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.

[Presence of life forms detected in specimen collection area. Scan and identify.]

// That voice. Dead. Metallic. Inhuman. He had heard it before. Heard it say those words.. //

[Target species detected. Initiating specimen collection program.]

// Dreaming. He was dreaming again. The same dream. The one he had been trying to remember. //

[Scanning life forms to select optimum specimen for collection.]

// He was standing in a huge room, filled with the strange, vaguely menacing machinery and the eerie, faceless beings. Black, blank identical figures were standing around a huge console in the centre of the room, touching parts of it that blinked with soft lights and arcane symbols. A huge globe of diffused light hovered several feet in the air above the console. There was a picture in the light. A large, alien room that held more equipment and machines that looked somewhat like the devices around him. And Stargate. Four people emerged from the active event horizon. People with faces. Very familiar faces. //

[Compatible specimen detected. High receptivity to telepathic stimulus suggests previous conditioning or exposure. Maximum compatibility with patterning protocols confirmed. Initiating isolation program.]

// The people in the room had been walking around, investigating, but now were starting to move back toward the Stargate. They were leaving. Going away. The woman activated the gate, and walked through the event horizon with the dark man. Something bad was about to happen. He had to warn them. He had to say something before they were gone. Before they all were gone.. //

[Activating Probe. Initiating patterning program. Initiating specimen collection sequence. Activating.]

// The other two men were approaching the Stargate. Wait, they were stopping. No - don't stop! Keep going! This is where it starts getting bad..

Alone. The last man was alone. It was happening. Oh God. //

[Specimen acquired. Probe patterned and launched. Target species evaluation program on line and functioning. Encoding of specimen's physical and mental/experiential source data commencing. Construction of baseline database commencing. Specimen termination and disposal program on standby. Program to be activated automatically upon successful encoding of all data.]

// Don't be afraid. It's only a dream. Dreams aren't real, they can't hurt you. Mommy used to say that. Dreams can't hurt. All you have to do is wake up, Danny..

PAIN! Shattering, screaming, hot fire coursing through him... godgodgod hurts so much too real only a dream wake up now please. //

Sam stomped down the corridor, a seething mass of angry, frustrated astrophysicist. Damn damn damn DAMN! Why did this always happen? They hit the jackpot again, only to have it - snatched away. Again! This was - what? The third time this year? The key to the secrets dies, the damn place blows up and now - well this was the best one yet.

They had tried to redial P3C-354 hoping to find out from the MALP whether or not the radiation levels were still rising or if they had leveled off. There was always the hope they could go through with suits and attempt some sort of salvage operation. But - no.

The signals they sent to the MALP kept bouncing back, as if they were being deflected by some sort of barrier. Which could only mean that the destination wormhole was now sealed by something akin to their iris. Effectively locking them out. Damn.

This new obstacle to her plans must have been part of some automatic defense program that they had unwittingly triggered somehow. Along with the radiation that had made them clear out in the first place. Well, guess they should be grateful that it had let them get out of there before locking the place down. Damn. Wasn't this just - peachy.

Well, now that the post-mortems were completed all she wanted was to find something to do that would - get her mind off all of this. Damn. Where was a punching bag when you needed one?

She rounded the bend in the corridor and stopped dead. Daniel was standing there, about fifty feet further down the same corridor, leaning up against the wall, looking extremely attractive in his civvies. A fact which did not appear to be lost on the woman who was standing in front of him. Hell, almost on top of him. Whoa!

She recognized the woman right away. Willis. One of the newer techs assigned to the Astrophysics section. She hadn't been here very long, but had already risen high in the ranks as one of the more persistent hunter-gatherers stalking the elusive and oblivious Daniel.

Bless him, on any given day he had a pack of panting females sniffing around him and he was completely unaware of it. It was usually quite funny to watch but what she was seeing right now wasn't particularly amusing.

Not only was Daniel not looking so oblivious, he was also clearly not running. Nor did he appear to be in the slightest bit perturbed by the overwhelming indications he was about to get - gathered.

Almost on cue Willis reached out, grabbed him by the lapels and pulled him down into a blistering kiss. Sam's eyes widened with disbelief as he avidly responded, pulling her to him firmly, kissing her back with an enthusiasm that made Sam slightly nauseous.

Deciding she had already seen way more than she ever cared to, she was about to back away down the way she had come when suddenly Daniel put his hands on Willis's shoulders and pushed her away. He shook his head and started to walk away from Willis, toward her. The woman suddenly scorned had a rather ugly look on her face and was about to come after him, possibly to debate the issue a little further, but then she saw that they were not alone.

One sight of Captain Carter and she turned tail and ran. Good thing too. Sam made a mental note to have a talk with the Lieutenant about her on duty conduct at the first possible opportunity.

But now, she had to figure out a way to deal with the man walking toward her. A big smile on his face as if knowing she had seen what she had just seen did not bother him in the slightest.

"Samantha!" Daniel's voice was as clear of shame or guile as his face. His blue eyes sparkled with genuine affection as he reached her side. She suddenly felt very confused.

"Samantha. I've always been very fond of the name Samantha. Such a lovely name. So lyrical. It's Aramaic. Means 'The Listener.' Did you know that?"

Mesmerized by the strange light in his eyes, Sam shook her head.

"The Listener." Daniel continued softly. "It's very appropriate, don't you think? Much more suitable for someone with a heart as compassionate and understanding as yours. I've always thought it was a shame you prefer to be addressed by the diminutive. Sam is so harsh. So - unlike you. I've never told you that, have I? There are a lot of things I've never told you."

Sam realized he was stroking her cheek with the lightest of touches. Those eyes - my god, you could drown in them.

"I'm very fond of you, Samantha."

// Oh no Daniel please don't do this... not this. //

"I've never told you that either. I should have. You've been such a good friend. You've helped me far more than you could ever know. You deserve to know you are appreciated. That your friendship is appreciated. It is, I assure you."

// Friend. He said friend. Thank god he said friend. I - I think. //

"I appreciate you too, Daniel."

Wow! That was her voice. She actually managed to say something. Maybe she should have just kept quiet because the look of genuine happiness on his face was starting to make her a little weak in the knees.

"Do you? That means a lot. It really does. I'm grateful. I haven't had many friends in my life. That makes the ones I have now even more special."

Suddenly his eyes grew distant, pensive, releasing her from their spell. She heaved a grateful sigh.

"It does mean a lot," he murmured. "I'm beginning to understand."

"Daniel? Are you okay?"

He nodded shifting his focus back to her. His face wore a deeply puzzled look, as if he was struggling with something. Looking to her for explanations or answers.

"Kissing that woman was very stimulating," he began. "She wanted me to kiss her. But - I wouldn't do that, would I? It wouldn't be right."

She had no idea what was going on now. Safest to just - go along.

"No Daniel, you wouldn't."

"Doing the right thing is very important to me, isn't it?"

"Daniel, are you sure you're okay? You don't usually - talk like this."

He smiled kindly at her again. "Maybe it's time I started. Thank you, Samantha."

Before she knew what was happening he leaned down, kissed her softly on the cheek and then moved past her, walking quickly away down the corridor.

Finally released from the mesmerism of his presence, Sam collapsed against the wall. She needed it to hold her up. Needed it for several long minutes while she just stood there and trembled, caught in a strange mixture of fear, confusion and regret. As soon as the trembling stopped and her legs would work again she went to find the Colonel.

By the time Sam found him Teal'c had already come to him with a very similar tale of having just had an extremely uncharacteristic conversation with Daniel. Teal'c had been unwilling to divulge the contents of that conversation, but the fact that he was disturbed enough by it to report it to him was indication enough that there was a problem.

Sam was equally evasive when it came to spelling out just what had gone down. It was almost as if they were both torn between needing to do the right thing, and wanting to protect the man they were concerned about. It was damned peculiar.

After assuring both of them he would get to the bottom of it, Jack set out to find the object of all this concern. Whatever it was, he was hoping they could straighten it out without involving anyone else. Daniel had been scrutinized, poked, prodded and evaluated quite enough these past few months. The last thing he needed was the pall of another 'evaluation' hanging over him again.

Stress. That's all it was. Had to be. He'd find Daniel, they'd kick back, have a little chat, clear the air, get it all out. Nothing they hadn't had to do before. They had all been turned loose for the weekend, so he had plenty of time to make Daniel come clean. If that was how long it took, that would be how long it took.

Hey, what are friends for?

On a hunch he decided to save himself some steps and check with the security desk. Yup, the bird had flown. No problem. Had a feeling he knew where Daniel was going. Best get there so as to not keep him waiting too long.

It didn't take a major expenditure of mental energy to work it out. If Sam and Teal'c were anything to go by, it seemed that Daniel was working his way down the list. Only one name left on it. Saving the best for last? Or avoiding the worst till the end?

Sure enough, Daniel had been waiting for him when he got home. And then had promptly taken him on a trip through the looking glass.

Nothing Sam and Teal'c had said to him had in any way prepared him for his evening with the Mayonnaise Kid. Daniel hadn't done a lot of talking at first. He had been too busy roaming all over the house - touching stuff. Like a little kid on his first visit to Disneyland. When the conversation finally came it had been a lot of "hey Jack, remember when we," or "what about the time when," or "how about this, I really enjoyed this."

While following along on this trip down memory lane Jack was stunned to realize how many things he possessed had direct associations - with Daniel. He had never, ever seen this before. How - connected his life had become with this man. There were pieces of him all over the place.

Suddenly, that scared him. He wasn't sure why, but he didn't have time for it at the moment. This wasn't about him.

After the guided tour they had segued into adventures in dubious gastronomy, and now here they were, trading glances over the mayonnaise. Daniel had this very strange look in his eyes. Jack felt himself starting to sweat.

"There are a lot of things I have never told you, Jack. I don't know why. I don't understand a lot of the things I do. A lot of the things I don't allow myself to do or say. Why do I feel these things, and not share them? It doesn't make sense to me. It doesn't make me happy to keep them to myself. I'm sure I'd be a lot happier if some of my questions were answered."

// Ohhhh crap. //

// .pain gone. finally.. awake, but still in the nightmare. Can't move. Cold. So cold. Everything hurts.. Where.. Open eyes. so hard... hurts..

The room. In the dream. Not a dream. Real! God. I'm really here. Awake - not dreaming. Can't move. Why? So cold.. Clothes? Where? Lying on something... some kind of table. no clothes. Over head...lights... some kind of device.don't like the looks of it it's coming down - toward me..,. ohhh - this can't be good. saw it before - and then the pain. no - not again! Have to get out of here! Have to get off this table! Shit! Can't - can't move. Can't get away! What's that - oh shit. Those - things are here too. Coming back. I think I'm in big trouble, Jack. Hope you guys are on your way back for me...please god come back for me Jack.

NO! Not again... ahhhh hurts so much why are you doing this - stop it! Please ... no more pain.. //

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