DISCLAIMER: All publicly recognisable characters and property of Stargate SG-1 belong to MGM/UA, World Gekko Corp. and Double Secret Productions.  This fan fiction was created solely for entertainment purposes and no money was made from it.  Also, no copyright or trademark infringement was intended.  Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.  Any other characters, the storyline and the actual story are the property of the author.  Not to be archived without permission of the author(s).

Chapter 15: Jack

Daniel's dreaming again; not too bad yet, just restless...

He looks like shit...still...again...

Maybe those bruises will fade enough before we go back that Fraiser won't hurt me too badly...

'Yeah, right...You're butt is in serious Doc-trouble, O'Neill.'

The police said that Blackie was okay, slightly contused, but healthy enough to go to jail; maybe he'll meet up with his buddy, Red....in prison.

I still have this surreal image of Daniel beating the crap out of that guy. I've always known there were hidden...and not so hidden...fires inside my young friend, but this...?

I just hope I don't see too much of that side of him.

I hope there's never a need.

He's a long way from better. I don't know if there is a 'better' beyond all of this. I just hope that what I saw in his eyes out there on the beach in the pouring rain was indication that now he's at least ready to let me help...

I look up to see Daniel's eyes open, looking at me in that direct, near-sighted way that always makes me wonder if he doesn't see further without the glasses...or maybe just deeper. Maybe it's just the fact that without them, I can see into those strangely intense blue eyes and right down to his soul.

And right now, his soul is crying....

All the reticence, the half-veiled looks, the closed up I-can-stand-alone defensiveness of the past few days is gone. This is the Daniel I've walked through that gate with a hundred times...the man who earned my respect in countless large and small ways... the friend I've let into places I'd almost forgotten I ever had...

This is Daniel.

Not Doctor Jackson, not Danny-boy, not Space Monkey or any of the other stuff I've managed to come up with over two and a half years...

Just Daniel.

My best friend.

I guess he can see well enough to read my eyes because he nods at me, asking and receiving something we've both been denying too long. I return the gesture in my own clumsy way, recognizing that forgiveness is a very fragile thing. A lot of crap has gotten in the way lately, a lot of blame on both our heads.

But at the bottom of it all, one thing hasn't changed...

We're still all we've got...

Now more than ever.

I get up and go over to sit beside him on the couch and he moves over a little, wincing at the movement...but he's not moving away....

Just making room.

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