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: Gathering Clouds
Daniel awoke slowly, uncertain at first of where he was...only that he was moving. Canada. Alberta. Jack's mystery cabin...a place Jack plainly believed was going to magically put them back on the right track...
You of all people should know there's no such thing as magic...
'I've really got to do something about this Pavlovian response thing I've got going with armed Goa'uld's who happen to have me prisoner at the time...But it feels so damn good when I do it...'
Daniel was less than surprised by the automatic reply to himself...
'Face it, Danny...you need a safer hobby...' Daniel frowned at the voice of his conscience, a voice sounding remarkably like Jack O'Neill.
'Great now I get his attitude from the inside too...'
Daniel shook his head a little, discarding the thought before it could feed the undercurrent of anger and hurt lurking below the surface. He was too damn tired to waste energy on negatives. Tired down to his bones...down to his soul...
His stint as a ghost had come with a price; he'd returned to the SGC with Jack and Sam, promptly landing in the infirmary...dehydrated with dangerously low blood sugar. Dr. Fraiser had compared it to extreme exhaustion and Daniel could certainly attest to the fact. Evidently the phase-shift had depleted all his reserves while he was 'incorporeal.' Mentally, he was every bit as worn out. He felt...used up...and was almost too tired to care...
They'd all pushed him into this trip with Jack, and deep down Daniel hoped something positive might result, but a core of doubt he'd thought long gone had reawakened somewhere inside him and Daniel no longer had the strength to put it back in its hiding place.
The Explorer hit another pothole and Daniel jerked upright with a start. "Jack? What?"
Jack favored Daniel with an apologetic smile. "Sorry, Daniel. Don't remember the roads being so bad last time. Guess a lot can change in four years."
Daniel nodded sharply, letting the comment go without remark, and sat up a little straighter, rubbing his face with both hands in an effort to clear the perpetual fog in his brain.
"S'okay...Where are we?"
Ten miles out of Rock Lake, it's another eight from there to Uncle Gil's cabin. We should get there well before dark."
Daniel focused blearily on the landscape spread before them. It was beautiful, snow-capped mountains, clouds lazily skirting the tops like fanciful ghosts.
'Ghost imagery again...Nice...' Daniel shivered at the memory, the feeling of being walked through...'Like I don't have enough nightmares...'
Daniel shivered again, running a hand through his short-cropped hair, becoming suddenly aware of concerned brown eyes catching the movement.
Knowing anything they said could too easily denigrate into a conflict, Daniel just sighed. He didn't feel up to trading verbal barbs with Jack. Neither of them was in a condition to do it right and keep it out of areas too tender to be poked at. Hearing a low sigh from beside him, Daniel knew Jack had reached the same conclusion. Maybe...after they'd both gotten enough rest...they could start finding their way again.
'If the way is still there to find...' Daniel's inner voice, sounding all too critically similar to Nick of a few years ago, was full of doubt and suspicion. Daniel experienced a distant worry it might not be normal to have a multi-voiced conscience, but decided not to probe too deeply into that particular quirk of his psyche.
'Way too deep, Daniel. Save the deep shit for when you have enough energy to fight back properly...Oh, great, now I'm worried about giving coherent replies to the voices in my head...'
Daniel shook his head to dispel the weird train his thoughts had taken an unscheduled ride on and reached for the thermos in the console between the seats. Pouring the cup half-full, he offered it to Jack.
"Ah...thanks..." The surprise in Jack's voice was painfully evident...causing Daniel to look up in confusion.
'Has it really been so long since I did something nice for him?'
Daniel felt an all too familiar ache grip his chest at the realization his question evoked...
Jack's three month absence on Edora...fate uncertain...and his words during the Maybourne episode had shaken the foundation of everything Daniel had come to rely on after Sha're's death had cracked the bedrock beneath it all. Jack had left Earth...presumably forever...and Daniel had been too lost in his own hurt and confusion to even say goodbye. The days following had found Daniel defensive and isolated, retreating behind a mask of sullen defiance as he fought to redefine his life...a life without the man he had come to believe...with nearly unshakable certainty...to be his best friend.
'I would have almost said total certainty...'
Daniel stole a look at Jack's drawn profile. The older man had lost weight over the past few months; lines had appeared where none had existed before...lines of stress.
'It's not like he hasn't got reason...nearly becoming a Goa'uld, a battle in Hell, three months on a distant planet uncertain of ever returning to the life he knew, radiation sickness...The past three years have been so full of stress it's a wonder any of us are still functioning. If you call this level of exhaustion functioning...'
Daniel could count on one hand, with fingers to spare, the number of times in those years any of them had taken what could actually be defined a vacation...not recovery time. He was not entirely sure this could be termed anything but recuperation...but he'd take it. They needed it. Whatever else might happen, Daniel was sure...on a level even his barely cogitating brain could understand...he and Jack could make or break the future of their 'friendship' in those distant mountains.