"Please leave your message at the sound of the beep"
"Jack, come on, wake up, this is Sam, we need to talk"
Beep
"Message number two"
"Colonel O'Niell , this is Teal'c , I am calling to check on your well being."
Beep
"Message number three."
"Colonel, .....Jack, Son , this is General Hammond, I need to see you at the facilty as soon as possible, I'm very concerned."
Beep
"Message number four"
"Jack, this is doc......this is Janet , I think we need to get you in for a physical as soon as possible, tomorrow would be good."
Beep
"Push button to erase all messages.....beep......... All messages erased."
"Damn phone mail, I don't want to talk to anyone, nada, nil, nobody."
IT'S MY PARTY
I didn't remember much about that night but it all came surging back the next morning along with one hell of a hangover. If ever I was a total jerk it was that night. Who ever thought I would want a damn party anyway. What is there to celebrate? I'm one year older and it had been nearly one year since Daniel left.
I got a call from General Hammond earlier that day. He said our planned mission for that morning had been scrapped and that he needed us on base that evening for a special VIP meeting. Oh, great that was just what I needed.
I arrived at the base and everything seemed pretty normal. Unusually quiet, but normal.
That is until I got to the gate room. The gate was decorated with balloons and streamers, for Pete's sake. How lame was that. Everyone came around the corner with wine glasses to toast me,Jack O'Niell, the hero of SCG (LOL) The only thing I remember after that was the speech. I have never been much of a public speaker, especially after a few, ...no, make that several glasses of wine. They wanted a speech, they got a speech, that they or I will never forget.
"I , ah, don't really know what to say. this took me by surprise. And though I appreciate your efforts I am not deserving of any of this. You see nearly one year ago today, I lost my best friend, Doctor Daniel Jackson. He.....Daniel, he's your real hero . If it wasn't for him
none of us would be here tonight, ....Hell, our whole planet might not be here tonight. We might all be walking around with snakes in our heads. Now all we have left of him is a few rocks.....artifacts to study and nameless star on the wall. The world will never know how much he helped them. ......and he will never know how much he helped me. You see I never told him, sure I ridiculed him, I pushed him to become the soldier he never wanted to be."
"When I first meet Daniel, I thought he was nothing more than a longhaired geek, with so much knowledge he didn't know what to do with it. I thought he was just a wimp that sneezed a lot. But did he ever prove me wrong. Hell, he saved my sorry ass on that very first mission to Abydos and he didn't even know me. He saved all of us more times than I can count. I'm not the hero, Daniel is the hero." The tears were starting to fall, my tears had started to fall. I turned towards the gate and held my glass high." Here's to you Daniel, ....my friend, ....wherever you are, you will always be missed. "
I threw the glass through the gate and feeling dizzy I sank to the floor and I cried. I cried for along time. That is the first time I cried since Daniel left our world.
I remember Sam and Teal'c helping me off of the ramp. They must have taken me home because I woke up in my own bed the next morning.
THE MOURNING AFTER
"All messages erased"
RING..........RING.......RING........
That did it . I pulled the phone cord out of the wall. "Now that's better. " I needed a beer, I mean I really needed a beer. I went to the fridge and got one , and sat on the deck and drank it.. It tasted digusting and my stomach was churning but I drank one after the other. I'm not sure why, the more I drank the worse I felt.
Ring.....ring.......ring.
Wait a minute I pulled the plug on that phone.
Ring....ring.....ring.
Damn it, it's my cell phone. I checked my messages. It was Sam. I thought I 'd better call her before she came over in person.
"What's up, Sa......Carter?
"You, I hope."
"Yup, I sure am."
"And you sir, are drunk."
"That would be fur sure"
"Why?"
"Stilla celebratin' "
"Sir, I will be right over."
"Only if you bring more beer."
"Oh, I don't think so. I'll be there in a couple of hours. Don't drink anything else and don't go anywhere."
Man, was I ever in trouble.
HEED THE MESSENGER
I decided to plugg the phone back in. I figured if I didn't start answering it I would end up with a whole house of people. I went to the fridge for another beer but all I found was an empty carton.
Ding ......Dong
Couldn't be Sam, she drives fast , but not that fast.
Ding......Dong
I opened the door and there was a rather petite young woman standing there. She looked a little nervous, so I assumed she was a selling something.
"Whatever you're selling I don't want any, GO AWAY! I slammed the door.
I couldn't stand it anymore I had to get some more beer.
RING.......RING......RING......
I guessed I had better answer that. "I'm not home."
"Look,I know you're home I was just there."
"And I said whatever you're selling ,I DON'T need any."
"Colonel O'Neill, I need to see you, I have something for you."
"Who are you some stalker or something? Just go away." I hung up.
Now I really needed a beer. I decided to go down the street to the drugstore. (No, I didn't drive) I entered the store and went to the alcohol section in the back as I was leaving I spotted her. Damn, she spotted me. As she came towards me I ducked around the corner and ran out of the store. All of a sudden I heard a loud crash. That should slow her down, I thought.
SOMETHING ABOUT SAM
I barely walked in the house when Sam arrived. I don't think she was very pleased with me. I could more adequately say she was extemely pissed.
"Carter"
"Colonel"
"Just what do you think you're doing, Jack, I hope you don't mind if I call you Jack. But I'm here as friend. And what your doing is wrong."
"Carter."
"My names Sam, Jack. For today I'm just Sam, not Carter, not Major, just Sam, just your friend. "
"Carter.......Sam..."
"Don't interrupt me ,Jack. All these months you wouldn't mourn, you wouldn't cry, you wouldn't allow yourself to feel anything. When Daniel appeared to while you were held prisoner you wouldn't even talk to us about it. Damn it , Jack we mourn too. We wanted to talk about it but you wouldn't hear of it. We didn't have time, we had a job to do. We miss him too. Why can't we share this? I need you Jack, as a friend. You don't have to got through this alone. "
"Sam, I couldn't fall apart ,I had to be strong for all of us. I guess I really made an ass of myself. I bet I'm the talk of Cheyenne Mountain . "
"Yeh, but not like you think . Everyone was moved by what you said. They all feel the same way. We all underestimated Daniel."
"Not you ,Carter. You were drawn to him from the beginning. I even thought you had a crush on him."
"Jack, he was married. Brilliant but married."
"Should have known.... brilliant guys always get the girls?"
"Yeh, he did didn't he?"
"Sam, I was supposed to be the hero, not Daniel, That was what I was trained for , Daniel was an explorer, I am the soldier. He shouldn't have even been there, Damn it,it should have been me."
"And your feeling guilty as usual."
"And I'm feeling pretty stupid right now."
"Not stupid, just human, I'm making you some coffeee, while you take a shower. I didn't want to tell you this earlier, but you stink."
"Thanks alot, Cart.........Sam."
We came to understand each other that day. As equals, as friends....good friends.
THE NEXT MISSION
Two days later we were called back to work . General Hammond wanted to give us more down time but one of the other teams had run into trouble on thier mission . Some returned home injured and others were missing, our mission was to bring them home. I found Teal'c in his room and we met up with Sam. Sam had told me about this woman that came to her house, and it was really wierd that the description fit my visitor to a tee. Know wonder we felt like we were being followed to the briefing room. When someone sneezed I actually thought it was Daniel . But it was only a female airman.
We arrived at the briefing room to find the statis of the other team was worse than we thought. Three injured, one critical, and three more missing. They had gone in peace to negotiate a trade for a mineral that was abundant on the planet. And were met with violence. It seemed that they believed the treaty that Daniel had forged with them had died along with him. Retrieving our people would not be an easy task.
Then the door opened and the young female airmen we saw earlier in the hall entered.
General Hammond questioned her presence "Are you authorized to be here?"
"Oh, I'm sorry , I'm new and must have gotten my directions mixed up. I am supposed to go to the research department."
As she turned to leave her briefcase flew open and papers were scattered everywhere. Hammond motioned me to help her pick up her papers.
" The mission is a mistake, you are in danger." She stated and when I got a closer look at her I knew she was the same woman that came to my house and Sam's. She even had the black eye to prove it. She must have realized that I was not happy to see her and she took off running. I followed in quick pursuit down the stairs, through the gate room , and down the hallway. When she got to the topside hatch she opened it a ascended up the ladder. I shone my flashlight up through the opening.
"Damn, what is that ?" A bright light was shining in from the top opening . All I could see was a lone black figure climbing towards the light. Then it happened , she just fell.
The lights must have startled her and she lost her footing.
Then,in a wink, Daniel was beside me.
"Daniel, what are you doing here?"
"Long story, Jack. I could ask you the same question, but we don't have time. use your radio to call some medics, NOW."
I was curious as to his connection to her but I did as he asked.
"Jack, just trust me she's a friend. Go with the medics and tell Janet to give her my bed. Then meet me up top and I will explain everything. I have to go before they get here. Hurry!"
After I was sure she was safe with Janet and I told her all I could which wasn't much I hurried to the surface to meet Daniel. I just couldn't wait to hear his explaination. He was not in a good mood. I almost felt like a kid going before the principal.
"You don't look happy to see me. Ok, Daniel, explain.What's this all about?Who was that?"
"Jack, how about first explaining what the hell just happened?"
I explained to Daniel the events that took place over the last couple of days and how the accident happened. Nope, he wasn't too happy to here about that. After he told me once again what an ass I was and how I wasn't supposed to shoot or other wise maim the Messenger. He told me that he also sent her to see Sam which also did not go well. And this little mission to see Teal'c nearly resulted in her tragic demise thanks to yours truely. Ok,I admit it I can be a real ass sometimes.
After we talked we figured that she must have overheard the details of our mission. And then decided one way or the other she would try to stop it . That ultimately resulted in her leading me to Daniel as a last resort. I explained to Daniel the urgency of this mission and he agreed that it would be a dangerous one. He asked me not to go. But he knew as well as I that I had to go.
"I have to go , Daniel, Hammond is waiting." I climbed down the hatch.
"FLASH" JACKSON
I met Sam and Teal'c at the Stargate and we prepared to embark.
"Jack, " said Sam" Where have you been? We were suppose to leave thirty minutes ago."
"It's a long story, but it will have to wait until this mission is over. Let's go bring our people home."
The chevrons lit up and the wormhole opened. We once again entered the stargate but as I stepped into the horizen I saw a flash of light. We cautiously stepped out onto the steps weapons ready.But suddenly I heard a thump and a loud moan. I turned to see Daniel sprawled across the steps.
"OUCH!"
"What the.....Daniel" I helped him up. "What are you doing here?"
"You're right , Jack. You said it was OUR duty. I had to come. Ouch!" he said rubbing his elbow.
"Daniel, you can't bleed you're not mortal." I realized what had happened,he as back. "But how? Why?"
" I guess I broke a rule. They told me this would happen if I interefered. But I couldn't let my team get slaughtered. So here I am."
"And I'm damn glad to see you, Daniel. Let's go get our guys."
We entered the village with no problems and were welcomed by thier leader who offered us food and water . He lead Daniel to his chamber . They were all so hospitable I was wondering what was up. But after about an hour Daniel emerged with our guy's in tow.
They didn't look so hot but seemed to have no life threatening injuries. Daniel bid farewell the leader with a handshake, Gotta hand it to the boy, he's got a way with people.
"Jack, we can go now."
" Daniel, what just happened?"
"Well, Jack , It seemed that when they thought I was dead they decided to break off relationships with earth. It guess since I was the one that shaped the treaty they decided that it was void, Jack , why did they think I was dead?"
"I guess they kinda got that idea from me."
"Why, Jack?"
"Well how was I supposed to explain something to someone that I don't even understand?
What should I have told them Daniel? They wanted to know where you were. How could I say that you were sorta dead but not exactly. They sure were glad to see you."
" They thought that I ....that I was a ....a...."
"A what, Daniel?"
"I a ... God...It took while to convince them that I wasn't."
"Well I'm glad you got that cleared up. Let's go home,I think there's someone your anxious to see. And Daniel."
"What now, Jack?"
"I'm truely sorry about your friend."
"I know, Jack, now let's go home."
Daniel caught up to Sam and Teal'c on the way back to the Stargate. I stayed behind with the others. I felt they needed some time to get used to Daniel being back. Up until now they hardly said anything as if in disbelief. I was good to have him back.
BACK HOME
Once we returned home Hammond wanted to see us in the briefing room . He said Daniel could be excused to check on his friend. After the briefing we all made our way to the infirmary. We had some apoligizing to do. I arrived first with flowers (hey, how was I supposed to know that, like Daniel,she would be allergic.) And like Daniel, she was also accident prone, and needed glasses to read anything. And like Daniel she would sacrifice anything for someone she hardly knew. As if one wasn't enough.
© September 2003 The characters mentioned in this story are the property of Showtime and Gekko Film Corp. The Stargate, SG-I, the Goa'uld and all other characters who have appeared in the series STARGATE SG-1 together with the names, titles and backstory are the sole copyright property of MGM-UA Worldwide Television, Gekko Film Corp, Glassner/Wright Double Secret Productions and Stargate SG-I Prod. Ltd. Partnership. This fanfic is not intended as an infringement upon those rights and solely meant for entertainment. All other characters, the story idea and the story itself are the sole property of the author.