The Commander's Discretion 3

Resurrection

by Euphrosyne

URL: http://www.area52hkh.net/ase/euphrosyne/discretion03.php
Summary: There are some Goua'ld even the System Lords shun. Daniel needs to know; Jack pays the price.

Part 1

Daniel refused to leave, even though the man who was his friend wouldn't look at him for more than a fleeting moment, said nothing and shook constantly with fear. The only people who had received more than a glance were Teal'c and Bratac, and still Jack seemed nervous and uneasy. So, it came as no surprise to Daniel, at least, when Jack didn't respond at all to Janet's physical exam, except to moan in pain, especially during her internal exam of his damaged anus and rectum. When his eyes weren't closed, Jack stared at his hands or the ceiling. He never met anyone's eyes, or looked directly at them. He offered no complaints and answered no questions. If he weren't the focus of all the attention, you would have never known he was there at all.

They moved him into the large bedchamber that had been reserved for the traveling System Lord, or at least the captain of the vessel. The quarters afforded some measure of privacy, peace and quiet, and had an attached bathing area that included the sunken tub area that was always popular with the Goua'ld.

Janet had managed to start an IV on Jack and do a basic assessment. She washed her hands in the little basin just inside the bathing area and joined the assembly in a small room just off the peltac. Lieutenant Colonels Ferretti and Hahn, Majors Carter and Gorak, Jacob Carter, Teal'c, Bratac and Daniel Jackson were waiting for her report on the status of the rescued Colonel Jack O'Neill.

"Well, I can't tell you much. We only have the ability to do the most basic lab studies and they aren't done yet. He's dehydrated and malnourished. There are new scars over a great portion of his body so, yes, he has been tortured. He has massive bruising on his neck, both new and old, and hand and finger marks are evident there signifying repeated manual strangulation. Then there's the obvious piercings: both nipples, scrotum and penis. Those and the platinum tattoo all appear to be well healed and present no danger. He has multiple anal and probably rectal tearing which we will have to watch carefully; surgical intervention is not recommended at this time due to the raging infection and drainage he has from whatever did this to him."

Janet took a deep breath and tried to allow the first part of her report to sink in, and then she continued. "As for the addiction, I'm kind of at a loss for now, till I have some blood work back. But just doing a basic analysis on the drugs you recovered, we may be in for a very rough trip home. We have minimal information about the dosage and frequency that Sam got from that courtesan healer and, frankly, I'm not entirely happy with the method of delivery that they used. Until Jacob gives me the translation of the letter from the healer and I have a better understanding of this drug, we're just gonna' have to go with it." She knew she wasn't giving them the kind of answers they wanted and she was hoping they wouldn't press her to make THAT assessment yet, so she went for the diversion.

"Has Selmak finished the translation yet" She turned to Jacob Carter.

"Yes, just," Carter, replied "Selmak says it was written in a very old dialect of Goua'ld, currently in use on Lanka. Guess they've been isolated from the Goua'ld mainstream for longer than we thought." He handed the written transcription to Janet and she nodded.

Samantha Carter looked up "Do we know anything about his mental state yet?"

Janet looked at her friend with a frown. She had hoped no one would ask yet, but she didn't figure the one to put her on the spot would be Sam. "Sorry, Sam, other than the obvious, I have no idea at this point. He won't talk at all, won't look at anyone directly, and is obviously terrified of everything and everyone. I don't think he recognizes anyone at this point, so I don't want anybody to feel bad. I think if we brought his own mother in he wouldn't know her right now. We have to get him to respond to us before I'll be able to determine how much is psychological and how much is physical damage."

"Damage?" Daniel had been standing quietly in the corner arms folded across his chest.

"Yes, Daniel, brain damage from both the drug and from the strangulations. When the human brain is deprived of oxygen, it suffers damage from which it doesn't recover easily. The drug, well, we don't know at this point. So I'm gonna' have to wait to make that call." She put up both hands, palms outward.

"That's about all I have right now, when I know more, I'll let you know."

Daniel returned to Jack's bedside followed by Sam, Teal'c and Bratac. Jack looked at Teal'c and Bratac, but would not even look at Sam and Daniel. When Teal'c spoke to him, he looked away and would not look back. Bratac laid a hand on his arm and he stared down at the hand then looked up the arm to Bratac's face and looked away. Then he closed his eyes. Bratac and Teal'c decided to withdraw to Teal'c's quarters for kel'noreem.

Daniel pulled up one of the small plastic chairs to sit at Jack's bedside and made himself as comfortable as possible. They had been back on the ship for twelve hours and Daniel still couldn't sleep. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw Jack, hard and dripping, put his head back to allow Mehta's hands to close around his throat, Mehta's leer in obvious satisfaction at the offered throat. Jack, on the very edge of oblivion, face a cyanotic blue, long ribbons of semen exploding from his twitching dick.

Jack drew Daniel back to the present in a fit of coughing, the dry hack shaking his whole body. Daniel picked up the plastic container of water from the table next to the bed and tried to hold it to Jack's lips. A shaking Jack, curling up on himself and closing his eyes, thwarted his attempt. Daniel replaced the container and tried to get comfortable again.

"Doctor Jackson, I'm just going around to the medical bay to see if those labs are done yet, I'll be right back." Daniel nodded to Lieutenant Selva and waved his hand as she left the room.

Daniel fidgeted in his seat trying to sit despite a raging hard on. He berated himself for allowing the vision of Jack and Mehta to make him hard and shifted again, sliding his forearm down to his crotch to adjust the position of his erection in his pants, trying to rub himself without being overt. He was unaware that Jack had noticed the bulging in the front of Daniel's pants and was watching him through slitted eyes.

Daniel stretched his arms out and downward to rub more and knew that this one wasn't going to go away. He needed to do something or he soon wouldn't be able to stand up. He glanced over at Jack, apparently asleep then, standing, walked to the adjoining bath and unzipped. He was so hard and ready, it wouldn't take more than a few strokes. It hasn't taken more than a couple of strokes ever since Janet told him that Jack loved him. He only had to close his eyes and hear her say the words.

The sixth stroke had him shooting into the basin and all over his hand. He milked it for a moment, then turned the water on, unaware of the tall, naked figure watching him from the doorway. As he dropped his softened organ, Jack took his hand and began to lick the come from his fingers. Daniel yanked his hand away and stood with his mouth open. Jack dropped to his knees and he took Daniels soft cock and began to lick. Eyes wide, Daniel was frozen; he couldn't do anything but watch for a moment as Jack gently handled his flaccid organ and expertly licked him clean. Then removing his cock carefully from Jack's hands, Daniel put himself away. Jack, unmoving, started to rub his face against Daniel's now soft crotch. Daniel watched him, too stunned to move.

Part 2

Suddenly there were voices in the next room and Daniel panicked. He tried to get Jack to stand by grabbing his shoulders. The slave in Jack took this as a sign to open his pants back up and he tried to unzip Daniel's fly. Daniel didn't know what to do, so he pushed Jack away as he stepped back. Jack's head struck the tiled doorframe and he went down, hard, just as Lieutenant Selva, Janet and Sam came into the room.

"I thought you said Daniel was here?" Sam asked.

"Where's Colonel O'Neill?" Lieutenant Selva was panicking "Doctor Jackson was here with him, I told him I'd be right back."

"Oh Christ, Jack! I'm sorry!" Daniel scrambled to try to get Jack back on his feet. Jack pushed him away and scooted himself back into the corner, practically under the basin, leaving a trail of blood behind him.

Janet and Sam rushed around the corner when they heard the unmistakable sound of skull hitting tile. They found Jack curled up protectively in a ball in the corner almost under the basin and Daniel with tears in his eyes crouching down, hand out trying to coax Jack from the corner.

"Daniel, what happened? How did he get in here?" Sam asked while Janet knelt, trying to find out how badly Jack was hurt.

"I came in. I uh, had to.you know, I had to.go. I thought he was asleep, he followed me in and.and I . he. I knocked him over." Daniel's discomfort was obvious, Sam was afraid to press any further.

Jack was still curled in on himself and shaking like a leaf, Janet was becoming concerned. She couldn't get a good look at the gash on Jack's head and the blood was beginning to puddle on the floor. "Look, Sam, why don't you go see if you can get Teal'c or somebody to come in here and help get him out; he doesn't seem to be focusing and I need to assess this injury and stop the bleeding. He's bleeding a lot, even for a head injury."

"Right, Jan, be right back!" Sam left the room and Janet turned to Daniel

"Daniel, give me that towel." Janet grabbed the towel from Daniel's hands and started to put it on Jack's head. Janet saw the semen on one end and glanced up at Daniel with a frown, then folded the towel and applied it to what she hoped was the bleeding area with pressure.

"I'll get you some compresses, Ma'am." Lieutenant Selva was standing at the door now.

"No, hold off. I'm going to need a suture set, compresses, xylocaine and something to clean him up with, but I want to get him out of here first. I can't even tell if I'm covering the wound like this. Where is Sam with Teal'c?" Janet's frustration was becoming worse. "He's bleeding too damn much. He doesn't need blood loss on top of everything else."

"I am here, Doctor Fraiser." Teal'c's booming voice got even Jack's attention as the big jaffa came around the corner. As Jack lifted his head to look where the voice was coming from, Daniel reached out towards him. Using his legs Jack pushed himself further back into the corner, hammering Janet's hand between his head and the tile, hard.

"SHIT! Daniel please get out of here, you're scaring him! If he bangs my hand on that wall one more time, I'll need medical attention. Please, go. Now"

The tears flowed freely from Daniel now. He got up and rounded the corner. There Sam grabbed her friend and held him close.

Bratac went in to help Teal'c extract Jack from the corner and Janet had to let go, so the two men could move in. Once they pulled him out, Teal'c picked him up to return him to bed. Jack screamed and began to struggle in earnest. Teal'c was forced to put the struggling Jack down so he would not drop him and Jack tried to run back to the corner. Teal'c and Bratac struggled with him and he began to scream.

Hearing the screams brought almost everyone to the quarters, further panicking the already terrified Jack. Janet quickly explained to them what the problem was and they all left, except one. Kevin Gorak had seen the way Jack had reacted to Teal'c and Bratac before, as opposed to the way he didn't react to everyone else, and had an idea. He picked up a felt tip pen from the small desk where the Lieutenant had been writing and went to Daniel.

"Doctor Jackson, can you draw Ravana's insignia?" he handed the pen to Daniel who sniffled and took it.

"You mean the lotus sign?" Daniel asked

"Yeah, can you draw it? Right here?" Gorak pointed to his own forehead.

Sam was beginning to see the direction Major Gorak was going. "He's right, Daniel. Do it. Don't you see? The Colonel is afraid of Teal'c and Bratac because they wear Apophis' sign. He wouldn't fear one of Ravana's jaffa."

Daniel sniffed again and uncapped the pen as the struggle in the next room continued. Daniel took a deep breath and held his shaking hand close to the now sitting Gorak. Another deep breath and his hand steadied. Now Daniel quickly drew the lotus sign in an oval on the big Marine's forehead and when he was satisfied, stood back to look.

"Good job, Daniel" Sam said. "It almost looks like the real thing."

Gorak got up and headed for the bathing area. As he reached the door, he decided to use his knowledge of the Goua'ld language, or what little he had of it. "JAFFA! KREE!" he shouted at Teal'c and Bratac "I will handle this!"

Teal'c and Bratac turned towards the door, Teal'c lifting a brow in surprise at the man who stood in the doorway.

"Come, Master Bratac. We are no longer needed here." Teal'c took the old jaffa's arm and they stood and left the room. Janet turned towards the Marine standing at the doorway

"We need to get him into bed so I can suture this gash and replace his IV."

Gorak nodded and walked towards the trembling man, holding out his hand. "Come, you must go to bed now. I will help you."

Jack took the offered hand, slid out of the corner and tried to stand, nearly falling sidewise into another wall. Gorak grabbed him as he fell, picked him up and started back to the bed. Jack was trembling, but reached up and with a hand bloody from yanking out his IV, began to stroke the face before him, putting his head down on the big marine's shoulder and closing his eyes. Janet and Sam smiled at the response from Jack; Daniel shuddered and left the room.

Sam picked up a blanket and helped Gorak cover the trembling man in his arms. He tried to put Jack into the bed, but Jack would not release his hold on the marine.

"Kevin, why don't you just sit here and hold him while Janet looks at his head?" Carter pulled up the chair next to the bed and Gorak sat with Jack in his lap.

Janet and Lieutenant Selva pulled up the equipment and cleaned the large gash that was still bleeding profusely and Janet made ready to inject the local anesthetic.

"You can put him down now, Major," she said.

Gorak leaned forward and tried to put Jack on the bed, but the terrified O'Neill wouldn't let go. "Ah, no, Ma'am, I can't. Why don't you just go ahead and do what you need to do and we'll be just fine like this."

"Are you sure, Major?" Fraiser asked.

"He's holding more still now than he's gonna be if I put him down, Ma'am. You just go ahead and do your thing, we'll be fine. Won't we, Jack?" Kevin rubbed Jack's arm and pulled the blanket up around the man's shoulder further.

Janet cleaned and sutured the large laceration, then helped Lieutenant Selva to clean Jack up as best they could. Kevin finally convinced Jack that he could lie in the bed and Jack went, reluctantly. Sam left and returned with a scrub shirt to replace the bloodied fatigue shirt that Kevin was wearing and he settled down at Jack's bedside, his left hand held prisoner between both of Jack's hands in a near death grip.

"What made you think of that, Kevin?" Sam was curious.

"I saw the way he reacted towards everybody else and the way he reacted towards Teal'c and Bratac. I know he didn't trust us, but he would at least look at them, always focusing on that tattoo on their foreheads. I just thought he'd respond better to a familiar tattoo. He was the slave of Ravana's First Prime, right?" he asked.

"Yeah, real big guy, named Mehta." At the mention of the First Prime's name, Jack's eyes opened and he looked around the room, shaking even worse than before.

"Shhhh, Jack, it's okay. You're gonna be fine. Mehta sent us to take care of you and take you home. Rest now, sleep." Kevin smoothed the gray locks back from Jack's forehead, and stroked his cheek. "I guess we better watch what we say." Kevin said.

"Yeah, because he's not talking, you kinda forget that he can hear." Sam responded.

Part 3

Janet went in search of Daniel. She didn't know exactly what was going on in that room before Jack had been injured, but she intended to find out. The towel Daniel had handed her had semen on one end of it, of that much alone she was sure. She had to know why. She found Daniel sitting much as she had found him on the trip to Lanka except this time, he was in a secluded hallway by the airlock, and he wasn't writing. He had his head down on his folded arms.

"Daniel?" Janet said softly "are you okay?"

"Go away, Janet." Was his muffled response.

"No Daniel, I'm afraid I can't do that. I need to know what happened back there?" Janet sat down across from him, cross-legged.

"I think you know what happened back there, Janet. It's exactly what you thought happened when you saw the towel."

"Right now, Daniel, I don't know what to think. I do know I need you to tell me what happened. Why did Jack get out of bed? How did he hit his head? Daniel, if I didn't think this was important, I wouldn't be asking. But I need to know what exactly it was that Jack responded to?"

Daniel lifted his head and focused his red and swollen eyes on the Doctor. "Fine, Janet, you REALLY want to know, I'll tell you. I was sitting with him and started to doze and when I closed my eyes all I saw was him standing there in that hall bringing himself off, and I got hard. I see him like that and I think of what you told me and I can't help but get hard."

Janet swallowed and looked down

"Hey, you wanted to know, so now I'm telling you." Daniel looked at Janet's frowning face.

"And.?" she responded.

"And. I needed to do something about it this time. It was uncomfortable. Uncomfortable AND obvious. Selva had stepped out, I knew I wouldn't need very long, so I went in there and brought myself off. I didn't know he was awake and watching me, that he had followed me. He waited for me to be done and he moved in and tried to lick my hand. I grabbed the towel. He. tried, he wanted to. I put myself away and he was rubbing his face against my crotch and I heard you guys come back. I knew it would really look bad to find us like that, so I tried to pick him up and he was trying to. open my pants back up. I pushed him away, he fell back into the doorframe and hit his head. You know the rest." Daniel swallowed hard and looked Janet in the eye, tears welling up in his.

"Thank you, Daniel, for being candid. He's all right, by the way. It was a big laceration, but I don't think he has a concussion. We'll be monitoring his neurological status anyway."

"I'm sorry, Janet. It won't happen again. So Gorak's idea worked then?"

"It seems to have worked very well. Unfortunately, now poor Major Gorak is stuck there, Jack won't let go of him."

"Is Jack still in there Janet?"

"I hope so Daniel. He's just so well buried under the drugs and conditioning that we're going to have a hard time getting to him. But I do hope so. "

---------------------

Kevin Gorak was well into his third hour of sitting with Jack when he noticed a change. Where Jack had been relatively relaxed and only trembling slightly since he had sat down with him he now was antsy, tossing and turning, every limb in motion at once, eyes frantically moving all around the room stopping on nothing.

He moved closer to the bed and laid his hand on Jack's head in an attempt to stroke his hair, Jack's face winced at the touch and he moaned then started to rock in the bed. Other than pain there was something else going on here

"Lieutenant, you'd better call Doctor Fraiser. I think he's beginning to have withdrawal symptoms." And he leaned back to stroke Jack's face and to reassure him.

"Yes, sir." And she went to the door and called out for Doctor Fraiser.

Janet and Daniel both came running, Daniel still wiping his eyes. "What is it, Anita?" Janet asked as she rounded the corner to the quarters.

"It's the Colonel, Ma'am, Major Gorak thinks he's starting to withdraw, he said to call you."

Janet came into the quarters and right up to Jack's bedside. "Major?" She said

"He's become very twitchy and jumpy, Ma'am. He's in pain when you touch him anywhere and I can't get him to even look at me now."

"All right, Major let me have a look." As she whipped out her ever-present penlight and prepared to check Jack's pupillary response, the man shot straight up in bed, knocking her backwards against Daniel. "Okay, Major let's try to hold him down for a minute" The big Marine nodded and moved in and Daniel moved to the other side of the bed to help. The more they tried to restrain the man, the more he fought. Janet did her best to assess the recent developments, then turned to Lieutenant Selva and said.

"Hang another bag of D5W on him and lets break out that drug and see if we can figure out some kind of dosage plan on it."

"Shouldn't you hang a banana bag on him, Doc? If you don't use some restraints you'll be replacing that IV again real soon." Major Gorak was busy leaning over the distressed Jack, trying to talk him into a calmer state.

"Major, how do you." Janet started.

"My brother was a junkie, Ma'am. We used to do the detox and withdrawal thing on a routine basis before he was killed. It's the kind of thing you don't forget too easy once you've seen it. " Kevin responded.

"He's right, Anita, we should hang a banana bag on him and get the restraints out, just the four points for now"

"I'm sorry, Doctor, I don't know how to make a banana bag." Selva frowned.

"It's okay, Anita, I'll make the IV and you help Major Gorak apply the restraints." Janet moved towards the boxes containing supplies and began to work. Selva moved to Jack's bedside with Major Gorak and began to apply the restraints to an already thrashing and sweating O'Neill.

"What's a banana bag, Major?" Selva asked the big Marine.

"It's an IV with Thiamine, Vitamins and Dextrose. The vitamins give it a bright yellow color, that's why it's called a banana bag. They use it in detox to help replace the essential vitamins during withdrawal." Kevin spoke soothingly to the thrashing man.

"You sure know a lot about this stuff, Major."

"I ought to, Lieutenant, I've participated in enough of them. Not a pastime I would recommend as entertainment." Gorak laughed and shook his head.

"Well, I've never done this before, I mean seen one before. To tell the truth, Major, I'm kind of scared. I don't know what to expect." Selva admitted as she finished securing the last restraint on her side of the bed and stood looking at the Marine.

"Well, I don't know anything about this drug, but I know about narcotic withdrawal, and this is just the tip of the iceberg. He's sweating and shaking now. Soon he'll start with the runny eyes and nose, he'll start throwing up, yawning and panting. His pulse, temperature and blood pressure will increase, and he'll start twitching and get chills and diarrhea. That's the basics, there's a lot more medical type stuff that Doctor Fraiser can tell you. I just know I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy, O'Neill certainly doesn't deserve it."

Janet moved to the bedside and hung the IV bag containing the bright yellow solution replacing the bag that was nearly empty. "Major, I hate to do this to you, but we're gonna need for you to help us out till we return to the SGC. Will that be a problem?" Janet stood and looked up at Gorak, hands on her hips.

"No, Ma'am, not at all. I'll just go talk to Captain Tasker for a few minutes and be right back."

"Fine, Major. Anita, I need you to put in another line so we can draw labs and I want a baseline liver and renal function tests, also a SMAC and ammonia levels. Tell Cimino to be prepared; I don't want to have to wait long for the results."

"Yes, Ma'am, I'll get right on it." Selva turned and began to gather her supplies.

"Oh, and Anita?" Janet added.

"Yes, Ma'am?" The Lieutenant turned to face Janet again.

"You're gonna do just fine, don't worry. We'll get the Colonel through this." Janet gave the young nurse a smile as she finished adjusting the IV's flow rate.

"Yes, Ma'am. Thank you, Ma'am." Anita smiled back and returned to her task.

Part 4

"Dad, can I talk to you for a minute?" Samantha Carter walked up to Jacob and

put her hand gently on his shoulder.

"Sure, Sam. What is it?" Jacob turned away from the console he had been monitoring on the peltac and towards his frowning daughter.

"I need to apologize to you for the way I acted before the mission." Sam looked down at her hands and changed her footing a little.

"You already did, Sam. Forget it. I was wrong, I should have fought the Council harder than I did. You were right, we just got lucky. It could have been very messy. I'm just glad we have Jack back with the minimal losses we had." Jacob laid his hand on his daughter's cheek to comfort her. "Remind me, next time, to listen to you, will ya'?" He laughed.

"Oh yeah, right! I'll do that. Like it'll do any good! I just want you to know it hurt me to treat you like that and I'm not proud of it." Sam looked her father in the eye now. "We're family. I should have known you would have fought for us."

"Next time, you remember I'm family, and I'll try to remember that they are your family, too. Maybe then we'll both cut each other some slack, huh?" Jacob grinned broadly and tapped Sam's cheek.

"Right, Dad." Sam leaned down and kissed Jacob on the top of the head.

---------------------

Daniel saw Kevin leaving the quarters area and stopped him in the hallway.

"I just want to thank you for what you're doing for Jack. I know he would appreciate it." Daniel looked tired and worn and his hand shook slightly as he reached out to shake Kevin's hand.

"It's all right, Doctor. I'm just trying to help. Anything I can do for Colonel O'Neill, I will. He's a living legend among the SGC personnel."

"Yeah, I guess he is." Daniel looked at the big Marine with the felt tip drawing on his forehead and said "But, that's kind of above and beyond the call of duty, Major," pointing at the forehead graffiti.

Gorak laughed and clapped Daniel on the shoulder, "It may be, but I'll bet you not one of my men will even mention it!"

Daniel laughed for the first time in weeks and said, "No, I guess not if they value their lives!" Daniel turned and started towards the quarters. "How is Jack doing?"

"You probably should go see him now, Doctor. The withdrawal symptoms are starting and I don't know how long Doctor Fraiser is gonna' be able to deal with it before she puts him to sleep. Right now he's as comfortable as he's gonna be."

Daniel nodded, frowning and walked into the quarters Janet and Selva were finishing the setup of an anesthesia machine next to the bed and checking and laying out equipment.

"Are you putting him under now, Janet?" Daniel asked worriedly.

Janet turned to look at Daniel "No, Daniel, I just want everything ready to go, because when we do need it, we'll need it in a hurry. No time to waste looking for things."

"Oh. How's he doing?" Daniel approached the bed and was stunned by the appearance of the man in the bed.

Jack's appearance had changed in a matter of hours. His face was red and he was perspiring profusely. He was thrashing and moving around as much as his restraints would allow. Tears ran from the corners of his eyes and his nose was running non-stop. He was panting and twitching like someone was shocking him and his pupils were so dilated none of the brown color of his eyes could be seen.

"I thought you were going to give him the drug till we got back to the SGC and then start the detox. Why the change of plans?" Daniel reached down and stroked Jack's arm tentatively. His skin was hot and sweaty and the bedclothes were already soaked with perspiration.

"I decided it was better not to wait. According to the information we got, they were all given the drug every morning, rectally, after their daily enema. The infection he has is so bad if I try to do that I may be spreading the infection into his abdomen. This may cost him a major portion of his bowel, if not his life. I don't want to make it worse."

Part 5

Janet took Daniel's arm and turned him to face her. "I need to speak with you, alone, for a few minutes, Daniel." Janet led Daniel into the bathing area and sat on the tile bench by the tub. Daniel looked around, hesitated, and then sat down next to her.

"Daniel, I hate to ask you this, but I need to know as much as possible about this animal. What can you tell me?" Janet took one of Daniel's hands and held it, giving him time to coordinate his thoughts.

"Unfortunately, Janet, or maybe fortunately, it wasn't around for very long before Ferretti killed it. It was ape-like and big, oh, maybe seven or seven and a half feet tall. Its penis was enormous, eighteen or twenty inches long, and it tapered to the end. There were these ridges; they secreted very sticky looking mucus, a LOT of very sticky mucus. Ravana said it was called a Makreet. All I know is it seemed to have an awful lot of interest in rutting. It didn't seem to care with which sex either. It tried for Sam, but it got stopped. Then when the rebels broke in, they took Mehta and stripped him and bent him over in front of it. It was gonna take him and Jack threw himself on top of Mehta to prevent the Makreet from hurting him and it started to mount Jack again. That's when Ferretti killed it."

"Wait, Daniel. It didn't penetrate Jack?"

"Not then, but according to everyone there and the healer Panshin it." Daniel swallowed hard and tried to keep from sobbing. "According to them Jack had been taken by it a few times the night before, as .uh, as.ah, hmm.entertainment, a floorshow for the visiting System Lords."

Janet shook her head and frowned "I wish I knew what kinds of toxins were in that mucus, the stuff just keeps draining and draining. It's nasty stuff."

"What about the herbs from Ewanchyna, the courtesan healer?" Daniel had recovered his poise and was thinking again.

"We've given him two treatments with the herbs like in the instructions, but I don't think it's doing a lot of good."

"Janet, is there anything I can do to help?" Daniel felt helpless and his expression mirrored his feelings.

"I tell you, why don't you go sit with him for a while. I'm gonna let Anita go get something to eat and some rest. Chaney will be in to relieve her and Major Gorak will also be back to help us." Janet patted the hand she still held, then reached up and turned the face towards her. "We'll get him through this, Daniel. You've gotta' believe me and believe in him."

Daniel looked at the sad smile on Janet's face and knew she was right. "I do believe in him, Janet. It's me I'm not sure of. I don't know if I'm going to have what he needs. If it will be enough." Daniel sighed.

"Daniel, if you give him you, don't hold any punches. It will be enough. But first, you need to be strong for him. The Jack you and I know, the strong one, he's buried under a lot right now, so he's going to need your strength and stubbornness to dig for him. Digging for artifacts is your business; you can and you will." Janet stood, still holding Daniel's hand, leaned in and kissed him on the head, then released his hand and walked into the next room.

Daniel sighed and ran his hands through his hair, then stood and walked into the next room to take up his vigil at Jack's bedside. He walked up to Lieutenant Selva and took the damp cloth from her as Janet dismissed her and began to wipe Jack's feverish face with the cool cloth.

"Daniel, we need to get these decorations off him. The nipple rings will be in the way of the EKG monitor and I need to put in a Foley catheter, so the penis ring has to go, too. Do you think you could help me?"

Janet looked a little reluctant to ask, so Daniel wanted to sound as positive as possible "Sure, Janet, no problem." Daniel put down the cloth and leaned over Jack to remove the nipple ring closest to him. Jack's chest was wet with perspiration, so Janet handed him a towel and he wiped the area dry. Then he reached down and grasped the first ring, turning it in place to find the latch.

Jack gasped and arched into the touch, sighing and moaning as Daniel fumbled at his right nipple. Daniel's hands began to shake at Jack's response and the sweat formed on his upper lip. Janet saw what Jack's response was doing to Daniel and placed her hand on his. "That's all right, Daniel, I can get it."

"NO! I cc. can, I can do it." Daniel was determined. This needed to be done, Jack needed this removed and he could and would do it. He managed the tricky latch and slipped the ring through the brown nipple, the tiny bells ringing softly until he closed his palm on them. Then Daniel reached across to Jack's left nipple and started to remove that ring with the same sort of response. Except this time Jack stopped thrashing and held very still afterwards, opening his eyes briefly to look at Daniel's face.

Daniel slipped both rings into his pocket and moved down the bed where Janet had laid out the Foley catheter kit to insert as soon as Daniel had removed the penis ring. Daniel took a deep breath and lifted the damp sheet away from Jacks pelvis and got a good look at the platinum tattoo on Jack's pubis. He swallowed hard and reached down, picking up the penis ring in his fingers, turning it to locate the latch to remove it. With the manipulation of his penis, Jack's eyes flew open and his pelvis tilted into Daniel's touch, Daniel was trying very hard to not touch Jack any more than necessary and his unsteady hands fumbled with the latch momentarily before it would open.

As soon as he had removed the ring, Janet moved in and grasped Jack's penis to prepare for the catheter insertion. Jack arched again, panting now as the stimulation continued with the application of antiseptic and let out a series of panting moans as she inserted the catheter into Jack's hardening organ. She inflated the balloon and taped it securely, then stood back as Daniel covered Jack again.

"That's the first time I've ever gotten that kind of a response from a Foley insertion." Janet smiled.

"I wonder if you tell him after this is all over, what he'd say to it?" Daniel smiled and went to wash his hands, pocketing the penis ring as well. Daniel came back to Jack's side and began to wipe his face with another cool, damp cloth. Soon Mike Chaney, the Corpsman who was Lieutenant Selva's relief, came over to check Jack's vital signs. Daniel had to hold Jack's arm for the blood pressure and once again, Jack's eyes opened to his touch. This time Daniel tried to communicate with his friend, "It's okay, Jack, we're just taking your blood pressure. It won't hurt." Jack stared at him.

"I'll be done in a minute sir, just hold real still" Chaney chimed in and Jack's gaze moved nervously in his direction and then back to Daniel, who smiled and stroked his cheek. This time Jack's eyes stayed open and fixed on Daniel.

Daniel thought he would float away in joy, Daniel smiled easier, his spirits lifted by the response and he began to speak softly to Jack now, telling him what was happening. O'Neill's eyes closed briefly and he leaned into Daniel's caress. Chaney moved away to record his readings and Daniel resumed bathing his friend's face with the cool cloth. Jack looked at Daniel again and then away, his eyes became unfocused and he lay very still. Daniel sensed a problem.

"Janet, come quick, something's wrong." Just as the petite Doctor moved to the bedside about to ask, Jack began seizing. Already restrained there was little to do except give him medication in his IV, make sure his airway remained open, and prevent him from injuring himself. As the seizure ended, an again unfocused O'Neill's bleary, running eyes looked at Daniel and closed, this time in sleep.

"Good." Janet said, "Maybe now he'll get some rest. Are you okay, Daniel?"

Daniel nodded "He was responding to me, Janet. He looked at me, when I spoke to him and responded when I touched his face." Daniel still stared down at the sleeping man.

"Daniel, you need to understand, the drug is wearing off now. He'll be more aware, but things are about to get ugly. I'm going to start the anesthesia soon, I'm just waiting for the last labs to come back."

"I understand, Janet. He's in there, he knew it was me." Daniel sat exhausted in the chair.

"Daniel, why don't you go across to the medical bay and sack out? I had to give him a big dose of Valium, so he'll sleep for a while. You should too, if you expect to be functional when he needs you."

"Okay, Janet. I'll be right over there, call me." Daniel started.

"I know, call you if anything changes or he wakes up. Go, Daniel, now" Janet pointed toward the door that Kevin Gorak was entering.

"Major, would you please put Doctor Jackson to bed in the medical bay?"

"Certainly, Ma'am. Doctor?" Gorak walked Daniel to the medical bay.

"He recognized me, I'm sure of it. When Chaney started to take his vitals he looked at me and I spoke to him and he kept looking at me. Then when I touched his face he leaned his face into my hand." Daniel was excited at the change.

"That's great, Doctor. Listen can we talk for a minute?" He put his arm around Daniel's shoulder and they walked back to the dead-end hallway that contained the airlock. "Sure, Major, about what?"

"Well, I'm just kind of wondering what your relationship is with Colonel O'Neill? I mean, I know it's none of my business, but it's kinda' obvious that he means more to you than a team leader or co-worker. I was just wondering, how much more?"

"Well, MAJOR, you're right it isn't any of your business, but COLONEL O'Neill is my best friend and has been for a number of years. We were on the first Abydos mission together. We're very close."

"Is that all? I mean you're just close friends? Nothing more, more. Nothing more than that?" Kevin looked somewhat embarrassed but pressed for the answer anyway. Daniel was suspicious, why did he want to know. He didn't have the kind of relationship with O'Neill that he wanted, but that was because of timing. Something he fully intended to remedy when this whole matter was resolved.

"No, Major, nothing more than that. Why?"

"Well, because, Doctor, I gotta' tell you, you give the impression there's a helluva lot more going on. People have noticed and they're talking, I just wanted to warn you. I don't know if you're in any danger, but the talk won't help the Colonel's career. Just thought you needed to know." He patted Daniel on the back.

"Thanks, Major. But there's nothing to worry about. I'll keep my eyes open and try to be a little more low-key, if that will help?" Daniel smiled

"Well, the man's gonna' have enough to deal with. Some of the Lankans that helped get your team to the rendezvous point where talking way too much. I doubt there's a person on this ship that doesn't know the kinds of things the Colonel had to do, how he was used. I've already heard a few talking about awarding him fairy wings instead of a medal."

"OH my god." Daniel interrupted.

"Yeah, well, there's always a couple no matter how carefully you choose people. I hear a crack like that outta' one of my guy's mouths and he'll be in the hospital and out of my unit so fast he'll create a breeze. They all know it too. But some other team leaders and units are not so, shall we say, tolerant of alternative lifestyles."

"Major I thought all Marines were homophobic?" Daniel was feeling bolder and took Gorak by surprise.

"Lemme' tell you a little secret, Doctor." Gorak leaned in to speak softer.

Part 6

"He's having another seizure, Ma'am." Chaney called to Janet as the violent movements began again.

"Call Cimino over here to help. Let's put him under, now!" Janet started to push the Valium and pulled the anesthesia machine in closer. Chaney went to the door and hollered for Cimino to come STAT and half of the ship responded, including Lieutenant Selva. The heart monitors and equipment were attached as Fraiser began the sequence of meds that would render Jack anesthetized. Daniel and Gorak came into the room with Cimino. Daniel stood at the back watching with concern while Kevin dismissed the spectators.

Finally, the endotracheal tube was in and the accordion bag in the respirator canister expanded and deflated regularly with the whoosh and hiss that meant that Jack was now totally dependant on this machine for his life. The tube was secured and the level of gasses titrated. Selva moved in, assumed the seat next to the anesthesia machine, and began documenting the various readings. Cimino moved in and replaced the damp bedclothes with Chaney's help and Daniel moved towards Janet.

"What happened, Janet?" He put his hand on her forearm and she looked at him with weary eyes.

"He had two more seizures. The first wasn't bad, but the second." she shook her head, "I figured I'd better do it before things got worse. I thought I sent you to bed?" She looked up at Daniel, frowning.

"Yeah, I was just going, when all hell broke loose. I'll go now." Daniel said. "And I'll have someone bring a cot over here for you. You could use some rest, too."

"Daniel, don't you know the kinds of things they put doctors through in residency, forty-eight hour shifts and such. We're trained for it." Janet said proudly.

"Yeah, but you finished training a little while ago, Janet, and you can use the rest too." Daniel smiled and turned to leave.

"DANIEL!" Janet stopped him in his tracks.

"Yeah, Janet?"

"Thanks." She smiled

"For what?" Daniel was perplexed.

"For not saying I finished training a LONG TIME ago." She laughed.

"You're welcome." Daniel laughed as he left the room, but inside, his thoughts were whirring, trying to decipher his conversation with Gorak.

---------------------

Bratac enjoyed spending time with the Marines of SG Three. They reminded him of the many young jaffa he had trained during his long career. To them, he was like the seldom seen elderly grandfather, entertaining them with his war stories and showing them how things were done in his heyday. They passed the time amicably, servicing weapons, drilling, and playing games.

When on day three of the trip home, Teal'c came into the Marine's bay to look for Bratac and found him involved in an intense game of poker, and winning, he knew that the man had truly been adopted by these men. Teal'c stood at the door watching the young men for a few minutes, laughing and joking while Bratac raked in another pot. Teal'c decided that he would instead go in search of Daniel and figured the place to begin that search would be with O'Neill.

He found Daniel just as he had expected at O'Neill's bedside, but he hadn't expected to find him monitoring the machinery that sustained their comrade's life. Yet, that was what he was doing, sitting in the small plastic chair, watching the accordion bag expand and contract forcing air and gasses in and out of Jack's lungs. Teal'c walked up to the bed and spoke to him.

"I did not think medicine was a field in which you held any expertise, DanielJackson." Teal'c folded his hands behind his back and stood looking down on Daniel and the clipboard he held.

"Hi, Teal'c. Well it isn't and won't be. Janet just had to use the facilities for a moment and I'm just spotting for her." Daniel put the clipboard down and swept a lock of unruly gray hair from O'Neill's forehead.

"How is O'Neill?" Teal'c asked.

"I think Janet's concerned about his liver and kidneys." Daniel responded softly.

"And the infection does not seem to be responding to the antibiotics she has; he still has a fever." Daniel put the clipboard down and stood to allow the returning Janet to retake her seat.

"Doctor, DanielJackson tells me that you do not believe O'Neill is responding to the medications you are administering?"

Janet looked up at Teal'c and shook her head, "The infection is severe and the drugs I have here don't seem to be making any difference to it. It's all trial and error, I have no way of determining exactly what kind of organism it is I'm dealing with, we have no way to perform that kind of testing. I hate to sound pessimistic here, but the infection may kill him before we have a chance to determine if he can recover from the drug addiction."

"Is there nothing more that you can do?" Teal'c inquired.

"No, not here, and by the time we get home, it may be too late for the Colonel." Janet frowned

"Then, DanielJackson I suggest that you and I make an attempt to contact some of our other allies to see if they would be willing to assist in caring for O'Neill."

Daniel nodded. "Let's see if Jacob can contact the Tolan. Maybe they or the Nox would be willing to help us."

On day four of the six-day trip back to the SGC, Janet held a briefing for the senior officers and SG1 in Teal'c's quarters. Her mood had deteriorated steadily since they had begun the trip home and everyone had just given her space. They all understood that she was only sleeping about four of every twenty-four hours and she was frustrated. They weren't prepared for just how frustrated she was.

"All right, I just want to let everybody know that it isn't working. I think I've managed to get the Colonel through the worst of the drug detoxification. I won't know that for sure till we wake him up. The problem I'm having is with the infection; it's out of control. There isn't much of anything I can do. I don't know that I even have anything back at the SGC that's going to make a difference. After a point, antibiotics are just ineffective and I think we've crossed that line. I'm sorry, but everyone needs to know that I've done all that I can. IF Colonel O'Neill is alive when we get back to the SGC, we will take him to surgery and probably have to remove a large portion of his bowel, at the very least. IF he manages to survive that, then I'm afraid he will have some major lifestyle changes to adjust to, which will render him unfit for active duty."

Janet swallowed hard and held the tears at bay. "But I seriously doubt, that it will get that far. Most of you people know me; you know that I don't give up. I have never given up, but this time, I see no way out. Everywhere I turn is another worst-case scenario, and I'm out of options. I just thought you all should know." Fraiser looked tired and defeated.

"Has there been any luck with contacting any of our allies?" David Hahn turned to Daniel and Jacob.

Jacob spoke up. "I have been in contact with the Tokra High Council and asked that they try to send word to the Tollan and the Nox asking for help. They had sent a message to the Tollan, but hadn't heard anything back as yet. Nobody even acknowledges receiving the message. They will contact us as soon as they hear anything." Jacob sighed and frowned.

"Just like always." Daniel was angry "Just like Jack always says, we're at everybody else's whim, don't call us, we'll call you. But we have to drop everything and curtsy when they want something. It's so damn unfair. How many times have we." Daniels voice got husky and lower as he suppressed his urge to break down. "Has HE, put his life on the line and no one will help us, unless it somehow benefits them!" Daniel turned and stormed from the room.

Sam started to follow, but was stopped by Kevin Gorak who said "Wait, Sam, I'll go. He wants to punch something." Sam nodded and Gorak followed Daniel down the hallway.

Part 7

The dead-end hallway where the air lock was located had become Daniel's new favorite hiding spot, so Gorak headed directly there. As he rounded the corner, he saw Daniel standing, forearms and head resting on the wall, kicking it with the toe of his right boot. He was mumbling curses in assorted languages.

Kevin paused. "You know if you kick that wall too hard you'll leave dents and then we won't get our security deposit back when we return this heap!"

Without moving Daniel turned his head to look at the Marine. "Jack deserves better than this. It's just not fair!" Shaking his head in displeasure Daniel looked more like a toddler angry at being given a time out.

"When has it ever been fair, Doctor? Kevin moved closer and leaned his shoulder into the wall crossing his arms across his chest. "It's always the nice guy that gets hurt or the shitty end of the stick. It never happens to the people that deserve. Somebody like O'Neill, who's always protected people, bound by honor and duty that gets the shaft. Never someone like.ah, well. The dirty ones who'd stab you in the back as soon as look at you, they never have to pay for the trouble they cause and they won't give an inch." Kevin put his chin on his chest and studied the lacing pattern of his boots with great interest.

Daniel tilted his head to look at Kevin again. "Are we talking about the same things? Cause I get the feeling we're on different wavelengths."

"Same subject, different aspect." Gorak added.

"Sounds like you're making an argument for divine retribution."

"I would prefer retribution that I can witness in the here and now. I hate waiting in crowds." Kevin laughed, "Reminds me of the Marine Corps."

Daniel laughed and said, "You sound awfully cynical there, Major."

Gorak laughed again and added, "I love my job! And it's Kevin, Doctor."

"Yeah right! And it's Daniel, Kevin. Who exactly are YOU going to nominate for the Divine Retribution List of the week, Kevin?"

"Let me just say." he leaned a little closer so he could whisper, "don't turn your back on Lieutenant Colonel Hahn, okay? That's about all I can say here."

Daniel looked alarmed and started to look over Kevin's shoulder for the first time.

"Oo-kaay?" Daniel stood up and leaned his back against the wall, crossing his arms in a mirror of the Marine's pose.

---------------------

Sam and Teal'c had been taking turns keeping vigil on O'Neill and on day five of the journey, Sam headed for the quarters for her watch and stopped at the door. Mike Chaney was taking his shift at the respirator monitoring vital signs and flow rates. Teal'c was seated next to the bed, holding Jack's hand, and Janet was sleeping on the fold up cot in the corner.

Sam stood quietly at the door and listened to the big jaffa speaking softly to the anesthetized colonel and stroking his hand. Teal'c's face looked exactly as it always looked. Sam saw no change of expression, there was neither frown nor smile, nothing that would indicate how he felt about his friend. Then she looked at his eyes, it was all there: the sadness, and concern, the love, and tenderness. Teal'c's emotions were all there, plain as day and Sam knew that the jaffa would grieve just as deeply as she and Daniel if their CO died. Sam moved to the bedside and put her hand on the jaffa's shoulder, "What are you telling him about, Teal'c?"

"I was describing for O'Neill several lakes near my childhood home on Chulak and telling him of the things I did there as a child. I have promised to take him there when he recovers and allow him to pursue his hobby."

Sam smiled and patted the broad back. "I'm sure he'd love to try his luck fishing there, Teal'c. That will give him another reason to get better."

Teal'c bent low and spoke softly to Jack, "I will take my leave now, O'Neill. Major Carter has come to speak with you for a while. I will return after my kel'noreem." Teal'c stood and nodded to Carter and to Chaney and left.

Sam assumed his seat, taking Jack's long fingers into her hand, and looked up at Chaney. "So, Mike, how long was that going on?"

The corpsman shook his head and looked at her. "Ever since I took over, Major. Lieutenant Selva said he talked all through her shift, too. You'd think the guy'd be hoarse by now. Now I know all about the lakes by where Teal'c grew up, the kinds of celebrations they had during the growing season and even some of the recipes his mother used to make. Although, for the life of me, I have no idea where you'd get half of the ingredients they call for."

Chaney and Sam's laughs were cut short by a sudden torrent of alarms that had Fraiser jumping off the cot and at the bedside in moments. Sam looked at Janet in horror and the sudden cacophony brought in everyone within earshot of the quarters, including Lieutenant Selva, Cimino, Daniel, Jacob and Kevin, all with worried looks on their faces.

The medical team launched into their crisis mode and Jacob moved up and put his arm around his daughter and stepped back as her tears began to flow. Janet looked up as Daniel began to wrap his arms around himself and shouted,

"I want everybody out of here, NOW!" then she leaned down and began to do chest compressions.

Jacob walked out with his arms around the sobbing Sam. Kevin looked at Daniel, his arms wrapped tight around himself and tears welling in his eyes. Kevin put his arm around Daniel and walked him to the door.

Daniel tried to turn as Janet looked up again, "Get him out of here, Major!" then resumed giving orders and doing compressions.

Kevin pulled Daniel to his side and they walked to the airlock hallway. Once Daniel left the room, his breath hitched and the tears began in earnest. Kevin reached up and removed Daniel's glasses and handed him a packet of tissues. Daniel nodded and accepted the offered Kleenex and wiped his eyes and nose.

"I wish I could do something for you, make it all go away." Kevin looked at the distraught man.

"I, I'm sor-ry, I-I, it's not like, she did-n't warn us. I-I just didn't WANT t-to bel-lieve it-it would happen." Daniel sobbed.

"None of us wanted to believe it, Daniel." Kevin gathered the man into his arms and let Daniel's tears soak his shoulder while he rubbed circles on the archeologist's back with a broad hand. Daniel wrapped his arms around the big marine. "I-I'm sor-ry."

"Shhhh, Daniel, it's all right." Kevin pulled him closer and Daniel lifted his head and looked in the brown eyes and forgot himself. Suddenly he was in another place and the brown eyes were darker, he focused down on the mouth as it moved towards him, and lifting his chin, tilted his head slightly and closed his eyes.

Part 8

He couldn't stop shaking. He had never lost it like this before, his hands were trembling and he felt weak in the knees. How could he let this happen, he should be beyond this but yet he couldn't stop himself? Soothing hands ran up and down his back. He suddenly felt so needy. He wanted comfort. Now. Instant gratification. The future be damned.

"It's all right, Mike, you did a good job. Just let it out." Janet put her hand on the back of Mike Chaney's neck and pulled him down to her shoulder. They had come so close to losing the Colonel. Did, in fact, lose him and brought him back.

Now her team was going through the post crisis shakes, the let down that comes when the emergency is past and you're supposed to just slip back into normal working mode. Except that after a crisis, all that unused adrenalin had to go somewhere and for Mike that was the shakes.

Brian Cimino had slid down the wall and was sitting on the floor staring at his hands and Lieutenant Selva was in the chair, transcribing her hastily scribbled documentation into something more legible for inclusion on the Colonel's chart. Selva was handling this better than any of them, using her normalizing time for documentation; by the time she was done she would not have the excess adrenalin running rampant in her system. Even Fraiser had the shakes, but hers were hidden pretty well by comforting Chaney.

Mike took a deep breath and backed up, wiping his eyes. "Thanks, Doc, I don't know why I lost it like that."

"It's actually fairly typical. We're all under a lot of stress here and have become very close to the Colonel. It's a normal adrenalin letdown, Mike. You were cool, calm and efficient when it counted." She looked around and lifted her voice addressing her entire staff now, "I am very proud of all of you, we got him back this time, but you need to know this may happen again and we may not be so lucky next time. Everybody, get some rest. Anita, I'll take over, why don't you go get something to drink and bring me something, then go lay down for a while. Brian, are you okay?" Cimino looked up from where he was sitting and nodded.

"Yes, Ma'am, although I'd love to go outside for a breath of fresh air." They all started to laugh.

"Well, why don't we hold off on that till we get somewhere there IS air, okay?" Janet asked, still laughing.

"Yes, Ma'am. Sounds like a good idea!"

Jacob Carter came into the quarters carefully, as if he expected to be thrown out on his ear or find the sheet pulled over O'Neill's face. He didn't expect to see all four members of the medical team in paroxysms of laughter. He looked from one face to another waiting to be let in on the joke; they all looked at his anxious frown and burst into another fit of laughter. Confused, he held up his hands and opened them, his question, "WHAT?" was met by another ripple of laughter from the four medics.

Janet shook her head and walked towards him, waving her hand around, "It's okay, General, we're just releasing a little tension, that's all. Cimino wants to go outside for some . air. and." again the laughter rippled through them, this time catching Jacob in it's wake, his guffaws were added to the uproar.

Sam came quietly around the corner; she needed to know if her friend was going to be all right. As she leaned, she heard the unusual sound of laughter coming from the quarters and recognized one laugh and accompanying snorts as a Carter trait. She was just a little confused and started to turn the corner as her father came out. "Sammy, they got him back. He's okay for now." His grin was ear to ear.

"What's so funny, Dad?"

"Nothing, honey, they're just letting off a little pent up steam and being silly. Cimino wants to step out side for some fresh air." He started laughing again.

Sam's eyebrows moved together and she managed to smile with only half of her mouth, more perplexed than amused. "Oh, Oka-ay. Whatever. The Colonel's okay?" Sam sought reassurance; she just didn't want to go back in there yet.

"They got him back, Sam. He's stable for now, it's not over, by a long shot."

"I need to go tell Daniel. He doesn't know." Sam nodded; Daniel would go in and check.

"Okay, Sam, I'll be on the peltac if you need me."

---------------------

Sam walked down the long corridor towards Daniel's dead end getaway, and stopped before she rounded the corner, listening for some clue to her friend's mental state. She was puzzled by what she did and didn't hear. She heard no talking, crying or sniffling; she instead heard panting and some low moaning. She leaned carefully around the corner, not wanting to admit she recognized the sounds.

Daniel and Kevin were holding each other, kissing each other in a frenzy. Each had their right hand down between them their open BDU's drooping slightly in the front, their arms moving in synchronization. Daniel had his left arm around Kevin's neck, pulling his head down, and Kevin's left hand was squeezing Daniel's right buttock pulling him closer.

Sam's eyes closed and she pulled her head back around the corner and leaned flat against the wall, just trying to get her own breath under control from the arousing site. Now Daniel's pants came quicker and she heard Kevin trying to suppress a moan. While her brain was telling her that she should just stand here and deflect anyone who would want to go down that hallway, her curiosity needed to know.

She cautiously peeked around the corner again just in time to see Daniel still and throw his head back his mouth open, as his hips thrust forward his buttocks twitching. Kevin leaned down and began to kiss from his ear to collarbone any piece of exposed skin. Sam bit her lip, and tried to control her breathing so she wouldn't give herself away. Then Daniel smiled up at Kevin and began to kiss from his open BDU shirt under his chin and around his neck and began moving his right arm again at an increased pace. Kevin responded by thrusting into Daniel's movements bending a little at the waist to allow Daniel better access. Kevin's thrust continued for a moment and then he stilled and groaned They fell into each other and Sam leaned back around the corner, exhaling deeply from her mouth, she was now more than just a little turned on by what she had just witnessed.

Sam leaned against the wall for a moment allowing the two men to compose themselves and then decided to announce her arrival. She went back to the next junction and turned around to come back, talking out loud to herself.

"I'll go and look for Daniel to give him the good news. He's probably around by the airlock." Then she counted two beats and came around the corner where she had been spying. Kevin and Daniel had managed to rearrange their clothing, and now the only evidence she perceived was the pungent smell of semen and sweat, their kiss-swollen lips and reddened faces, and the darker color of their sweaty BDU's. She pretended to be oblivious.

"Daniel, there you are. They got him back, he's stable for now." She said happily.

Daniel closed his eyes lifting a silent prayer of thanks and looked at Sam with a smile. "Thank you, Sam, for coming to tell me. That's great news, Kevin, isn't it?"

"Thanks for coming to tell us, Sam." Kevin added.

Then Sam decided that maybe Daniel needed a little punishment for getting his rocks off while Jack was dying. She looked Daniel squarely in the face, smiling insincerely, "Well, I just knew you'd be around here worrying yourself to death over the Colonel's condition and I thought I'd come around to ease your mind." With that, Sam turned and walked back around the corner and decided to go look for Teal'c. At least his behavior made sense to her.

Daniel and Kevin looked at each other. Sam's words nagged at Daniel's brain for a moment and he closed his eyes and shook his head. "She knows, Sam knows. Oh God. Oh my God, I have to talk to her, NOW!"

Kevin put a hand on Daniel's shoulder and said "What makes you so sure she knows?" then he looked at Daniel's lips and sweat drenched BDU shirt and finished, "Oh God, the women IS a rocket scientist, isn't she?" Daniel nodded and walked quickly down the hallway in pursuit of Sam. He had a lot of explaining to do.

Daniel moved quickly, looking for Sam. His first stop was the quarters where Ferretti sat next to the bed holding Jack's hand and, at Teal'c's insistence, speaking softly to the unconscious form. He looked for her in the medical bay and the other three holds that held the various personnel and equipment that had gone on the mission. Bratac was still with the Marines; he'd be sporting a "Semper Fi" tattoo before long if they had their way. Hahn was reading a book and his men and Ferretti's SG Five were engaged in harmless pastimes including cards, chess and a lively game of "Name That Babe". The Tokra were still looking at charts and maps for some unknown reason, and Jacob was the current pilot.

Still no Sam, or Teal'c for that matter, so that had to mean that they were together. Together, in Teal'c closet as everyone now referred to it, so he headed there. Standing quietly at the door, he heard low voices coming from within the room. He was going to have to go in. He'd have to face her eventually. Better now than later. Daniel took a deep breath and knocked on the door. The voices stopped and Teal'c appeared.

"Come in, DanielJackson, we have been expecting you." Teal'c walked back into the room and took a seat upon the cot. Sam sat in the chair, her presence exuded anger.

"Daniel."

"Sam." Sam glared at Daniel who was unable to meet her gaze. Daniel looked up at Teal'c "Teal'c I know this is your room but could you excuse us for a few minutes?" Sam glared at Daniel.

"Don't bother, Daniel, Teal'c knows." Sam was very calm. Daniel got very red and looked between Teal'c and Sam.

"You t-told Teal'c?" he looked at Sam with wide eyes.

"Of course I told Teal'c I didn't think it would be a problem, it's not like you weren't right IN PUBLIC VIEW! What WERE you thinking, Daniel? That you were all hidden away?"

Daniel swallowed hard and looked at his friend, "Obviously, I wasn't thinking at all." He examined the floor of the room.

"OH you were thinking, all right, just NOT with your brain. Jesus! Daniel, I thought the Colonel meant something to you. We all thought he did. Then, you go pull a stunt like this?"

"Jack does mean something to me, he means a LOT to me!"

"Oh, yeah, so much so you went from 'grief with guilt' to 'grope with grunt' oh, yeah, I'm convinced." Sam wasn't quite as cynical as Jack, but she'd had less practice.

"If you do care about O'Neill, is this not an unwise move to make at this time, DanielJackson?"

"It was not planned, it just happened. Don't you think if I had planned it, I would have chosen a better place for it?" Daniel looked from Teal'c to Sam.

"No one is saying that you planned it, Daniel. All we're saying is we thought you had better judgment and control than to let something like that happen."

"Fine. I admit, I wasn't thinking. Things got.out of, ah, control. But it won't happen again. You don't have to worry. I, uh. care for Jack..."

"You better mean that, Daniel, cause after all he's been through, if you hurt him, I'll, well let's just say you'll wish you hadn't, and leave it at that." Sam had a look about her that left no doubt with Daniel that the unspoken nature of her threat made it any less serious.

"I also do not wish to see O'Neill hurt, DanielJackson." Daniel looked at Teal'c, but something nagging in his brain told him to be more afraid of Sam.

Teal'c stood as Daniel headed for the door and they were lurched off their feet by the sudden reentry into normal space from hyper drive. Daniel and Sam looked at their watches.

"It is not time to leave hyper drive as yet." Teal'c commented. Daniel was the first to the peltac.

"Jacob, what's going on?"

"It's okay Daniel, I just pushed it a little more to save us some time. We're back at P5R-267. SG Seven is waiting on the planet for us. Do you want to go tell Doctor Fraiser to start getting Jack ready for transport back to the SGC and the rest to start packing up?"

Sam looked at Daniel "You go tell Janet. I'll spread the word." Daniel nodded and they both left the peltac.

Part 9

Once Jacob Carter had radioed Major Castleman that they would be landing on P5R-237, the Major contacted the SGC and advised Hammond and the medical team that they had retrieved O'Neill and would be returning. Hammond advised the SGC medical staff and Doctor Warner that O'Neill was in very critical condition and to prepare the OR for a major abdominal procedure. The SGC went into motion, preparing to retrieve personnel and equipment from the planet.

Janet wasn't even sure that Jack would survive the wormhole, let alone the surgery, but she prepared him as best she could for the move. He would be the first to leave the ship and the first to enter the wormhole. To be delivered into the waiting and capable hands of Doctor Warner and the surgical team, hopefully alive. Selva and Chaney would go and Cimino would stay behind to supervise the removal of the medical gear, supplies and waste. Teal'c and Bratac insisted on carrying the litter bearing O'Neill through the wormhole, Sam and Daniel would follow. Ferretti, Hahn and Gorak and their units would transport equipment back to the SGC.

It was a fairly well thought out and organized return. They landed in a field of Elos flowers less that 100 feet from the Stargate. Major Castleman came aboard and Ferretti advised him of the operational plans for returning to the SGC. As soon as Janet said the medics were ready, Castleman would dial Earth and send the iris code. Then Janet and the medics would take Jack directly from the ship and through the Stargate.

Perfectly organized.

Until they got the litter bearing Jack, still intubated and asleep with Janet manning the Ambu bag, to the clearing in front of the Stargate.

Then, the Asgaard showed up.

Bratac nearly fell over Thor who appeared directly in his path, but managed to stop just short of trampling the small alien. "I have come to see O'Neill." Thor said, gazing at the still form on the litter.

"This really isn't a good time, Thor. It is Thor, right?" Janet asked

"He is injured. We intercepted the message meant for the Nox." Thor added.

"Can you help him? He's dying." Daniel came up to Thor while Janet and the medics continued to move towards the Stargate, pausing just in front of the wormhole.

"I needed our fastest ship to get here. It has no medical facilities; it is merely a scout ship. What injury plagues him?" Thor walked up to the litter and touched the fevered face.

"He has a massive infection from some animal and addiction to a drug called raztatra." Janet squeezed the Ambu bag with both hands still keeping a regular rhythm.

"The drug is not important, at this time. The infection is the big problem, I've already lost him once and I don't think I can get him back a second time. Look if you can help, please do it now. I'm not sure he'll survive the trip through the wormhole." Janet laid her cards on the table.

"I must know what animal." Thor said.

"Okay, Chaney, tell Cimino we're coming back on board to hook the machine back up. Daniel, why don't you fill in Thor while I take Jack back to the ship and get him hooked back up. Major Castleman, contact the SGC and tell them there will be a small delay in transport. If Thor can help us in any way, I'd rather wait to transport. Teal'c, Bratac, back to the ship." Janet thought on her feet, preferring the transport delay if it would improve Jack's chance to make it through the wormhole alive.

Daniel told Thor all that he knew about the Makreet, and explained what the problems were that Janet was having. Carter spoke by radio to General Hammond he stood down the gate room for the moment. Thor vanished to return to his ship to see if he could access any help for the dying man. Daniel walked up to Sam and patted her on the shoulder.

"Keep your fingers crossed, Sam. Thor may be able to help Jack. He's gone back to his ship to contact his world for information on the Makreet."

"I'm already praying, Daniel" she said.

---------------------

On board the Tokra ship, the packing continued, as did Janet and the medical team's vigil. Daniel and Sam sat next to the bed, Sam stroking Jack's hand with her thumb while holding the limp fingers. Bratac and Teal'c had begun to meditate in one corner of the quarters, while Chaney and Selva assisted Cimino with packing up while they waited.

Three Earth hours later, Thor reappeared, this time in the quarters of the ship. He had in his hand two vials. The alien approached the bed and handed the vials to Janet, "The small vial contains an antidote to the raztatra addiction; the large vial contains a drug to fight the organisms left by the animal. Our scientists have said to divide the vial contents into four doses. Inject a single dose into his bloodstream every twelve of your hours."

"Four doses, one every twelve hours in his bloodstream" Janet repeated to assure herself that she had the instructions correct. "That's all?" she asked. "You should wait till the infection is resolved before using the second drug, although our scientists have assured me that if O'Neill has survived this long without raztatra that you may not need to use the second drug at all." Janet smiled at that. "Do you mean, his addiction is cured?" She looked down hopefully at the Asgaard, the only adult whom she could look down on, and smiled broadly.

"They suggest that after finishing the first drug, you use the second in one dose, to clear O'Neill's system of any residual components of the raztatra."

Thor stepped up to the bedside and, laying a small thin hand on the fevered hand, said, "You will be fine, my friend. We will speak when you are well." and disappeared.

Janet was in motion the minute Thor disappeared. Selva brought a handful of syringes and Fraiser pulled the cloudy solution up into four large syringes. Handing three back to Selva and advising her to guard them. The physician stepped up to O'Neill's bedside and, looking hopefully around the room, picked up the IV tubing and wiped the port with an alcohol swab. Then, biting her lip, she inserted the needle and crimped the tubing above the port in her other hand and began to inject the drug into the IV. Daniel found himself holding his breath and Sam gripped Jack's limp hand tighter as Janet slowly injected the alien drug.

Part 10

Delays were never a good thing, not in George Hammond's experience; they usually meant trouble. He sat at the table in the briefing room with Doctor Warner waiting for the word to put things back into motion. After four hours he had enough, put his lukewarm cup of coffee down looked at Warner and stood.

"That's long enough." Hammond walked towards the stairway that led to the control room, ordering Sergeant Davis, "Dial it up, Sergeant." Warner was on his heels, on the stairway and stopped beside him as he stood behind the control panel.

"Fraiser could be having a problem, maybe I should go." Warner's offer to go was stopped cold by Hammond's sideways look in his direction. "Doctor Fraiser has handled the situation thus far, Doctor, I have every confidence that she can bring him home."

"Sir, we are in contact with Major Castleman." Sergeant Davis advised Hammond.

"Major, what is the situation now?"

Castleman's voice crackled as the speaker came to life.

"Well, sir, Thor came back and gave Doctor Fraiser an Asgaard medicine to give Colonel O'Neill. She's given him the first dose but hopes he'll be a little stronger before she tries to bring him through the wormhole. Frankly sir, she really doesn't think he'll survive otherwise. She just gave him the first dose an hour ago and has three more doses at twelve-hour intervals. We are prepared to start transporting personnel and equipment back to the SGC, sir, allowing the medical team to be the last through with Colonel O'Neill when Doctor Fraiser is ready."

"That would be fine, Major." Hammond responded, and then, glancing over to Warner he added, "Does Doctor Fraiser require any further supplies or personnel for relief?"

"I don't know, sir. I'm sending someone to ask her, sir, please stand by." Castleman replied. Then a few moments later, "General, Doctor Fraiser says they are critically short of coffee, other than that the team would like to see the mission through, sir."

Hammond laughed and said "Advise Doctor Fraiser we will have her critical need filled immediately and stand down while we await her update. Check back in two hours, Major. Hammond out." Hammond turned to Warner and laughed, "Doctor, do you think you could see to Doctor Fraiser's re-supply?"

Warner smiled and said, "I'd be happy to, General. I'm sure she's not the only one who needs it either."

---------------------

Daniel had been sitting outside when Teal'c came looking for him. The evening was mild and the first moon was just rising. "DanielJackson, Doctor Fraiser is about to give O'Neill the second dose of the Asgaard medication, would you not like to go sit with him for a while?"

Daniel swallowed the remains of his coffee and took a deep breath.

"I don't think that's such a good idea, Teal'c. I think Sam would kill me if I set foot near Jack."

"I think you misjudge Major Carter's intentions. I believe she was merely warning you against any further romantic adventures if you wish to pursue a relationship with O'Neill when he recovers." Teal'c sat next to Jackson and turned his head so he could face him.

"Romantic adventures, Teal'c you sometimes have quite a way with words. There was very little romantic about it. If you must call it something, I suppose the term sexual interlude would be much more appropriate than romantic adventure in describing the incident. It wasn't intentional, Teal'c, I was upset. Actually we both were, and one thing led to another, neither one of us saw it coming. It.it just happened. But I don't think I can face Jack at this point without losing it."

"Then I will go sit with O'Neill. Good night, DanielJackson." The jaffa stood and walked back toward the ship.

---------------------

"Having some regrets, Daniel?" Kevin's voice coming from behind him startled Daniel and he turned slightly to face the marine.

"Kevin, you startled me." Daniel turned back around as Gorak took the position Teal'c had just vacated.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to. But I think we need to talk if you've got a couple of minutes?" The big marine leaned forward and picked a few pebbles from the sandy soil that surrounded the Stargate.

"Sure, not much else to do right now. Something in particular we need to talk about?"

Gorak shook his head slowly, and then turned his head to watch Daniel's face. "Is there a problem with Major Carter now? I mean, what did she say to you?"

Daniel laughed briefly, was just a little upset.

"Damn, I never had her figured for the type." Gorak practically spit his response.

"What type?" Daniel looked at Kevin now, clueless.

"Tightass military homophobe."

Daniel laughed again. "She's no homophobe, Kevin. She's angry with me because of the location where it happened more than anything. Because instead of her, it could have been someone else who came around that corner. That's why she's angry."

Gorak nodded and agreed, "Yeah, it's not like we were being very discrete. She's right; of course, it was stupid." then watching Daniel's face closely, "and I don't regret a minute of it. As a matter of fact, I was kind of wondering if we could maybe go out together after we get back?" Kevin smiled hopefully at Daniel, waiting for his answer.

"I don't know, Kevin. It might not be such a good idea."

"You told me you were unattached."

"I am unattached."

"Then what's the problem, Daniel?"

"You're military. It's too dangerous."

"Christ! Daniel, I'm not asking to hold hands in the gate room. We can be discrete about it. I'd like to see you again, Daniel. I get the feeling we'd be good together."

"Kevin, let's talk about it after we're home. I'm too worried about Jack right now to talk about a having a social life." Kevin threw the handful of pebbles he'd been picking up back onto the ground in disgust.

"A social life? You think I wanna' talk about having a social life? You think I pull pud, with every guy I meet, Daniel? Well, maybe you do, but I don't flaunt my sexuality for every good-looking guy I happen to run into. Christ! I can't believe you think I'm such a slut!" Kevin stood up brushed the seat of his pants off and walked away, fuming.

Daniel turned to watch him go, "I guess I'm going to alienate everybody in the SGC, one way or another." Daniel spoke out loud to no one but himself.

Part 11

Two hours after administering the second dose of the Asgaard medicine, Janet began to notice a difference in O'Neill's condition. His fever started to come down and his pulse got stronger. She and her medical team had been monitoring Jack even more closely than before, if that were possible. They had been turning him and removing the soiled dressings from his rectal area every two hours since he had been anesthetized. This was the first time the sight and smell of the purulent discharge didn't turn her stomach. She and Chaney looked at each other afraid to actually say anything and jinx it.

When Teal'c returned with fresh coffee for them, Janet and Chaney were smiling quietly. Teal's resumed his chair and lifted his friend's limp hand, quietly looking back towards the two medics sitting side by side across the room. They were still smiling. Teal'c said nothing, attributing their strange behavior to stress and fatigue.

---------------------

Thirty-six hours after they arrived on P5R-267, they were still there. O'Neill had been given the third dose of the alien antibiotic and all of his vital signs were gaining in strength. Fraiser had ordered for him to begin tube feedings and inserted a gastrostomy tube directly through his abdomen into his stomach. She had hopes of being able to discontinue the total IV feedings, until now his only source of nourishment.

The teams had begun to rotate back to the SGC. SG Two was the first to leave, taking the extra ammunition and weapons along with the expended supplies. Ferretti's SG Five was the next to rotate home to allow them a few days rest before resuming their scheduled missions. Finally, SG Seven rotated back, leaving the Tokra, the SG Three Marines and SG One with the medical team.

Janet's medics were frequently offered relief by other members of the SGC medical unit, but always refused, deciding that they would see their mission through. Janet was proud of her group; they had shown amazing resourcefulness and perseverance and had become more than a little territorial about "Their Colonel". They all smiled a little more now, the tension reduced in large measure by the improvements in O'Neill and the ability to have privacy now that there were fewer occupants of the Tokra ship.

Janet walked into the quarters to find Daniel sitting next to the bed reading aloud to O'Neill from a text about Phoenician shipbuilding techniques. He lifted his head and nodded to her as she waved to him, then stopped as Janet came to the bedside.

"Daniel, I'm going to start to wake the Colonel up. His last labs look good and I want to do this while we still have the Asgaard medicine on board so it can handle anything else."

Daniel closed the text, pushed his glasses back up his nose and smiled broadly at her, "That's great, Janet! Can I stay here?"

Janet smiled, "Yes, Daniel. Just as long as you get your butt out of the way if there's a problem."

"I promise, scout's honor." Daniel held up his right hand, palm forward and grinned.

"Anita, Are you ready?" Janet called and Selva joined her at the bedside. Janet turned everything but the oxygen off and started to give more IV medications, then moved her fingertips to Jack's right wrist under the platinum bracelet. Soon Fraiser and Selva were joined by Chaney and Cimino who refused to be left out of this event. Everyone watched closely for any signs of distress. Janet removed the tape that had held Jack's eyes closed for so long and everyone held their breath.

Slowly, almost imperceptibly, the change began. A flicker of muscle movement here and there, a small facial twitch and the mouth muscles clenching around the endotracheal tube. At first Daniel thought his mind was giving him what it wanted him to see. Then the long, limp fingers he held began to move. Daniel stepped back to watch them move, clenching and relaxing, a tiny tremor running up to the forearm. He looked to Janet and Selva, lifting the hand to show them the fine movements, and then a leg moved. Daniel continued to stare at the long legs covered by a white cotton sheet, "There! Janet, did you see that? He moved his legs. There it is again."

Janet couldn't share all of his enthusiasm as her mind was already going over the things she should be looking for, the signs of brain damage. Besides, in her years as a physician, she had watched more that one patient return to consciousness after anesthesia. She was waiting for the big prize.

Part 12

"Janet, did you see that?" Daniel looked at her excitedly.

"No, Daniel, I was too busy watching this." She responded.

"Watching what?" Daniel looked toward Janet who pointed down at Jack's face where two deep brown eyes were focused intently on Daniel.

"Oh my God, Jack! Jack, you.. You're safe, now." Daniel positively beamed.

"Colonel?" Janet said softly and Jack's gaze shifted toward her, She sighed in relief that he responded to the title. "You've been asleep a long time, Colonel. It's time to wake up now, we've all missed you." Jack scanned the faces hovering around the bed, focusing on the three he didn't recognize right away.

"Jack?" Daniel spoke softly, and Jack's eyes came immediately back to his face.

"Sam and Teal'c are here too." Then looking up at Cimino, Daniel said, "could you go get Major Carter and Teal'c and tell them he's awake?" Cimino nodded and quickly left the room to retrieve the rest of SG One.

O'Neill started to cough in response to the continuing presence of the endotracheal tube and Janet readied the equipment to remove it. She turned on the suction and unhooked the tubing that led to the respirator. "All right, Colonel.

I'm going to remove the tube in just a moment." She threaded the suction into the endotracheal tube and pushed it deep to remove any accumulated secretions.

That threw O'Neill into another bout of coughing and choking around the tube, his face turning red with strain. Janet removed the tape that held the tube in place and threaded the suction back down into the tube, again pushing it deep. This time as O'Neill began to cough, she grabbed the end of the endotracheal tube and pulled out both tubes. To Daniel, the cough looked almost painful, but he knew it was necessary to clear the secretions and he held Jack's hand tightly through the spasms. As the cough eased, Jack relaxed and opened his mouth to speak.

"Colonel, I'm afraid you're not going to have a voice for a little while, so you might as well not even try. You'd think you would have this part all memorized by now." Janet laughed and shook her head as Jack looked at her and opened and closed his mouth like a fish.

Sam and Teal'c came around the corner at the run. Sam was beaming as she came up behind Janet and put her hands on the doctor's shoulders to peer over her shorter friend. Teal'c folded his hands behind his back and went to the foot of the bed where Cimino had been standing, smiling broadly.

Jack, his hand still in Daniel's, looked from Sam to Teal'c to Daniel and smiled. He opened his mouth as if to speak before being stopped by a sharp, "Ahh, Colonel. No talking. Remember?" from Janet still standing at his side. "Chaney, why don't you see if we have any ice left and get some for the Colonel. I've got a lot of writing to do, so I'm going to go over here and do it."

Then, her eyes looking to each of the other SG One members she said, "You three can only stay for a few minutes, then I want him to rest." She turned to O'Neill next, "I'll warn you right now, Colonel, you are the ONLY patient in this make shift infirmary, so I'll be able to watch you every second. You WILL follow my orders or I will put that tube back in, do you understand?" Jack nodded and smiled, giving Daniel's hand a slight squeeze.

The Doctor moved away and left SG One together. O'Neill decided to try pantomime to ask his questions, mouthing words. When he was unsuccessful in having his questions understood, he pulled Daniel's hand across his chest forcing him to lean down where Jack could whisper in his ear. "How long?"

Daniel put his finger across Jack's lips, reminding him of Janet's threat. "You've been asleep for about a week, rest now. You know how mean Janet can get when you challenge her authority. I get the feeling she means it about the tube."

"Teal'c" Jack whispered.

Teal'c, who had been smiling for longer than anyone had ever seen, nodded and said, "It is indeed good to see you awake, O'Neill."

Sam spoke up, "We're glad to have you back, sir. We missed you."

"All right, people, that's long enough. We need to do a feeding and he needs some rest. You can all come back later." Janet moved in right on time to break up the little gathering. Daniel started towards the bottom of the bed as Selva moved into his place to start the tube feeding procedure. Jack looked up, frowning at the nurse and squeezed Daniel's hand tight, refusing to let go when Selva pulled down the sheet and he saw the tube sticking out of his abdomen.

Daniel saw the sheer terror in Jack's eyes and put down Jack's hand nodding, "It's okay, Jack, I won't leave." As he moved to the other side of the bed, Jack's eyes followed him, relaxing as Daniel picked up the other hand.

"Daniel?" Janet moved back in, "You can come back later."

"He doesn't want me to leave, Janet. He won't let go."

Fraiser looked from Daniel down to Jack's dark pleading eyes and caved. She looked down at Jack with a smirk, "You are so manipulative. You always get your way, don't you?" She shook her head. Jack looked up through his dark lashes and gave her a slight, sad smile. "Oh stop with the puppy dog eyes. YOU win. THIS time!" she held up her right index finger and wagged it in warning, then moved away.

Daniel stood watching Jack as he carefully ignored Lieutenant Selva doing the tube feeding on his left side. O'Neill's eyes were unfocused and drifting shut, only to snap open again to look at Daniel. "It's okay, Jack. You can go to sleep. I'll stay right here." Daniel pulled up the chair and sat down, petting the gray head rhythmically.

---------------------

Janet decided to give her own report to the General when they next dialed the SGC. Hammond was surprised to hear the physician's voice instead of Carter's or Gorak's. Everyone in the control room looked around and stopped what they were doing to hear her report.

"Well, General. Colonel O'Neill is off the respirator and stable. He was awake for a while and seems to recognize everyone. He even, against medical advice, I might add, spoke to Doctor Jackson. The infection is resolving almost miraculously; his temp is down and his lungs are clear. He has one more dose of the Asgaard medication in about an hour and then, I think we will be coming home. Tell Doctor Warner that I don't think we'll be needing his services or the ICU when we come home."

"That's wonderful news, Doctor. I will pass the word to Doctor Warner and to the infirmary folks. We'll be glad to have you all home again."

"Sir, we'll dial back in about three hours and, barring any unforeseen circumstances, we will bring Colonel O'Neill home at that time. Fraiser out."

Part 13

"I want you to know, Colonel, that this medication is courtesy of your friend Thor." Janet moved toward Jack with the final dose of the alien medicine. Jack watched the small hands inject the cloudy solution into his IV.

"Thor?" Jack whispered his throat too sore to comment further.

"That's right. He came to see you after we got you back. You weren't doing so well, you had a bad infection and he brought us this to fight the alien organisms. So be sure to thank him next time you see him." Janet added.

"I'll get him a case of beer." Jack smiled and strained to swallow. Janet finished the injection and picked up the cup holding the straw in it to Jack's lips as he took a small sip and struggled only to swallow with a grimace on his face.

Daniel peered over Janet's shoulder when he saw the look on Jack's face. "What have you got in there? Lemon juice? That was quite a face."

Jack tried to smile as he took another sip and repeated the performance. Daniel took the cup from Janet, allowing her to move off as he moved into the bedside. "Better? Want another sip?"

Jack shook his head, and closed his eyes, "No, I'm full."

Daniel laughed and turned slightly to watch the activity in the quarters around them as the medics, with the help of Bratac and Teal'c, finished packing up the equipment and supplies for the return trip through the Stargate.

"When are we leaving?" Jack whispered.

"Right after they get finished packing all this stuff up they're gonna come over here and gather your various accessories. Then we go home." Daniel looked down at Jack as his head nodded to the side on the pillow. He put the cup down and turned to walk away. Jack breathed in the slow regular rhythm of sleep. Daniel moved away to assist the medics in packing, keeping one eye on O'Neill.

"Dan-yl, Ahh, Dan.no!" Daniel almost fell over Janet to get back to Jack's side. Jack was thrashing, his head moving from side to side, his legs kicking at the covers that restrained them.

"Shhhh, Jack. I'm here. I'm here, Jack. You're okay now. Shhhh." Daniel stroked the gray strands back from O'Neill's forehead and squeezed Jack's hand. O'Neill opened his eyes wide and looked all around the room. Daniel wondered how much of that look was embarrassment at possibly being observed and how much to reassure himself he was safe.

Janet walked up to bedside, rubbing her hands together and smiling. "Okay, NOW, it's time to get you all ready to go. Are you ready to go home, Colonel?"

"Absolutely. The entertainment here is terrible." Was the whispered reply.

They moved the cot Janet had been using closer to the bed and put the litter on it. Then they covered the litter with a blanket and sheet and prepared to move Jack to the litter for transport. After Teal'c and Daniel assisted Chaney and Cimino in transferring the Colonel to the litter, Janet and Selva secured the IV bag wrapped in a blood pressure cuff next to Jack's body and the Foley bag between his feet. They laid several folded blankets over him and used equipment belts to secure him to the litter. Jack watched the entire process, amused until the multiple blankets began to make him too warm. Then he started to whisper his protests.

Janet gave the order and Teal'c and Bratac picked up the litter and walked smoothly but quickly to the Stargate. The marines had formed lines on either side of the path from the ship to the gate with the remaining Tokra and Jacob interspersed among them. As the litter passed, each marine saluted. With both of his arms secured beneath the blankets, Jack was unable to do anything but smile at them in gratitude at the gesture. They paused just before entering the wormhole so Janet could take one last look to see that all was secure. Carter and Daniel, went ahead through the event horizon. Then, with a nod from Fraiser, the two jaffa litter bearers took their charge though the Stargate to home.

Daniel and Sam stood at the bottom of the ramp and waited as the litter came through. Its contents and condition were quickly checked by Janet at the top of the ramp. When she nodded and motioned to the two jaffa that they could place the litter on the waiting stretcher, they moved down the ramp.

Teal'c and Bratac carefully lowered the litter onto the stretcher and backed away as the gateroom exploded in applause and cheering. Daniel moved up to the stretcher and loosened one of the straps on the litter, helping O'Neill to free an arm that he waved in response to the warm welcome. Everyone who was on base had come to the gateroom when the off world activation sounded this time in anticipation of O'Neill's return and Hammond didn't have the heart to disappoint them by sending them away.

They bathed Jack in applause and cheers for five minutes before Janet forced the move to the infirmary when her patient began to sweat under all the blankets. They arrived at the elevator to find Sergeant Siler holding the car to prevent any further delay. "Good to have you back, Colonel. Get well, sir". Then the doors closed and they were on their way.

Part 14

With every nurse and corpsman in the infirmary at hand, it didn't take long to settle their star patient into bed. Since he was the only patient in the infirmary, he was likely to remain their star patient, for a little while, or at least, until his voice came back.

With Jack settled safely in the infirmary, Daniel decided that it had been too long since he last saw a shower and headed for the locker room. He stripped off and gathered his kit figuring to hit the showers while it was quiet before the marines got back. He stood allowing the water to beat over him for a few minutes and then began to wash.

As his hands moved over his body, he thought about Jack and began to think about ways to tell him how he felt about him, trying to formulate a plan of action. His hand automatically moved to his dick, the scrubbing becoming a stroking. His mind remembered the feel of Jack's tongue licking the semen from his hand, mouthing his soft dick. He saw that mouth before him and closed his eyes, allowing the fantasy to take hold.

Daniel began to thrust into his own hand, dreaming it was Jack. Jack's hand. Jack's mouth. Jack's ass. In his mind's eye he was that animal, that Makreet, and Jack was bent over in front of him waiting for him to shove his dick into his sweet heat. Daniel pulled more urgently now; adding in the twisting that usually finished him.

The roar of the water, the rush of blood through his ears, and his own moans prevented him from hearing the locker room door open and close.

Next: Rehabilitation