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).

Part Two: by Jmas

Jack was worried.

Nothing new in that really, it was second nature for Jack to worry. His team was still less than 100% after the near disaster on Netu. Jack was still a little…okay, a lot…stiff from the staff wound he’d received there. Carter had the same dark circles under her eyes that spoke of too little sleep as they all had. They had all been suffering from some rather vivid nightmares in the two-week aftermath of that Sokar’s blood stuff. And just the previous morning, Jack had seen the yellow-green remnants of Daniel bruises from Apophis’ beating... before Daniel had gone off with SG3 to translate some wall scratches that only he could make sense of. Jack had argued the decision to send Daniel off without them so soon, but Daniel himself had explained that he was the only one who could go with SG3…a fact even Jack couldn’t successfully counter. Jack still wasn’t comfortable letting his team be separated this soon.

Jack still couldn’t get over how Daniel had come through for them. How he had set himself up for a beating to secure the communication device that saved their asses with less than a minute to spare. It had taken Jack a couple of days to get the story out of Daniel. A story his friend had told in his usual hesitant, self-deprecating tone..the same tone that told Jack there was a lot more to the story than the bare facts Daniel had so reluctantly chosen to reveal. But there’d been an edge to Daniel’s eyes and voice that Jack wasn’t comfortable with. Seeing Apophis again … especially Sokar’s new, improved version … had provided more than enough nightmare fodder on looks alone. Jack was just glad Apophis was dead … again. He had to be. That particular Goa’uld had taken more than enough from his team; at least he wouldn’t be taking anything more.

This gathering at his house had been intended as a release, a kind of reaffirmation that they were still alive and together. As Carter cued up her video pick, some old Bogart thing, Jack realized that it wasn’t the same without Daniel. They all had their particular roles to fill, even off-duty. Teal’c would ask his questions, Carter would try to explain things, Jack would complain…and Daniel sort of bridged the gap for all of them. He explained things in a way Carter couldn’t, he gave Carter a chance to express that emotional side she couldn’t seem to manage with Jack and Teal’c. And Jack admitted, at least to himself, that Daniel could pull him out of his own bad moods and understood the feelings beneath the complaints. In any event, Daniel’s absence was definitely felt. Three years of pulling each other out of hell … of the literal, figurative and often highly personal varieties had brought them closer than most families could ever hope to be.

Jack knew Makepeace would do his best to look after Daniel. The only thing Jack ever really disliked about the guy was his capital-M Marine mentality; and Jack knew most of that was habit, Marines just sort of came out that way. Personally, Jack found a lot to like about Makepeace, he liked the man’s dry sense of humor and the expansive heart he knew resided somewhere underneath those olive fatigues. Makepeace would keep Daniel from working himself into a distracted exhaustion. After the little chat they’d had before embarking, Makepeace had better.

Jack knew that Daniel wasn’t back to a hundred percent yet either. The kid was doing a great job of hiding the stress he was under, but Jack knew it was there. He just wasn’t sure exactly what to do about it.

Yet.

Daniel rubbed his eyes, trying to force his bleary vision to focus on the wall he’d been deciphering for the past six hours. This place was a treasure-trove. The three big pyramids they’d found here were a life’s work for a ‘team’ of archaeologists. Daniel sighed as he realized that it wouldn’t be his. SG1 was a field team, as Jack so often reminded him, and most of the time Daniel was glad of it. But at times like this …

Daniel missed the days when all he had was time. Time to savor the mysteries; to touch them, to feel them, to let his imagination take him to long ago places and all the secrets they held.

Daniel sighed again, letting the frustration flow away from him. It wasn’t his nature to waste time on impossible wishes. He was a part of SG1 now, a role and position he’d finally come to accept as a place he wanted to be, even if his reason for being there had altered. Now more than ever it was a place he treasured and he had no desire to change.

The long process of grieving for Sha’re had barely begun. Some days, some hours, were easier than others, but always there was the empty ache. A hole in his life, his entire being, which Sha’re wasn’t there to fill anymore … Daniel wasn’t sure if he ever wanted it to be. Daniel’s thoughts were interrupted by a noise behind him.

‘Probably Makepeace,’ he thought with a slight smile. ‘He must be taking hovering lessons from Jack.’

Daniel wasn’t entirely sure what Jack had threatened Makepeace with, but didn’t doubt that it probably involved body parts and critical damage. Daniel smiled at the vivid image of Jack and Makepeace arguing over the care and feeding of archaeologists, just before a flash of brilliant color plunged his world into darkness.

Colonel Robert Makepeace swore, loudly and with an impressive vocabulary. His team had scoured the corridors of the pyramid where he’d left SG1’s Dr. Jackson. O’Neill had warned him about the scientist’s habit of wandering blindly where angels, and even Marines, would fear to tread … or at least think twice about. Makepeace had laughed it off with a promise to baby-sit the civilian with both eyes open. He’d only been gone for a few minutes. The kid wouldn’t quit for dinner, so Makepeace had gone out to bring something back for him.

Now the he was gone.

This place was a maze of twisting corridors that burrowed through the pyramid like some sort of gigantic ant farm. But they had been thorough in their search and found nothing. Not so much as a footprint. Makepeace had no choice left but to go back and report, bring back a search party. He swore to himself that if Jackson turned up with his face glued to some wall, he would personally nail his hide to the Stargate.

Makepeace thought with a wedge of concern that if he had to go back and face the wrath of Colonel Jack O’Neill, the errant archaeologist had better be in big trouble.

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