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

Slouched in the chair, feet propped up on Daniel's bed, Jack was almost asleep when Janet Frazier walked in.

"Any change, Colonel?" she asked softly, reaching for Daniel's wrist to take his pulse.

"He's been a little restless," Jack reported, sitting up, "but he hasn't woken up yet."

Janet waved at the darkened, otherwise empty room. "Where are Teal'c and Sam?"

"Well, it seemed silly for all of us to be sleeping in chairs," Jack muttered, rubbing a tired hand over his eyes, "so we're taking it in shifts.

"I'm surprized you got Teal'c to agree to that," Janet admitted.

Jack glanced at Daniel. "Teal'c knows how to take orders."

Janet raised an eyebrow, but let the comment slide. "The good news is that his blood chemistry is slowly returning to normal. The bad news is that I still can't tell you what caused all the imbalances in the first place. I'm leaning towards some kind of electrical charge, but…"

"But?" Jack prompted.

Janet shrugged. "An electrical charge doesn't account for everything."

"Such as?" Janet sighed, but whether it was at his persistence or her frustration, Jack couldn't tell.

"Over the last year we've done a lot of tests to see what the long-term effects of Gate travel might be," Janet said, pulling a chair up to the other side of Daniel's bed and sitting. "So we've collected a fair amount of documentation on the small changes at the molecular level that make it easier and easier for your systems to handle the stresses involved. We've discovered that those changes run within certain parameters, but the percent of change across the various chemical levels is variable."

"And this chemistry lesson is important because… ?" Jack hated this part. Whatever had happened to plain old broken bones and the occasional concussion?

"In the first blood sample I took from Daniel today, the differential was constant across the entire chemical spectrum, Jack," Janet explained patiently, "as if something absorbed an even, minute percentage of every chemical in Daniel's body. Now, a simple electrical shock would have predictable results--they're within a certain range, depending on the voltage. But the imbalances would not be so consistent."

"Jack," Daniel moaned the word, hesitant and confused, and Jack pushed all thoughts of molecules and chemical imbalances aside.

"Daniel?"

Daniel turned his head to find him and blinked slowly a few times, as if he couldn't quite focus. "Teal'c didn't believe you, did he?" he muttered sadly.

Jack's eyebrows shot up. "About what?"

"About being our friend," Daniel's words were muzzy, his voice thick. "Maybe if you hadn't bombed Chulak…"

Jack's jaw dropped and he shot an incredulous glance at Janet. "Did you give him something?"

"No--and there weren't any signs of a concussion." Janet gently turned Daniel's head and leaned over him to check his pupils. "Can you tell me your name?"

"No," Daniel whispered, a world of agony in that one, soft syllable. "Not again. I'm Daniel Jackson," he gasped, trying to sit. "I'm on SG1. Where's Jack?!"

"Easy, Danny, I'm here," Jack pressed a suddenly distraught Daniel back down to the bed, but Daniel gripped his arms with surprizing strength.

"Did it work?!" he demanded. "Do you know me?"

"Of course I know you! Why wouldn't I? Daniel, what the hell happened on 233?"

But whatever was dogging Daniel, he wasn't satisfied yet. "You're a colonel? Is Teal'c here? Did we go to 233 today?"

"Yes to all three." Jack was relieved to see Daniel relax a little, but frowned when he began rubbing his temple with a hand that shook. Janet was already reaching for a blood pressure cuff.

"Daniel," Jack prompted softly, "can you tell me where you disappeared to for six hours?"

"I followed you back to Earth," Daniel muttered, eyes closed and grimacing as he rubbed at his temples with both hands now. "Only everything was different and you didn't know me and everybody died when Apophis came."

Jack's eyes narrowed as he considered this latest bit of confusion. Daniel had been desperate to warn them, but this wasn't exactly a lucid explanation. On the other hand, simple hallucinations didn't burn shoulders--and Daniel didn't lie. Something dark and savage sizzled down Jack's spine. This was going to be nasty--whatever "this" was.

Janet tossed the blood pressure cuff aside and pressed a stethoscope to Daniel's chest. "Breathe deeply for me, Daniel," she ordered gently. "Again."

Daniel complied, but he was slowly rolling to his side and curling up into a ball. Janet shifted the stethoscope to his back. "How do you feel, Daniel? Headache?"

"Monumental," Daniel groaned.

"Janet," Jack finally managed, "those chemical imbalances--wouldn't they have affected his brain?"

Janet was frowning. "You guys rarely fit in my medical textbooks, Jack. I think the changes to his body chemistry are causing the headache, but I wasn't expecting this kind of delusion."

"I'm not crazy," Daniel insisted. "I wasn't before, and I'm not now. They're coming. We have the same major historical events and--omigod." He forced himself up on an elbow and desperately grabbed Jack's arm.

"Jack, where are the coordinates?"

"The ones on the yellow piece of paper? Sam has them. Is that where you were?"

"I told you--I was on Earth," Daniel sagged back to the bed, his sudden energy fading, and started when Janet pressed a needle into his arm. "Not you, too, Janet."

"It's just something to help with your headache," she soothed. Jack watched as the pain lines in Daniel's face slowly eased, as his breathing calmed and his hands stopped trembling.

Silently Janet shifted Daniel to his back and pulled the covers up. "He'll sleep until morning now," she said softly. "We'll do another round of blood tests, and I'll check on him again in a few hours." Jack nodded, but he didn't take his eyes off Daniel, and Janet left.

"They're coming," Daniel murmured, blinking, fighting the drug.

Jack pressed a gentle hand to Daniel's good shoulder. "I know," he said.

Satisfied, Daniel let sleep take him then. And standing there in the darkened room, Jack knew something had shifted, that the repercussions of the day's events were looming, huge and potentially devastating. God alone knew how they'd weather it when the storm finally struck.

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