DISCLAIMER: All 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 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.   No infringement intended for "There But For the Grace of God" (written by Robert C. Cooper).

Jack

Jack O'Neill was very good at dealing with the unexpected, but that didn't mean he liked surprizes. Losing Daniel on P3R233 had definitely qualified as an unwelcome surprize, but getting separated was not entirely unheard of--after all, it hadn't been the first time it had happened. Nor would it have been the first time Daniel had wandered off in an academic euphoria. So he'd dealt with it: they'd searched. For six hours, roaming farther and farther from the Gate, and getting more and more concerned as each hour had passed with no sign of their friend.

But Daniel had appeared as mysteriously--as unexpectedly--as he'd disappeared: hurt, semi-conscious, lying on the floor in the exact room where they'd last seen him. Jack couldn't explain it. And he liked that even less.

"Jack! They're coming!" Daniel gasped the warning a second time, clearly agitated, but Jack needed more information than that to react.

"Easy, Daniel," he said, gently supporting him. "Who's coming?"

Daniel closed his eyes, shaking with his struggle to speak, and Jack's concern grew--he'd seen Daniel suffer through worse pain than that shoulder wound would be causing and still stay coherent.

"Daniel?" Jack shot a puzzled glance at Carter and Teal'c, but both were as clueless as he was.

"The Goa'uld," Daniel finally ground the words out. "They're coming!"

Stunned, his adrenaline surging and his stomach clenching, Jack grasped for more. "What--here?!?"

But Daniel groaned, soft and low, his desperate grip on Jack's jacket going slack, and Jack had to lean close to hear him.

"Please, Jack, tell me you know who I am, tell me I'm home…" And Daniel sagged in his arms, unconscious.

Heart pounding, Jack could only stare in dismay. This was obviously more than a simple case of Lost Scholar, but without knowing more, his options were limited. "Okay, Danny," he finally said, softly. "Whatever's going on, let's get you home."

Teal'c was already there, crouching down to gather Daniel carefully into his arms. "I do not understand," he said. "The Goa'uld have already destroyed this world--they would not return here. And how could Daniel Jackson be wounded by a staff weapon, when we heard and saw nothing?"

"I don't know, Teal'c, and it looks like explanations will have to wait," Jack replied. "Let's go. Carter, you still have that piece of paper?"

"Yes, sir," she nodded. They collected their weapons and followed Teal'c as he carried Daniel back to the Stargate.

Jack radioed the rest of the search team to return, brusquely barking out the orders while Sam dialed. And as they left one by one, he took a last, long look around. What had this dead world done to Daniel, and what would it mean to Earth?

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