• Season: Seven
• SUMMARY : How many times can a person become lost, and still find their way home? SG-1 fears that Daniel may be lost forever,
• PG [Hc] [A]

Jack adjusted his cap again as he waited for the rest of his team. Why was he always the one waiting on his motley crew? He glanced down at his watch again. Well, so he was a little early. Early-bird gets the worm. Ain’t that what they say? Or maybe the early-bird gets the snake. Yeah. He liked the sound of that better. He’d have to tell that one to Teal’c. His humor was finally coming along, even telling some of his own Jaffa jokes from time to time. What the devil was keeping them?

He ran his finger along the cut on top of his hand. Three butterfly strips and four stitches held together the two-inch gash. He could have sworn Frasier was grinning just a little too much when he came in to the infirmary with his hand wrapped in paper towels earlier that morning.

He finally heard familiar voices coming closer to the gateroom right before the science twins and the as-big-as-twins Teal’c came into view. Just as he figured. They were yapping on and on about the unusual energy readings Carter had been drooling over ever since the M.A.L.P. was sent through to P5K-892.

"Hi Jack" Daniel walked toward the ramp then stopped and hefted his pack up onto his back with an audible thud and a grunt.

"You’re gonna break your back with that one of these days. What the devil you got in that thing anyway?" Jack asked as he stared at the over-filled, lumpy canvas now gracing his teammates’ entire upper back.

"Just some books I might need. There weren’t any writings in the area surrounding the M.A.L.P, so no pictures and no writings mean I have no idea what language I’ll need to reference." Daniel answered and then a mischievous grin stole over his face. "You remember?…. Books? Jack… You know…. Those nifty things you use to prop up the leg to the desk in your office?" He broke out in a smile and chuckled.

The wormhole swooshed out toward them and Jack started up the ramp.

"Good one." Jack quipped as a new and devious thought came into his head. "So, Daniel. I take it you haven’t missed that book from your office yet then? The nice thick sturdy one with all those pictures of Greek Goddesses on the front?" Jack and his wide grin disappeared into the blue shimmering wormhole as a gaping archaeologist rushed after him.

Jack was the first to exit the wormhole and he immediately scanned the circular room, watching, listening for any possible danger. Although the Oh-So-Trusty M.A.L.P. had shown no life forms for the two days it had been sending back reports, he thought it best to take those reports with a grain of salt. Truth was he trusted that hunk of metal about as much as he trusted Daniel’s hunk of metal he called a car.

Sam and Daniel stepped through the wormhole followed by Teal’c. The Stargate stood on a round pedestal with two stone steps leading down into the room. To say the room’s features were sparse would be an understatement. The plain, ivory colored walls were smooth as glass with no visible seams. No pictures or writings to set Daniel’s heart a flutter. Nothing. Nadda.

"Jack. About that book…" Before Daniel could finish a blue light shot down from the ceiling and a ring of blue flickering light ran down over each one of them from their head down to their feet.

"Carter?" Jack inquired of his 2IC.

"I think we’ve been scanned, sir."

"Okay. Figured that." Jack looked around uneasily, flipping the safety off on his P-90. "I’m just guessing Carter, but there is probably a ‘who’ responsible for that little body check?"

"I would say so, sir."

His grip tightened around his P-90 and then suddenly it was gone. He looked down at his empty hands where his trusty weapon used to be and then looked at Sam, who was empty-handed and stunned as well.

"I believe someone does not wish us to possess weapons, O’Neill." Teal’c said as he stood suddenly unarmed, having had his staff weapon and his zat ‘zapped’ away.

"Ya think? Okay. Daniel dial us home. We’re outa’ here."

Daniel walked over to the compact futuristic DHD standing off to the side and stared at it. Instead of the large carved symbols there were small buttons that reminded him of a phone.

"Cool."

"Daniel, quit drooling over the DHD and dial for heaven sakes." Jack told him impatiently.

"ET, phone home." Daniel mumbled to himself as he studied the device. Although this DHD had all the usual symbols, it also had a few that he had never seen before. It would be better to take a minute and do it right than to send them all to who knows where.

Jack, Sam and Teal’c stood tensely, but on alert, looking around the unadorned room as the floor began to glow slightly and they could feel a low humming through the soles of their boots.

"Daniel?" Jack started over to the DHD to see what was taking him so long.

"Yeah. I’ve got it." Daniel told him as he pushed the first button.

They all spun around when one of the panels hidden in the wall slid open and an alien being floated into the room.

~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~

Daniel watched the alien slowly float toward him. It reminded him a bit of Thor with the exception that these beings wore long flowing tunics made of an iridescent type of material and they were taller. At least they appeared taller. Possibly because they didn’t walk, they sort of floated along the floor. He thought of all the times they had come across beings on other worlds that he had attempted to communicate with. He felt at a distinct disadvantage this time because there had been no clues as to what language was spoken here.

"Do not be frightened."

Daniel glanced over at Jack then took a tentative step toward the alien and brought his fingers together to tap his chest saying, "I’m Daniel."

Jack took a step closer to Daniel.

"Daniel? What are you doing?" Jack asked quietly.

Daniel kept his eyes on the alien as he tilted his head toward Jack. "I’m talking to him…it."

Jack mumbled low. "Well. Is it going to talk back to you?"

"It did."

"No it didn’t."

"Yes it did, Jack."

"So why didn’t I hear anything?"

"Maybe their telepathic. I didn’t see his…its lips move."

Jack whispered, "They have lips?"

"Jaaack." Daniel gave him a glaring, impatient glance. "I don’t know. Probably not. But it spoke to me and told me not to be frightened."

"I didn’t hear that."

"I know. You said that."

The alien turned to face Jack.

"You are the leader. Yes?"

Jack stared at the being with his mouth open then glanced at Daniel who had a smug look on his face.

"Okay. I heard THAT." Jack admitted.

Sam was becoming increasingly uncomfortable with the disjointed one-sided conversations she was hearing. "Sir. Is the alien speaking to you and Daniel? Because I haven’t heard anything. Have you Teal’c?" She asked.

"I have not." Teal’c answered.

Daniel and Jack exchanged puzzled looks as the alien floated over to Sam.

"You are curious about the energy your device detected. Yes?"

Sam’s eyes shot open wider and she glanced briefly at Daniel and Jack’s grinning faces before turning her attention to the alien a few feet in front of her.

"Yes. Uh…I am. I’d like to know more about your technology."

The being floated over to Teal’c next and stared a few moments. "You possess the shadow of our enemy."

"My symbiote is no more. I renounced the ways of the Goa’uld. My allegiance is now to the Tau’ri and I fight by their side." Teal’c gave the being a slight bow of his head.

"They’re telepathic." Daniel said as he observed the apparent interaction between the alien and his teammates. "Evidently they can only speak to one of us at a time."

"Ask them where our weapons are, Daniel." Jack told him.

"Um… Okay." Daniel stepped over to the alien and it turned to stare at him. "We had weapons to defend ourselves when we came through your gate. Did you take them?"

"You have no need for such devices here. We mean you no harm."

"I don’t think they’re dangerous, Jack." Daniel assured him.

Jack stared at the alien suspiciously. The disappearing guns thing reminded him a little too much of the Tollans, who also had refused to share squat because the people of Earth were seen by them as ‘too young’, as they had so arrogantly put it. Of course he had to keep in mind the fact that they’d never so much as harmed a hair on their ‘young’ heads, either.

Sam stepped up to her CO and leaned toward him speaking quietly. "If they wanted to hurt us they’ve had plenty of opportunity, sir. If these beings are willing to share their technology with us we could gain a definite advantage against the Goa’uld."

"Not to mention the benefits of having an advanced civilization as an ally." Daniel added.

Jack kept his eyes on the alien as it looked at each of them in turn. "We don’t exactly have a good track record with the brains-as-big-as-watermelon aliens wanting to share their toys with us pea-brained-munchkins, Carter."

"I know that sir. But there’s always the possibility that one day one of them will. Who knows. These could be the ones."

Jack tossed around everything his teammates had said and kept his gaze focused on the alien. "Daniel. Ask the..uh…being if we can stay and chat awhile."

Daniel grinned and turned back to the alien. "We would like to meet your…people, and share our culture and technology."

There was a pause and the alien ‘spoke’ to Daniel. "Come." The alien then turned and floated toward the open doorway and Daniel followed.

"Daniel?" Jack asked in his singsong voice.

"Yes, Jack." Daniel stopped but kept his eyes glued on the alien floating away.

"What are you doing?"

"I’m following him…er it."

"Do you think that’s… wise?"

"They’ve rolled out the welcome mat for us, Jack. I think we should follow ..it."

Jack thought for a moment then shrugged and motioned for Daniel to go ahead.

"Okay, Munchkins. Follow the yellow brick road." He nodded at Sam and Teal’c and they went in pursuit of the strange being.

~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~

Jack, Sam, Daniel and Teal’c stood at the bottom of the staircase and looked around. It seemed the only way to go was up, so up they went. The alien had, of course, already ascended the staircase since it was able to float right up the stairs without missing a beat. Finally at the top they stood at the entrance to a spacious room and stepped inside.

Jack mumbled to Daniel. "I wish I’d brought my hockey gear. This place is huge."

Daniel rolled his eyes and continued into the room up to the curved table where at least a dozen more of the aliens sat, or stood, or whatever it was they did. Daniel bowed his head in greeting and looked up, his eyes searching for the alien they had followed here from the gate room, but they were almost identical except for the tunics they wore. Some had blue stripes, some had yellow, and others had combinations of the two. Possibly some social position or rank, he speculated.

"You are Daniel Jackson from Earth." One of the aliens relayed silently to Daniel and he glanced down the row of aliens trying to tell which one of them had ‘spoken‘. His eyes locked onto the being down the left side of the table and knew somehow that it was the one who had communicated with him. The alien ’spoke’ again. "Welcome to Bahakeen."

Daniel gave a polite bow of his head. "Um…Yes. Thank you. We’re explorers from earth. We’d like to learn more about your…people and culture."

The aliens turned to one another as if SG-1 weren’t even in the room. Jack whispered to Daniel. "What are they doing Daniel?"

"I think they’re talking it over."

The alien with the blue striped tunic came forward. "We are the Ashtani. We welcome the Tau’ri and wish to share our resources. You…" the alien stared at Sam as she excitedly stole a glance over at her teammates "You wish to study our power source. Come."

She looked to her CO for permission to join the alien who was already floating off down the long hall.

"Teal’c, go with Carter. Keep in radio contact. You notice anything not kosher, get back here ASAP."

"Yes, sir." She grinned and quickly took off after the alien followed closely by Teal’c.

Another alien floated up to Daniel. "You study the past to learn of the future."

Daniel wasn’t sure if he was expected to respond or whether it was simply a statement.

"Yes. Yes I do."

"Come. You may see our Great Hall of Wisdom."

Daniel glanced expectantly at Jack and then back to the alien who was already halfway out of the room. "Oh… All right." Jack took off in pursuit of the quick moving being with Daniel by his side.

They finally reached the doorway the alien had disappeared into and Daniel stepped inside, looking around with his mouth gaping.

Even Jack was pretty awestruck at the floor to ceiling writings. The room was so bright he had to squint to try to see where the ceiling ended above them. It seemed to go on forever.

"Wow, Jack. Isn’t this incredible? Have you ever seen anything like it?" Daniel spoke as he gazed upward, trying to see everything at once.

Jack looked up, squinting. "Wonder how they got all the way up there to write that stuff."

"Well, they could have just floated up there I suppose." Daniel replied, obviously fascinated with their new alien friends.

"Daniel. You know we aren’t going to be here long enough for you to read much of this stuff."

"Yeah…I know."

Jack felt the tone that those three words were spoken with, slice right through him.

He almost wished he hadn’t said anything, but he felt the need to keep Daniel’s latest obsession under rein. Daniel’s voice was of one who had been given these same opportunities countless times and yet been repeatedly denied the chance to fully explore. And this mission was no different. They had twelve hours until they were due to check in and twenty-four hours until their scheduled return.

Jack walked over to the nearest wall and sat down, leaning against the smooth surface, ready to keep watch while Daniel did his thing. He watched Daniel lay his pack down on the floor, only glancing up as the alien floated out the doorway. He started getting things out he would need. His digital camcorder, notebook and pencils.

Jack had to grin as he watched the enraptured look on Daniel’s face as he gazed around the vast room. That was one thing he really admired about his friend and teammate. His ability to still see the wonder, the magic in the world or should he say, ‘worlds‘. Still see good in everyone, even when it was less than obvious to everyone else around him. Although his friend had been faced with an undue amount of pain and personal sacrifice in his life, he was still an innocent at heart. Daniel started walking slowly along the wall scanning it with his camera. Every now and then muttering an exclamation of awe.

Jack looked down at his hands dumbly. They felt naked without his weapon. He leaned his head back against the wall as he started his long wait. He could do this waiting thing. He glanced down at his watch. As long as it wasn’t for more than a few hours. He looked over at Daniel again grinning from ear to ear taping with his recorder for awhile then looking at the wall in awe. Ah, heck. Maybe he would even ask General Hammond for another day here.

~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~

Sam and Teal’c followed the blue-striped tunic-clad alien to a series of rooms where several other aliens were apparently quite busy. She walked up to the consoles where lights were blinking intermittently and there were some unusual crystals pulsating.

She watched the alien place a chunk of what looked like an iridescent rock into a cylinder and after pushing a few buttons the machine started to hum and the lights on the console blinked in sequence over and over. Within a few minutes the humming stopped and the alien reached into the opening and pulled out a perfectly formed crystal.

Sam looked at the alien as it held out the object to her. She grinned, taking it from the alien’s two fingers. She nodded and then studied the crystal in her hands. She looked back to the alien. "Is this where you get your energy from? These crystals?" She asked. The alien started to answer her question before she had even spoken all the words out loud which was going to take some getting used to.

She heard the affirmative answer in her head and looked up at Teal’c. "These are similar to the crystals used to power the force fields and energy weapons on Goa’uld ships and it’s one of the main components in the sarcophagus and healing device."

"Indeed. It would be invaluable to learn how these alien beings produce such crystals"

The alien had evidently heard her thoughts because the next thing she knew the alien was beckoning them to follow through an adjoining doorway.

~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~

Jack looked at his watch once again. He’d given Daniel plenty of notice for when they would be leaving this room to join up with Teal’c and Carter, so he assumed it was gonna be one of those times when he just had to actually physically remove him from the room.

He stood up and stretched his stiff legs.

"Daniel. Time to go." He walked over to where he was still sitting on the floor scribbling. Jack picked up the camcorder and stuffed it into Daniel’s backpack, then cleared his throat and held out his hand.

He heard an audible sigh as Daniel reluctantly handed the notebook and pencil up to Jack’s waiting hand. Letting his now empty hands drop to his lap, he stared past Jack with a faraway look.

Jack leaned down and put his hand on Daniel’s shoulder. "Carter and Teal’c will be waiting. Come on. Let’s see what gizmos they’ve been playing with." He gave his shoulder a quick squeeze and Daniel pushed himself up off the floor and looked around the room wistfully before turning back to Jack. He picked the pack up off the floor and slung it over one shoulder. Jack nodded toward the doorway giving Daniel his very best ‘don’t ask, just go’, look and Daniel dropped his head and started walking toward the door. Jack hoped Daniel would get more time to study this room after all the General was usually a little more lenient when it came to Daniel’s passion for discovery.

They met up with Sam and Teal’c in a large room that he supposed was the closest thing the alien’s had to a living room. There were curved seats that looked like they would be uncomfortable but surprisingly the opposite was true. He wondered if they could order a dozen or so for the infirmary.

A plateful of odd looking colorful shapes was lying on a square cube that served as a table of sorts. Jack assumed this was the alien’s attempt at providing food.

He looked over the odd assortment of shapes lying on the platter. "Anybody tried the hor’duerves yet?" he asked as he picked one up and eyed it suspiciously.

Daniel walked over and picked up one of the yellow round shapes. "Is that what these are?"

"I don’t know, sir." Sam said as she picked up and examined a blue square one. "It sort of reminds me of those little gift soaps they sell at the mall."

Daniel sniffed the one in his hand. "It doesn’t smell bad."

Jack gave Daniel his ‘I dare you’ look. "Well, why don’t you try it, Daniel?"

"What?…You want me to be your official taste-tester now?"

"Sure, why not?" Jack told him. "If you don’t keel over, we’ll all try one. Right kids?" He glanced over at Sam and Teal’c, nodding as if he were answering for them both, then looked back at Daniel grinning mischievously, his eyes staring at the yellow thing that Daniel was holding, daring him to try it.

Daniel glared defiantly at Jack, took a large bite of the yellow shape and made a big show of chewing. Then suddenly he slapped his hand over his mouth, his eyes grew large as he looked around frantically for a waste basket, a bucket, anything. Seeing a small bowl lying on a table across the room, he darted for it and as soon as he had it in his hands he threw up.

Sam glared at Jack and stepped over and rubbed Daniel’s back while he expelled the remainder, sending daggers back in his direction as she comforted her teammate.

Jack held his hands out, shrugging. How was he supposed to know it would make him sick. Well, my name’s mud now, if the looks he was getting from Sam and Teal’c were any indication.

He went over to one of the curvy chairs and sat down again. So the aliens couldn’t cook. At least they knew how to make some mighty fine furniture.

After Daniel rinsed his mouth out with water from his canteen, he dragged his heavy backpack over to the far wall and slid down to sit against it. He got out his notebook and started going over his notes, giving Jack a stony glare every now and then.

Sam walked over to her CO and sat down in the seat across from his. Suddenly she reached out and grabbed his hand staring at it.

He grabbed it back. "Carter! What the devil you doin‘?"

"Your cut, sir…it’s gone." She told him as she reached over, her eyes growing larger as she began to peel the butterfly strips away, revealing new flawless skin.

Jack grabbed his hand back again. "Hey! I used to have a few hairs there." He looked down at his hand. The ugly looking cut that had been there just hours ago, was now completely healed. "What the …"

He looked up at her. Okay now this was definitely not normal. "Carter?"

"I don’t know, sir. There must be something about this planet that speeds up healing."

"Ya think? Speeds up as in what? Healing device? Sarcophagus?" Jack asked as he began to get an uncomfortable feeling gnawing in the pit of his stomach about this too-good-to-be-true planet.

Teal’c looked around at the smooth ivory walls curiously. "It is possible, O’Neill, that these rooms have been made with the same material as a sarcophagus."

"Now I really do not want to hear that, Teal’c." Jack said. He looked around at the walls that if you looked closely, they almost seemed to emit a luminescence beneath the surface. Haunting images of the inside of a sarcophagus on Ba’al’s planet flashed through his head as he tried to weigh the ramifications of Teal’cs theory.

"Sir? How have you been feeling since we came through the gate." Sam asked as if suddenly having a revelation.

Jack thought about all the normal aches and pains that he usually felt and realized he felt fine. Better than fine. Much better than fine.

"Well isn’t this special." He said curtly.

Then they all seemed to look over at Daniel at the same time, each remembering the suffering he had faced from his addiction to the sarcophagus on Shyla’s planet.

Jack rubbed his hand roughly over his face, "Great."

His eyes met Sam’s mirroring his worry and he kept his voice low as he leaned toward her. "Carter, you and Teal’c go see what you can find out. I’ll try to keep Daniel occupied."

~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~

Jack was pacing the floor. He’d already used up all his waiting on Daniel earlier and he just didn’t have any more ‘waiting’ left in him. Especially with their latest suspicions about the possible hidden danger on this planet to them all. He was relieved that Daniel had bought his story about Sam needing to look for a bathroom. But it was all he could come up with on such short notice. Daniel was getting antsy though and he kept looking up at Jack and watching the doorway. The only thing that stopped Daniel from asking more questions about where Sam and Teal’c had gone was the simple fact that he was still a bit peeved with him.

Sam and Teal’c walked through the doorway with somber faces.

"Well?" Jack asked as he met them as soon as they walked in.

Sam glanced over at Daniel and then turned to her CO worriedly. "It’s what we suspected, sir. This race was nearly wiped out years ago by a plague that swept through their galaxy. They discovered a material native to this planet that healed their injured and stopped the plague from killing any more. They set up a sort of, well, screening room or decontamination room for lack of a better word, in the immediate vicinity of their Stargate. It protects their planet from any threat from disease or from the Goa’uld. The device that scanned us after we came through the gate was checking us for symbiotes. According to the Ashtani council, if one is found the person is immediately disintegrated. If not, their weapons are simply removed and their body is purified. The aliens built their entire city out of this material. It’s how they stay healthy, by being continuously exposed to the healing material. But now their bodies physiology has been altered to the point that they can’t leave the planet."

"What of the effects to DanielJackson?" Teal’c asked his voice laced with concern.

Sam stared at Teal’c a moment then turned to her CO. "If this planet is built with the same technology as that of a sarcophagus, then we’ve all been exposed to low levels ever since we came through the gate. We know from Daniel’s experience that using a sarcophagus on the human body when there are no injuries to heal, has a much more potent effect. It’s entirely possible that Daniel’s body has already been exposed to enough even in the short time we’ve been here to cause significant problems when we return home, sir. Actually all of us may experience some form of withdrawal after we leave."

"Well, how’s that possible? That was four years ago, Carter. How would that matter now?" Jack asked.

She glanced over at Daniel who was returning her stare. She turned back to her CO keeping her voice low. "The use of a sarcophagus leaves a unique energy signature in the cells of whoever uses it. Where it took several days for Shy’la’s sarcophagus to get Daniel hooked, it would now take less than half that time. We have to go back, sir."

Jack scrubbed his hand down his face. He glanced up to see Daniel making his way over in their direction. "Crap!"

~^~^~

Daniel had been watching his teammates huddled together on the other side of the room talking quietly amongst themselves. Sam’s eyes had locked onto his and he’d heard Jack curse. He had laid his notebook and pencil down beside his pack, and pushed himself up off the floor, and made his way over to see what was up.

As he walked up to them they all looked at him worriedly.

"What’s goin’ on?" he asked beginning to feel uneasy and just a bit paranoid about their secretive looks and whispers.

Jack put his hands on his hips, then finally met Daniel’s gaze. "Apparently this planet is just one big sarcophagus."

Daniel clenched and unclenched his fists as he listened to Jack, then turned to look at Sam. "What is he talking about?"

Sam was concerned already about his unusual nervousness. "How do you feel right now Daniel?" she asked. "I mean really feel?"

He looked at her puzzled. "I feel fine. Why?"

Jack let out a puff of a sigh "You always say that." He turned to Sam, "He always says that."

"Daniel," Sam said gently, "the Colonel had a cut on his hand when we came through the gate. Now it’s gone. Completely healed."

"So?"

"So, the only thing that could have done that is a healing device or a sarcophagus. We suspected there might be some healing properties associated with this planet. And it would have to be something pretty powerful to have healed it this quickly. Daniel looked at each one of them "Well, that’s just crazy," he said and stormed off back to his corner of the room and flopped down, picking up his notebook once again.

Sam walked over and knelt down. "Daniel. Listen. We spoke to the Ashtani Council. It’s true. Those crystals they showed me, they’re made of the same material that’s in a sarcophagus. Every minute we stay here our physiology is being altered to the point where our bodies will most probably go into withdrawal when we leave."

He looked up at her defiantly. "I don’t believe you."

Sam turned and looked back at her teammates worriedly, then looked back at Daniel.

"Daniel. I don’t know if you’ll be able to accept this right now or not but, look at you," she took his trembling hands in hers. "you’ve already been affected by it."

Daniel snatched his hands back and hugged his arms to himself tightly, as the nervous energy flowing through his body continued to build. It was frightening and intoxicating all at the same time. He stared at her and glanced over at the others on the other side of the room. He wanted to stay here forever and also run away as fast as he could. He’d never felt so torn. Or had he? He could feel the continuous pull and he knew he had felt it before. He could feel the whispers of electricity humming through his veins. The edges of his vision started to narrow and he could feel himself tilting. Instantly he felt hands touching him, lifting him up by his arms and he looked around dazed, wondering how he had risen.

His teammates words swirled around him like a restless breeze.

"Carter, grab his stuff. Teal’c, help me get him back to the gate."

~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~

"I don’t understand why we couldn’t have stayed longer." Daniel said irritably as they emerged through the wormhole in the SGC gateroom. "I told you I feel fine."

Jack glanced over at Sam whose face mirrored his own frustration and worry.

Doctors Frasier and Warner met SG-1 as they stepped off the ramp.

"Colonel, you and Daniel come with me. Dr. Warner will examine Sam and Teal’c." She stood aside to let them go ahead of her. "This way, Sir. Daniel."

Daniel shrugged off Jack’s hand from his back and stormed out of the gateroom, followed by a stunned Doctor and a not so stunned Colonel. Daniel had really been a royal pain in the mit’ka. He thought for awhile they were going to have to carry him back to the gate. And then suddenly he had shaken off the hands supporting him and turned around to go back. When Jack and Teal’c stopped him he had vehemently argued to stay, saying that whatever damage was already done, and he was willing to deal with the consequences when he returned to the base, Yadda, yadda, yadda. Like THAT was going to happen.

Once in the infirmary, Janet pointed to a gurney and Jack hopped up on it. Daniel had turned his back on them, his hands shoved deeply into his pockets.

She stepped over to him and laid her hand on his back. "Daniel?"

She jumped back a step when he jerked around and stared at her with a wild look in his eyes that was all too familiar. She glanced over at Colonel O’Neill who was eyeing Daniel worriedly and ready to spring off the bed if necessary.

"I need to examine you now Daniel. Would you hop up on the gurney so I can have a look at you?"

He looked at the gurney like it was a bed of nails before looking back at Frasier with a mixture of anger, confusion and fear in his eyes.

She motioned toward the gurney. "Please? The sooner we start the sooner you can get out of here." She neglected to say where exactly ‘out of here’ would be, but at this point her top priority was to keep her patient calm so she could get on with her examination.

Daniel pinched the bridge of his nose, closing his eyes briefly and when he opened them he stepped over and slid up onto the gurney. "I’m … sorry. I don’t know what I was thinking. Sorry." Daniel lowered his head and gripped his trembling hands together between his knees.

She glanced uneasily at Jack and pulled the curtain.

~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~

General Hammond heard a knock at the door. He was hoping to hear some word about his flagship team.

"Come."

The door opened and Dr. Frasier stepped inside holding some charts in her arms.

"Have a seat, Doctor. I take it you and Dr. Warner have had a chance to examine SG-1?" He asked. His deep concern written on his face.

"Well, that’s why I’m here, sir. I’m keeping all of SG-1 for 24-hour observation. The infirmary is pretty full what with all of SG-7 still being treated for the severe sunburns they received on their mission yesterday, so I’m just going to have SG-1 stay in the medical suite. That way they can stay together except when they want to sleep. Then they can just use the adjoining sleeping quarters. Plus the nurses and I can keep an eye on them a lot easier if they’re all in one place."

"How are they doing?" He asked.

She opened the first chart. "Well, Teal’c was, not surprisingly, the least affected. I may actually be able to release him some time this evening if his blood tests come back clear." She closed it and opened the next one. "Major Carter is suffering from mainly a mild headache, muscle cramps, some nausea which is responding well to medication. So I thoroughly expect she will be released tomorrow with no residual effects."

She flipped the next chart open and grinned. "Colonel O’Neill is suffering from much the same symptoms as Major Carter except to a slightly greater degree. They’ve all been exhibiting varying degrees of irritability and tension. I also suspect that the Colonel’s request for…let me see, a yo-yo, a ream of cardstock paper and as he requested, a book, ah yes here it is, ‘The Ultimate Paper Airplane‘, could be his reaction to the physical withdrawal, but then with the Colonel it’s difficult to tell.

They all seem to be unusually restless and anxious, but I’m reluctant to medicate them without knowing exactly what and how much they were exposed to. Although, I haven‘t completely ruled out the possibility. Actually, I might suggest that they all be allowed to take a few days off after they’re released. Preferably away from the base and each other." She looked up to meet the General’s grinning face.

"A little too much togetherness?" The General asked comically.

"Well, let’s just say, I’m glad they’re such close friends. At least I don’t think they’ll actually kill each other before I release them." She chuckled.

General Hammond chuckled and then his face grew more serious. "What about Dr. Jackson?"

Janet opened the last folder. "Daniel is having the most severe withdrawal, which was not unexpected what with his history. He’s been extremely irritable and angry, but at other times seems severely depressed. Some of his initial vitals were alarming but have since lowered to a more acceptable level. I’m also keeping a close watch on his temperature because he did have a slight fever when he returned from the planet."

She closed the chart and held the stack in her grip. "I don‘t expect any of SG-1 to have to stay under observation for more than 24 hours, with the possible exception of Dr. Jackson. I may have to keep him here a little longer depending on what his blood tests show. The nurses, much to the objection of SG-1, are taking blood samples every six hours. I should know more in the morning, sir."

"Very well. Keep me posted, Doctor."

~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~

Jack flipped another paper football into the empty coffee mug. "Three points. Yessss!"

Teal’c cocked his head in Jack’s direction and looked at him curiously, then turned his attention back to the paperback book in his hands.

"T my man. Wanna play? Ten cents a point." Jack had tired of making paper airplanes hours ago after his best creation landed in Sam‘s jello. She had looked positively viscious when she wadded it up and threw it back at him. She didn’t even crack a smile when he said ‘Incoming!‘ Some people have absolutely no sense of humor. She didn’t have to go ballistic and throw all his paper away though. If he was a betting man he’d bet she was on one her hormonal tirades. He’d been reduced to scrounging around in the wastebaskets for scraps to makes paper footballs instead.

"I do not wish to pay you money to put triangles of paper into a cup, O’Neill." Teal’c told him patiently.

"Party pooper." He glanced over at Sam. Surely she had forgiven him by now. "Carter? You up for a challenge?"

Sam looked up from the laptop impatiently at her CO. With his cap turned backwards he looked like a kid. A very annoying kid. She snickered, shook her head and turned her attention back to the paper she was working on. "Just being here is enough of a challenge for me, sir."

Jack looked crushed and feigned a stab to his heart then sat up in the chair and looked around for a worthy opponent. The only one who hadn’t yet turned him down. Daniel. He finally saw him across the room lying on the floor with his hands clasped over his chest staring up at a spot on the ceiling. He’d been unusually quiet since the nurses had been in taking more blood a few hours ago. He didn’t know if it was because of the withdrawal or just because he was still ticked off about them leaving the planet so abruptly. Probably a little of both.

Jack stood up, stuffed a handful of paper footballs in his pocket and stretched his arms above his head. The muscle spasms were making it hard to sit for very long. If he did, when he finally got up he would have muscle cramps in places he didn’t even know he had muscles. He stretched them enough for them to settle down. If only his headache would be as cooperative. But at least the throbbing in the back of his skull had went from a steady cadence to a low tapping.

He walked across the room and stopped beside Daniel’s prone figure, peering down at him. The man didn’t bat an eye. Jack squatted down to the floor and he nudged Daniel’s arm and he continued to stare at the ceiling.

"Daniel?"….no response. Now this was beginning to creep him out.

"O…kay. Daniel. Can we say, zoned…out?" Jack noticed a fine sheen of sweat covering Daniel’s forehead and fine tremors were sporadically coursing through his body.

Jack waved his hand in the air above Daniel’s eyes and snapped his fingers a few times until he finally saw him flinch. His blue eyes darted over to Jack’s with a vacant look. He rubbed his eyes and sat up.

"Do you need something Jack, or are you just bored again?"

"Just wanted to know if you’re up for a game of chess."

Daniel rubbed the back of his neck. "No. I’m not." He suddenly lifted himself to his feet and started walking out of the main room to his adjoining sleeping quarters. "I’m tired. I’ll see you guys in the morning."

Jack watched Daniel go through the door and close it behind him.

Jack stood there with his hands on his hips a bit befuddled. "Well. That was just rude."

He turned and walked back to the table. "Anybody else notice Daniel’s been a bit unsociable since we got back?" Jack asked whichever of the two remaining in the room would care to listen. Man, his headache was now beating drums in the back of his head again.

Sam looked up at her CO. "I think it’s just Daniel’s way of dealing with the withdrawal, sir."

"How? By not talking to anyone? Not eating anything? Or by lying on the floor in a coma?"

She paused and took a deep breath before she continued. "I’m pretty sure he was lying down trying to meditate to keep himself calm. He’s having a rough time of it, sir. He just hasn’t said anything to anyone."

He gave her a puzzled look. "If he ain’t talkin then how do you know so much about what’s going on with him?"

Sam stared at Jack. They each had similar withdrawal symptoms. But they were still individuals who dealt with pain, be it physical or emotional, in obviously very different ways. VERY different ways. She had watched her CO for hours as he cut out small squares of paper, folding each into a small triangle so he could flip them in a cup.

Of course, that was after he built and flew a sizable number of complicated paper airplanes. Including that LAST one. She smiled as she thought of the look on Jack’s face when she plucked it out of her jello, wadded it up and threw it back. Then proceeded to confiscate every last sheet of his paper. So that was one way he dealt with his restlessness and tension.

She was more likely to focus on her work. Obsessively. Equations, complicated mathematical theories. They drove her even now, although she could only work on them in theory and not hands-on in her lab.

Teal’c read or meditated. And it was he who had shown some of his meditation techniques to Daniel. Now, Daniel on the other hand was suffering more intense withdrawal than the rest of them and he dealt with this the way he did with many things. By withdrawing and shutting everyone out until he found a way to rise above it.

She was sometimes in awe of her teammate. No matter what life threw at him, he always found the strength to pick himself up and go on. Without animosity. He rarely allowed anyone into his private pain. The only one who seemed to be able to penetrate that wall around him was Jack. Sometimes she was envious of their close friendship. Oh, sure, she knew the four of them were all the best of friends, as close or closer than family. But Jack and Daniel had a bond that few people were ever fortunate enough to have in their lifetime.

Daniel was hurting. That was obvious. But he hadn’t complained. That was so like Daniel. Keeping his pain inside so he wouldn’t add to yours. She had tried to draw him out of his shell but he wouldn’t take the bait so she had left him to his own devices. Having to be content with keeping watch over him from her desk.

"I’m sure he just didn’t want to worry you, sir. He wants out of here tomorrow as much as the rest of us."

Jack stared at the closed door. "Yeah…maybe you’re right. I’m just being an …" He turned as the nurse walked into the room carrying some charts and a blood pressure cuff. "Okay. Who wants to be first?" she asked a little too cheerfully.

Jack moaned. Did they really have to do this so often? He eyed her more closely. At least he didn’t see any needles this time.

Jack sighed. "All right. Me. Just get it done." He walked over to the table and she followed him, laid the charts down and got ready with the cuff. Jack sat down and rolled up his sleeve. She wrapped the cuff around his arm and started pumping it up.

After finishing she ripped the cuff apart and laid it aside. "You can stay seated, sir. Dr. Frasier was right behind me to take blood samples. Major Carter. You want to go next?"

~^~^~

Janet knew the massive muscular man could move quickly when he needed to but she couldn’t help but chuckle at the speed in which Teal’c had fled out of the medical suite. The look of relief on his normally stoic face, had been priceless. His last blood tests had been back to normal so she had released him to return to his own private quarters. Much to Jack and Sam’s disappointment. Not that they weren’t happy for him. She suspected it was because they had begun to get on each others nerves and since it didn’t seem like Daniel was spending much time with his teammates, they had only each other to aggravate. Dr. Frasier put the vial in the container and glanced around the room. "Where’s Daniel?"

Sam rolled her sleeve back down. "He said he was tired and he went to his room."

Janet picked up her supplies and walked over to the closed door and tapped lightly. "Daniel, it’s Dr. Frasier. I need to take another blood sample." A muffled word came through the barrier and she slowly opened the door and stepped inside. She closed it a bit to give him some privacy, and as her eyes adjusted to the dim light, she saw Daniel lying on the bed in the dark with his arm draped over his eyes. She noticed that he hadn’t bothered to change out of his BDU’s. She stepped over to the bed and looked down. "Daniel?"

"Yeah." He laid his arm out flat on the mattress at his side and turned his head away. "Go ahead."

"I need to turn the light up a little brighter, is that okay?"

Setting the supplies down on the bedside table, she took the rubber tubing and began tying it around his upper arm. After putting on a new pair of sterile gloves she wiped a small area on his arm with an alcohol pad. Daniel had turned away and laid his other arm across his eyes. If she hadn’t been watching closely she would have sworn he was asleep. But the slight trembling of his other hand gave it away.

She picked up the syringe, took the cap off and pressed her expert fingers against his skin feeling for a vein. "There’ll be a stick." When she was finished she capped the syringe, untied the tubing and placed a folded up piece of gauze against his arm and pressed it, then lifted it to check it, before placing a bandage over it. Janet walked around the bed to the other side. "I need to check your blood pressure too, okay?" He took his other arm away from his eyes and laid it on the bed looking up at her squinting. She glanced at the furrowed brow that spoke of pain and wrapped the cuff around his upper arm.

"Headache?" She asked.

"Yeah."

"I can give you something for that and to help you sleep, you know."

"No… I’ll be fine."

Done, she let the air out of the cuff and unwrapped it folding it in her hands as she looked down at her patient. "You’ll feel better in the morning if you’ve had a good night’s sleep, Daniel. And you and I both know that that isn’t going to happen as long as you’re up most of the night with a headache."

A minute passed as she got together her supplies and she paused at the foot of the bed.

"Daniel?"

"Okay."

She was a bit surprised actually that he had given in so quickly. Either he was really hurting that bad or something else was going on. "I’ll send in the nurse with your medication."

She stepped through the doorway, quietly closing the door behind her. After giving instructions to the nurse she gathered the rest of her things and started to leave.

Sam looked up from her computer. "Janet, how is he?"

"He’s coming along. I’ll see you all first thing in the morning, then."

~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~

Sam closed the door to her sleeping quarters and groggily looked around the main room. She smelled coffee and bacon and…was that fresh doughnuts? She walked over to the large table where Teal’c was already finishing up his second stack of pancakes and plucked a donut from the open box. Jack was biting into a strip of bacon while he read the newspaper. She snickered. If she didn’t know better she’d swear she’d walked into a sitcom.

"Good morning, sir. Teal’c."

Jack looked up at her over the newspaper and grunted.

"Teal’c? I thought Janet released you. What’s the matter, did you miss all the fun?"

"I did not."

She grinned and then seeing the quick look he gave Jack she laughed. She looked around the room realizing she hadn’t seen their fourth.

"Where’s Daniel?" she asked as she took another bite.

Jack lowered the newspaper, nodded toward the closed door. "He hasn’t come out. Guess that shot Frasier gave him last night knocked him out."

"Shouldn’t we wake him up so he can eat?" Sam asked.

Jack glanced at Teal’c who raised his eyebrow curiously and told her, "If YOU want to wake him up, go ahead. Just don’t blame me when he bites your head off and you end up in the infirmary instead of going home."

Sam gave him an exasperated look and walked over to the door and rapped on it lightly. "Daniel? Are you awake? There’s breakfast out here."

Jack snickered. "Oh yeah. I’m sure that’ll do the trick." he laid the paper down and looked at her incredulously, "Carter, this is Daniel we’re talking about. Breakfast is not in his vocabulary, as extensive as it is. I know. It’s a fluke."

She rolled her eyes and knocked a little louder. "Daniel? We’ve got coffee, nice and hot. Do you…" Sam looked at her hand suspended in the air as it prepared to knock at a door that was now very open with a drowsy looking teammate standing in the doorway rubbing his eyes yawning. "Oh…Good morning Daniel." She stepped aside to let him into the room and he stumbled past her heading directly to the coffeemaker. He picked up a mug, poured it full of coffee and turned and headed back to his room, closing the door behind him.

Sam shrugged and walked back to the breakfast table to get her abandoned donut seeing a snarky grin on her CO. "See. I got him up."

Jack looked her up and down. "Well, you’re still in one piece. I’d say you’re lucky that wasn’t de-caf. Or he’d already be out here chewing you a new one."

~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~

Daniel set the mug down on the lavatory, quickly undressed and got into the shower hoping it would be cool enough to drink by the time he finished. As the warm water poured over his head he could feel the tension of the enforced confinement starting to ease up a bit.

Once Janet released them he knew he was going to have to apologize to Jack and Sam and Teal’c as well. He hadn’t been very pleasant to be around. What with the throbbing headaches, nausea and feeling like his nerves were continuously buzzing. Not to mention the spasms his muscles had been subjected to for the past twenty some hours. It was all he could do to put one foot in front of the other.

Once the withdrawal had begun in earnest the only thing that had helped at all had been the meditation techniques Teal’c had taught him a few months ago. Of course the sedative Janet had given him last night had helped him get some much needed sleep. Now if only he could shake the lingering fuzziness in his head he’d be all right.

He knew now that Jack had made the right call in getting them all back to the SGC when he did. Thank God someone was using their head. He certainly hadn’t been. God knows what would have happened if they’d stayed longer. Remembering what he’d gone through a few years ago when in the midst of severe withdrawal he had almost shot his best friend, sent a shiver up his spine. He needed not only to apologize, but to thank them.

He turned off the water and stepped out, grabbing a towel and rubbed it briskly over his aching body. The muscle cramps had left him sore all over. He tossed the towel over to the bathtub, grabbed the coffee and walked into the next room to get dressed. He pulled on his boxers and pants then grabbed his t-shirt off the bed. He flipped it over gathering it to slide it over his head and…

Suddenly he was surrounded by a forest and sounds of shouting seemed to be coming from several different directions. He looked around in a panic as he found himself ducking down just in time to avoid the fiery streak of a staff blast that hit a tree a few feet away. He could smell the odor of burnt wood and he gasped. When he looked around again, he was back in his sleeping quarters in the medical suite.

He sat down heavily on the bed, his head in his hands. What on earth was that? His heart hammered in his chest and he fought to catch his breath. After a few minutes he regained some level of control and he squeezed the bridge of his nose, trying to make some sense out of what had just happened. It must be the withdrawal. Great. He doubted Janet would release him if his withdrawal was still this bad. He yanked the t-shirt over his head and picked up his glasses. He knew if he mentioned what had just happened he would be stuck in here for another twenty four hours. Maybe more. Maybe forever. No. Better to just wait and see what Janet said about his last blood tests.

He finished getting dressed, picked up his half empty mug and started for the door.

All three of them turned their heads when Daniel opened the door and stepped into the room.

He forced a smile and made a bee-line to the coffee.

"So…Frasier been here yet?" Daniel asked hoping he sounded and looked just the right amount of normal to get out of here today.

"Not yet." Jack answered. Somewhat surprised at his change of mood.

"She’s here now." All eyes turned toward the doorway. Standing there with charts in hand was Dr. Frasier and one of her nurses.

"So who wants to be first?" She asked.

Jack exchanged wary glances with the others and spoke up first. "The last time I volunteered like that I got stuck with a needle."

She laughed and walked into the room, sat down at the table and picked up a muffin. "I promise, Colonel. I brought no sharp objects with me today."

"Well, in that case. I’m all yours."

Janet cocked her head, just noticing Teal’c sitting at the table working on the leftover bacon. "Teal’c didn’t I release you last night?"

"I was summoned here this morning by O’Neill to share the morning meal." He wiped his mouth with his napkin, folded it and laid it on the table. He directed his attention to Janet. "Doctor Frasier, I neglected to thank you properly for allowing me to retire to my own personal quarters last night. For that I am eternally in your debt." With that he bowed slightly and left the room.

Jack watched him go. "Ya know, I’m not sure but I think he might have just insulted us."

Janet chuckled and stood up gathering her charts in her arms. "We’d better get started then. Colonel, if you don’t mind, I really would like to take a look at Daniel first."

Jack made a motion toward Daniel. "Be my guest."

~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~

Dr. Frasier jotted down one last thing in Sam’s chart then looked around at the expectant faces. "All right. You’re all cleared to go home. But I want each one of you in here bright and early in the morning so I can repeat your blood work one last time. And I do mean go home. I don’t want anybody driving until after I see you in the morning so I’ll arrange with General Hammond to have an airman drive each of you home."

After the doctor walked out of the room Jack jumped up exuberantly. "Yessss!"

Sam unplugged her laptop and snapped it shut and started for the door. She stopped beside Daniel who was still nursing his cup of coffee. She patted his arm. "I guess I’ll see you tomorrow then."

"Yeah. Tomorrow." Daniel flashed her a brief smile and went over to set his cup down on the table.

Jack shoved the newspaper under his arm and grabbed a donut as he headed for the door, but stopped and turned around.

"Daniel, you’re welcome to stay at my place if you want. There’s a hockey game on tonight. I could probably even scrounge up something to eat."

"No thanks, Jack. I…I think I’ll just go home." Daniel stacked the books he’d brought and picked them up heading out the door toward his office so he could drop them off.

"Well, if you change your mind just have them drop you off at my place."

~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~

As hard as Jack tried to hurry and get his report typed up and sent over to Hammond, it wasn’t fast enough for him to catch Daniel before he left. He must have high-tailed it out of there and made a beeline for the exit where the airman was ready to drive him home. And when had he finished his report anyway? Jack dropped his tired frame down onto the sofa. This was one of those weeks that left him with jet lag 24/7. Or in this case space-lag. Things sure could go to hell-in-a-hand basket in an awfully big hurry.

They’d finally found a nice enough bunch of aliens, a bit too quiet perhaps, but still, they’d actually invited the ‘young Tau’ri’ to play in their galactic sandbox and share their cool toys, only to find out the sandbox was full of ants.

He wearily stood up and walked into the kitchen to get a beer. Or ten. He opened the fridge and reached in, grabbing two bottles, he made his way back into the living room. Might as well save himself a trip. Warm or cold, it didn’t matter to him. He plopped himself back down on the sofa and took off the bottle cap, tossing it into the empty cup on the coffee table. Three points.

He scrubbed his hand roughly through his hair. The last thing he wanted to be reminded of was the quaint little twenty-four hour sleepover Frasier had insisted upon after their return from the mission. All right. True. They had all been having symptoms from being exposed to that big floating sarcophagi in the sky, but for some reason having to spend twenty-four hours together here on earth was a whole heck of a lot harder than spending 48 hours together off-world. More distractions there? Maybe. More focused on a mission and the possibility of danger lurking around every corner? Could be. But the truth is they had all been feeling like crap by the time the post-mission examinations were completed.

At least the entire mission hadn’t been a bust. Carter had been allowed to bring one of the crystals back with her to study. And Daniel…well he had come away with a lot of pretty pictures and an addiction. Jack took another swig of the brew draining the last of the cold one. Guess he’d get to drink them both cold tonight.

He opened the second bottle, flipped the cap on the coffee table, turning it around and around in his hands. He supposed he should be thankful that Daniel’s guardian angel was finally working on at least a part-time basis now. It could have been worse. A WHOLE lot worse, compared to the last time he’d suffered through withdrawal. Instead of only one day under Frasier‘s care it had taken weeks that time to get Daniel‘s body back to some kind of normal.

Weeks spent sitting by Daniel’s side while he shook from head to toe, soaking his clothes with sweat so often he had to change several times a day, and puking his guts out was something he never wanted to see his friend have to go through ever again. He glanced over at the phone. He hadn’t really expected Daniel to change his mind about coming over, but the truth was, he was worried about how withdrawn he’d become.

If Daniel was still ticked off at him for leaving the planet so quickly, then he’d just have to get over it. He did the right thing. He did the only thing he could have done to protect his team. Risking a repeat performance of sarcophagus addiction was not on his list of the ‘best souvenirs to bring back from a planet’ brochure.

He just wished Daniel wasn’t distancing himself from them now. He’d hardly spoken a dozen words in the medical suite. And some of those were pretty venomous. Especially for Daniel. Of course he knew a big part of that was the addiction talking. Or rather not talking. But the fact that Daniel had gone out of his way to avoid any contact with any of them after Frasier released them gave him an uneasy feeling. He glanced over at the phone. He could call and see if he wanted to go grab a bite or maybe he could find a game playing downtown if he could get tickets on such short notice, that is.

He stood up and walked over to the phone and reached to pick it up when he suddenly remembered Frasier’s instructions. Crap! His vehicle was back at the SGC, and so was Daniel’s. It almost felt like they were under house arrest. He stood there with his hands resting on the counter staring at the phone. Well, at the very least he could call him up and make sure he was okay.

~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~

More Ashtani entered the huge room lined wall to wall, ceiling to ceiling, with screens. Each screen filled with images playing out from the minds of the countless visitors to their planet. The undetectable inorganic microchip they placed in each being that came through their gate had provided enjoyment and stimulation for their race for countless generations.

With their technology, the Ashtani were able to ‘see’ other worlds, other galaxies, through the eyes of those who had been linked. And since their race was unable to leave the planet, being able to experience the day to day lives of such a vast assortment of other beings and cultures was the only way they could add to their knowledge.

The four latest additions to the room were proving to be less than what they’d hoped for. They had only been able to see them together in a common room, interacting very little. If it wasn’t for the vivid dreams of the female, the Ashtani would have lost interest very quickly and removed them to the secondary viewing room. Now it appeared the four had been separated to different places and the images were now sending a renewed energy through those who were gathered around their screens.

One screen showed a dark being surrounded by deep shadows and flickering lights, and the images, while not terribly exciting, were still most unusual. A second screen showed a female species immersed in what appeared to be a liquid substance and the melodic sounds coming from her voice were most pleasant. The activity was not something their species completely understood but it had still caused quite a stir.

A third screen showed a silver-haired being consuming a liquid and speaking to a device held in his hand. And from the looks of the fourth screen that being was also talking to the same device. The fourth screen had not drawn much attention since it had only been sending back images sporadically. What was causing the malfunction was unknown but if the signal eventually was lost there were many others to keep them entertained.

~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~

Daniel thanked the airman for the ride to the base and hurriedly made his way to the elevator that would take him deep within the mountain. If only there were someplace deep enough to hide from himself as well. He just hoped he didn’t run into anyone wanting to chat until he’d at least had a chance to grab some coffee. To say he was exhausted was putting it lightly.

He hadn’t gotten much sleep the night before after horrific dreams woke him. He’d been a little short with Jack when he called but the vision or god-forbid, hallucination that had happened while he was in the medical suite had shaken him deeply. And when another one had hit shortly before the phone rang, he hadn’t exactly been in the mood to be grilled with questions from Jack.

The vision he’d had the night before had him feeling confused and jumpy. He had only been home a short time when suddenly without warning he was instantly inside Teal’c quarters surrounded by candles. Or so it seemed. He could feel the warmth of the candlelight and smell the wax as it melted. He could even hear him breathing. And then just as abruptly he was back in his kitchen.

He didn’t know what was happening but he suspected it had to be some residual effects from the withdrawal. Although he’d experienced hallucinations before when he’d been addicted to the sarcophagus, they had never been this vivid or this real. Hopefully they would pass quickly because the alternative was too unsettling to even consider.

He couldn’t let anyone know what had been happening. He didn’t even know himself. The only thing he knew for certain was that if they found out, he would be marched right into a padded room and they’d throw away the key. He could only hope and pray that one of these episodes didn’t happen when anyone else was around. And the only way to lessen the chances of that happening was to try to steer clear of any unnecessary togetherness.

He hadn’t let himself think about what he would do if SG-1 was put on the schedule for a mission and the hallucinations were still happening. He had gotten up early so he could get to the base before Janet came on duty. That way Dr. Warner would be taking, hopefully the last sample of blood for awhile, and doing a quick exam. Janet knew him too well, and he was afraid his body language would give him away. And once she had suspicions, she would keep poking around until she discovered what he was so vehemently trying to hide.

~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~

Sam adjusted the settings again and placed the crystal into the slot. She turned the switch and sat back to wait for the readings to be displayed. A tapping sound drew her attention toward the doorway where Daniel was standing, smiling sheepishly. She looked up and smiled.

"Daniel."

"You busy?"

"Yes. Well sort of. I’m doing a lot of waiting and watching to be honest with you. Come on in. I’m never too busy for you. You know that."

Walking hesitantly into the room, he stopped beside her work table glancing at her nervously. He tried to look interested in whatever it was she was working on. He motioned toward the machine and eyed it curiously.. "So…is that the.. uh.. crystal?"

"Yes. I’m comparing its’ properties with those from the healing device. I still can’t believe they just let us have it."

"Yeah. Me too."

Daniel ducked his head down as he tried to figure out how to ask her without raising suspicion. "So…How are you feeling? I know Janet said our blood tests were almost back to normal, but I was just wondering,…I mean…are you doing all right now?"

Sam watched as he twisted the phone cord around his fingers over and over. He was here to talk about something, but what? Maybe if she tried to lighten up his pensive mood it would help.

"I’m feeling a lot better than I was. I think if Janet had made us stay in there one more day together I would have strangled somebody." she laughed.

Sam eyed him worriedly but tried to sound non-threatening. "How are you doing with everything? I mean not only the withdrawal but I know you were disappointed that you couldn’t translate more of their records."

"Oh…you know…It’s not the first time. Won’t be the last." He tried to smile in all the right places but he was feeling more and more nervous by the minute. He was afraid that if he looked into her eyes she could see inside himself at what it was he was trying so hard to hide.

She’d been concerned with Daniel’s quiet demeanor since they’d returned from P5K-892. And from the looks of the shadows under his eyes he wasn’t sleeping well either. "Did you see Janet this morning?"

"Yeah. Well…no. Actually I came in a little early. Janet wasn’t in yet so Dr. Warner took my blood and checked me out. I’m beginning to feel like a pincushion."

"Yeah, I know what you mean." All right. Sam thought. That’s a little better. The humor helped loosen him up a little. Now if I can just…

He let go of the cord, flashed a brief smile and turned to leave. "Well, I’ll see you around, Sam."

"Wait." Okay now I don’t want to push him, he’s almost out the door already. "I thought we might get together later. You know. Relax a little before we go off-world again. General Hammond told me he would consider P6R-H8C for our next mission."

Sam watched as Daniel’s expression went from nervously quiet to panic stricken in mere seconds. And even as she watched she could see him close himself off from her as he waved, mumbled something and left. What the heck was going on with him?

She watched him go, then turned her attention back to the readings on the healing crystal, making a mental note to speak to the Colonel to see if he knows what was bothering him.

There was one good thing about the healing properties of P5K-892, and that was the fact that the cramps she’d had when she went through the gate to Bahakeen had completely disappeared once they’d been there a short time. She grinned as she turned the setting on the machine, wishing she could put some of that in a bottle to keep handy. The team, being confined in such close proximity, with each one suffering from varying degrees of withdrawal, was worse than being confined in a room full of women with nuclear PMS.

~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~

Daniel had tried to concentrate on the video footage from Bahakeen, but after he’d experienced another episode in his office, he was simply too shaken up to stick around. He hated to think what would have happened if Jack had been there. Or Sam. Or Teal’c. What if it happened in the briefing room? Or, oh jeez..…. while he was driving!

He sucked in a breath and hurriedly pulled into the small grocery parking lot just a few blocks from his house. His hands were shaking so badly he dropped the key when he took it out of the ignition. If he had a vision when he was behind the wheel of a car he could wreck and kill someone. Suddenly his being released by Janet to drive lost all its appeal.

He looked out through the car window at the people walking by. People with normal, ordinary, everyday lives. When had his life gotten so far from normal? Had he ever had an ‘ordinary’ day? A day where no one he was close to got hurt or worse. A day that he didn’t have to watch his teammates and friends being tortured. A day not spent fighting an enemy these ordinary people didn’t even know existed? He cringed as the realization washed over him that if Airman Lewis had come to his office a mere five minutes later he would have been in the throes of yet another hallucination.

The latest vision was still fresh in his mind. He had suddenly found himself seeing through the eyes of a woman who was walking through a busy marketplace. As her eyes darted left and right, he could also see what she was seeing. He heard a cry and when he looked down he had a child in his arms. Suddenly he was running and he could feel the woman’s heart pounding and feel the adrenaline racing through her body. Then just as abruptly, he was sitting at his computer with his hand in mid-air ready to punch a key. It had completely freaked him out to the point where he’d had to escape the confines of the mountain.

What was he going to do? He couldn’t take it anymore. He hit the steering wheel with his hand. He was tired and frustrated, but most of all, he was scared.

Maybe it was time to talk to Janet. Surely she would have some idea of a way to, if not get rid of them, at least block them.

He just needed to sit here a few minutes to calm down. Then he would just walk the few blocks home. The walk would hopefully help clear his head.

The realization that sitting here wasn’t doing that much to calm his frayed nerves, he took a deep breath, let it out and opened the door. He grabbed his jacket and got out, locking the doors. As he looked up at the store, he thought he might as well pick up a few things he needed while he was here.

He walked to the entrance and stopped at the door, taking a deep breath before he pushed it open. Nodding to the familiar face of the cashier, he went in search of the few items on his mental list. He hurriedly went through the store gathering what he needed in his arms. On the way to the checkout he stopped to pull out his wallet and he froze as his world around him suddenly changed.

He looked around frantically and saw trees and cars passing by in a blur. The abrupt switch from having his feet planted firmly on solid ground to that where he was all of a sudden surrounded by a world that was in motion was beginning to make him nauseous.

Daniel glanced wide-eyed at the object hanging from the rearview mirror. He immediately recognized the crystal pyramid Jack had in his truck. The one Jack had told him he’d bought after Daniel disappeared from Abydos. He stared as the prism sent colored lights shimmering all around him. This couldn’t be. And yet as he stared at the pyramid dangling from the mirror and caught a glimpse of silver peppered hair, he suddenly knew exactly where he was. Somehow he was in Jack’s truck looking out through Jack’s eyes. The motion of the moving vehicle as it turned the corner, twisted his stomach into knots and he felt like his world was starting to spin all around him. The edge of his vision started to darken and he could feel himself falling. Suddenly his body hit something solid and his eyes popped open. He looked up at the faces staring down at him. The touch of a warm hand on his arm startled him and he jerked his head around and found himself looking into the worried face of the cashier.

"Are you all right Mr. Jackson?"

Daniel squeezed his eyes shut and opened them again feeling relief in the small fact that she was still knelt down beside him. He suddenly realized he was on the floor and quickly sat up looking around trying not to panic. He pushed himself up off the floor and felt a sharp pain in his hand as he stood. He straightened up and held out his hand to see what was causing the piercing pain and saw a piece of glass sticking out of his palm. A trickle of blood was starting to run down his wrist. He picked the glass out and stared at it in confusion.

"Mr. Jackson?" The cashier looked at him worriedly.

He looked around and saw the carry-out boy shooing the curious shoppers away.

"I’m … I’m fine."

He looked down to the floor at the broken jar and then back to his bloodied palm.

"I’m sorry about the mess… I’ll pay for it of course." He reached his good hand into his pocket and pulled out his wallet. Holding it gingerly in his injured hand he pulled out some money and handed it to her. Stepping around the broken jar he strode quickly to the exit. He just wanted to go home, to someplace safe. But right now, he was beginning to think that place didn’t exist.

~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~

The Ashtani were fascinated with their latest acquisitions. The four Tau’ri had provided much needed stimulation for their minds. Even though the signal from the young one had been sporadic at best, when the signal did come in clearly it was one of the most popular screens available for viewing.

Several of the Ashtani gathered at the young one’s screen when the images grew sharp and clear once again. It seemed that this one was in a state of sleep but even so, vivid images filled his mind. Up on the wall they watched in fascination as a black-robed figure with no discernable facial features was taunting the young Tau’ri. Words were spoken back and forth between the two until finally the Tau’ri gathered a ball of pure energy from within himself. And when it had grown sufficiently to almost consume him, the young one thrust the massive energy sphere at the dark menacing figure. Suddenly the powerful energy was catapulted back at him and the screen lit up in a fiery blaze. Ripples of excitement ran through the group of Ashtani who were watching the screen with fascination. Suddenly the screen flickered and filled with gray static. A collective sign of disappointment filled the great hall.

~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~

Daniel watched as the elevator door slid open but didn’t make a move to exit. His eyes traveled down the long corridor to where the infirmary lay. He’d decided this morning that he was going to talk to Janet about the visions.

He was jolted out of his daze by the airman who stepped into the elevator and reached over to the panel to punch a button. "Going down, sir?"

Daniel stared at him. "I…um…yes. No. Sorry." He stepped out into the hall and slowly started toward the infirmary. He made it to the closed doors and stopped, then turned around and leaned his back up against the cool concrete wall. He shoved his hands into his pockets and closed his eyes in an attempt to find the courage to walk through those doors.

The visions that he had assumed were some residual effects from the planet had not disappeared as he had hoped they would. If anything they had increased in intensity and frequency. And why did he seem to be the only one affected? He opened his eyes and stared at the opposite wall. What was he going to tell Janet? That he was seeing things? And not just seeing things. These visions were too real. It was almost as if he were inside someone else’s head and could see, hear, smell and feel everything they were experiencing. What would Dr. MacKenzie have called them? ’Visual and auditory hallucinations’? That label ought to earn him a nice cozy little padded room. A one-way ticket to the loony bin. Just send my mail to Dr. Jackson, care of ‘The Nuthouse’.

He turned his head as the elevator doors opened at the end of the corridor and Sgt. Siler stepped out and started walking in his direction. He pushed away from the wall and tried to look casual, like he wasn’t actually waiting to go into the infirmary. As the Sergeant came closer he saw he had a wad of paper towels pressed against his head.

Daniel turned toward him. "Are you all right?"

Sergeant Siler stopped at the doors. "Sure. It’s nothing. Just a little accident." The Sergeant put his hand on the door to push it open and paused. "Do you need to see Dr. Frasier? I could tell her you’re waiting out here if you want?"

Daniel straightened up and nervously shoved his sweating hands into his pockets again. "No… No. That’s all right. I…uh don’t need to see her. I was…just…um…on my way to.." Daniel pointed down the hall. "I’d better go. Hope you’re gonna be okay." He turned and quickly started walking down the hallway. He heard ’I appreciate that Dr. Jackson’, behind him. What the devil was I thinking? I can’t do this.

~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~

Sam walked into the Gateroom where her CO and Teal’c were waiting to embark on their latest mission. It just didn’t feel right not having Daniel here too. He had left the base after only being here a short time and then had called in complaining of a bad stomach ache, which according Daniel, was most likely caused from some take-out food he’d eaten the night before. No amount of cajoling would convince him to come into the infirmary so Janet could check him out.

Apparently he had spoken to General Hammond and convinced him to send SG-1, minus himself, on the scheduled mission since there was very little in the way of ruins to translate or even an alien race, according to the MALP. But Daniel was so much a part of SG-1, it felt odd to not have him standing here with them as they waited for the chevrons to lock one by one.

She was glad the mission was for only twenty-four hours. If standing here felt strange it would be stranger still being off-world with only the three of them. They’d done that a few times after Daniel ascended. And even when they had acquired a fourth member she had never quite gotten used to it. That plus the fact that she wouldn’t have him to bounce ideas off of was positively disappointing.

~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~

Daniel looked around his living room, his body starting to tremble as the relief that he was back in his own world washed over him. Not another one. He pressed the heels of his hands into the sides of his temple as the throbbing threatened to split his skull in two. When these visions first started he hadn’t had the headaches. But in the past twelve hours or so each vision was followed by a blinding headache. Thank goodness he hadn’t gone with SG-1 on their mission. He’d done the right thing calling in sick. Of course at the time he had no idea just how sick he was gonna be.

He slowly tried to stand, trying to feel his way to the bathroom to where the aspirin was. Barely opening one eye, he made it to the medicine cabinet and flung it open. He looked over the few bottles on the shelf and seeing a stronger pain killer Janet had given him several months ago, he opted to grab it instead.

A wave of pain swept through his head so strong he had to grip the edge of the sink so he wouldn’t pass out. Praying almost that he would. He unscrewed the cap, shook out a couple of pills and tossed them in his mouth. He turned on the water, leaned down and cupped his hand under the trickle and took enough sips to wash the pills down.That monumental task completed, he let himself slide down the wall onto the floor and closed his eyes to wait for relief, either from the medication or unconsciousness, he didn’t care which.

~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~

Daniel glanced at his watch once more as he hurried down the corridor toward the gateroom. SG-1 would be coming back from their mission any time and he wanted to be there to meet them. He’d had time to think about what was happening to him and what his options were.

One thing had became abundantly clear, he had no choice but to tell Janet about the hallucinations. With his teammates off-world without him he’d come to the realization that if he intended to ever go through that gate again, the hallucinations would have to be stopped. And since he didn’t have a clue as to how or why they’d started in the first place, he would have to reach out for help elsewhere.

He wouldn’t put his teammates at risk, and if the episodes he’d had the past several days were any example, they could definitely put them all in harm’s way if it happened at an inopportune time. Not that there was ever a good time. He heard Sergeant Davis announcing SG-1’s code just as he walked into the gateroom. He stepped over to the base of the ramp, shoving his sweating hands into his pockets, and nervously waited for his teammates.

The iris opened and Sam was the first one through. Her face lit up when she saw him and she quickly walked down the ramp and gave him a quick hug, whispering in his ear that if he ever missed another mission, food poisoning would be the least of his problems. She rolled her eyes, glanced back at her CO and Teal’c, shook her head smiling and took off for the infirmary. He returned her smile and watched as Jack and Teal’c came down the ramp.

Teal’c stopped in front of Daniel. "It is good to see you have recovered, DanielJackson."

"Uh…Thank you, Teal’c."

He nodded and started out of the room. Jack stepped up beside him grinning and eyeing him curiously. "Miss me?"

"Sure, Jim." Daniel chuckled nervously and lowered his eyes barely missing Jack‘s playful swat at his head.

They walked out of the gateroom together and Jack looked over at Daniel, noticing he was quieter than usual.

"So. You feeling better I take it?"

"Yeah."

"Don’t tell me you ordered from that Ching Chang something place again." Jack asked teasingly.

A smile lit Daniel’s face for just a moment then was instantly replaced by a mask of distress, as he stared down to the far end of the corridor deep in thought.

"No. I didn’t… actually I…" Daniel stopped abruptly.

He closed his eyes briefly and let out a quiet sigh, then looked at Jack.

"Jack. Do you have a minute before you have to go get checked out?"

"I have loads of minutes. Your office or mine?"

"It doesn’t matter."

"O…kay, then. How about neither?"

"Huh?"

"Come on." Jack put his hand against Daniel’s back and steered him down the hall to the elevator. Daniel’s whole demeanor had been sending up warning flags ever since he saw him waiting at the end of the ramp. But now Daniel was really starting to worry him.

~^~^~

There were several well worn paths on top of Cheyenne Mountain. With no windows in the underground complex, the area got its share of men and women who

needed to escape the cool gray endless concrete. Once they reached a clearing where the view of the city in the distance was the most spectacular they stopped, staring out at the sight.

Jack glanced over at his friend. Daniel looked even more nervous than before, if that was possible.

"So. Daniel."

"Yeah."

"You wanted to talk?"

"Uh…yeah."

"So …I’m all ears."

Daniel had been thinking all morning about what he was going to say, but now all twenty some languages failed him. He stared at the ground trying to gather the courage to tell Jack what had been happening to him for the past few days. How do you admit to your best friend that you think you’re going insane?

"I don’t really know how to tell you…except to just tell you." Daniel stared back down at the ground as images of his grandfather locked up in that institution kept sweeping over him.

"Daniel. Talk to me. What’s wrong?"

"I’m seeing things." His voice broke even with his valiant efforts to stay in control.

"Seeing…as in…."

"Hallucinations, visions, whatever." Daniel looked up into eyes filled with concern.

"All right. You’ve had these… how long?"

"Since we came back from P5K-892."

"And you didn’t say anything? Jeez, Daniel!" Jack stared at him in disbelief, then looked away, taking a deep breath. The last thing his friend needed right now was a lecture. That could wait. Right now Daniel just needed a friend. Jack looked back at him. "Have you talked to Frasier yet?"

"I wanted to talk to you first."

Jack steered Daniel over to a log and motioned for him to sit.

Jack sat down beside him. "Okay. Tell me what’s been going on and then we’ll go see Frasier."

"Jack. I think I really am losing my mind this time." He hung his head down, and raised his hand, pressing his fingers to his eyes to keep the moisture from escaping and felt a strong hand gently squeeze the back of his neck.

~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~

Jack was still pacing outside the examination room where he had deposited Daniel over two hours ago. What was taking so long? She could have examined ten people in that amount of time. By the time they got to the infirmary Daniel was visibly shaking. The look on his face as the nurse was taking a blood sample had made the lump in his throat grow larger and the knot in his stomach twist harder. Janet had sent him out to wait in the hallway when they took Daniel to have a CAT scan. Even though he knew they really had no choice, he still felt like he had thrown Daniel to the lions. Not that Frasier wasn’t top notch when it came to medicine, especially the alien kind.

It was unbelievable the things his distressed friend had told him. At last the doors opened and Daniel stepped though with Frasier right beside him, both with somber expressions.

"Daniel? You all right?"

He looked up only briefly with a flash of a forced smile them dropped his gaze. "Could be better."

Jack looked at Frasier. "Well? What’s going on with him?"

"I honestly don’t know, Colonel. I’ve run every test I can think of and, well I can’t find a single thing that could be causing this. Since you and the rest of SG-1 don‘t seem to be affected, I’m hoping that might help narrow down the possibilities."

"So what are we gonna do about it?"

"For now I want Daniel to stay on the base. He can stay in one of the VIP rooms so I can keep an eye on him and so someone will be here if he has another episode. Some of the tests won’t be back for another twenty-four hours. Once I get those back. I’ll take another look at the situation and then we’ll go from there."

~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~

Sam tossed the papers down on the desk and a few of them flew out onto the floor. She cursed under her breath and bent over to retrieve them. There simply had to be something in this crystal that could shed some light on what was happening to Daniel. She must not be looking for the right thing. She was still stunned by what she’d been told about the visions Daniel had been having.

"Are you in need of assistance, Major Carter?" Teal’c stood in the open doorway waiting for her to acknowledge him.

Sam popped her head up above the desk and looked at him. "No. Thanks Teal’c." She picked up the last of the papers and laid them on the desk with the others. Sitting back down, she started sorting through them when she stopped and looked up at Teal’c. "Weren’t you scheduled to go on a mission with Colonel Browning’s team?"

"I was. The Stargate was not secure when General Hammond sent the MALP through a short time ago. The mission was cancelled."

"Oh. That’s too bad." She said as she went back to sorting through the mixed up jumble of papers

"Were you been successful in contacting your father?" Teal’c asked her.

"Yes. He was here for a couple of hours. You just missed him."

Teal‘c studied her troubled face closely. "Did he not possess knowledge of how we may assist DanielJackson?"

"No. not really. He said he’d go back and talk to the High Council. But I don’t know, Teal’c, I get the feeling he was keeping something from me."

~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~

Daniel sat staring at the computer screen in the dimly lit VIP room. He’d been working in his office most of the day after much pleading to Janet. He’d convinced her that without his work to focus on he really would go nuts. A fleeting maniacal laugh escaped him and he closed his eyes. Yeah, that’s a good one. Like he wasn’t nuts already.

He supposed as compared to some of his other days, only having two ‘episodes’, as he would prefer to call them, could be seen as an accomplishment. He glanced down at his watch. Ah. But the day was young. He wouldn’t break out the party hats and balloons just yet. He stopped for a moment to rub his gritty eyes. When had he gotten so cynical?

He opened his eyes again and stabbed his finger at the keyboard bringing up the next set of images. What’s the use? As much as he’d been over and over the video footage from P5K-892, he was no closer to finding an answer than he was a week ago. He would never get to go through the gate again unless they could find a way to stop this from happening.

Since the hallucinations hadn’t started until after he’d been to P5K-892, he’d hoped the answer might be there. But he’d been through every piece of video footage and notes he‘d taken, which wasn’t exactly abundant, read over Jack, Sam, and Teal’cs mission reports to see if there was something they had observed that he was missing, and still he’d come up empty-handed.

Suddenly there was a knock on the door and a familiar voice filtered through. He dropped his head with a groan. The last thing he needed was an audience if he had another ‘episode’. The main reason he was hiding out in the VIP room now was because he’d had one of those episodes while in the commissary. Totally lost it for several minutes, right in full view of what looked like half the base. It was even more humiliating than the incident at the grocery store. He might never show his face in either place again.

The rapping at the door repeated.

"Daniel? I know you’re in there."

Reluctantly he stood up from the small desk, walked over to the door and opened it. Jack was standing in the hall with a large Styrofoam container of coffee in one hand and a sack from his favorite deli in the other, holding them up grinning.

Daniel eyed the offerings suspiciously then opened the door the rest of the way and turned around, walking back to his desk to focus once again on the computer screen.

Jack awkwardly stepped inside and closed the door behind him. He really did not want to be here for the reasons that he was but he would rather Daniel hear the news from him rather than from the grapevine.

"So." Jack found himself shifting uneasily from one foot to the other trying to find an easy way to tell Daniel what he’d come here to say. "Thought you might be hungry."

Daniel looked up from the computer screen at the fidgety man and glared.

"Why? Did you hear about what happened in the commissary already?" He grumbled irritably.

Jack looked at him puzzled not knowing what he was talking about. He had just come to the base directly from home. "What happened in the commissary?"

Daniel quickly looked away. "Oh.. nothing. Just forget it. You can set those down over there on your way out."

Jack stepped over to the table and set the coffee and food down and glanced back at Daniel. He suddenly wished he were anywhere but here. But he owed his friend this much.

"What do you want, Jack?" There was a hint of impatience in his voice as he looked over to see Jack not making any move to leave.

Jack developed a sudden interest in the plastic plant on the table and absently twisted it in his fingers.

"So. How have you been feeling?"

Daniel stood up angrily and exploded. "How do you think I feel, Jack? I’m getting the Sci-Fi channel in my head. I can’t go through the gate on another mission until somebody finds a way to turn it off. Oh, and I made a complete fool of myself in the commissary today, not to mention the grocery store a few days ago, so it looks like I’m never gonna eat here or at home again. Assuming I ever get to GO home again." He turned away and tried to get his anger under control.

Jack ran his hand over his tired face. More bad news was the last thing Daniel needed to hear right now but as usual when they had anything that involved the Tok’ra he was choiceless. He grabbed a chair and sat down. Leaning forward, he clasped his hands in front him, trying to find a good way to say what he’d come there to tell him.

Daniel looked over at Jack beginning to feel uneasy about the man’s reason for coming.

"Why are you really here, Jack?"

"The Tok’ra are on their way."

"Why?"

"To see you."

"To see me why?"

"Well, it seems they’ve been busy little beavers. They’ve been working on a new memory recall gadget."

"So?"

Jack hesitated. "Well, they want to try it out on you."

Daniel stared at him not believing what he was hearing. "What are you talking about?"

Jack sighed. This was so unfair to Daniel. As if he wasn’t under enough stress. "Those visions you’ve been having, they seem to think there’s something in them that could help them fight the Goa’uld." Jack could see the combination of anger, fear and disbelief on his friend’s face. "Yeah, I know. I don’t trust them as far as I can throw them either. As a matter of fact I wouldn’t mind throwing them right back through the gate the minute they arrive here."

Daniel turned away from Jack and stared at the wall.

"You’ve told me what you came to tell me. You can leave now."

"You know if it was up to me I’d put call-blocking on the Tok’ra’s signal so we’d never have to hear from them again….except maybe for Jacob."

"I know. Thanks."

Jack watched as Daniel stood up and walked toward the bathroom.

"You can let yourself out."

~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~

Daniel could feel the tension in the briefing room even before his foot touched the bottom step. All eyes around the expansive table turned as he entered and followed him as he took his seat, He glanced around nervously at the faces of his teammates and an unfamiliar one that stared at him with a curiously cold look. Jack’s hand on his back steering him to a chair helped bring his own near panic to a more manageable level. Jack waited until Daniel had slid into the seat before he took the chair next to him.

General Hammond was standing and he spoke in a voice tainted with anger at the reason he’d been forced to call this meeting.

"All right. We might as well get started. Dr. Jackson, let me say first of all that this meeting was not of my doing." He looked at Daniel regretfully, then took his seat before continuing.

"It seems the Tok’ra have expressed an interest in studying Doctor Jackson’s visions and will be here first thing tomorrow morning. They have requested that he return with them to their planet. According to the Tok’ra they have developed a more sophisticated memory recall device they wish to use on him."

The General glanced at Major Carter, who cringed and lowered her head. He had already briefed her on the message sent through from the Tok’ra but he knew the fact that her father was one of those who now sought to take her friend and teammate had felt to her like the ultimate betrayal. But since the message was sent from Delick and not Selmak, he suspected Jacob was not aware of their request.

He looked briefly at the visitor seated to his left, his anger clearly visible, and continued. "Also, I just found out a few hours ago that the head of the senate finance committee has authorized Agent Warren from the N.I.D. to question Dr. Jackson about the visions he has experienced since returning from P5K-892. They’re ultimately demanding that Dr. Jackson return with them to a facility at Area 51 to keep him under observation for an undetermined length of time in order to extract information from Dr. Jackson while he is having these visions."

Daniel up glanced at the NID Agent who was staring at him like he was bug on the wall.

"When hell freezes over. Sir." Jack said as coldly as possible.

"Colonel O’Neill, as much as I object to the Tok’ra and the NID’s request, there is still very clear military procedure we have to follow." The General paused and looked around the table. "I am still trying to reach the President about this matter. And when I do this will hopefully put an end to what is in my opinion, a blatant disregard for Doctor Jackson’s well-being."

Jack glanced at the General, then glared at the Agent sitting smugly returning his stare. "So. The Tok’ra snakes want Daniel and the NID snakes want him too?" Jack said with as much disgust in his voice he could muster.

~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~

Sam stood at the door to the VIP room where Daniel had been holed up since the meeting. All because of her. Well not entirely, since the appearance of the NID agent came as a surprise although it really shouldn’t have. But she was definitely feeling her share of guilt for having the Tok’ra chomping at the bit to get ahold of her close friend on the other side of that door.

She took a deep breath and knocked lightly. She wondered if maybe he might be asleep or with Janet in the infirmary until she finally heard a voice inviting her in. She opened the door and looked around the darkened room until she made out a shape lying on the bed facing the wall. She closed the door behind her as she tentatively stepped into the room.

"Hi Sam."

"Daniel?"

He turned onto his back and looked over at her.

"There’s a chair…"

"I…can’t stay but a minute. But thanks."

"It’s not your fault, Sam." He said softly.

She stared at him momentarily stunned by his instant absolution. She lowered her eyes.

"Daniel…"

"No. Listen Sam. It’s no one’s fault I’m having these…visions. Just don’t let what the Tok’ra do tarnish the feelings you have for your Dad. He’s in a difficult position."

She wiped the tear that escaped down her cheek. "Still… I’m sorry."

"There’s nothing to be sorry for. You were just trying to help."

"But it’s because of me that the Tok’ra are coming. I’m the one who contacted them. Even if my Dad doesn‘t know they’re doing this, they still found out about you from me."

He pushed himself up off the bed and walked over to where she stood stiffly. He reached out to touch her shoulder and she suddenly wrapped her arms around him sobbing. "They want to take you away. They want to hook you up to their machines and study you like a …" her words were choked off by her sobs.

He hugged her tighter. "It’s all right Sam. I’m not going with them. Any of them. If I have to I’ll find a way to get out of here and go where they can’t ever find me."

She tore herself away from him and stared, slowly shaking her head.. "No! You can’t just leave. There’s got to be another way." She pleaded.

~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~

Briefing room : 0900 hrs.

"According to the treaty between our two worlds, there is to be a full exchange of all sources of information concerning the Goa’uld. And since the human has acquired the ability to see other worlds, including Goa’uld controlled ones, in his mind, we demand full access to the source of that information."

The Tok’ra representative stood with his fists clenched resting against the table, his anger having already forced him to his feet. The NID Agent jumped up glaring at the Tok’ra across the table from him. "And what makes you think your precious treaty takes precedence over our own planet’s safety?"

"Oh for cryin out loud. General?" Jack had heard about all he could stand. He glared at the two men standing. "We are talking about a person here by the way. And his name isn’t ’human’. It’s Doctor Daniel Jackson and he happens to be sitting right here at this table, in case you’ve forgotten."

The Tok’ra’s eyes flashed at Jack. "Need I remind you, Colonel, that it was the Tau’ri who insisted that with an alliance between our people we would both be in a better position to fight the Goa’uld? If I recall that alliance includes the sharing of any and all information and technology. Does it not?"

"Need I remind YOU that Daniel isn’t some lab rat you can poke and prod and experiment on. What would you think if we took one your snakes and experimented on it?"

"If it meant that all Tok’ra would benefit then I am certain any of us would be willing to make that sacrifice" The Tok’ra said haughtily.

Jack shook his head with disgust. "Oh, I should have known. You don’t give a rat’s ass about sacrificing your own people. Fine! But if you think for one second we’re just going lie down and watch while you or the Neanderthal Idiotic Death squad over there take Daniel off this base, you’ll need more than an alliance to protect your snaky little butts." Jack was on his feet too by now. His patience with this entire topic of conversation had already fled the room.

"Is that a threat?" Agent Warren asked angrily.

"Gentlemen! Please. This is getting us nowhere fast. I expect everyone…" General Hammond’s words froze as the room was suddenly engulfed in a blinding flash of a white misty light and then it was gone.

The stunned silence was finally broken by Sam whose voice broke with her words. "Where’s Daniel?" All eyes shot to the space at the end of the long table. Jack stared down at the empty chair beside him and a knot started in his throat and moved down to settle in the pit of his stomach. He looked over at General Hammond whose shock was mirrored in his eyes.

Agent Warren was on his feet now. "What kind of trick are you people trying to pull?"

Jack clenched his fists so hard he could feel his nails cutting into his palms. He turned away from the still stunned faces and strode angrily from the room.

~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~

Several of the Ashtani were gathered at the screens linked to the four Tau’ri. These four had been very popular among their race. It seems the Tau’ri had an extremely fascinating mind not only when they went about their day to day lives but also when they were asleep.

The female displayed a myriad of emotions, especially when alone and it was fascinating for the Ashtani to observe her as she experimented on various objects. Including, interestingly enough, a crystal from their own planet.

The dark one spent much time reading and learning more about the Tau’ri which in turn allowed the Ashtani through their link to learn more about the them as well. This one had uneventful sleep and the gathering would often move to another screen when the dark one was at rest.

The silver haired one spent much time on the move. His screen’s images were constantly changing as he went from one place to the next. Sometimes angrily speaking to others and sometimes staring up at the stars.

The young one was a most amazing link indeed. In his periods of brief sleep this one displayed captivating images. Mostly from his world, earth, but many from a world the Ashtani had not seen or heard of before. A world of swirling shadow beings. Unfortunately the link to the young one had evidently been damaged some way and it was feared his link was severed permanently as it suddenly went black. Then the other three screens also went black and a whispered moan filled the Great Room as the signals were apparently lost.

~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~

General Hammond closed the door to his office and tiredly walked over to his desk. He laid his palms down on the rich dark wood and leaned heavily against it. He took a long deep breath and straightened up as he made his way around to his chair easing himself into the warm leather. His eyes traveled around the room as he thought about the many memories that lurked in the shadows of this office. A lot of good ones. Some bad ones too. Far too many bad ones. He glanced out through the glass separating his office from the briefing room where the latest fiasco had ended abruptly and unexpectedly.

He couldn’t even begin to speculate as to what had transpired only a few short hours ago. Whatever possible explanations had been thrown back and forth after Doctor Jackson disappeared wouldn’t alter the fact that somehow a valuable, vital member of this facility had vanished without a trace.

He’d witnessed a lot of unusual occurrences here in the bowels of this mountain. Why ,they had even seen a person disappear right before their very eyes on more than one occasion when Thor took Colonel O’Neill to his ship. But something told him deep in his gut that this was entirely different.

Dr. Jackson’s disappearance didn’t have the earmarks of Thor beaming his people away. This reminded him of only one thing and that one thing was the reason he couldn’t bring himself to leave the base just yet. The white flash of light that had filled the briefing room earlier that evening was too reminiscent of what they had seen when Doctor Jackson died and ascended well over a year ago. That day would always stand out in his mind as one of the saddest events, if you could call it that, that he had been witness to since he had taken over as commander of this facility

His heart felt heavy and from what he’d seen in the faces of SG-1 after Dr. Jackson vanished a few hours ago this wound would take a miracle to heal.

He ran the events of the meeting over in his mind remembering the look on Major Carter’s face and the sobs that she had been unable to contain as she was assisted to the infirmary. Teal’c had stayed seated not moving a muscle, just staring at the empty chair for over an hour. The stony exterior of the warrior had seemed almost fragile. His look had given him the impression that he hoped if he stared long enough and hard enough at the once occupied chair, the soft-spoken archeologist would somehow reappear. Finally without uttering a word he’d stood and walked out.

The mere fact that the Colonel hadn’t floored the Tok’ra or Agent Warren amazed him. His silent sudden exit left him suspecting that this might very well be the last time Colonel O’Neill stepped foot in this facility. The seeming ‘death’ of the soft-spoken archaeologist, had nearly torn SG-1 apart. If they couldn’t figure out how to locate Doctor Jackson this time and bring him back, he had his doubts if there would continue to even be an SG-1.

He rubbed at his tired eyes. It had been a very long day. The only redeeming value was that the Tok’ra had left through the gate an hour ago, since the reason they’d come was now… gone. He looked at the red phone on his desk. He just had one more piece of trash to remove from the base and hopefully he could take care of that little problem himself. He picked up the receiver.

"Yes, Let me speak to the President."

"I realize it’s late, Mr. President, but we have a little problem I was hoping you could help us with. Yes, about Agent Warren…"

~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~

The first thing Daniel noticed was that the hair all over his entire body felt like it was standing on end like the room was filled with static electricity. The second thing was that he was lying down. He pulled himself to his feet, looking around dazed and confused. It seemed he wasn’t exactly in the briefing room anymore. Evidently he wasn’t even in a room at all. He looked around at the swirling mist uneasily. Okay. He must be having another hallucination. He wrapped his arms around himself and squeezed his eyes closed for a few moments waiting for the vision to run its course like all the others had. But when he opened his eyes all he saw was…

"Oma?"

~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~

Jack hit the bag again as hard as he could and still it barely moved. He wanted to see it split open and then rip the stuffing out and shove it down someone’s throat. He was going to have bruised hands tomorrow but he didn’t really care. Right now all he cared about was beating the crap out of the holier-than-thou Tok’ra and the NID. They were the reason he was now in the gym trying to pound the stuffing out of a punching bag instead of a person.

He didn’t want to think about what had happened, but each time the sight of that empty chair flashed into his mind the anger and grief threatened to drown him. What the devil had happened to Daniel in the briefing room? Thor was the only one who had a bad habit of snatching people out of the SGC, but Thor had never before taken Daniel, only himself… Lucky me.

He simply couldn’t make any sense out of it. It didn’t have Thor’s MO. The little guy had always snatched him in the blink of an eye. One moment you were there, the next, you were gone. No bright white mist like this time. If it was Thor, then why hadn’t he contacted them yet?

~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~

Daniel stared at the hallucination that looked suspiciously like Oma Desala. She certainly looked real and as he looked around nervously at the swirling mist, he had a distinct feeling of déjà vu’. He eyed the vision before him as it stared back at him smiling.

He took a shaky deep breath and closed his eyes once more hoping that this hallucination would vanish soon like the others had done. But when he opened his eyes and saw that it was still there he began to worry. Okay, he must have really gone off the deep end this time.

The feeling of static came washing over him again and he looked down at his hands and then to his feet. Whoa! Looking down was not a good idea. He could feel something solid below him but when he looked down he could see forever through the swirling clouds. He involuntarily reached out his hands to steady himself from the vertigo that was threatening to overwhelm him. A hand reached out toward him from the Oma hallucination and he grabbed at it without thinking.

As soon as he’d grasped it he drew back his hand like it had been burnt, stumbling backward before regaining his footing. He stared at the outstretched hand. That felt awfully solid to be a figment of his imagination. And just when he thought things couldn’t get any worse, his hallucination spoke.

"If you have never done anything evil, you should not worry about devils knocking at your door."

Daniel stared. That sure sounded like Oma.

"Why is your heart so fearful, Daniel?"

"Well, it could be the fact that I’ve completely lost my mind." He answered slowly, still staring in disbelief.

"And what has led you to believe this?"

He nervously chuckled as his voice climbed higher. "Maybe because I’m talking to a hallucination?"

"Do I not look and feel and sound real to you?"

"Hallucinations always say that." He told her. "My insane Grandfather told me that once."

"Only those who have traveled the road, know where the holes are deep."

He glanced around nervously. "Yeah, well, the hole I’ve fallen into this time must be a doozy. I’ll just wait here for the rabbit carrying the clock, the one that’s really late, to show up here any second." He glanced down at his watch, not surprised to find it wasn’t working. whopper

"There are many paths to the top of the mountain, but the view is always the same."

"Well, I’m a little afraid of heights, so if this is the top of a mountain I’d really like to get off now cause I think maybe I’m not getting enough oxygen or something up here." Could he actually be lying on some planet somewhere, brain starved for oxygen, hallucinating all of this? Or maybe even everything that happened the past two weeks? He pinched the bridge of his nose, squeezing his eyes shut. He just couldn’t think straight.

"The man who removes a mountain begins by carrying away small stones."

"Now, see, I must really be losin’ here it because I…I actually understood that."

He fought the urge to look down again as he concentrated on the question he wanted to ask his hallucination.

"So if you really are Oma Desala, does that mean… Am I dead?"

^~^~^~^~^~^~^~

Sam sat up groggily from the sofa where she’d fallen into a restless sleep the night before. Her eyes, her entire face felt puffy and swollen. She moved her hand up to the side of her face to see if it really was as bad as it felt. Her fingertips touched the streaks where a river of tears had flowed.

She squeezed her eyes shut when they started to sting with yet more unshed tears. Tears that could never wash away the pain of her loss or her guilt from her part in it. The image of seeing the white wash of light and then the shock of Daniel’s empty chair, stabbed her with renewed pain. She didn’t realize your heart could actually hurt this bad without it shattering.

The pain she’d felt when Daniel died over a year ago had been staggering. But somehow she had survived. They all had survived. The world that she felt surely must have stopped that day had much to her surprise only paused and life had went on. The realization that the world could still go on without Daniel Jackson in it had seemed unfathomable.

But she had somehow managed to get back up on her feet and take one step at a time. Back to a world that felt emptier, darker, like things were not as bright as before.

What would she do now? Her team had somehow managed to still be a team the last time one of their own went missing. She doubted that would be the case this time. She had seen the look in her CO’s eyes even if he wouldn’t talk about his pain, she could see the devastation mirrored there.

Yes. It really did feel as if the world had been put on pause.

~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~

"He who asks is a fool for a moment, but he who does not ask remains a fool forever."

Daniel eyed her suspiciously. "So are you telling me I’m a foolish dead guy?" He continued to stare at this figment of his imagination wondering why he was getting so irritated at something that wasn’t really there.

"I dreamed a thousand new paths___I woke and walked my old one."

Oh here we go with the path thing again. "So am I dreaming all this? When am I gonna wake up and get back on my old path again?" Daniel looked more confused than ever and right now he just wanted to close his eyes and open them with the familiar surroundings of the SGC.

"This is not a dream, Daniel." Oma told him slightly amused.

"Okay…Not a dream then." This was really starting to freak him out a little. Well, actually a lot. "So maybe this time the ‘dreams teach’ thing isn’t working. Listen I don’t know what this is, or why I’m here talking to… you. But I just want to go home."

"What answers do you seek?"

"All right. Well, first. If I’m not dreaming then this must be a hallucination, right? ………….Okay, dumb question." If he could find a wall he would just beat his head against it. He took a deep breath and looked at her again as she stood there calmly smiling. "Am I where it looks I am…Ah Ah! and don’t give me any of that ‘if you think you are here then you really are here‘ stuff." He looked around at the somehow familiar sights and turned to her with concern. "Am I Ascended? Again?"

"Yes and no."

Daniel pressed his palm against his forehead and took another deep breath, trying to resist the urge to give Oma a good shake. "Could you possibly try to elaborate?"

"You are in the Realms of Ascension but it is only I here with you. The Others are elsewhere. I am very real."

"Elsewhere…..right, Of course they are." He said mockingly. "I’m assuming you’re the one who brought me here. So…why?"

"It was necessary to separate you from your kind."

"Why? Because they were fighting over who gets to pick my brain, right?"

"When spiders unite they can tie down a lion."

"Okay… Here we go again..…Listen, It’s been a difficult couple of weeks and I really don’t need this." He rubbed at his temples. His head was really beginning to ache.

"Those who seek us will destroy you."

"So…What? You zapped me away from my home so you could protect yours?"

"Their path is wide yet their vision is so narrow."

"Yeah, I get that part. Listen, don’t get me wrong I appreciate what you tried to do, but I can’t stay here. So you can beam me back to my friends now."

"To return, we must first remove what encumbers you."

"What are you talking about?" He asked, impatiently. He certainly hoped he hadn’t irritated Jack and Teal’c this much when he came to them as an ascended being like they claimed he had.

"There are those who seek what is still hidden in your mind."

"You mean the visions I’ve been having?… Or, wait. Do you mean the memories of when I was ascended?"

"Yes."

"So…why am I here again?"

"The visions are no more and soon the memories will join them."

"You stopped the hallucinations." He looked at questioningly.

"Yes. The race you encountered recently altered each of you so that they might see through your eyes."

"Are you telling me the Ashtani put something in our heads, all four of us, when we were there so they could see our thoughts?"

"Yes. But you are different. The thoughts of many that were meant to be seen by the Ashtani, instead, were linked to you."

"So. I’m different because I was ascended and that caused the thing in my head to, what, malfunction or something? The visions I was having were me actually seeing through the eyes of other beings who had these things put in their heads?"

"It is done."

"Well, thank you. For doing that. So… I guess I can go home then."

"You may cover the flame, but the embers still burn."

Daniel was growing tired of Oma’s riddles. He was a skilled linguist, but this ‘language of the Ascended’ just made his head hurt. He was still not entirely convinced he wasn’t hallucinating all of this.

"Listen Oma. Or whoever you are. It’s been a hoot but I just want to go back. Now."

"You cannot continue on your path encumbered by flames dancing at your feet."

Daniel threw up his hands. "Okay. I think I’ll just find my own way out and leave you with your riddles." He glanced around trying to find something that could possibly be a way out.

"Only by removing the stones in your path, may you continue your journey."

Stones in my path? Daniel thought for a moment. "You mean my memories? From when I was ascended? There hasn’t been that many, believe me."

Daniel was beginning to feel like Oma was a little too obsessed about his memories.

"Listen, if you’re afraid I’ll give away your little secrets, I haven’t been able to remember but just a few things from that time."

"Sometimes the greatest obstacles are the ones we cannot see." Oma took a step closer and continued. "We will remove the stones so that your journey may continue. And we may continue ours."

"My memories." He was getting a bad feeling about the direction this conversation was headed. "You want to take away my memories of when I was ascended. Is that it?"

Daniel took a few steps back as he tried to understand exactly what she was telling him. "Well, if I remember correctly, which I’m pretty sure I do, no thanks to you, the last time you tried that little selective memory sweep, you got a little carried away with the eraser."

"When the weeds are pulled, the flowers are disturbed also. But in time they will bloom again."

"So I assume you’ve been working on that all or nothing memory erasing thing, right?" The uphill battle to regain his memories when SG-1 brought him back to the SGC from Vis Uban were still fresh in his mind. It was not something he wanted to repeat. "So you can just take those memories and leave the rest alone?" Even as he said the words he was unsure if he would trust an affirmative answer from her.

He looked at her but she was strangely silent.

"Why do I get the feeling there’s something you’re not telling me?" Daniel got more concerned the longer Oma stared at him. It was almost as if she were waiting for something.

Oma drew closer to him as she spoke gently. "I regret the result will be as it was before."

Daniel just stared at her not wanting to believe what she was saying. "Are you telling me that ALL my memory will be erased again? Everything?"

Her eyes lowered then she looked up at him with a determined sympathetic look. "You will be as you were when you left us to continue the journey on your former path. But in time your other memories will return."

Daniel’s voice broke as he was filled with a myriad of emotions from what she had just said. "What?… No, you can’t do that. I won’t let you do that."

"The choice is not yours." Oma told him gently.

Daniel held both hands up as if to shield himself from her words as he slowly backed further away "No! There has to be some other way. I can’t go through that again…I…No!" Daniel’s eyes darted around at the distant swirling shadows coming closer from all directions. As his eyes went from them to her he felt the skin prickling up in the back of his neck. "No! You can’t do this!" And as he watched he suddenly knew what the shadows were. Or rather ’who’ they were. He was filled with fear and anger as he looked around instinctively for a way to escape. But he knew, as his eyes searched the Realm that there would be no escape. As the Ascended surrounded and enveloped him no one heard his silent scream.

~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~

Jack stirred in his sleep as his mind was pulled toward the image of the ramp at the SGC. In his ‘dream’ he looked around at the familiar shimmering wormhole and then his eyes caught the sight of a woman that looked very familiar as she stepped out of the shadows and instantly he remembered who she was. She stopped in front of him and waited.

"Oma? Oma Desala?" He asked not believing what his eyes were telling him.

"You seek the one that’s lost."

"You mean Daniel?" He eyed her suspiciously. "What do you know about Daniel? Are you the one that took him?" His asked as his voice grew angrier. "Where is he?" He demanded.

"He will need you." She stated calmly.

"Why? What did you do to him?"

"What they seek in him is no more." She stepped further down the ramp.

"The path is barren before him. He does not know the way."

"Quit talking in riddles. Just tell me what you’ve done with him." Jack stepped closer to her, his hands clenched at his side, growing more worried and angry by the minute.

"You care deeply for him."

"Yeah, well. Yes I do. So do a lot of other people here who want him back."

"He does not know the way. You must lead him on his path. He will follow you as before, not because he knows you, but because he trusts you. In time he will know."

"What are you talking about?" Jack tried to put together all of Oma’s little cryptic words until one possibility came to him. "What the devil did you do to him? He won’t remember me, why? Because you erased his memory again? Is that it?" He demanded angrily. "Is that it!"

"What they have sought, is no more. His path is now clear." Suddenly Oma cupped her palms and held them out and Jack stared at an image of trees and such. He looked at her and she nodded toward her hands so he looked closer at the image. It just looked like a bunch of trees and then he saw a wooden sign that said, Three Oaks. He looked up her not quite understanding what it was he was supposed to be seeing in her little palm show, but getting the impression it was vitally important.

"Go to him." She told him.

Jack tried to make some sense out of all this.

He remembered there was a park called Three Oaks not too far from his house. Was that what she was trying to tell him? Is that where Daniel was?

Suddenly the image of the gateroom and Oma vanished and he sat straight up in his bed. Did what he think just happened, really happen? Somehow he knew for certain that somehow Oma had paid him a visit and shown him where to find Daniel.

He jumped out of bed and grabbed the discarded clothes he’d taken off the night before, He quickly dressed and sat down to put on his shoes. A sudden thought entered his mind. What if he were getting those hallucinations like Daniel had before he… But even as the doubts niggled in the background, he knew that he had to go and find out for himself. His mind raced as he pulled on his shoes and started lacing them as quickly as he could. Did Oma just somehow know Daniel was there or did she and her Ascended buddies leave him there? And if they did, why a park? Why not just in his back yard? If, Oma’s bunch was responsible then he supposed he should be relieved they hadn’t left him on some planet somewhere.

Three Oaks was only about four or five miles away. He glanced at his watch. He could be there in less than ten minutes. It was two-thirty in the morning. Surely there wouldn’t be anyone at the park at this hour. He hoped at least. Grabbing his billfold and keys off the dresser he rushed out of the room.. Just as he got to the end of the hallway he stopped. Now the last time Oma left Daniel somewhere she left him in his birthday suit. Surely she wouldn’t do that again.

Ah crap! He turned around and rushed back to the guest room that Daniel stayed in frequently, threw the door open, grabbed a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt out of the drawer and shoved them into a bag then took off running to the front door. If he did find Daniel there and Oma had neglected to leave the man clothed, he didn’t think it would be such a good idea to get stopped in the middle of the night by the police with a naked man in the truck.

~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~

Jack rushed into the parking lot and screeched to a stop, slamming it into park. A scan of the parking lot reassured him that at least there were no vehicles here. Just as he opened the glove box to get out the flashlight, a streak of bright light flashed overhead down into a grove of trees. Crap! Couldn’t she have waited just five more minutes?

With the bag of clothes in one hand and a flashlight in the other he went in search of a newly descended…again…Daniel. It was well after midnight so thank goodness the park wasn’t teaming with activity like it would be in a few hours.

He hurried along the walkway panning the light back and forth. Why would Oma take Daniel in the first place? What was it she said? Something about people looking for him? And that what they wanted with him isn’t there anymore? That must mean the NID and the Tok’ra who were at the SGC wanting to take Daniel and study him. And she must have done something to get rid of whatever was causing the visions.

That’s it! Oma and her Ascended buddies were afraid Daniel was going to have visions that involved them, so they took Daniel and got rid of whatever was causing the visions. But she said Daniel wouldn’t know him. That had to mean only one thing. She’s erased his memory again. Jeez. How were they going to deal with this.

Finally he saw a large dark shadow up ahead on the ground and he made a beeline toward it. As he got closer he heard a low moan, then a sneeze. Jack quickly made his way over and shined the light at the prone figure and broke out in a grin when he saw that it was indeed Daniel lying on the ground curled up on his side. As he turned toward Jack, squinting his eyes, Jack saw that yep, it was a good thing he’d brought clothing, too.

"Daniel?"

The words were out of his mouth before he remembered that Oma had said something about her messing with his memory again so he stepped very slowly, keeping his eyes on Daniel’s frightened ones. As he got closer he could see there was no recognition in his eyes, so he tried to put on his most calming, trust-me-I-won’t-hurt-you smile.

He stood a few feet away so as not to scare him and Daniel’s eyes darted left and right before staying on Jack. Daniel squinted and tried to block the beam of the flashlight with his hand so Jack lowered the light …but whoa…not that far. Finally he just turned it off, relying on the bright moonlight to give out what light was needed.

He set the bag of clothes down on the ground and very slowly stepped closer to Daniel, holding out his hand.

Daniel eyed the outstretched hand suspiciously and looked into Jack’s eyes.

"Hey, Daniel. Kind of chilly I bet huh?"

Jack smiled and slowly lowered his hand a bit more and finally Daniel reached up slowly and let Jack grasp his hand and pull him to his feet. Daniel’s hand was cold and Jack could see that he was shivering so he bent down to open the bag of clothes and before he could react Daniel bolted.

"Oh, for cryin out loud!"

Jack shot off after him fumbling in his pocket for the flashlight. But giving up on that when the effort slowed him down. He tried his best to keep Daniel’s six-foot tall naked frame in his sights. He was only about fifteen yards ahead of him but his bare feet kept slipping on the damp grass and he nearly went down several times. They ran through the playground dodging the sandboxes and swings with Jack hot on his trail.

"Daniel! Stop!"

Jack knew it was pointless to yell at him to do anything. He didn’t follow orders that well when he was normal, let alone when he didn’t have a clue as to who Jack was or himself for that matter.

They were getting closer to the ball field and Jack knew that on the other side of that field was nothing but forest. If Daniel made it across to the trees he could very well end up being forced to put a call in to Hammond for a search party.

Jack was slowly catching up with him as he dodged trees and bushes and picnic tables scattered about. Had it not been for the fact that Daniel was barefoot, he wouldn’t have stood a chance. The sand covered playground had slowed him down just enough for Jack to try to head him off. Of course the fact that Daniel’s naked body intermittently caught the reflection of the moonlight and the few lights along the pathways, made it easier to keep him in his sights.

He couldn’t believe he was out here in the middle of the night chasing a nude man through a park. The park was quiet except for the sound of pounding feet and their labored breathing as they ran. Daniel darted around some trash bins and nearly ran into a stone bench, which gave Jack just the few extra seconds he needed. He was almost close enough to touch. Daniel glanced back at him and that was all he needed. Jack lunged for him, grabbed around his body and they both went down hard on the ground. Daniel hit the ground with a grunt lying face down in the grass with Jack on top of him.

They were both too exhausted to move as they lie there in a heap each trying to catch their breath. Jack then, realizing he was lying on top of his very naked best friend, crawled off the sweaty body onto his hands and knees still gasping for breath. At least Daniel wasn’t struggling to get away, not yet anyway. Daniel was lying face down on the ground; his arms still out-stretched not moving.

Jack got to his feet cursing and bent over with his hands resting on his aching knees still trying to catch his breath. trying to decide what the devil he was going to do now. Maybe he should have called Sam and Teal’c before he came but he hadn’t been one hundred percent sure at the time that the visit from Oma wasn’t simply a hallucination.

Jack looked down at the still prone figure. "Jeez, Daniel! If you hadn’t just been kicked out of gloweyland again…" He tried to speak between gasps for breath, "I’d kick your butt." Looking down at him and realized he really needed to get that glowey butt out of here before someone showed up. He didn’t even have the bag of clothes now. That had been left on the other side of the park along with his truck.

If Daniel bolted again he had his doubts that he could catch him a second time but what could he do? He couldn’t very well tie him up. Now wouldn’t that look just great? It was bad enough he was out here in the middle of the night chasing a naked man through a public park. There was no way he was going to make it look any worse by tying him up. Anyway, he really didn’t want to have to do something like that to his friend.

He needed to get Daniel back to the truck and to the bag of clothes and out of here pronto.

"Well you really left me a fine mess this time Oma." He really hoped she was listening tonight because he would be giving her an earful by the time this was over.

Jack shook his head and knelt down beside Daniel cursing his knees again.

"Daniel!"

Jack rolled the limp, unmoving body over and hurriedly pulled the flashlight out of his pocket shining it at his eyes. They were closed and he evidently was out cold. He presses his fingers against Daniel’s neck and easily found a pulse. Well, thank God for that anyway. Jack worried that Daniel might have cracked one of his ribs when he landed on top of him.

"Well, this is just great."

He ran his fingers along each side of his chest, feeling for any unusual lumps or ridges, but didn’t feel anything broken. He laid his palm against his chest. At least he seemed to be breathing all right. He could feel his heart pounding through his hand, a little slower than it had been. Jack pointed the flashlight back at Daniel and tried to brush off the bits of dirt and leaves that were still stuck on his face. He felt a knot on his forehead and hurriedly brushed them off, shining his light and looking closer he saw a bruise around a good-sized lump. He started to tap at his face to try and rouse him when he suddenly realized he was out cold. Grinning to himself he hurriedly stuffed the flashlight back in his pocket.

Intent on taking full advantage of the short amount of time his friend might be unconscious, Jack pulled the limp figure to a somewhat sitting position. Then he managed to get the limp, now cool sweaty body wrangled up over his shoulders and started walking. Slowly at first, then faster, as much as his knees would allow, to get as much distance as he could out of Daniel’s unconscious state.

He kept his eyes peeled and his ears listening for anyone who might be in the park at this late hour but it seemed to be still, thankfully, deserted. Suddenly a man stepped out from the bushes and he almost collided with him.

"Are you one of them too?" The unshaved, slightly smelly man asked, as he looked Jack up and down thoroughly.

"One of who?" Jack stared at the little man, glancing around to see if anyone else was with him.

"Aliens." The man whispered very secretively.

"Aliens?….uh..No." Jack could feel the sweat slicked limp body starting to shift and got a better hold on him suddenly realizing what it must look like. Him standing there with a naked man slung over his shoulders. As surreal as this all felt, he still needed to get Daniel out of here. He tried to ignore the man’s odd looks he was giving them both and started walking away from him.

The homeless man pulled a three-wheeled cart filled to the top, from out of the bushes and hurried to catch up with Jack.

"I saw them." He said excitedly as he tried to keep up.

Jack decided it best for now to just ignore him and concentrate on his priority. Which was getting Daniel back to the truck. But the little man kept following and chattering.

"The aliens dropped him out of their spaceship, over there. I saw them." He pointed somewhere in the distance sounding extremely proud of his accomplishment.

Jack mumbled to himself, cursing Oma and little green men and the fact that he was a Colonel in the Air Force being followed by a sour smelling nut-job, carrying a naked, unconscious, not to mention heavy, amnesiac.

He finally recognized the area up ahead where he’d first found Daniel and he could see the bag of clothes still lying on the ground where he’d dropped it.

He stopped and turned to face the sour-smelling man.

"Make yourself useful, and grab that bag." Jack told him.

The little man stopped and picked up the bag and peered inside.

"Bring it over here." Jack ordered him gruffly as he gently lay the still limp body down on the grass beside some bushes.

The man quickly wheeled his cart over where Jack was knelt down on the ground and handed it to him, then stared down at Daniel who was just beginning to come around.

"Yep, he’s one of them. The aliens." The man said with absolute certainty as he watched Daniel with wide-eyed fascination.

Well, this was all they needed, an audience. Jack looked at the man still staring at the prone figure. Guess he’d never seen a naked alien before. On second thought maybe seeing aliens drop people off in the park was a nightly occurrence with him. By the looks of him he didn’t think that was too far off the mark.

Jack looked back at Daniel who was now staring up at the homeless man, obviously terrified and visibly shaking.

"Listen. Not that this hasn’t been a barrel of fun, but I think I can handle it from here." Jack pulled a bill out of his pocket and stuffed it in the man’s hand. "You can go back to doing …whatever it was you were doing."

The man stepped back examining the bill in his hand smiling but didn’t make a move to leave.

Okay Jack. Ignore the homeless man. Concentrate on the naked descended man. He was going to have to somehow convince Daniel to go with him willingly unless he wanted to chase him through the park again. He suddenly recalled that thing Daniel always did when he met a race of people on a new planet who spoke an unknown language. He thought it was silly and pointless a lot of the time but he was desperate enough to try anything at this point, no matter how foolish he might look. Desperate times called for desperate measures. He put his hand on Daniel’s chest to get his attention.

"Daniel? Hey, look at me." Daniel’s eyes darted to Jack’s and then back to the curious wide-eyed little man still staring down at him.

Jack slid over so he was blocking Daniel’s view of the man until he caught his eye.

"There. That’s better." Jack pointed at himself and said, "I’m Jack."

Daniel continued to study Jack as he pointed at Daniel’s chest and said, "You’re Daniel." He did it again a few more times thinking that if Daniel remembered any of this he’d never let him live it down.

The fear in his eyes seemed to lessen so Jack helped him sit up. He took the t-shirt out of the bag and showing it to Daniel, he slowly slipped it over his head, getting his arms through the sleeves one by one. Jack smiled as an old memory washed over him.

"You know, Daniel, I used to have to dress Charlie like this when we came home from the drive-in really late at night and Charlie would be fast asleep." Jack finally got the t-shirt on him and looked around. "It’s definitely really, really late and you’ve put on quite a show tonight." He just hoped Daniel didn’t remember much about the free show he was giving here tonight. He was normally a very private, modest man, which only added to the surreal feeling.

Well at least his half-dressed archaeologist wasn’t fighting him. Which could be due in part by the fact that the homeless man hadn’t taken his eyes off the ‘alien’ since he woke up. Daniel was so distracted by the untoward attention Jack set about getting him more fully clothed. He pulled the sweatpants out of the bag and seeing as Daniel was now glaring at the strange man, he managed to get his feet into the openings and pulled up to his knees before he knew what hit him. Then Jack stood up, leaned down and squeezed Daniel’s shoulder to get his attention.

"Time to get up and get out of here, Daniel." Jack told him as he reached his hand down and pulled him to his feet. Jack pointed to the sweatpants and made a pulling up motion with his hands and Daniel looked at the waistband down around his knees and bent down grasped it and pulled them up. Jack patted his shoulder. "That’s my boy."

The little man stepped forward and started walking around Daniel in a circle looking him over intently. "Aliens don’t wear clothes." he said, puzzled.

"This one does." Jack told him wishing he would just go away. The strange little man’s intense scrutiny was making Daniel nervous.

Jack stepped beside Daniel taking ahold of his wrist tightly. Since Daniel didn’t have sweatpants wrapped around his legs as a deterrent to running again, he wasn’t about to risk another sprint through the park. He could feel how cold Daniel’s still was and he was still shivering. Jack took off his jacket and wrapped it around Daniel. He stared at the leather jacket and a fleeting smile lit his face at the sudden warmth surrounding him.

"Let’s go home. Whadya say. You’ve worn this old man out tonight, mister." Jack smiled as he held onto his wrist and started leading him toward the truck.

They were almost to the curb when a car pulled up out of nowhere, stopping a few yards away, shining a spotlight on them. Jack squinted at the bright light and tightened his grip on Daniel’s wrist. Then he noticed the red lights on top of the vehicle.

"Crap. This night just gets better and better." He muttered to himself.

The spotlight from the police car scanned them up and down then a voice came from the open window.

"You boys seen anything unusual around here tonight?"

Jack felt like a bug under a microscope. He glanced over at Daniel then down to where he was holding Daniel’s wrist tightly, on down to Daniel’s bare feet realizing how bad this must look. He cringed then put on his best Colonel-in-the-Air-Force smile.

"No Officers. Haven’t seen anything. Sorry." Jack could feel Daniel trying to pull away from him so throwing caution to the wind he took both hands and wrapped them tightly around Daniel’s arm hanging at his side.

"We had a report of a bright light flashing from the sky in the vicinity of the park. You sure you haven’t seen or heard anything?"

The little homeless man crept out behind Jack, startling him.

"I saw them." He told the policeman braggingly.

The officer shined the spotlight over the dirty scraggly man.

"Who did you see, sir."

Jack could almost see the little man’s chest puff out in pride at hearing the word ‘sir‘.

"The aliens. They dropped him out of their spaceship," he told them as he pointed first at Daniel then over in an other direction, "Over there. I saw it." He grinned a proud toothless smile.

The officers shined the light on the little man and they looked at each other amused, then one of the officers flipped the light back onto Jack and Daniel who were now arm in arm, and let it hover for a moment scrutinizing, then lowered it to Daniel’s bare feet, and back up to Jack.

The officer pointed the light back at the homeless man. "You’re gonna have to move along. You can’t stay in here." The light was aimed right back on Jack and Daniel. "And you two, what you do in private, ain’t none of my business, but this is a public park and we don’t want any of that stuff going on in here. Got it?"

Jack found his voice again and managed a ‘yes officer, thank you officer’ before they turned their attention to the homeless man.

"I’d better not see any of you in here again," he said as he pointed the light at Jack and Daniel. "And that goes double for you."

The light was switched off and the car pulled away and Jack breathed a sigh of relief.

The little man got a hold of his cart and looked up at Jack. "So are you two…you know? Together or something?"

"Oh for cryin out loud." Jack tightened his hold around Daniel’s arm and started leading him to the truck, griping and mumbling under his breath, or ‘something‘ all right.

Once they’d made their way to the vehicle Jack opened the passenger door and motioned for Daniel to get inside. Daniel looked into the truck hesitantly then looked back at Jack, his brow wrinkled in uncertainty. Jack patted the seat. "Hop in honey." he said sarcastically. Daniel stared at him. He softened his voice and put his hand on Daniel’s shoulder "It’s all right. Get in. We’re gonna go home."

He watched as Daniel slowly stepped up in the truck and sat down and then Jack closed the door quietly. He hurried around to the driver’s side, opened the door and hopped in.

He glanced over and saw the homeless man fold the discarded empty bag and carefully add it to his overflowing cart. Jack stared at him a moment then pushed the button to roll down his window and called out to him motioning him over. The man looked up and smiled that toothless smile again and scurried over to the truck. Jack scribbled on a piece of paper and shoved it and some folded bills into the dirty hand. The man looked at the bills wide-eyed and then back at Jack and Daniel with a surprised look on his face.

"Here. Get something to eat, and there’s a phone number. They’ll find you a place to stay for awhile." He nodded and the man grinned holding onto the bills and staring at them.

Looking again at Daniel almost not believing he actually had him here, sitting in his truck, had smiled. Then he turned the key, put the truck in gear and started out of the parking lot. It was hard to believe only hours ago he thought he’d never see his best friend again. He couldn’t wait to tell Sam and Teal’c what he’d found in the park tonight. But first he had to make sure the vultures had left. The last thing he wanted was to get him back only to have the Tok’ra or the NID still end up trying to take him away.

The sound and vibration of the engine got a wide-eyed look from Daniel, so with more words of reassurance he pulled out of the lot to head for home. But as soon as he got to the main street he could see he was going to have a problem. He glanced over at Daniel who now had a death grip on the door handle and the other hand trying to grip the edge of the seat cushion. He was breathing fast, obviously scared to death. That’s all he needed was for Daniel to have a full-blown panic attack and have to take him to the emergency room.

For some ungodly reason that age-old mantra that all moms drill into their children’s brains of never leaving the house with dirty underwear in case you had an accident and ended up in the hospital, popped into his head. He looked over at Daniel and for some reason it struck him as hilariously funny that in his rush he had forgotten to bring him boxers. Well, at least Daniel didn’t have to worry about the dirty underwear part tonight, huh? He tried hard not to laugh, but he laughed anyway. It had been a long night. Or rather a long couple of weeks and it felt good to laugh at just about anything right now.

He stopped at the stop sign, thankful that his truck had those child-lock doors that automatically locked when it was put in gear or his passenger might have already been out the door. Although from the looks of it he might have to pry Daniel’s fingers from his death grip when they got home. He reached over and laid his hand on Daniel’s arm and squeezed it lightly, hoping to calm him down a bit.

"It’s okay, Daniel."

As he started to accelerate he could feel the muscles tensing up in Daniel’s arm and he could hear his breathing go up a few notches. He slowed down, and then slowed some more. The slower speed seemed to frighten him less.

Only four miles or so until they were at his house. He glanced at the speedometer. At this rate they’d be lucky to make it there by tomorrow. He let out a resigned sigh. This was going to take forever. Or at least it would feel like it. But Daniel finally released his grip to the point that his fingers weren’t as white anymore and he decided the slow speed was worth it. Driving a few miles at a snails pace was a piece of cake compared to all the other crazy crap he’d gone through in the last hour.

He glanced again at his friend seated next to him. "Yep, a piece of cake just a walk in the park. Right, Daniel?"

~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~

Jack had fought the urge to check the time for the past ten, fifteen blocks or so, but as he pulled into the driveway he couldn’t stand it any longer. He turned off the ignition and looked down at his watch. Well, well. Four and a half miles in fifty-two minutes. That’s gotta be a record of the slowest a vehicle can go forward and still be called driving. He looked over at his passenger who was silently staring at him.

Jack smiled and pointed at his house through the windshield.

"We’re home. You remember my house, don‘t you?" Jack didn’t see any reaction to his words so he gave Daniel’s leg a quick pat and opened the door.

He turned and motioned for Daniel to stay put, hoping that somewhere in there he remembered Jack’s version of sign language. Walking around to the passenger door he opened and stepped aside to let him out. Daniel slowly slid out of the truck looking from Jack then back to the house uneasily. Jack took hold of his wrist again not willing to risk a sprint around his neighborhood.

"It’s okay, Daniel. You may not remember but you’ve been here a lot of times."

Jack led him to the front door and once he had it unlocked, steered him inside. He locked the deadbolt behind him hoping that if Daniel did try to take off again the deadbolt would at least slow him down.

Daniel looked around the room with a combination of fascination and fear, tentatively walking around the room taking it all in. He stopped to look at things on the walls, on the shelves, but never touched anything, mesmerized by everything in sight. From the pictures on the walls to the light bulbs lighting up the darkness to the pencils lying on the table. He looked at everything as if seeing it for the first time.

Jack led Daniel to the sofa in the living room and sat him down. He still had the leather jacket wrapped tightly around him but he didn’t have the heart to take it back just yet. He sat down on the coffee table directly in front of Daniel.

"So. You doin all right?"

Daniel stared at Jack, intensely, listening to every word but not making a move to answer.

"Why don’t I get you a drink of water or something, whadya say?" He gave his knee a pat and stood up and went to the kitchen.

Jack brought back a glass of water, sat back down on the table and held the glass out to Daniel. He stared at it and then at Jack with a puzzled expression. Well, if this wasn’t just peachy. He took Daniel’s hand and placed the glass in it. Daniel held it, but looked at it like he had never seen one before. The fact that his brilliant friend and teammate couldn’t remember what to do with a glass of water simply crushed him. Jack wished he could have a few minutes alone with the glowey ones who did this.

"Well. Looks like we’re starting from scratch then, huh? Okay. Then that’s where we’ll start."

He took the glass out of Daniel’s hand and slowly took a drink himself, and then took another as Daniel watched intently, before placing it back in his hand. Daniel’s brow rose just a bit and he put his other hand around the glass holding it tightly then brought it to his lips. He took a sip and then another, glancing at Jack, until finally the glass was empty.

Jack watched as Daniel drank, and for some reason it reminded him of a time years ago when Charlie brought home a wild bunny he’d found in the field behind the house. They’d taken turns for days feeding it with an eyedropper because it couldn‘t drink by itself. First though before it would drink from the eyedropper they’d have to put a few drops in its mouth.

Jack held out his hand and Daniel slowly handed the glass to him.

"Well. That’s a start, right?"

He smiled at Daniel hoping he was doing the right thing by bringing Daniel here instead of taking him right to Frasier. He was sure he’d get a good chewing out about that when the time came. It was really beginning to worry him that Daniel hadn’t spoken a word since he’d found him though. He wondered if this was the same reaction he’d had the last time Oma dumped him. Of course, the other time Daniel had been one of the ascended. This time he assumed he had only been a guest.

Just then a smile lit up Daniel’s face for just a few seconds. Jack grinned back and gave Daniel’s knee another pat before he stood up to take the glass back to the kitchen. Yeah. He was definitely doing the right thing. Whatever it took to bring his friend back. If there was one thing he was sure of, it was that Daniel would do the same for him if the roles were reversed. Probably more.

He glanced back at the sofa. Daniel had picked up the remote; turning it over and examining it closely, then laid it back down. It looked like they were going to have to start with just the basics, because he had no idea how thoroughly Oma and the others had cleaned his clock this time around. He set the glass down in the sink thinking that it might be a good idea to show Daniel where the bathroom was first. He only hoped Oma had been feeling generous when she started erasing things and left that little tidbit of information intact.

~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~

First order of business was to take Daniel on a little tour of the house, which sounded so weird being as he was just here a few weeks ago and had stayed in the guest room enough times over the years that he probably knew where things were better than he did.

The house was a bit warm for a leather jacket so he at least did manage to convince Daniel to part with it. Jack took him back through the house to show him where the guest room aka Daniel’s second home, was and also the bathroom. The fact that he’d jumped back three feet when Jack showed him how to flush did not bode well for him to expect too much. But this wasn’t just anyone. This was his closest friend, and whether or not Daniel remembered that right now or not didn’t change the fact. The last thing Jack wanted was to have to do any visual demonstrations. But his mission was to help his friend find himself again and he knew he’d do whatever it took to accomplish that.

The sound of Daniel’s bare feet slapping on the wood floors reminded Jack he hadn’t brought shoes to the park, among other things they’d have to take care of later. Daniel seemed content to follow him through the house, whether out of curiosity or simply because he was too frightened to be left alone, he couldn’t tell. Jack sat Daniel down on the edge of the bed and found some socks and a pair of Daniel’s old sneakers in the closet. When Jack held them out to him Daniel simply stared at them. Jack knelt down to put them on for him when he realized how dirty Daniel’s feet were from their midnight run.

"Well, we’re gonna have to get those feet clean before we can get your shoes and socks on."

Jack stood there trying to decide whether he should just try to get Daniel to take a shower or whether to just wash his feet and attempt the shower later.

"Whadya think Daniel, a shower or just clean the feet?" He studied Daniel’s face for some sign that he understood what he was saying, but Daniel looked around the room then up at Jack questioningly.

Jack turned and went into the bathroom and got a washcloth and wet it with warm water and put some soap on it. Grabbing the towel, he went back into the bedroom and knelt down again, looking up at Daniel watching him.

"It’s okay. I’m just gonna wash these dirty feet." Jack picked up a foot and Daniel started to pull it away, but Jack tried again. "It’s just soap and water, see?" Jack ran the warm wet cloth over the top of Daniel’s foot and tried to raise his foot again, this time he let him. He watched Jack the whole time, his hands gripping the bedspread nervously. Jack finally got both feet washed and dried off and set about getting the shoes and socks on him.

Kneeling down with two bad knees wasn’t as easy as it used to be. He stood up and took the towel and clothes into the bathroom and when he came out Daniel was already standing and looking down at his feet.

"You’ll get used to them. You used to wear them all the time."

Jack briefly showed him the rest of the house. He was definitely going to have to get Daniel into the shower later. The jog in the park and the tackle in the dirt hadn’t left him looking or smelling exactly pristine. Which reminded him, he needed to get that lump on Daniel’s forehead cleaned off too so he could take a better look at it. But right now Jack was just interested in making sure Daniel felt safe and comfortable.

He hoped that if he did that he wouldn’t have to worry so much about Daniel trying to leave. The thought of what could happen if he left the house in the state he was in, made him shudder. Oma’s cryptic riddles implied that Daniel would regain his memory, but, if the past hour or so was any indication, this memory thing was going to take some time.

He took Daniel into the kitchen, showed him a cup he would leave by the sink for him to use and opened the refrigerator and peered inside the nearly empty space making a mental list to see if Carter and Teal’c could stop by the grocery.

Jack glanced at his watch. Sam would be up in a few hours and he wanted to catch her before she left for the base. He debated whether or not to let Carter and Teal’c know about Daniel being here just yet. He would need to inquire about the situation with the Tok’ra and NID vultures first, to see if they were hovering around before he let anyone know Daniel was here at his house. Because if they tried to come out here and take Daniel he knew he’d probably just have to shoot them. No one was getting to Daniel.

Jack continued to scrounge around looking in cabinets until he came up with a few bare essentials. He did find a couple packages of crackers so he handed one to Daniel thinking he might be hungry and he was hoping to distract him somewhat so he could get a look at the small cut and lump on Daniel’s forehead that was obscured by dirt. Daniel stared at the package and so Jack took it back and unwrapped it and handed a cracker to him and took one for himself. Jack took a bite and chewed, watching to see if Daniel would follow suit. He finally sniffed it and took a small bite keeping his eyes glued on Jack the whole time.

Jack got the first aid kit out of the cabinet and set it down on the table.

"I want to take a look at your head." Jack said as he pointed to Daniel’s forehead.

Daniel slowly reached up and touched his hand to the lump and winced.

Jack got a washcloth and wet it so he could first get the dirt off but when he held it up to Daniel’s head he held his hand up to keep Jack away, obviously frightened.

Jack lowered the cloth. "All right. For now." He looked closely at Daniel. He reminded Jack so much of that man he’d spoken to in the tent on Vis Uban. Daniel had seemed so lost then just as he was now. The only exception was that this time he wasn’t talking. He wondered briefly about whether there must be something happen to the human body when it’s up there with Oma’s gang and gets sent back to earth. Something that always erases memory and strips a person naked. If Oma ever paid him another visit he’d have to ask her.

He really didn’t know how much Daniel remembered yet so it was up to Jack to hopefully think ahead and stay one step ahead of him. It dawned on Jack just how much responsibility he had taken on, but when he thought of all the times in the past seven years Daniel had been there for him, there really was no choice to make.

Daniel’s jaw-cracking yawn reminded Jack of how sleepy he was too. So after their five-cent tour he brought a pillow and blanket into the living room and managed to get Daniel to at least lie down on the sofa. Jack covered him up and turned the lights down low and sat down in the recliner, covering himself with a quilt. He was hoping that if it was quiet enough and he saw Jack close his eyes long enough that he might too, be lulled to sleep.

~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~

Jack’s opened his eyes and looked around the quiet room. He was so groggy he felt like he’d been drugged. Daylight was just filtering through the drapes and he rubbed his hand over his face trying to force his eyes to stay open. Slowly the realization hit him why he was asleep in his recliner.

He looked over at the now empty sofa where he had last seen Daniel.

"Crap!"

He threw off the afghan and jumped up rushing around the corner to the front door but saw that the deadbolt was still in place. He turned go back and check the other door glancing around for some sign of his friend.

He hadn’t meant to doze off but Oma’s little scavenger hunt had kept him up most of the night and he’d hoped if he appeared to be sleeping that Daniel would go to sleep, too. Except he hadn’t counted on falling to sleep himself.

He made it to the back door, breathing a sigh of relief that that lock too was firmly secured. He headed back to the front of the house when he heard a noise coming from down the hall. The sound of water was coming from the bathroom adjoining Daniel’s bedroom and he quietly stepped closer to the partially open door only to see Daniel standing in front of the commode. He stepped back and quietly walked back to the kitchen, silently thanking Oma for this one not so small favor.

He felt like he needed to try to find something to feed his lost but now found friend before he made some phone calls. He didn’t know if he was hungry but wasn’t convinced that if he was, he’d tell him, so he started with getting the coffee and filters out so he could start making some coffee. When he turned around he saw Daniel standing in the doorway with his arms wrapped around himself watching Jack. He turned back to the cabinets and got out two mugs.

"You want some coffee, Daniel?"

Jack glanced back at him and started getting the coffee ready.

"You know. You used to live on this stuff."

Daniel shifted his feet and lowered his eyes.

"It’s really pretty strange to see you so quiet."

Daniel hugged himself tighter.

Jack stepped over to Daniel and steered him to the table sitting him down at the kitchen table and turned around to find something to eat.

"We’re gonna have to get some food in here," Jack told him as he picked up the half-empty loaf of bread and looking it over to see if it was still edible. "How about some toast?"

"Toast it is." Jack put a few slices in the toaster and got the items out that he would need. After making the toast he buttered it and set it down in front of Daniel and turned around to get their coffee. When he heard a low growl, he turned back around and saw Daniel staring down at his stomach.

"Well. Somebody’s hungry."

He didn’t expect an answer, but Daniel did look up and grin.

Jack didn’t have a clue how long it would take for Daniel to get his memory back. Oma hadn’t exactly been generous giving out information. She just has to be related to the Tok’ra. But the last time Daniel had checked out of Chez’ Desala, it had taken several months. Even after most of his memory returned he had occasionally mentioned ‘gaps‘.

So here we are again, starting from scratch, so to speak. It reminded Jack of a board game Charlie had talked him into playing a few times where there were certain places on the game board where if you landed on them you could be sent all the way back to start. Jack hated that game, mainly because of the look on Charlie’s face if he landed on it and had to go back to the beginning and start all over again.

It had crushed Jack then just like it crushed him now to see Daniel so lost and quiet. It simply wasn’t fair that Daniel was having to essentially start all over again. Again. But when Daniel had been dumped on Vis Uban there had been no one there who could really help him, since no one knew anything about him. Not even his name. This time things would be different. Daniel had people here who loved and cared about him like family. He might feel lost right now, but he would definitely not be alone.

Jack grinned and thought about the first time he’d seen Daniel after the Sergeant found him and brought him to the village. Arrom. Naked One. Bet that shook up the villagers.

After they ate Jack steered Daniel into the family room and turned on the TV to a channel Daniel always used to like and as an afterthought took the remote with him. He didn’t think it would be such a good idea for Daniel to play around with the remote and end up flipping it to god knows what trash and scarring him for life. He had a feeling Daniel needed to ease into this step by step.

Jack, satisfied that Daniel was sufficiently mesmerized by the pictures of a discovery of a new species of something or other, went into the next room to make some phone calls. The first to Sam to find out where they stood as far the NID and the Tok’ra.

~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~

When Jack called Sam she had evidently already left for the base, but when he reached her and found out the Tok’ra and the NID had both left the SGC, he’d breathed a huge sigh of relief. When she told him that General Hammond had ordered the NID agent to be escorted off the base he almost wished he’d been there to watch.

He was surprised he could still hear out of his ear after the shriek from Sam when he told her he had found Daniel, courtesy of Oma Desala. It was all he could do to stop her from rushing right over but the fact that he needed her and Teal’c to do some things for Daniel had calmed her down.

"Carter, just pack up whatever things you think might help spark his memory. I think he’s got some videotape he took when we were all at Cassie’s birthday party, in his desk. That might help."

"Oh and Carter, don’t forget to bring plenty of clothes from his house. Looks like he’s gonna be staying here with me for awhile."

"Yes sir. We’ll take care of it. Teal’c is standing here listening. He’s smiling, sir."

"No…. You’re kidding me, Major."

"I’m not, sir. We’re so relieved Daniel’s all right. Are you sure you don’t want us to come over earlier?"

"No Carter. I just want to let him get settled. He’s still pretty skittish."

"So he doesn’t remember anything?" Sam still found it hard to believe that they had Daniel back, but the thought of him having his memory erased again was very distressing.

"As far as I can tell, he doesn’t remember but a few basic things. The rest is gone. But like I said he hasn’t said a word since I found him, so who knows."

"Is there anything else you need, sir?" she asked.

"Well, there is one more thing. You know how Doc Frasier worries about Daniel eating enough?"

"Cabinet’s pretty bare, sir?"

"Yeah, you could say that. If you wouldn’t mind."

"We’ll get right on it, sir."

"Have you talked to Janet yet?"

"No. I’m gonna give her a call next, after I talk to General Hammond."

"Well, we’ll see you and Daniel after while. I’m really glad he’s back, sir."

"Me too, Carter."

"Sir?"

"Yeah."

"I was just … curious. When you found him, was he…well…you know?"

"As the day he was born Carter."

~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~

"You’re getting a little ripe there Daniel. After your sprint through the park and kissin the dirt, you need a bath." He motioned for Daniel to follow him and he went into the guest room and found some more sweatpants, a t-shirt and boxers and led Daniel into the spare bathroom. He had no idea how much he remembered about the art of taking a shower; He hoped it was a lot. He set the clothes in a stack and laid out a towel and a washcloth and turned to Daniel.

"Okay. You need to shower in there." He pointed to the shower stall. "But first, you need to take those off." Jack pointed to Daniel’s clothes. Jack stepped over and rolled the t-shirt up and managed to get it over his head without too much trouble.

"These need to….." Jack pointed to his sweatpants, but stopped, forgetting that those would be the last item off before he needed to get him into the shower. He held up a finger to tell him to wait a minute and he reached in and turned on the water. After he had the right temperature set he turned once more to Daniel and pointed to the sweatpants.

"You need to take those off and get in the shower." Jack reached down and opened the cabinet to get out some soap, and out of the corner of his eye he saw the sweatpants hit the floor in front of him.

When Jack straightened up he didn’t know whether to close his eyes, turn around or what.

"Jeez, Daniel. Give a guy a warning, huh?"

Daniel looked at him a little scared by the sound of his voice.

Jack saw the fear in his eyes. "It’s okay, Daniel. It’s just…I’m not used to having a naked man in my bathroom, except myself of course. I mean streaking through the park is one thing. I just hope you’re not a nudist now."

Daniel seemed calmed somewhat by Jack’s words, or more likely by the change in the tone of his voice, stood looking around the room like nothing odd had happened at all, eyeing the water spraying in the shower stall with curiosity. But the very fact that Daniel was standing there in front of him without a single stitch on, not the least bit embarrassed, brought a lump to Jack’s throat. This was after all, Daniel, who wouldn’t even go shirtless in the gym. It reminded him of when Charlie was still young and innocent enough to let Jack help him get the tub ready for his bath. Sometimes he’d just stand there all dripping wet after stepping out of the water and wait for Jack to get the towel and wrap it around him and not think a thing of it.

"That’d be a little tough to explain to Hammond, but I guess the ladies might appreciate it." Jack stopped talking as he saw Daniel looking at him innocently.

"You don’t understand half what I’m saying, do you?…That’s okay."

Jack took Daniel’s arm and tried to lead him into the shower stall but Daniel would have no part of it. He grabbed the frame and looked in at the spraying water and then at Jack his eyes wide with fear.

"Oh, come on, Daniel. You’re dirty for cryin out loud." Jack tried several times to coax him into the shower stall but wrestling a naked archaeologist was not something he planned to add to his favorite sport anytime soon.

Resigned to the fact that if he was going to get a clean archaeologist again any time soon he was gonna have to get a little more involved, Jack kicked off his shoes and started unbuttoning his shirt.

"Ooo…kay then. Well. When in Rome. It’s not like I’ve never seen you in the buff before, right? Although twice in one day is a bit extreme, don’t you think?"

Jack pulled off his shirt and took off his trousers leaving him standing in just his boxers.

Jack stuck his hand under the showerhead then held his dripping hand to Daniel and let some of the water wet his skin. Then Jack stepped into the stall and stood under the water for a minute. The he reached his hand toward Daniel and managed to persuade him to come into the shower.

"If this ever gets out Daniel, I’m gonna take you back to Oma myself, you hear me?"

Once Daniel was under the water spray Jack wet the washcloth, poured some soap on it and handed it to Daniel. With his hand covering Daniel’s he moved the cloth over Daniel’s chest. After a few swipes of the washcloth on Daniel’s face and forehead so Jack could get a better look at the bruises, he handed the cloth back to Daniel and to Jack’s relief he started finishing the job himself.

Jack stepped back to give him more room. He was going to have one magnificent bruise on his face before the day was over. Daniel seemed to finally be enjoying the water because he was actually smiling. Jack plucked the shampoo bottle up from the ledge and stepped up squeezing some into his hands then started scrubbing Daniel’s hair. Gee whiz, when he thought of all the times he’d washed Charlie’s hair like this. Well, not in the shower stall, usually over the sink. But it seemed like so many things since finding Daniel in the park had been reminding him, for some reason, of Charlie.

When Daniel was sufficiently rinsed off he turned off the water and stepped out of the shower stall to get a towel. Daniel followed Jack out of the shower and took the towel Jack handed him. Jack grabbed a towel for himself and started drying off and as Daniel watched, he too, started mimicking Jack. And before long they were both dry and the bathroom floor was picked up and they headed back to the guest room. Jack deposited Daniel, wrapped with a towel around his waist, on the edge of the bed and went over to the dresser to find him some clean dry socks. He turned to Daniel and set the stack of clothes he’d originally brought to the bathroom plus socks, on the bed, and handed him the boxers.

Daniel took them and held them out, looking at Jack puzzled. What the devil was he thinking? If Daniel didn’t remember what to do with a glass of water how did he think he was going to remember what to do with boxer shorts?

Jack took the shorts back and looked at his friend’s lost confused eyes and his heart momentarily sank to his feet.

"Jeez, Daniel. I’m sorry….here," He said as he knelt down and got his feet through them and pulled them up to his knees where the towel ended. Jack stood up and stared down at him sympathetically before taking his arm to help him stand up. Jack started to unwrap the towel but Daniel was already tucking his thumbs in the towel to unwrap it. He took it off and held it out, unsure of what to do with it, so Jack took the towel from him as Daniel slowly bent down, grabbed the top of the shorts and started pulling them up.

He managed to get them on, even though they were a bit twisted and the waistband rolled under, they were still on. Jack picked up the sweatpants and t-shirt and laid them out on the bed, turning to Daniel. "If you want to try to get those on you can. I’ll be back in a few minutes to help if you have trouble, though, all right?" Daniel gave a small nod and Jack grinned and turned to leave. Funny that such a small thing as a nod from his once non-stop talkative archaeologist felt like such a monumental thing, but every small step felt one step closer to having his friend back completely.

~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~

"You know who that is, Daniel?" Jack asked as he pointed to the photograph in the album spread open on the coffee table. "That’s Sam. You two are like two peas in a pod. She’s a good friend of ours. Her and Teal’c will be coming over after while. We’re all part of a team."

"And here. You see this. This one was taken out in the back yard a couple years ago. That‘s you playing cards with Cassie."

Jack wished he had some picture albums from Daniel’s past. But as far as he knew Daniel only had a handful of photos from his parents and two of Sha’re. He had one copy of Sha’res picture at Jack’s house in the guest room but Jack had quickly put it away after he brought Daniel home

The last thing Jack wanted to do was bombard Daniel with anything traumatic from his past until he thought he could better handle it. He hoped he would begin to remember things on his own soon, But if Daniel needed a nudge in that direction Jack preferred that Daniel remember good things first before having a lifetime of pain thrown in his face. When that happened, and it was inevitable that it would, he wanted to make sure he was there to help him if he needed a friend.

Unlike the last time. A wave of guilt washed over Jack for how he had distanced himself from Daniel after they found him on Vis Uban. It had taken some time before he would allow himself to feel that close friendship with Daniel again. It had seemed like as soon as they got Daniel back home he was expected to jump right in to the battle with Anubis.

He’d had several rather heated discussions with General Hammond and Carter about the wisdom of putting Daniel, who had only just started getting his memory back, on Anubis’s ship, only one of the most dangerous and devious system lords in the galaxy, with only Jonas to watch his back. And blast it, if they hadn’t almost lost him again.

Daniel was studying the faces and the details of each picture with that same intense scrutiny Jack had seen on his face countless times when he was trying to translate some old ruins. He felt a lump form in his throat again.

Daniel turned another page and yawned and rubbed his eyes like a sleepy kid. At least he seemed to be focused and interested in the faces. Whether he recognized any of them he couldn’t tell. Daniel turned and looked at Jack and just as quickly his attention was drawn back to the photos.

Jack looked at his watch again. He’d ordered pizza a half hour ago since his cupboards would be bare at least until Carter and Teal’c showed up.

Daniel looked up at Jack again, his brow creased then he looked back down to the album. Jack leaned closer to see what photos were on the page. The pictures were of himself, Sara and Charlie at Disneyland. Either the second or third time Charlie had been there. The one time that Jack had gone with them, he’d never forget. Somehow Charlie had gotten separated coming back from one of the rides and Jack and Sara had searched frantically for him. They’d finally found him sitting on a bench eating a candy bar Sara had stuck in his pocket. Jack would never forget that feeling of panic and fear. The terrifying feeling of not knowing where his child was. Jack blinked trying to push back the lump in his throat at the same time. He’d also never forget the feeling of relief he’d had when they found him. He looked over at Daniel. His hair till damp from the shower. He had only felt that feeling of complete and utter relief three other times since.

Once when he saw Daniel in the gateroom after thinking he had died on Klorel’s ship, and the other two times when he’d been returned to them by Oma, when they thought he would be lost forever. It was frightening in a way to care about someone that much. Things happened. People got hurt. Sometimes died. In Daniel’s case more than once. Jack reached up and ruffled Daniel’s hair and grinned. Daniel looked at him curiously and the corner of his mouth curled up slightly, then his attention went back to the photos.

He looked at his watch again. "I’m gonna get the stuff ready so we can eat as soon as the pizza gets here. I’m be back in a few minutes." Jack stood up, gave his shoulder a pat and Daniel watched him leave the room.

Jack got a couple of glasses out of the cabinet along with some ice for the soda he’d ordered and grabbed some napkins and was just about to head back to the living room when the doorbell rang. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet and heard a noise from the back of the house. He glanced around the corner trying to see into the living room on the way to the front door when the doorbell rang again. He hurried over to the door, opened it and paid the delivery boy, taking the pizza and cokes into the living room. When he walked in Daniel was nowhere in sight and the photo album was lying on the floor.

Jack hurried to the back bedrooms looking in each one, opening closets and finally found him sitting on the floor in the guest room with his hands over his ears, shaking, and breathing rapidly.

"What the…." Jack stepped closer and knelt down. "Daniel? What’s wrong? What is it?"

Jack tried to think of what could have possibly have frightened him so much. He didn’t think it could have been the pictures since he hadn’t reacted like that while they were looking at them. Daniel had his hands pressed tightly over his ears like he was trying to block out every sound. Jack thought for a moment. Could it have possibly been the doorbell? That was the only noise there was after he’d left Daniel to go get things ready in the kitchen. That must be it. Jack gently took hold of Daniel’s wrists and held them away from his ears so he could hear him.

"It was just a doorbell, Daniel. Listen………………….See. It’s gone. It’s okay." Daniel stared up at Jack and then cocked his head slightly as if listening and then looked back at Jack.

"Come on. Pizza’s here. I know you’re hungry, I heard your stomach growling all the way from the living room. How do you think I found you?" Jack smiled at Daniel and helped him up, put his arm around his shoulder and steered him into the other room.

As soon as Jack had Daniel situated on the sofa with a plate of pizza on his lap and a coke opened on the table, he took a roll of duct tape from the drawer and went to the front door and taped over the doorbell ringer. They didn’t need a repeat of that when Sam and Teal’c showed up in a little while.

~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~

Jack didn’t want to frighten Daniel any more than he already was and having too many new faces, or new to him anyway, didn’t seem like a good idea. The truth was he hated for Daniel to be out of sight for more that a few minutes for fear that he’d bolt right out the door. He was hoping it would help to keep the distractions down to a minimum.

After taping over the doorbell it occurred to him that the phone hadn’t rang all day and if the doorbell had gotten this kind of reaction, he hated to think what phones ringing all over the house, would do to his skittish friend. So he went through the house and turned off all the ringers to all four phones, relying instead on his cell phone, which for now he’d set to ’vibrate’ mode to alert him of a call.

Jack had just put the last of the leftover pizza in the refrigerator when the cell phone shook in his pocket. He pulled it out and saw it was Carter.

"Yeah, Carter. Where are you guys? I thought you’d be here by now"

"Well if you’ll go to your front door you might see that we are here, sir."

Jack started walking toward the front door with the phone. "Did you knock? I didn’t hear you."

"No. When you called and told me what happened about the pizza delivery boy, I thought maybe we’d just come in as quietly as we could so we wouldn’t frighten Daniel."

Jack pulled the door open and they looked at each other, each with a cell phone at their ear and they both laughed. Jack turned his off and stuffed it back in his pocket and took one of the boxes from Sam and took it inside as her and Teal’c followed.

Sam sat a box down on the side table and walked on into the living room. Her eyes made a sweep of the room.

"He’s in the bathroom. I don’t think descending and pineapple pizza go together."

She gave him a concerned look. "Is he all right?"

"Yeah. I just checked on him a few minutes ago, but I’ll go check on him again. Teal’c. Did you bring a movie?"

"Indeed. It is one of DanielJackson’s favorites." Teal’c held up the box and gave a sly grin.

"Good choice, Teal’c. You can set those boxes over there for now."

Jack started out of the room and yelled back at them to go ahead and put whatever they got from the store in the fridge and he’d be right back.

He walked back to the guest room and knocked at the closed bathroom door. "Daniel? You okay in there?" He listened. "You know, if you’re not feeling good you’re gonna have to let me know somehow." he stopped and listened again but didn’t hear anything from the other side of the door. Suddenly something touched Jack’s back and he whipped around to see Daniel.

"Jeez! Daniel. You scared the livin daylights out of me. I thought you were still in the john." Daniel lowered his hand and backed up a step. Jack stepped forward and put his hand on his shoulder.

"It’s all alright. I just didn’t hear you. Okay?" He patted his arm and started to steer him in the direction of the living room.

"Carter and Teal’c are here. They brought snacks and Teal’c even brought your favorite movie." They stepped into the living room, and Sam and Teal’c looked up from the chair and sofa. Sam stood up and smiled, resisting the urge to run over and wrap her arms around him in a hug, "Daniel."

Daniel looked from her to Teal’c eyeing them both nervously. Jack put his arm around Daniel’s shoulder and led him into the room. He could feel his resistance the closer they came to what to him were strangers and Jack stopped and sat Daniel down in the chair.

Sam picked up the small sack she’d brought and took a step closer holding it out to him. Daniel stared at the sack , then up at Jack, then his eyes moved over Sam and Teal’c uneasily. Sam looked at Jack. "Should I come any closer, or do you think it will scare him, sir?" she asked.

"Why don’t you just show him what’s in the bag, Carter?"

"Oh. Ok." Sam opened the bag nervously, and took a chocolate walnut cookie out. She took a step closer, holding out her hand and Daniel’s eyes studied it curiously.

Even though Jack had told her Daniel’s memory had apparently been erased again, she couldn’t help but be disappointed that he didn’t remember who she was. "I’ll just leave them here on the table for later. Okay?"

Jack gave Daniel’s shoulder a quick squeeze and walked over and picked up the movie Teal’c had brought. "I’ll put this in and then I’ll go get the leftover pizza out of the fridge."

"I’ll help, sir."

"Will DanielJackson not be afraid if left alone in my company, O’Neill?" His deep concern for his friend showing in his voice.

"Well, he can’t remember who you are if he can’t see you, right?" Jack told him as he went out of the room followed by Sam.

Teal’c turned the statement over in his mind. Many things O’Neill told him made great sense and at the same time made none at all. This was one of those times.

Teal’c looked at Daniel who was still staring at Jack’s retreating figure then looked over at Teal’c. Teal’c nodded and slowly leaned forward and picked up the remote as Daniel watched his every movement. Nodding at Daniel’s unblinking stare he turned it on and forwarded it to the beginning so it would be ready to watch.

"I believe you will find enjoyment in the movie I have chosen, DanielJackson. This once was one of your many favorites." Teal’c told him.

Jack peeked around the corner then quietly came back into the kitchen where Sam was putting together some chips and cookies on a tray.

"So? How are they doing in there?" she asked.

Jack went over to the refrigerator to get some ice. "He’s watchin’ Teal’c like a hawk but at least he’s still in there."

Sam had been so excited when Jack told her he’d found Daniel and how it had come about. She was somewhat prepared for this, after all, Daniel hadn’t recognized any of them when they found him on Vis Uban either, but this was so much more unsettling. She thought for a moment. It was the quiet, that was it, Daniel was just so quiet. At least on Vis Uban he’d spoken, even if it was to tell them to effectively buzz off. She turned to Jack.

"Sir…Has Daniel said much of anything? He’s just so quiet."

"Yeah. It’s really spooky isn’t it?"

"Has he said anything about what happened when he disappeared from the briefing room?"

"He hasn’t said anything about anything, Carter. Not a word."

"What did Janet say about it?"

"Nothing."

"So, she doesn’t know."

"Well, I didn’t exactly go into all the details with her. She can check him out herself when she comes by in the morning."

"Has he remembered anything yet?"

"You mean like names, dates that sort of thing?"

"Well, yeah I guess."

"Then I wouldn’t have a clue. He’s not talking remember?"

"I just thought, I don’t know, if he recognized something you might have noticed him react to it or something."

"Well, he reacted to the pizza." Jack told her grinning until he saw the worry on her face, "Okay. Listen. He’s only been back for a day. It’s just going to take time. I’m in just as much of a hurry to have Daniel back as you are."

Sam quietly finished putting things on the tray and set it down on the kitchen table.

"Carter, you can set out a few things in Daniel’s room from some of his stuff you brought, if you want. You know, books, clothes and stuff. Just not any pictures of Sha’re or his parents yet okay?"

She grinned. "Thank you, sir."

~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~

Sam set out a few pictures that were taken at Jack’s last barbeque, and some from Teal’cs birthday party, and set them around the guest room. A few artifacts from Daniel’s house that he’d had ever since they’d known him were set around too. She put Daniel’s clothes away and put his toiletries in the bathroom and finally headed back to the living room. She paused at the doorway and stood watching her teammates. Daniel was sitting on the sofa next to Jack now, having moved the farthest away he could get from Teal’c and still be in Jack’s proximity. Daniel was watching the images in fascination, but every few minutes he would glance over at Teal’c then at Jack. Then satisfied that all was safe he would go back to watching the movie.

She slid quietly into the nearest chair and nodded at them. Way too soon the movie ended and Jack stretched and yawned.

She hadn’t noticed how tired her CO looked. The past week or so had been hard on them all, but especially on him. Daniel was as closer to him than a brother and she knew he was devastated when Daniel disappeared from the briefing room. Daniel too, looked pretty worn out. As much as she wished to just camp out here and enjoy the camaraderie she knew that too soon it would be time to leave.

~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~

Jack awoke feeling eyes boring through him; He opened one eye and saw Daniel’s blue ones staring back at him. He let that eye rest a minute then ordered them to both open. He yawned a jaw-cracking yawn along with very realistic sound effects and still Daniel stared.

"Did you sleep at all last night?" Jack asked him hoarsely as he put the recliner upright rubbing his uncooperative eyes. "You know, you’re gonna have to talk to me sooner or later, and I’ll bet when you do I won’t be able to shut you up." He told him teasingly.

Still not getting a response, Jack stood up and made his way stumbling along to the kitchen to make coffee. Once that deed was done, he headed to the bathroom to empty his tired old bladder. He needed to take a shower, and not a group one like the day before with his boxers still on, but a real, all by himself, naked as a jaybird, soaped up, steamy shower, but it made him uneasy to leave Daniel alone just yet. He still hadn’t recovered from chasing him through the park, and he wasn’t entirely convinced he wouldn’t bolt again given the right opportunity. Or the right motivation. Jack froze as he wondered what with the way Daniel reacted to doorbells; he’d hate to think what would happen if the darned smoke alarm went off. He berated himself for going over too may possible scenarios this early in the morning.

He stumbled back to the kitchen and got out two cups and poured them both some coffee. He looked around for Daniel; a little surprised he hadn’t already been in here as soon as it had brewed until he remembered that was the pre-descended Daniel not the post-one.

Jack went into the living room, Daniel was sitting cross-legged on the floor looking through a journal Sam had left out in his room. One that spoke of happier times he hoped. He watched him for a few moments wondering how fast his record for taking a shower was. If Daniel stayed occupied for ten, fifteen minutes he could be clean as a whistle well before Frasier showed up.

Decision made, Jack quietly slipped out of the room and headed back to his bathroom. He glanced at his watch before taking it off and laying it down on the nightstand.

~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~

Jack heard the knock at the front door and visibly scanned Daniel again making sure he at least appeared well taken care of. The last thing he wanted was for her to insist Daniel go back to the base. She had been quite vocal about Jack not wanting to take Daniel in to the infirmary, but he felt strongly that this was best place for Daniel to regain his memory. Away from the faces of strangers and curious stares he would be certain to have had to deal with. It was only with her making a house call this morning and a promise to bring him in if anything unusual happened, that she had reluctantly agreed to allow him to stay.

Jack opened the door and led her in to the living room.

"How’s he doing, Colonel?" she asked as she glanced around the room looking for her patient.

"He seems to be settling in."

"You said you found him in the park not far from here?"

"Three Oaks. Middle of the night."

"How did he look when you found him? Any injuries?"

Jack couldn’t help but grin. If she only knew. "He looked…. He seemed pretty healthy to me and no he didn’t look like he was hurt or anything."

She gave him a look. "Are you sure?"

"Believe me, if he’d had a pimple on his…. He didn’t have a scratch on him, Doc."

"So, how’s he been doing since you brought him home? Is he eating? Sleeping?"

"He’s eating okay. Not sleeping though. And quiet. Too quiet. Hasn’t said a word since I found him."

Janet turned to look at him. "You said someone told you where he was?"

"Yeah. Oma. Desala," he told her.

Janet just stared as she watched Jack’s uneasiness increase.

Jack thought about how he wished Daniel were talking his ear off like he used to. Hey, he’d even settle for a good argument or two.

"His memory’s been erased again, hasn’t it?" she said accusingly. "and you neglected to tell me for some reason?" She clenched her hand tighter around the handle of her medical bag. "Does he remember anything at all?"

"He remembers, you know, some basic stuff, but I don’t think he remembers me or Sam or Teal’c’."

Janet turned to Jack as they stopped outside Daniel’s bedroom. "You know. I’m going to need to take a sample of his blood. The usual tests, plus a DNA confirmation. Is that going to be a problem, Colonel?"

Jack winced slightly, knowing that it more than likely was going to be a monumental problem. "Should be no problem," he told her smugly, as he opened the partially open bedroom door. "As long as you planned on knocking him out first." he grinned slyly as he looked around for his errant archaeologist, before stepping over to the adjoining bathroom and knocked lightly. "Daniel? You in there?"

They stood quietly for few moments until Janet spoke up. "If he won’t speak, how is he going to tell you if he’s all right, Colonel?" she asked.

He stared briefly trying to think of a good reply when the door opened.

"Hey Daniel. You have another visitor." Jack motioned to Dr. Frasier and Daniel eyed her warily.

"I thought you said he wasn’t injured." She said staring up at the colorful bruises and the knot on his forehead.

"Oh, that. He got those when I tackled him to the ground. He sort of got knocked out."

Janet turned to give him a piercing look. "Sort of’ knocked out? You didn’t mention any of this in your phone call."

Jack squirmed under her glare. He knew she was just concerned for Daniel. After all she was the one who always patched him up when he returned from a mission battered and broken, but he knew if he’d told her everything she would have probably sent some SFs to fetch him and take him back to the base infirmary.

"Didn’t? Well, he was only out for maybe five…ten minutes."

Janet continued to glare. "Is there anything ELSE you haven’t told me?"

"No. But if I’d thought he was really hurt I would have told you."

Jack took hold of Daniel’s arm, "Doc wants to check you out some okay?" he led him out of the bathroom on into the bedroom and turned to Janet. "Where do you want to do this?"

She thought for a minute then told him, "If Daniel is more comfortable in this room, then I can examine him here, Colonel. It’s up to you. And Daniel." she added.

Jack looked Daniel over trying to read his frame of mind. He’d had nothing but body language to gauge his moods and right now he looked strung pretty tight. If Janet got her blood sample today it would surprise him to no end.

"Here’s as good a place as any, I suppose. Where do you want him?"

She glanced round the room. "Where ever you think Daniel will be most comfortable." she said.

Jack looked at Daniel, his eyes wide, watching her every movement, beginning to look like a deer caught in a headlight. Oh this was going to be interesting. He steered Daniel over to the bed and sat him down, keeping his hand on Daniel’s shoulder. He could feel the tremors through his body even now.

Janet gave Daniel a smile

"Hi Daniel. My name is Dr. Frasier. I just want to have a look at you, okay?"

She turned and put her medical bag on the dresser behind her, took out her stethoscope and turned around. Putting the ends in her ears she looked at Jack, seeing already how frightened Daniel appeared to be. She brought the other end of the stethoscope toward Daniel’s chest and he tried to scoot back but couldn’t. She glanced at Jack again. "Maybe if you could hold it he would be more comfortable, Colonel." She handed the end to Jack and he held it against Daniel’s t-shirt clad chest.

"You’re gonna have to hold it against bare skin, Colonel. It would be a lot easier and a lot quicker."

Jack handed the end piece back to her and stood beside Daniel leaning down to look into his face that was still watching Janet like a hawk. "Daniel, I need to lift up your shirt, okay?" Jack gave Daniel’s arm a pat and lifted the t-shirt up. He took the offered scope again and lay it against Daniel’s bare chest.

Janet made a little motion with her finger for Jack to move it up a bit and after a minute of silence she took the ends out of her ears took the end from Jack. "Heart sounds fine." She then turned her attention to the spectacular bruise on Daniel’s forehead and cheek. She turned to Jack. "Are you sure you didn’t knock him out on purpose?" she asked grinning with a glint in her eye.

Thinking back to the night he’d chased Daniel halfway through the park he answered. "No. I might have though if I’d known he was gonna take off like he did, but no. I had to tackle him to stop him from running into the woods. If he’d made it to the trees we’d still be looking for him."

She got out the thermometer next. "I only need to press this against the inside of his ear for a few seconds. Maybe if you keep your hand on it too, he won’t be so scared." They got his temperature taken with no problem. "He may not remember you but he certainly does seem to trust you, Colonel."

Janet leaned down to get a closer look at the scrapes on his chest. Satisfied that he wasn’t banged up any worse, she got out the blood pressure cuff from her bag and reached for Daniel’s arm. He flinched and batted her hand away.

"Daniel, it’s all right. I’m not trying to hurt you. I just want to check your blood pressure." She looked up to Jack, and then handed the Velcro strip to Jack.

"You think you can put this on him?"

Jack looked it over and turned it around so it was easier to hold and started wrapping it around Daniel’s upper arm as Daniel watched him intensely. He finally got it in place. "Is that okay, Doc?"

"It’s just fine, Doctor O’Neill" she said teasing him. She handed Jack the end of the stethoscope again. "Put that against his arm right below the cuff and hold it there."

He did as she asked and she started pumping up the cuff. The more it inflated the rounder Daniel’s eyes became and he started glancing up at Jack and back down at the object wrapped tightly around his arm with trepidation.

"Okay. Done." Jack ripped the cuff apart slowly and Daniel flinched at the grating sound. Looking down at his arm, he rubbed it where the cuff used to be.

She put those items away and turned back to Jack with a more serious look.

"I’m going to need that blood sample, Colonel." She told him. "Any suggestions?"

Daniel was looking up at Janet with a anxious look on his face. "Ok. Somehow I don’t think that’s gonna be as easy as taking his temperature, Doc. "He looked at Daniel worriedly.

Janet studied Daniel, her mind searching all the possible ways to help get this task done and none of them were very realistic. She looked at Jack and then down at his arm. "Too bad I can’t take your blood to show him there’s nothing to be afraid of," she said jokingly.

Jack looked down at Daniel, thinking over what she’d just said, then turned to her gruffly, as he started to roll up his sleeve. "Oh. All right, just do it."

Janet looked questioningly at him, "I was only joking Colonel. Are you sure you want to do this?"

He glanced at Daniel again and back to her. "You got a better idea?"

"If you’re sure?" She gave him one final glance before she turned and got what she needed out of her medical bag.

Turning back around she stepped over to Jack and started tying the rubber tubing around his upper arm. Then she wiped his arm with an alcohol pad. She felt around looking for a suitable vein. Finding one she inserted the needle and immediately the syringe started filling red.

Daniel’s eyes hardly blinked as he looked from the needle to Jack’s smiling face, his brow wrinkled in uncertainty.

Jack patted Daniel’s knee with his free hand, hoping to convey calmness. Jack turned to Janet. "I can’t believe I’m doing this." He commented gruffly.

She removed the syringe, took the vial out and before she turned around she looked at Jack as he was now in the process of explaining the whole process to Daniel with a concern and tenderness in his eyes, it made a lump form in her throat as she told him quietly, "I can, sir."

~^~^~

Having checked out her patient and finishing the final task of obtaining a blood sample from Daniel, with a surprisingly minimal amount of fuss, and as an extra bonus a vial from Jack, Janet left for the base. Not until after she gave him her twenty minute lecture though on withholding pertinent medical information, like being knocked unconscious and how she wanted Daniel in her infirmary so she could keep a better eye on him.

He understood her concern and protectiveness toward Daniel. That’s why he was staying right where he was, in a place where he once felt safe.

After lunch Jack got some more of Daniel’s journals out of the boxes along with a few artifacts that Sam had brought back from his office and home, and set them around in the living room. Daniel would occasionally get up and walk over to one and touch it, running his fingers over the surface and then walk away.

He had read though a few of the ‘happier’ journals Jack could find, so he knew at least that he was capable of reading words. If only he would say a few. Words that is. At this point he’d settle for just one. It was very disconcerting to have a totally silent Daniel Jackson in the house.

The better part of the day Daniel was either reading, or walking around the house from room to room following Jack as he tried to work on some reports in between throwing in a few loads of laundry and sitting with Daniel looking through the same photo albums.

By the looks of them, both were in dire need of sleep. By the time night fell he had caught Daniel yawning several times. After Jack put their supper dishes away he decided this would be a good night to turn in early. He took Daniel into the guest room, pulled down the covers, convinced him to get in and had high hopes that maybe this time he would sleep in his own bed. But as soon as Jack turned to walk out, Daniel scrambled out of the bed and stood beside him looking at once, pleading and frightened.

So here they were again. Daniel on the sofa with pillows and a quilt and Jack across from him in his recliner, lights dimmed to hopefully lessen the stimulation of every object in the room that still so fascinated Daniel. It wasn’t long before Jack dozed off as the events of the previous few days catching up with him.

~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~

A sudden noise brought Jack’s eyes open in an instant as he looked around the darkened room trying to get his bearings. A low rumble filled the house and he could feel the vibration of the thunder all the way through his chair. He glanced over at the empty sofa, the quilt strewn haphazardly on the floor.

The next flash of lightning lit up the room through the windows and he jumped up, throwing his cover to the side as he ran out of the room in search of Daniel. The first flip of a light switch told him the electricity was out and he hurried into the kitchen where he knew he had a flashlight in a drawer. He turned it on and started toward the back of the house searching the closets and bedrooms and bathrooms.

A loud boom of lightning hitting nearby made his heart jump before continuing on. By the time he’d searched the house and come up empty handed he was way past worried, right into that familiar feeling of panic. He was just about to get his cell phone and call in reinforcements when he heard a shuffling noise. He looked around the room cocking his ear, trying to listen in between the sounds of the storm, and then feeling like an idiot he turned and went around the corner to the foyer closet.

Surely he must be there. He certainly hoped, for it was the last possible place in the house he hadn’t looked. Jack yanked open the closet door pointing the flashlight into the dark space and red-rimmed blue eyes looked up at him as a partially stifled sob broke loose from the frightened figure huddled on the floor with trails of tears running down his face. Jack breathed a sign of relief.

"Daniel?"

Another bolt of lightning shook the windows enough to make them both jump. Giving his heart permission to slow down to less than racing he sat down on the small closet floor beside Daniel. Jack wrapped his arm around Daniel’s shoulder and drew him closer. Daniel looked at him hesitantly then put his head against Jack as the stifled sobs finally escaped. Jack held his shaking, sobbing friend, wondering if he was up to the task of rebuilding a best friend. Again. But knowing somehow that he would.

Jack sat with him until the shaking grew less and less, along with the rumblings of the storm, letting him know the only way he knew how, that he was safe.

Jack rubbed Daniel’s arm and spoke softly with renewed determination, "It will take as long as it takes."

~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~

Jack stood in the shower letting the hot water melt away his stiff muscles and aching joints. At least Daniel had finally gotten a few hours of much needed sleep even though it was on the closet floor. Even when Jack had sat on the hard wooden floor as long as he could stand it and had steered Daniel back to the sofa, he had hardly blinked. Just curled up under the quilt and was fast asleep before he could turn around.

No, he was thinking that maybe he would get Daniel to help him organize the basement after breakfast, A little physical labor to get the old heart pumping from something other than panic, that is, would do them both some good.

Once Jack was dressed and had helped Daniel get dressed, he fixed them both some eggs and ham. Now he just needed to tear him away from the journals Sam had left out in his room. He could use a quiet less eventful day for a change and hopefully once they got started on the basement it would keep both their minds from wandering into places they shouldn’t go.

"Daniel! You hungry?"

Jack didn’t see him in the living room so he assumed he was still in his bedroom. He peered in to see Daniel sitting in bed with his back up against the headboard reading. Jack stood in the doorway and knocked on the open door.

"Come on. Time to eat."

Daniel looked up and slowly closed the journal. Something about the look on Daniel’s face worried him. He stepped into the room and sat down on the edge of the bed. Daniel’s fingers were absently moving over the book’s cover and his eyes were bright with unshed tears.

"Daniel?" Jack watched as the one thing he had wished for and also dreaded was coming to pass before his eyes. Daniel had remembered something. Maybe something from the journals.

"Daniel? You’ve got to start talking to me. I want to help you but…." Jack sighed in frustration. How was he going to be able to help him if Daniel wouldn’t even let him know what was wrong? Jack laid his hand on his arm and Daniel’s blue eyes drifted up to meet his.

Sheesh! This was frustrating. "Hey buddy, you hungry? Come on. Let’s go eat." Jack stood up and gently pulled Daniel up and off the bed and steered him into the hallway. On the way to the kitchen he told Daniel what he had planned for them to do after breakfast, but if he understood he didn’t show it.

~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~

Daniel handed Jack the last box and Jack stacked it along the wall with the others. They’d been at it for most of the afternoon, only taking a break for lunch and Daniel still didn’t seem to be tiring. Jack on the other hand was beat.

He had kept an eye on Daniel as he worked and he honestly didn’t know what to think. He’d done everything Jack asked him to do. That in itself was downright eerie for Daniel, but his expression since this morning had been flat. Not a grin, not a frown. Not anything. Ever since he’d found him in his bedroom this morning with the journal he had simply closed himself off.

He made a mental note to himself to slip into his room and pluck that one out before Daniel noticed. That way he could look through it and see if he could find out what it was that had affected him so much.

He had tried to be cautious about which journals he left around. Sure, he knew Daniel had to remember it all to be whole again, the good and the bad. So maybe he wasn’t doing Daniel any favors by shielding him from his past. Trouble was there wasn’t any set-in-stone procedure for how to assist newly descended beings back into the land of the living. Not that Daniel had been …well…dead or anything. From what little Oma had hinted at, Daniel had just been a visitor. Not a resident this time. For some reason he got the bad feeling that a storm was coming. And he didn’t mean the kind they’d had the other night.

~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~

"I’m sorry, Sammy. I had no idea the High Council was even here until I contacted George today. Ever since Anubis attacked the Alpha Site, I’ve been kept in the dark about the Council’s activities, especially when it involves Earth, They don’t believe I have the Tok’ra’s best interests at heart and that I put Earth’s agenda before theirs."

Sam finally looked up into her fathers’ eyes and she could see the sincerity and love there. How could she have ever doubted her own father?

"It’s alright Dad. I’m sorry too. I should never have assumed you had anything to do with wanting to take Daniel away from us."

Jacob smiled tenderly at his daughter and opened his arms. She stepped into his embrace feeling an important piece of her life fall back into place.

He held her and then slowly stepped back. "Have you had any word about what could have happened to Daniel?"

Sam paused but then kicked herself for the lingering thought that slipped into her mind until she consciously shoved it aside as her eyes met his again. "He’s back. Daniel’s back. He was taken by Oma Desala, we believe, so she could remove whatever was causing him to have those visions."

Jacob gently put his hands on her shoulders looking into her eyes smiling. "Sam, that’s great! Is he all right?"

She lowered her eyes and he grew concerned.

"What’s wrong? Is it Daniel?"

She raised her eyes and met his. "Oma erased his memory again, Dad. He doesn’t remember who he is. Or who we are. Nothing…According to the Colonel he hasn’t said a word since we got him back."

He could see how upset his daughter was. "I’m sorry, Sam. Is there anything I can do to help?"

"I wish there were. I hate seeing him like this. He just seems so…lost."

"Where’s he at now, here at the SGC?" He asked curiously.

"No. He’s been staying at the Colonel’s house."

"So how’s he doing though, surely he’s getting his memory back a little by now?"

"Well, since he can’t or won’t speak, we don’t know for sure if or how much has been coming back to him, but I do know he’s had a really rough time dealing with it."

~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~

Jack’s first priority was to get some food in two tired hungry bodies that had just returned from a run in the woods behind his house. Jack had a well-worn path through those woods, and Daniel had almost looked a lot like the old Daniel after they’d ran a few miles, except of course, for the not talking part.

They had mostly relied on easy fix suppers or delivery for the past few weeks but tonight Jack decided to put together a real meat and potatoes meal for Daniel and himself. He had a couple of juicy steaks on the grill, salad in the fridge and a pan of potatoes baking in the oven. Even had dessert, frosted brownies that he’d put Daniel in charge of decorating.

He set the timer and went about setting out some plates and silverware to bring outside once the food was done. The sun was just beginning to lower itself into the horizon and the air was comfortably warm so he thought a meal outside on the deck would do them both a world of good. A good workout and then some fresh air. Even Frasier would be pleased.

Daniel was sitting at the kitchen table with a bag of chocolate chips that he was supposed to be sprinkling on the brownies but Jack saw that Daniel was putting them on one tiny chocolate piece at a time. Which might have driven him nuts pre-ascension, but it was strangely calming seeing Daniel create, even if was only hieroglyphs made with bits of chocolate.

Frasier’s last words before going out the door after she had examined Daniel a few days ago, ‘Take good care of him, Colonel. He needs you‘, had started haunting him after noticing how much weight Daniel had lost since the last mission he’d been on that had caused them all to go through withdrawal. Since he’d brought him back from the park he thought he’d been eating enough but for some reason the man was still getting too skinny. If he didn’t get some meat on his bones Frasier would have his head on a platter.

Jack put the plates and other necessary items on a tray to take out in a while grabbed two cans of soda from the fridge and sat down across from Daniel. He looked up at Jack and then went back to his chocolate chip masterpiece. Jack opened a can and sat it in front of Daniel, then opened his own taking a long drink.

"That run in the woods really worked up a thirst, don’t ya think?" Jack said as he took another drink. Daniel glanced at the open can and picked up another handful of chocolate chips.

Jack leaned forward looking closer at the designs on top of the brownies. "Nice. I don’t have the heart to cut it now you know?" He sat back up straight still watching Daniel work when the shape of the chips made his eyebrows rise. "Huh. Funny, I never noticed that before." He leaned forward again and set his can down picking up a single chocolate chip and setting it on his opened palm staring at it. He glanced at Daniel who was now watching Jack like Jack had lost his marbles.

Jack held his palm up closer to Daniel. "Have you ever noticed how much chocolate chips look like miniature pyramids?"

Daniel stared at Jack then looked over at the little pyramid shaped piece of chocolate laying on Jack’s hand. He stared at it and Jack could see his mind working, trying to make connections, trying to fit pieces of memories together in some kind of sense. Daniel kept staring so long Jack was beginning to worry. He was just about to make a smart remark when he saw a single tear escape from the corner of Daniel’s eye and slowly travel down his face.

Jack slowly lowered his hand as Daniel’s eyes followed until his arm was resting on the table.

"Daniel?" Jack said his name softly and watched as Daniel finally squeezed his eyes shut. Jack could see that he was fighting to stay in control. He stood up and pulled his chair closer to Daniel’s.

"Hey, Daniel. It’s okay. Whatever you’re thinking about…I’m right here." Jack put his hand on Daniel’s back and hoped his concern could be felt through that small gesture. After a few minutes Daniel wiped his eye with his sleeve and stared at the pan of brownies.

Daniel looked down and his clenched hand opened slowly and Jack saw that he had left some chocolate chips in his hand and he now had a gooey mess. Jack took his hand and opened it all the way and peered at the melted chocolate globs, then took his finger and swiped a glob up and stuck it in his mouth, licking his finger off as Daniel watched wide-eyed. Then Daniel looked at his open hand and took one finger and ran it through the melted chocolate and put it to his mouth. A grin broke out on his face and Jack laughed. Although Daniel didn’t laugh out loud he could see the laughter in his eyes. For the first time since he’d returned he truly looked like his old friend.

Jack looked at his watch, "Oh crap. I’d better get out there and check on the steaks. I’ll be right back."

Jack left the kitchen quickly and Daniel went about cleaning his hand of the chocolate when the timer beeped. He looked up at the trilling little plastic box and then his eyes looked back in the direction where Jack had just departed.

Daniel had seen Jack put something to eat in the oven. He’d seen Jack turn off the timer and get things out of the oven before. Daniel glanced again at the doorway and then went to stand in front of the oven. He could get the food out for Jack and he would be proud of him. Jack had been nice to him ever since…well since he could remember. He made him laugh sometimes and most of all he made him feel safe.

He felt afraid much of the time. Flashes of people and places and feelings like pieces of a puzzle all jumbled up and mixed together. Sometime he could put a few of the pieces together and begin to see an image but mostly it was a jumbled mess.

Daniel stepped over to the oven and took hold of the handle flinching at the unexpected warmth. But as he opened the door the heat flowing out from the oven felt good. He saw the pan Jack had put in there and smiled when he thought of how proud Jack would be of him for helping. He reached in and grabbed the pan, immediately dropping it as the intense heat burned into his palm. He gasped as he jerked his hand back, cradling it to his chest, squeezing his eyes shut against the incredible pain.

He held his injured hand with the other as a quiet cry erupted from deep in his throat. He looked around the empty kitchen. Jack would be back and he would be mad. He had to hide. His eyes darted back and forth trying to think of where to go. He looked down at the reddened blistered skin and clutched it to his chest again as the pain shot through his hand in waves. He ran into the next room, stopped and looked around. He ran to the front door and twisted the knob making desperate noises to get out. He suddenly remembered how Jack opened the door. He turned the deadbolt with his uninjured hand then reached down and twisted the knob, opening it. He swung the door open and rushed outside. His eyes darted around the yard not knowing where to go. He took off running around the corner of the house. It was almost dusk but he could still see the trees where they had jogged that morning. Somehow in the dimming light they looked more ominous than they had with Jack. Daniel stood, turning around searching for someplace to hide, as another wave of fiery pain lanced through his hand sending him to his knees.

~^~^~^~

"Daniel, the steaks are done. I don’t know about you but I’m….."

Jack sauntered into the kitchen carrying a platter, looking around the room for Daniel. He set it down on the counter and froze when he saw the oven door open and the pan lying nearly upside down with potatoes strewn about on the open door and on the floor.

He turned and quickly strode into the living room calling Daniel’s name and stopped in his tracks when he saw the front door standing wide open.

"Oh crap!" He ran through the doorway out into the front yard looking around frantically for Daniel. It was nearly dusk but thankfully there was just enough daylight left for him to be able to see. He looked around the front yard then ran around to the back calling Daniel’s name.

He stopped in the backyard, his panic building as he looked out toward the woods His eyes scanned the field between his house and the thick grove of trees and then he heard a moan. His eyes shot over to the sound and he saw Daniel lying a few feet away, pain-filled sobs coming from his once silent lips.

Jack rushed over and knelt down to where Daniel sat clutching his shaking hand to his chest.

Even in the dim light he could see how red his hand was.

"Daniel? What’s wrong?"

His eyes grew wide when he saw the blistered skin.

"Ah Danny. What did you do?"

Jack reached out for his hand but Daniel drew it back into himself.

"Here let me see." He gently took hold of Daniel’s arm and moved it so his hand was visible. Jack’s stomach twisted into an immediate knot.

"Daniel. Jeez. That must hurt. We’ve gotta get this taken care of."

A single sob broke loose from Daniel as his red-rimmed blue eyes looked up at Jack as he spoke hoarsely fighting to stop the torrent of tears that kept threatening to escape.

"I’m stupid, Jack."

Jack’s mouth dropped open and the words that were previously on their way stopped immediately as he heard Daniel finally speak. Now for a moment it was Jack who was at a loss for words. Stupid? He was momentarily stunned that the first words out of Daniel’s mouth were to say that he was stupid.

"No. No you’re not stupid," Jack told him forcefully. He was overwhelmed by that single word that was so far away from what Daniel was… is… that his anger and grief were both fighting to be heard. He didn’t know whether to slap him or shake him. He did neither.

Jack gripped Daniel’s shoulders firmly and spoke directly into his eyes.

"Daniel Jackson. You listen to me. You have the most brilliant mind of anyone I’ve ever known. I know you’re confused right now, and probably scared. But this was just an accident. You are not stupid. Do you hear me?"

Jack’s voice softened as he saw the pain he was obviously in.

"Can you stand?"

At Daniel’s nod, he put his arm around Daniel’s shoulders and lifted him to his feet.

"Come on. I’ve gotta get you to Janet." He gave his back a reassuring pat as he steered him toward the truck.

Daniel glanced at him as he let out another sigh of pain.

Jack got Daniel situated inside the truck and ran inside to lock up and turned off the oven and grill. Then grabbing his keys headed out to take Daniel to Janet,

~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~

Frasier gave Jack one of her best glares, practiced and refined over the years.

"And this happened how?"

"I already told you. He touched a hot pan."

"And where were you, Colonel?"

All right. That was it. His goose was cooked. He’d only heard THAT tone of voice when he’d done something so dreadful that she would make sure he broke out in a cold sweat every time he had to come near the infirmary.

"I was fixing us a nutrious home-cooked meal so we could eat it outside in the fresh air so we could relax from the exercise we’d had." Jack told her defensively.

Janet finished bandaging up Daniel’s hand, pleased but somewhat surprised that he had allowed her to do this for him. She looked up at Jack standing there with his hands in his pockets. She hadn’t noticed the dark circles under his eyes until now.

She didn’t mean to be so hard on him but it had crushed her when she’d seen Daniel in such pain. Standing there wrapping the burned hand in white gauze had reminded her way too much of when she had done this very same thing, except that time she had been wrapping gauze around skin burned by radiation.

From what she had seen and from what Sam and Teal’c had told her, Jack had been taking extremely good care of his friend and teammate. She really should cut him some slack.

She glanced up at Jack again as she put on the final strip of tape.

Daniel’s eyes met hers and she held his bandaged hand. "You’re going to be fine but it may still hurt for a day or two. I’m going to give you something for the pain tonight, all right?"

She turned and stepped over to the cabinet, getting a bottle of pills and a cup of water. She took one out and held it out to Daniel. "Daniel, I want you to put this in your mouth and take a drink."

He stared at it and then at her.

She looked at Jack. "Has he taken any pills at all while he’s been at your place?"

"No."

She turned back to her patient. Holding the small pill in her fingers she held it up to his mouth. "Daniel, can you open your mouth and swallow this for me?"

Daniel glanced over at Jack, his eyes still creased in pain, and glanced at the pill in her hand and slowly opened his mouth. She slipped the pill inside and tipped the cup to his lips so he could take a drink.

"Good. That should make you feel better soon." She said as she patted his knee.

Picking up the bottle of pills she stepped over to Jack and handed it to him. "He can take these for the first couple of days for the pain. The instructions are on the bottle. Keep the bandage clean and dry and I’ll need to see him again tomorrow."

He took the bottle and had picked up his jacket when she laid a hand on his arm.

"Colonel. You’re doing a fine job with Daniel. I know it’s not been easy."

Jack opened his mouth to speak but was suddenly at a loss for words. He helped Daniel off the bed and placed his hand on his shoulder.

"Ready to go home Daniel?"

Jack turned to Janet. "Thanks."

Suddenly Sam and Jacob rushed into the infirmary followed by Teal’c.

"Janet? Colonel? What happened? Is he all right?" Sam asked worriedly as she eyed the white gauze around Daniel’s hand.

"Daniel burned his hand. It’s going to be pretty painful for a few days, but other than that he’ll be fine." Janet told her.

Sam stepped over to Daniel and affectionately placed her hand on his shoulder and looked at Jack. "How did he get hurt, sir?"

"Long story, Carter. I really need to get him home." Jack began steering Daniel out of the infirmary.

"I’ll talk to you and Teal’c tomorrow." He then noticed Jacob standing by the doorway. They looked at each other uncomfortably.

"I’m sorry, Jack."

Jack gripped Daniel’s arm tighter and led him out the door.

~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~

Jack stood outside the bathroom door with two cups of coffee in his hands. He leaned closer listening to the sounds of water. Sure enough Daniel was in there taking a shower. Not that the act of showering was so special. But this was the first time since he’d gotten his best friend back that he’d thought of it all on his own and took the initiative to do everything that needed to be done to take a shower. Getting the water temperature right, getting out a towel. Things that Jack had been doing for the past two weeks.

He listened as the water shut off and Jack stepped back not wanting to appear to be hovering even though he was. To be honest he was concerned about Daniel doing some things for himself, by himself, just yet. Ever since he’d burnt his hand Jack had been protective, afraid Daniel would touch something else and get hurt. Well, if that wasn’t a familiar feeling he didn’t know what was.

He waited nervously for Daniel to open the door so he could see for himself that he was all right.

Finally the door opened and Daniel stopped in the doorway with his hand still on the knob looking at Jack with a mixture of puzzlement and humor. He ducked his head so as to not let Jack see the grin that was sneaking on his face and walked past him plucking the coffee cup from his hand.

Daniel took a drink and set the cup down as he stepped over to the dresser. He opened the drawer and stared at the clothes. Then taking out a pair of boxers he held them up and turned them around a few times before dropping the towel and bending over to put them. Next he looked through the drawer but didn’t seem to know what to get out.

Jack stepped over and set his cup down and pulled out a pair of socks. Then shut that drawer and opened another one. He pulled out a pair of sweats and handed them to Daniel but he wouldn’t take them. He slowly shook his head.

"Well, okay. What do you want to wear then?" Daniel looked inside the drawer but just shook his head.

It seemed so strange to Jack that some things Daniel was beginning to remember clearly and others he was totally clueless.

"Jeans? You looking for your jeans?"

Jack went to the closet and got a pair of Daniel’s blue jeans and handed those to him. He stared at them then a small smile turned up the corners of his mouth as he sat down on the edge of the bed and put them on.

After finally getting his shirt, shoes and socks on, Daniel sat down tiredly on the edge of the bed. "Did I always wear so many clothes?"

Jack stared at him not knowing which direction his question was heading. With Daniel it was hard telling.

Jack thought for a second. "Yeah. Most of the time. Sometimes more. Sometimes less." Jack stared at him again thinking. "Depends on whether you’re hanging around with Oma."

Daniel looked more puzzled. "What’s an ‘Oma?"

Jack answered, "A real pain in the mit’ka."

He only looked more confused as he turned to Jack again, "What’s a mit’ka?"

"It’s the part of your anatomy I’m gonna kick if you don’t get in the kitchen before breakfast gets cold."

~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~

Daniel picked up the chess piece and started to set it down but hesitated and put it back as he studied the board more closely.

They had been playing several games of chess every day for the last several days and Jack could already see an improvement in the moves Daniel made that he was remembering more and more.

Jack moved his piece and announced. "Checkmate."

Daniel stared at the remaining chess pieces as if trying to see the order of each mistake he’d made step by step.

Jack studied Daniel’s concentration as he continued to stare at the chess game

"You almost beat me this time." Jack told him encouragingly.

Daniel glanced up at Jack. "Are you sure I used to beat you at this?"

"Every time." Jack quipped good-humoredly.

Daniel looked up at Jack unsure whether to believe him or not.

Jack gently grasped Daniel’s wrist. "Is your hand hurting again, Daniel?" He knew Janet had told him it was on the mend the last time he’d taken Daniel in to let her check on it, but the way he’d cradled it in his lap most of the night made him suspect it was still tender. Jack watched closely as Daniel gingerly moved his hand to a different position and winced.

Jack stood up and went to the kitchen and got one of the pills Janet had given Daniel for the pain along with a glass of water He took them in and handed the water to Daniel. He took the glass in his uninjured hand, then started to move the other hand to get the pill.

"No that’s okay. Don’t move your hand, just open your mouth." Jack told him.

He opened his mouth and Jack slipped the tablet inside. Daniel took a drink and handed it back to Jack.

~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~

Just when Jack was getting used to sleeping in his own bed again, he was awakened in the middle of the night by the worst scream. He’d jumped out of bed and ran to Daniel’s room where the man was lying flat on his back in bed clawing at his arms and chest, as if he were trying to get something off that was hurting him, and then that scream again and Daniel threw his arms up in front of his face mumbling something about overheating cores and no time.

Jack had stood frozen in place in Daniel’s doorway for what felt like minutes when he was sure it was merely seconds, before he’d rushed over to wake him. It hadn’t taken very long for him to realize what the nightmare had been about. The thought of Daniel having such a vivid recollection of his horribly painful death from radiation poisoning make Jack sick to his stomach.

After he’d finally managed to get him awake, he wouldn’t let Jack near him. Pushed him away when he tried to comfort him. Turned away , not wanting Jack to see his tear streaked face. Now as Jack looked across the living room at Daniel, seated in the farthest chair, his knees drawn up, his arms wrapped around them, staring into space, he felt like they just taken several giant steps backwards.

Here he’d been so cautious about what photos to let Daniel see at first for fear of provoking just such a reaction, and then this happens. Daniel had started talking more. Nothing even remotely close to the ’old’ Daniel, but it had been a good start. He’d been improving little by little at chess, too, until Jack was hopeful it wouldn’t be long before He couldn’t beat Daniel anymore.

It felt like they’d been trying for weeks to pull out of the quicksand, only now it seemed as if they’d fallen and gotten stuck all over again. He wanted more than anything right then to stride across the room and give his friend a hug. Anything to let Daniel know he was still cared about and hopefully draw him back to them again. But he knew Daniel would have no part of it.

Ever since the horrific nightmare he had not allowed Jack or anyone else, to touch him. If he laid a hand on Daniel’s shoulder he flinched. When Frasier stopped by to take a look at his hand again, he would not let her touch him. She’d tried to assure Jack that it would pass but so far, it was only getting worse. It was as if Daniel had closed the door to his soul and barred the windows, not letting anyone near.

~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~

Sam pinched off another piece of cookie and put it in her mouth as her eyes drifted over to the sounds coming from the living room. Jack glanced over at her shaking his head as he reached in to the refrigerator to get out the cheese.

"You’re gonna spoil your appetite."

She glanced over at Jack as he put the rest of the cold cuts on the platter.

"Not very likely, sir. I haven’t eaten since breakfast."

"Now you sound like Daniel."

"Has he not been eating?"

"Oh, well, let’s see. Not eating Not talking. Not sleeping. Not reading. It’s not been a good few days, Carter.

"Oh. Uh, sorry. I didn’t mean to…I’m worried about him. He looks so down."

"You and me both. He’s been like that for a couple of days."

"I thought he was finally talking."

"Yeah, well. Some days more than others. He had a really bad nightmare a few nights ago. He’s been a lot quieter ever since. Woke up screaming his head off. Saying his skin was on fire."

"Wow. That sounds bad. Do you think it’s because of when he burned his hand?"

"I don’t know. Maybe. Might have triggered it I guess. He was mumbling something about a core overheating, so it wasn’t hard to guess what that was about."

"Kelowna?" It made her sick to think of Daniel having nightmares about his painful death from the radiation burns.

"Yeah. Pretty sure."

"He’s still talking to you isn’t he?"

"If you can call it that."

Jack turned abruptly toward Sam, "I haven’t told you what the first words Daniel spoke to me were, have I?"

"No, you haven’t."

"Stupid. He said he was stupid." Jack spit the words out like they left a bad taste in his mouth.

Sam eyes widened in surprise at what she was hearing. "Wow, that’s…. I mean…Daniel’s one of the …"

"Brilliant." Jack finished for her. "He’s brilliant. I know. You know. Everybody knows that."

"Everyone but Daniel." It was her turn to finish.

"It’s just hard seeing him like this, Carter. He just sits and stares at nothing for hours. The only time I see any emotion in him is when he’s having a nightmare. He didn’t sleep any at all last night or the night before. He won’t hardly take what Frasier prescribed to help him sleep, either. I think maybe he’s remembering more while he’s asleep and some of the things he’s remembering are so scary that now he fights to stay awake."

"Maybe Janet will have some suggestions when she gets here." Sam looked at her watch. "You want me to take this on out to the living room? She should be here any minute."

"Yeah, go ahead. I’ll be there in in a minute."

Sam put the tray down on the coffee table and looked up at Teal’c who returned her worried stare. They had decided to get together tonight and try to bring Daniel out of the shell he’d closed himself into, but nothing seemed to be working. They had spent over an hour at the video rental store trying to decide which movie Daniel might enjoy but he had barely noticed it was even on. He mostly sat with his legs pulled up and his chin resting on his knees staring off at who knows what. The sound of someone knocking at the door got her attention and she stood up and made her way to the door.

"Hi Janet."

"Sam."

"Come on in, food’s ready and I’m starved." Janet followed her into the living room and her eyes found her patient and she immediately felt her concern for Daniel go up a few notches. She stepped closer to Sam and whispered. "How long has he been like that?" she said as she nodded toward Daniel.

"He got up once to go to the bathroom, but just went right back to what he’s doing now."

Janet glanced around the room, "Where’s the Colonel?"

"He’s in the kitchen. He’ll be here in a minute. Why don’t you and Teal’c go ahead and get something to eat and I’ll go check on him."

~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~

The last of the food was put away and Jack, Janet and Sam had congregated in the kitchen.

Janet could see how much Jack cared about Daniel in the way he spoke about him with such concern but she could also see that it was taking its toll on both of them. If they didn’t find a way to reach Daniel soon, she wasn’t sure what options they had left.

"So he still isn’t speaking much at all, he’s not eating? You said he shows no interest in reading anything, including his journals and won’t even look at any of the photo albums? Sam mentioned something about him having nightmares."

Jack scrubbed his hand over his face. "Yeah. When he sleeps, which is hardly at all. He slept a couple nights ago when you gave him that painkiller. But even then he ended up having a bad nightmare."

Janet folded her hands in front of her on the table trying to put her thoughts in a way they could understand. "Daniel’s memory of who he is, where he is, who the other people are around him, everything, was like a blank slate when you found him Colonel. In time bits and pieces come to the surface. Sometimes they’re triggered by something. Could be a picture, a smell, a sound. Or they can just as easily from come from out of nowhere.

For instance if he suddenly remembered his parents being killed in that museum, he might not also remember how old he was at the time. He may not remember the grieving process he’s already went through. So to him, it could feel like it just happened today."

"Part of the reason Daniel is having such a difficult time dealing with some of his returning memories is because he’s only getting one part of the memory. It’s kind of like a person having tunnel vision. They can only see what is directly in front of them. They can’t see the whole picture. If you showed someone a picture of someone dressed in torn bloody clothes, for instance, and when you uncovered the rest of the picture you saw that they were at a Halloween party with lots of other people dressed in scary costumes. It would totally change you’re perception of that one image. When you saw it at first you might be horrified thinking someone was badly hurt but when the rest of the picture was uncovered you might laugh at how they are all dressed."

"O’NEILL!"

They all stopped at the sound of Teal’c voices from the living room and they scrambled to rush in and see what was wrong.

They stopped in the doorway at the sight of Teal’c holding Daniel’s limp body on the floor.

Jack was the first one at his side.

"Teal’c, what happened? Is he all right?"

Janet straddled one of Daniel’s legs as she squatted down to press her fingers against his neck, checking his pulse.

"His hearts racing. What happened Teal’c?"

"DanielJackson stood up suddenly and picked up your book of pictures O’Neill. He opened it and after looking in it, began shaking and collapsed as he is now."

"Do you think he remembered something, Janet?" Sam asked.

"Possibly. He’s in shock. Lay him down and prop his feet up on those pillows." She pointed to the pillows on the sofa and chair and as they were gathered together, Teal’c gently moved out from under him and laid him gently down on the floor.

Janet scooted over to his side and grasped his chin in her hands to get his attention. "Daniel? Look at me. I know you can hear me, now look at me. Daniel?" His eyes finally moved in her direction, "Good. It’s all right Daniel. You‘re gonna be okay"

"Sam, get me a blanket, he’s shivering."

"Colonel, see if you and Teal’c can get him up on the sofa. This floor is chilly."

Teal’c stepped forward and immediately knelt down and picked him up and lay him on the sofa as the pillows were quickly moved and stacked under his feet. The blankets were tucked around him and Janet once again pressed her finders against his neck. "It’s a little better." She leaned closer and patted his arm. "It’s all right now Daniel."

Janet motioned for Jack to follow her so she could have a word with him a few feet away.

"Colonel, I really think Daniel should be in the infirmary. I’m concerned not only about his mental health but his physical. His body is being put under a great deal of stress and I’d like to be able to keep a closer eye on him."

He stared at Janet mulling her words over in his mind and then turned to look at Daniel. He wanted so badly to be able to help Daniel through this but as he watched Sam tucking the blanket up under his chin, he wondered if maybe she might be right.

Janet’s warm touch on his arm broke his attention away. "Colonel… Jack. Daniel couldn’t ask for a better friend than you’ve been to him. But this is bigger than either one of us were prepared for. Let me see if I can help him."

Jack stood for a few minutes staring at the prone figure on the sofa, then walked over and knelt down beside him. He put his hand on Daniel’s forehead and held it there. "I’m sorry, Daniel. Janet wants to take you to the infirmary. I… don’t know what else to do."

Daniel’s eyes grew wider as he shook his head and a single tear escaped and ran down his face. "No….stay."

Jack pressed his eyes closed with his fingers. He was absolutely not gonna lose it here. He felt a shaky hand slowly slide out of the blanket and grasp at Jack’s shirt.

"You need to remember who you are. I’m not sure if I’m helping."

"I’m sorry Jack….please." Daniel’s voice was as shaky as his body as he tried to push the blanket off and sit up.

Janet came over and laid her hand against Daniel’s chest, "Daniel, no. You need to lie down for awhile."

Daniel frantically tried to push her hand away as he became more and more panicky. "Jack….Help me find it." Daniel’s voice broke as he trembled with fear at the thought of leaving the one place he felt safe.

Jack looked back at Daniel, at the pure anguish and trust in his eyes, thinking back just a few short weeks ago as he’d held Daniel on the floor of the closet after the storm. The words he had clung to and so quickly forgotten. ‘It will take as long as it takes’.

He put his hand over Daniel’s trembling one still grasping his shirt and squeezed it firmly. Jack turned to Janet.

"He’s staying."

~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~

Long after Sam, Teal’c and Janet left, Jack was still sitting up beside a sleeping Daniel, having been given a sedative to help him sleep. He looked over at his peaceful face. The only time Daniel had truly looked relaxed in days. He didn’t know if he’d done the right thing by not letting Frasier take Daniel back to the SGC or not but he felt like anything else would have been a betrayal to their friendship and the trust that Daniel had put in him.

All he knew was that he owed it to Daniel to give him more time.

~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~

Jack walked quietly back to the living room. He would be glad when he could sleep in his own bed again. The recliner was not bad but no match for his Posturepedic 3000. At least he’d managed to get his shower taken before Daniel woke up.

He peered into the living room again at the sleeping figure on the couch. At least Daniel would get a few hours of sleep he hoped. Which was more than he’d gotten the past two nights. He’d never seen anyone fight sleep so. He could only assume it was because in sleep the memories came more easily and many memories carried a lot of pain.

Jack had watched Daniel as he’d sat in front of the TV the day before, nearly nodding off several times. Jack had suggested they go for a walk in the woods behind the house. Daniel hadn’t said much, but when he did it was to ask a question about something he’d seen in his ‘dreams’.

Jack finally got the coffee started and heard a shuffle behind him. When he turned around Daniel was standing in the doorway, rubbing his eyes.

"Morning, Daniel. Want coffee first? Or shower?" he asked.

It surprised him when Daniel pointed down the hallway instead of making a beeline for the coffee, but he was just glad he was communicating as well as he was.

Jack looked in the cabinet trying to figure out what looked good for breakfast when the phone rang. He picked it up.

"Yeah. Hello."

"Sir? It’s me."

"Carter. What do you need?"

"Nothing really. I just wanted to call and see how Daniel was doing."

"Not bad. We’re gonna take a drive into town for breakfast in a little while. We’re both goin’ a little stir crazy."

"All right. Well, I’ll talk to you later, sir."

He’d been able to turn the ringers back on the telephones the day before. It seemed the sudden loud noises weren’t as frighteningly unfamiliar to him like it was in the beginning. He was relieved that he’d made progress in that area, but wondered whether it was partly because his inner turmoil had become so much more distracting, that the outside world didn’t seem quite as threatening.

Jack took another look in the cabinet and decided they might drive into town and get a couple of those big biscuits with steak, cheese and onions. His stomach was starting to growl just thinking about it. He shut the cabinet, poured a cup of coffee for Daniel and went to tell him the latest plan for breakfast, and give him his coffee.

~^~^~

People-watching. Jack had done it before, but it never ceased to amaze him how people on earth could sometimes make the aliens on other worlds look almost ordinary.He took another bite of the cheesy oniony steak biscuit and looked over at Daniel. He was holding a biscuit staring out the window and it didn’t look like he had as yet taken a single bite.

"Daniel. Eat."

Daniel looked over at him then looked down at the biscuit in his hand like he’d forgotten it was there. He raised the biscuit to his mouth and took a small bite and went back to staring at the people. He chewed some more then looked at it again. "I don’t like onions."

Jack stopped and stared at him. Daniel was right, he usually never orders onions.

"You’re right, I forgot." Jack told him. Daniel caught the memory reference and looked back at Jack and actually chuckled. It was the best sound Jack heard all week. He laughed too as he watched Daniel smiling as he started picking out all the onions out of his sandwich. Yeah, it looked like it was going to be a good day.

~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~

Daniel stared at the pawn as he concentrated on his next move. Jack watched him as he focused on the board and grinned. By golly the boy was finally gonna end up beating him this time.

Daniel finally moved his fingers to pick up the knight, set it down slowly and took his hand away as he continued to concentrate on his next several moves.

"Hmmm. You sure you want to do that?" Jack asked as he tried to distract his opponent like the last time..

Daniel pointedly ignored him and continued mapping out his strategy.

Now it was Jack’s turn to stare at the board. He studied the move Daniel had just made realizing how easily his opponent could capture his queen in the next couple of moves unless he quickly took evasive action. He could tell by the way Daniel had played the last few days that he was definitely remembering more about the game of chess. It was odd though, he still couldn’t remember all the times he had beaten Jack, and how badly.

Daniel suddenly straightened up and his body stiffened and Jack watched him grow noticeable paler. His eyes widened but he continued to stare at nothing.

"Daniel? You ok?"

Daniel stood up, walked to the other side of the room and picked up a photo album off the coffee table. He sat down on the sofa and started flipping through it. When he was done with that one he picked up another.

Jack watched all this somewhat puzzled

"Daniel, does this mean I win?

Daniel finished the second album and slammed it down on the table before looking around the room. His eyes were drawn to a bookshelf and he stood and quickly walked over and stood in front of it as his eyes scanned the framed pictures set there.

After he looked them all over he rubbed his forehead with his hand giving a keening sigh.

Jack got up and started toward Daniel as his friend’s behavior grew more and more disturbing.

"What are you looking for, Daniel?"

Daniel walked right past Jack as if he wasn’t there and went straight to the desk where he moved some papers aside and picked up a smaller photo album and started flipping through that. Jack could see the look of anguish over Daniel’s face as he turned and ran toward the back of the house.

"What the …" Jack hurried after him as his worry went up another notch.

Daniel went into his bedroom and headed straight to the nightstand, grabbing another photo album he had brought in there to look at the day before. After he looked through it he slammed it down on the bed with both hands as his head dropped and his eyes squeezed shut. "No! No!"

Jack stepped over to him and started to put his hand on Daniel’s shoulder when Daniel’s head shot up and he looked wildly toward the doorway before running back to the front rooms.

"Daniel? Tell me what you’re looking for. Maybe I can help you find it. Daniel!"

Jack followed Daniel back into the living room as he went back to the coffee table, snatched the top album and sat down on the floor. He started taking out each picture, looking at it closely, then tossing it aside.

Jack knelt down beside his frantic friend and tried to get his attention.

"Daniel? Look at me Daniel." Jack gently grabbed Daniel’s wrist and Daniel’s eyes locked onto Jack’s for an instant before shaking him off. Daniel got off the floor and ran back over to the bookshelf. He picked up a picture frame and looked at it closely and let it drop to the floor, he picked another one and held it to his face, shook his head and let out a frustrated moan.

Jack hurried over to him and tried to stop him from picking up another picture but Daniel pushed Jack’s hand away and picked up another one. Peering closely at it before he tossed it away. The glass shattered but Daniel kept searching.

"Daniel! Stop it!" Jack tried to grab Daniel’s hand again and Daniel spun around looking past Jack.

Jack was really getting worried that Daniel was going to end up hurting himself, but he didn’t seem to be able to get through to him.

Daniel swung his hand and swept off the remaining picture frames onto the floor with a pitiful moan, and the shattering of glass echoed through the otherwise silent room.

"Sha’re! " Daniel sobbed her name and swung back around to sweep the contents of the other shelf away. Jack grabbed both Daniel’s wrists and pushing him back he pinned him against the wall. Daniel kept shaking his head calling out to her as he fought to free his hands from Jack’s grip.

"Daniel! Stop! Look at me! Daniel!…Do you trust me?"

Daniel’s eyes met Jack’s, and he started to shake his head in frustration as Jack placed himself only inches from Daniel’s face.

"Daniel. Do you trust me? Do you? Then let me help you." Daniel continued to struggle for release but at least his eyes were finally looking at Jack’s.

A sob escaped as he fought to stay in control, and he finally started to fold to the floor. Jack held him as he collapsed and as great sobs shook his body Jack wrapped his arms around him and held onto him until finally Daniel was exhausted and his eyes closed as Jack gently lowered him to the floor.

He knelt beside his friend and rubbed his hand roughly over his face. He finally stood up, pulled the cell phone from his pocket and dialed the SGC.

"Doctor Frasier? I’m going to bring Daniel in. He had another spell. Could you have someone waiting. I’d like to get him down there with as few gawkers as possible. Okay?"

~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~

General Hammond walked into the infirmary and seeing Dr. Frasier was busy speaking to one of the nurses, he stepped back to wait until she was free. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a partially closed curtain around a gurney at the far end of the room away from the comings and goings of medical personnel. He watched as the person lying there turned over and it was then that he saw that the person in the bed was Dr. Jackson.

He had only seen the young man twice since he’d disappeared from the briefing room. Once when Colonel O’Neill brought him in to the infirmary after he’d apparently injured his hand. And the second time was just a week ago when he had decided to stop by the Colonel’s house and check up on him.

To think of the struggle the young man was forced to go through once again made his heart heavy, but he had high hopes that Dr. Jackson was strong enough to face this latest battle just as he’d seen him face many others before it. With courage and determination.

Janet handed the chart to a nurse and quickly made her way over to him. "General, I’m sorry. I didn’t see you standing there. What can I do for you, sir?"

He nodded in the direction of the gurney. "How is he?"

"He’s resting comfortably at the moment." she assured him.

"I thought I might find SG-1 in here."

"You would have, sir, except I ran them all out an hour ago. You might try the commissary."

"Yes, thank you, I will. I’ve scheduled a briefing for 1600 hrs. I’d like for you to be there."

"Of course, General. Anything I should know beforehand?"

"Just that we’ve been offered some possible assistance for Dr. Jackson."

"I’ll be there, sir."

~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~

Jack looked around the table at Carter, Teal’c, Frasier, General Hammond, and Jacob/Selmak still uneasy and suspicious of what he’d just heard.

"So. You’re telling me the Tok’ra just want to hand over a cure for Daniel’s amnesia and you don’t want anything in return? Like maybe taking him back with you when you leave?" Jack asked acerbically

"Not exactly the Tok’ra," Jacob informed him, "More like a personal gift. No strings attached Jack."

Jack turned to Frasier. "So, what do you think?" It’s not that he didn’t want Daniel to regain his memory, it was just that anything from the Tok’ra, especially now, left a bad taste in his mouth.

"Colonel, Jacob and Selmak have filled me in on the chemical they’ve been using on some of their operatives who’ve been tortured to the point of having blocked out significant memory, and I must say, I’m impressed." Janet admitted to the group gathered at the briefing.

"So tell me again how it works." Jack asked.

Janet looked over at Jacob. "Feel free to jump in if I miss anything." Turning back to Jack she explained how the drug worked. "First the person is given a short-acting sedative to put them to sleep. Then the chemical Jacob is referring to is slowly injected into the carotid artery. Within minutes the chemical begins to regenerate the synapses between the nerve fibers in the brain. According to Selmak, within thirty minutes to an hour the person’s memories are restored. When they awaken all their memories are intact, of course, in Daniel’s case we can still assume the memories Oma erased of his ascension will not return. The worst that can happen is very recent, short-term memory gaps."

Teal’c leaned forward as he turned to see Dr. Frasier more clearly. "Why would this be better that DanielJackson remembering on his own?" he asked.

"Well, Teal’c, the main difference would be that when Daniel woke up he would have essentially all of his memories intact. It would be like falling asleep and then waking up. The trauma of having a memory surface simply wouldn’t happen."

Janet looked over the concerned faces gathered in the room and continued.

"Do you remember when we talked about why it was so traumatic for Daniel when these memories surfaced? When a particularly painful memory comes to Daniel’s awareness, he only sees and feels one portion of the event. Not how he was possibly comforted by friends and family, not the grieving process he’s already worked through. The event is like a raw open wound."

~^~^~^~^~^~^~

Daniel looked worriedly around the room then over at Janet who was laying out some syringes filled with some drug and a machine with all kinds of wires with small round discs on the ends.

A hand touched his arm and he turned and saw Jack staring down at him.

"Hey Daniel."

He swallowed. "Jack?"

The hand squeezed his arm now. "It’ll be okay. I’ll be right here the whole time."

Janet came over to stand beside his bed glancing up at Jack. They both looked at her.

"I need to get the EEG leads attached now Daniel." she told him gently.

Jack eyed the machine carefully. "Is all that really necessary?"

She gave him a patient but slightly annoyed look. "I think so sir. I want to be able to monitor him during the entire procedure. I don’t anticipate any problems," she said as she smiled at Daniel and gave his hand a pat, "but if nothing else we’ll have a record of the body’s reaction to the drug. I’d like to study the other possible uses of this chemical."

She turned toward Daniel. "I don’t know if you remember, but you’ve had these on before." She took one of the leads and gently pressed it onto his scalp. "See. That doesn’t hurt at all, does it?"

Daniel gave her a nervous glance and felt the hand on his arm tighten.

Jack watched as Daniel looked around the room, more than a bit worried.

"So, Daniel. Jacob explained how this drug works right?" Jack asked.

Daniel simply nodded when he found his throat was so dry he couldn’t speak.

The EEG leads were all in place. He still had the EKG hooked up to monitor his heart rate.

Janet turned on the equipment and it began a low humming sound as the information recorded every breath, every beat of his heart, each brain wave.

She leaned toward her patient and asked him gently, "Are you ready, Daniel?"

He paused, glanced at Jack’s reassuring face and turned back to her and nodded. She patted his arm and let it linger a moment, "All right. We’ll get started then."

Jack took his self-assigned position at Daniel’s side as Janet uncapped one of the syringes. She placed the needle in the tubing and began injecting the sedative that put her patient to sleep. "Daniel. I want you to start counting backward from one-hundred okay?"

He watched as she pierced the tube with the needle and began counting, "100,99,98,97,96...95.…..94..93.…… 92.…….91...91......... ….90.…....80..8.….."

Jack mentally counted each number with him, and the slower he spoke and the more slurred the words became, the tighter his grip around his friends hand. He glanced at Janet concerned.

Janet studied the readings from the machines for a few minutes then was ready to proceed with the next, crucial step. She picked up the second syringe and looked at Colonel O’Neill. "He’s out now. I’m ready to give him the injection."

After a nod from Jack, she pressed her expert fingers against Daniel’s neck to locate the carotid artery. Once it was found she spoke a soft, "Here goes" and she pierced the skin with the syringe until she was certain she was at the precise spot and began the slow injection of the drug. Jacob had told her the drug was to be injected very slowly, preferably taking two to three minutes from beginning to end, pausing every few seconds.

Jack cringed as she stuck the large syringe into Daniel’s neck until finally he had to look away. Concentrating instead on the hand he still grasped. He’d never noticed before that Daniel had nice hands. He looked at the swirls of lines on his fingertips. Fingerprints. Every one different Millions and millions of people on the earth and every single one was unique. Much like his friend.

Janet kept her eyes on the syringe but glanced occasionally at the monitors. Making sure everything was going well. "Almost done."

She finally had the contents of the syringe injected. Now they could only wait until Daniel woke up.

She capped the syringe and placed it on the tray and began watching the monitors.

"Do you think it’s gonna work, Doc?" Jack asked her anxiously.

"I certainly hope so, sir. For Daniel’s sake."

Janet picked up the chart and began scribbling numbers and notes as Jack sat holding onto Daniel’s hand.

When suddenly the hand he held squeezed his hand in a vise-like grip and he jumped up as he stretched his other arm across Daniel’s chest as his body was being jerked almost off the bed by the seizure.

"Doc!"

"I don’t know, Colonel!"

Janet, already on her feet, quickly pulled up the rail on her side of the bed as Jack leaned over holding onto Daniel’s jerking body.

In an instant his body fell limp and Jack moved Daniel’s head back on the center of the pillow.

Jack’s eyes turned to Janet. "What the devil was that?" he asked angrily.

"Sir?" Janet spoke urgently, "He’s waking up."

Jack looked down and saw his eyes flutter and then Daniel licked his lips, and after a few moments his eyes opened just a crack and he moaned softly.

"Daniel? Wake up. Can you hear me?" Jack asked as he squeezed his hand again.

Daniel spoke hoarsely so Jack could barely hear, "..don’t hafta yell, Ja’ck"

Jack smiled and leaned closer to hear him better. Daniel’s eyes opened slowly as he fought the grogginess in his mind, "bad..dream"

"You had a bad dream?" Jack asked him.

"very….you beat me….sixteen games..chess."

Jack looked up at Janet and grinned. "Oh, that was no dream, Daniel."

Janet need to ask her patient a few questions to see if the drug had done it’s magic.

"Daniel? Do you know where you are?"

He opened his eyes just a bit and looked around, "infirmary?"

"Right. Listen Daniel, what’s the last thing you remember?"

His brow creased in concentration as he allowed his eyes to close so he could think clearer. Then suddenly he realized someone had been holding his hand ever since he woke up and he turned to look and saw that it was Jack.

"Jack?" Daniel stared at Jack’s hand covering his own, and strange fleeting images floated through his mind of himself in the shower with……Nah.

"Daniel?"

"What are you doing?"

"What do you mean, what am I doing? I’m talking to you." Jack grinned thinking he sure sounded like Daniel again. Then he glanced down at his hand, quickly let go of Daniels’ and stuffed his own into his pockets.

Daniel raised his eyes and stared at him. He kept his eyes on Jack trying to piece together the fragments of his dream. "Janet?"

Janet stepped closer and waited for Daniel to finish his thought. "Yes. What is it, Daniel?" she asked, wondering if she should be getting worried about her patient’s apparently confused state.

"What medication did you give me? Is it something I’ve never had before, cause I had some really crazy dreams while I was out?"

Jack and Janet exchanged puzzled looks.

"What kind of dreams, Daniel?" Janet asked.

Daniel looked at Jack, shook his head and rubbed his eyes. "Never mind. Just whatever it was make sure I don’t ever get it again, okay?"

Jack glanced at Janet and shrugged, they both were cautiously optimistic after hearing Daniel talk like he had never even experienced the past several weeks.

Jack leaned toward Janet and keeping his voice low asked her, "He sounds like himself again. Is he back to normal?"

She smiled affirmatively but Jack still felt a niggling uncertainty. So, he stepped closer to the bed. "So Daniel, tell me. Did you ever find that book with the pictures of those Greek Goddesses on the cover?"

Daniel cocked his head and then turned toward Jack pointing his finger at him, "I was gonna ask you about that. You know where it is, don’t you?"

Jack gave his most surprised innocent look as Daniel started to sit up.

Daniel looked down at the leads attached to his bare chest and the IV and raised his hand to touch the leads attached to his scalp and saw the rough pink skin on his right hand. But he couldn’t remember when he had hurt it. "What’s all this for?" he asked puzzled. "What did I do to my hand?"

Janet turned off the EEG machine and started removing the wires from his head. "We can take these off now, Daniel. How are you feeling?"

"Confused."

She started peeling off the wires, too, and soon he was disconnected. Putting them aside and turning off the EKG machine, she began taking those leads off as well.

"We’ll get the IV out in a minute, alright? I’ll be right back."

They watched her leave the room then glanced at each other.

"So, Daniel."

"Yes Jack."

"After I spring you from here, you wanna grab a pizza, go back to your place and have a nice long talk?"

Daniel gave him an odd look. "Sure, I guess so. Just no onions okay?" Daniel told him as he looked under the hospital sheet covering him. "Where’s my clothes?"

"Easy grasshopper. She hasn’t officially released you yet."

Daniel looked up at him worriedly. "She will, right? I mean, I feel fine….I think." He tried to concentrate on what had caused him to be in the infirmary in the first place. The last time he remembered being in here was when they had all gone through withdrawal after coming back from that planet, what was it?

Jack could see how badly he wanted out of there. "Why don’t I go see if I can clear it with Frasier, and then we can get you outa here?"

A grateful smile flooded his face. "Thanks Jack."

"Sure. No problem. It’s good to have you back, Daniel." Jack told him as he turned to go find Janet.

Daniel watched Jack walk out the door and laid back down to wait. Back from where? For some reason he felt like he had a bad case of jet-lag. He thought for a moment then started to worry as he tried to think what day it was. Nurse Lewis came in and started to remove the IV from his hand and he looked at her.

"What day is it?""

"It’s Thursday, Dr. Jackson."

Thursday. Thursday the what? "What’s today’s date?" he asked.

"March 23rd," she answered as she turned and left the room.

The numbers danced around in his head and he realized the last he remembered it was February and he started to panic. He looked around for the elusive clothes and making sure no one was near, he got out of bed, wrapping the hospital sheet around him as he quickly walked over to the bedside table opening a drawer to see if his clothes were there.

"Hey. Lookin for these?"

Daniel jerked around to see Jack standing there holding BDU’s in his hands.

"Don’t do that. You scared the crap out of me, Jack." He pulled the sheet around himself tighter and walked over and plucked the stack of clothes from Jack’s arms.

He laid the clothes down on the bed, took the pants and shook them out, then keeping the sheet wrapped him, turned away and bent over, stepping into them. He straightened up and laid the sheet in a pile on the bed. Then noticing Jack was still standing there looking at him, turned away and zipped. "You just gonna stand there and watch? Don’t you have anything better to do?" Daniel blushed slightly as he picked up the shirt and started to put it on.

Jack grinned.

"What are you grinning at?" Daniel asked him uneasily.

"Oh, I just think it’s cute how shy you are sometimes."

"Cute?"

"Funny."

"Funny?"

"Well, different."

"Different as in…odd, weird, strange? What Jack?"

"Yeah."

"Yeah? Yeah what?" Which one?"

"All of them, actually."

"Jaaaak."

"I’ve certainly missed these enlightening conversations we have, Daniel." He told him as he reached over and put his hand on Daniel’s shoulder. Daniel’s eyebrows lifted as he looked at Jack. "Are you alright, Jack?"

"Never better, Daniel. Now about that long talk…"

"Yeah, since when do you ask me to talk. I thought you hated it when I talk a lot.

"Oh, I don’t know. For some reason I just want to hear you talk for awhile. I don’t suppose that’ll be a problem, will it? I mean we all know how much you like to prattle on about your rocks and stuff."

"Artifacts, Jack. They’re artifacts. And I don’t prattle."

Jack put his hand on Daniel’s shoulder and laughed. "Whatever you say, Daniel."

fin.

Authors notes: Thanks to my beta, Lenya, whose talents once again smoothed the rough edges of my story and made it shine. Most of all, thanks to SG-1, and Daniel Jackson in particular, for making their characters so captivating that we not only invite them into our homes every night, but into our hearts as well.

© 3/21/04 The story in mine, the characters are not. No monetary gain resulted from my efforts.