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).
Dark...
Jack 'dove' after that fleeting thought, coming to a place devoid of emotion, of hope...empty of everything but that cold, pervasive solitude...
'Daniel?'
Jack couldn't see anything in this darkness, but somehow he knew this was where Daniel had retreated to. A place of punishment...the punishment that had become a refuge...a place to go when the pain became too great to bear.
'?'
Though nothing was 'spoken,' Jack knew that Daniel was surprised by his presence there. 'Like I go sight-seeing inside people's heads everyday?' Jack thought.
'Danny? It's me. It's Jack...'
'Here...Jack...help...'
The mind-voice was weak, confused...
'Daniel, you've got to let me take you out of here...now.'
'Tired...hurts...'
'I know...but we need you...out there...'
'Can't...too tired...can't find the way out...'
Jack mentally shuddered, realizing what could have happened if he'd left when Daniel had wanted him to.
Jack reached out with his mind, enclosing Daniel's bone-weary soul with his own protective spirit.
'We'll find the way...trust me?'
'Always...have...' A weak glimmer of his friend, but strengthening now.
Jack began drawing Daniel back with him through the shadows and the nightmares, through the doubts and the fears...trying in some instinctive fashion to project reassurance to his friend as they passed through the dark places. Then, Jack hesitated...
He couldn't find his way back to himself.
They paused there on the edge of the darkness and Jack started to feel like he'd been set adrift, cut off from the things that made him "Jack."
'Colonel!'
A light mind-touch...sweet, concerned, insistent...drawing him upward. He tightened his 'hold' on Daniel and plunged toward it.
Jack felt himself gasping, as if he had been under water for too long a time. Someone was rubbing his back, easing the painful breathing. Jack opened his eyes and realized several things in rapid succession: it was daylight, Carter and Teal'c were back and staring at him like they'd seen a ghost, and Daniel's weight across his legs had long since cut off his circulation.
Daniel...
Jack tried to force his hand to his friend's throat to check for a pulse, but Carter stopped him.
"He's alive, Sir...The fever seems to be gone."
Teal'c raised a canteen to his lips, allowing Jack to take only a few small sips. Carter was saying something about dehydration, but Jack was having trouble focusing on the world around him. Part of him was still overcome by the experience of being inside Daniel's mind.
Carter was asking him something. "Sir? What happened to you two? When we got here I thought you were both dead."
Jack just shook his head and his eyes drifted shut in exhaustion. "Not dead, just...visiting..."