife. His love. His heart.

Daniel closed his eyes and swallowed against the burning sensation of the tear that threatened to choke him. She was gone. It was real. No coming back. No last minute saves. It was over. He found her only to lose her for good this time.

He leaned his head against the cupboard door. He heard the first chords of a song starting on the break room's small radio.

The ground around Daniel exploded as he ran toward the tent he had seen Sha're disappear into moments before. He emptied the clip of his pistol into one of the Horus guards and hurried to slam another into its place. Suddenly, the ground at his feet erupted in a staff weapon blast slamming him to the ground. Another blast screamed over his head and he looked up. The Jaffa was dead. Daniel glanced over his shoulder and saw Teal'c. That was another life he owed the big Jaffa. Daniel nodded in his direction and took off running again.

He carefully entered the tent. His heart lurched in his chest. Sha're.

She turned to face him, her eyes blazing. Not Sha're, Ammonet.

He raised his pistol. "Where is the boy?"

She glared at him haughtily. "Where you and the System Lords will never find him." She raised her hand and the jewel in the center of the ribbon device flared to life.

"Don't!" He tried to curl his fingers around the pistol, but they wouldn't move. "Don't!" he pleaded.

He found himself enveloped in the deadly golden beam. Pain seared through his head, radiating down his shoulders and arms as he dropped to his knees. "No! Sha're fight it," he ground out.

A cruel smile curled Ammonet's lips. "The host can not help you."

Daniel lay in the infirmary bed. He stared at the pen in his hands. Such a simple thing, but so complex.

"Hi." He looked up and saw Sam standing in the doorway.

"Hi," he answered her softly. Daniel tried to give her smile, but it wouldn't come. He turned the pen over in his fingers.

She held up a small bag in her hand. "I brought you some of these chocolate walnut cookies you love so much."

"Thank you," he said and she set the bag on the small table beside his bed. He held up the pen to her. "Did you ever really study one of these?"

"A pen?" she asked sitting down on the edge of his bed.

Daniel never took his eyes off the small object. "I spent half my life studying the history of the written word. Including how different cultures recorded things though the ages: from hammers and chisels to quills and ink. But I never stopped once to recognize the ingenuity of this simple little piece of technology that we used." He swallowed against the hollow feeling rising in his chest. "After the first team left me on Abydos, Sha're saw me writing in my journal and thought that the ball point I was using was magic." A small smile tugged on the corners of his mouth. "A little device like this pen was such a wonder to her. The simplest things were a wonder to her." Tears started to burn in his eyes and throat. The vast emptiness inside him threatened to rise up and swallow him.

"Daniel, it's healthy to hold on to those memories," Sam said, her blue eyes resting on him.

"I couldn't save her." The pain in his heart spilled over into his voice. "All those wonders we have at our disposal and I couldn't save her." He tried to look up at Sam, but he couldn't. He knew the concern that would be written there. He couldn't deal with that right now. He knew she meant well, but he couldn't, not right now.

He closed his eyes and leaned his head back. "I'm just going to get some sleep, if you don't mind."

"Ok." He heard Sam whisper. Then her foot steps as she retreated towards the door. She paused at the threshold and he looked up. "Let me know if you need anything."

"Thank you," he said, with a small nod.

She forced a wan smile, "'Kay." And then she left.

Daniel let his eyes drift back shut.

Holding you I held everything
For a moment wasn't I a king
But if I'd only known how the king would fall
Hey who's to say you know I might have chanced it all
And now I'm glad I didn't know
The way it all would end the way it all would go

Daniel slowly entered the tent. It was empty. What was he expecting? He really didn't know. None of this was making any sense. His eyes drifted to a dark spot on the woven matting of the floor and his heart lurched. That much he knew was real.

"You are finally here."

He turned to find Sha're standing there dressed in all Ammonet's finery.

He licked his lips, his mouth suddenly dry. "Yes," he said slowly.

"You are the only who can save the boy, Dany-el."

"He's a Harsissus. He has all the memory of the Goa'uld."

Sha're nodded. "Ammonet took the Abydonians as a show. So Heru'Ur will not know her true goal."

Daniel's eyes widened as he started to catch on. "To take the boy."

"She has sent him into hiding with her closest aide," Sha're continued.

"Where?"

Suddenly, Sha're's form twisted and distorted as if something were trying to pull her way. Ammonet! It was Ammonet trying to stop Sha're from telling him about the boy. Things started to click into place in Daniel's mind.

Just as quickly as Sha're started to slip away again, it stopped and she stood there before him, her breath coming in quick, short breaths.

"Kheb."

Daniel frowned. "I know a Kheb. There's a reference in Budge. It was the mythical place Osiris hid from Set." His frown deepened. "Kheb is a myth."

"No," Sha're said softly.

"Where is it?" he asked more insistently. He had a horrible feeling that time was slipping away from them.

"Promise me you will save the child," she pleaded. She cupped his face in her hands. Her touch was warm and tender against his skin.

"I promise," Daniel said pulling her close.

She leaned up and they kissed for one last, one perfect moment.

"Hello." Daniel heard a soft voice form behind him say.

He glanced over his shoulder. "Hello."

Jack walked over and leaned back against one of the break room tables. "Still working on that box from Kasuf?"

Daniel twined the small strip of cloth in his fingers. "Yeah."

"What's that?" the older man asked, nodding in his direction.

"Sha're used to use it to tie her hair back," Daniel said, quietly. "It was from what was left of the uniform I wore when we went to Abydos, the first time."

Jack just nodded.

Daniel sighed and rested his head back against the cupboard. The empty ache in his chest was almost overwhelming. "I miss her so much, Jack."

"I know," he said.

Daniel felt a hand rest on his shoulder. Suddenly, the dam that held back his pain and tears let loose. Ragged sobs shook him as he finally gave into the grief that gripped his heart. He let go, if just for a moment, of walls that he had so carefully constructed around his heart over the last few months. He could feel Jack's strong presence beside him. Not pushing, just being there for him. His anchor. His touchstone.

After a while, the anguish in his heart eased, if just a bit. He sniffed and rubbed at his face with the cuff of his sleeve. Jack handed him a handkerchief. He gave his friend a grateful nod and blew his nose.

"You doing going to be ok?"

"Yeah," Daniel said with more conviction than he would have had a little while ago. "I will." He looked over at Jack. "Thanks."

Jack gave him a crooked smile. "It's what friends are for."

Daniel nodded. "Yeah."

*fin*

Author's Note: Thanks to Dee and her great synops on the ep and to Candace and Lost for the beta. And to Yum@ just listening to me rant...as usual. Thanks guys!!!!

© July 2004

Showtime and MGM/UA owns Stargate: SG-1 and all there in. I'm just borrowing them for a bit, and I promise to give them right back when I'm done. Well, most of them, I might just keep Jack and Daniel for a bit longer.

The Dance is sung by Garth Brooks and was written by Tony Arata. I'm just borrowing it for background music.