• SPOILERS : In the Stargate time line this story is set season three, after the events portrayed in 'Shades of Grey'
• SUMMARY : Jack and Daniel get into trouble when they try to help the natives on a planet.
• PG-13 [A] [D] [HC] [M] [S]

Walking out of the Stargate, the team blinked in the harsh light.  "Welcome to P3X-673.  Why do all other planets look like Earth?" Jack sniped. "Do the Goa'uld have a thing about trees?"

"Well sir, it figures that the Goa'uld would settle humans in Earth-like surroundings," Sam replied.  "Although some Stargate addresses have proved to be inhabitable, it is likely they were once fit for humanoid life.  After all the Goa'uld use humans as hosts and they need certain planetary conditions to survive." 

Jack glanced at her.  "I thought the Goa'uld weren't the ones who originally built the gate?"

"I know that sir, but I…." Sam started to explain but gave up with her mouth still slightly open as she realised her audience was already at the bottom of the steps in front of the gate adjusting his cap. From the angle of his head and shoulders Jack obviously felt he had won that round.

Sam caught up with him.  "Sir, the UAV showed the settlement 15 clicks that way."

"Let's roll, campers." 

As Teal'c approached the edge of the clearing he called, "O'Neill, there appears to be a path leading this way."

"Not exactly a main road," commented Daniel, catching up. 

"Indeed," replied Teal'c. "I do not think the people here make much use of the Stargate."

"But someone's walked down this path," noted Daniel. 

"Recently," Teal'c confirmed.

The path led them into a forest and became increasingly hard to follow.  Teal'c took the lead.  "Jaffa have passed through here; they came from the direction of the Stargate and returned to it several hours later."

The colonel looked at the ground and kicked at some twigs, as he nodded in agreement.  Daniel and Sam glanced at each other rolling their eyes. Teal's ability to glean astounding amounts of information from a couple of broken twigs and some scattered dirt was a mystery to the rest of the team.

"The UAV didn’t see any suspicious signs, but perhaps we should hightail it out of here.  I'm open to input." Colonel Jack O'Neill looked round his team for their opinion, which was normally never too far away.

"Well, I wouldn’t mind knowing why they were here," Daniel said on cue.

"It looked like a small settlement from the data gleaned from the UAV, I wouldn’t mind knowing why the Jaffa were here either…sir," Sam responded, she knew very well that if the colonel had opened the matter to debate it was probable that he wanted to know too.

"Indeed.  The Jaffa appear no longer to be on the planet, if we proceed cautiously we may learn something of interest without sacrificing our safety." Teal'c completed the vote.

"Okay, kids, I know I don’t need to tell you, but be on your guard."

They followed Teal'c along the path through the forest.  After about three hours they emerged from the trees into a clearing overlooking a valley where a settlement could be seen.  The team fell silent as they cautiously came into the open.  Jack looked through his binoculars before passing them on to the rest of the team.  Signs of life were apparent as smoke was rising from the settlement - however that was all that could be seen, as a high stone wall circled the village. 

"Okay, let's see if we can get closer, with Jaffa around I don’t need to tell you to be vigilant. " They approached the settlement from the side.  Once they reached the wall they crept closer to the large wooden doors at the entrance to the settlement - they were open.  "I see they are accepting visitors."

As they got closer to the doors the team slowed down, a growing unease settling on them.  It was quiet, eerily quiet. Just as they were about to enter through the doors, a bedraggled man leaped in front of them yelling "Tom nigut! Nigut!"

The team jumped, Sam's hand reached for her gun while Teal'c readied his staff weapon.  Jack however held his hands out in a gesture of surrender to the unarmed man.  "Hey, calm down!"

Daniel stepped forward.  "We are not here to hurt you, we are explorers from the planet Earth, we come in peace…" He realised this was not getting anywhere and paused.  Say something else…I need more."

The man pointed at Teal'c, "Zatrusevin! Naashanam.h."

"Oh my god!"

"What is it, Daniel?" Sam asked.

"I think he is talking in Sanskrit.  It's one of the oldest languages on Earth, and is thought to be the original language of India, many languages on India and in Europe are supposed to be based on it, and it's here! Wow!"

"Yeah, wow, Daniel, now what is he saying?" Jack looked impatient.

"He said that Teal'c is a destroyer, the server of enemies.  Modern Hindi is a derivative of Sanskrit, so it's not too hard to follow.  I remember some Sanskrit from my studies in…"

"Why don’t you put him right, you know all the 'we come in peace thing'," Jack interrupted.

"Err, yes, umm…" Daniel pointed at Teal'c, "sakhaa, sajjana."  Then he pointed at himself and Jack and Sam, "Me saMdhitsu." The archaeologist stepped forward, unholstering his gun and placing it on the ground before him.  The others pointedly held on to their firearms. "I told him Teal'c was a friend, a good man, and that we wish to make peace."

"Sakhiin.h? pannagAri?" The man looked hopeful.

"Oh my god."

"Daniel if you say that one more time, I swear…"

"Jack, he asked if we were friends, if we were enemies of the serpent."

"The serpent? As in the serpent…Apophis? Okay, Daniel, you get to say, oh my god."

"SadnUta," Daniel replied.  To their surprise the man fell to his knees and with his head in his hands began sobbing loudly.  Daniel walked towards him and helped him up.  "It's all right…eerr...ap zAntay, -yati, calm down..umm..vita? kSemin? Have they gone? Is it safe?"

"Vita, naye kSemin, vita both naashanam.h."

"He says they have gone but it is not safe.  They have gone but they have destroyed."

Jack, Sam and Teal'c entered the gate cautiously with weapons drawn, Daniel bringing up the rear with the distraught man. 

They looked round in disbelief, the settlement had obviously been attacked - the smoke they had seen earlier was the smouldering remains of fires, most of the buildings had been reduced to rubble.  As they proceeded into the settlement, people began to emerge from the ruins of their homes, their faces telling a story of shock and fear; the women holding their children close to their bodies.

"Okay, Daniel, what's going on here?" Jack said addressing Daniel who had been trying to communicate with the man whose name was apparently Tarin.

"Apophis' Jaffa did this, " Daniel informed the others looking shocked.

"Did we just miss them?" Sam looked around at the smouldering dwellings. 

"Certainly looks like it, " Jack stated, looking very grim.

"These poor people, what did they do to deserve this?" asked Sam.

"Well, Daniel?"

"Hold on, Jack."  The linguist was in deep conversation.  After a few minutes he stopped and looked at the rest of the team. "These people are the Vedah, that is significant in itself, but I'll tell you later.  A few days ago they were visited by a man with glowing eyes proclaiming to be their god.  The Vedah however were not very keen to accept him as their god since it is written to be beware of invaders with glowing eyes, I need to find out about that, by the way.  Anyway, Apophis said they had a dharmyaM, a religious duty, to give him the information that they he wanted.  This is where it gets a bit hazy, apparently something about a powerful weapon. The Vedah refused and, well, Apophis did the threatening Goa'uld thing." Daniel waved around at the village.  "Anyway, you see the results.  They have been left to contemplate the error of their ways - Apophis said he would be back in three days, and they had better be ready to get him the information about this weapon or he will torture and kill every man, woman and child." 

"Tell them the Goa'uld came through the Stargate.  We had better leave before Apophis gets here, then they can bury their gate," Sam looked around her, looking a bit unnerved.

"Meanwhile, we'll go and talk to Hammond, I'm sure we can help these folks with some supplies, and a hand to get them back on their feet.  Sam and Daniel stay here, Teal'c and I will go back and see what we can come up with." Jack commanded.

"Umm…" Daniel's hand flew up in the air, "I'm afraid it's not that easy, they are coming back in a Mothership."

"Wow, now that's an entrance," Jack said flatly.

"Jack, we can't let the Goa'uld finish these people off."

"I know, Daniel, we need some more Intel," Jack decided.  "Daniel, you have three hours, go find out what you can.  Sam, Teal'c, see what you can do to help these people, I'll go survey the damage." Jack wandered off somewhat aimlessly.

"Three hours…but that’s not enough to…" Daniel caught the look on the colonel's face.  "Err…okay, I'll see what I can do."

As promised three hours later, Daniel met up with the rest of SG-1.  Sam and Teal'c had set up a very meager first aid station and were patching up some of the villagers who had minor injuries as best they could.  Jack had just come back from scouting the perimeter. They settled down to listen to what the anthropologist had to say.

"This is fascinating, this place is called Aaryavart, which is one of the old names for India.  On Earth, the Vedah, which means knowledge in Sanskrit by the way, the relevance of which you will see in a minute, used to write their scriptures in poems. Actually the date of these scriptures have never been established, the racial, religious and political compulsion forced the authors of the 17^th century to manipulate Indian history and put this in a time frame no later than roots of the classical European civilisation, in all likelihood however, the Vedah had city civilisation while the Europeans were still in caves." Jack coughed, Daniel was getting side-tracked.  Daniel glanced at him then went on.  "Anyway, history tells us that the Vedah were attacked by violent foreigners who wanted to rule, but these foreigners got defeated. At the moment I'm thinking these foreigners were Goa'uld.  There has always been speculation about how advanced the people of that time were, writings suggest they were very advanced but these notions were dispelled by the 17^th century traders with India because theirown technology was so undeveloped, they considered such outlandish technology impossible."

"What sort of technology, Daniel?" Sam asked, her interest rising.

"Well, it's strange that in Sanskrit there is a word for atom and nuclear."

"Really?" Sam was amazed.

"Yep, one of the old scriptures called the Mahabharata discusses the 'Diyastra' which means advanced weapons and the radioactive content in the skeletons at Mohanjodero suggest they may have had a nuclear component."

"How does that tie in with these people now?" Jack was listening now.

"Well, the Vedah emphasised non-violence, they were very peace-oriented and did not like violence in any form which extended to their vegetarianism. They did not use this advanced weapon, as they did not consider it fit. Something similar to not using nuclear weapons in today's world. That’s really as much as we know on Earth."

"But you've found out more here?" Sam asked.

"Yes, they have written scriptures here, and between the ones I've been shown and the information given to me by Mahab, he's the holder of the knowledge here, it seems that the foreign invaders, or Goa'uld, wanted knowledge of the 'Diyastra', the advanced weapon, and war was likely.  Then people called the Puran stepped in, Puran is a Sanskrit word meaning 'the old'.  They rid the Vedah of the Goa'uld and transported those who held the knowledge of the advanced weapon somewhere safe, here, where the knowledge could not be obtained by the Goa'uld."

"Umm…'the old' as in the ancients?" Jack asked.

"Seems likely."

"Cool, so why did they leave them with the Stargate unguarded?"

"I don’t know, Jack, maybe they planned on coming back."

"Anyway Apophis seems to have found out about these Weevils here and now wants information about this weapon, right?" Jack summed up Daniel's explanation.  "Do they have it?"

"Vedah, Jack.  That’s a good question, I have no idea, they didn’t want to tell me."

"Sweet, another case of we can't share technology with you?"

"Probably, but why should they trust us? And in any case, maybe they don’t have the information any more.  I mean why would a pacifist community keep information on how to build a destructive weapon?"

************

General Hammond was not looking very happy when they sat round the conference table.  SG-1 had explained the situation to him.  They had requested military backup to protect the Vedah from the Goa'uld.  "As much as I would like to help these people, we can't keep entering into other people's battles, our resources are stretched as it is." 

"They may have advanced weaponry that could be useful," Teal'c proposed.

"Yes, well they have refused to share and quite frankly we haven't had a good record with people wanting to share advanced technology.  It's doubtful that these people even have this weapon anymore, if they ever did."

Jack had a very intense look on his face.  "With respect, sir, these people's enemy is our enemy, which makes these people our allies, we have a duty to protect them!"

General Hammond looked torn between his personal feelings and the official line, which had obviously come from above.  "I understand your feelings, Colonel, I have talked to Washington, I have been authorised to offer help to these people to relocate, but at this time we cannot offer a military solution."

Daniel looked exasperated.  "But that planet is their home - they don’t want to move.  There will be a Goa'uld mothership arriving at their planet in two days - they will be wiped out if they try to resist, and they will resist."  Daniel's hands flew around as he tried to make his point, then he fell silent, his hands moving in circles with his palms open for a few more seconds till he slumped back in his chair looking beaten.

"Well, Dr Jackson I guess you will have to talk them into it.  They have very few options. We can offer them another home much like their current planet - it is really all we can offer at this point of time."

"Yes sir." Jack acknowledged their orders, looking none too happy.

******************

It took concerted effort and much precious time - but in the end the majority of the Vedah agreed to relocation.  It was the rather unemotional description of what the Goa'uld had done to others who stood in their way told by Teal'c that eventually led to a change of heart, the lack of emotive affect highlighting the lack of mercy Apophis would show the Vedah.  It sounded worse than peaceful or even martyr-like death, something they were more inclined to accept.  The Vedah who agreed to be relocated had been taken through the gate.  It was early in the morning of the third day, and SG-1 were back in the village, trying one last time to persuade the final few villagers to leave.

"Sir, we could be cutting it fine," said Sam, looking at the sun rising in the sky.  "We don’t know when they might be coming back."

"Come on, Daniel, let's roll." Jack called over to Daniel who was still giving an impassioned argument for leaving.

"Sir! We are out of time!" The urgency in Sam's voice was clear as she pointed to the sky.  In the distance a mothership could be seen approaching the settlement.  The remaining villagers watched the spectacle with mouths open in shock.

"OK, we are bugging out now!" Jack looked at the remaining villagers, you can come with or stay, but we have to leave.  Daniel, Teal'c, lets go!"

The villagers looked between the ship and the strangers, their doubt now apparent.  As SG-1 made for the cover of the trees, several of the villagers broke ranks and followed them.  Jack quickly re-organised his team to take a protective stance round the Vedah as they moved through the forest.

"It will probably be a while before Apophis and his Jaffa realise most of the villagers have left and start searching for them, so that gives us some time, but probably not much. So let's step on it," Jack said determinedly.

"Well, let's hope they assume the missing villagers are just hiding as opposed to heading for the Stargate," panted Daniel as he quickened the pace.

They made good time, the thought of pursuing Jaffa adding incentive. The group approached the glade housing the Stargate.

"Okay, looks good. " Jack surveyed the empty clearing, "Daniel, go dial home.  Carter, go to the gate and help these folks through.  Teal'c, you take the left flank."

Daniel ran to the DHD and started dialling while Sam started to escort the group of villagers to the Stargate. Weapons drawn, Jack and Teal'c took up their positions on either side of the villagers, looking for signs of danger.

As the group left the cover of the trees, the sound of a death glider suddenly broke the silence - the Jaffa had obviously found the village abandoned and were now out looking for their quarry.  The group moved with renewed urgency. By the time they got near the gate, it sprung into life - but all hell had broken loose.  The glider was now overhead and firing, more were surely on their way.  As it fired, noise and dust were everywhere, a couple of the Vedah went down, others stopping to help them.  Then things got worse.  Out of the trees, Jaffa emerged firing their staff weapons.  Daniel joined Jack and Teal'c, shooting at the Jaffa.

Sam was helping the Vedah through the gate - finally and miraculously the last of the villagers disappeared through the Stargate.  "Go!" Jack yelled at Sam.  Sam gave one anxious glance over to her teammates and stepped through the gate. Teal'c, Jack and Daniel ran towards the gate, still exchanging shots. 

Teal'c made it to the gate first.  "Go! Go!" yelled Jack.  Teal'c hesitated then entered the gate.  Daniel was the furthest from the gate when a shot from a staff weapon struck him and he fell in a cloud of smoke and dust.  Jack ran towards him, skidding to land next to him "C'mon, lets go," Jack shouted and started to drag him towards the gate.

"Leave me! Go!" Daniel pleaded his voice; heavy with pain. 

"I'm not leaving you behind again." Jack panted as he pulled Daniel towards the gate.  However they had run out of time.  A glider hovered at eye level between them and the gate, poised to fire at point blank range. The Jaffa soldiers were closing in. Jack looked at Daniel, then dropped his gun. They had been captured.

**************************

Daniel groaned.  He felt like shit. They had been dragged and pushed into a dark and dirty looking cell on board the mothership.  It was hot, and the stench of previous occupants was somewhat overpowering.  Jack had helped Daniel lie down on the floor, avoiding a large dark patch he was pretty sure was blood.  He hoped Daniel hadn't noticed it.  Unlikely, considering the pain the other man was in. Jack had torn strips of cloth from the inside of his jacket and used them as makeshift bandages, and was applying pressure to the wound in an attempt to stop the bleeding. The wound looked nasty, it was on the left side, at the bottom of the rib cage, the red surrounded by black scorching.  Part of the wound had been cauterised but blood flowed from the center. Jack could only apply gentle pressure, he was concerned that Daniel may have fractured at least one rib, not to mention possible damage to internal organs.  He had been keeping steady pressure for what felt like forever.  Daniel had his eyes closed, his lip between his teeth.

Jack let go. "I think the bleeding has stopped."

Daniel gave a little sigh and released his lip.  He wasn’t sure he could have taken much more of Jack's doctoring, he was trembling with pain.  "You should have left me behind and saved yourself."  Daniel shivered despite the overly warm temperature in the cell.

"You know I couldn't do that, we don’t leave anyone behind…at least I wont ever again."  Jack did up Daniel's jacket and covered his charge with what was left of his own.

"Are you talking about leaving me on the mothership last year? You had no choice - taking me along would have meant disaster for the mission - and for Earth."

"Well, that didn't make it any easier - a team should always take care of its own."

"Err…."  Daniel looked taken aback. "Well…thanks…err..." Just then two guards approached the prisoners. One opened the cell door while the other kept his staff weapon trained on the prisoners.

"My lord, Apophis, wishes your presence."

Jack stood up "Well, I hate to disappoint him, but my friend isn't up to housecalls, and oh, by the way, you need to fire the cleaner, this place is a disgrace."

The guard with the staff weapon grimaced, then fired a shot into the cell, just missing Daniel. "Okay, okay, we get the point!" Jack hastily replied. He helped Daniel up, wincing as Daniel inhaled sharply at the increased pain the change in position caused.  Jack shot him an anxious glance and supported him by wrapping his arm around Daniel's back as the guards escorted them to see Apophis.

By the time they had travelled through the maze of corridors that led to Apophis' chambers, Daniel was glistening with sweat.  He was trying not to show his pain but little grunts and gasps of breath escaped every few minutes.  They were led to a large room and pushed roughly onto their knees in front of Apophis who sat on a throne like chair.

"Ah, O'Neill and Daniel Jackson, I have been waiting for this moment." Apophis stood before looking down at them.  The pleasure was apparent on his face.  "One of my Jaffa recognised you but I could scarcely believe that the Tau'ri would be foolish enough to cross my path again."

"Its nice to see you too…peachy," replied Jack.

"Enough!  Your meddling in my affairs and the corruption of my people's minds has gone on long enough, and now you steal my slaves. No more.  Now you are in my hands and will be dealt with for your audacity."  He moved closer to them. "Ah, Daniel, I see you are wounded, that is too bad."  Knowing that the use of the man's first name would remind the Tau'ri of their connection through his queen, and Daniel's wife, he allowed himself a smile of satisfaction.

Apophis nodded at the guard to his right who approached Daniel, and unzipped his jacket.

Apophis looked appraisingly at him.  "You should have killed me when you had the chance, Daniel, I was dying and at your mercy, but you had neither the strength nor the will to kill me - your weakness is pitiful.  Do not think I will spare you now." Apophis paused, then his voice slowed and became more deliberate.  "You told me you knew the whereabouts of my son.  So tell me, Daniel, where is the child?"

"What, no blood of Sokar?" Jack quipped.

"Silence!" Apophis demanded, glancing at Jack.  "Well, Daniel, where did you take the child?"

Daniel answered Apophis' question with a stony silence, his eyes fixed on the ground in front of him.  The Goa'uld nodded at a guard who knelt behind Daniel and held his upper arms.  Another knelt beside him and roughly pushed the handle of his staff weapon into Daniel's wound, twisting it as he probed.  Daniel's face twisted in agony, and he cried out in pain.

Jack jumped to his feet and rushed at Apophis, the rage showing clearly on his face.  However he didn't make it very far - a serpent guard struck him back down, hitting him on the left side of his head, leaving a bloody mark. He fell with a grunt, holding his head.

"Well, Daniel Jackson?" Apophis sneered.

"I…shall never…tell you…anything."  Daniel spat out the words filled with hatred.  The guard again applied pressure.  This time Daniel did not satisfy Apophis with a groan, but tears of pain rolled down his face.

Jack was not able to contain himself.  "Lose the guard!  I'll find some answers for you myself! Leave him alone!"

But the ordeal was over - Daniel head dropped and the guard behind him now wholly supported his body.  He had passed out.

Apophis smiled.  "Do not worry, O'Neill, if he dies, I shall put him in the sarcophagus and we will start again.  As for you, I find your reaction to my interrogation methods amusing - you will watch as I break him.  Then there is much that you will tell me - the iris codes for the Tau'ri world amongst other things.  Once I have what I want, you will both become hosts.  I will enjoy looking at your bodies and remembering my victory." He nodded at the guards. "Return them to their cells."

The guards pulled Jack onto his feet and prodded him towards the corridor.  Two guards grabbed Daniel by the wrists dragging him face down, leaving a smear of red on the shiny floor.

Jack kept twisting his head round trying to see Daniel.  "For godsake, at least carry him!" The sight of his friend dragged around like a bag of garbage incensed him. 

The guard behind him answered him with another prod with his staff weapon.  "Move, Taur'i."

Jack had no choice but to keep moving, the quicker he walked, the faster Daniel reached the cell.  God only knows what that stretched position was doing to his injury. Once they had reached the cell, the guards pushed Jack into the cell and flung Daniel in after him.  Jack tried to intercept the unconscious man's body but he fell heavily onto the hard floor.  Jack gathered him up in his arms, speechless.  The look on his face would have had anyone at the SGC running for cover.

Jack lowered Daniel's head to the ground; the wound had started bleeding again as a result of the mistreatment, blood soaking the bandages.  Jack again tore at his jacket , using his teeth to make more bandages.  He put these bandages over the existing ones and again applied gentle pressure.  After a while his arms began to tremble, he felt exhausted.  He removed his hands and sat back on his haunches surveying Daniel, his face grim.

He was completely frustrated at the position he found himself in.  The wound wasn’t clean, the bandages weren't clean, the surroundings weren't clean. At least the bleeding seemed to have slowed, but Daniel was extremely pale, his skin felt cold and clammy and he was still sweating.  Jack felt his pulse, it was much too rapid, and he was worried that Daniel was going into shock.

Jack pressed his palms up to his forehead, he hated being this helpless, how had he let this happen?  After a few minutes his hands dropped and he looked at Daniel, the older man's face softening as he reached out his hand and stroked Daniel's face gently.

He didn’t know how Daniel had wormed his way into his heart but he had, past all the sturdy walls that surrounded his heart, his soul.  Daniel the geek.  Man, he didn’t even think about geeks in the same way anymore, not that he would admit it to anyone, least of all Daniel.  Daniel had made him change his thinking about a lot of things.  Sure, Jack tried to hide how he felt, and, especially initially, had covered it up with an apparent lack of caring.  Jack remembered how he had greeted, or should he say not greeted, Daniel when he returned to Abydos after that year's absence.  In that year away from Daniel he had forgotten the effect the guy had on him.  After a year away from Daniel, he'd convinced himself that the geek was another scientist, a talker, not military. But then Daniel had blown him away all over again, the kids, the moonshine, that kiss, then that goodbye.  Jack had stood there dumbstruck as he realised what Daniel meant to those people.  Daniel the geek.  Daniel the man who made an impression on everyone he met, re-wrote the rulebook, made Jack care again, want to be alive again. How did he do that? Daniel really talked to Jack, cut the bullshit, didn’t pussyfoot it around him like others did after the death of Charlie, damn it, even died for him.  Nope, Daniel was something else.  Maybe the reason he ignored Daniel when he went back to Abydos was not that he disliked the geek, but was because he was pissed that the geek had stayed behind.  Jack saw how he had hurt Daniel with his dismissal, a tiny voice told him he felt some satisfaction that he had got his own back.  He winced.  Like he had hurt him with the whole 'our friendship has no foundation' bit.  Daniel didn’t deserve the hurt, never had, and didn’t now.

"Damn it, Daniel." Jack's eyes misted slightly. "I'm sorry."

*************

Daniel remained unconscious for several hours.  Jack was grateful for small mercies, the archaeologist wasn't exactly missing anything.  Jack tried to nap, conserving the energy he hoped to use later, but his eyes snapped open as he heard Daniel groan as he came to. 

"Ja…Jack."

"I'm here, Daniel, right here."

"Goo..d.  How long have I been out?"

"Just a bit," Jack lied.  "You missed all the fun, Apophis had pizza and beer delivered, I would have saved you some but it was too damn good."

Daniel smiled warily. "Can never trust you with pizza and beer."

"Nope, I guess not.  How you doing Daniel?"

"Oh, okay, not too bad, is it cold in here?"

"A bit." Lying was becoming a habit.

"Have you rung down to the reception desk?"

"Damn, didn’t even think of it, just as well you are awake, I'll do it now."

"Good."

There was a few moments silence.

"Jack?"

"Yeah?"

"I understand what you have to do.  You can't tell them anything, no matter what they do to me, I know."

Jack looked at Daniel miserably, he didn’t know what to say.

"I'm just sorry you are here, it was my fault, I wasn’t fast enough."

"Hey, it could have happened to any of us."

"It doesn’t though, does it? It always happens to me, and this time I took you down with me." He knew he wasn’t military; not a solider or a warrior like Jack, Sam and Teal'c, he seemed to be a walking talking target.

"You do seem to get more than your fair share of trouble," Jack grinned as he tried to lighten the mood.  Daniel sure did seem to get more than his share of pain, but he didn’t think it was the archaeologist's fault as such, it was just…well, what was it…the universe being unfair?  Daniel had changed a lot since his first days with the SGC.  He was fitter, had become a pretty good shot, even followed orders…some of the time.

"Hey come on, we will get out of this." Jack tried the old morale booster line.

"Don’t blame yourself if we don’t, if I don’t."

"Come on, Dr Jackson, that’s enough.  I'm sure Teal'c and Sam and the rest of the SGC are organising our rescue now.  We'll just hang in there till they get here, okay?"

"Sure, Colonel." Daniel couldn’t let the 'Dr Jackson' slide even in the morose mood he was in

"Okay then."

As predicted, consciousness was not necessarily a good thing.  Jack tried to use light-hearted humor to distract Daniel from the pain but the younger man's responses became shorter and shorter, as his energy ebbed away.  Eventually he fell silent, his eyes staring and glassy with pain, his breath short and shallow.  Blood from Daniel's wound had seeped through the makeshift bandages, now covering a large portion of his top and the top of his pants. Jack heard guards coming back down the corridor and stood up.  He wasn't sure what he was going to do - but he wasn't going to stand by while his friend was hurt. "Not again," he muttered under his breath. "Not again."

But it wasn't the guards.  It was Teal'c and Sam accompanied by a Jaffa that Jack did not recognise. "About time someone showed up." But the delivery of the usual Jack wisecrack sounded weak, and the relief was evident in his body language.  Teal'c used his staff weapon to open the cell. Sam shot a concerned look at Daniel before handing Jack a Zat.  The look that the major and the colonel exchanged spoke volumes.  They knew Daniel's situation was serious but the priority was to get the heck out of there. Jack and Sam helped a barely responsive Daniel up, supporting him while Teal'c and the other man whose name was Dyt'ec took point. 

Sam brought Jack up to date with events.  "General Hammond called in all favours from anyone who could help.  The Tok'ra had an operative aboard, they weren't happy to risk his exposure at this stage, but General Hammond can be very persuasive. Bra'tac came to the party and between him and troops from the SGC we got through the gate - Dyt'ec helped us onto the ship and well...here we are."

"Well done, Major."

Sam allowed herself a small smile in response to the complement.  Jack knew it wouldn't have been as easy as Sam made it sound - but he felt damn proud of the SGC.

"The guards in this section have been dealt with," said Dy'tec.  "They had just come on duty, no one will notice your absence till the next duty roster."

"Sorry for the delay, Colonel, but we though it best to wait till the new guards came on duty.  We need as much time as possible to get through the forest before the alarm is sounded."

"That’s okay, Major, we weren't doing much anyway."

"It is also dark now which will cover our movement away from the ship," Teal'c contributed.  It was the first words Teal'c had said since releasing them from the cell, he was very much in Jaffa mode. "There are transporter rings just ahead." 

They reached the transporter rings without incident.  Daniel was obviously trying to hold in the pain, but little groans escaped every few minutes.  He was bleeding freely again, the makeshift bandages were not able to withstand the movement, blood running down his legs.

Jack and Sam were still supporting Daniel but had zats drawn and ready as they ringed down to the planet's surface.  Luckily as Teal'c had predicted, darkness provided them cover and they were able to slip into the shadows of the forest without being spotted.

"I have to leave you here, I am sorry but I can go no further," Dry'tec said as they entered the forest.

"Your assistance was most welcome," Teal'c responded bowing slightly.

"Yes, thank you for your help, we could not have done it without you," Sam echoed.

Dry'tec inclined his head.  "Here, you will need this to make your way through the forest.  "He handed Teal'c a flat circular object then disappeared back towards the ship.

"I have my pack behind those trees, we should try and stop that bleeding before we set off." Sam looked at Daniel in the darkness.  She knew things weren't good.

Jack and Teal'c lay Daniel down on the ground while Sam got her pack.  He was soaked through and shivering; the effort of getting off the ship had taken its toll.  Teal'c activated the device that Dry'tec had given him.  A soft natural glow surrounded them as if the moon's light had intensified. "I believe this will be more useful than the flash lights you have, we do not want to be detected." 

Sam knelt down and opened the pack, while Jack removed the cloth surrounding the wound.  It was hard to see Daniel's condition even with the illumination Teal'c was providing.  Sam put on latex gloves then cut away the bandaging. She glanced up at Jack.  "You may need to hold him down, sir."

Jack moved behind Daniel and pulled Daniel's head onto his lap.  Sam used the alcohol wipes and the packet of antibiotic cream before applying the trauma dressing, pressing down on the wound.

"Sorry, Daniel," she whispered as Daniel bit his lip and turned his head into Jack's lap.       

"There, Daniel, all done."  Sam took out a couple of Tylenol and the canteen of water.  "Here, you'd better take these; I don’t want to give you the morphine injection.  Let's see how far you can get under your own steam."

She didn’t need to say 'any morphine would knock you out in your exhausted state and we might not make it if we have to carry you the whole way' but Daniel understood.  He nodded, as Jack helped him sit up and took the tablets and water canteen in his trembling hands. 

"Drink as much as you can, you must be dehydrated." Daniel nodded.  "You too, Colonel."  Sam handed Jack another canteen of water.  "I have some energy bars here too."

"Thanks, Major, I bet energy bars never tasted so good."

Sam was staring at Daniel who was looking worried.  The reason why became apparent as he lurched to the side, vomiting the water he had just consumed.

"Oops." Sam waited until the heaving had stopped. "Daniel, you need to keep the water down. Let's try giving you smaller sips more often."

Daniel smiled apologetically at Sam.  She rested her hand on his leg in a comforting gesture before turning her attention to Jack.  She hadn't missed the blood on his face back on the ship. "Are you okay, sir.  Anything I need to know?"

Jack shook his head.  "No, Major, I'm fine." 

Sam nodded and stood up.  "We should get going, sir.  We should try to reach the stargate before light."

"Right you are, Major.  C'mon, kids it's time to go."  He helped Daniel onto his feet and steadied him as he swayed. "You going to make this?"

"Yep, Jack, just a head rush, I'm fine."

Jack looked at him disbelievingly, but under the circumstances it was better to accept the lie.  They started walking with Teal'c leading the way and providing the light they required not to break their necks on the roots and foliage.  The going was slow; they stopped every so often to provide a break for Daniel and to get more fluid into him.  Jack and Sam stayed close to Daniel, providing support when he stumbled, as he frequently did.  He was moving on automatic pilot, his eyes on his feet, trying to persuade his legs to keep him upright and moving.  Daniel was nothing if not determined - stubborn, some would call it - but it came in damn useful at times like these.

It was several hours before they approached the clearing the Stargate was in.  By this time it was dawn, the early light providing them with a clear view of the Stargate.  They stopped and looked at it in dismay. Daniel crashed into Teal'c as the big man came to a halt.  Daniel was only present in body, his mind had left a few hours ago, surrendered to the automatic pilot. 

In front of the Stargate were the SGC troops, all lined up and surrounded by Jaffa.  "And just when you thought the day had got as bad as it was going to get..." Jack sat down, partly in exhaustion and Sam and Teal'c helped lower Daniel to the ground his back against a tree, noting the glazed expression in his eyes. "Its only a matter of time before the serpent guards realise we are missing no matter what Dyt'ec has done to cover our trail.  We have to make a move - fast.  I'm open to ideas."

Just then there was a rustle behind them.  Guns were drawn, then lowered as Bra'tac and another Jaffa emerged from the trees.  "I am glad to see you well, O'Neill"  Bra'tac said, before looking at Daniel, noting his distress. "How is our brother in arms?" 

Sam was kneeling by Daniel's side.  He was too pale, but the shivering had stopped.  Sam's initial pleasure at this observation was replaced by a frown as she felt the heat radiating from him. "We might be here a while; I'd better have another look at you, Daniel."  In the morning light she could see the damage that had been done.  Bruising had spread over much of his upper torso, and the skin around the wound was now angry, red and swollen, the area hot to the touch.  She didn’t remove the bandages for fear of starting the bleeding again which seemed to have stopped.  "He's lost a lot of blood, sir," she said addressing Jack, "it also looks like the wound is infected, he's running a fever.  Do you need the morphine injection, Daniel?"

Daniel gave a barely perceptible shake of his head. Sam got out another couple of Tylenol and water and gave them to him, helping him swallow them then turned to Jack.  "We have to get him back, and soon."

"Well, this day just keeps getting better," Jack muttered under his breath.  "Well, Master Bra'tac, if you have any ideas, now is the time."

Bra'tac flung his cape over his arm and knelt on one knee. "We are here and the Chaapa'ai there." He drew a circle in the earth.  "I suggest we attack from these directions, here and here," he said marking crosses. "Qu'tec here will provide a distraction," he said introducing the Jaffa who was with him, "he will approach with Daniel from this position and say that he is transporting the prisoner." 

At this there were objections from both Jack and Sam.

"No way."

"He's not up to it."

"We have limited man power.  We must cause a distraction and have enough able bodied men to mount a successful attack from two directions."

Sam looked a bit peeved at his exclusion of her gender.

"It's okay, guys, I can do it."  They looked round with some surprise.  Daniel had sat up and whilst he still appeared shaky, his eyes had cleared somewhat.

Jack looked at Sam and Teal'c with more hope.  "What do you think, guys? I think we can give this a shot."

Sam and Teal'c nodded.  "The plan has some merit," remarked Teal'c.  "It is customary for at least two guards to accompany a prisoner, but as Master Bra'tac says, we cannot afford that luxury."

"Okay, we have a go," Jack ordered in a more positive manner.

***********

The plan went remarkably well.  Qu'tec and Daniel stepped out of the shelter from the trees.  As they approached the other Jaffa, questions were asked, and while they were distracted, Jack and Sam ran in firing from one flank, whilst Teal'c and Bra'tac ran in from the other.  The Jaffa were taken by surprise and the captured SGC troops took advantage of the situation by attacking from the center.  It was over in only a few moments.  It was the Jaffa's turn to be the captured ones, the Jaffa who remained standing, that is.  Everyone started to move to the middle of the clearing in front of the gate.  Suddenly there was a yell from behind them.  It was Daniel.

"Leave me alone, I'm not going with you!" Daniel had a Zat in his shaking hands and was pointing it at Qu'tec. 

"For crying out loud.  What the heck is going on now?" Jack sounded like he had just reached his last straw.

SG-1 cautiously approached Daniel, the others keeping their distance. 

"Daniel, what are you doing?" asked Sam as she drew closer to Daniel.

"Keep back! He's trying to take me to Apophis!" Daniel looked desperate and was visibly swaying, the zat making circles in the air.  Qu'tec stood his ground unsure of how to react.

"Daniel, he is with us. We are taking you home," Sam tried to reason with him. "Sir, he's delirious."

"Ya think?"

Teal'c stepped closer. "It is true, Daniel Jackson.  We are all trying to help you, we are your friends."

"Stay back! Stay back! You're all Goa'uld! You're trying to trick me!  I'm not going with you!"

"For crying out loud!" Jack muttered, under his breath this time.  "Daniel, it's me!  I'm not leaving you behind, remember.  We're all part of the same team.  We're all going home."

"You're a Goa'uld! Why should I trust you? You've lied to me before. You've lied before!"

"Daniel, trust me - it's me.  I'm not a snake-head.  I'm…me," Jack stated with his usual eloquence.

Daniel's whole body appeared to sag slightly; his strength and his resolve were weakening.  "How…how do I know that?" Daniel looked uncertain and on the verge of tears.

"Because..." Jack gave Daniel an 'isn't it obvious' look.

"Oh," said Daniel simply as his knees gave way and he collapsed to the ground.  Sam and Jack reached him at the same time.  "Sorry…sorry," Daniel was muttering.  "What am I doing?" He looked so lost that Jack softened his voice.

"It's okay - you will be okay, we're you taking home." Jack hand cradled Daniel's face as the other hand was placed reassuringly on his arm. " Hold on, Danny."

"It's okay, Daniel, you have a fever, you're not yourself." Sam touched his forehead and looked at Jack, the concern clear in her eyes.  "He's is burning up."

Daniel's eyes rolled back, his eyelids closing.  Jack tapped Daniel's cheek.  "C'mon, Danny, stay with us, we're nearly home.  Hang on, Daniel." 

Daniel's head lolled to the side; he was showing no signs of life except for the raspy breaths coming from his partly opened mouth.

"Dial us home!" Jack yelled at no one in particular.

*****************

General Hammond rushed out of his office as the klaxons sounded "Incoming traveller." Hammond entered the control room "Its SG-3."

"Open the iris!" The general rushed down the stairs to the gate room.  "Get a medical team here."

He needn't have spoken.  Doctor Fraiser entered the gateroom, her team ready.  The Stargate burst into life and the iris was retracted.  There was no activity for a moment, then Johnson from SG-3 shot out of the event horizon yelling for a medical team.  SG-1, Bry'tec, Qu'tec and the rest of SG-3 followed, with Teal'c and a rather worse for wear Colonel O'Neill carrying an unconscious archaeologist.  The gate shut off behind them as they lowered Daniel to the floor. 

Janet and her medical team converged upon Daniel. The rest of the personnel in the gateroom stood silently, listening to the urgent tones as the medical team made their initial assessment.

"Blood pressure 80/30."

"Pulse is rapid and thready."

" He's tachycardic..."

"…hypotensive…"

"Get an oxygen mask."

"We may have to intubate."

With a whirl of activity, Daniel was placed onto a gurney and rushed out of the gateroom.  General Hammond turned to Jack who was very obviously itching to follow Daniel. "Welcome home, Colonel, looks like you had better go take a number in the infirmary."  As Jack left the room at a trot, he turned to SG-3 and the rest of SG-1.  "Well done, we will debrief in an hour.  Master Bra'tac, would you come with me?"

**************

"Colonel, wait up," Sam and Teal'c caught up with Jack as he approached the infirmary. 

"Major, I'd better go in alone, I'm supposed to be in there, they can't throw me out.  I'll come out and fill you guys in as soon as I know anything."

Teal'c inclined his head in acceptance as Sam nodded, glancing at the plastic chairs outside the infirmary which were obviously going to be her station for the next few hours.

Jack slipped into the infirmary and quietly hopped up onto a bed near the flurry of activity that was surrounding Daniel.   He figured if he stayed as invisible as possible he might be able to figure out how Daniel was getting on.

Between the amazing amount of people gathered round Daniel, he could see that they were cutting off his clothes and attaching monitors to him.

"Colonel, apart from this wound in his chest, are there any other injuries I need to be concerned about?" Janet called out without turning her head.

How the heck did she do that? So much for black ops stealth.  "Um…no Doc, he lost a lot of blood and I think the damn thing is infected."

Janet made a noise of disapproval as she uncovered the wound. "No kidding, Colonel, I think you could say that." The wound was weeping pus, the area red and swollen.

"Get a portable x-ray unit in here."

"How is he, Doc?"

"Septic shock Colonel.  I know it's hard but I need you to sit there quietly while I do my job."

"No problem, Doc…he is going to make it, right?" Jack couldn’t help himself.

"I'm doing my best, Colonel."

"Yes, Doc."

One of the nurses called out, "BP has fallen to 70/40."

Janet swore under her breath.  "Daniel, I need you to hold on!"

Dr Warner came, and after seeing to Jack's head wound, told him he was dehydrated and exhausted.  Jack could have told him that.

"I could put you on an IV, but if you can guarantee me that you will drink eight glasses of water in the next six hours, I will discharge you."

"Umm...maybe the IV thing would be a good idea."

Dr Warner stared at the colonel for a few seconds, and then a look of understanding crossed his face. "Colonel, I promise as soon as we know anything about Dr Jackson, we will let you know."

"I don’t know anything now!"

Suddenly there was an increase in the commotion surrounding Daniel's bed.

"Calm down, Dr Jackson.  Dr Fraiser!"

Jack jumped up and dived to Daniel's side.  Daniel was thrashing about on the bed trying to sit up.  "Hey, hey, it's okay.  Daniel, we're home, I'm here."

"Jack?" Daniel stopped fighting, eyes searching for Jack's face, his face scrunched up in pain.

"Here, Daniel, here." Jack guided Daniel's head until they were facing.  He was shocked at the heat radiating from his friend.

"Jack…" Daniel let out a sob. "Jack, what's going on? Everything is all over the place."

"What? Err...we're home, Daniel. Do you remember? We got the Vedah to safety, you got shot, Apophis? Any of this ringing a bell?"

"I was shot, a staff weapon."

"That’s right, Daniel, but we're home now, you are safe."

"But why is everything moving?" Daniel gasped, as pain shot through his side.

"What? What is moving?"

"Everything." Daniel looked round wide-eyed.  "Am I dreaming?"

Janet came round to the other side of Daniel's bed.  "What is it, Daniel?"

"The merry-go-round, it's back.  Make it go away."

"Daniel, I think you are hallucinating.  You have a high temperature."

"That’s why it's back."  Daniel reached out for Jack's hand and held on tight. "Jack, I'm not back there, right?"

"No, Daniel, we left the planet, we're home."

"No, Jack, the merry-go-round…I…I don’t want to go back there!"

Jack looked at Janet, appealing for help. "You are here, with me, see, I have your hand."

"Hold on tight, Jack, don’t let me go back there."

"I've got you, Danny, you're safe."

"It's okay, Daniel, we are going to get your temperature down.  Relax, the Colonel will stay with you." Janet looked at Jack.  "I have given him all the sedation I can right now, but he's fighting it.  Try to calm him down."

Jack cupped Daniel's face with his free hand. "Look at me Daniel, I’m here, I will stay with you, you are not going anywhere, we will make all the bad stuff go away…okay?"

Daniel's eyes watered and tears started to run down his cheeks; the pain and his internal battle were overwhelming him. "Okay, Jack, tell me I'm here, Jack, talk to me.  I don’t want to see the merry-go-round, keep me here…please, Jack, please." His grip on Jack's hand tightened even more.

"Okay, Daniel, I'll sit right here and talk to you.  We'll let Dr Fraiser do her job.  Just focus on me, Daniel."

Daniel nodded, his eyes wide and bright with fever.  Jack talked softly to him, talked about anything he could think of, about Sam and Teal'c, about pizza and beer, videos and hockey, rocks and artifacts, anything he could think of as he watched Janet and her team out of the corner of his eye.  He saw them hooking Daniel up to IVs, and monitors, giving him blood, oxygen, saline and god knows what else, probably re-hydrating him, medicating him with antibiotics, and painkillers, everything in their arsenal.  They placed cooling pads around him in an attempt to lower his temperature.

After a while Daniel's ragged breaths slowed and his eyes drifted shut. Jack kept talking for a while, then stopped and sighed in relief.

He looked up questioningly at Janet who was standing by the bed, observing the two men. "Come on, Colonel, better not talk here."

Jack slowly and carefully extracted his hand from Daniel's grip.  When there was no response, he got up and accompanied Janet out of the infirmary doors.  Sam and Teal'c practically pounced on them as they exited through the doors.

"How is he, Janet?"

Jack was taken aback, he had been so involved, he had forgotten the rest of his team was out here on tenterhooks, Damn!

Janet took a deep breath.  "Maybe we had better sit down".

No one moved. "Well, I need to sit down even if you don’t."  She pulled up a chair and sat down, the others followed suit.

"First the good news.  There appears to be no internal injuries, which is very lucky because quite frankly if there had been, I don’t think he would have made it back."   She paused.  "He is very sick.  He's lost a lot of blood, which we are attempting to replace.  He's also severely dehydrated which we are also trying to remedy." Janet paused again and took a deep breath - Jack knew the worst was coming.  "The staff weapon blast fractured a couple of ribs but the problem is that the wound has become severely infected.  He is suffering from septic shock, his blood pressure is dangerously low, his temperature is currently 105° which is unsustainable without causing further damage.  The hallucinations are a product of his temperature, the confusion, restlessness and agitation are all part of the symptoms of septic shock.  His heart rate is way too fast, and his first blood work up has just come back.  Blood gases show low oxygen concentration and acidosis and there are early indications of poor organ function.  ECG shows his heart is losing its ability to pump blood efficiently, which is effecting his other major organs.  We have to be prepared for organ failure. We are doing all we can.  He is on antibiotics and intravenous fluids to restore blood volume, vasoactive drugs to treat the low blood pressure, and intropic agents to aid his heart's ability to pump blood, but I need to tell you, septic shock has a high death rate, exceeding fifty percent, depending on the type of organism causing the infection and the degree of organ failure."

A stunned silence greeted her words. "I know this is hard to hear, but I felt it's important you that know where we stand and have a realistic idea of what to expect."

"He is going to make it, Doc." It looked as though it was a very good idea that Jack was sitting down. "I should go back in, he needs me to be there, keep him calm."

"I think that’s a good idea, Colonel, but he won't be awake for a while, the drugs have finally put him out.  Why don’t you go have a shower and a bite to eat, then come back?  I'd tell you go have a sleep, but I think I'd be wasting my time."

"But what if he wakes?  I promised him I'd be there."

"He won't, Colonel, you have time to shower and eat."

"Can we see him, Janet? Then if he does wake someone will be there."

"Okay, Sam. How about that for a deal, Colonel?"

"Okay, but if he shows signs of waking, I expect to be called. Teal'c, Carter, that’s an order."

"Yes, sir."

"Do not worry, O'Neill, DanielJackson will be in safe hands."

"Thank you, Teal'c."

*******************

It had been two days, which in itself was a good sign, according to Janet.  Daniel was still in there fighting. It had been pretty hairy there for a while; Janet was worried about his organ function and breathing.  She had hooked him up to a Swan-Ganz catheter so she could monitor his cardiac output, but his breathing had deteriorated to such an extent that she had to place him on a ventilator.  However his temperature had fallen to a more reasonable level.  The antibiotics were still fighting the infection, but hadn't yet won the battle.  Jack was still there with Daniel.  Janet had ordered him out at one stage, forced him to get some rest, but on the whole, she let him stay.  On some level this worried him, it was like she was allowing him to say goodbye.

Daniel's hand twitched.  Jack sat up, did he imagine that? The hand twitched again, Daniel started to move restlessly.  Jack called to the nurse over his shoulder "Go get Dr Fraiser, I think he's waking up."  The nurse nodded silently and left. 

Daniel was getting more and more restless. Suddenly his eyes snapped open and he began to buck on the bed.  "Daniel, Daniel, I'm here, take it easy, you have a tube in your throat, take it easy."

The monitors beside the bed began to protest.  Daniel's wide eyes looked panicked.

Jack held down one shoulder, worried that he might hurt himself.  "Dr Fraiser is coming, Daniel, take it easy, damn it!"

Janet rushed up to the bed. "Daniel, can you hear me?  I need you to keep still.  Hold him, Colonel.  Orderly! Calm down, Daniel! You might hurt yourself, you have a tube in your throat and a catheter monitoring you heart.  You need to calm down now!" She moved aside to allow the orderly to help Jack restrain Daniel, she was worried about that catheter.  Daniel now had his chest pinned to the bed.  "Daniel, can you hear me?"  There was a slight nod of the head.  "I'm going to take the tube in your throat out, that should make you feel better, okay?" Another slight nod, Janet maneuvered into position.  "Right, take a deep breath in and blow it out on the count of three.  One, two, three."  Janet pulled out the impossibly long tube and Daniel made a horrible gagging sound.  "Take steady breaths, Daniel, let's see how you do."

Daniel took some gasping breaths and shuddered.

"Come on, Daniel, slow and steady, don’t try to talk, concentrate on your breathing."

Daniel carefully took some breaths and his body began to relax.

"That’s good, Daniel.  Okay, Colonel, Walker, you can let go now." The duo slowly released their grips.  "Colonel, you want to give Daniel some ice chips? His throat won't be feeling the best."

Jack grabbed some ice chips and carefully spooned a few into Daniel's mouth.  Daniel give him a grateful look.

"Why don’t you sit with him a while, Colonel?  Take it easy, Daniel, I'll be back in a few minutes.  I need to get some equipment.  I have to run some more tests, I'm afraid. I'll let the colonel here fill you in on what's been going on.  When I come back, I'll fill you in on the medical details."

Janet walked away, leaving Jack to tell Daniel what had happened since their journey through the forest.  He figured, correctly, that Daniel wouldn’t remember what had happened.  In a few minutes Janet was back and asked Jack to leave while she tended to Daniel.

************

Daniel was talking now, much to Jack's relief.  It just wasn’t Daniel to be quiet, but an uneasy silence had descended once Janet had left them.  Jack was racking his brains for something to talk about.

"So, Daniel, I have a question for you."

"Yes?"

"When you were, well, sick, you talked about a merry-go-round, and not wanting to go back.  Care to fill me in?"

There was silence.  Daniel looked a bit stunned.  "Yeah, I think I remember that."

"And?"

"Well, it's kinda a long story."

"I'm not going anywhere.  Bedside vigil mean anything to you?"

Daniel looked guilty.  "You don’t have to stay here, you know.  I'm feeling better."

"That's not what I mean, Daniel," Jack sighed. "I'm your CO.  I'm supposed to look out for you."

"Oh, right," Daniel replied.  The colonel had his duty to do.

"And you are not well yet, Doc says...anyway, you're changing the subject!"

"Yeah, well."

"Well?" Jack looked about to burst.

Daniel took a deep breath.  "Well, when I was young, I got sick a fair bit, you know travelling round Egypt and stuff, I nearly died once when I ate day old rice.  Anyway, medical help wasn’t always available and I used to have pretty high fevers.  Some of those fevers were so high that I used to hallucinate.  Apart from seeing things flying around I used to have these recurring visions of a merry-go-round.  No idea why, I mean, I don’t even know if I had ever seen a merry-go-round in real life". Daniel stopped, pausing for breath.  "For some reason I found it frightening...it was the music I think."  He seemed to get lost in thought, then gave a little shrug, wincing.  "No idea why," he repeated.  "My parents died after being in New York for a couple of days, we had just got back from Egypt.  The next day I got sick again; even though this time I was sent to hospital, I was pretty out of it, you know losing your parents tends to do that, especially when you are sick.  Anyway, I saw the merry-go-round again.  Not only did it frighten me but somehow it also got all mixed up with my parents dying, I guess."  Daniel paused again; the exertion of talking seemed to be taxing him.  "This time when I saw the merry-go-round, well, it took me somewhere I haven't been for a long time, somewhere I didn’t really want to go." A look of pain crossed Daniel's face, his eyes shining too brightly.  He looked off away from Jack, his hand fidgeting with the sheet.

"Thanks for telling me, Danny." Jack's voice was soft.  "It must have been tough."

The young man drew his breath in sharply at the name only his parents and Jack had ever been allowed to call him, his eyes filling with tears.  He didn’t know why he was reacting this way.  This illness was weakening him, making him emotional.

"Jack, I think I'll rest now.  I don’t need watching, really," said Daniel, his voice heavy with emotion.

Jack could see that Daniel needed to be alone.  "Okay, I'll go get some dinner.  I'll come back to see you in a couple of hours."

"Okay, Jack."  Daniel closed his eyes, feeling drained and miserable.  Was it hot in here?

***************

Jack came back from his break and sat back down beside Daniel.  The younger man was asleep.  He looked so vulnerable.  Jack hated what had happened to him.  Not only the stuff on the planet, but all the kicks life had given Daniel. It just wasn’t fair.  It amazed him how Daniel was still so innocent, so passionate.  Maybe those early years with his parents had put down strong solid foundations. He sat back in his chair, it definitely was 'his' chair now, and looked at Daniel.  He was still so pale against the white infirmary sheets - monitors, wires and tubes all over the place.  When he looked at Daniel like this, it hurt, deep in the pit of his stomach. Jack picked up his friend's hand, it was warm.  Jack looked up to Daniel's face; it looked slightly flushed.  Jack stomach did a little flip, he leaned over and touched the younger man's forehead, "Daniel?  Damn it! Janet!"  He sped away to Janet's office.  "Janet! I think his fever is back!"

That was two hours ago.  Daniel had woken up, but was becoming more and more confused as his temperature spiked again.  Janet's professional facade was slipping.  She was nearly out of ideas.  She was still pumping him full of antibiotics but they were having trouble fighting the severe infection. 

"It basically comes down to time, I'm sure the antibiotics are going to work - there has been some progress in that area - that’s why there was an improvement before.  But I don’t know if he has that time.  He's getting weaker, I don’t know if he has the strength to fight it.  Blood results show that organ function is deteriorating, his heart is struggling.  I'm going to have to put him on dialysis and give him circulatory assistance if he is to have any hope."

"He is going to make it, Doc."  Jack's voice was low and hoarse.

Daniel moaned, Jack moved to his side.  "I'm here, Daniel, hold on buddy."

"Jack?"

"I'm here, buddy."

"You don’t have to stay, Jack…duty, you always do your duty."

"What are you talking about, Daniel?"

"It's okay, Colonel, he's confused," Janet interceded.

"No, Janet.  Daniel, do you think I'm only here because of duty?" Jack was incredulous.

"No one wants me, it's okay, Jack."  Daniel's face crumpled and his voice broke.  "Please, Jack, let me go, it's better.  I'm so tired…I don’t belong…I need to go…it's okay, Jack...I'm okay."

"Daniel…"

Daniel took a shuddering breath and his eyes drifted closed.  A monitor started to wail to his left.

"Daniel!"

"Code blue, crash cart!" Janet yelled.

"Daniel, you will NOT do this!"  Jack was tapping Daniel's cheek. "Daniel, you have it wrong - way wrong. Daniel! Fight Damn it!"

"Move away, Colonel."

"Daniel, how can you think you're not wanted? We all care about you, I care! Daniel, we all need you.  Daniel, you belong, you belong with us! Damn it, Daniel fight! Use that stubborn son-of-a-bitch strength you have and fight!"

Jack was getting more and frantic as Janet pulled him away.  "Colonel, I need to do my job."

"He's given up.  Your job isn't going to get him back, he has to know he's wrong!"

 Jack broke free of Janet's grasp and holding his friend's face in his hands, solemnly and quietly said, "you are my friend, Daniel, come back, I need you."

"Orderly! Colonel, you are going to leave now!"  Janet pulled him away again.  This time Jack allowed it. He stood back, slightly bent over as if someone had punched him in the stomach. Janet and her team moved in, getting air into Daniel's body.  She was worried about shocking him - his heart wouldn’t be able to take it - she thought she might be better off trying to assist the heart in its function as it had failed rather than arrested. She was about to give her next orders when the heart monitor started beeping again, slowly at first then rhythmically. 

"Janet?"

"His heart is beating again, Colonel." Janet started issuing more orders.

Jack slumped against the neighbouring bed, the reprieval leaving him exhausted.

Daniel remained unconscious for the next three days, his condition slowly improving.  He was taken off the ventilator and slowly some of the more invasive equipment was removed.  Jack was allowed back by his side, although Janet insisted on him getting rest periods. When Jack wasn't at his side, Sam and Teal'c took turns.  They had discussed what had happened and were going to make sure that their archaeologist did not wake up alone. Janet maintained that it was Daniel's confused state, a symptom of his illness, that had led to his distress and depressed state.  However, Jack, Sam, and Teal'c thought that at some level their team mate's conviction that he did not belong was based in reality. The illness simply allowed his subconscious to surface.

************

Daniel became aware of a beeping noise…and voices, pleasantly familiar voices. Home…he had made it.  He felt very foggy, what had happened?  He had a vague idea that he had been upset about something, something important, but he couldn’t remember what it was.  He could hear the comforting sound of Jack's voice, and felt himself relax.  Whatever it was that he had been upset about couldn’t have been that important, he was home, he could hear Jack.  Daniel felt tired, and somewhat detached but tried to open his eyes, he wanted to see Jack.

Sam was looking at Daniel.  "Hey, look, he's coming round."

Daniel slowly opened his eyes. It took a few moments for him to take in his surroundings.  "I guess I made it," he said weakly.

"You used up one more of those cat lives," Jack responded.

"Yes, I guess I did," Daniel said wearily.  "What happened?"

"When?" Jack noted Daniel's blank expression.  "Weevils, staff weapon blast in your side, Apophis, trek through the jungle, delirium, you know, all the good stuff."

Daniel's face screwed up for a moment while he processed the information, then his eyes widened slightly as his memory cleared.  "Vedah, Jack, Vedah."

"Right, them, they are happily re-settling by the way."

"Good."  Daniel's eyes began to drift shut.

"Okay, my patient needs his rest, visiting hour is over."  Dr Fraiser started herding them out of the room.

Daniel opened his eyes and saw Jack lingering behind the rest of SG-1. "Jack."

"What is it, Daniel?"

"Hey, I'm sorry about the zat thing out there, I guess I got confused.  I wouldn't have actually shot anybody…I think."

It took a moment for Jack to figure out that Daniel was talking about P3X-673.  "I know," reassured Jack.

"About what I said...the lying thing…."

"It's okay."

"So…umm…so..."

"Yep."

"The whole…"

"The whole friendship-thing…"

"So we are…"

"Solid foundation." Jack completed the sentence.

Daniel smiled and closed his eyes.

Jack looked at him for a few more seconds, then left the infirmary.  Yep, Daniel was going to be fine.

Author's note: This story started with the working title 'bumper whumper' so that should give you an indication of where I was at. If you don’t like Daniel whumping this fic is not for you.

I got most of the medical info online - apologies if I haven't got it exactly right - I will probably be able to get my MD before I'm completely finished with Daniel.

Thanks to Rachie, to Lyn for the great beta, and to Anne for always being encouraging and helping iron out the bumps… All mistakes remaining are mine.

© October, 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.