Children of Enoch
Children of Enoch
by Lady Anne
Summary: After Daniel is injured, SG-1 takes on a temporary replacement who would like to make the position permanent.
Category: Action/Adventure, Angst, Drama, Hurt/Comfort
Episode Related: Stargate - The Movie, 101 Children of the Gods, 204 The Gamekeeper, 321 Crystal Skull
Season: any Season
Pairing: Team
Rating: 13+
Warnings: none
Disclaimer: Stargate SG-1 and its characters are the property of Showtime/Viacom, MGM/UA, Double Secret Productions, and Gekko Productions. I have written this story for entertainment purposes only and no money whatsoever has exchanged hands. No copyright infringement is intended. The original characters, situations, and story are the property of the author(s).
Archived on: 2005-03-25
//indicates italics//
Walking along the shore aimlessly, Daniel kicked at the sand with his toes. Water swirled up to tickle his bare feet. He paused to look back, his hand raised to shield his eyes from the glare of the sun. His footsteps stretched up the beach as far as he could see. He frowned, trying to figure out where he was and exactly how he had gotten there.
//Where was the rest of his team?// Taking off his glasses, he rubbed his eyes tiredly. The last thing he remembered was a planet, green and beautiful. And then... He pinched his nose trying to remember. He had blinked and found himself... where?
Gazing around, there were no clues in sight. There was only sand, water, and sky for as far as he could see. There was no sound. Just the soft swish of water as it rushed up the sand and then a whisper as it was pulled inexorably back to the sea. There were no sea birds crying, no hum of insects, no signs of people that he could see.
On impulse he called out, "Hello? Jack? Sam? Teal'c? Where are you guys?" The silence was oppressive and pressed in on his eardrums. It seemed to swallow his words before they left his mouth.
In frustration he continued walking up the beach. There didn't seem to be anything better for him to do. If he continued up the beach maybe he'd find his team... or people... or something... It wasn't like he had a better plan, he just didn't know what else to do.
There was a shimmer in the air, like a heat wave off the sand. He stopped in surprise when an outcropping of rocks appeared on the beach in front of him where there had been nothing but sand moments before. Blinking to clear his eyes, the rocks stayed obstinately solid and real. Blinking again, he realized that there was a figure sitting atop the rocks. It was no one he knew, but it was a someone, a real person. Hopefully someone who could give him answers about where he was, where his team was. Questions buzzed in his head as quickened his pace.
As he approached he could see the figure was a woman, bent over a book, writing. She looked up as he drew nearer and smiled. As he clambered up the rocks to her side, he could see that her eyes crinkled around the edges with lines well worn from much smiling. Taking her glasses off, she laid them aside in the book. For some reason she stirred something in Daniel and he studied her closer. She just sat looking at him, seeming to drink in the sight of him.
"I'm sorry," he said diffidently, "do I know you?"
"Don't you recognize me, Danny?" She asked quietly, her eyes intent upon him.
Maybe it was just her voice, but he suddenly knew who she was, "Mom?"
She smiled at him, "It's been a long time, Danny. I can't believe you're all grown up."
"Mom? God, this is incredible." The emotion swelled in him, threatening to choke him. Words crowded in his throat, there was so much to say that he really didn't know what to say. He just blinked at her. "Do you know where my friends are?" It was inane but it was all that made it out.
"They're not here," she told him gently, "just you."
"I don't understand." He swallowed all of the words and asked her, "What are you doing here?"
"I came to meet you. I wanted to see you so badly, see how you've grown up. Your father is so proud of you." Her eyes shone with her love as she reached out to touch his face gently. "It's good to see you, son."
"Dad is proud of me?" The emotions did swamp him then and he pulled her into his arms. She felt so good, warm and solid. He never thought he would have this chance again. When he was eight years old he'd watched his parents die, buried under tons of stone. How was it possible for her to be sitting beside him? He pulled away so he could study her face. "Am I... dead?"
~~~~~
Standing at the door to the infirmary, Colonel Jack O'Neill could see through the window to the bed beyond. He was a military man. He had seen a lot of friends in rooms like this one. You'd have thought that it would get easier, but it never did.
Daniel looked so small in the bed, not moving or showing any signs of life except the fact that he still breathed. Jack wondered just how many more times his friend could get up out of that bed and rejoin the team alive and well. He was tough and resilient. Would he bounce back this time?
This time had been bad. And they hadn't even seen it coming.
They'd just come through the gate on P29-833. Situated on a stone pedestal in the middle of a pleasant green glade; there had been a gentle breeze blowing and he swore he could smell the sweet perfume of flowers nearby.
There had been absolutely no sign of danger, no sign of hostile intent. Still, things had felt wrong. He turned to tell the team not to wander off when he noticed that Daniel was gone in record time. Daniel was off the platform and walking the perimeter of the gate.
No one knew what caught his interest, most times no one ever knew what caught Daniel's interest, but it was Daniel who discovered the ground around the gate was seeded with landmines. Vicious alien mines, they inflicted damage to the man's body that O'Neill DID NOT want to remember.
He didn't know how they got him through the Stargate alive. They did it because they had to. From there the medical team whisked their gravely injured friend into the infirmary. Doc Fraiser didn't emerge for hours.
~~~~~
//Am I dead?// Daniel held his breath waiting for her answer, but Claire Jackson didn't answer. She just smiled enigmatically and took his arm, "Walk with me. Tell me about your life. We have so much catching up to do."
Climbing off the rocks, they walked along in silence. There was so much he wanted to say to her, he didn't know where to begin. How many times had he wished for just this moment? To be able to walk with his mother again, to tell her he loved her?
"I always knew that," she said, her hand clasped in his.
Had he spoken aloud? "I'm sorry." He stopped, gaping at her in open-mouthed surprise, "what did you say?"
"Just because someone is dead, doesn't mean that they're gone forever. You carried us in your heart all these years. We knew how much you loved us."
"Do you know how much I've missed you?" He blinked hard, trying to hold back the tears, but it was no use.
She wrapped her arms around him and he surrendered himself to her embrace, "Oh, honey, we know. And we've missed you, too."
"But you were together, I was all alone." He couldn't help it; the words tumbled out before he could stop them. Eight-year-old Daniel Jackson had been so alone. He'd cried himself to sleep more nights than he cared to remember. The foster parents did their best, but none of them had understood the strange quiet child who would dig for hours in the back yard, tears streaming down his face. It didn't matter how many people surrounded him, Daniel had always been alone with no place to call home anymore.
~~~~~
The team spent the hours Janet worked on their friend sitting vigil outside the infirmary door. They refused to leave, even when the General had made it an order. In the end, he sent them cots and blankets and had some food taken to them.
When he could no longer stand the quiet of his office, the General went to join them. He hoped that perhaps there had been some word on the archaeologist's condition. He found the sandwiches and coffee untouched, but the cots had been set up in the hallway, out of the way. Carter was lying on one; not sleeping, just staring off into space with a lost look on her face. Jack sat on the floor next to her, his back against the wall. Teal'c, as usual, stood guard stolidly at the door.
He began to turn, to leave them to their vigil, but in that moment Janet Fraiser, CMO in charge to the Stargate program emerged. She was inexpressibly weary and wanted nothing more than to lie down, but she knew that Daniel's team would be waiting. They wouldn't rest until they had some word of his condition. She was relieved and not at all surprised to find them waiting outside her door, it was where she had expected them to be. Even the General was there. "I'm glad you're all here," she spoke tiredly, they could tell that she could barely stand, "I don't want to have to do this more than once."
Jack stood, taking her arm as if to give her some of his own strength. Teal'c moved in to support her from the back. She was grateful, after what she had just seen, she would have nightmares from this one for some time.
"Skip the medicalese, Doctor," the General spoke gently. "You can put that in your report tomorrow. Just tell us, how is he?"
She smiled a little, that had been exactly her intention. "He's alive." The team looked at one another, hope in their eyes. She hated to add the qualifier, "for now. I can't tell you whether that will be the case in an hour, or two hours, or tomorrow. We've repaired the worst of the damage, but this weapon did some horrifying damage to his body. We had to close just because his body couldn't stand any more trauma.
"When," they all heard the unspoken 'if' in her words, "he's stronger we're going to have to go in and do some more surgery. Right now his vitals are dangerously low, but he's stable. We've done everything we can." She allowed herself to lean on Teal'c, just a little. He was warm and solid and alive.
"Daniel's a fighter, he's recovered from bad injuries before." Carter offered. Daniel's ability to bounce back was legendary within the SGC.
Janet shook her head slowly, "The damage was massive...," they would never understand how massive. "Whoever designed that mine didn't want their victims to survive. We found pieces inside his body that were still... burrowing and digging their way to vital organs. It was horrifying... if you hadn't gotten him back so quickly, if...." She shuddered and stopped to pull herself back together. They waited patiently, Jack's hand on her shoulder, steadying her.
"My guess is these 'people'," she said the word with a loathing they had never heard in her voice, "don't want visitors. This device was made to cause fear and terror, to convince travelers to never return."
"Well, they've succeeded in this case," the General assured her. "We've made a note in the files and locked the address out of the dialing computer."
As much as Jack O'Neill wanted to go back to that damned place and kick the shit out of whoever had done this to Daniel, he knew that the General had done the right thing. If they couldn't even leave the gate platform without getting blown to kingdom come, there was little chance they would ever find the perpetrators of this heinous act to gain their retribution. The best they could do was help Daniel recover and move on.
"Doctor Fraiser," Teal'c spoke. "Is there anything we may do for Daniel Jackson?"
The doctor swayed. Jack helped her to sit down next to Sam. "Actually there is. Do what you always do - stay with him, set up a rotation so he's never alone. I don't know how long it will be until he regains consciousness, but I don't want him to be alone when he does. Talk to him, read to him, and tell him bedtime stories, read sport scores to him if you have to. He's still in there somewhere; I want him to know that his friends are with him. I want him to remember that he has something, someone to live for."
"You don't even have to ask, Janet. We're there," Carter assured her.
"I know; my request is for the General." She looked up at the big man, standing so silently. "I would like to request that SG-1 be put on stand down until we've resolved the crisis with Daniel," she paused and then continued, "one way or the other, sir." She refused to meet Jack's eyes.
"Of course," the General answered heavily, "Colonel O'Neill, Jack, I'm officially assigning you to Doctor Fraiser for as long as she needs you. SG-2 and 3 can take over some of your mission assignments until this... situation is resolved. Get Doctor Jackson well." He refused to think that there could be any other resolution.
Jack O'Neill, Colonel in the United States Air Force, former operative in black ops, tight-assed military man that he was, thought he might weep. Instead he fell back on routine, saluting the General, "Yes, sir, thank you, sir." He turned to the rest of his team, "As team leader, I'll take the first watch. Teal'c get the Doctor to a bed before she falls on her face, Carter get some rest and relieve me in six hours. Got that," he snapped.
His team responded in a refreshingly crisp manner. //If only Daniel would follow orders...// he stopped in mid-thought, //not even going there.//
~~~~~
Jack stood at the door, staring through the window a moment more before going through into the infirmary. Daniel was surrounded by machines: There were machines that monitored his heartbeat, machines that breathed for him, machines that fed him vital fluids and medicines, the machines that kept him alive.
His face was impossibly pale; nearly as white as the pillow his head lay on. The covers were tucked up around his chin hiding the worst of the damage done by the alien weapon. If Jack didn't know anything was wrong, he might expect his friend to wake at any moment and blink up at him.
//'Hey, Jack,'// he could almost hear Daniel's voice in the quiet of the infirmary. There, in the quiet sanctuary of the dim room with no one around to witness, Jack O'Neill wept. He sat at the bedside of the man who had become his best friend in the world and cried. He cried for the anger and grief that still raged inside of him, he cried in fear that they were going to go through the Herculean effort of this bedside vigil and Daniel would still die. And he cried because if that happened, he would be alone again.
If Daniel died, Jack O'Neill would die. Maybe not in as final a way as Daniel, but it would be death all the same. The death of the man he had become because of his friend, Daniel Jackson.
Finally, he lifted his head scrubbing at his eyes. He took Daniel's hand; it seemed to be the only part of him that wasn't bandaged or bruised or had a line attached to it. Curling his fingers around it, it seemed curiously whole and strong.
Daniel's hands were amazing. He communicated as much with his hands as he did with speech. Jack clutched Daniel's hand, taking strength from it. He was determined that the rest of his friend would be as whole and strong as that hand again someday.
He took a deep breath and began to talk, telling Daniel the story of Jack O'Neill. It seemed that they never had a chance to talk, they were always caught up in one crisis or another. Now he had nothing but time and a too-quiet Daniel Jackson for an audience.
"Wake up, Daniel," he cried out to his friend, "wake up and tell me about those dusty relics you study. Tell me they're artifacts, tell me to leave you alone and let you sleep, just... tell me something."
The room was even quieter after his outburst. There was only the hum and the beep of the machinery to keep him company in the night.
~~~~~
Claire held onto her son as he cried. She rubbed his back in comforting circles. "We didn't want to leave you alone," she protested.
"I know that." He pulled off his glasses, rubbing his red-rimmed eyes with the back of his hand. "It took me a long time to forgive you and Dad for leaving me like that." Searching through his pockets for a Kleenex, he muttered in disgust, "You'd think if this was the afterlife, I'd be spared the runny nose."
His mother laughed, "This isn't the afterlife," she insisted.
He seized onto her words, "Then I'm not dead?"
"Did I say you were dead?" She'd done that when he was a child, answering his questions with questions, to make him work things out for himself. As a child he'd thought it was a fun game; as an adult, he found it a little irritating.
"Then how do you explain all this... this place... my seeing you?" He demanded obstinately.
"You always were too smart. You could confound me at five with your logical arguments of why you should be allowed to stay up just a little while longer. You were so cute..."
He refused to be deterred; a new thought had entered his mind, "Are you really my mother?" His eyes narrowed as he studied her, "You could be an alien posing as my mother." He backed away from her, suspicion beginning to build inside him. "You could be using my memories somehow to make me think that you're Claire Jackson. I mean, you even knew what I was thinking before."
Her amused smile turned to a concerned frown, "Daniel Jackson, what in the world have you gotten yourself involved in? Has your grandfather...?"
Daniel cocked his head curiously, watching her every move. She looked like his mother, she sounded like his mother. She even smelled like his mother. "You don't know what I've 'gotten myself involved in'?" He demanded harshly. "I thought you were supposed to keep an eye on me from where ever," he waved a vague hand skyward, "it is that you are."
She laughed, "It's not like we have a window into your life," she told him gently. "I knew what you were thinking because you had it written all over your face. And yes, we can sense how you're feeling: your joys and triumphs, your pain and sorrow, but the day-to-day details? No, we don't know those. You'll have to fill those in for me."
Daniel couldn't believe that he was beginning to doubt this woman. He shut his eyes and tried to think. What was the last thing he could remember about SG-1's mission?
//Stepping through the gate, they found themselves on a stone pedestal surrounded by a green, grassy glade. There was the hum of insects and birds called overhead, the sky was a cloudless blue. Everything was inviting, calling out for Daniel to come explore.//
"Daniel, what is it?" He heard the being who looked like his mother say.
He held up a hand to silence her without opening his eyes.
//A glint of something metallic caught his eye, he stepped off the platform to get a closer look. There was a shout, from Teal'c maybe. He looked back just as something beneath his feet erupted. He remembered searing pain, and a creeping numbness... //
Then he found himself on the beach.
He opened his eyes. "There was an explosion."
She nodded, "You were seriously injured," she told him gravely.
"I am dead then." He sat heavily. "Oh, God, I can't be dead. What about Sha're? Who's going to rescue her? What about my friends? I can't leave them."
She sat beside him, putting a gentle hand on his shoulder, "You're not dead yet," she insisted gently.
"Then what is this place? If I'm not dead, where am I?" He snapped.
"It's a waiting room of sorts."
"Waiting room?"
"Sometimes there's no choice whether you have to cross to the other side, Daniel. Your father and I didn't have a choice." She rested her head on his shoulder and hugged him close, "We wouldn't have ever chosen to leave you. But sometimes, if the will is strong enough, you can choose life." She put her hands on either side of his face and gently turned his face so she could look into his eyes. "Do you have anything to live for, son?" He searched her eyes trying to find some sign that she was real and right there beside him.
"Oh, Mom, I have everything to live for." He thought about everything he had seen and done since he had discovered how to open the Stargate. "I have a wife, Mom. Her name's Sha're. You would love her so much, she's so beautiful and smart."
"You love her, Danny, that's enough for me." Her simple acceptance was so like the mother he remembered. His doubts were dissipating, somehow this was his mother sitting beside him.
"She's not from Earth, you know that don't you?" He gazed at anxiously.
"I know it now." He started to go on, but she stopped him. "Daniel, our time is almost up. You have to make a decision. Are you coming with me now? Or are you going to go back."
For a brief moment Daniel felt the creeping numbness and the cold. His mother squeezed his fingers.
"It's alright, whatever you decide. Your father and I will be here waiting when it's your time. You have friends who are worried about you, and a wife. You can't leave her." She hugged him tightly; it would have to last for a long while.
He wanted to tell her everything. He wanted to sit there with his mother and tell her about everything that had ever happened to him, but he could feel his body, reaching out to pull him back.
"Mom?" He was afraid of the numbness that began to take him.
"It's alright, Daniel. You have to choose. Do you want to come with me? Or do you choose life?"
Around him the beach was gone, the blackness was pulling at him. He could feel himself losing the battle as the cold enveloped him, reaching for his heart... As he felt himself falling into the darkness, Daniel wasn't sure that the choice was his to make anymore.
~~~~~
The lights were low in the infirmary as Sam approached the bed of her friend. It had been 4 days, and Daniel showed no signs of emerging from the deep coma he had fallen into.
She could hear the heart monitor as she drew nearer; it beat in a steady reassuring rhythm. It had stopped once during her first watch. Those had been the longest minutes of her life, listening to the flat monotonous tone as Fraiser and the SGC medical staff frantically worked to bring him back. They had done their part. Now she had to do hers and make sure that Daniel remembered he had people who loved him waiting for his return.
She smiled as she caught a glimpse of the Colonel. Long legs stretched out, he leaned back in the hard plastic chair, the paper resting on his chest. She tiptoed over to take a peek - it was no surprise to find it open at the sports scores.
She put a hand on his shoulder shaking it gently.
The Colonel snapped awake instantly. "What?" He took in the bed and the monitors at a glance. Assessing that everything was fine, he began to fold his newspaper casually.
"Time to change watch, sir. Why don't you go sleep in a bed?"
"I was not asleep, Captain," he informed her peevishly, "I was just resting my eyes."
"Whatever you say, sir." It reassured her a little. The first days of their vigil had required constant monitoring. Daniel's condition must be improving if the Colonel felt he could 'rest' his eyes. "Any changes?"
He paused in smoothing the paper, "None that you could tell, Carter."
"But?" She knew her commanding officer well enough to see there was something he wasn't telling.
He was quiet a moment, searching for the words. "His breathing changed in the night. It was like it was easier." He shrugged, "there weren't any changes on the machines, so it was probably just my imagination."
"Maybe." She waited, but he didn't show any signs of vacating the chair at Daniel's side. "The General said for you to consider yourself ordered to rest, sir. He said 'don't make me come down there, Jack'."
He seemed to be considering her words and finally heaved himself out of the chair. "Call me for... whatever... you know," he told her heavily.
"Of course, sir." She watched him as he disappeared into the darkness, his steps slow and hesitant. He turned back once to look at them, waving despondently. She returned the wave with a small salute.
When he was out of sight, she moved to Daniel's side studying the monitors and the readouts. They showed no appreciable change in their friend. She listened as he breathed, trying to tune out the beeps and the hums. She didn't really hear anything different, but she respected the Colonel. If he thought there had been an improvement, then it was enough for her.
She sat, putting her hand on Daniel's. She thought it was important to keep touching him; like a kind of anchor, giving him something solid to hang onto. "Come on, Daniel, this is getting old. I really need for you to wake up here." She couldn't imagine her life without him in it.
He was one of the few people who challenged her. He made her look at the world in a new way. When she was ready to give up on a problem, he would turn it on its end. It was maddening sometimes, and exhilarating, when they were trying to solve a problem and he wouldn't let her quit until they had found a solution.
She pushed his bangs back sighing when the only answer was the steady beep of the heart monitor and the rise and fall of the ventilator that breathed for her friend. It would have to be enough.
She pulled out the book she had brought with her and settled into the chair so recently vacated by the Colonel. She wriggled a little trying to find a more comfortable position. Opening the book, she began to read.
~~~~~
Normally when he kel-no-reemed Teal'c would sit on a small woven rug brought back from his home on Chulak, it was all that he had of the broken pieces of his life there. But on this night he sat on the hard, cold floor, next to the bed of his friend. Tonight he needed the discomfort of the chill floor to keep him from falling too far into his meditations. He needed to remain vigilant as he sat at his friend's side.
The doctor had removed Daniel Jackson from the ventilator that morning. It was a good thing that the doctor had judged his condition improved enough to be removed from the machine, but it was now important that his breathing be monitored to make sure that it remained even and regular. While it was true that there were machines that performed that task, Teal'c did not altogether trust them. Technology had failed before. It was his duty to ensure his friend's continued well-being, and he did not take that duty lightly.
Around him the candles flickered casting shadows across Daniel Jackson's bed and onto the wall. He drew in a breath and let it out slowly, seeking that quiet place that would afford him the rest his body needed. One breath and then another, in and out; but it eluded him, remaining ever just out of reach. His thoughts were chaotic, refusing to be calmed. At last he gave up the effort and followed the thoughts where ever they would lead him.
Teal'c had caused so much pain in Daniel Jackson's life. As First Prime of Apophis it had been he who led the attack on Abydos where Daniel Jackson's wife, Sha're, and her brother, Skaara, were taken captive. They were eventually forced to become hosts themselves for the Goa'uld. Again, it was Teal'c who had chosen Sha're personally to be the host for Apophis mate, Ammonet. He had watched as the loathsome creature entered her body and made it her own.
He hated his God, and he hated himself for what he was forced to do in Apophis' name. But he saw no way out for himself or his people. It had taken O'Neill and the people of the Tau'ri to convince him that there was another way. Teal'c had chosen to give up his own life to save theirs. In them he had seen hope that someday perhaps all of the Jaffa could be freed of their servitude to the Goa'uld. It had been hard, he gave up his life and his family, putting them at risk as well. But there were some ideals that one had to be willing to risk everything for.
Now he took it as a matter of honor that he should protect Daniel Jackson, keep him from further harm. This time he had failed. Again and again, in his mind's eye he saw the explosion that had shattered his friend. He was haunted with the thought that there should have been some way to have prevented Daniel Jackson's injuries.
Teal'c searched his memory seeking something he could have done, something he should have seen that might have warned him sooner of the danger. Keeping part of his attention focused on the beeps and the hums of the machinery, on the steady rise and fall of his friend's chest; Teal'c remembered.
He had seen no sign of inhabitants as they stepped through the gate, just as the MALP's report indicated. His senses registered the bird song, the scent of flowers in the air; he also noted the close presence of the DHD on the platform with the gate. It sat just out of range of an opening wormhole. The gate itself stood in an open glade, visible for many miles in all directions. It was a good strategic position.
It seemed so innocent, so safe and inviting. Teal'c, more than even O'Neill, knew how deceptive such things could be. He had been the First Prime of Apophis. He had set enough ambushes to recognize one when he saw it.
He called out his warning just as Daniel Jackson had stepped off the stairs onto the grassy meadow. The young scholar looked back over his shoulder at Teal'c. The Jaffa had seen the look of surprise and then the pain when the ground below his feet erupted, throwing Daniel Jackson's body backwards into the arms of his friends.
There was nothing he could have done, he knew that. And still he searched his memory for some sign he should have seen sooner, some warning he should have noted quicker. It was futile; nothing could change what had happened. But he needed to be prepared, so that nothing like it could ever happen again.
And always he listened for any difference in the sound of Daniel Jackson's breathing, alert to any movement he might make, any indication that his friend was still in his body somewhere just waiting to join them again.
~~~~~
//Choose, he had to choose.//
Daniel found himself in a place that had neither form or substance. He just was. He could feel the pull of his body, but it was filled with pain and he wasn't sure he wanted to go back there.
It had been so nice to sit with his mother, to see her smile, feel her hand on his face. It had been like a dream and the memory was slipping away even as he tried to recapture it. He was tired, bone weary. It would be so easy to just let go and drift away into the grey and waiting void; to choose to move on, he could do that.
But every time he thought of turning away, of giving up his hold on life, he heard voices, familiar voices, whispering his name. He could feel a hand firmly clasped to his, holding him to life. Curious, he concentrated, trying to hear what the voices were saying to him.
"For crying out loud, Daniel."
Jack, it was Jack calling to him.
"What are you doing lying in that bed? If you didn't want to go to the hockey game you should have just said so."
But he did, Daniel wanted to go to the hockey game, he'd been looking forward to it. He didn't understand the game, but he did enjoy his time with Jack, the friendship they shared.
He tried to whisper it to him, but it was too hard, the pain was too much. //'Don't go away, Jack,'// he tried to say, //'hold on to me.'//
Even though he never said the words, Jack didn't leave. Jack stayed, holding on to him.
If Jack was gone, Sam was there, "Hey, Daniel," she said. He could feel her hand on his forehead, cool and soothing. "I need you here. Come back to us." She sounded so forlorn and alone.
As much as he wanted to go, he couldn't leave Sam alone. They shared a bond he'd never had with anyone else, not even Sha're. She was the sister he'd never had and always longed for, someone who shared his passion and love for learning.
Sometimes he could feel Teal'c there sitting beside him. The alien warrior's presence was so powerful that he didn't have to touch Daniel for him to know he was there.
They were the link that Daniel used to hold onto to life. His life line that he clutched desperately as he tried to find his way back.
//Choose, he had to choose...//
~~~~~
Jack had spent six days sitting, watching the slow rise and fall of Daniel's chest. He watched for some sign or movement that their friend was still with them. It had been six days of hell imagining what life would be like if Daniel died.
Janet had assured the team that it was all right that Daniel didn't wake. His body had endured so much trauma that what he really needed most was to rest and heal. Still, Jack wished he would just lift an eyelid, twitch a finger, quirk an eyebrow. Something. Anything to let his friends know that he was still in there somewhere. Reading the sports page out loud, he nearly missed the low, almost inaudible sound.
"...Choose?"
The word was croaked out, more of a moan than an actual word. But to Jack it sounded like sweet music.
"I choose..."
"Hey, buddy. What do you choose?" Reaching over, he pushed the call button to alert Janet of the change in Daniel's condition. "Stay with me." This was the moment he had been waiting for. Jack thanked whatever g-d had granted him this favor; that he was the one to see those lashes flutter and watch Daniel's eyes open.
He picked up the cloth sitting in a bowl of clean of water next to the bed. He ran it over his friend's mouth, knowing that his lips must be cracked and dry after so many days of disuse. He squeezed it a little so that some of the moisture trickled down into the parched mouth. Daniel licked his lips and his eyes closed.
"Hey, Daniel. Stay with me for a second. Janet's going to be really ticked if she misses seeing those baby blues of yours." Daniel opened his eyes again squinting up at Jack. There was confusion mixed with the pain he saw there. "What is it, Daniel?"
Janet entered, her heels clicking on the floor announcing her arrival. She didn't interrupt, she just moved to Daniel's other side to monitor her patient's condition.
He tried to mumble something and Jack shook his head. Picking up a cup, Jack held the straw so Daniel could drink. After a small sip he tried again. "Bus?"
Jack looked at Janet and shrugged. Who knew what had been going on in his head the last six days? "I'm sorry, buddy, I don't understand."
Another small sip and then another try, "... bus hit me?"
Comprehension dawned for Jack and he smiled, "It wasn't a bus, Daniel, but close."
"Will I live?" He looked up at them anxiously. Jack quirked an eyebrow to the Doctor, this was her question to answer.
She smiled down at him in her best professional manner, "You might not think so right now, Dr. Jackson, but absolutely."
Some of the anxiety left his eyes, and he was already beginning to drift back into restful sleep. He struggled to stay awake for one more question, "...stay with me?"
"Wouldn't be anywhere else, buddy, they couldn't drag me away."
With that reassurance Daniel closed his eyes. His head rolled over onto the pillow. The lines on his face smoothed for the first time since the nightmare had begun.
Jack looked at the Doctor. "Did you lie to him?"
"No, Colonel, I didn't. He has a long way to go, some more surgery to get through, but he'll make it. Thank you, sir."
He reached out, covering her hand where she was taking Daniel's pulse. "No, thank you, Doc." He always admired and respected her; no matter the hell he gave her when he was her patient. But the past six days he had seen her strength and courage, as he never had before. She seemed to literally will Daniel to live and Daniel had responded. He didn't know if she would ever know the depths of his gratitude.
She put her other hand on his and squeezed it gently. "You're welcome, sir."
There was a little silence between them with his hand between hers. "You know you might consider getting a little rest yourself. You're looking nearly as bad as Daniel. I would hate to have to confine you to a bed."
He started to call her bluff and then reconsidered. He'd never really known the doctor to bluff before. "I'll take some time now, Doc. I just want to sit a minute and make sure he doesn't wake up again right away."
"Trust me, it's not going to happen. Go get something to eat and some rest." She made a few notes on her patient's chart and left Jack there alone with his friend.
Sam came in to find him just sitting there. "Hey, Janet said he woke up."
"For all of about 2 minutes"
"Still. It's a good sign."
"Yeah. Still." They sat in companionable silence for a moment, and then he stood wearily. "It's your watch, Carter, I'm going to get something to eat, then sleep for about two days myself."
"I'll let you know if anything changes." Watching him leave, she allowed herself to hope. This was the first time in six days that Jack O'Neill had voluntarily left Daniel's side.
~~~~~
Over the days and weeks that followed, Daniel's corner of the infirmary changed markedly. It was transformed from a grey and sterile place into a warm, inviting shelter. Teal'c brought his candles and practiced his Kel-No-Reen there. Jack went to Daniel's place and brought back some of his favorite music and books.
Carter refused to sit in the hard plastic chairs any longer. Instead she brought in a rocking chair with a soft cushion for them to use. There was never a moment of the day or night that one member or another of the team wasn't with him, usually all three were there, just sitting quietly. While Janet insisted that they each leave the infirmary for six straight hours a day, she had three beds moved in beside Daniel's.
It amused her that each member of the team had very distinct ways in which they kept watch at Daniel's bedside. Janet didn't know if Daniel really knew they were there. He would wake from time to time and seemed to take comfort from finding them there, but knowing they were there helped raise Janet's spirits. Sometimes she would stand just beyond the curtained area that was Daniel's private domain, where no one could see her, and just listen.
Teal'c favored telling Daniel stories of his childhood on Chulak and of his training with Master Bra'tac. Occasionally Sam would read to him from volumes of poetry, more often she brought some project or other she was working on. She would work out loud, as if she were trying to bounce her ideas off Daniel. Sometimes she would take both sides of the conversation and imagine what he might say to her.
Jack read the sports page to him every day. Janet smiled to think that it was probably more than Daniel had every known about sports in his life. He read the biographies of sports heroes to him and explained the rules of hockey. Sometimes Jack would pull out one of Daniel's old journals and read to him the young man's own words from happier days spent on Abydos. Some hours he would just sit and hold Daniel's hand as if it were the anchor to his friend's soul.
~~~~~
It was on a day when Jack was again reading the sports page to him, that Daniel woke at last with some semblance of comprehension in his blue eyes. "Jack?"
Instantly dropping the paper, Jack leaned into his friend. "Hey, Daniel." He picked up the cup of water from its place on the table and held the straw for his friend to drink. It took a minute, but there was more awareness in Daniel's eyes than any of them had seen thus far. Jack smiled down at him. "How are you feeling."
"...Sports scores?"
"Hey, I can't let you get behind on the important stuff just because you're out of it for a while."
The eyes brightened with amusement, "...new form of torture? I give up. I'll tell you anything you want to know."
"It's not that bad, have you been listening to some of those science manuals Carter's been reading from? Jeez, it gives me a headache just looking at the covers. And you know, none of those things have any pictures."
Jack imagined that he saw a ghost of a smile form, but it was replaced by a frown, "What happened?"
"You don't remember?"
There was a small shake of his head.
"You don't remember deciding to take a walk in a minefield?" Jack asked incredulously.
"Minefield? No. Was anyone else hurt?"
"Just you. You found them before the rest of us could. Actually it was the perimeter of the gate that was mined. Some people seriously did not want visitors. Seems to me they could have just posted a 'no trespassing' sign. We would have left nicely."
"God! How long?"
Jack shrugged. He wanted to downplay the situation, make it not as bad as it was, but how did you do that exactly? "A couple of weeks."
"Have you? I mean, well..."
Jack could read the question in the blue eyes, "We've been here the whole time."
"Thanks," Daniel's eyes misted at that.
"Hey, we couldn't let you have all the fun alone."
"Fun? Jack you are twisted." Yes, there was a definite smile as his eyes closed and he slipped back into sleep.
~~~~~
Jack paused at the door to the infirmary looking through the window. He remembered the day over a month ago when he had stood there, wondering if his friend was going to live or die. The damage done by the alien mine was on its way to being repaired, Daniel had underwent more surgery and was slowly healing.
It had been exactly a month since he had woken the first time and they knew he was going to make it. So, now, Jack O'Neill, Daniel's closest friend, was going to destroy him again.
Taking a deep breath, Jack pushed open the door and entered the room. He was greeted with the ever-present quiet hum of the infirmary, the reassuring sound of machines doing their job, keeping a body alive that by all rights should have been dead. Daniel looked like some bizarre half-man, half-machine creature with tubes and IV's and lines attached to his body in a multitude of places. But he was alive.
Daniel stirred when he heard footsteps and smiled enthusiastically, "Hey Jack, Janet told me they may fix up one of the VIP rooms soon and let me move down there. Something about getting my whiny self out of her infirmary. I don't whine, do I?"
Jack smiled. Daniel's voice was getting stronger every day. And if Janet was thinking of moving him out from under her watchful eye in the infirmary, then the young man must be getting better. "Hey, not that I've ever noticed, but I wouldn't argue with her. You know what she does to people who argue with her."
"Oh, yeah, needles...." Daniel shifted uncomfortably as if he had unpleasant memories of what Janet did with those needles. "Anyway, she said I could probably start doing some work once they move me. You know, light stuff, translating and digging through some of the artifacts teams have brought back since my accident. I guess things are piling up."
"I've seen the stuff, Daniel; it's just piles of dusty rocks. There's nothing that can't wait. Besides they're bringing in some kid with credentials up to here," He held his hand up to his neck, "to help us out while you're laid up."
"I don't need anyone to come in and help. I can get caught up..." his agitated tone and raised heart rate caused one of the monitors to begin beeping louder.
From inside the office they heard a feminine voice call out, "Colonel O'Neill, if you're upsetting my patient, I will personally boot you out of my infirmary. Do you understand me?"
"Yes, ma'am," he answered quickly. You did not upset Dr. Fraiser in her own territory. She was like a mother bear protecting her own when it came to taking care of her patients, and Daniel was one of her favorite cubs.
"Calm down, Daniel, Jeez you're going to get me in trouble. It's only for a few months, until you've recovered." Jack spoke in his most soothing tones and the young man did seem to grow calmer, if only a little. Then it occurred to Jack that the calm might be medically induced. He thought he remembered Fraiser telling them that one of those tubes delivered a sedative automatically when Daniel's heart rate was elevated. Well, okay, he would take the calm any way he could get it. "As a matter fact, the General wants SG-1 back in the field."
"Well, sure. I didn't think you guys would wait around for me until I was able to join you again. That may be a while yet." His voice was getting weaker and his eyes were starting to close. Yes, most definitely Janet's medicine was working it's magic.
"So, the General wants us to take the new kid with us, kind of get him up to speed, let him see exactly what it is we do here." The heart monitor went crazy on that one; he could see that Daniel was struggling against the effects of the sedative. The look he gave Jack was one of pure reproach.
"Are you replacing me, Jack? Is there something that Janet isn't telling me? Am I going to be stuck in this bed forever?" Speaking of the Doc, Jack heard her brisk footsteps behind him.
"What did I tell you about upsetting him, Colonel? I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to leave." She gave him a withering look that would have frozen a lesser man, but he wasn't done yet. He couldn't leave it like this.
"No, don't make him leave," Daniel struggled to get the words out as he grasped for Jack's hand.
"It's okay, Daniel," Jack took his hand. "The new guy is NOT replacing you. Hey, what can I say? You're irreplaceable. Officially, he's been assigned to SG-3, but he's some new whiz kid and the General wants SG-1 to break him in. You know-show him the ropes, get him used to the routine, and make sure he doesn't hurt himself the first time out."
Daniel looked into his eyes, trying to read the truth behind them. Finally he smiled, relaxing a little. "Well, at least I've given you some experience in knowing what to look out for."
"That's what I'm saying. We're the best-qualified team for that sort of work. Now, we're going to go on this babysitting run with the baby genius. You should see him, Daniel, he looks even younger than you did that first time we went out."
Daniel's eyes were beginning to close again, but he opened them gamely, "Maybe you should put him on a leash," he suggested with a yawn.
"Nah, at least he's military. He'll know better than to go wandering in a minefield." There was a slight hiss from the Doctor and Jack realized what he'd just said. He could have kicked himself, but Daniel only smiled wider as his eyes drooped lower.
"Bet you're not going to have any fun without me..." was all he could get out before he gave up the struggle against the sedatives.
"No bet at all, Danny," he reached out and brushed Daniel's hair back, his breathing smoothed into the regular rhythms of sleep. Jack stood a moment just watching him breathe. Finally he looked up at the doctor with his own small smile, "That went well, don't you think?"
She didn't even bother with a reply. She pointed at the door as she began one more check of Daniel's vitals. She made sure Jack was all the way out of the door before she allowed herself a small smile.
~~~~~
Jack caught up with his team in the gateroom. Everything was ready to go, their packs waiting in a pile next to the ramp. Sam squatted next to him as he checked the contents of his field pack. "How did he take it, sir?"
"Better than I thought he would, but I think that was more because of the doc's happy drugs than anything else. Still, I feel better that I told him. I wouldn't want him to find out from some gossiping nurse that SG-1 had gone out with a new linguist in tow." He glanced around the room, "Have we seen the //wunderkind// yet?"
"Oh, yes," she rolled her eyes. "He's been in and done all of his pre-mission checks. I get the feeling we're holding him back."
"Ease up there, Captain. The kid's eager, there's nothing wrong with that," he advised her in his best 'command' tone. She looked at him with a raised eyebrow, "Okay, I have to work really hard not resent him myself for not being Daniel," he confessed with a little shrug, "but we need to be fair. It's not his fault that Daniel was injured. Just keep telling yourself that it's only temporary. Daniel's getting stronger every day."
"I know, sir, still..." she trailed off and rolled her eyes, "he's just so efficient. It's grating sometimes."
"Yeah, well, Daniel'll be back before we know it. Then we'll hand him off to SG-3. They'll shake some of that efficiency out of him." He smiled and offered the bombshell he'd been waiting to deliver, "Daniel says they're going to move him to one of the VIP rooms soon!"
Carter's delighted cry echoed round the room. The techs stopped what they were doing to look over at the pair.
It was that moment that Lt. Jonathon Michaels bounded in with all the enthusiasm of youth. He was so ready to go. He'd been talked at and debriefed for days now. He just wanted to walk through the gate and stand on a whole new world. When were they going to go already?
Across the room he could see the Colonel and Captain Carter standing in a corner talking, checking their equipment. The Jaffa Teal'c hadn't arrived yet, but the Lieutenant knew he, at least, was ready. He shifted nervously, should he join his teammates? Then the name 'Daniel' floated over to him and he turned his back.
As much as he had heard about the Stargate program over the last couple of weeks, he'd heard nearly as much about Dr. Daniel Jackson and he was sick of it. You would think that the man was some sort of water walker the way people talked about him. Hell, he wasn't even military.
Michaels had read a lot of the mission briefs to get the history and mission of the SGC and his opinion of the Doctor wasn't particularly high. He second-guessed his commanding officer and he didn't follow orders. Hell, just look at the reason he was injured. If the man had had any discipline, it never would have happened.
Privately, Lt. Jonathon Michaels knew he was the better choice for SG-1. He was determined to take the opportunity offered as a temporary member of SG-1 to prove it to them and the General. If he had things his way, Daniel Jackson would never step through the Stargate as a part of the premiere team again.
Finally the alien Teal'c arrived and everything was ready. The General gave the go for dialing to start and Lt. Jonathon Michaels, lately of the United States Air Force Academy, watched the Stargate spin for the first time. It was one of the defining moments of his life to watch it spin and lock, spin and lock, seven times before the gate engaged and the pool of silvery blue liquid sprang into life before him.
He stood in awe that such a thing existed, that people had walked on new worlds, exploring; and no one in the outside world even knew about it. Now he stood in their number.
He looked over at the three members of his new team and swallowed. He so badly wanted to be accepted. He wanted to succeed. He wanted to show them that he could follow orders, that he could make them the team he knew they could be. He wanted to make them forget that Doctor Daniel Jackson had ever existed.
He wanted these people whom he respected with all his soul, to speak of him as they spoke of the geeky archaeologist, with quiet respect and love. He wanted it more than he had ever wanted anything, and he was determined to prove his worth, no matter what it took. He lifted his pack and followed the other three up the ramp.
He had read all the material about the wormhole, but he didn't really understand how it worked. He just knew that if these people told him that it was safe then he would believe them. He would have followed them to hell if they had asked him to, just for a chance to be a part of their team; the best team - SG-1. Soon it would be his team.
He followed as they stepped through the silvery surface of the gate, and went on the most amazing trip of his life. He thought he would just step through the gate and would be someplace else. He hadn't expected the cold or the feeling of being pulled apart. There was a sense of sliding, sliding, sliding, and then he was pulled back together and born into a new place. He stepped through the other side of the gate and found himself standing on another planet.
He thought he knew what to expect. He'd seen the MALP's information, flat pictures on a screen that was supposed to prepare him to stand on another world. He knew there would be two suns and he was ready with his protective sunglasses. He was unprepared for the rush of wonder that overwhelmed him. He was standing on a new world!
It was a world that humans had never known before. He and the rest of SG-1 were the first from Earth to ever step there. He was surprised at how green it was, at how much it looked like his own Earth. //Okay, except there were two suns and it was really bright.// He slipped the glasses over his eyes as he saw his teammates doing. He tried to look as nonchalant and easy as they did. He stood there attempting not to gape at the new world around him and looked to the Colonel to follow his lead.
O'Neill glanced back opening his mouth to tell Daniel to not move a step. He stopped himself in time when he realized that it wasn't Daniel standing there. He did his best to quell the swell of resentment he felt toward the kid who was actually standing there. He almost succeeded.
Shading his eyes with his hand, O'Neill surveyed the planet. Even with the sunglasses it was still really bright. Yeah, two suns did that. //Hope I packed the heavy-duty sunscreen.//
Green grass stretched as far as they could see. In front of them a road ran toward a building silhouetted against the horizon, "Hey, Carter," he called, pulling her to the side. "What would you say that was?"
Following his gaze to the far-distant ruin, she answered in a lowered tone, "Maybe you should ask Michaels, sir. Isn't that what he's here for? Let him get his feet wet?"
"A temple, wouldn't you say?" He asked in the same low tones she had used. After listening to Daniel's lectures, he figured he should know a temple when he saw one.
"Looks like, sir," she nodded.
"Good, that's what I thought." He beckoned the younger man to join him as he moved off the pedestal, trusting Carter and Teal'c to move in behind them and cover their six.
Michaels hurried to catch up with his commanding officer. "Yes, sir?"
"So, you studied archaeology before you went to the Academy?" The road they walked on was obviously old, but it was still smooth and flat. Curiously enough it wasn't cracked and overgrown with vegetation as he might have expected to find.
"Yes, sir. I had a foster brother once who..." Some emotion O'Neill couldn't identify flickered over his face and then it was gone as he abruptly shut it down. After a moment he continued, "I wanted to be an archaeologist. My dad wanted me to be in the Air Force." He shrugged, "I guess dad won." There was a tone to his voice the Colonel couldn't quite place.
"You never know. You might get to use those digging skills yet. Daniel even gets to use those little bitty brushes he carries around every now and then. You should see him; he gets so excited when he pulls them out. He has this ritual..."
"Yes, sir." Michaels cut him off brusquely, then temporized with, "If I may ask, what are we looking for here?"
//The kid didn't waste time with small talk. Okay...// "Well, basically we're just on a fact-finding mission here. We're scoping the place out, see if there are any native folk, find out if they've seen anybody walking around with strange glowing eyes..."
"Reconnaissance, sir?"
"Well, yes if you want to put it simply." //The kid really didn't waste words. That was a good thing right?// "SG-1 is kind of like first contact. It's our job to assess a planet and see if it's worth further study."
Michaels seemed to consider his words, before asking, "It's pretty dangerous, isn't it, sir?"
"Well, I guess that's why we're paid the big bucks."
"Do you mind if I ask you a question?"
"Go ahead, Michaels, that's the only way you're going to learn things."
"Well, how is it that a front line team like SG-1 had a civilian in it?"
//Had?// Jack looked at the kid askance, "Well, Daniel isn't just any civilian, you know. He's the one who figured out the secrets to making the Stargate work. We wouldn't have gotten anywhere without him."
"And I'm sure he's very valuable back on the base translating and researching, but should he be in the first team that ever sets foot on a new world? Isn't that dangerous? I've read the reports and he sounds..., I don't know..., like a geek?"
//Okay, the kid had just overstepped his bounds, it didn't matter who his daddy was.// The Colonel had his suspicions as to how high that went, but he was not going to let him call Daniel names... //Nobody got to call Daniel a geek but Jack O'Neill and he hadn't done that for a long time. Okay, hold on to your temper, change the subject.//
"So, Michaels, what would you say that is, there on the horizon?" Jack pointed vaguely in the direction of the building, "Looks kinda like a Piggly Wiggly to me, but what do I know? I'm just a military type."
He paused to consider. "Well, sir, there's just any number of things it could be. I'd hate to make any premature guesses just to be proved wrong later."
"Look, Lieutenant, SG-1 has to work fast. We have to get in quick, find out everything we can and get out. You never know if the locals are going to be friendly or if they're going to want to invite you for dinner and I mean you are the dinner. Or maybe you've accidentally stumbled onto a Goa'uld stronghold; so you've got to use all the tools at hand and think fast, make quick judgments.
"Now let me tell you," he couldn't resist taking a jab at the young man for his 'geek' comment, "Daniel's mind works at the speed of light. Sometimes he comes up with things out of thin air, just by breathing the air of a new planet. So, tell me, what do you think that structure is?"
Michaels took a deep breath before he answered. He knew he was being tested, but it just wasn't fair. //Here was his chance to prove himself and the specter of Daniel was there, standing right beside to the Colonel, where he wanted to be. Okay, what was the damned building?//
"Well, some sort of public place, where people gathered, maybe a meeting hall or a government building. If you look, you'll see, even from here, that there are several roads that converge on it. Everything's kind of overgrown, like no one's been here in a while. It's obviously long abandoned."
The thought of having the chance to study it, even for a few days, set his heart beating faster. Who knew what he would find there? It was the mystery that made him love archaeology. His breath caught in his throat when he realized that he could be the one to find the weapon that would make Earth safe from the threat of the Goa'uld. That would show his father and Daniel Jackson who was second best.
He imagined himself returning to the SGC triumphantly. He could see the rest of SG-1 gathered around him proudly. The people would be applauding, his dad would be there, and Daniel ...
The Colonel's voice brought him abruptly back to the present situation, "The MALP's data didn't indicate that there were signs of civilization here about. So, I think we're alone right now. This road is going in that direction, why don't we take a look and see what it is exactly?" The Colonel turned his impenetrable gaze on him for a moment. It was impossible for the young man to tell what he was thinking, but he had the feeling that he was being judged on the scale of Daniel and had been found wanting.
//As if that had never happened before...//
O'Neill slowed his pace to walk with Carter. He exchanged a look with Teal'c, and gave a small jerk of his head. The big Jaffa moved up to walk with the newest member of their team; newest temporary member of their team.
"Carter." They walked in silence. The ruin they headed toward just seemed to keep getting further away as the Stargate receded behind them until they couldn't see it anymore. Finally he spoke, "Daniel's going to recover, isn't he? I mean fully."
"I think so, yes, sir. I kind of snuck a look at his chart, and it was bad. Bad." She shuddered, "but he's doing really well, and he's got the best care. I think he's going to be back with us. It might not be for a while yet, but... he'll be back."
"Good. I was afraid we really were training this kid to take his place. Is there something 'hinky' about this kid, Carter?" He asked finally.
"You mean besides the fact that he's not Daniel?" She grinned at him.
Jack shook his head, "He irritates me just by standing there," he admitted reluctantly. "He just wants to please you, sir. I think there's a huge amount of hero worship there. Whenever I've talked to him, it's been 'the Colonel said this,' and 'the Colonel said that.' 'I read in a report that SG-1 did this,' 'don't you think he's brave, smart, a brilliant tactician.' I don't think I've heard him go more than a whole sentence without saying your name."
"Well, you do have to admire his good sense, there."
"Really, sir, I think he's okay. He just wants to prove himself to you. It seems very important to him."
"So, what do you think? Is there anything worth studying here?" He gestured at the world around them.
She shook her head. "The MALP didn't indicate any signs of any advanced civilization here - no radio waves, no energy signatures of any kind. I think that the only thing of interest to us is that temple. I'll get some soil samples. There might be something of mineral value, but I don't think we're going to find any advanced allies against the Goa'uld here."
"I agree. So, let's put the kid through his paces and see if he knows what he's doing. Do you know he thinks our ruin is a government building?"
"No way!"
"Way!"
They continued walking in companionable silence, letting Teal'c and Michaels set the pace.
~~~~~
They put their four days to good use. Lt. Michaels scoured the building, making notes and trying to translate the writings he found on every wall. It was Hebrew, he was sure, an ancient dialect. He recognized some of the pictographs along with the letters, but he wasn't familiar enough with the language to be able to translate it.
He trembled with excitement when he discovered a cache of delicate scrolls hidden within a niche cleverly concealed in the wall. The spidery text on them matched the language on the walls. Much to his chagrin, they were set aside to take back to Earth for study by Daniel Jackson. It made him even angrier when he had to spend precious time filming the structure from every possible angle. He knew that it would be Dr. Jackson taking credit for anything found.
Carter and Teal'c explored in every direction to see what they could find. Gone for hours at a time, what they found was nothing - no sign of anyone or any recent habitation. Whoever had once lived on the planet, the people who had built the temple were long gone.
Jack sat and watched. He watched for a threat on a world where there was none. He watched a man whom he wished was someone else. He watched for something, he didn't know exactly what.
Lt. Michaels was entirely too military. Jack had never known there was such a thing. Perhaps he'd been that way once, too long ago to remember. But since he'd met Daniel, he had changed in ways that he'd never imagined possible.
One of the things he'd learned from Daniel was to not make hasty judgements. He'd done that once with Daniel and been proved impossibly, completely wrong. So Jack decided he'd leave the new kid alone; let him work. See what he came up with. Maybe he would find that the Jack O'Neill instinct would be proven wrong this time, but he didn't really think so.
~~~~~
It had been four amazing days. Jonathon had spent the time indulging his passion for archaeology. His father had never understood his desire to pursue it as a career. He tried to explain, to tell his father how much he loved finding things from the past, the mystery that it presented, putting together the pieces that each find presented to paint a picture of life as it once must have been.
"It's just digging in the dirt," the General told his son with a growl. In the end his father won and Jonathon had enlisted in the Air Force. Jonathon smiled at the rage his father must have felt when it was his archaeological credentials that had gained him his place at the SGC and not his father's rank and privilege.
Jonathon picked up the scrolls he had found reverently. It made him angry that it would be Daniel Jackson studying them at home. He was the one who found them. They were ancient and delicate, any handling further deteriorated their condition. He had the spiteful thought that maybe they would crumble in the other man's hands.
"Michaels." The Colonel's voice calling him made him start guiltily. Did the other man knew what he was thinking? He seemed to have a sixth sense where Daniel was concerned.
"Yes, sir?" Jonathon asked nervously.
"You ready to go?" The Colonel gestured toward the waiting Stargate.
"Oh." He breathed out in relief. "Sure. Coming, sir." He answered, packing the scrolls away carefully.
He didn't want to go home. He wished they had more time to plumb the place of its secrets. They'd only scratched the surface of what it had to tell them. But he knew his duty. And now it was time to go home.
He ran up the stairs of the pedestal where the Stargate stood. He turned for one last look back; this was the first new world he had ever stepped on. He'd never be able to say that again.
He'd had a lot of firsts this trip and he was looking forward to a lot more. He had done well; he knew he had. He was certain that not even the legendary Doctor Daniel Jackson could have done better. And most importantly in his mind, they were going home with a 100% safety record. No cuts, no bruises, no injuries of any kind to show for their time spent off-world. Hell, no one had even got sun burned.
He looked back to see the Colonel watching him with that unreadable expression on his face, but that was okay. He knew he would have to earn the team's respect and trust, but he would do it. He would!
The Colonel tapped his watch, "01200, time to go home." He stepped through the gate after Carter and Teal'c, leaving the other man alone.
Jonathon stepped through the gate, after a last wave at the deserted world. The trip back was just as exhilarating as he remembered; he was going to love being a part of SG-1.
He stepped forward through the alien gate on one side and stepped out on the other side onto the ramp in the SGC. Gazing around at the faces waiting to greet them - the returning heroes; his satisfaction turned to dust. There at the bottom of the ramp, seated in a wheelchair trailing IV's and lines, with Doctor Fraiser at his side, was none other than Daniel Jackson himself.
Michaels nearly bumped into the Colonel who stopped in surprise to see the man there waiting for them. Then all three of his teammates seemed to surge forward to cluster around their friend.
"Hey, big guy," Jack said as he knelt down, "Looking good. You've got a chauffeur and everything."
"It is good to see you here, Daniel Jackson," Teal'c agreed in his ever-grave fashion.
"What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be in bed?" Sam leaned over, hugging Daniel awkwardly around all the lines and tubes strung between his body and the wheelchair. "I mean, we're really glad to see you, Daniel."
Michaels hung back from the group unsure what to do. No one even noticed him or thought to include him. Not that he wanted to be a part of that group. It sickened him to see the way they all gushed, especially Captain Carter, like a schoolgirl with a crush.
He had seen them at their best during the past few days in the field. They had been a crisp and efficient team with no wasted emotion or energy. Now look at them, reduced to gibbering fools at the sight of a man in a wheelchair.
"I really didn't want him to be here, he should be in bed." Doctor Fraiser was saying, "But, no, the General had to show him some of the footage from the MALP, and then there was nothing for it. He had to meet you when you got back. It did give me a certain amount of leverage, in making sure he behaved himself the four days you were gone." She tried to look disapproving, but she knew there was no better medicine for Daniel Jackson than his team and a new mystery to solve.
"I'm really hoping you guys have gotten a lot of footage of that temple you can see in the distance." Daniel waved the sheaf of pictures they had used in their prep for the mission. "That outline is nothing I've ever seen before, I really need to see it closer."
At that the young Lieutenant felt a rush of contempt. A temple? What made the geek think it was a temple? He'd seen the same pictures Daniel now held. There was nothing about the blurry and slightly out-of-focus photographs of rocks on a hill to suggest that it was a temple. It could have been a public bathhouse for all they could tell from those pictures.
He had been there, he had seen the building, touched the stones of its walls. It most definitely wasn't a temple.
"A temple, is that what you said?" The Colonel looked over at Carter. Jonathon felt a moment of hope. //The Colonel was going to stand up for him. Give Jackson the what for and tell him not to make suppositions regarding something he'd never seen.// His hope flickered and died when the Colonel continued, "I said I thought it looked like a temple, didn't I?"
"You did, sir," Carter affirmed.
"I also heard you remark you thought the structure a temple, O'Neill." Teal'c just had to add his word of support.
//What were they doing?// Jonathon thought furiously. //All of my notes indicate that I thought that building was a public hall, some sort of government facility and they knew it!// Now, there they stood in front of him saying they had known it had been a temple, making him look like a fool. And in front of their pet civilian who Jonathon knew would be reviewing his notes.
Clutching his weapon tightly, Jonathon was struck with the sudden thought that he could be rid of Dr. Daniel Jackson for good. One pull on the trigger would be all it would take.
//Dad would be proud,// was his thought. Casually he swung the P-90 marginally to get a better angle on the man. His finger tightened on the trigger, all he had to do was squeeze ever so slightly...
Abruptly sanity returned and he realized just what he had been contemplating. Surreptitiously he glanced around the room. Had anyone else seen what he had been about to do? The group at the bottom of the ramp seemed to have completely forgotten he was there. The Colonel had taken over wheelchair duty and the Doctor was gone. They were all leaving while he was still stupidly standing there on the ramp. The techs and on-duty personnel in the room busily went about their jobs, oblivious to his presence.
"Lieutenant," a booming voice made him start guiltily.
Looking up he saw the Sergeant at the dialing computer.
"You need to hand off your gear and go with the rest of SG-1 to the infirmary for post-mission tests."
Right. To make sure he didn't bring back any alien organisms or been infected by a Goa'uld. He thrust his gun and pack into waiting hands and ran to catch up with the rest of his team.
There were already out of sight. They had gone, leaving him behind.
~~~~~
Jack had commandeered the wheelchair from the doc. After four days with a kid who didn't speak unless spoken to it was a pleasant experience to just listen to Daniel talk, even if it was at the sound of light.
"I tell you, Jack, it's a temple!" Daniel insisted. "If you look at its placement and the way everything is built..." he held up one of the MALP's photographs and waved it in the air.
To Jack's eye it was grainy and blurry, he really didn't see anything there of interest. But then Daniel's brain never saw anything the way the rest of the world did. It had been so long since Jack had heard Daniel waxing enthusiastic about anything. It felt so right.
"Did you get video of the temple?" he craned around a little to look up at the other man to ask anxiously, "Was there any sort of writing or ..."
Before anyone could answer, the Lieutenant pushed himself to the fore. "It was not a temple. I was there. Me, not you; me."
There was a moment of stunned silence. Jonathon felt his face burn with shame that he had allowed the geek to goad him.
Finally it was Daniel himself who broke the silence, "I don't believe we've met," he said mildly.
"This is Lt. Michaels," Sam began to introduce him, a little embarrassed when she realized that no one had done so yet. "He's going to be a part of SG..."
"I'm taking your place," Michaels informed him bluntly. He refused to back down, even when faced with the glacial stare of one Colonel Jack O'Neill.
"That's enough, Lieutenant," the Colonel stressed the 'lieutenant.' The kid needed to remember who was in charge, it didn't matter who his daddy was.
"Jack?" Daniel looked up at him, betrayal flashing in his eyes.
Sheesh, they'd covered this four days ago and now the kid had screwed it up. "Michaels is just assigned to us until you're back on your feet. I told you that." Jack turned to the young man, "Why don't you go on to the infirmary and get your tests. Carter, you and Teal'c go with him and make sure he gets there. Tell the Doc, Daniel and I will there in a few." He gestured for them to go.
Jonathon spun and took off. He didn't need to be escorted. He couldn't believe that he'd been dismissed like a child. One more injustice to add to Daniel's account.
"It's a temple, Jack," Daniel repeated in a firm clear voice as the young man disappeared down the corridor.
"Daniel, I know that. Listen, the kid's young. He'll learn." Jack couldn't believe he was defending Michaels.
"At what cost, Jack?" Daniel's gaze was steady. It was Jack who broke and looked away first.
"Jeez, Daniel, what is the big deal?"
"Big deal?" Daniel's eyebrows rose incredulously. "God, Jack. Today it's a temple. What if tomorrow he makes a mistake on a translation? He could get you guys killed. While I'm stuck here," he pounded on his leg in frustration.
"Hey," Jack caught his hands and held them. "Stop that. The Doc'll have my hide if she finds any new bruises on your delicate body. Now, he's not going to get us killed. I promise you that."
Daniel looked up at him. Jack could see the fear shining in his eyes. "What is this about, Daniel?" He asked quietly. "Not a temple, that's for sure."
This time it was Daniel whose gaze flicked away, he suddenly found the wall behind Jack's shoulder engrossing. Shrugging diffidently he said, "I don't know. I guess I'm just a little worried... Well, you know," his hands moved restlessly in his lap as he tried to articulate his feelings. "He's so military. He probably follows orders..."
"Damn straight he does. I'd have him up on charges if he ever..." Jack affirmed, and then the light went on, "You're afraid we're going to like him better."
Daniel opened his mouth to protest , and then shut it again. "I wouldn't blame you if you did. I mean he's all spit and polish. He probably knows what all those hand signals mean too."
Jack knelt down so his gaze was level with his friend, "He does. But you know what? I would never trade him for you."
Daniel raised a finger to argue with him, Jack stopped him, "Listen to me, Daniel. SG-1 is unique. We all have our place. You're our voice, our moral center if you will. I may not always listen to you, but I always hear you. I need you." He stood, moving to push the chair down the hall again. "And if you tell anyone I said that, I'll have to shoot you."
They walked along in silence until Daniel said, "It's a temple."
Jack sighed, sometimes Daniel was like a dog with a bone, "I know that, Daniel."
"I want to see it."
"Daniel, we filmed it six ways to Sunday. Hell, the kid even found some scrolls just for you to play with."
"Ja-a-a-ck." Jack hated it when Daniel used that wheedling tone. "I need to see it, please." He could never argue with the wheedling tone.
Jack blew out a breath. "Tell you what, be a good patient. Eat all your Wheaties, do your physical therapy, and when..." He held up a finger to forestall Daniel's next outburst, "when the Doc says you're well; then I will talk to the General and see if we can take you on a field trip. The place seemed safe enough."
"Jack, do you think...?"
"Dammit, Daniel, don't push it."
They walked the rest of the way to the infirmary in silence.
~~~~~
Intending to hold Jack to his promise, Daniel worked hard at getting better. He had good days when he felt himself getting stronger. He knew that someday soon he would be returning to his team and join them in their exploration on the other side of the gate.
Then there were the days he didn't want to leave his bed. He turned his face to the wall, refusing to see anyone. On those days it was hard to understand why he kept trying. Sha're was gone; taken from him. There was nothing he could do to help her. He had been stupid to think he could.
Somehow Jack always knew his moods. He would appear at the door of Daniel's room, merciless in his cheerfulness.
"Alright, Danny, up and at 'em."
Daniel turned over, pulling the cover over his head, shutting out the world and most especially Jack O'Neill.
"No, you don't, Daniel," Jack snagged the cover and pulled it off him. "Now, you have two choices, you can get out of the bed on your own steam, or I'll get Teal'c to pick you up and carry you out. Which is it?"
"Why, Jack? Why should I?" Daniel shouted at him. It was all so futile. He wanted nothing more than to be left alone.
"Why? God. Daniel, there's so much for you to live for."
"Such as?" Daniel regarded him intently, daring Jack to tell him what it was he had to live for.
"Well, not counting SG-1, the SGC and Earth, there's Sha're."
"Jeez, Jack, there's nothing I can do for Sha're. There's never been anything I could really do for her. I was just fooling myself that I could rescue her." Daniel pulled himself into a ball, shivering without the cover. "She would have been better off if she had never known me."
Jack relented, throwing the cover back over him. Sitting beside Daniel on the bed, he asked quietly, "Better to have left her in slavery to Ra? Better to never let her know that there was more to her world than the mines? Better that she never learn to read?"
"Well, no," Daniel answered stiffly, "but if I hadn't uncovered the gate, she and I would still be happy on Abydos. I dream sometimes that we're there and we have kids..." his voice trailed off as he clutched the cover to him.
Jack stroked his friend's hair, he used to do that to Charlie when he was ill, "I dream that for you too, sometimes. But, dammit, Daniel, you have no way of knowing that you would have been safe on Abydos. We know now that the Goa'uld have big honking ships. Apophis could have come on one of those."
Daniel stirred and shifted from under his hand. He pulled the cover up over his head, shutting out the words, shutting out Jack. "I know, I just wish..."
"Me too, buddy, me too. And if wishes were horses..."
"Yeah, yeah, beggars would ride." His voice was muffled from under the cover. "It hurts, Jack. I just get so tired."
"Well then, let's take a break. I'll get Fraiser to let you off the physical therapy today. We'll go topside and have a picnic, the whole team."
"Really?" That got him to pop his head up out from beneath the covers.
"Sure." Jack promised. He didn't tell Daniel, but it was a done deal. He had secured the necessary permission from the Doctor before he even came to Daniel's room.
His friend had been moody for days. The Colonel had decided he needed a break. "It's a beautiful spring day. The sun is shining, Carter has the picnic basket, Teal'c has the coffee. All we have to do is get you showered and dressed. Think you're up to it, or do I need to call for help?"
Sitting up in the bed, hair still tousled from sleep, Daniel looked exactly twelve years old, "There's coffee? Janet hasn't let me have coffee."
Jack smiled at the longing in his friend's voice. He hadn't told the doctor about the coffee, some things she just didn't need to know. "You'd better hustle, 'cause it's getting cold."
Daniel still couldn't move fast, but with the Colonel's help he was ready in record time. They met Carter and Teal'c in Daniel's office and made their way to the elevator that would take them to the surface.
Along the way they encountered Lt. Michaels.
"Sir." He stood stiffly at attention, saluting the Colonel; but his eyes were fastened on the man in the wheelchair. "Dr. Jackson," he greeted him coldly.
"Lieutenant," Daniel acknowledged the greeting, but his attention was wandering; the smell of the coffee Teal'c was carrying was about to drive him wild.
"Michaels, relax," Jack told him with a frown; the kid was always so officious, it made him nervous. "Was there something I can do for you?"
"No, sir. I just thought we should go over the briefing notes for tomorrow's mission."
"Later, Michaels, we're going to take Daniel topside for a while. He needs to get some sun and put some color back in his cheeks. I'll... uh... call you when we get back and we can meet then."
"That will be fine, sir." Michaels watched them as they passed him without so much as a glance or a thought that he might want to come. Not that he did. Not if they had Jackson with them. They entered the elevator and the door slid shut, leaving him alone.
~~~~~
Jonathon bided his time watching as Daniel regained his strength day by day. As Daniel grew stronger, Jonathon's jealousy grew. It was inconceivable to him that the rest of SG-1 - the military-minded O'Neill, the warrior Jaffa and the by-the-book scientist could abide the sloppy ways of the civilian. He couldn't believe that the man hadn't died at the hands of one of his own teammates.
But it seemed that no matter what he said or did, Daniel Jackson could do no wrong in the facility under the mountain. If he said that the structure on PY2-443 was a temple, it didn't matter what anyone else said, then it was a temple.
Even Hammond, whom Michaels judged to be as military as they came, had a blind spot when it came to Daniel Jackson. He couldn't believe how the man had every person on the base wrapped around his little finger, ready to answer to his every beck and call.
He didn't know why he was surprised. He'd seen it happen before. This wasn't the first time that Jonathan Michaels had met Daniel Jackson.
Jonathon had been known as Johnny then, he'd been 8 when a 17 year-old Daniel Jackson had fostered at their home. It was his last summer before he was supposed to enter college. Daniel had been quiet and studious keeping to himself. In the beginning he hadn't really been interested in being a part of their family, just occupying the space until it was time for him to move on.
Johnny had watched him avidly, shadowing his footsteps. His father was a colonel in the Air Force and didn't have time for his young son. Daniel had taken pity on the lonely little boy, perhaps remembering another child who had longed for someone to care for him.
He'd taken the young Johnny to a couple of museums - introduced him to archaeology and his love for it. Then he had left, never knowing what an impact he had made on the impressionable kid. And maybe, if it hadn't been for his father, Johnny would have chosen to follow in Daniel's path.
Jonathon had never felt that he lived up to his father's expectations before. After Daniel had come into their lives, his father had pushed and bullied him even more, using Daniel Jackson as an example of what his own son would never be. Somehow, Johnny could never be as brilliant or successful as Daniel. Even though he never contacted them, somehow Johnny's father always knew where he was and what he was doing.
Jonathon's next years were miserable listening to the stories of Daniel's successes and hearing that he would never be the son his father wanted. He had felt a great deal of satisfaction when he heard of Daniel's spectacular failure when trying to prove his outlandish theories. Jonathon had felt that he finally had a chance of surpassing the legacy of Dr. Daniel Jackson in his father's mind.
He had been excited beyond measure to be assigned to the super-secret Stargate project. His father, now a general, had been particularly smug when informing him of the assignment. Jonathon had realized why when reading through the mission reports to find that one Dr. Daniel Jackson figured in most of them.
He was determined that this time Daniel Jackson wouldn't win. He would not be allowed to again take the respect and love that was by all rights owed to Jonathon Michaels.
~~~~~
When Daniel wasn't in physical therapy, he kept busy working on the copious amounts of translations and artifacts brought back by other teams. There was a never-ending stream of work waiting for him on his desk. But when he could, he spent all of his spare energy and time on the scrolls brought back from PY2-443.
The Lieutenant had been right about one thing, the text was some form of ancient Hebrew, pre-flood. It wasn't a language Daniel was strong in, but he knew enough to recognize the beginnings of a story he knew.
~~~~~
Entering Daniel's office, Sam found him bent over his desk. He was oblivious to the world and didn't even hear her enter. She could just see a peek of the scroll spread out in front of him. Around it his desk was piled high with books that he consulted from time to time, scribbling like mad on a pad at his elbow.
Pausing, she tried to assess his condition. It had been months since his injury and he was recovering well according to Janet. She had assured them that the archaeologist would be able to return to active duty soon. It couldn't be soon enough for Sam, she missed her friend. She missed his fire and enthusiasm. She missed him.
Daniel, sensing her presence there, peered up at her with a distracted smile, "Hey, Sam."
"Hi, Daniel." She fixed him with her best stern stare, "Are you ready for your physical therapy?"
"Really, Sam, you don't have to walk me to each and every session, I am capable of getting there on my own."
She didn't take offense at his words, she just asked, "Then why are you 10 minutes late?"
He glanced at his watch with a muttered, "damn, late again."
"Come on," she said with ruthless cheerfulness, "before Janet sends the marines to carry you down." Unlocking the brakes on the chair, she maneuvered him out the door of his office and into the hall.
"Sam," he asked thoughtfully, "what do we know about Lt. Michaels?"
His question took her by surprise, he'd never mentioned his replacement before. Temporary replacement, she reminded herself firmly. "He seems to be okay," she said grudgingly. How to tell him that the man was all spit and polish and military efficiency, everything Daniel was not? "He's doing okay, why?"
He shrugged, "I don't know, I just get this feeling... Like I've known him somewhere... I can't quite put my finger on it." He waived a hand as if to dismiss the subject. "I'm sure I'll figure it out."
"What were you working on?" She asked, hoping to change the subject away from Lt. Michaels. Her tactic was only partly successful.
"It's those scrolls you guys brought back from PY2-443."
Their first mission with Michaels. "Find anything interesting on them?"
"You might say that. Sam," he leaned his head on his hand thoughtfully, "do you believe in God?"
Another question that took her by surprise. Even after all the time they'd spent tracking down and destroying false gods, they'd never really discussed the subject. "I don't know, Daniel. My mom used to take me to church when I was a kid, but once she died, I kind of turned my back on it. I was pretty bitter. Now, after everything we've seen... I don't know. You?"
He shook his head, "I don't know, sometimes... I feel something when we go through the gate, like a touch or something. But then I think about Sha're and all the terrible things we've seen and I wonder, if there really is a good, benevolent god, how could he, or she, or it, allow such atrocities to happen?"
Sam pushed him in silence, trying to figure out what to say. She was saved when he continued, "but then I think about all the really amazing things we've seen. The goodness in the people we've encountered. I don't know."
"Does this have something to do with those scrolls?" she asked.
He nodded, "Partly, I guess. There was a mention in one of them of 'the Children of Enoch'."
"Children of Enoch?" The name rang no bells for her. "I don't think I've ever heard of them."
"According to the scrolls they were the descendants of Cain."
That story she remembered from Sunday School. "You mean like in Cain who slew his brother Abel?"
"That's the one. According to the Bible, G-d forgave Cain for the murder of his brother. But Cain was still afraid people would try to seek vengeance against him, so God put a mark on his forehead so that everyone who saw it would know he was protected."
"A mark on the forehead, like a Jaffa tattoo?" The idea startled her.
He nodded, excited that she had made the same connections he had, "It doesn't really say, but that's what came to my mind. Anyway the text goes on to say that he settled in Nod and built a city. It tells that his son was named Enoch. Now, in the scrolls that you brought back from PY2-443, it talks about the people who arrived there as the 'Children of Enoch.' Is it a coincidence?"
She whistled, "That would be one big coincidence."
"That's what I thought! I mean just imagine if we really have found actual descendants of the mythical Adam and Eve. Think of the things we can learn. We have to go back there and find out..."
Sam smiled indulgently, "I think you're getting a little ahead of yourself, Daniel. We've got to get you well before you can go off in search of Adam and Eve." She turned the chair into the room reserved for Daniel's physical therapy.
"Jack promised me that we could go visit the temple," he informed her stubbornly.
"Well then we have to get you out of this chair, don't we?" She responded reasonably. "Because there's no way I'm pushing you to that temple in a wheelchair."
Unhappily he gave in. For the next hour they worked with Daniel's therapist and all thoughts of the temple on PY2-443 were gone.
~~~~~
Daniel sat anxiously on the bed trying to be calm as Janet ran her tests prior to declaring him fit for duty. He waited patiently as she poked and prodded. He opened his mouth at all the right times, he endured the penlight stoically. He knew the drill by heart now.
This was the third time they'd done this particular dance. Each time the doctor had found something not to her liking. Each time she had postponed his return to active duty. He was afraid that if it took much longer for him to heal it would just be easier to leave things the way they were.
SG-1 was functioning fine with its newest member. Except for the fiasco with the temple, Michaels seemed to know his stuff. And it was easier for the other teams having an on-call archaeologist any time they needed one to consult on some artifact they'd found or translate some unreadable text. Daniel was afraid the General would decide that the arrangement was altogether too convenient. Then no one would ever have to worry about him again.
But Daniel needed to be out there with SG-1. He needed to be part of the team making the discoveries. He needed to be back out there again, looking for Sha're. Night after night, his dreams were filled with nightmare images of the things happening to her while he was sitting at the base safe.
He swung his feet restlessly. //How long was this going to take anyway?// He knew better than to ask the question out loud. Janet had firmly told him that it would take as long as it takes the first and only time he had asked.
He wished he could at least put his shirt back on. He felt self-conscious sitting there for the nurses to stare at while Janet was off 'consulting' with Dr. Warner. Finally he heard the sound of her heels clicking and he straightened hopefully.
"Well, Dr. Jackson, I think everything looks good."
He was prepared with his arguments to change her mind, "Really, Janet, I feel..."
He blinked at her, not sure he had heard her correctly, "What?"
"I said that everything looks fine, Dr. Jackson. I am declaring you fit for duty. Get out of my infirmary and I don't want to see your butt in here again for a long, long time."
He sat in open-mouthed surprise not sure what to say.
"Now," she continued briskly, "if you'll get dressed, I believe the General wants to see you in the briefing room right away."
"I... oh, okay."
She turned and began to leave him alone to dress.
He licked his lips, "Uhm, Janet," she turned back, a delicate brow lifted questioningly. "I just wanted to say..." he stammered, "I mean I know I'm not the best patient... I just... Thank you."
What else did you say to someone who saved your life every day of the week?
You're welcome." She smiled warmly at him then turned once again. "I'd hurry if I were you," she threw over her shoulder. "The General said it was important."
~~~~
The door to the briefing room was closed when Daniel arrived. He knocked and heard the General call out, "Come on in, son."
He twisted the knob, opening the door to darkness. //What the...?// Before he even had time to formulate the question of why the General was in the briefing room in the dark, the light flipped on to reveal a room full of people.
It looked like everyone he knew on the base was there, his team foremost in the crowd. There was a banner decorating one wall that read, 'Welcome Back to SG-1, Daniel.' The table that was usually littered with mission reports was now groaning under a ton of food. Daniel stood speechless as he was greeted with thunderous applause. He looked around the room in wonder. He'd never been welcomed back to anywhere. It felt good.
Jack stepped forward, enveloping him in an enormous hug, "We're glad to have you back, Danny Boy," he whispered so that no one else but Daniel could hear. He had to blink rapidly to keep the tears that welled up from falling. Everyone else gathered in to pound his back in congratulations. Music came on from somewhere and the party was on.
Daniel didn't think he ever remembered a better party. He ate copious quantities of food and his hand was shaken so many times his shoulder went numb.
"Dr. Jackson," the General approached him as the party was winding down and people began to return to their duty stations.
"General," Daniel did his best to swallow the huge bite of cake he'd just taken, it seemed to settle in his throat, choking him. He swallowed convulsively.
The General placed a kind hand on his shoulder, "I just wanted to let you know that you should get some rest tonight." From somewhere Jack and Sam and Teal'c had appeared behind the General. They watched him expectantly.
"I'm sorry?" He glanced at his teammates, but they weren't giving away any clues; although there was a little smile hovering around the corners of Jack's mouth.
"You have a mission tomorrow at 09:00, don't be late." With a pat on his shoulder, the General left, leaving Daniel alone with his teammates.
"Mission?" Daniel asked a little blankly. Had he missed a briefing?
"Hey, didn't I promise you a field trip to a temple just as soon as you were declared fit for duty?" Jack reminded him. "Be sure and pack your heavy duty sunscreen. If we bring you back with so much as a hang nail, we'll never hear the end of it from the Doc."
~~~~~
The morning couldn't arrive quickly enough for Daniel. When his alarm woke him he was surprised that he had managed to sleep at all. He hadn't been this nervous about a mission for quite some time.
When he sauntered into the gate room early, Jack raised a surprised eyebrow, "Dr. Jackson I presume?"
"Ha, ha, Jack, very funny." Daniel rolled his eyes.
It felt so good to be back with his team that he wasn't even upset when he had found out that Lt. Michaels would be accompanying them for this one last time, since he had done the initial survey of the planet.
The young man stood in the corner checking out his own equipment, sulking. Daniel couldn't blame him for being a little upset. After all, he knew how special it was to work with SG-1. To be relegated to SG-3 after that would be a let down.
Daniel was determined to be nice to the man. They only had a couple of days on the planet, and then Michaels would be gone. He could do this. Haunted by the feeling the he knew Michaels from somewhere, he had tried to talk to him a time or two. The other man had always found business elsewhere, finally Daniel had given up trying to figure it out.
The gate began to move and Daniel watched, transfixed, as it rotated. He stood at the bottom of the ramp, Jack next to him, a hand on his shoulder. Sam and Teal'c moved to either side of them as the gate exploded outward and then settled into place.
"Well, kids, it looks like we're off to see the wizard," Jack said as he and Daniel walked up the ramp together and disappeared through the gate. Carter and Teal'c exchanged a knowing glance and quickly followed.
Michaels watched them with loathing. If he had his way, this would be Dr. Jackson's last trip through the gate. He wanted to see the temple, and that was fine. But it would be the last thing he saw.
Picking up his pack, he ran up the gate behind the rest of SG-1, his team.
~~~~~
The sun was hot as SG-1 stepped through the Stargate onto PY2-443. Jack really didn't think there was anything on the planet to interest anyone, not even Daniel, but he'd promised. And it made a really good milk run for Daniel's first foray back into the field.
They'd already been here; they knew the place was deserted. They'd covered every inch of the temple. There was absolutely nothing there to get Daniel into any trouble. They'd spend two days with Daniel happily translating; playing archaeologist, then life could get back to normal for SG-1.
As they walked, he glanced over at Lt. Michaels. The man's face was unreadable as he kept pace with the rest of the team. Something about the young man just wasn't right. The Colonel had actually looked into his background, but had found nothing. His school records were unremarkable, but he'd performed with excellence at the academy. Pushing it to the back of his mind, he worked on keeping up with Daniel who was setting the pace.
Daniel enjoyed the walking. The place was hot which was fine for him, it reminded him of happier times in Abydos and Egypt. And it felt good to stretch his endurance, the Doctor had made sure he got enough rest over the past months; he hadn't been allowed to get tired. Now he could see the building that had been his goal for so many months, he could practically reach out and touch it. He quickened his pace.
"Daniel, slow down," Jack said, easily matching his stride. "It's not a race. We'll get there."
"We've only got 48 hours, Jack. I don't want to waste them walking," they couldn't get to the temple fast enough for Daniel.
His friend smiled and shook his head, but Jack kept pace with him the entire way.
They made it to the site in record time. With a quick look to Jack for approval, Daniel disappeared inside, leaving the rest of the team to set up camp.
~~~~~
Daniel pulled a bandana out of his pack, tying it around his head. The day was hot and there was no breeze of any kind so the air inside the temple was stifling. He'd been hot and sweaty already from the walk from the gate, now his BDU's were sticky and clinging uncomfortably. Dumping his pack in the corner, he took off his vest and shirt and folded them neatly over it.
He hadn't told Jack, but the video that Michaels had made of the structure all those months ago, hadn't been very clear. All the out-of-focus tapes had done for him was to whet his appetite. From the scrolls he found that the people who had come to PY2-443 were of Hebrew descent, but they hadn't told him much more. If they really were from a pre-flood Earth, there was no telling what secrets the place might hold.
He took a quick drink from his canteen and set to work. Two days was only going to scratch the surface of what the temple had to tell him.
~~~~~
It hadn't taken them long to set up camp, so now they sat outside while Daniel was inside doing whatever he did. Michaels sat throwing rocks, trying with each successive throw to get the rock a little further, each stone hit the earth with a little puff of dirt and a thud. Jonathon imagined that it was Daniel out there he was throwing the stones at. Daniel alone and unable to defend himself.
He felt like he should be doing something, but there was simply nothing else for him to do. The Captain was off taking more samples. Something of interest to the SGC had been found, so she was taking back more varied samples this time. Teal'c went with her to watch her back, not that there was anything to watch for. The place was absolutely deserted.
The Colonel just puttered around the camp, not really doing anything either. Occasionally he would wander into the temple to make sure his teammate was still inside and safe. It was just wrong to see the man reduced to Daniel Jackson's keeper.
He threw another stone, it hit with a satisfying thunk. Michaels couldn't believe that he had been demoted from trusted team member to flunky whose major responsibility was setting up camp. By all rights it should be him inside the temple.
At the least, he should be showing Daniel what he had found, but the other man hadn't even looked at him when he'd gone inside. Maybe that hurt most of all. He had thought they were friends and brothers all those years ago, but Daniel showed no signs that he even knew him.
As the sun began to it's descent into evening, Carter and Teal'c arrived back at the camp. After they had put away their days labors, they helped the Colonel prepare their meal. They exchanged amused glances as the sun continued to set and Daniel failed to emerge.
"I'll go get him," the Colonel said with a sigh. "Hey, Michaels, dinner," he called out as he went.
Jonathon pocketed his stones, grudgingly going to join the others for dinner.
~~~~~
The hours passed without Daniel even being aware of it. He was too absorbed in the story that unfolded before him on the walls. He had no idea how long he'd been working when he heard a throat being cleared behind him. "Hey, Jack." Daniel spoke without even turning.
"So, Daniel, how you doing?"
"Fine, Mom. You?"
"Having fun?"
Daniel could contain his excitement no longer, it came bursting forth, "Jack, do you know what we've found here?" His hands brushed the walls lovingly.
"A temple?"
"Very good, Jack..."
"Are you going to come eat supper?"
"Supper?" Daniel blinked up at his friend in surprise. He finally noticed that the light in the room had dimmed considerably. He'd thought he was having trouble reading the writing on the walls, but he hadn't stopped to wonder why.
"Yes, Daniel. Supper. Why don't you come have some and tell us what amazing things you've found here?"
"No, really, Jack, I'm not hungry. I want to finish this section..."
"Daniel, you're going to come out and eat if I have to have Teal'c carry you. Now, I promised the Doc we'd make you eat and sleep and all those important things you do to maintain your health." Jack knew he was in super-mother-hen mode, but he couldn't help it. They'd just gotten Daniel back. He was going to do everything in his power to ensure that Daniel got through this particular mission without even a hair on his head being mussed.
"Jack!" Daniel glared at him. He relented a little when he realized that his friend wasn't going to be swayed. "Maybe I can eat my dinner in here? I just want to finish this one little section." He was using the wheedling tone again.
Jack refused to listen to it this time. "What's so important about that section, Daniel?" Jack thought he was showing an incredible amount of patience with his friend.
Daniel was practically vibrating with excitement, "Jack, it's the story of Cain and Abel exactly as it is in the Bible. I mean, what are the chances of finding something like that on another world?"
Jack opened his mouth to answer and then realized he had no clue, "Well, Daniel, I guess I don't know. Why is that important?"
"Jack, these are supposed to be among the first people. And they're from a completely different culture than we've found before. Imagine what we could learn." He looked at his friend expectantly.
Jack shifted from one foot to the other, "I'm trying, Daniel, I'm not coming up with anything."
"Jack!" The Colonel could be deliberately obtuse sometimes. He thought he was making his people think harder when he did it. Mostly Daniel found it annoying, he knew the man was smarter than that. "This section," Daniel's spread fingers indicated a section of writing, it just looked like so much chicken scratch to Jack, "talks about the 'Children of Enoch.' Supposedly they were the descendants of Cain. Now according to the Bible, Cain slew his brother Abel..."
"Slew?" Jack asked just to slow him down. His friend was on fast forward mode, talking faster than Jack could listen.
"Murdered, killed, in cold blood."
"Yes, I know what it means, Daniel. What does it mean? Why is it important to us?"
Daniel blew out an impatient breath, "Cain was afraid of the vengeance of his people after he slew his brother, so G-d brought him here where he founded a new city."
"Here?"
"PY2-443." Daniel threw out a hand to encompass the temple and the whole planet.
"Are you saying...?"
"Jack I don't know what I'm saying, but these people obviously came to this planet through the Stargate. It says here," he indicated another section of the chicken scratch, "that this temple was built to celebrate the Festival of Enoch. Every year there was a 'Test of Cain' and it was held here."
"Well, it doesn't look it's going to be held here this year," Jack commented wryly. He gestured to indicate the dusty and deserted temple. "So, where did they go?"
"I don't know, but it says here," Daniel brushed the stone to show Jack the text he was referencing, resting his fingers on the wall briefly, "that the people grew in the grace of their Lord and he took them to a new place..."
He was interrupted by a scraping noise. They spun on their heels to watch the back wall of the temple disappear into the ground. It was replaced by a vista of a green, verdant valley.
Cautiously they approached the edge to find a sheer drop-off at their feet. The wall literally dropped away to the valley floor thousands of feet below. Daniel hastily backed up. "Wow."
"What was that?" The rest of the team arrived with Lt. Michaels in tow. "We heard a sound..." Carter stopped in astonishment at what she saw. "Wow!"
"Alright, what caused that?" Jack looked at his team expectantly, waiting for his answer.
"That wasn't here before," Michaels asserted.
"No, no it wasn't," the Colonel agreed. "Why is it here now, Daniel?"
"I don't know." Daniel went back to the wall he had been working on, intently studying the place he had touched. The light was fading and it was hard to see. "Does anyone have a flashlight?"
With a disgusted noise, Michaels fished a flashlight out of his vest pocket, handing it to the other man.
Taking it with an absent thanks Daniel didn't notice the other man's glacial expression. He trained it on the area of the wall he had brushed with his fingers. "Look," he leaned in closer, his nose practically touching the stone, "look here. There's a depression, it's talking about the Test of Cain, about how only the worthy would be tested."
Michaels couldn't believe it. The other man had not only found hidden mechanisms he had completely missed, but he was translating the words on the walls as if they were English. The other team members were buying everything he was saying like it was gospel. How did they know he wasn't just selling them a load of goods to save his precious reputation, to keep his place on the team?
He couldn't stand the sound of the other man's voice a minute longer. He stalked over to the newly revealed vista to inspect it. There was no green valley on the outside of the temple. They had scouted all the way around it for miles. All they had found was deserted roads and a barren landscape.
Thinking that it was some sort of projection, Michaels tentatively reached out, expecting to touch the wall or find a force field. There was nothing there, just air. Obviously the people who had built the temple were a lot more advanced technologically than they had assumed.
He plucked a stone from his pocket, tossing it through the opening. He watched as it fell to the valley floor.
"Hey, Michaels."
He looked back over at his shoulder to the Colonel.
"You coming for dinner?"
Captain Carter and the Jaffa had already gone back outside. Jackson was collecting his pack, putting the shirt and vest inside of it and slinging it over a shoulder.
"In a minute, sir," Michaels answered.
The Colonel nodded and left the building.
Daniel walked over to stand next to Michaels, to look over the vista one last time. "I wonder what's projecting this?" He mused. "This isn't what you see outside."
Michaels knew he would never have a better chance. He could tell the others that Daniel had tripped, he'd tried to catch him but he was just too far away. It was a dammed shame.
Before he had a chance to think about it, Michaels shoved the other man as hard as he could...
~~~~~
Outside there was a chime, like a bell, from the building.
Still standing on the steps, Jack turned and raced back inside. What he saw made his blood run cold.
There at the temple's edge, both Daniel and Michaels were imprisoned in some sort of force field, holding them like flies in amber.
Jack heard footsteps behind him. "Sir, we heard this bell-like..." Carter's voice died when she saw caught sight of Daniel.
He was teetering on the edge of the temple floor. Surrounded by the bluish haze of a force field, it was plainly all that was keeping him from falling to the valley floor thousands of feet below. Beside him, Michaels was also trapped, his arms outstretched. It was hard to decide if he was reaching out to grab Daniel before he fell, or reaching out to push him.
"What the hell is happening here?" Jack growled moving toward his friend. He needed to get a hand on Daniel before the field let him go and he plunged to his death. He was stopped just short by yet another force field. "No!" He pounded a fist on the electronic wall in frustration. It crackled with energy, but held firmly in place.
Then, with a flash of light, the team was no longer alone, they were surrounded by people. There were hundreds of people now in the temple.
A woman stepped forward from the crowd. She was tall and graceful, dressed in diaphanous robes of white. Her long brown hair seemed to float around her face, stirred by a breeze that none of Jack's team could feel. "Colonel," when she spoke it was if he could hear silvery bells, "we are honored to be in your presence for the Test."
"Where in the hell did you people come from?" He growled. "And what have you done to my men?"
"We have always been here Jack O'Neill, if you only had the eyes to see." The people around her bowed. They were human, and not. They had an otherworldly quality about them the Colonel couldn't quite define. They were nearly translucent, as if they weren't quite in the world. The woman continued, "As to what has happened to your friends, this was not of our doing."
"Not your doing? Daniel's hanging over a cliff and you're not responsible? Then who the hell is?" He was shouting, he knew he was shouting, but he couldn't seem to help himself. He was so afraid the thing holding Daniel was going to shut off and there'd be no one there to catch him.
The woman frowned at him, "It was one of yours who wished to harm the other. We are only here now to witness the Test." She gestured with one hand to Michaels. The Colonel followed her gaze. It did almost look like the other man... //Oh, God, no...//
"The Test of Cain, sir. Daniel was talking about it before," Carter whispered behind him.
"Indeed the Captain is correct." The ethereal woman bowed her head to the blonde captain.
"What the hell is this test?" Jack gripped his weapon tightly. He didn't dare shoot anyone with Daniel hanging over the edge of the temple, but he didn't rule it out as an alternative for later.
"It is the first Test and we are honored to witness it. None must be allowed to interfere." The woman clapped her hands. The force field that separated them from Daniel formed a cage, surrounding the team. Jack's weapon vanished from his hand. Looking around, Carter held up empty hands; her weapon was gone also, along with Teal'c's staff weapon.
"Carter, what is happening here?" He hissed under his breath, "There aren't supposed to be people here."
"I know that, sir." She was at least as frustrated as he was. "And I don't know what's going on, but at least they've stopped Daniel from going over the edge."
They watched helplessly as the woman approached the two men. Turning, she addressed the crowd, "Children of Enoch, I present to you today, our celebrants. Daniel Jackson and Jonathan Michaels. Only one will leave our Temple." The people all bowed again. The woman held her hands to heaven as if in prayer or supplication and then she clapped her hands, "I give you the Test of Cain." With a flash of light, both men disappeared.
~~~~~
Daniel had never been so terrified in his life, teetering on the edge of the cliff, looking straight down. They say you see your life flash before your eyes in life-and-death situations, his had gotten stuck in his throat.
He couldn't believe that the other man hated him enough to kill him. It was inconceivable. No matter what happened to Daniel in his life, he could never understand that kind of hate. What had he done to Michaels to engender that much hate? Did he just want Daniel's place on SG-1, or was there more? His mind swirled with questions and his stomach lurched. He was afraid he was going to be sick.
Unable to stand looking down at the sheer drop, he squeezed his eyes shut. Behind him, he heard Jack speak and then there was a new voice. He listened intently as the woman spoke to his team and things began to click in his head. If he could only speak to her... then he heard her clap her hands. The field holding him safe was released. He felt himself falling into blackness.
~~~~~
Michaels couldn't believe it. Just at the moment when he was going to be rid of Daniel Jackson forever, something had intervened. Did the man have a pact with the freaking devil? Shit!
There he stood, stuck, his sins revealed for the whole world to see. He would never be a part of SG-1 now, but he didn't care. Daniel Jackson was going to die, he was going to pay for causing him to suffer a lifetime of always being number two. The alien woman was right, no matter what else happened, one of them would be staying on PY2-443.
When the woman clapped her hands, there was a flash of light. Without warning Michaels found himself somewhere else. He spun, automatically taking in his surroundings.
He was in a forest, dark and green. The sun was setting and the shadows around him were getting long. Somehow he knew that Daniel was close by and alone: Daniel, without his team to take care of him and watch over him.
Quickly he dumped his pack out on the ground to find out what he had inside. What did he have, what did he need?
~~~~~
With his eyes still squeezed shut, it took a second for Daniel to convince himself that he really hadn't fallen; that he was alive and well, with his feet on solid ground. Slowly he opened his eyes to find himself in the middle of a forest, night almost upon him. It pressed in around him like a living thing. The forest rustled with the sound of the small creatures venturing out to hunt.
"Jack?" He called out softly.
He had to be careful. He didn't know what else might be out there, hidden in the shadows of the night; but he somehow knew that Michaels was out there and he would be looking for him.
~~~~~
"What did you do?" O'Neill demanded of the people milling around their cage. "Where did they go?"
As if in answer to his questions, one whole wall of the temple lit up to reveal Daniel. Alive and well, he was on the floor of a forest.
Jack let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding. Working hard to calm himself, he crouched with Carter and Teal'c in a corner of their cage. "Carter, do you have any guesses about what's going on here?" They kept their voices low although it probably wasn't necessary, The people around them had no interest in the team, their attention was solely focused on Daniel. That suited the Colonel just fine.
"Did not the woman say that this was the Test of Cain? Daniel Jackson also spoke of this test." Teal'c pointed out
"I got that, T. But what is this 'test' exactly? Is it multiple choice, pass/fail, what?" The Colonel worked hard not to snarl at the Jaffa.
"The Test of Cain?" Carter ran a distracted hand through her hair, "I think we should look at who the players in the story are, sir. Michaels is obviously Cain. He's been jealous of Daniel from the start. He made it pretty obvious that he wants Daniel's place on the team. I think it's plain from what we could see that he was willing to do whatever he had to, to make it happen." She knew the image of Daniel poised on the edge of that fall would haunt her nightmares for some time to come.
Jack connected the dots, and found that he really didn't like the picture he got, "So, if Michaels is Cain, then that makes Daniel..." he couldn't finish the thought.
"Daniel Jackson is playing the part of Abel, who was killed in the story from your own Bible, O'Neill." Trust Teal'c to say the hard things.
Glancing furtively around, Carter dropped her voice even lower, "I think it's some sort of fight to the death, sir. I don't think Daniel is supposed to get out of this alive."
"No!" Jack exploded, beating against the field that surrounded them futilely. "How can you do this?"
The woman approached them, looking at him curiously, "I do not understand. You are allowed to watch the sacred Test. What cause is there for such anger?"
"You sent Daniel out there to be killed by Michaels? You can't let that happen."
She regarded him as one would an unruly child, "There is some danger, it is true. It is the way of the Test. We may not interfere. We may only observe and learn. If you do not wish to watch, we will darken the field so you do not have to see." She raised her hands as if to clap.
"No," Carter cried. "We want to watch."
When Jack turned a scorching glance her way she spread her hands, "Sir," she hissed, "would you rather not know what's happening?"
Defeated, he shook his head.
She pulled him aside and the woman lost interest in them. She turned back to watching the wall-sized Daniel.
"Sir, if they're not watching us, we can figure out how to get out of here," Carter said when they were no longer being observed.
"Well, get figuring, Carter. I don't like this at all!"
On the wall facing them a new image had appeared. It was Michaels.
~~~~~
Daniel knew he had to get to some sort of cover to spend the night. He didn't think the dark would deter Michaels; but he knew that if he himself tried to blunder around in the forest at night, he would hurt himself. Or worse yet, run right into Michaels, delivering himself to the man. He had no intention of letting that happen.
He was beginning to shiver a little in the chilly evening air. He pulled on his dark cammo shirt. It would also help to cover the majority of his pale skin that seemed to glow in the darkness. Trying to recall the wilderness training Jack had forced him to endure, he rubbed some dirt on his face and hands.
He wished he could turn on the flashlight, get a good look at his surroundings; but he knew that the light would shine like a beacon to someone trained to look for it. The moonlight that filtered down through the trees would have to be enough.
The trees... He looked up at the canopy of trees that spread out all around him. They formed a dense roof over his head, allowing very little light to reach the floor of the forest. They were thick and broad, forming a veritable highway above his head.
The first branch on the one nearest him was too far out of his reach; he wouldn't be able to climb it. After a quick search he found one that had a limb close enough for him to pull himself up. He slung his pack on his back, and, choosing the branches carefully, he pulled himself into the trees.
~~~~~
Jack watched approvingly as Daniel climbed into the trees. He moved from tree to tree easily once he was in the treetops, moving steadily away from the spot where he had climbed up. He traveled a long time, the dark around him deepening into night. Then, hoping he was far enough away, the young man found a crook in a tree where he could settle his body and keep watch on the forest floor. He set himself to rest until morning.
On the opposite wall, it didn't look as if Michaels had resting in mind. Somehow when they had transported the two men away, their weapons had been taken from them. But Michaels was resourceful. Already he had found a branch that would serve as an admirable club, and in his pack he had placed several hand-sized rocks. It chilled Jack to consider the damage he could do with them.
"Sir." Carter startled him he was watching the wall so intently.
"What is it, Carter? Found a way to get us out of here, yet?"
"I'm sorry, sir, but there's nothing electronic left in our packs. The most hi-tech thing I can find is a fork. They must have taken them with our weapons." She shrugged apologetically.
"Damn..." Jack took a couple of breaths to steady himself, then he came to a decision. "Hey, Hey, lady ..." he called out to the woman who had already talked to them, she seemed to be the leader.
She turned from her contemplation of the two men on the walls and moved to stand outside their force field cage.
"I am Serafina," she informed them.
"Oh, okay." He could do this; he'd heard Daniel do it enough times, make nice with the natives. "I'm.. uh, Jack O'Neill, and this..."
"You are Colonel Jack O'Neill, she is Captain Samantha Carter," she pointed to each of them as she said their name. "The tall one is Teal'c, a jaffa."
Jack had forgotten that she had called them by name earlier, "Well, yes, but how...?"
"You have visited us before, this we remember. The one who is called Daniel Jackson, he was not with you then."
"No," Jack frowned. He really didn't like people that you couldn't see. It felt very sneaky to him. But he was making nice; he could do it. "Listen, about this test..."
"The Test of Cain, it is our most sacred Test."
"Yeah, yeah, we get that now. But listen Michaels is going to kill Daniel, you can't let that happen."
"There is danger..."
"Yes, we know, we heard that, too," Jack's mind was racing, what could he say to convince her to stop this? "Listen, I'm pretty good with tests; especially this kind. Let me take Daniel's place."
The people who had been watching the wall displays turned. Suddenly Jack felt vulnerable and exposed, but he had started, he had to finish.
"This is Daniel Jackson's Test," Serafina reminded him.
"No, really," Jack continued doggedly, "Look, Daniel has some amazing talents, but survival is not one of them. Let me take this test for him, what difference does it make?"
"You do not know him as well as you think, Colonel. Daniel is strong of spirit and of body."
"I know that," Jack insisted, "I really do. But he just recovered from a pretty serious injury. I'm fit and strong. I'd be whole lot more entertaining than he would."
Serafina smiled, "This is his Test, we can not change that, we are sorry. But you honor us with your offer. It has been long since we have had such a Test."
The people surrounding their cage bowed.
~~~~~
The night had been long, but not too uncomfortable. The temperature hadn't dipped down too far, so exposure wasn't an immediate concern. Daniel had rested, but he'd never really managed to sleep, too much adrenaline was coursing through his body. The trees had rustled with the activity of the night life and every screech and whisper had set his heart to thumping anew. Since he wasn't sleeping, he'd spent the night thinking furiously trying to figure some way out of the predicament he found himself in.
Maybe the people would accept a different outcome to their test. They seemed to be enlightened enough. From what he had been able to translate on the wall, they lived on a different plane of reality than the one that Daniel and his friends resided on. That would imply some sort of spiritual enlightenment.
Maybe if he could make his way back to the temple without killing Michaels they would accept that as an alternative to passing their test. He didn't know if it would work, but he had to try. No matter the provocation, he didn't think he would be able to bring himself to kill another man, even to save his own life. He'd killed before in the heat of battle, but never like this, hunted and in cold blood.
While it seemed to Daniel that the night would never end, the dawn came at last with streaks in the sky announcing the arrival of the sun. He was never so glad to see daylight. He moved cautiously, stiff from a night of sitting in a tree. Pulling his pack around from where he had been using it as a pillow, Daniel rummaged through it. No matter that he was facing a mad man bent on death, his stomach was protesting a night without dinner. He didn't want to take the time to mess with an MRE, so he found a protein bar to munch on.
As he ate, he looked through his pack, trying to see what he had that might be useful. What was it that Jack always said, "What do you have? What do you need?" He muttered absently to himself.
He was surprised and a little disturbed to find out that his gun was gone from his side, as was his knife. Not that he had any intentions of using either on Michaels, but there was evidence of larger wild life in the forest. He hoped he didn't meet up with any hungry bears or anything else with large pointy teeth.
It was also disturbing to find that anything that might have served as a weapon had disappeared from his pack, along with his radio and any other electronic equipment he had carried with him. All he found were the MREs along with a handful of the power bars, a change of clothes, some matches, his canteen of water, a first aid kit, //now that was reassuring,// just basic survival items.
He stuffed some of the items in his vest pockets, taking care to make sure they were tucked in securely. He chose the smaller items and the things he would really need, in case he got separated from his pack. His brain was working feverishly trying to remember the things that Jack and Teal'c had taught him.
The breaking of a stick caused him to freeze, listening intently. It was like a shout in the quiet of the dawn. The sun was now over the horizon filling the green forest with the first light of day, soft and gentle. Another stick broke and he heard a voice.
"Ollie, Ollie, oxen kree." He didn't see Michaels, but his voice seemed to come from everywhere. "Come on out, Daniel. Can't you remember when we played? You always let me win. Why'd you let me do that, Daniel?"
Daniel's brow creased in puzzlement. What did he mean? Hide and seek?
"Don't tell me you don't remember, Daniel. But why should you bother to remember? I wasn't anything to you. Just be nice to the kid for a couple of days, then you're gone, gone to school, to live your life. And I'm left behind to live with the Colonel. He's a General now, bet you didn't know that. Of course you don't. You don't care." His voice was filled with hate, "You know he never wanted me, not ever. But what galls me most was that he would have loved to have had you as a son. You were only there a few months, but he never forgot you. Oh, no."
And then Daniel remembered. It had been so long ago. The Michaels had been just one more foster family to be endured on his way to college and freedom. He'd tried to not get involved with the family.
But Johny had been eight, the same age Daniel had been when he lost his parents. The Colonel who was the little boy's father was overbearing and autocratical. Daniel had felt sorry for the kid, so he had taken him to a couple of museums, some lectures he thought the kid might like. Almost against his will, he found himself liking the little boy.
He had tried to keep in touch after he'd left for college, but the family had moved. Daniel couldn't seem to find anyone to tell him where they had gone. He knew it was a poor excuse, but he'd lost himself in college and had forgotten about that long-ago little boy. Then had come Abydos and Sha're. If Daniel had ever thought about Johnny, it had been with a smile and a hope that he was happy somewhere. Now he knew.
There was another branch snap, closer this time. Peering down from his lofty perch; Daniel caught a glimpse of a camouflage-clad figure. Jonathon came into his view. He was searching the ground, for some sign of his passage Daniel supposed.
"I'll find you," the young man shouted to the air, "there's nowhere you can go to hide from me."
Daniel held himself as still as he could while the other man cast around on the ground below trying to pick up his trail. He held his breath afraid to disturb even the air. Slowly Michaels passed under him and disappeared into the crush of trees. Daniel could hear the sound of his passage long after he was gone from sight.
He could also see plainly where the other man had gone; he was making no effort to hide his trail. Maybe he just didn't think that Daniel would have any idea of how to track him. Teal'c had made sure that Daniel had tracking skills and he knew how to hide his trail, too. Michaels was going to have to work a little harder if he thought he was going to catch Daniel. Of course, Daniel had no intention of getting caught.
After the other man had moved away far enough that Daniel could no longer hear him moving through the undergrowth, he climbed higher in the tree. He needed to get to the top so he could get his bearings. As he reached the top of the tree he tested each limb carefully making sure it would bear his weight before he climbed further. He had no desire to go crashing out of the tree because a limb broke under him. It would cheat Michaels of his fun.
It took a while, but since he didn't have a time schedule that he knew about, he took his time. At last he broke through and could see for miles in every direction. The forest stretched as far as he could see, a sea of green. Not far from his vantage point a silvery stream cut a swathe through the green. It sparkled in the sunlight, but of the temple or the Stargate there was no sign.
He had no idea where the temple was, or how to get back to it. They had walked into the sun to get there from the Stargate, but he didn't know where he was in relation to it. The vantage from the temple had shown a glade at the bottom of the sheer drop, not this forested expanse. For all he knew, he and Michaels could be on a completely different planet.
He decided that his best course lay in following the stream, find out where it led. Maybe if he refused to engage Michaels and could stay away from the other man, the people would get bored and bring them back to the temple. It wasn't much of a plan, but it was the best he could come up with at the moment.
Climbing down was so much different than climbing up. He had to push his fear of heights to the back of his mind, refuse to acknowledge it.
It was Jack's voice constantly in the back of his mind offering encouragement that kept him going. //"Just look for the next step, Daniel,"// the ghostly voice said.
//"Don't look down,"// he shouted when Daniel tried to see how much further he had to go. He could almost feel the other man's hand on his back steadying him.
//"Breathe, just breathe,"// his friend advised him as he clung to the branch, afraid to move.
He was covered in sweat and trembling when he made it back to the perch where he had left his pack, but he was also filled with satisfaction at the thought of what he had done. With a deep breath, he shouldered his pack and dropped to the ground, ready for the next part of his journey.
~~~~~
The people milling around them ignored the team in their cage. Their attention was riveted on the walls. Every move made by Daniel and Michaels was displayed there for them to see - life-sized, complete with color and sound. All they needed was popcorn.
It was too surreal for Jack O'Neill. He needed to be doing something, anything, to help his friend. It went against his every instinct to sit and watch while Daniel struggled for his life, but that's exactly what he was forced to do. While Carter worked feverishly to find a way out of their benevolent prison, all he could do was sit and watch.
Jack couldn't believe how proud he was of Daniel. He knew the younger man had learned a lot in his time with the SGC. Even so he never would have believed that Daniel could handle himself alone in the wilderness while being hunted by a mad man. And yet that's just what he was doing.
It was a good idea to climb the tree to get his bearings, it was exactly what Jack himself would have done. He held his breath as Daniel descended the tree. They all knew Daniel's fear of heights. There had been a bad moment when Daniel, leaning out too far, had gotten a glimpse of the ground below and saw just how high he was. Clinging to the branch he was on, it had taken him thirty minutes to convince his trembling limbs to move again.
"Breathe, Daniel, just breathe," Jack muttered under his breath as he watched his friend struggle to regain his composure.
Jack's whole body was taut as Daniel finally began to inch his way back to a more secure position. Sweat had sprung up on the Colonel's brow just watching. Slowly, carefully, Daniel began his descent again. At long lost he had made it. Now he was on the ground again and moving fast.
Jack nodded approvingly when Daniel headed for the stream. He needed to find a good source of water if he was going to keep moving. At the moment thirst and exhaustion would be more Daniel's enemy than Michaels. If he allowed himself to become dehydrated, it would be easier for him to make mistakes, deadly mistakes that might cost him his life.
Daniel took the time to cover his tracks. He laid several false trails to confuse anyone who might be following him. Teal'c nodded in admiration at the thoroughness of Daniel's efforts. The day wore on as Jack O'Neill sat and watched his best friend in the fight of his life.
At last he could stand it no longer. He had to get out, he had to do something. Carter was having no luck in figuring a way out of their benevolent cage. It was time to try something new.
"Carter, you think these people ever watched Star Trek?"
"Sir?" She asked blankly.
"You pretend to be sick," he outlined his plan for them quickly. "Hopefully they'll drop the field to check you out. When they do, Teal'c and I can grab the head lady. Maybe we can use her to convince the rest of them to let Daniel and Michaels go."
She shook her head doubtfully, "Sir, that's a pretty old trick."
"Carter, I've got to do something. I just can't sit here any longer. If you have any better ideas, I'm all ears."
Teal'c gave him an odd look, but wisely chose to say nothing.
He stared at Carter, challenging her to come up with a better plan. In the end she just shrugged. "Fine," she whispered.
"Fine, everyone take your places. Carter, whenever you're ready."
They all moved away, trying to look casual. O'Neill felt the adrenaline beginning to pump through his body. It was a good thing, it gave him an edge. Scanning the crowd, he picked out the head lady, Serafina. She was standing near them, watching the walls raptly. He snuck a glance at Teal'c out of the corner of his eye. The Jaffa gave a small, nearly imperceptible nod. Good, he'd seen her.
Carter gave a moan that sounded overdramatic to the Colonel's ears. The people didn't even look around. She grimaced and clutched her stomach with another moan, louder and more real this time. She dropped to her knees, bent double.
The people noticed this time. Serafina frowned and moved toward their cage. "Is she well?" Her voice was tinged with concern.
"I don't know," O'Neill knelt next to his teammate. "Carter, talk to me. What's wrong?"
Carter didn't answer, she just moaned again.
Standing, the Colonel entreated, "Please you've got to help her."
Carter moaned one more time and fell to the floor, curled into a ball around her stomach. "Please, sir..."
"She's hurt. Help her." Would the woman do anything? Would she just leave them? O'Neill's heart slammed in his chest.
"What is wrong with her?" Serafina asked. The people around them began turning to watch the drama in their midst.
Jack clenched his fists. //Come on.// "I don't know. Can't you see she's in pain? Please you need to help her," he pleaded with the woman.
Serafina seemed to come to a decision. She clapped her hands and the blue haze that defined their cell was gone. As she turned to speak to someone, O'Neill grabbed her.
For a moment everything froze. The people gaped as if they couldn't believe what he had done. Teal'c extended a hand to Carter to help her up and they moved to his side.
Serafina didn't seem overly alarmed. "What do you think you are doing?" She demanded.
"We're trying to help our friend. Now, bring him back, bring both of my people back now." He held the woman tightly though she made no move to struggle. The rest of the people in the temple just stood staring at them, there was not a sound. "I'm serious. This has gone on long enough."
One moment O'Neill had his arms around the woman, he could feel her warm and solid. The next, he was clutching nothing but air. For a fraction of an instant all the people vanished leaving SG-1 alone. The cage reformed around them and the people rippled back into existence.
Serafina stood outside the cage regarding him with compassion. "We know you are worried for your friend, and we are sorry. But nothing must be allowed to interfere with the Test."
With finality the people turned back to the wall displays. Disgusted Jack threw himself to the floor.
~~~~~
Daniel moved stealthily through the forest. He concentrated on moving quietly, staying low.
//"Become one with your environment, Daniel Jackson,"// he could hear Teal'c say.
//"Do not disturb the grass as you walk on it, become the wind that passes through the trees but leaves no trace of its passing."//
'Huh, easier said than done, T,' was his wry thought.
Daniel wondered what was happening to his friends. Were they back in the temple, held prisoner by the Children of Enoch to ensure he would play their game? Had the people hurt them? Or would they just release the rest of SG-1 since it was Daniel and Michaels who was the subject of their 'test?' Daniel knew that even if released, his friends would never leave without him. He was cheered by the thought that maybe they had escaped and they were out now searching for him.
'Can you guys just hurry up and get here already?'
Spying a wrapper thrown carelessly down, Daniel bent to retrieve it. It was obvious Michaels didn't care about covering his tracks or conserving his supplies. He noted the signs of Michaels' passing, heavy footsteps in the muddy earth next to the stream, bent branches in his path. He wished he had Teal'c's knack of knowing just how long it had been since the tracks were made. He studied the indention, he couldn't tell if it had been five minutes or five hours since the other man had stood there.
The sight of the empty MRE wrapper made Daniel's stomach rumble. The power bar he'd had for breakfast wasn't really working as lunch too. At the moment, he wouldn't even have minded the dreaded macaroni and cheese. But he knew he had to ration his food supplies, he had no idea how long they would have to last. His stomach grumbled in protest. He moved on doing his best to ignore it.
While he had found a good source of water in the stream, his food was only going to last for two or three days, and that only if he was careful and rationed it. He eyed the vegetation he was passing. If this went on too long, he might have to find out if any of it was edible. The stream might also be able to provide fish if he could just figure out how to catch it.
How long was the test supposed to last? Did it have a time frame? Would it just go on until either he or Michaels was dead? Daniel shuddered at the thought.
//"It won't come to that, Danny,"// Jack assured him, //"you'll figure some other way out."//
As Daniel traveled, he covered his trail as Teal'c had taught him. He might have been alone physically, but his friends were his constant companions, whispering their advice to him.
//"Stay hidden,"// Jack whispered.
//"You must cover your trail, Daniel Jackson,"// Teal'c advised.
Sam offered words of encouragement, //"You can do this, Daniel," she said. "You have to come back to us."//
That was exactly what he intended to do. They had been there for him while he had lain injured and broken. They had pulled him back from the edge of death. He had not intention of leaving them now.
He paused to drink. The day was hot. He was grimy and covered in sweat, his clothes sticking to him. He looked at the stream longingly. It burbled cheerfully, wet and cool. He would like nothing more than to just wade in and lay down in the cool water, let it wash over him. He knew he couldn't do that. It would make too much noise for one thing and he couldn't afford to waste precious time. He hadn't seen any signs of Michaels lately except for the wrapper. The man could be anywhere.
What had happened to the young boy to turn him into the bitter angry man that he was now? While it was true that his father had been demanding and exacting, his mother had been kind and caring. Daniel had meant to keep in touch after he left for school, he really had. Life had made other plans for him though. He wished he could just sit and talk to the other man; find out what had happened to him.
He paused then, considering, crouching in the shelter of a tree. Why couldn't he do just that? Why couldn't he just talk to the other man, try to make some sense of the situation?
Maybe if he could bring the other man to see reason, they could nullify the whole situation. Would the People bring them back to the temple if it became evident that neither man was going to play their game?
Swiftly making his decision, Daniel turned back. He had to find the last signs he'd found of Michaels' passage.
~~~~~
"What in the hell is he doing?" Jack muttered, watching events unfold.
Daniel had just reversed his course. He'd gone back to the last trail he'd found for Michaels. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. Daniel was now tracking the other man.
"You don't think...?" Carter asked with a startled intake of breath.
"No, I don't," Jack answered her flatly. "He's not going to track Michaels down and kill him, Daniel wouldn't do that."
"Indeed, it does seem most out of character for Daniel Jackson to be hunting his enemy in this manner," Teal'c observed.
"He's not going to kill him," Jack knew what Daniel was doing. He just didn't want to believe it.
"Sir?" Carter asked.
"He's going to try and talk to him, Carter. Daniel is going to try and track him down and talk to him. Damn! Hell! Shit!" They had to figure a way out. Daniel was going to need them, and soon.
~~~~~
It didn't take Daniel long to find Michaels' trail. The man made no effort to hide it. In fact, it looked like he was cutting a trail, hoping to draw Daniel to him. //Well, it was working,// Daniel thought grimly, as he followed the signs made by crushed grass and broken limbs.
He found more discarded wrappers from power bars and MREs. It was obvious to Daniel that Michaels was making no effort to ration his supplies. Did he not see the need? Or did he not plan to be around long enough to need more? Daniel didn't know and he couldn't guess. He just continued on, trying to formulate his plan of action as he went.
He heard Michaels long before he actually saw him. The man was crashing through the undergrowth, throwing rocks at the birds in the trees. From time to time he would call out, "Dr. Jackson, come out, come out wherever you are. Come out and play with me, Daniel. You'll play with the others, but not me. Why is that?"
Carefully Daniel chose his position. It was a secluded rise looking down on Michaels. He'd be able to see the other mans every move without exposing himself, he hoped. This wasn't exactly his area of expertise. He called out, "John, we need to talk."
Surprised, Michaels spun. His eyes narrowed, scanning the trees, trying to determine Daniel's position. "Hey Daniel. Did you finally come out to die?"
"Jonathon, what are you doing? This is insane." Daniel tried to keep his voice steady and even. "Let's talk. We were friends once."
"Were we?" There was so much bitterness and scorn in Jonathon's voice. "Or was I just something to keep you amused until you were ready to move on."
"You know that wasn't true. What happened to you?"
"Don't tell me you care, Daniel." He continued to circle, his eyes searching for any sign of Daniel's position.
"I do, Jonathon. I do care." Daniel tried to put as much earnestness and caring in his voice as could, "I'm sorry I didn't contact you. Life got busy, you know."
Michaels gave a hollow laugh. "Oh, please. The great Daniel Jackson. You didn't think about me from the second you left our house." Daniel started to protest, but Jonathon continued, "Bet you didn't know my mom died."
"No, I'm so sorry." He was. He remembered Mrs. Michaels as a kind woman who infused her household with love and gentleness. Without her there to balance her husband's harshness, Daniel could well imagine that his young friend's life would be unbearable.
"I don't want your pity, Daniel," the young man's tone was spiteful. "I don't want anything from you. You've been the bane of my life. I was never good enough for my dad, you know; but after you went away, it was intolerable."
"I'm sorry, I really am." Daniel didn't know what he could do to convince the other man, but he had to try. "Come on, let's just talk. We used to do that once."
"Oh, no, Daniel, there'll be no talking. Just dying. By you."
Daniel beat a fist on the ground in front of him. "Listen, Johnny..."
"Don't call me that." The rage in his cry echoed around the glade and battered at Daniel. "I don't have to listen to you. I won't listen to you. But I will tell you this, Daniel. You're going to die today. Didn't you hear the pretty lady? Only one of us will leave here alive."
"No, no she didn't." Daniel realized that abruptly. Ritual tests were usually deliberately obtuse. "She said only one of us would leave the temple, she didn't say alive or dead. Are you going to play her game, Jonathon?"
Daniel hadn't been watching the other man closely enough. He wasn't experienced enough at the game to know everything he needed to keep an eye on. Faster than he could track, the other man threw the rock he'd pulled from his pocket.
It hadn't taken Michaels long to figure out Daniel's position. Fingering the solid weight of the stone in his pocket, the man kept the rock hidden until the last possible moment. With a heave, he let loose with his missile. It flew threw the air, his aim true.
Daniel saw the swing of his arm and began to move, but was too late. The rock connected with the side of the head solidly, leaving a bloody track. Daniel fell, clinging to awareness. He knew that his life depended on remaining conscious. In the seconds that Daniel lay dazed, the other man was on him, flipping him over to stand over his body triumphantly.
"Well there you are," Michaels leered down at him, gloating. "So glad you came out to play." He had acquired a substantial branch from somewhere. He threw it from hand to hand, menace in every line of his body. He bent down reaching for Daniel's shirt.
Daniel didn't think; he just reacted. Drawing his legs up, he kicked the other man in the chest. Michaels tumbled head over heels backward. But it wasn't a hurtful blow, he was back up quickly, brandishing the branch like a club.
Daniel scrambled up shaking his head, trying to clear it. His vision, never the best, was spotted and mottled, two Jonathons advanced on him. With a shaking hand he felt the lump on his forehead, it was sticky and wet with blood. He backed away warily, keeping his eyes trained on the other man with his club. Suddenly he regretted the decision to not find some way to defend himself.
"Well, well, you have learned a trick or two," Michaels chuckled as he advanced on him slowly. He swung the branch, almost playfully, like a cat playing with a mouse.
Daniel ducked. He heard the club whistle in the air over his head, "We don't have to do this, John. We're playing their game."
"Well, since it's a game I want to play, let's see what happens." He swung the branch again. Daniel jumped back to safety, but he was ready this time. As Michaels moved around for another swing; Daniel dropped a chop with both hands to the other man's back. To his surprise, Michaels dropped to his knees.
Daniel fell next to him. "Johnny..."
The other man looked at him with pure hate in his eyes, "Don't call me that." With his shoulder he drove Daniel backwards into a tree. Daniel landed against it hard, all the breath knocked from his body.
Michaels launched himself at the other man. He wrapped his hands around Daniel's throat, squeezing with all his might. "Never call me that." He watched with satisfaction the startled surprise in the blue eyes, the defeat. He increased the pressure as Daniel scrabbled at his hands trying to pull them away.
Daniel fought as hard as he could. His feet were unsteady beneath him and he couldn't get any purchase. He pushed at the tree with his back, but the other man's hold was too strong. Jonathon's hands were like iron around his throat. He struggled to pull in a breath, to get any oxygen to his lungs, his vision was beginning to grey out around the edges.
He couldn't die, not like this, alone, away from his friends. No. The darkness closed in taking him away...
//"Daniel, did you hate us?" His mother's voice made him open his eyes in surprise. He found himself on the beach, sitting beside his mother. The water was pounding the rocks they sat on. The sky overhead was a leaden grey.
"Mom?" He sprang up searching the area wildly, seeking some sign of his assailant. "What am I doing here?"
"Did you hate us?" She gazed up at him quite seriously.
Daniel felt his throat for signs that there had been fingers on them moments before, squeezing the life out. "What's going on? I was just..."
"Daniel." His mother's sharp tone finally caught his attention, "did you hate us when you were eight?"
He pulled his scattered wits together, "I guess I did." He looked into her eyes.
Yes, eight-year-old Daniel Jackson had hated his parents for leaving him alone. He had wished so many times that he could have died with them. At least then he wouldn't have been so alone. "But I grew up, I figured it out. I forgave you, I told you that."
She peered deep into his eyes, seeing the truth there, "Yes, you did," she smiled at him. "It's time to choose, Daniel. Are you coming with me, or staying?" She stood, holding a hand out to him.
Daniel stared at her hand a long moment. Taking it, he kissed it tenderly, "I'll be seeing you, Mom. Tell Dad I love him."//
In a rush, he was back in the forest with Michaels' hands on his throat. The man's fingers were digging, his thumbs pressing in, harder and harder. Daniel could feel the world closing in on him, the last of his breath leaving his lungs.
Closing his eyes, Daniel stopped struggling. He let his body sag.
Michaels wasn't prepared and Daniel dropped away, a dead weight in his hands. He rolled away knowing that his respite would be short. He sucked breath into his starved lungs, he had to be ready when Michaels attacked again.
The other man was single-minded in his fury, it was only Daniel's death that he wanted. He rushed Daniel, hands still outstretched for his neck. Daniel exploded upward, punching quickly into his stomach and then down with all his strength onto the man's head with the rock he'd snatched up as he rolled.
It was over so quickly, Daniel had trouble grasping it. Michaels lay there broken and bleeding, unmoving. Daniel leaned on the tree for support, breathing heavily, blood flowing from his own head wound. The world around him tilted precariously.
Was this it? Was he supposed to kill the other man now? Was that all that would end this test? Trembling he sat. What was he supposed to do? He looked at the rock in his hand with horror.
He wouldn't do it. It wasn't Michaels fault that things had ended the way they did. It wasn't Daniel's fault. It just was. He threw the rock away, hurling it as far as he could. Then he moved over and gathered the other man to him.
"I won't do it," he shouted to the empty air. His voice was rough and raw and it hurt to speak, but he continued "I won't kill him. You're going to have to do it yourself if you want it done."
He waited then, his breath harsh in his ears. For a moment there was silence. There was no sound: just the whisper of the wind in the trees, the song of the birds overhead, the busy activity of the animals in the brush.
With a flash of light, the forest was gone. He sat in the temple amidst a crowd of people, Michaels was still unconscious in his arms. Dazed, he could see where his team was imprisoned. When he appeared, the force field around them dissolved. They ran to him.
"You did it," Jack thumped him on the back. "You did good, Danny."
Serafina moved forward to regard them.
"I won't do it," Daniel told her coldly. The man in his arms began to rouse.
"Kill me," he sobbed. "You've beaten me again. You've got to kill me. I would've killed you. Please, just do it." He crawled away from Daniel, shivering.
"You know I won't do that." Daniel whispered. He stood, backing away from the pitiful heap at his feet.
"This is the Test of Cain," Serafina practically glowed with joy. "God loved Cain so much he could not take retribution for his murder of Abel. He forgave him and granted him a new life. That is what has happened here this day. You have given your friend the chance for a new life."
The people around them bowed again and vanished. Only Serafina was left.
"I wish people would stop doing that," Jack muttered to no one in particular. "Can someone please tell me what's going on?"
Serafina turned her gaze to him, "Jack O'Neill, it was never our intention that anyone die. If your friend's life had been in danger we would have stopped the test immediately."
"See, you could have told us that." Even though he addressed Serafina, Jack kept his eye on Daniel. The man looked none to steady on his feet and the head wound worried him. "Those are the sort of things that are 'need to know'."
Serafina faced Daniel, "Daniel Jackson, you are the first in many years to pass the test."
"Really?" Daniel blinked at her wearily. His voice was a mere whisper. It made Jack's throat hurt to see the imprint of Michaels' fingers there.
"That's our Daniel," Jack commented to no one in particular, "he always scores high on the oral exam." He put a hand on his friend's shoulder to keep him upright.
"You also O'Neill." All eyes turned to him.
"What?" Her solemn gaze made him a little nervous.
"You were willing to take his place," she reminded him.
Jack felt his face redden, he had never meant for Daniel to find out about that.
"Jack?" Daniel lifted a curious eyebrow.
"It was nothing Daniel, really." Jack did his best to look nonchalant.
"Each of you would have taken his place in this test even though you thought it a fight to the death?" Serafina turned her solemn gaze to the other two members of his team.
"That's right," Sam affirmed.
"This is so," Teal'c gave a small nod of his head.
"Your people have come far, Jack O'Neill, since we left the world of our father, Cain. You can be proud."
"Oh... I am. Listen, since we've done so well here, can we go home now?" The Colonel's only thought was to get his people out of the temple and home before there were any more pop quizzes.
"You could have left at any time." She told him with a small smile.
"But with Daniel and Jonathan this time."
"You may take Daniel Jackson, you have much to learn from him...."
Daniel opened his mouth, but shut it again when Jack shot him his 'don't even think about it' glare. He settled for quirking his eyebrows in a satisfied manner at his friend.
The woman continued as if unaware of the silent exchange between the two men, "But Jonathon Michaels must stay with us. He has much healing to do."
"He's not injured," Carter objected. Although the young man really didn't look well. Still lying in a heap on the floor, he seemed to have withdrawn into himself; his body was just a husk, his eyes empty.
Kneeling down next to him, Serefina touched his head in a gentle caress, "It is not his body which needs the healing, Samantha Carter, it is his soul that we must repair. He has lived with jealousy and hate a long time." She helped him stand.
"We can't just leave him with you," Jack objected. "What do we tell General Hammond, what do we tell his father? I'm sorry, he really does need to come home with us." Abruptly the force field sprang up around him again. "Oh, for crying out loud..."
"I am sorry," Serefina told him. Privately Jack didn't think she looked sorry at all. "I told you that you could not take him. If he wishes to return once he has been healed, then you may take him."
"Please, Colonel," Jonathon's voice was a broken whisper, "please, let me stay. There's nothing on Earth for me."
The kid had come back to inhabit his body. His eyes were filled with pain and anger and just a little hope. Reluctantly making his decision, Jack nodded, "I'm sure we'll think of ... something to tell the General. We'll be back to check on you," he promised.
"I'd like that. Thanks." He turned to Daniel hesitantly. "I'm sorry..."
Daniel wanted nothing more than to throw his arms around him; to remember the kid that Jonathon had been, but he knew the other wouldn't allow it. Not yet. Events were too fresh. "I forgive you, Jonathon," he rasped. "That's part of the test. You've never done anything so terrible that you can't be forgiven." He could see in Jonathon's eyes that the young man hoped it was true. "Take care of yourself."
"You, too, Daniel." He lifted a hand to wave good-bye. Serafina put a hand on his shoulder. With a flash of light, they were gone.
The team stood silently, trying to absorb everything that had just happened. Daniel blinked up at them and put his hand to his bloody head.
"What are we going to tell, Janet?" Sam asked, trying to lighten the mood a little.
Submitting to Sam's examination and care of his bloody wound, he asked plaintively, "Can't we just tell her I ran into a door?"
Jack put a hand on his friend's shoulder, "Are you okay?" He studied him.
Somewhere along the way Daniel had changed from a geeky scientist who forgot to tie his shoelaces to a man fully able to take care of himself. When had it happened?
"I'm fine, Jack." He shrugged off their concern although it touched him deeply. "Do we have to go straight home? I haven't finished translating these walls yet."
Jack threw up his hands, shaking his head. Some things never changed, but that was okay. "You did good, Daniel. You did really good." He put a hand on his friend's shoulder, trying with a look to convey everything he wanted to say but couldn't. How proud he was of him.
"Thanks." Daniel seemed to know what he wanted to say. He smiled at his friends. "I don't know if I ever said it, but thanks."
"Thanks?" Sam questioned. "For what? You saved yourself this time. You did so good out there all alone."
"No," Daniel shook his head, "I was never alone. I had you guys with me every step of the way. But I was talking about before. When I was laying there on that bed, I would never have found my way back without you."
Jack shrugged, "What can I say? We didn't want to break in a new team member. It's such a pain in the ass. Now, can we go home?"
Daniel looked at his team, standing there watching him expectantly. Where ever they were, that was his home. "Sure, we're coming back here right? I can finish the walls then." Wearily he took up his pack. Next to it were all their weapons and the other equipment that had been taken.
He followed his companions as they left the temple and began the long walk back down the road to the Stargate and home.
Finis
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