1.

It was a good day on the planet P98GY6, a nice crisp spring day. The sky was a lovely color of light blue with swirls of yellow and orange clouds in the noonday sun. Birds chirped hunting melodies as they flitted from one willow like tree to the next. The whole place was surrounded and in cased in a endless fields of flowers which were blooming in full force, releasing their pungent scent up and down the valley. The peddles of whom were brightly colored, so much so that it was almost painful to look at with the naked eye.

Daniel Jackson looked around, thankful that he had remembered to take his allergy medication before the mission. He could have ended up sneezing his own lungs out here. Still, it was beautiful.

"Good grief," Colonel Jack O'Neill muttered as he put on his sun glasses with practiced ease, "It looks like The Wizard of Oz."

Samantha Carter smiled and pointed into the distance where the bright tip of an green hued building could be seen, "And that must be the Emerald City."

"This is a stunning planet." Teal'c commented mildly, "I have not seen the like of it before."

"Let's get a move on, kids," Jack called, "We want to reach that building before dark."

So the team started picking their way though the fields of insanely beautiful flowers. Each one of them started to their own private ease. The planet seemed to inspire peace and serenity unmatched by any thing on Earth. It was in a few words, a paradise. A complete paradise.

****

"Nice..." Jack said as he and the rest of the team stepped into the building. The bright green door in the entrance was wide open and it looked like it had been for some time. Caked dirt covered the stone floor. The team heard some slithering as the local animals hurriedly got out of the way.

"It appears to be deserted." Teal'c needlessly commented as he stepped in and looked around the darkened room.

Once they got clear of the scant light from the doorway no one could even see their hands in front of their faces. Sam broke out a flare and opened for some light. Suddenly the walls lit up around them with an eerie glow, "These walls must be reacting to the energy of the flare." Sam said with a little awe in her voice at the technology.

No one else was listening to her, they were all looking around the temple. The walls were covered with inscriptions of a hundred dialects. Most of the main room were furnished by tables that had hundreds of little alien artifacts placed on them. Pots, necklaces, and beads were laid about everywhere on the floor. Wooden posts seemed to have grown up from the floor to the ceiling, upon them were hooks with more hanging artifacts upon them. And that was just the first level. There were wooden stairs leading up to the next levels where still more treasure lay.

"It's like the entire race left this as... As some kind of time capsule!" Daniel said excitedly. His eyes grew round as they struggled to comprehend what he was seeing and his oddly boyish face broke out into a grin. "Jack, this is the find of the century! Who knows what we'd learn?!"

"Great," The colonel replied, already smelling the sour scent of a boring mission ahead. God, he hated these kind of missions. They were more like baby sitting jobs to him then anything else. Something golden caught his eye and he turned to look. "Hey look," He said, pointing to the Sarcophagus. "Don't climb in, Daniel."

But the young anthropologist wasn't even listening to his friend's tasteless joke. He was already examining the little do-dads on the table, mumbling to himself as his thoughts went faster then his mouth. Even Sam was caught up in the alien artifacts. She was also mumbling as she attempted to analyze how some of the things worked.

Jack sighed, "Scientists," and motioned for Teal'c to follow him. Someone had to make sure this area was secure... Even though he knew in his heart that it was a useless cause. The only exciting thing that had happened around here in the last millennia was the dust collecting.

This was going to be one long boring mission.

2

"I'm going to get cabin fever." Jack muttered a few hours later as he and Teal'c watched the two scientists compare notes. "This sucks."

"I was not aware of such a sickness, O'Neill." Teal'c said solemnly, looking at his commanding officer to make sure that he was not falling ill.

"It's not really a sickness, Teal'c. It's... a state of mind. When someone is cooped up for too long it's called cabin fever."

"I see." He didn't.

Jack sighed again and looked around. He and Teal'c had traversed the whole bottom level and there wasn't any signs of hidden traps or hostels... Not that Jack wanted to get anyone hurt of course, he just got really anise when there wasn't anything to do.

But that was only the bottom level...

"Let's go and explore some more, shall we?" He said as he got up and headed for the wooden stairs that led to the yet unexplored second level.

"Uh, I would be careful of that, sir." Sam said as she noticed where the Colonel and Jaffa were heading, "That wood looks a little rotted." Daniel grunted a affirmative as he studied some do-dads that were hanging on the hooks.

Jack nodded his head and approached the stairs with more caution. He slowly put his weight on the first step to test it, his ears pricked for any signs of cracking. There wasn't any so he stepped up and put his weight on the other step. Nothing. "I'll go up first," he said to Teal'c. "Carter's right, I don't want to risk two of us at the same time."

He took half of the long flight of stairs one at a time without any harm. Then he put his foot up on another step and his ears caught the sound of a tiny crack. A larger crack and a larger one after that followed the tiny crack. Jack took his foot off of the step but it was far too late.

Jack heard someone yell out a warning before the entire thing collapsed around him. Some of his old Black Ops training kicked into gear and he threw himself off of the side before he got caught up in the collapse. His body hit something soft before he hit the ground and rolled to safety.

Jack stopped rolling a few seconds later and ended up on his back. That was close...way to close. Jack got up and assessed his injuries. He was fine, a flash of pain indicated that he had twisted his ankle but that was not a big thing. Sam and Teal'c where no less then five feet away, clustered around Daniel.

Daniel? Did he get hit with a piece of wood or something? Jack limped over and looked, "Oh, shit."

3

The first indication that something was wrong was when the stairs started to crack and collapse. Daniel turned his head to look and to his horror he saw Jack, his best friend on top of the stairs. Daniel heard himself yell out a warning but in his heart he knew it was too late... The stairs were collapsing around the Colonel.

Jack was thrown out of the collapse and hit him hard, causing the young anthropologist to be knocked forward... Right into the wooden post that he had just been studying.

For a few moments Daniel wondered why he hadn't hit the ground yet. Then the blinding pain started in his chest. Daniel looked down and cried out. One of the hooks had embedded it's self in his chest. Blood was already oozing out of the wound and soaking his shirt. Dimly he heard Sam and Teal'c run up to him and pull him away from the post. He heard Jack curse... Jack... He'd blame himself for this... Just like when Charlie died...

****

'This is all my fault', Jack thought as he knelt down by his friend.

Carter was checking the wound but he already knew that it was fatal. The hook had pierced his heart...

Daniel looked dazed and lost, his blue eyes had already lost it's focus and the pupil's were dilated indicating internal bleeding...

"Perhaps we should transport Daniel Jackson to the SGC." Teal'c said helpfully.

Carter shook her head, "No, it took us hours to get here in the first place-" She cut off the sentence before she could say, "He doesn't have that long."

Jack reached down and gently shook Daniel's shoulder, "Danny? Can you hear me?"

Daniel nodded his head and gasped, "Yeah... Not... Not your fault, Jack." He stopped and coughed, "None of this is your fault."

"Like hell it isn't." He turned to Sam, "Is there anything we can do?" His brown eyes were begging her to tell him something good, that Daniel would make it. He couldn't lose another person like this. Especially not a member of his team, his best friend.

Sam shook her head sadly and pressed down into the wound to slow the bleeding. There wasn't anything anyone could do... Daniel's many lives had just run out.

"It's okay." Daniel said in a distracted kind of way. He was feeling numb, the chest wound didn't hurt any longer. And the numbness seemed to be spreading throughout his body. "T-tell Sha're... I love her."

"NO!" Jack snapped, gripping Daniel's shoulders harder, "You are not going to die on us, Jackson! Do you understand me?! You aren't going to die." Tears were welling up behind his eyes and he angrily blinked them back.

But Daniel's eyes were already glazing over, "C... Can't tell me... You can't tell me what to do... I'm a civilian." He gave a half smile at the old joke between them.

"God," Jack whispered. His friend was really dying and there wasn't a single thing he could go about it. He watched in a mixture of horror and fascination as Daniel's eyes slid shut. He was going into shock from the lack of blood and there wasn't anything that Jack could do.

Just like Charlie...

Wait a minute.

Jack scooped up the younger man and stood up.

"Sir, what do you think you're doing?" Sam demanded.

"There's a sarcophagus in here, Caption."

"O'Neill, you cannot do this. Daniel Jackson has already undergone one addiction-"

"That's when he was healthy!" Jack snapped, "You don't know if it will happen again."

"The risks aren't worth it, sir." Sam said, reaching out and grabbing his arm.

"He's dying,." Jack said, giving her a cold look and shrugging her grip away. "Do you want him to die?"

Sam squared her shoulders, she knew that the Colonel wasn't in the mood to think clearly. If only she could ask Daniel for some sort of permission about this... But he was unconscious... And she couldn't think of life without the man who had become like a brother to her,

"It's up to you," She found herself saying, instinctually not wanting to take on the blame for such an action.

Jack looked at Teal'c who merely nodded his head. Then, ignoring the pain in his ankle, he walked over and opened the Sarcophagus and put Daniel in.

"Hope this thing still works."

****

4.

Daniel awoke with a gasp. His lungs were on fire, he wasn't getting enough air. Where was he? It was dark... Was he dead? No, he had been dead a whole bunch of times before and it never felt like this... This good. He felt good! Like he had just found a ancient artifact, like he had just seen Sha're again... He was ecstatic and contented all in the same time. Pain?! There was no such thing as pain... He was on top of the world.

Daniel wanted more. MORE!

Yes! What ever this thing was that was making him feel so great... He would have it again... What ever it was he would have it again.

Suddenly there was a light coming from above. Something was opening above him. Daniel felt confused, he knew that he should know what was going on but he couldn't put his finger on it.

"Daniel?" Said Sam. "Are you okay?"

Okay? What did she mean? Of course he was okay! He never felt better in his life. In fact the only time he had ever felt like this was when he got addicted to that-

Oh no.

Daniel sat up and looked around. He was in the sarcophagus.

IN THE SARCOPHAGUS.

"Oh... No."

His friends were standing around him, looking at him... They betrayed him.

"How do you feel?" Sam asked, her face was showing worry lines.

"NO!" Daniel shouted, jumping out of the sarcophagus and staggering away. He had to get away... He wanted the sarcophagus again. He wanted it so badly that it already hurt. He wanted to see the soft glow, feel healthy and new... "God no!" He croaked as he was swallowed up into blackness.

*****

5.

Jack rubbed the bridge of his nose as he waited for General Hammond to begin the meeting. After Daniel passed out they all carried him back though the Gate and into the infirmary. No one had spoken during that whole walk back to the base... No one wanted to think about what happened... What had been done.

"Colonel O'Neill? I want to know what's happened to Doctor Jackson." Hammond said gruffly.

Jack looked over to Sam for some support in what he was about to say but the Caption only glared back at him. No help there. Teal'c looked pissed too. "We proceeded as planed." He began, "The temple on the planet was filled with a whole bunch of... of old things. I was about to explore the second level when the stairs gave out on me." He paused for a moment to take another breath in and to shut out the images of the memory, "I jumped off and hit Daniel while falling, sir. He was shoved into a hook on a post and was fatally injured."

"Go on." Hammond prodded when Jack paused again.

"Sir, there was a sarcophagus in the temple and I put him in to save his life." Jack looked down at the table, he couldn't meet the angry gaze of Sam or the fury of Teal'c. He just couldn't.

"I will await a report from Doctor Frasier before I make any decision." Hammond said, getting up. He was not a happy General. "SG-1, you are on stand down until I figure out what to do with this mess."

The team got up and wearily made their way out of the door and into the hallway.

"Sir, we need to talk." Sam said suddenly. The anger and resentment that she had felt throughout the whole trip back was springing to life. "What you did was-"

"What I did was save Daniel's life." Jack interrupted, not in the mood to hear any ridicule.

"He did not appear grateful." Teal'c replied dryly.

"No, he will have to go though hell again. But at least he's alive."

"Is that all that matters?! That he's alive?!" Sam exploded. She was mad beyond any fury she had known before. Worst of all she wasn't sure who she should be mad at: The Colonel for putting Daniel in the Sarcophagus or herself for letting him do it. That just made her even more angry. "Didn't you see the look in his eyes when he came out of there?! What kind of a-"

"Stand down, Caption!" Jack roared, "You made that decision too. Don't try to take out any guilt you might have on me."

Sam stared at him for a moment, her face in a mask of pure fury. She wanted to hit him, she really, really did. "You know I'm right, Caption." A little voice said in her head that ended up sounding like O'Neill. Sam stood there for another moment then muttered something that shouldn't be repeated in polite company and stormed off.

6

"How is he, doc?" Jack asked without preamble as he came into the infirmary. He felt numb inside. Daniel was hurt, Sam was having a major guilt trip and taking it out on him and Teal'c... He didn't know what to think of Teal'c at the moment. Jack just needed some answers, something solid to hold onto in this whole mess.

"Not good." Janet replied, turning to him. "He seems to be going though the whole with drawl process again except at a much accelerated rate then before."

"Then it will be over with sooner?"

"Possibly," She stopped and sighed, "I don't know what to expect. Daniel's readings are off the chart one moment then normal the next. His body has gone though this before so maybe he's recovering more quickly but... I just don't have enough experience to know for sure."

"Where is he?" Janet led him though the infirmary to Daniel's bed.

The younger man was lying there, seemingly asleep. But a band of sweat across his forehead said otherwise.

"He hasn't regained consciousness yet." Janet said softly, "Sleep is probably the best thing for him right now."

Jack didn't say anything, he just went over and pulled up a chair to sit by Daniel's cot. What ever happened next he wanted Daniel to know that he would be there beside him too. Maybe after this was all over Jack could ask for forgiveness.

Maybe.

****

It was around midnight by the time Daniel woke up. His blue eyes snapped open and quickly took in the surroundings. "Hurts." He said softly, waking up the dozing O'Neill.

"I know it does, Danny but you got over it once-"

"This isn't like last time- Ahhhhh!" He screamed and twisted around in the bed as waves of agony tore though him. "AHHHHHH!" Nurses and doctors came and pushed Jack aside so they could get to Daniel. Jack heard something about morphine and soon the screams subsided to muffled sobs.

He felt a hand on his shoulder it was Janet. "I've given him some pain killers and some heavy sedatives." She said softly, "He's just going to have to ride this one out now, there's nothing more I can do."

Jack nodded and walked back to Daniel, noting that restraints had been put on his arms and legs. The doctors remembered what happened the last time Daniel had gone though this and they didn't want a repeat performance.

"Hey," Jack said softly, realizing that his friend was still awake.

"Feeling any better?" 'That was a lame-ass question' he realized but it was too late to take it back.

"No," Daniel shook his head and tears streamed down his cheeks, "Oh God it hurts."

"What hurts?"

"Everything." Daniel shook his head again, "I... I can't do it, Jack. I can't. I can't."

Jack was getting alarmed, it wasn't good for him to think like this.

"Of course you can." He said flatly, "You're strong, Daniel. You beat this thing once."

Daniel broke down and sobbed, "I can't... I can't..."

"Yes. You. Can." Jack gripped one of the Anthropologist's shoulders and made him look into his face. "Repeat it: You can beat this. You are strong."

"I can't!"

"You can't or you won't?"

Daniel just shook his head, "I can't go on like this, Jack... I don't think... Do me a favor?"

"Anything."

"Over there... It's a scalpel." Daniel stopped and winced for a moment then continued, "Jack, take it... Slit my throat and don't put me back in that sarcophagus again."

Jack shoved himself away from the cot in horror. Daniel couldn't really be serious, could he? It was just the addiction talking. Yeah, that was it... This wasn't really Danny... This was someone else.

"No." He replied simply, "No, I won't do it."

"Please... Please," The younger man gasped, "It hurts so much... You're my friend... Please."

"No, Daniel." Jack got up, "Look, maybe you need to be alone right now."

"Jack, don't leave me like this!" Daniel was getting desperate now, "Please! Don't leave... JACK!"

But the Colonel was already gone.

7.

Some hours later the Colonel still hadn't slept a wink. He tossed and turned in his quarters trying to get the image of Daniel out of his mind. That wasn't the real Daniel talking, he assured himself, He's having a tough time right now but he will pull though in the end. He has to.

So why did he feel like he had betrayed his friend?

Was Carter going though a similar hell in her own mind? Was she doubting over the decision that was made on that damned planet? Or had she taken some sedatives and was instead living out the nightmare in her sleep?

Who cares. His team was just going though a little bump. Every team did that once in a while, they would pull though in the end. They hadn't gone though all of this to break apart over one little detail.

Right?

Suddenly Jack couldn't take it any longer. He hopped out of bed, dressed and walked to the infirmary again. He had to see Daniel one more time... Just to make sure that he had made the right decision... Just to make sure.

What he saw next took the Colonel completely by surprise.

The two nurses on duty where down, knocked unconscious. And Daniel...

He was out of the restraints and staring in fascination at the machines and IV's, seemingly lost in his own thoughts.

"Daniel!" Jack said then cursed, reaching for the alarm button.

Without warning the Anthropologist pulled out a gun and pointed it at his own head, "I wouldn't do that, Jack."

The Colonel stopped in his tracks and looked in amazement at his friend, "Where did you get that?"

"This is a military facility. There are guns around." Daniel glared at the other man, "It was you who did it, wasn't it? It was you who put me back in that, that THING."

"I was trying to save you, Daniel. Put the gun down."

"Um... No." Tears welled up behind his blue eyes and his voice took on a note of pure desperation. "Why couldn't you just let me die? I was ready to die... But you couldn't take it could you?"

Jack started to speak calmly... Or as calmly as he could get given the circumstances. "You aren't well. The person I know wouldn't be holding a gun to his head."

"THE PERSON YOU KNOW SHOULD BE DEAD!" Daniel yelled in response, cocking the gun to show a point.

Last time Daniel went though this Jack had shown sympathy and had been empathic. It had worked... But that time the gun had been pointed at him. "You don't want to do this." He said, "Since when have you ever given up on something, Daniel? Ever?"

"There's a first time for everything." Daniel suddenly laughed, "I can feel it, you know? I can feel the need for the Sarcophagus... I want it so bad. So bad that it hurts. And I know that all I would have to do was crawl right in and feel better..."

"But you can't."

"No, I can't. I know that... I know that I'll never be able to look at another sarcophagus without feeling the need... It's so strong."

"You don't really want to do this." Jack said forcefully. "I know that all you want is a way out." Daniel didn't say anything to that so Jack continued, "Daniel, you are the most head stubborn, pig-headed son of a bitch that I know but you are also my friend. And you are a husband to Sha're."

"Don't you dare bring her into this, Jack. Don't you dare."

"Remember on the planet... And you told me to tell your wife that you loved her?" Suddenly his voice got hard, "Well you don't. You don't love her enough to go on with your own miserable life, Daniel. She's out there living a living death and all you can think about is yourself."

Jack knew that Daniel had the capacity to take on more guilt then anyone he had ever known. It was one of his driving forces, the need to take on someone else's guilt so that they wouldn't feel anymore pain. Jack was hoping to turn this around and use it on the younger man himself.

It worked.

Daniel slowly put down the gun, "Why... Why do you always do this to me, Jack?" He croaked, giving a half smile. He put the gun down on the bed and Jack knew that it was over. That he succeeded in saving Daniel's life once more.

Unfortunately Daniel never un-cocked the gun. And when he was putting it down he completely neglected the fact that his finger was just a little bit too tight around the trigger.

The gun fired.

8. Epilogue

God, I hate funerals. Sarah O'Neill thought to herself as she walked among the fellow mourners. When she had gotten the news she had cried all of the night and most of the next day. She cried for her estranged husband, for her dead son and for herself. Now she was felt spent...

Felt hollowed and dried out like the wind could blow her away...

She didn't know how her Jackie had died. The military worked in vague and mysterious ways and she had ended up pulling some strings to get some kind of truth: Some idiot shot him. The incident was ruled a complete accident and the killer wasn't charged with any crime.

Sarah wanted to get her hands around who ever shot Jack and ring his little neck... But deep in her heart she knew that she would never know who did it. And it pissed her off.

"Um... Excuse me?" Said a voice.

Sarah whirled around to face a man in his early thirties with intelligent blue eyes framed by glasses and a face marked by worry lines of self loathing that she didn't even want to know about. "Yes?"

"I... I just wanted to say that I knew your husband." The man said. "He pulled me though some very tough times in my life." He paused for a moment, " I guess I just wanted to say that he was the best friend any man could ever have."

THE END

© February 7, 2000 The characters mentioned in this story are the property of Showtime and Gekko Film Corp. The Stargate, SG-I, the Goa’uld and all other characters who have appeared in the series STARGATE SG-1 together with the names, titles and backstory are the sole copyright property of MGM-UA Worldwide Television, Gekko Film Corp, Glassner/Wright Double Secret Productions and Stargate SG-I Prod. Ltd. Partnership. This fanfic is not intended as an infringement upon those rights and solely meant for entertainment. All other characters, the story idea and the story itself are the sole property of the author.