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 2: Jack

God, I'm tired...

I can't remember being this tired since....well for a long time anyway. Just the same, I'm in no hurry at all to go to sleep. If it hadn't been fo that Tok'ra spy...

I shiver a little a that particular memory and look around to see if anybody's noticed. I've got a rep to protect, you know.

Carter's still passing out coffee and talking to Teal'c about that weird machine he flew out of the stargate, Doc's checking out somebody's chart and Daniel's...just not with us. His steaming coffee is still sitting on the bedside table untouched. That fact alone bugs me. Daniel's obsession with coffee is an SGC legend and after nearly a month without any, he should be embracing it like a long lost friend. Instead he just lays there looking at us like he knows we're here, but it's just too much of an effort to come out and play.

Hey, I know he's been through a lot, we all have, but Danny's usual M.O. in dealing with the rough stuff is to either tallk our ears off or to beg Janet to let him go back to work so he can get too busy to think. I can see Doc's noticed it, too...there's more going on here than just a leg wound and a couple of weeks in a deep freeze.

Some of what happened while we were...gone is, thankfully, a blur, but a couple of things stand out. Like Daniel's face when we woke him up in that pseudo-future SGC; the mixture of relief and pain told me better than any words could that he had grieved the loss.

Hell, I did, too.

I remember all to well what he said to that bitch when she tried to remind him of all they'd 'shared'. I really try not to. And how he'd raised his hands in a gesture so Daniel-like that I almost laughed right there. But then I saw the pain and the fear in his eye and something ..else...that made my blood run cold and all I wanted to do right then was grab Daniel and Carter and get the hell out of Dodge.

Of course, since running wasn't an option I decided to run my mouth off instead which earned me a Goa'uld-sized pain in the neck and a trip back to the frozen food section...

Doc decides we've had enough for one evening and proceeds to kick Carter and Teal'c out so her 'patients' can get some rest. I look over at Daniel to make some sort of comment and there it is again...that 'look'.

"Daniel!" I say it in my best C.O. tone.

He seems to snap out of it and looks up at me.

"Jack? What's the matter? You okay?"

Am I okay?

"Yeah, how 'bout you?'

" 'kay, tired..." Suiting words to action he curls up and seems to sleep.

What in the hell is going on underneath that weird haircut?

I wait until I hear his breathing even out and tow my I.V. friend along with me to Janet's office. I need help if I'm gonna figure this one out.

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