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Chapter 26: Major Louis Ferretti
Two hours.
They send the naquada reactor through in two hours.
Carter's on the radio now giving us a full set of instructions on how to operate the thing. Daniel's taking notes as fast as she can talk.and that's pretty damn fast.
I see his eyes squint occasionally as if he's having trouble focusing, but otherwise it doesn't seem to be hurting him. I think it does him more good to be helping out the cause this way. I can see the others checking him out and reaching the same conclusion.
Actually he's seemed a lot better since his little heart to heart with the colonel. It didn't look to me like they were saying much, but it must've been pretty important stuff to get both of them looking so.bull-headed. It seems to me like a corner's been turned that I didn't even know needed turning.
I guess the colonel and Daniel did.
That's what counts.
Teal'c and Skaara are packing things up, just the essentials and the stuff we don't want to leave lying around on a primitive planet. They're taking it all to the MALP that brought it here.
I'm not taking out Daniel's IV until the last possible moment though. I gave him a dose of demerol two hours ago, it'll be cutting it close for him but he doesn't want anymore until we're back home.or not. I'm keeping a hypo handy just in case we cut it too close for him.
The colonel isn't budging from Daniel's side, reading the notes as he writes them, committing the procedure to memory. Occasionally I'll see his eyes slide to Daniel's face.still too pale, perspiration coursing a trail from hairline to sideburns. If it weren't for those tell-tale signs of the illness still at war inside Daniel this might be just another joint mission.a badly screwed one, but still.
Daniel's so intent on getting everything down he doesn't seem to notice our concern. It's almost as if none of us can keep our eyes off him for very long. I don't know if we're looking for some sign of things getting better . or signs they're getting worse. Maybe we're just letting the sight of him sitting there doing such a normal, everyday thing reassure us that there's a very big factor at work here called hope.
Yow, Ferretti.maybe you've been spending too much time around the kid. Some of that Indo-pseudo-whatever philosophy rubbing off..
I laugh quietly at the thought, remembering us back on Abydos the first time. He seemed like such a clueless dweeb. Boy, was I wrong. When push came to shove Daniel stood up to Ra, his Jaffa and, by God, even that totally dark-side version of Colonel O'Neill.something none of the rest of us had the desire or the suicidal guts to do.
I remember Daniel sitting there on that dusty floor after we'd escaped from Ra. Shivering from the desert cold, coughing his lungs out from the blowing sand, shaggy hair all over the place, he fixed those clear blue eyes on the colonel. For a minute I thought the colonel was going to practice his famous fire-breathing act on the guy, but Daniel didn't even have to raise his voice.direct words delivered with that mule-headed tenacity that won't let go of a bone once he's latched on to it.
Thankfully a few things have changed since then. Daniel's learned a little about choosing his bones since then. Hell, the colonel's not breathed any noticeable fire for quite awhile now.
Teal'c and Skaara head out with the last load. The colonel glances up, letting me know he's noticed. I look at Daniel, just finishing up his rewrite of Carter's instructions then back at the colonel. Something passes between us then . an acknowledgement, a promise ... that says we're going to do our dead-level damnedest to make sure everything turns out right for Daniel.
And for us.
Same thing really.
I reach for my pack and almost laugh again as I realize that almost-conversation I noticed between the colonel and Daniel probably 'said' a lot more than I could ever fathom. Sometimes you really don't need the words.
You just need understanding.