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.
// Ra approached through the waves of heat, holding out the scroll in his hand. As Daniel reached to take it, Ra smiled... almost sympathetically. The boy-god was no more. This was just a young boy, once painfully innocent, whose soul had remained untouched corrupted by the demon that was the Goa'uld. His eyes were full of a haunting pain, as if he remembered the boy he had once been, but could no longer fully touch him.
Daniel tried again to read the scroll and again watched it disappear in a flash of fire. Looking up at Ra again, Daniel tried to ask what it meant. Ra just shook his head, smiling that sad, secret smile and disappeared. //
Daniel woke up suddenly, unsure of where he was until he saw the light beneath the door. His quarters at the SGC. He reached out and turned on the bedside lamp, automatically looking at his watch. Thirteen hours...? He hadn't had this much sleep in... He couldn't remember ever sleeping this long at a stretch unless he was unconscious or ill.
He raised up slowly, feeling somewhat light-headed; possibly a side effect from the tranquilizer or, more likely, hunger. Daniel realized he hadn't eaten anything more substantial than cookies in nearly two days...a fact he didn't intend to share with his teammates. His stomach growled suddenly as he put on a reasonably fresh shirt, and he laughed at himself as he went off in search of what passed for real food inside Cheyenne Mountain.
Sam saw Daniel as he entered the break room and headed straight for the coffeepot. By the time Daniel had settled at a table, Sam had a stack of cellophane-wrapped sandwiches ready for him. One or the other of them had been stationed here for the past four hours. Sam had almost laughed when the colonel 'suggested' someone should check up on Daniel to see if he was still alive. After peeking into Daniel's room long enough to assure himself that their friend was, in fact, still breathing, the colonel had parked himself in the break room. When Daniel finally stirred, he would have to pass the open door. Sam had returned two hours later to take over the Daniel-watch.
Daniel gave her a yawning smile of gratitude and sipped at his coffee before reaching for one. Sam sighed a little to herself as she noted that some of the dark shadows had faded beneath Daniel's eyes; the shadows within his eyes...well, she wasn't expecting miracles after one day's sleep. As Daniel selected his next culinary victim, Sam noted that the faint exhaustion tremors in his hands seemed to have disappeared. Unwrapping the sandwich, he looked up at her almost apologetically and asked how the preparations were going. Sam shook her head at the apology...only Daniel would feel the need to apologize for starving himself...and launched into a rundown of what they'd been up to while he slept.
They'd sent to the Tok'ra for the appropriate costumes. Teal'c was teaching the finer points of a Horus guard's uniform, as well as proper protocol. The colonel and Sam had been working on ways to conceal as many weapons and other necessary items in their things and on themselves as was possible. Daniel nodded at each new item, interposing a few questions between bites.
As Daniel absently reached for another sandwich, the colonel entered the room. When his dark eyes took in the fact that Daniel was not only awake, but also eating with obvious enthusiasm.he grinned broadly at Sam before joining them at the table.
"Oh. Hi, Jack," Daniel smiled briefly before continuing with his previous topic without missing a syllable.
Sam tried to control her own bright smile, just enjoying the fact that Daniel was acting more like himself than he had in a long time.
Jack had been on his way to relieve Carter when he had heard a familiar voice in the break room, a familiar tone and inflection that had been missing for a long time. Looking in the door, he had seen Daniel reach for what was obviously his third sandwich, so caught up in his conversation that he didn't even seem to realize he was doing it. As he joined half of his team at the table, Jack was pleased to see the difference in the younger man; this was what he wanted to see.
Daniel's part in the coming mission would be the most stressful of all. Only Daniel and Teal'c could speak the language, and only Daniel could do any real talking once the negotiations started. Jaffa...and definitely not attendants... were not in the habit of joining in on important conversations. Once things got underway, Daniel would be virtually on his own.
Once again, fate had conspired to put the fate of the Earth in Daniel's hands. Jack knew that Daniel could, and would, handle it. Not long ago, Jack had said that he believed in Daniel...and that hadn't changed. If anything the events on Netu and the mess with Linea had affirmed that declaration. It still irked Jack that once again Daniel had been forced to give up something important to him in order to do what was right; but his willingness to do exactly that was one of the many things Jack respected about Daniel. Jack just wondered at the cosmic injustice that seemed to have decreed that Daniel would always be the one doing the giving up.
Watching Daniel smile at Carter's story about Connor and the tattoo Teal'c had promised, Jack was struck by the level, reserved gaze of his friend. In the past few months, something in Daniel had pulled back...hopefully just to regroup...but whatever it was, Jack missed it.