Child Of The Gods 2

Growing Pains

by Sistine

URL: http://www.area52hkh.net/ass/sistine/child02.php
Summary: Every relationship has it's troubled times, especially in the beginning

Part 1

"What do you write in that thing?" Jack asked as he watched Daniel writing in his journal.

Daniel looked up at him and said with an innocent look, "Don't ask, don't tell."

Jack grinned; he loved Daniel's little jokes. They were sitting on the couch, and Daniel was using Jack as a backrest, the journal propped up against the linguist's thighs. Jack had one arm around Daniel's waist, loosely holding the younger man to him. He enjoyed the quiet time they had together as much as the sex. "Anything good about me?"

"What did I just say?" Daniel finished writing and put the journal on the coffee table. He leaned back into Jack's embrace, savouring the support his lover was providing. "Good game?"

"Not bad," Jack replied, glancing at the TV again. He had actually been paying more attention to Daniel than the hockey. He switched the television off, put the remote down, and linked his hands together so that Daniel was completely encircled. "Did you have fun translating things today?"

"Yes, I did." Daniel grinned at the memory of being so engrossed in the text that Jack had literally had to drag him away. "Although I think you need to work on your 'Daniel, it's time to go home' skills."

"Hey, don't knock it! I got to touch you on SGC time, and everyone just thinks I was bullying you."

"You were bullying me," Daniel stated, shifting a little so he could see Jack better. "If you had waited a little longer, I would have come of my own accord."

"Daniel, I've seen how long you consider 'a little longer' to be," Jack said dryly. "Paint takes less time to dry. It was quicker my way."

"Whatever you say, Jack," Daniel replied, not wanting to argue the point. "Feel like an early night?"

"I thought you'd never ask."

~~~

The stone monoliths on P4A-771 had intrigued Daniel so SG-1 had received that assignment. He was hoping to find out their purpose, as it would help to explain similar structures on Earth. But the team had barely got past the DHD when someone or something started firing at them.

"Daniel, dial it up!" Jack yelled, moving into position to cover the linguist.

Without hesitation, Daniel obeyed, his hands slamming down on the glyphs for Earth. As soon as the wormhole formed, he punched in the GDO code.

"Go!" Jack ordered his team. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Carter enter the wormhole first, then Teal'c. As Daniel headed for the gate, Jack fell into step behind him, covering his six.

Neither man saw the bolts that hit the Stargate as they were entering, nor did they remember exiting on the other side.

~~~

The first thing that Daniel noticed was that he was cold. Very cold--Freezing, in fact. He opened his eyes and was surprised not to see the SGC infirmary walls. Instead, he appeared to be in some sort of cavern. An icy cavern, he noted as he realised he was lying in snow. He rolled onto his side and then sat up, looking around him. The Stargate was behind him, and there was a passageway behind it leading away from the cavern. And as he continued looking around, he saw an ice-covered figure in green fatigues lying about fifteen metres away, partially hidden by a wall of ice. Since he was aching all over, Daniel didn't bother standing up; he just crawled over on his hands and knees.

When he got close, he realised that the figure was Jack. Speeding up, he quickly covered the remaining distance. "Jack!" The older man was lying on his back, a graze on his forehead, and his right leg at a slightly odd angle. "Jack!"

There was still no response. Daniel brushed the snow away from Jack's body, his hand lingering on the man's face to check the skin temperature. Jack's skin was cold to the touch but Daniel wasn't quite sure if he was getting an accurate reading considering his fingers were frozen. Maybe Jack had a head injury that Daniel couldn't see and that was why he was still unconscious. He gingerly ran his hands through Jack's short hair but couldn't feel anything to explain his lover's current state.

Then he suddenly thought of the other two members of his team; he hadn't seen them yet. "Sam! Teal'c!" he called out, hoping that they were conscious and able to hear him. When he received no answer, he tried using the radio in case they had wandered off - which would have been completely out of character for them. There was still no answer. Either they were unconscious too, or somehow not at this location at all.

Daniel looked back at Jack, concern hampering his ability to think clearly. Despite all the training he had gone through in order to join SG-1, Daniel couldn't think of anything that related to this. Pushing his worry to one corner of his mind, Daniel tried to think logically about what he had to do. First thing was to prevent Jack from freezing to death. Daniel went through his backpack and pulled out a sleeping bag. He unzipped it then laid it over Jack, tucking it underneath the man as best he could. It wasn't much protection against the cold but it was the best he could do at short notice.

Rubbing his hands together to keep the circulation going, Daniel glanced around him. He needed to do some exploring - though not too far away in case Jack woke and called out for him. Tucking his fingers under his armpits, Daniel set off for the tunnel behind the gate.

~~~

"Aargh!" Jack slowly came to two realisations - one, that he was extremely cold; and two, his right leg hurt like hell. The reason for the latter was probably that it was broken - he tried to move it - no, make that definitely broken. The reason he was freezing was a little harder to work out.

"Jack?"

That voice definitely sounded familiar. "Daniel?" Jack was surprised to hear how weak his own voice was. To cover it up, he tried to move a little and grimaced when pain shot through his body.

"Try to stay put, Jack. I think your leg is broken." Daniel quickly made his way back to Jack's side. He had spent over an hour exploring the tunnels before determining that the other two members of SG-1 hadn't come through the gate with them. Then he had come back to check on Jack, and had then explored the cavern, periodically checking on his lover. Daniel put one hand on Jack's chest to keep him from moving while the other one came to rest on Jack's forehead. "How do you feel?"

"Like my leg is broken," Jack replied, reaching up with one hand to grab Daniel's. "How about you?"

"I'm fine." Daniel managed to put a small smile on his face, trying to reassure Jack.

Jack wasn't reassured but he wasn't up to arguing about it. "Where are we? Because unless they've done some redecorating, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore." The white snow and ice were a dead give-away.

Daniel's face fell. He had been trying to work out the answer to that since he had woken. "I don't know. I must have misdialed." And his mistake had caused Jack to get injured.

"Misdialed? You mean this place is a wrong number?" When Daniel's face fell even further, Jack felt guilty; of course Daniel was already blaming himself so he didn't need Jack blaming him too. "I'm sorry, Danny. It's not your fault."

"I was the one who dialled, Jack; it can't be anyone else's fault."

"Hey." Jack waited until Daniel looked at him before continuing. "We'll work out what went wrong later. Right now we need to focus on getting home." He paused, looking around. "Why haven't we already gone home?"

"Because I can't find the DHD." Daniel couldn't help letting a hint of the hopelessness he felt slip through. "Near as I can figure, we're inside a deep crevasse in a glacier. There are some tunnels but they're too narrow to follow very far. I can't find any trace of Sam or Teal'c, and I can't raise them on the radio."

"Oh." Jack tugged on Daniel's hand and got the young man to lie down next to him. He put his arm around Daniel's shoulders and held him tightly. "So, uh, we're in trouble."

"We're in trouble," Daniel confirmed. He gingerly rested his head on Jack's shoulders, not wanting to hurt Jack more.

"How long was I out?" Jack wanted to know. Judging by how cold he was, it had to have been for a while.

"Nearly two hours. I tried to keep you warm but I needed to--"

"Assess the situation and see if you could find a way out," Jack interrupted. He moved his hand up to Daniel's hair, although he could barely feel the soft strands. "You did the right thing."

"I didn't want to leave you," Daniel admitted softly. But he had recognised that it would be much better for Jack if he could find a way home. "I know that makes me a bad soldier but..."

"It makes you a good human being," Jack stated, "and I wouldn't change that for anything." He didn't want Daniel to think like a soldier, like Jack did. It was the very differences in thinking that Jack loved about the scholar.

Daniel smiled faintly; that was nice to hear.

"Now, we need to get out of here but first, I think we need to do something about my leg." He couldn't help Daniel like this.

"Jack--"
"Daniel, it has to be set," Jack cut off the argument. "Please. I trust you to do it, and it won't be your fault if it hurts. But if it's not set, it will end up hurting more."

Daniel knew that; he just didn't want to cause Jack more pain. "Okay." He slowly sat up and searched through his pack for something to use. He found some bandages, and some short tent poles that would act as splints.

While Daniel was doing that, Jack managed to undo the straps on his own backpack. "Daniel."

"Oh, right." Daniel gently eased the pack out form under Jack, supporting the older man as much as he could. He immediately got the sleeping bag out, realising that it wasn't good for Jack to continue lying on the ice. He spread it out on the cavern floor next to his lover. "Jack, you should lie on this."

"Yeah." Jack looked at the sleeping bag reluctantly. Moving was going to hurt. But he didn't want to get frostbite or freeze to death either. He reached out to pat Daniel's arm as the younger man knelt next to him. "Okay. On three. One. Two. Three--Argh!" Pain spiked through him as he tried to shift himself sideways with his arms and one good leg while Daniel assisted him. By the time Jack was lying down on the open sleeping bag, he was breathing through gritted teeth.

"I'm sorry, Jack," Daniel kept apologising as he assisted the older man. He wished he had some morphine to give Jack but that had been in Sam's pack.

"'S not your fault, Danny." Jack grabbed Daniel's hand and squeezed it hard, trying to reassure his lover. "I've had worse injuries than this."

Daniel wasn't really reassured by that but he nodded anyway. He squeezed Jack's hand then went to kneel beside the broken leg. "I've never done this before."

"You'll do fine. Just find the break, figure out the angle, and then pull so that the bone goes back into place." Jack tried to sound matter of fact about the whole thing so that he kept Daniel calm and focused.

"Right." Daniel did as instructed, feeling the leg gingerly. After determining the location of the break, he gave a solid yank on the leg.

"Argh! Oh God..." Tears of pain came into Jack's eyes as the bone moved.

"Okay, I think it's set." Daniel's hand hovered over Jack's leg, hoping that he had set it right.

Jack's eyes widened. "You think it's set?"

"No, I'm-I'm positive." It better be because he didn't want to do that again. "All we have to do is put a splint on it and you'll be as good as new." He tried to smile but it didn't really work.

"You bet," Jack agreed. He watched Daniel start to ready the splint and decided to help his lover keep his mind occupied. "You ever had a broken bone?"

"Two." Daniel put the poles next to Jack's leg and reached for the bandage. "Both on digs. First one, I wasn't watching where I was walking and fell down a recently excavated hole. I was seven at the time." He started winding the bandage around the broken leg.

"Ah," Jack protested softly when his leg was moved. "And the other one?" he managed to ask through gritted teeth.

"Camel threw me and I landed on my arm." Daniel tried to be as gently as he could but he knew that the bandage needed to be firm. "What about you?"

"Me? Argh... uh, this would be, uh, nine, if you count skull fractures."

"I thought you had a thick skull," Daniel joked and received a grim smile in return. "How did you manage that?" He paused in his ministrations while he waited for an answer.

Jack closed his eyes, remembering. "Little parachuting mishap... over the borders of Iran and Iraq in eighty, uh..." He trailed off, the pain making conversation difficult.

"Then what happened?" Daniel had heard very little about Jack's previous military exploits.

"I hit the ground." Jack did a winding motion with his hand, telling Daniel to continue with the bandaging. "Go figure. Argh! God!" Pain swept through him again but he forced it away. "Uh... my chute opened late and it hurt, just like that."

"I'm sorry, Jack, I'm doing the best I can."

"I know, I know." And he shouldn't be making Daniel feel bad about it.

Daniel was silent for a few seconds, then said, "So you hit the ground and...?"

"I'll tell you more later. Are you nearly done?" This was taking way too long, and although his pain-threshold was high, there was only so much he could take.

"Almost." The linguist tied the ends of the bandage together, wincing as the pain Jack was vocalising. "There."

Jack released a deep breath, relieved. He gestured for Daniel to sit next to him. "Thank you."

Daniel moved to where Jack wanted him and lightly rested one hand on Jack's chest. "So, how long before you were rescued?" he asked, wanting to know more about the story.

"No rescue." Jack put his hand over Daniel's. "It wasn't exactly... an official mission, if you know what I mean, so I had to make it out on my own."

"How long did it take you?"

"Nine days."

"With a skull fracture?" Daniel was incredulous and appalled at the same time. He moved in closer to Jack.

"Hey, I was in Special Ops. They built us tough." The doctor who had treated him after he had got out had told him that he was lucky he wasn't dead. Not wanting to dwell on that, Jack changed the subject. "So, what supplies have we got?"

"Uh, enough food for three days, I think. Some drinking water but not a lot." Daniel had checked the supplies earlier.

"Ice melts," Jack pointed out.

"Yeah, except Sam's got the cooking gear so we can't melt it." A rueful look passed over Daniel's face; he had given the cooking things to Sam so he could fit in a couple more books. "Flashlight batteries are going to be a problem but we do have thermal blankets as well as the sleeping bags."

"Sweet." That meant that they would be able to snuggle up together. Looking at Daniel's downcast face, Jack said, "We are going to get out of here, Daniel. That's an order."

Daniel almost smiled. "You know I don't take orders, Jack."

"We are going to get out of here," Jack repeated, trying to get the young man to believe it.

"I don't see how. There's no DHD, and no visible way out, and--"

"Daniel." Jack reached up to caress Daniel's cold cheek. "That doesn't sound like my archaeologist. Now, we are going to find a way because I'll be damned if I'm going to die on some godforsaken block of ice a million light years from home. Is that clear?"

This time the smile was bigger. "Yes, Jack." He had really needed that little speech to stop him from just giving in. He was not going to let Jack die here - or at all, if possible.

"Good. Now help me up." He needed to get moving before he turned into an icicle.

"Ah, Jack, I don't think that's a good idea--"

Daniel's protest was cut off in mid-sentence. "Maybe not but my butt's freezing to the ground. Come on."

Daniel rolled his eyes. "We can't have that, can we?" He was rather fond of that part of Jack's anatomy.

Jack held on tight to Daniel as he stood up, ignoring the pain shooting through his leg. As he looked around their current location, he commented, "A little paint, a couple of windows, maybe a fireplace in the corner, it'll be just like home."

"Right." Daniel didn't feel like arguing about that; he was too cold. "We can put up a little picket fence outside too."

"Sounds perfect." Jack shifted his weight a little, trying not to lean too heavily on Daniel. He looked around; the DHD had to be around here somewhere. "You sure you looked everywhere for the DHD?"

"Well, actually I didn't check up there," Daniel said, pointing to the ledge above them. "I was about to when you woke up."

"Well, I'm up now, so you'd better finish checking. I'll supervise," Jack stated. He patted Daniel's behind. "Go on, start checking."

"I'll start looking if you sit down," Daniel compromised. He started guiding Jack towards the sleeping bags.

"If I sit down, I'll freeze," Jack complained. "Just prop me up against the wall if you're worried."

"Jack--"

"Daniel, we don't have time to stand around arguing." Jack hugged the young man closer to take the bite out the words. "Please go and look for the DHD."

"Okay." Daniel left Jack leaning against the ice wall before scrambling up onto the ledge. There was a mound of snow in one spot, and since that would be easy to shift first, Daniel brushed it away. What he saw underneath surprised him. "Jack!"

"What?"

"I found it!" Daniel judged that there was at least three inches of ice covering the DHD. He got out his knife and started to chip at the ice.

"Found what? The DHD?" Jack pushed himself away from the wall and, using any handholds he could find, started to climb up to where Daniel was.

"Yes. The glacial flow or something must have separated it from the Stargate." Daniel swept the ice chips away with his hand. "It looks like it's still intact," he stated, looking over to where he left Jack. Upon not seeing him there, Daniel shifted his gaze to find Jack climbing the incline. "Jack, get back down there!"

"I'm fine." Jack pulled himself over the edge of the ice to peer at the frozen DHD. "Oh God," he complained as pain shot through his chest. He put an arm across his chest, protecting the injured part.

"Jack, what's wrong with your chest?" Daniel immediately knew something was very bad.

"It's nothing." After several seconds of Daniel's stony silence and piercing stare, Jack continued, "I think I cracked a rib too."

Straight away, Daniel got up and put his arm carefully around Jack's waist, intending to guide him back to the bags. "Why didn't you say something?"

"I was afraid you'd want to splint it," Jack tried to joke. "I'll be fine, Daniel. It's not serious."

"Yet." Daniel weighed up his concern for Jack and the need to get back to Earth. "All right, you stay here. Don't move!" he ordered.

"Yes, sir." Jack leaned back against the ice wall as Daniel went back to the DHD. He needed Daniel to get them both out of this place so he would keep out of the way and let Daniel rescue them both.

~~~

"I've been thinking about where Sam and Teal'c might be," Daniel said, breaking the silence that had existed for the last forty minutes.

That didn't surprise Jack. "Yeah?"

"There's several possibilities. Firstly, I misdialed and they're here, just somewhere we haven't found yet."

"You didn't see them on your travels," Jack pointed out. If they had come through the gate, then they would be nearby somewhere. They weren't, so that theory didn't work.

"Right." Daniel had discounted that too. "Secondly, I didn't misdial but for some reason the Stargate malfunctioned and sent us here instead of to Earth. I don't know how though - that's Sam's area of expertise."

"What's three?" Physics might be Carter's thing but Jack believed that Daniel would be able to work it out anyway.

"The Stargate malfunctioned, we got sent here, Sam and Teal'c got sent to another planet."

"Isn't that almost the same as two?"

"Yes."

""Just checking. What's four?"

"There is no four."

"It's after three," Jack argued.

"Not this time." Daniel sat back and surveyed the hole he had made. Forty minutes of solid chipping of ice had only uncovered the orange dome in the middle of the DHD.

Jack took note of the weary look on Daniel's face and moved over to him. He got out his own knife and, with some pain, started chipping at the ice. "Alright. We'll assume they reached Earth. They'll start sending out search parties."

"To where?" How was the SGC going to find them? It would take a miracle.

"Here, I hope." Jack ignored the exasperated look Daniel sent him. They had to be optimistic about things, and since he couldn't do much else, it was his job to keep Daniel's spirits up.

"Where would they even begin? I mean, there are thousands of Stargates out there! A random search could take years!"

"Not if they look here first."

"Jack!" Daniel glared at his partner, who stared calmly back at him. He knew what Jack was doing but Daniel had always been practical. "And would you stop doing that!"

"Doing what?" Jack feigned innocence as he continued to dig.

"That! Jack, you've got at least one cracked rib. You should not be digging into ice.' He tried to get hold of Jack's knife but the older man held it out of reach.

"Daniel, I will be fine." Jack waited until Daniel looked directly at him. "Let me help. I promise not to overdo it." He hated the idea of not being able to do anything.

The linguist sighed; he could see the need to be of assistance reflected in Jack's eyes. "All right. Just be careful though, or I'll tell Janet what you did when we get back."

"You wouldn't."

"Try me."

Jack grinned; there were times when he loved Daniel's way of looking after him. "Are we going to talk or work?"

~~~

Two hours later, Daniel had the top of the DHD uncovered, and his right arm felt like it was going to fall off. He brushed the chipped ice off the top with his left hand; he didn't want anything to stop the DHD from working.

"How's it going?" Jack called from below when he heard Daniel stop working. He had stopped working an hour ago when the pain in his chest had become bad.

"I've uncovered the top," Daniel reported. He hung his head in weariness, glad that Jack couldn't see how much the digging had taken out of him.

"Time for a break then." When Jack didn't get a response, he continued, "I need you down here, Danny."

The pet name got Daniel moving, reminding him that Jack was looking out for him too. He climbed down the ledge and upon finding Jack lying on the sleeping bag, lay down beside him on the left. Daniel snuggled in closer, careful of Jack's ribs, and rested his head on Jack's shoulder. Then he pulled the thermal blanket up to cover both of them.

Jack put his arm around Daniel and held him close. "You know, if I didn't have any cracked or broken bones, we could have had sex to keep warm."

Daniel chuckled. Sometimes Jack had a one-track mind. "I hope you wouldn't be suggesting that to anyone else you were stuck with."

"Only you, baby." Jack grinned when there was a light slap to his chest. He called Daniel 'baby' at least once a week, and it never failed to get an annoyed response. "We could share body heat."

"I'm not getting naked," Daniel stated firmly. "It's okay for you but I was brought up in the desert, so forgive me if I want to keep my clothes on."

"You're no fun," Jack grumbled, not really meaning it. Daniel was plenty fun, both in bed and out. He nudged Daniel's head with his shoulder. "How about some kissing then?"

Daniel was happy to oblige. He lifted his head up to meet Jack's lips. Warmth began to flow through him as the kiss deepened. He leaned into the kiss, one leg moving across Jack's good one for balance. He felt fingers in his hair, firmly caressing his scalp and holding him in place. A soft moan escaped him when Jack slipped his tongue into his mouth and started teasing Daniel with it.

Jack barely noticed the pain and the cold anymore, so focused was he on Daniel. He loved the fact that he could lose himself when kissing Daniel, as if the two of them were the only people on Earth. He could tell that Daniel was holding himself back slightly, not wanting to lose control and hurt him. Jack liked making Daniel lose control but knew it would be a bad thing today. "Warmer?" he asked, his lips brushing against the linguist's.

"Much." Daniel kissed Jack one more time then moved down to rest his head on his lover's shoulder again. "Try to get some sleep."

"You too." Jack waited until he felt Daniel's breathing even out before closing his eyes.

~~~

At least he was a little bit warmer when he woke up this time but not by much. Daniel lifted his head from his Jack-pillow and looked up at his lover. Jack was lying very still and for a moment, Daniel was scared. "Jack!"

"What?" Jack was pulled suddenly from his sleep. He went to sit up and the motion hurt his ribs. "Argh!"

"It's okay, Jack, just relax." Daniel put one hand lightly on Jack's chest to push him back down. "I'm sorry."

"What'd you wake me for?" Jack grouched, lying back down, one hand over his injured ribs. He looked at Daniel, who looked away, head hung low, and realised what must have gone through Daniel's mind. The young man had just been making sure Jack was still alive. "I'm still here, babe, it's okay."

Daniel screwed up his nose at the endearment but didn't say anything about it. "I just thought..."

"I know. I would have done the same thing." Except maybe more gently. "How long did we sleep?"

"Four hours," Daniel replied, checking his watch. He then rubbed his hands over his face; it felt like it was going numb. "God, it's cold."

"Tell me about it," Jack complained. He gestured for Daniel to lie back down but the young man shook his head.

"I'd better start digging again. The sooner we get out of here..."

"The happier we'll all be," Jack finished for him. "Let's get to it then." He held a hand out towards Daniel.

"Jack, you're in no condition to do this," Daniel stated, keeping his distance. He thought it would be better if Jack rested.

"I'm not going to have this argument again, Daniel. I need to help." Daniel was the only one he would ever admit that to.

Daniel understood that feeling; he couldn't sit back and let everyone else do the work either. "Alright." He helped Jack to his feet and then escorted him up the slope to the DHD. "Be careful," he ordered.

"Yes, love." Jack got his knife out and started chipping away at the ice at the edge of the DHD.

Thirty minutes went by before Daniel declared that he was ready to try dialling out.

"You ID-ed the seventh symbol?" Jack asked.

"This one," Daniel said, pointing to the circle with the line underneath. "I've never seen it before." His hand hovered over the first symbol. "I guess it's now or never."

"I've always preferred now to never." The sooner they got home the better, especially since the pain in his chest was getting worse - something he had no intention of telling Daniel.

"Here goes." Daniel pressed each of the seven symbols firmly, watching as the chevrons on the gate lit up. The ground shook as the gate turned, sending little sprinkles of ice down onto the two men. Daniel pressed the orange dome in the middle. There was a whining sound but instead of a wormhole forming, the chevrons died. It hadn't worked. Why? "Damn it!"

"You dialled the right address?" Jack trusted Daniel completely but he had to make sure.

"Yes! I'm positive!" Daniel's right hand slammed down onto the symbols again, hoping that it would work, but the Stargate shut down as soon as he touched the dome. "Why isn't it working?" he said, frustrated.

"Calm down, Danny. There has to be a logical reason." Jack suddenly doubled over and started coughing.

Daniel grew alarmed when Jack coughed up blood. Something was seriously wrong with his lover. They had to get off this planet now! "Focus, Daniel," he muttered to himself. Okay, Earth's address didn't work. Maybe there was something wrong with the gate on the other end. To test that theory, he pressed down on the symbols for the Land of Light. To his surprise, a wormhole formed. "Jack--"

"I see it. Well done, Danny." Jack straightened himself up. "What did you do?"

"Tried another address." Daniel got up and helped Jack down off the ledge. "I figured that maybe Earth's gate wasn't working and that's why it wouldn't connect." That theory was looking very possible right now.

"So we go through to another address and see if we can connect from there. Good thinking," Jack praised the young man. He pulled Daniel in for a quick kiss. "Remind me to thank you properly when we get home."

Daniel blushed at the praise but a small smile graced his lips. "I will." Jack wouldn't be able to do much but what he could do, Daniel was positive he was going to enjoy.

Jack grinned. "Better pack up our stuff - we probably won't be able to come back for it."

"Right." Daniel quickly and efficiently packed everything up, making sure that Jack's pack was lighter than his. Then he re-dialled P3X-797, put his arm around Jack for support, and stepped with him through the wormhole.

As they stepped out into the Land of Light - the first time Daniel had set foot on the planet - Jack swayed alarmingly. Daniel held on as tightly as he dared as he guided Jack down to the DHD. The older man's face was very white and drawn because of the pain he was in. Daniel hurriedly dialled up Earth and when the wormhole formed, sent the GDO code through so that they didn't run into the iris. Then he helped Jack back to the gate and stepped once more into the wormhole.

Part 2

Hammond waited impatiently in the control room. He hoped that the SG-1 code that had just been sent was from his 2IC but he was staying out of the way until he knew for sure. The other two members of SG-1 were standing right behind him, waiting anxiously. But as soon as Colonel O'Neill and Doctor Jackson stepped through onto the ramp, they were out of the control room and into the gateroom.

"We need a medic!" Sam heard Daniel yell as she ran into the gateroom. She could see that the colonel was leaning quite heavily against Daniel, keeping the weight off his splinted right leg. She went up the ramp to assist Daniel. "What happened?"

"Long story," Daniel replied wearily as he let Sam take some of Jack's weight.

A gurney was wheeled into the room, followed by Doctor Fraiser. As Jack was laid onto it, Daniel filled the doctor in on the injuries. He brushed off the concern for himself; he was fine, just a little cold. He let Sam escort him to the infirmary, Teal'c hovering behind them, and he relaxed a little. They were home. They were both alive, and Jack would recover from his injuries. There was still the question of what had happened but that could wait until later. Right now, all Daniel wanted was a nice hot bath and Jack - in that order.

~~~

Sam had stayed close to Daniel while he got his post-mission check-up but then let Teal'c accompany him to the locker room for a shower. She had missed both of them, the colonel especially, and that had fuelled her determination to find them. Several SG teams had searched a dozen planets for them once Sam had theorised that the wormhole had jumped to another Stargate, but no trace of them had been found. She was looking forward to talking with Daniel to find out where they had actually been.

She found him sitting by Colonel O'Neill's bedside. The colonel seemed to be sleeping, and his colour had returned to normal. His right leg was encased in plaster, and Sam guessed that his ribs were also taped. She went over to stand next to Daniel and asked softly, "How is he?"

"Better." Daniel craned his head to look briefly at Sam then turned back to his lover. He hadn't done the bedsitting thing before because Jack hadn't been injured badly on any missions in the past two months or so - Jack had always been able to walk out of the infirmary straight away. Daniel found that he didn't like seeing Jack just lying there even though he knew the older man was okay. He didn't know how Jack had coped with doing this for two months while he had watched over Daniel.

"I wanted to talk to you," Sam said, pulling up another chair. "About what happened to send you to another Stargate."

Daniel nodded. 'I've been thinking about that. Do you think it was possible that the Stargate, I don't know, overloaded or something from the weapons that were shooting at us?"

"I think that's exactly what happened." Sam was pleased that they were both on the same wavelength. "And because the wormhole had to discharge somewhere, it jumped to another gate close by."

"Dumping Jack and I into an icy cavern with such force that Jack broke his leg and a couple of ribs." Daniel rubbed a hand over his face. "The DHD was buried under several inches of ice. We had to dig it out and then when we did, it didn't work. We couldn't dial home."

Sam was puzzled. "So how did you get back?"

"I dialled P3X-797 and the gate worked. Then we turned around and came through to here." Daniel paused, his eyes locked on Jack's still face. "I don't know how much longer Jack would have survived if we hadn't got through." Daniel had been so scared when Jack had coughed up blood.

"Why didn't the gate connect to Earth?" Sam asked. It puzzled her that the gate wouldn't connect to Earth but had done so with another one.

"I don't know. I thought that something must have happened to Earth's gate but..." He trailed off.

"There was nothing wrong," Sam finished for him. "Did you recognise the seventh symbol?"

Daniel shook his head. "It was just a simple pattern - a circle over a thin rectangle. Nothing like the others we've come across." There had to be some significance to that. As he thought about it, his mind connected a few other dots. The unusual symbol, the fact that the gate wouldn't connect to Earth - it was a crazy theory but it might just be right.

"What?" Sam saw a change come over Daniel's face and wondered as to its cause.

"This might sound strange but..." Daniel hesitated. No-one ever listened to his theories.

"But what?"

"What if there was another Stargate here - on Earth?" Daniel turned to look at Sam and wasn't surprised to see scepticism on her face.

"What makes you think that?" The thought had never crossed her mind.

"I don't know." Daniel looked at the floor. "But it would explain why the two gates wouldn't connect - the points in space would all be the same."

"Another Stargate?" Sam kept thinking about it. "Why would there be two?"

"I don't know," Daniel repeated. He thought about it a little more. "When I tried to dial Earth, the gate shook, much like ours used to. If it was here on Earth, would it have shaken enough to register on a seismometer?"

Sam slowly nodded her head. "Actually, it probably would have. What time did you try the gate?"

"About ten minutes before we came through here."

"I'll go check." Sam placed a hand on his shoulder, causing Daniel to look up. "Wait here."

As if there was anywhere else he was going to go. Daniel watched Sam leave then turned his gaze back to Jack. If the gate was on Earth, it would certainly explain why he hadn't been able to dial home. And a second gate would explain the cultures out there who appeared to have been transplanted after the gate at Giza was buried. He just hoped that some more evidence would be found supporting his theory because no-one would believe him otherwise.

~~~

Sam looked at the computer screen. Daniel was right; she couldn't believe it.

"Captain?" General Hammond entered the control room and was curious as to what she was doing.

"Yes, sir?"

"What are you looking at?"

"Seismometer reports." She turned to face him. "Daniel suggested that the gate they went through might have been on Earth rather than on another planet. And I think he was right."

Hammond was still puzzled. "How did you work that out?"

"Well, sir, Daniel said that their gate shook when he tried to dial out." She pointed to the screen. "At the same time that he dialled out, a tremor was recorded in Antarctica, just 15 miles out of McMurdo."

"And you think that a second gate is buried there?"

"There's only one way to find out," Sam suggested.

~~~

General Hammond questioned Teal'c about a possible second gate being somewhere on Earth, and then he went to talk with Doctor Jackson. He found the civilian at Colonel O'Neill's bedside. "Doctor."

Daniel looked up, startled. "General?"

"How is he doing?" It looked like his 2IC was going to be grounded for a few weeks.

"Better," Daniel replied. "He's not going to be happy when he finds out Janet has put him on bed-rest for the next few days though." And guess who was going to bear the brunt of Jack's irritation?

Hammond chuckled; Jack was not anyone's idea of a model patient. "What about you, son?"

"I'm fine. Just a little cold."

"Speaking of cold, Captain Carter believes she has located your Stargate."

"Really?" How come Sam hadn't come back to tell him? "Where is it?"

"Antarctica." Hammond looked down at the young man. "What made you think it was on Earth?"

"Mainly the fact that I couldn't dial home. I mean, what happens when you dial your own phone number?" The analogy had come to him a few minutes ago.

The general smiled. "You get a busy signal." He patted Daniel on the shoulder. "Well done, Doctor."

Daniel was slightly surprised by the praise. "Uh, thank you."

"Do you want to go with the team to Antarctica to check it out?" Hammond offered. It would be helpful if he went but it wasn't essential.

"Um, not really, sir. I've seen enough ice to last me a while and besides, Jack is going to need a ride home if Janet discharges him." Not to mention, someone to look after him.

"Fair enough. Take good care of him." Hammond had been watching the two of them and had come to the conclusion that they were just friends.

"Yes, sir." Daniel watched Hammond leave, a thoughtful look on his face. He had finally put forth a theory and no-one had laughed at it. Okay, so Sam had been sceptical but at least she had checked it out for him. Wait until he told Jack; the older man knew that things like that didn't happen often to him.

~~~

Jack came back to awareness slowly, the painkillers messing with his brain. He noticed that it was quite warm, which he thought was quite strange considering he was trapped in an icy cavern. The thermal blankets couldn't be working that well, he thought. Slowly, he opened his eyes, blinking several times to clear his vision. He could see white and grey, the same colours as the cavern, but it didn't look the same. A memory clicked - they had made it back to Earth. Therefore this had to be the infirmary. "Daniel?" he said, hoping that his lover would be around.

There was a movement off to his left. "Hey." A hand covered his. "Finished napping?"

Jack could hear the relief in Daniel's voice. "For the moment. How are you?" He focused on Daniel's face when the linguist came into view.

"Warmer," Daniel said with a smile. "You?"

"Same." Jack glanced down at his leg and saw that it was encased in plaster. "Darn, I was hoping that part was going to be a dream."

"No such luck. It was a clean break, which is why it was so easy to set."

"Easy? That was easy?" Jack said, remembering the pain he had been in. Then he saw Daniel's crestfallen expression and was immediately contrite. "Sorry, Daniel. I didn't mean it that way." He rubbed his thumb along the back of the linguist's hand.

"I know." Daniel gave him a wan smile. He could still hear the shouts of pain echoing through the cavern. Changing the topic, he stated, "Did you know we were actually on Earth the entire time?"

"You're kidding me?" Jack stared incredulously at him. "Where? How? Why?"

Daniel explained about his theory and how Sam had checked it out, proving him right. He was still feeling pleased that she had listened to him - the fact that he had been right was not as important to him.

Jack understood how much Daniel valued being listened to when it came to his theories, and was happy that Daniel had been right. It had been a leap in thinking that no-one else on the base would have been capable of making. Daniel was definitely a genius, which begged the question of why he was in love with Jack. He banished that thought immediately; doubts were not allowed in their relationship. "So how come you didn't go and check it out?"

Daniel shrugged. "They didn't really need me. Besides, someone needed to be here when you woke up so that you didn't terrorise the nursing staff." He had heard all about how bad Jack was as a patient. But mainly he had just wanted to stay with Jack after almost losing him.

"Me?" Jack pretended to be affronted. "I'm a model patient."

"So if Janet told you that you were going to be stuck here for the next week, you wouldn't immediately try to get out of bed and head home?"

"I'm shocked that you would even suggest such a thing." Jack paused. "I would at least wait until she had left the infirmary."

Daniel rolled his eyes. "If I come by every day to keep you from getting bored, will you promise to behave yourself?" He gave Jack a soulful look and fluttered his eyelashes, knowing that Jack found that look hard to resist.

Jack groaned. He hated that he was so susceptible to that particular look - or any look, for that matter.

Janet arrived then after hearing the voices while doing her rounds. "Colonel, it's good to see you awake."

"It's good to be awake," Jack replied, sending a quick glance towards Daniel, his eyes full of mischief. It was always a good thing to wake up with Daniel by his side.

"You were very lucky, sir." I suspect you already know that your ribs were broken, and one of them punctured a lung. If Daniel hadn't brought you back when he did, we wouldn't be having this conversation at all." It had been a close call.

His very own personal guardian angel. Jack smiled at the young man. "Sounds like you saved my life, Dannyboy."

Daniel didn't make a fuss about the name since Janet was there but there were other ways of discouraging the use of it. "Yeah, well, if you had rested like you were supposed to, you wouldn't have punctured the lung in the first place."

Janet pounced on that. "And what exactly did you do, Colonel?"

"Just supervised," Jack lied smoothly.

"I'm sure you did." Janet wasn't convinced but she knew enough about O'Neill to know that he was not going to admit to anything. "You were also beginning to develop frostbite. Given a few more hours, you would have lost a couple of toes."

Jack was taken aback by that; he hadn't realised his feet had been that numb. "They're fine now, though, aren't they?"

"Yes." Janet proceeded to check him over then filled out the chart. "I'm keeping you in here for a few days. Your body has been put through a lot in the past twenty-four hours, Colonel, and I want to make sure it's on the mend before I send you home."

Jack considered arguing but one look at Fraiser's face told him that he wouldn't win this one. Grudgingly, he said, "Well, I suppose I can stay for a few days. Got nothing else to do." As he said that, it sunk in that he and Daniel wouldn't be able to make love for several weeks; after such a short time together, that wasn't fair!

"That's good to hear. Daniel," she said, turning to the linguist. "You need to get some sleep. You can use the bed if you like." Janet gestured to the empty bed behind Daniel.

"Thanks." The thought of going home, to the apartment, or even to the quarters on base, didn't really appeal to him. He wanted to stay with Jack to reassure himself that the older man was okay.

"Now, Daniel," Janet ordered. Daniel looked thoroughly exhausted.

Ignoring the amused smile that Jack sent his way, Daniel reluctantly got up and lay on the nearby bed.

"Shoes."

Sighing, Daniel sat up, took his boots off, then lay back down again. "Happy?" His eyes started to drift closed.

"Almost," Janet replied. She waited until Daniel's breathing evened out before covering him with a blanket. "Now I'm happy," she said softly.

"Hasn't he rested at all?" Jack asked quietly, looking at his lover sleep.

"He wanted to make sure you were okay first, I think."

That was Daniel, Jack thought; always putting others ahead of himself. "How many cups of coffee did he have?"

"None that I saw, but I'm guessing maybe two or three at least." Daniel's coffee addiction was well known in the SGC. "And speaking of sleeping, I need to get some myself."

"Working round the clock again, Doc?"

"Well, the two of you would decide to come back in the middle of the night," she retorted. "Goodnight, Colonel."

"Night," Jack echoed. Then he turned his head to watch Daniel again, taking comfort in the steady rise and fall of his chest. It had been a close call for both of them, especially when one considered all the 'ifs': if Daniel had been injured too; if they hadn't been able to get the DHD working; if his own injuries had been more severe... When one considered all those, it was very lucky that they had made it out alive. If they hadn't, their bodies would have been frozen over and no-one would have found them because no-one would think of looking for a second gate on Earth. No-one except Daniel, of course.

He continued to stare at Daniel until he too fell asleep.

~~~

Janet kept Jack in the infirmary for five days until she was sure that his ribs were healing nicely. Daniel spent as much time as he could keeping Jack company without raising too many suspicions - and when he wasn't deeply involved in a translation. The team had come back from Antarctica three days earlier with the information that they had found the second gate. They had also found a frozen Serpent Guard near the DHD, which proved that the Goa'uld had used the gate. Daniel received a lot of praise for his part in the discovery, which he accepted shyly. Jack, however, positively glowed with pride at seeing Daniel truly appreciated.

Daniel drove Jack home and got him comfortably lying on the bed. When Jack protested, Daniel simply batted his eyelashes and told him that it had been part of the agreement with Janet so that he could go home.

"I'm fine, Daniel," Jack continued to protest. "It doesn't even hurt anymore."

"That's because the painkillers are doing their job," Daniel retorted. "Do you want anything to eat?" he asked as he fussed over his patient.

Jack caught Daniel's wrist. "Just you." He pulled Daniel down to sit on the bed.

"Jack--"

"Just a kiss." He had missed the feel of those soft lips against his.

Daniel relented and leaned down to kiss Jack. He had missed the close contact too. It amazed him just how much he had missed it after only two months of being together. He broke the kiss, lay down next to Jack, and then continued the kiss. This was nice.

"I was going to take you out tomorrow night for your birthday," Jack admitted when they parted for breath. He'd had such a romantic evening planned.

"Really?" Daniel hadn't expected that; no-one had ever done anything special for his birthday. "Where?"

"That new Italian restaurant in Denver." Where no-one would know them, and they would have been free to be a couple. "They have candles, violins, the works."

Daniel's eyes widened. Candles and violins equalled romantic, which was something Jack couldn't be in public. "I appreciate the gesture but what if someone saw us?"

"No-one knows us in Denver," Jack pointed out. He wound his arm around Daniel's waist and hugged him tight. "I wanted to spoil you." He wanted to make Daniel happy.

"Oh." Daniel snuggled in close and rested his head on Jack's shoulder. "You don't have to." He wasn't used to it.

"I want to, love." Jack thought that Daniel was in desperate need of spoiling after so many years of only having himself to look after. He would just have to think of something new since he would be stuck indoors tomorrow.

"Oh," Daniel said again. He couldn't think of anything else to say to that. He undid a couple of buttons on Jack's shirt and slid his fingers through to touch bare skin. Being with Jack had started to break down his doubts concerning just reaching out and touching. Jack did it naturally, something that Daniel wished that he could do. His fingers slid through Jack's chest hair - he really enjoyed the texture of it.

"Daniel." Jack put his hand over the young man's. "Much as I'm enjoying that, it's probably not a good idea." It was no fun getting aroused when he couldn't do anything about it.

"I know." Daniel smiled briefly then stilled his hand. 'How long do you think it will be before we can... you know?"

"Far too long," Jack groaned. He had been warned to take care of his ribs for the next six weeks.

In that case, Daniel thought he had better remove temptation. Giving Jack one last peck on the lips, he got up. "I'll just go make dinner."

Jack watched him leave the room, frustrated that he was going to be celibate so soon after finally taking Daniel to bed. At least he wasn't dead - that was a good thing. And he still had Daniel, so at least the universe wasn't entirely against him. Smiling at the thought, Jack started planning what he could do for Daniel's birthday.

~~~

Daniel lay down next to Jack, panting from the intensity of his climax. It had been quite a way to start the day, with Jack urging him to straddle his chest and then proceeding to give Daniel a birthday blow-job.

"Happy birthday, love," Jack said, justifiably proud of his handiwork. He put his arm around Daniel and held the young man to him for a lazy kiss.

"Mmmm," was all Daniel could manage to say as he tasted himself in Jack's mouth. This kind of kiss was erotic yet strange - Daniel was still getting used to it. In fact, he was still getting used to everything in his relationship with Jack - the hard body pushing against his own; the reverent way Jack viewed his body; the way they could push each other around and not cause any harm. This was so different to what he'd had before.

"I actually have a proper present for you." Jack looked deep into the blue eyes so close to him. "It's in the dresser, bottom drawer."

"Too tired to move," Daniel murmured. His head rested on the pillow next to Jack, comfortable with the closeness. He put his hand on Jack's chest and moved in close. Just being there with Jack was all the birthday present he needed right now.

Jack grinned. He ran one hand up and down Daniel's side, feeling the smooth, slick skin. "No rush then." He loved just lying in bed and holding Daniel.

"Good." Except that he was now becoming curious as to what Jack would have bought him. His mind wanted to get up and investigate but the rest of him didn't. He lay there for a couple of minutes before curiosity got the better of him.

Jack knew before Daniel started to move exactly when the linguist's curiosity kicked in. He watched Daniel as the young man got up and went over to the dresser, not bothering to put his boxers back on. Daniel wasn't exactly shy about nudity; just uncomfortable about people looking at him actually, so the fact that he could parade around naked in front of Jack meant that he was comfortable with the situation. Or possibly he was just oblivious, Jack decided as he ogled Daniel; the linguist was too focused on finding his present. When Daniel crouched down to search through the bottom drawer, Jack got an eyeful of the perfect ass. He had fondled it, stroked it, even kissed it, but he had not been allowed to bury himself inside it - yet. Although Daniel was happily participating in anything Jack initiated, he had been very clear that penetration was something he wasn't ready for. Jack respected that - he had to, really - and was content with all the other ways they could make love. But he really wanted to know what it would be like to be inside Daniel; the reverse was something he wasn't considering yet.

Daniel, unaware of Jack's thoughts, found the brightly-wrapped present and carried it back over to the bed. Sitting down next to Jack, he examined the object. It was a large, rectangular shape, and reasonably heavy, so Daniel guessed it was a book, but which one? He carefully started to undo the wrapping.

"It's not an artifact, Daniel. You can rip it open," Jack stated.

"Let me do this my way, Jack." Daniel continued to carefully unwrap the present. When he got the paper off and saw what was written on the cover, he was overwhelmed.

"Is it alright?" Jack put one hand on Daniel's thigh, rubbing it up and down to comfort his lover.

"Where did you find this?" Daniel ran his fingers over the bound copy of his father's doctoral thesis. He hadn't known copies still existed.

"I did a little research, called in some favours. The university was happy to make a copy for you." Especially when Jack had offered the right amount of cash. "I tried to get a copy of your mom's as well but it had been lost in a fire ten years ago." Miraculously, Doctor Melbourne Jackson's thesis had survived though. "I'm sorry."

Daniel shook his head, forgiving Jack for that. "I can't believe you found it." He had so little to remember his parents by, and the fact that Jack went to so much trouble to find something made it special. "Thank you." He blinked rapidly, tears gathering in his eyes.

Jack reached up to brush the tears away. "Your parents would be so proud of you." He had actually read parts of the thesis and although he hadn't understood all of it, he had been able to see where Daniel got his intelligence.

"You really think so?" Daniel had hoped that they would but he had never been sure.

"I know so." Jack couldn't imagine them being otherwise. "Come here, love." He encouraged Daniel to lie down in his arms.

Daniel complied, still holding onto the book. He couldn't believe that Jack had gone to so much trouble for his birthday. He couldn't think of anyone else who would have done this for him. Daniel felt a swell of love for the man beside him. He put his hand on Jack's shoulder and just lay there, enjoying the feeling.

~~~

The next five weeks passed relatively quickly. Daniel had spent much of the first week working from Jack's house and keeping an eye on him. Then he had gone back to the Mountain, leaving a very bored Jack at home. This had encouraged Jack to get mobile, and he was soon accompanying Daniel into work everyday.

SG-1 went on a couple of short missions with Kawalsky filling in as CO while Jack was recovering. Jack worried every time Daniel stepped through the gate, only breathing easy again when the linguist came back unharmed. Now he knew how Daniel must have felt when he hadn't been allowed to go through the gate.

Their lovemaking, at home, was pretty much back to normal, although Jack always had to be on the bottom. He liked it but missed being able to cover Daniel with his body, pushing down against the young man. And he was still no closer to being inside Daniel, the linguist continually shying away from the ultimate intimacy, citing that he wasn't ready for it. Jack had the suspicion that there was something else to it and he was ready to push Daniel for the reason.

The day the cast was due to come off, Jack was hobbling around the base trying to find his lover. Daniel was supposed to have met him in his office thirty minutes ago but hadn't shown up. Now Jack was irritated at Daniel, and wasn't too happy when he found the linguist in the briefing room, watching something on the monitor. "Daniel?"

Failing to notice the edge to Jack's voice, Daniel muttered, "Oh hi, Jack," without looking away from the screen.

"Fraiser's ready to take the cast off," Jack said, moving to stand beside Daniel. "You coming?"

"In a minute. This is fascinating, Jack." A picture of the Stargate appeared on the screen.

"What is it?" Jack's interest was now caught too.

"The Pentagon was declassifying files and these were sent here." Daniel focused on the footage. "This is a film of experiments done on the gate in 1945."

"Are they turning the gate manually?" Jack asked in disbelief. He watched for a few more seconds then shook his head. He could see how Daniel had got caught up in watching the film. "How many hours of this stuff have you looked at?" He hadn't seen Daniel for several hours or so.

"There's no conclusion to the files, no summary, no notes," Daniel avoided the question. "No reason to explain why they gave up." Just the kind of mystery that intrigued him.

"Well, whole boxes could be missing."

"No, the Pentagon said this was everything."

"Oh please." Jack was highly sceptical. "The Pentagon's lost entire countries." He put a hand on Daniel's shoulder, aware that the linguist hadn't even looked at him since he had entered the room. "Come on. The sooner I get this cast off, the better."

"Just a minute." Daniel watched a man on the film getting a diving helmet placed over his head. Then the view switched to an active Stargate. "Ah, Jack?"

Jack stared in disbelief at the screen. "No way. That's impossible." Daniel had been the first one to turn the gate on since it had been uncovered. There had never been any record of anyone else doing it.

"Obviously not." Daniel was equally stunned. "This doesn't make any sense. Why wouldn't someone have told us this? I mean, why would they stop their research if they actually managed to turn it on?"

On the screen, the man in the diving suit walked through the gate, a long rope stretching out behind him. Soon after he went through, the gate shut down, severing the rope.

"Maybe that's why," Jack muttered, finding it hard to believe what he had just seen.

"Someone went through the gate in 1945." Daniel twisted his chair around to face Jack. "Do you suppose he ever came back?"

"My guess would be no. If he had, the program might have kept going." That was a scary thought. What if the Tau'ri had met up with the Goa'uld back then? Earth would have either been wiped out or become enslaved again, providing, of course, that the Goa'uld found them a threat.

Daniel nodded in agreement. "I wonder why Catherine never said anything. I mean, she was involved back then, wasn't she?"

"As far as I know." Jack looked at Daniel suspiciously, something in the tone alerting him. "Daniel, what are you thinking?"

"Maybe she never knew," Daniel speculated, then realised Jack had asked him something. "I'm sorry, what?"

"What are you planning?" Jack knew that look.

"You know, I never did go see Catherine once I was un-snaked."

Jack got hold of Daniel's right arm and hauled him upright, balancing precariously on the crutches. "No."

"Why not?"

"Because." Jack didn't feel like arguing the point at the moment. "Now, please come down to the infirmary for moral support."

Daniel gave in but only because he was already planning his trip.

~~~

The next morning, after Jack's first physio session on his leg, he tried to find Daniel again. They had discussed the film the previous evening, and Jack had told him not to involve Catherine. However, after finding out that Daniel had left the base during the physio session, Jack knew exactly where he had gone.

~~~

"My God!"

Daniel turned to see Catherine enter the room. He put the statue back on the shelf. "Hello. Uh, I'm sorry. I hope you don't mind," he apologised for being in her house.

Catherine just beamed. It had been so long since she had seen the young archaeologist. "How long have you been back?" she wanted to know, advancing towards him with arms open wide. She enveloped him in a hug. Then a thought struck her. "My God, why are you back? Colonel O'Neill said you stayed on Abydos."

Daniel's face fell briefly but he recovered quickly. "I see you got the amulet." He didn't want to discuss what had happened to him just yet.

"Yes, of course, I never take it off." It was her lucky charm. "Why avoid my question? What's this all about?"

~~~

Well, this is going well, Daniel thought as Catherine walked out in a huff after he told her about the program. "Catherine, I couldn't tell you."

"Why not?" Catherine kept walking.

"They wouldn't let me." At least, they wouldn't have if he had tried to earlier. "Everything is-is classified, you know that."

"When did you become an upstanding member of the military?" She had thought that Daniel didn't follow the rules; that was part of the reason she had picked him to work on the project.

"I'm not... exactly." He would never make a good soldier because he didn't like following orders. "That's why I'm here." And he was likely to pay for it when he got back. He should have told Jack where he was going but he hadn't wanted to get his lover into trouble.

~~~

Jack flicked through another file then put it back in the box from the Pentagon. Daniel had been right; there were no notes regarding the 1945 experiment. So what exactly had happened?

~~~

"Why did you come back?" Catherine asked as Daniel drove them back to Colorado Springs. She was still in shock after seeing Ernest go through the gate, and she didn't want to sit in silence thinking about her fiancé's betrayal.

Daniel filled her in on what had happened before Jack had gone through to Abydos to find him. "I hadn't expected to see him again and yet there he was, coming through the gate."

Catherine caught a hint of something in his tone and glanced sideways at him. "Then what happened?"

"I took him, Sam and Kawalsky to the map room and showed them the addresses." Daniel paused; the next memory was still painful. "While we were there, my wife was kidnapped by aliens called the Goa'uld."

"I'm sorry." Catherine hadn't realised he had been married. No wonder he hadn't wanted to talk about this earlier. "Did you find her again?"

Daniel clenched his jaw as he saw Sha'uri in his mind, her eyes glowing... "Yes," he managed to get out. "But she was a host."

"A host?"

"Uh, the Goa'uld are a parasitic race. They take humans as hosts so that they can live." Daniel's fingers tightened on the steering wheel as he remembered what it was like. 'They're the bad guys out there."

"I'm sorry," Catherine repeated. She saw the sadness and the anger in Daniel's face.

"Thank you." Daniel tried to smile at Catherine but didn't succeed.

~~~

"Are you sure this is a good idea, Daniel?"

"Not entirely, no," Daniel admitted to Catherine as they headed down to the briefing room. He was pretty sure that the general's reaction was not going to be good, and as for Jack's, well, Daniel was hoping that he would understand. "But I'd like to see if we can get Ernest back."

"Me too." Catherine knew that Daniel had broken all the rules in bringing her here and telling her what he had, and she hoped that he wasn't punished for it. "Things will work out," she said confidently.

"Yeah." But Daniel wasn't so optimistic.

~~~

General Hammond looked incredulously at Doctor Jackson. "Have you completely lost your mind?! Who authorised you to reveal classified information to a civilian?"

"If you will just let me explain--" Daniel started to say.

"This is a serious breach in protocol!" Hammond was not happy that Daniel had gone behind his back about this. "The rules exist for a reason, Doctor. Do you think that you're above them?"

"No, no, I, uh--"

"Catherine!" Jack, closely followed by Teal'c, walked into the briefing room. He had been informed about Daniel's arrival, and had come down to join the discussion.

"Hello, Jack." Although she liked Jack, she hadn't become as close to him as she had Daniel. The officer had always been stand-offish, except when he had come to see her nearly eighteen months ago to tell her what Daniel had done.

"It's good to see you again. I trust the General is making you feel right at home," Jack said dryly.

"So far he actually sounds worse than General West."

"Ah, he's a teddy bear," Jack stated, exaggerating the truth just a little. Hammond had been good during the Klorel situation, and Jack had warmed to him during that time.

Hammond spoke up again, trying to get control of the conversation. "Colonel O'Neill, did you authorise Doctor Jackson to reveal classified information to this civilian?" The two men were close so he assumed Jack had known about it.

"Absolutely not, sir." Jack glared at Daniel, who stared unrepentantly back. Daniel hadn't mentioned this part of the plan at all. It looked like he was going to have to have another talk with his linguist about following orders. "In fact, I advised him not to say anything to her. Despite the fact that she used to run the entire program and is responsible for most of our current knowledge about the gate," he couldn't help adding.

"I'm aware of who she is, Colonel."

Trying to get Jack out of the firing line, Daniel tried changing the subject. "Catherine, this is Teal'c. Teal'c, this is Catherine."

Catherine looked over at the dark man standing silently next to Jack. "Daniel has told me all about you. Such a pleasure." She held out her hand for him to shake.

Teal'c recognised the Tau'ri custom and dutifully shook hands.

"Colonel, are you aware of the request Doctor Jackson has most currently tabled?" Hammond stated as everyone sat down.

Jack looked over at Daniel, who had the grace to look guilty, and just knew what he had requested. "You've got to go that one step further, don't you?" He knew that going through the gate was the only way to satisfy Daniel's curiosity.

Daniel foresaw long talks about military protocol and orders looming in his future. He hadn't wanted to go against what Jack had advised but it had felt like the right thing to do. "The man who entered the gate in 1945 was Catherine's fiancé. Now, I have the address of the planet he went to and we can go there."

"And I'm going with you," Catherine stated. If there was any chance of finding Ernest again, she needed to be there.

"General, we know where Ernest Littlefield went. He could still be alive. A-a man who had the vision to see the Stargate for what it really was half a century before anyone else," Daniel continued. Well, kind of saw it, Daniel amended to himself; the diving suit showed that they thought the event horizon was water.

"He sounds like a bonafide American hero, sir," Jack backed Daniel up, despite the fact that he was hurt because Daniel hadn't talked to him about all this.

"Sir," Sam interrupted as she walked up the steps. She had heard Daniel's little speech on the way up. "There may be another reason to go to this planet."

"Samantha!" Catherine's eyes lit up.

"Catherine!" Sam went over to hug her. It had been a long time since they had seen each other during the early months of the Stargate experiments. Sam hadn't even known about Catherine bringing in Daniel to work on it until after the linguist had got the gate working. She hadn't been happy about it but she had got over it.

Hammond cleared his throat. "Captain Carter?"

"Yes, sir." Sam was pulled back to business. "It seems the planet in question is close to Abydos, so it uses many of the same points in space as locators."

Daniel's heart skipped a beat at the mention of Abydos. He missed part of what Sam said next but heard that the address wasn't on the cartouche he had found. If the planet had been so close by, why hadn't the Goa'uld found it?

"What's the significance in that?" Catherine asked Sam.

"The Goa'uld haven't charted it," Sam explained. "They may not even have been there."

Which would be a very good thing, Daniel realised. "If the Goa'uld haven't been to this planet, and there is obviously a gate there, then we would have unquestionable proof that they didn't build the Stargates." That could be very important further down the track.

Teal'c nodded. "The Goa'uld are scavengers. Since they have not travelled to this planet, we could find technologies to use against them."

Catherine stared at Teal'c. "You speak?"

"When it is appropriate."

Jack's lips twitched at the deadpan humour. There were a lot of occasions when he wasn't sure if Teal'c was kidding but he was learning to read the minute changes in facial expression.

"Thank-you all for your very thorough analysis of the situation," Hammond said, gaining everyone's attention again. "But I was already convinced by Doctor Jackson's initial argument." Especially once it had become clear that it wasn't a Goa'uld world. "Ernest Littlefield could still be alive and we should try to find him."

Daniel shared a grin with Catherine. His gamble had paid off. He wondered what kind of civilisation was on that planet.

"Colonel, I'm afraid I can't allow you to go on this mission," Hammond continued.

"But sir--"

"No buts, Colonel. Major Kawalsky will head SG-1 for this mission."

"Yes, sir." Jack knew that there was no use arguing. He wouldn't be cleared for active duty for another few days.

Daniel went straight over to where Jack was sitting when Hammond dismissed everybody, leaving Catherine to catch up with Sam. "I'm sorry," he said, apologising for going behind his back.

Jack didn't read it that way. "Yeah, well, these things happen. At least Charlie will keep an eye on you though." That was the only consolation.

"No, I meant - never mind." Daniel decided the argument over talking to Catherine could wait for a more private moment. "I promise I'll be careful," he said in a low voice.

"You'd better be," Jack replied. "I have a few things planned for tonight." Although they had made love last night, Jack's participation had still been limited. Tonight he was planning to change that. And then he would have a nice, long talk with Daniel about his latest stunt.

Daniel saw a hint of desire in Jack's eyes and knew what he was referring to. His heart starting beating faster in anticipation. "I wouldn't miss it for the world."

~~~

Daniel and Kawalsky flanked Catherine as she stepped through the Stargate. Emerging both exhilarated and disorientated, she stated, "That was some piece of cake!"

Daniel grinned at her words; if he remembered correctly, he had thought the exact opposite after his first trip. After making sure that Catherine was okay, he stepped forward to look around the room. Debris was everywhere - the building was obviously falling apart. "It's hot in here," he commented as he unzipped his jacket.

"Oh yeah," Kawalsky agreed. "Anyone see a way out of this place?"

"There appears to be only two doorways," Teal'c replied, having already scouted around the room.

"Right." Kawalsky went down to where Teal'c was standing. "Teal'c, you and the Captain go right. Daniel and I will take left."

"What about me?" Catherine asked, coming carefully down the steps towards them.

That was a good question. "You can come with us," Charlie decided. He held his MP-5 up at the ready. "Meet back here in thirty unless you find something," he said to Carter.

"Yes, sir." Sam took point as she and Teal'c headed down the corridor to the right.

Daniel drew his pistol but held it low as he followed Charlie off to the left. Catherine was right behind him, curiously assessing everything she saw. Neither of them could work out who had constructed the building as it seemed to be more advanced than any ancient cultures on Earth.

The trio approached another corridor at right angles to theirs. Kawalsky mentally flipped a coin and turned right. They walked for about one hundred metres before ascending half a dozen steps into a room. Immediately, they could all smell something bad. There was a large circle of stone raised in the centre of the room. Skirting around the stone, pistol raised, Daniel was the first one to see the body.

Part 3

Charlie examined the decomposing body, a handkerchief over his mouth to help block out the smell. "I'd say he's been dead at least a month," he stated. He judged that the heat had sped up the decomposing process.

Daniel had moved to the end of the makeshift bed and was looking through the items there. The diving suit - or what was left of it - lay underneath a pile of parchment. Daniel picked the pages up; they were covered in lines, groups of five sorted into larger groups. "It's a calendar," he realised out loud.

"What?" Catherine moved to stand near him, unable to look any longer at what remained of her fiancé.

"All these pages." Daniel looked through them; there were so many. "Ernest must have made a calendar so he could keep track of how long he had been here." Fifty years worth of days; that was a long time.

"What's that?" Catherine pointed to something peeking out from under the diving suit.

Daniel carefully pulled it out and looked it over. He opened it up and read a few lines. "I think it's a journal. Listen: 'Four distinct languages, writing is unlike anything I have seen on Earth. Catherine says they're probably alien'."

"Me?" Catherine looked over Daniel's shoulder at the journal. "'We walked for miles today but still found no signs of civilisation. Catherine seems concerned but I am not. As long as she is here with me, I will never feel alone'." Tears started to well up behind her eyes. "'It seem impossible but everyday we're here together, I love her more'."

Daniel didn't know how to comfort her. He gently closed the journal and stood up. "Maybe we should keep going."

"Good idea." Charlie couldn't imagine what Catherine was going through right now. He led the group out of the room, and they went down the other corridor.

[Major, we've come to a dead end. Part of the castle has fallen into the sea,] Carter reported.

"Head back to the main room and check out the DHD. We'll be returning soon."

[Have you found Professor Littlefield?]

Charlie paused for a second. "Yeah." He let his tone speak for itself.

Descending down into another room, Daniel's attention was caught by the cloth-covered pedestal in the middle of the room. He went forward and removed the cloth to reveal a familiar-looking orange dome. Four panels on the walls lit up at the same time and Daniel looked at them in amazement. "Four distinct languages," he murmured, connecting the panels to what he had read out from the journal. He went over the nearest one and traced over the Norse-like rune at the bottom. "I wonder what it says."

Catherine went over to the panel with the curly writing. "It's fascinating. The script is nothing like anything on Earth."

On impulse, Daniel opened the journal and skimmed through the pages until he found something that described what they were looking at. "'I believe this room is some sort of meeting place where four alien races, denoted by the symbols and distinctive writing on the walls, would gather, possibly to share knowledge or discuss relations like a United Nations of the stars. Catherine agrees'."

"He's right, I would have." Catherine moved onto the next panel, her pain tempered by her curiosity.

"'So much knowledge is stored here'," Daniel continued reading from the journal. "'This place is like an alien Heliopolis, storing the collective knowledge of four races. I have tried so hard to understand it but I fear even a lifetime would not be enough'." Daniel's tone was sombre by the time he finished the sentence.

The radio crackled again. [Sir, I think we've got a problem.]

~~~

All five looked at the broken DHD. "This is definitely a problem," Kawalsky concluded. "I thought the probe was supposed to detect stuff like this."

"The probe only confirmed its presence," Sam stated. "The damage was obviously hidden from the cameras." She tried entering some glyphs but nothing lit up.

"Well, this is obviously one of the reasons Ernest didn't come back," Daniel noted, fear starting to rise in him. If the DHD didn't work, how was he going to get home to Jack?

"Figure out a way to fix it, Captain," Charlie ordered. He didn't want to remain on this planet for the rest of his life.

"Yes, sir."

"Charlie, I'd like to go back to that room, see if I can figure out more about it," Daniel requested; he wouldn't be any help in figuring out the DHD.

After a few seconds of thought, Kawalsky agreed. "Keep at it. We'll be back," he said to Carter. If he didn't keep an eye on Daniel, Jack would kill him as soon as they got back.

Daniel eagerly retraced his steps to the meeting room. He sat down, back against the pedestal, and looked through the journal again for more information. He found a diagram of the pedestal early on but no other information with it. He flipped through the pages, searching for more, until a list caught his eye. As he read through it, he recognised the elements from the periodic table. Why had Ernest included that?

Catherine investigated the room while Daniel sat reading. All of this was still very hard to take in, especially the knowledge that Ernest had spent fifty years here, alone, because no-one else had been game enough to go through the gate again. She put her hand on the pedestal's orange dome, then jumped back when a yellow light shot out of it. Different coloured balls formed in the air and floated around the room.

Daniel lifted his head to see what had happened. "Wow," he breathed as he looked at the display.

"It's beautiful," Catherine observed.

"Yeah," Charlie agreed absently. "But what does it mean?"

He examined one of the balls closely, taking in its appearance. "Hey, I know this."

"Of course - high school chemistry," Catherine said as she examined the balls in a new light.

Daniel saw it now too. "One proton, one electron - hydrogen." He quickly looked back through the journal for the list he had seen earlier while Catherine and Charlie pointed out elements to each other. "146."

"What?" Catherine asked.

"146 elements." Daniel held up the journal. "Ernest recorded them in here."

"There are currently only 111 on the periodic table." Catherine let her gaze drift up to the ceiling again. 146?

"Apparently our scientists missed a few," Daniel said dryly. "I'd say these aliens were incredibly advanced."

"Extremely," Catherine agreed. "But for them to all show the elements in the same way as us..."

"Of course!" That was it! Daniel rounded the pedestal to stand in front of Catherine. "How do you ensure universal communication?" He didn't wait for an answer. "You reduce the method of communication to the most basic element common to everyone and everything in the universe! This is a true universal language!" This was so fascinating! How had the races decided to communicate like this? He had to film this, to study this!

"Daniel! Where are you going?" Kawalsky called out as the linguist headed for the stairs.

"I need to record this," Daniel stated before bounding up the stairs.

Charlie shook his head; the man did not change.

~~~

The SGC seemed awfully quiet to Jack's ears. He had situated himself in the briefing room with his reports and memos - his reasoning being that he couldn't travel fast so therefore he should remain near the gate while waiting for SG-1 to return. For Daniel to return, more specifically. He wanted to be there with Danny for purely selfish reasons, no matter how much he trusted Charlie and the others to bring him back safely.

Glancing at his watch again - they had been gone for far too long - Jack returned to his reports but he had only one thought on his mind: 'Come home safely, Danny.'

~~~

Daniel finished recording all the 'pages' in the pedestal's book. He had accidentally discovered how to 'turn' the page some time ago. The only problem with his recording was that there was no depth to it. Later he could go back to the original and try and measure as much as he could but for the moment, he decided he would examine the writings on the panels. He went over to the one with the Norse rune at the bottom. "Othala," he muttered to himself. "The Norse rune thought to represent the collection of numerous power and knowledge from past generations. Very appropriate," he stated as he thought about the purpose of the room. Getting his video camera out again, he recorded the panel, then did the same to the other three. He wondered whether they all said the same thing; it would make translating the other languages a lot easier if they did.

"Daniel!"

The linguist turned to see the rest of his team walk into the room. "What's up, guys?" They didn't look too happy.

"Step away from the pedestal," Kawalsky ordered.

"What? Why?" Daniel noted, with growing alarm, that Teal'c was carrying his staff weapon.

"The DHD just feel through the floor into the ocean," Sam stated, hating what she was about to suggest. "That thing may have a power source in it that we can use to get the gate working."

"Ah... no!" Daniel stood defensively in front of it. Didn't they realise how important this was? "You don't understand! This book could contain knowledge of the universe! I mean, this is meaning of life stuff! I have to get more of it down on paper before we leave. There must be something else you can use." No, this wasn't happening!

"There's nothing else powerful enough," Sam informed him with some regret. 'Meaning of life' stuff? It sounded intriguing but getting home was more important.

"There's not much time, Daniel." Charlie stepped forward so that he was close to his friend. "This whole thing could join the DHD at the bottom of the ocean any minute now."

"Great! Shoot it!" Daniel threw his hands up in disgust. His one chance at finding something this important and they were going to shoot it!

Teal'c fired his staff at the pedestal but the material seemed unaffected by it. Daniel silently shouted with relief; he could keep studying it. When the others left to try another idea, Daniel opened the book again and started writing furiously.

~~~

As soon as they got the gate working using the 'Ben Franklin thing', Charlie raced down to the meeting room to collect Daniel. They were so close to going home and he was not going to let the linguist miss this opportunity. "You have to come now!"

"Not yet." Daniel was still writing, his hand beginning to cramp from writing so fast. "I have to finish this."

"There's not enough time." Charlie could hear the gate whooshing into life. "It's not worth it."

"This is!" Daniel retorted, raising his voice to get above the storm he had just noticed was raging outside.

"Nothing is!"

"Well, our history as a people would be a lot different if everyone felt that way." All he needed was another twenty-four hours...

Charlie shook his head; how could he get through to Daniel? "No prize is worth attaining if you can never share it!"

That caused Daniel to hesitate but only for a second. "I'm staying. I'll be fine down here."

"We can come back," Charlie tried to reason with him.

"What if the castle crumbles around the gate? All this could be lost. If I stay, I can unbury the gate again." He was willing to risk his life to attain the knowledge kept in the pedestal.

"And what would happen to Jack if you couldn't!" Charlie decided to play his trump card. "He almost lost you once, Daniel! Losing you again would destroy him!"

Daniel froze. He hadn't considered Jack at all since he had become intrigued by the room and yet he should have. He loved Jack. Jack loved him. Why had he considered that less important than the universal language? He knew why - because in the past, he hadn't had anyone waiting for him to come home. But he did now. And he did not want to put Jack through the pain of knowing he had lost Daniel. Quickly, he retrieved his camera. "Let's go."

They ran to the main room, throwing themselves forward to avoid being crushed by the roof. Daniel looked behind him, at how close he had come to being killed, and he realised that he really wanted to be home safe with Jack.

The two men pulled themselves up and sprinted for the gate. Unfortunately, part of the wall fell in just as they reached the top of the stairs. A small part of it hit the side of Daniel's head and knocked him unconscious.

"Jack is going to kill me," Charlie muttered as he picked Daniel up and took him through the Stargate.

~~~

Jack's eyes had been on the event horizon ever since it had formed. He breathed small sighs of relief when three people stepped through but upon seeing that none of them were Daniel, his worry came back. It increased as the seconds went by and there was still no sign of Daniel or Kawalsky. And when the wormhole started to destabilise, the worry became panic. 'Come on, Danny, where are you? Come home to me please.'

The second Charlie stepped through the gate carrying someone, Jack was out of the control room and into the gateroom before the Major even reached the bottom of the ramp. "What happened?"

"The roof fell in on us. Daniel must have got knocked out by one of the pieces." Charlie handed the linguist over to the medics. "I'm sorry, Jack."

Jack pulled himself together; this was not the time to make a scene. "You don't look too good yourself. I'll accompany you to the infirmary."

Kawalsky nodded. Better to let Jack dismember him now rather than later.

As soon as they were out of earshot, Jack started in on him. "I told you to look after him!"

"And I did! This happened right before we reached the gate," Charlie defended himself.

"I knew I should never have let him go. He always ends up in trouble."

"No, he doesn't."

"Yes, he does." Jack quickened his stride. He wanted - needed - to get to the infirmary to see how Daniel was. "Why were you guys so late in getting to the gate anyway?"

"There was a room that Daniel was in," Charlie explained briefly. "He was working there when we got the gate working and I had to go get him."

"Well, it can't have been too far away. Why the delay?"

Charlie paused. He really didn't want to tell Jack about the argument with Daniel.

Jack turned to his friend, puzzled as to why he hadn't answered. "Charlie?"

"We just had a bit of a discussion, that's all."

That hadn't been all, Jack thought, seeing Kawalsky's evasive expression. "About what?"

Charlie sighed. "Daniel found some really neat stuff on the planet - a universal language, that kind of thing." He paused. "He wanted to stay and study it."

Jack shrugged. "That's Daniel. So?"

"So... he told me this when the castle was collapsing around us, Jack. I ordered him to leave and he said he wanted to take his chances and stay in the castle."

Jack was stunned. No - there was no way Daniel would have said that. "You must have misunderstood him." When Charlie said nothing, Jack knew it was the truth. He leaned back against the wall and then slid to the ground. Daniel had wanted to risk being killed rather than come home.

"I'm sorry." Kawalsky regretted having to tell Jack that. "It must have been the idea of having all that knowledge - I mean, he's essentially a geek, right?"

"Right," Jack echoed faintly. Daniel had wanted to stay. He hadn't wanted to come home to Jack. Had he felt this way long? Jack wondered what he had done wrong that Daniel would want to leave him.

"Come on." Charlie hauled Jack to his feet. "You need to be there when Daniel wakes up."

"No." Jack shrugged him off. "No, I don't." He started walking in the opposite direction.

Kawalsky watched him go, kicking himself for saying anything at all. He had never seen Jack so happy than since he'd had Daniel. Now, he had stuffed up their relationship. Good going, Kawalsky, he berated himself. Annoyed with himself, he turned and headed for the infirmary.

~~~

Daniel woke up gasping. He looked around frantically, then settled down once he saw where he was. He had made it. He didn't know why he was in the infirmary but at least he was home.

He turned his head when he heard footsteps. Kawalsky came into focus. "Charlie?"

"Hey, Daniel. Good to see you awake." He had been waiting for thirty long minutes, wondering how he was going to fix things.

"The others?"

"Everyone is fine."

Daniel relaxed, relieved. "The planet?"

"We haven't tried dialling back yet."

"Then let's do it now." Daniel sat up and swung his legs over the side of the bed. Then he closed his eyes as his head spun with the sudden movement.

"Daniel--"

"I'm fine." Daniel slowly opened his eyes again and looked around the room. The absence of someone slowly sank in. "Where's Jack?" He had expected his lover to be waiting at his bedside.

"He's, uh, tied up at the moment. Physio session," Charlie thought up the lie quickly.

"Oh." Daniel was disappointed that Jack couldn't have put that off to be here. Maybe Jack was mad at him for getting injured; after all, Daniel had promised that he would be careful. Maybe that was why Jack had chosen to stay away.

Charlie watched Daniel wrap his arms around his chest. Oh, that was not good. "I'm sure he'll be finished soon."

"Yeah." But Daniel was no longer sure of that.

~~~

Jack stood on the briefing room stairs, far away from Daniel, as SG-1 redialled Ernest's planet. The linguist didn't know that Jack was watching, so the colonel was free to observe Daniel's reactions. He noted that Daniel looked pale and was currently engaged in self-hugging, and Jack wondered as to the reason. Was it because Jack hadn't been to see him or because the planet might be lost to him? Jack wanted to know why.

He saw Daniel's disappointed body language when the last chevron wouldn't lock, and he thought he had his answer. Daniel loved knowledge more than he loved Jack. Hurting deeply, Jack went back up the stairs and headed for his office.

Charlie saw Jack leaving and knew he should do something. However, he didn't know what he could do. "Just as well you came home," he said to Daniel.

"Yeah." Daniel was disappointed that the site was lost. All that knowledge just gone like that. But Charlie had been right; what good would it have been if he couldn't share it with anyone. With Jack.

"Come on, I'll take you home."

Daniel shook his head. "I drove Jack in this morning. I should take him back." And apologise to him on the way.

"Uh, Daniel. I think there's something you ought to know."

~~~

Daniel couldn't believe it. "You told him?!"

Charlie hung his head guiltily. "I'm sorry."

"No wonder he doesn't want to see me!" Daniel leaned back against the wall in his office. "He thinks I wanted to leave him!"

"Didn't you?"

"No!" The thought had never crossed his mind. "I would never do that!"

"Then why did you want to stay?"

"I don't know." Daniel slid down to the floor, mimicking Jack's earlier position. Tears came to his eyes but he fought them back. "I don't know."

Charlie watched Daniel battle his emotions for a while then went over to the desk and picked up the phone. "Colonel? It's Kawalsky. I think you'd better come to Daniel's office."

~~~

Jack hesitated. He didn't want to talk to Daniel right now. But he knew Charlie wouldn't be asking if it weren't important. "I'll be right there."

~~~

"He'll hate me now," Daniel said after Kawalsky hung up the phone. He had been so wrapped up in wanting the knowledge that he had lost sight of what he already had.

"No, he won't." Charlie was sure of that.

Nothing more was said until Jack arrived. Charlie then left, closing the door behind him, making sure the two men could have some privacy.

Jack's eyes flicked to the security camera; the red light was off. Given the nature of their upcoming conversation, that was a good thing. "Daniel." Jack remained standing, not wanting to come close and make himself vulnerable.

"I'm sorry, Jack." Daniel hugged his knees closer to his chest. He didn't know what else to say.

"Why were you going to stay?" Jack's voice was hoarse from holding his emotions in.

"I-I wanted to know all that the alien races left behind." It felt like such a poor reason now.

"At the expense of us?"

Daniel flinched back from the hurt in Jack's voice. "I thought it would be important," he said in a small voice.

"The site was lost, Daniel!" Jack raised his voice, hurt by what he was hearing. "If you'd stayed, you would be dead! How could you think that it was worth dying for?"

"I wasn't thinking. I guess I got caught up in the euphoria of discovery. I wasn't thinking straight." Daniel swallowed hard as the tears threatened to come back. "I thought I'd be safe and that I'd still be able to come home."

"Well, you were wrong, weren't you?" Jack realised he was yelling and he paused for a moment, trying to collect himself. "I could have lost you, Daniel, and it would have been your choice."

"I'm sorry," Daniel repeated. He could understand why Jack was angry. "I've never had anyone to come home to before."

"Oh, love." Jack sat down next to Daniel and pulled the linguist into his arms, his anger gone. He could now understand why Daniel had thought he could stay, and he hated everyone who hadn't made Daniel feel loved. "You've always got a home with me."

Daniel rested his head on Jack's shoulder. "Really?"

"Really. Don't ever doubt that." Jack planted a kiss in the silky hair. "I thought you wanted to leave me."

"I would never do that," Daniel promised him, forgetting about Sha'uri. Jack had become such an integral part of him that Daniel now couldn't imagine life without him. "I love you."

"Love you too, angel." The name just slipped out.

Daniel lifted his head up. That was a new endearment. "Angel?" He wasn't sure whether he liked it.

"My guardian angel," Jack explained. "You've saved my life three times now."

"Oh." Daniel knew which circumstances he was talking about. "At least that's marginally better than 'baby'. Although some would consider it quite demeaning to be--" He was cut off by a kiss. His hands slid up into Jack's hair, holding his lover to him. The kiss was slow and gentle, and Daniel could feel the love behind it.

When Jack pulled back, it wasn't far. He rested his forehead against Daniel's. "We're quite a pair, aren't we?" He had the feeling that this wouldn't be the last problem they would face in their relationship.

Daniel managed a smile. "I'll try not to get so wrapped up in my work." He didn't want to neglect Jack.

"That's just part of you, Daniel. You wouldn't be you if you didn't get excited over rocks." Jack kissed the end of Daniel's nose, then drew him into a hug. "I don't want you to change. Just don't leave me because of it."

Daniel put his arms around Jack in a silent promise. Then they remained sitting like that for a long time, not needing to say anything.

~~~

It had been a peaceful night both men sleeping soundly. Now Jack just lay there watching Daniel sleep. He realised now that he had overreacted to what Kawalsky had told him; as he'd said earlier, it was just who Daniel was. There hadn't been any intent to leave him. That was just his fears rearing their ugly heads. He knew it was possible that Daniel would leave him for Sha'uri when they found her - he had known that going into the relationship - but he never wanted that to happen. He wanted to keep Daniel with him forever, and if that made him a bad person for wanting Sha'uri never to be found, then that was just too bad. He had fallen head over heels in love with Daniel, the kind of once-in-a-lifetime love that he had never believed in before. Everything in his life had been leading up to this: his marriage to Sara; Charlie's death; even his time in Special Ops. The latter had led him to being asked to join the SGC, and the former two had led to his acceptance. Just as the death of Daniel's parents and his theories being laughed out of the academic world had led Daniel to join the SGC; this was where they were meant to be. He ran his right hand over Daniel's smooth back, just wanting to touch. He loved this man so much it sometimes scared him.

"Stop thinking so loud," Daniel complained groggily. He turned onto his right side, Jack's hand shifting to his waist, and Daniel's lips curved into a smile as he looked at his lover. "Hey."

"Hey," Jack echoed, his thumb lazily caressing Daniel's stomach.

"I'm sorry about last night." Daniel felt an apology was in order after coming home and going straight to bed. "I know you had something planned."

"You had a busy day," Jack shrugged it off. "Just having you here when I wake up is nice."

"For me too." Daniel smiled shyly at him.

"How's the head?"

"Fine." He had actually forgotten about his injury.

"You never did get to tell me about the site." Jack wanted to know what had made Daniel so excited.

Daniel settled himself a little closer to Jack and put his left hand between them on the pillow. Jack immediately reached up with his left hand and slid it underneath Daniel's. "You really want to hear?"

"I do." But Jack didn't take in half of what Daniel said about the planet because he was too busy watching the excitement on Daniel's face. He loved seeing Daniel like this; it helped to balance the memories of the sad or hurt expressions he had seen there.

Daniel could tell that Jack wasn't really listening but he was pleased that his lover was at least making the effort. "I suppose I should be happy that we still have the journal and the film I took."

"Exactly. Although I don't know how much time you'll get to spend on them," Jack stated. "Your expertise will be needed on other things."

"I know." Daniel sighed. He didn't get to spend a lot of time on any artifact or translation because there was always something else that needed to be done. "I wonder if General Hammond would approve of expanding my department. We could use the extra help."

"Talk to him. I'm sure he'd agree. In the meantime, we have ninety minutes before we have to report in." Jack's hand moved across Daniel's hip and down between his buttocks.

Daniel immediately tensed up; no, Jack couldn't be asking for that yet. "Uh, Jack..."

"What, love?" Jack hadn't missed the sudden tension.

"I, uh, I'm not ready for that, um, yet." They had only been lovers for a couple of months and Daniel wasn't ready to take that step.

"Okay." Jack moved his hand higher, a bit disappointed. But he would wait, just like he had before. "How about this?" He rolled Daniel onto his back and then moved on top of him.

"This is good." Daniel had missed having Jack's weight on him. He wrapped his legs around Jack's, then quickly removed them. "Jack, what about your leg?"

"It's fine. Put them back," he ordered. Jack looked down at Daniel, feeling their erections growing against each other. He had missed doing this. This was the position he was used to. He pushed gently into Daniel, loving the way the linguist arched his neck in response. Jack kissed his way down Daniel's throat while continuing to thrust.

Daniel's breathing quickened as his arousal grew. He pushed up against Jack, quickly finding the correct rhythm. Pleasure spiked as his erection rubbed against Jack's repeatedly. Putting his hands on Jack's head, Daniel drew his lover down for a kiss, passionately exploring as their bodies rocked together. He loved the feel of Jack's body pushing against his, the hardness of it exciting him further; he had never realised that having sex with another man could feel so good until he had met Jack. Daniel gasped as Jack changed the angle of his thrusts, pounding into him now. Daniel moved his feet so they were flat on the bed for better leverage to push up against Jack. He felt his climax start to build up, and he dropped his head back onto the pillow, gasping for air.

Jack felt heat explode between them as Daniel called out his name, the warmth triggering his own orgasm. He collapsed on top of Daniel, sucking in large lungfuls of air. Then, after a minute, he shifted so that he was only partially lying on Daniel, one arm and leg still possessively holding his lover to him. Content, sticky and exhausted, he lay there basking in the afterglow.

Daniel put his arm over Jack's, absently stroking the muscles. He found this quiet time after sex the best part of being together. Contentment flowed through him, and he felt loved and cherished with Jack remaining close to him, holding onto him. When Jack lifted his head, Daniel obligingly moved closer for a lazy kiss. There was no urgency about it, just a reaffirmation of love.

"You know we're gonna have to get up now," Jack murmured against Daniel's swollen lips.

"Already done that," Daniel replied with a hint of a smile. He was quite happy to stay in bed all day. "Let's call in sick."

"Both of us? Somehow I don't think that would work." He might as well put up an announcement that they were sleeping together. "Come on, baby."

Daniel groaned. "You just had to call me that, didn't you?"

"Of course." Jack got out of bed and then hauled Daniel to his feet. "Geez, you're heavy," he complained.

"You're no featherweight yourself," Daniel retorted, reluctantly standing up by himself. "Shower?"

"You bet."

~~~

Six weeks passed by quietly with everything going along smoothly for a change. Jack was back leading missions, pretending to listen to Carter and Daniel's rambles and lectures. In fact, that was what he was doing right now, keeping one ear on the scientists' conversation while the rest of him surveyed his surroundings. He'd had a bad feeling about this mission since he had stepped through the gate and he was just waiting for something to happen.

"Is something wrong, O'Neill?" Teal'c questioned upon observing the warrior's body language.

"No. Just... a feeling," Jack admitted. He looked around him again. "It's probably nothing."

Teal'c was inclined to disagree; O'Neill usually had good instincts. He resolved to be extra vigilant in the hopes of preventing anything bad from occurring.

Daniel forgot all about being careful when he saw the temple ruins. He moved swiftly towards them, Jack's shout not registering. The main entrance was still intact, the massive doors made out of wood with an ornate gold handle were still in place. Daniel went to push them open but was stopped by a hand on his shoulder. He turned his head to see Jack standing there. "What?"

"What did I say about running off on strange planets?" Jack vowed to put Daniel on a leash to stop him from roaming away from the group.

"Um, stop doing it?" Daniel had listened to the lecture but tended to forget once he was off-world.

"Exactly. Now," he pushed Daniel behind him and started to open the door, "let me and Teal'c check for dangers first."

"Okay." Daniel knew that Jack needed to do this so he didn't protest.

A quiet buzzing sound was all the warning they had that they weren't alone. As the two men turned around, they saw Carter and then Teal'c fall to the ground, small darts sticking out of their necks. Jack immediately brought his weapon up but was struck by a dart also. He fell to the ground as he quickly lost consciousness.

Daniel waited for a dart to hit him too but none came. When several natives - Polynesian, Daniel judged from their attire - stepped out from behind the bushes that lined the road, Daniel raised his hands so that they could see he wasn't armed. "Hello. My name is Daniel Jackson. We're peaceful explorers from the planet Earth." From the looks on their faces, he could tell they hadn't understood him. Unfortunately, Polynesian - or its many dialects - was not part of his repertoire of languages. "Daniel," he repeated, tapping his chest.

By now there were at least a dozen native men surrounding him. He looked around at all of them, trying not to show how nervous he was. Each man carried a weapon, mainly a club or spear, held low and menacingly. Daniel returned his gaze to the natives in front of him; he needed to be very careful. A quick glance at his team-mates told him that he was on his own for this. "We mean you no harm."

One of the natives said something and Daniel felt someone touch the back of his neck. There was a gasp and suddenly all the natives fell to their knees. Daniel looked at them, bewildered. What were they doing? Then he remembered the scar on the back of his neck, and with a sick feeling, he realised that they thought he was a god. "Oh no, you've got it wrong," he said, forgetting for a moment that they couldn't understand him. "I'm not a god."

The natives still wouldn't look at him so Daniel went over to the one who had spoken and tried to get him to stand up. "Um, Ne-nai - don't," he ordered using part of his Goa'uld vocabulary; if these people worshipped the Goa'uld, they might understand the language.

The leader looked cautiously up at him, obviously trying to figure out what was going on. He spoke a question in Goa'uld, which Daniel roughly translated as 'why, my Lord?'

"I'm not your Lord. Um--" Daniel really wished Teal'c was conscious so that he could translate. "Tal'mak Daniel."

"Dan-yel." The leader went to his knees again and bowed before him. "Tal mal'tiak mal we'ia."

'I am honoured'? 'I am annoyed'? Daniel wasn't entirely sure of the translation. "Uh, wait a minute--"

"Se'biu."

The leader bowed once more then got to his feet and gestured for Daniel to follow him. Others amongst the natives picked up the rest of SG-1 and started to carry them away from the ruins. Realising he didn't have a choice, Daniel followed carefully, keeping an eye on his friends. He would do his best not to let the natives harm them.

The huts in the village were of crude construction compared to the temple. Daniel wondered whether it had been built before or after the natives had arrived; most likely before, he decided after thinking back on the state of the ruins. And judging by their huts, these people wouldn't have the knowledge to construct the temple.

Daniel was led into one of the biggest huts while his friends were taken further on. He had expected to see simple bark walls but instead, there were paintings covering all the walls. They were crude paintings, not much more than basic figures in white paint, except for one opposite the doorway.

It was uncanny. Daniel couldn't take his eyes of the picture. It was a face with blonde hair and blue eyes, and a red snake coming out of his neck. Now he knew why these people had thought he was a god; they thought, because of his features, that he was this god come back to them, and the scar on his neck had confirmed it. Wait... how would they know about the scar? Wouldn't that mean they knew about the symbiote and consequently, that he wasn't actually a god?

"Dan-yel."

A soft voice brought his mind back from its thoughts. He looked at the speaker - a middle-aged woman who was possibly either the leader or the shaman of the tribe. "Yes. Tal'mak Daniel."

"Tal'mak Hine-kau-i-rangi," she replied.

Okay, that was the traditional name for a female chieftain, Daniel recognised. "Kel sha Hine-kau-i-rangi," he repeated, giving a little bow of respect. The collective gasp told him that he had done the wrong thing. As a supposed god, he wasn't supposed to bow to anyone.

The chieftain fired off some rapid Goa'uld of which Daniel only understood every second word. Having had Klorel in his head didn't mean he knew Goa'uld fluently, as he had often told people. He roughly translated the words as 'why do you bow to me? I am you servant, my Lord'. "I am not your Lord. I am a traveller like my friends," he said as best he could in Goa'uld.

Hine-kau-i-rangi turned to look at the drawing then back at Daniel. She was clearly sceptical about what he was saying. She said something in her native language to the men who had brought him in, gesturing to the back of her neck. One of the men spoke, obviously confirming the presence of a scar, and the chieftain nodded. "Tangaiia."

"What?" Daniel had never heard that word before.

"Tangaiia," she repeated, pointing at the picture and then him.

Was it a name or a description? Daniel shook his head and pointed to himself. "Daniel. Tau'ri."

The woman looked puzzled and said something to her men. Daniel picked out the word 'Jaffa' in the reply so he assumed they were talking about his companions. When she turned back to Daniel, she said that now he was free of his captors, he didn't have to hide his identity any longer.

"No, no, they're not my captors, um--" He tried to translate that for her but he could see that she didn't believe him. Daniel thought quickly, trying to come up with an explanation she would believe. Playing on their belief that he was some sort of god, he stated in Goa'uld, "They are my servants. The Jaffa is my First Prime." Oh, he was going to have fun explaining this first to Jack and then in his mission report.

Hine-kau-i-rangi didn't believe him, asking why he would allow his servants to touch him. Daniel realised she was referring to when Jack had moved him out of the way at the temple. "He was concerned for my safety."

The woman nodded; this appeared to satisfy her. She made a gesture to two of her men and they left the hut. Then she apologised for her assumption, also stating that his servants would be returned to him presently.

"Thank you," Daniel said gratefully, pleased that a conflict had been avoided. He sat down in front of the chieftain. "Who is Tangaiia?"

"Tangaiia." She turned and pointed to the picture again.

"Yes, I got that." Daniel took a deep breath. "Tell me about him."

~~~

Jack was not happy to discover when he regained consciousness that Daniel wasn't with him. He sat up slowly, his body still a bit sluggish. Carter lay off to his right, just beginning to stir, and Teal'c was on his left, already sitting up. "Hey, T."

"O'Neill. DanielJackson is not with us," Teal'c stated.

"Yeah, noticed that." Various scenarios ran through Jack's mind, none of them good. "Anyone come in?" Jack asked as he looked around the hut they were in.

"No-one has entered this dwelling since I have awoken."

"Ow," Sam complained as she woke up, interrupting the conversation. She rolled onto her side. "What happened?"

"That's a good question," Jack replied. He checked for his weapons and came up empty. However, he was still wearing his vest. "An even better one is, where is Daniel?"

Sam sat up suddenly, looking around her. "Oh boy."

That was an understatement, Jack thought. He stood up and ventured to the doorway. In doing so, he almost collided with someone coming the other way. Jack stepped back, allowing the native into the hut. "Hi."

The native said something to them, then gestured to someone outside the hut. Two more natives came in carrying SG-1's weapons. They put the items on the ground in front of the team.

"Uh, thanks." Jack cautiously picked up his MP-5, and when there were no protests, got his pistol and knife as well.

The native said something else. "He wishes for us to go with him," Teal'c translated as he retrieved his staff weapon.

Jack stared at him in surprise. "You understood that?"

"Indeed. He was speaking in Goa'uld, O'Neill," Teal'c patiently explained.

"Oh." That didn't bode well. On the other hand, they had been given their weapons back so there obviously wasn't a Goa'uld around.

The team followed the native into the middle of the village, and Jack was relieved to see Daniel standing there in the middle of a ring of people waiting for them. The relief quickly disappeared when he realised that Daniel wasn't wearing his vest or jacket and was carrying a long wooden staff. "Uh, Daniel, whatcha doing?"

"Jack." Daniel quickly walked across to his partner. "Before you say anything else, just listen." When he received a nod from the older man, he continued. "They think I'm Tangaiia, a warrior god from their history prophesied to return every hundred or so years. They originally thought that you were my captors but I told them you were my servants, which they seem to believe. Now they want me to show my fighting skills in a battle with their local champion."

Jack raised an eyebrow; Daniel wasn't exactly known for his fighting prowess. "Are you going to be able to do this?"

"I can handle a staff, Jack." Daniel let a glimmer of a smile appear on his face. "You aren't the only one who has taught me how to fight, you know."

Letting that go by for the moment, Jack asked, "So is it a battle to the death or what?"

"Just an exhibition to prove that they are worthy of being the people of a warrior god." Which had relieved Daniel no end; he hadn't wanted to kill anyone.

"Tangaiia!" the chieftain called.

"I'd better go," Daniel said hastily and headed back to the ring of people. He listened to the rules of the fight and then took his place in the middle of the ring. His opponent stood opposite, and Daniel had to admit that he did indeed look the part of the village champion. The man was several inches taller than Daniel, and outweighed him by at least forty pounds. Daniel hoped that he could at least give this man a good fight - it had been a while since he had fought with a staff - because if 'Tangaiia' lost, his credibility would be shot and that would spell trouble for the whole team.

Jack watched anxiously as Daniel's opponent attacked first, swinging the long staff towards Daniel's right side. Daniel easily parried it and followed it up with an attack of his own. Jack grew more impressed by Daniel's skill as the fight progressed, and the older man could see that his partner had been taught well. Making a note to ask Daniel more about it later, Jack kept his eyes on the young man, hoping that he wasn't going to get hurt.

The strength behind the blows was beginning to wear Daniel down. Although he had been working on building up his own strength, Daniel was nowhere near as strong as his opponent. He switched tactics, hoping that he could outthink his opponent rather than defeat him physically. Jack had always said he was quick on his feet so Daniel started darting around the warrior and ducking underneath the swings. He changed direction every once in a while so that the man couldn't get used to the tactic.

Jack winced as Daniel changed directions at the wrong time and his opponent's staff smacked into his right arm. As Daniel reflexively let go of his staff with that hand, he was swept off his feet and onto his back, and the staff battered away. Jack took a step forward towards his fallen team-mate but was blocked by one of the men who had been guarding his team since they had stepped out of the hut. He tried to go around but the guard remained in front of him. Okay, that wasn't going to work. "Daniel!"

"I'm fine, Jack," Daniel called back, getting to his feet. He had been temporarily winded by his fall but there had been no other damage done. He nodded his head towards the winner, which was apparently the right thing to do judging by the cheers that went up from the crowd. It appeared that he had fought well enough to keep everyone safe, which was his intention all along. Daniel caught sight of Jack and the others as their guards moved out of the way, and he stayed put as they anxiously walked over to him.

"So... what just happened?" Sam asked, pleased that Daniel had come through unscathed.

"The tribe is currently ecstatic that their champion could best Tangaiia, and they're planning a feast in both his and, uh, my honour to celebrate this," Daniel translated as best he could.

"But you lost." Jack couldn't figure out why the natives weren't herding them back into the hut.

"DanielJackson did not smite the man for winning," Teal'c chimed in, having listened to the conversation around him. "That, in their eyes, is the sign of a true god."

The 'god' in question blushed upon hearing that. Daniel knew that a Goa'uld would not have been pleased to lose, and it made him wonder just how many men might have lost their lives in similar battles with the real Tangaiia. Or whether this Tangaiia was in fact a true Goa'uld, if the locals were not afraid to beat him in battle. "I think the Tangaiia of their legends must have been a benevolent Goa'uld," he stated. "The picture they had of him in the chieftain's hut showed a snake protruding from his neck."

Jack quickly put the pieces together. "So not only do you bear a likeness to this guy but you had the scar as well."

"Apparently." At a pat on his shoulder, Daniel turned and accepted his jacket and vest back from one of the natives. "Hine-kau-i-rangi," Daniel indicated the woman with a nod of his head in her direction, "is the leader of the tribe. She wouldn't accept my story about being an explorer so I figured it might be easier to go along with them."

"I take it they haven't noticed that your eyes don't glow," Jack commented.

"Not so far. We've been invited to feast with them."

"Sweet." Jack decided that they could make nice with the locals for a while then he would take his archaeologist - and the rest of his team, of course - back to the temple for some exploring. And then he would take Daniel back home for some exploring of the unscientific kind.

~~~

"So they thought you were their warrior god... what was the name again?" Hammond asked in the briefing room an hour after SG-1 returned.

"Tangaiia," Daniel supplied. He'd had to explain this twice and didn't appreciate the fact that everyone apparently thought it was unbelievable. "He was always known by his blue eyes so when they saw me, they thought I was him. And when they saw the scar, that seemed to seal it for them."

"We were apparently his servants," Jack chimed in, a grin on his face.

"Well, that was better than being executed for being my captors," Daniel retorted.

"Indeed." Hammond was pleased that they had all returned safely. "Did they have any technology?"

"None," Sam replied. "They live very basically, and any technology left behind in the temple is long gone."

Hammond nodded. That wouldn't please the brass but it couldn't be helped. "I expect your reports by the morning. Dismissed."

When the others had gone, Jack went up to Daniel. "Meet you at my place?"

"Don't wait up," Daniel replied with a smile.

~~~

It was close to midnight by the time Daniel got to Jack's house. The older man had arrived home only an hour before so he was still up watching television. "I hope you didn't rush home," Jack said in a teasing tone. Daniel took so much more care with his reports.

"Not at all." Daniel headed straight for the couch and sat down next to Jack.

"So what shall we do tonight, oh great warrior?" Jack put his arm around his lover and pulled him close.

"That's going to be a new nickname, isn't it?" Daniel asked, already resigned to the fact.

"Oh yeah." Pulling Daniel in further, Jack kissed him hard. "Ready for bed?"

"You bet." Daniel let himself be led into the bedroom. Mutual undressing occurred next and then the two men lay down side by side, facing each other. Then Jack moved his hand down between Daniel's buttocks and the linguist tensed up again.

Jack bit back a sigh; Daniel refusing to make love was getting rather annoying. "Daniel--"

"I can't, Jack, I'm sorry." Feeling that he had spoilt the mood again, Daniel turned onto his back.

"Why?" Jack wanted to know. "Three and a half months, Daniel, and you haven't told me why you don't want to do this." He tried not to make it sound like an accusation but didn't succeed.

"I--" How could he explain it without Jack getting mad or hurt? Daniel rubbed the bridge of his nose, trying to think. "It doesn't feel right."

"Why?"

Daniel turned his head away from that hard, hurt voice. "I know you'll think it's a stupid reason but I want to wait until we find Sha'uri. I love you, Jack, but she's my wife."

"What if it takes years?" Daniel had been right; Jack did think it was a stupid reason. "I want to be inside you."

"I know. Please be patient, Jack." He looked pleadingly at his lover. "I know this is hard for you. And I want it too. But doing that would be like giving up on her and I'm not ready to do that yet." His eyes begged for Jack to understand.

Grudgingly, Jack decided that he would have to be extremely patient. "Okay, I won't push. Just let me know when you're ready, okay?"

"I will." Pleased that Jack had understood, Daniel rolled back into his embrace. He just hoped that they would find Sha'uri soon because it was getting harder to hold out.

Part 4: Six weeks later

Jack lovingly rubbed the shampoo into Daniel's hair. It was a sensuous experience for both of them, Daniel arching his head back into Jack's touch. He loved the sensation of his lover's fingers caressing his scalp, making an everyday thing into an erotic experience. Daniel was half-hard already, and he could feel Jack's interest poking him as the older man worked. They would definitely have sex before they got out - Daniel knew this from experience. "Mmm, that feels good."

Jack didn't say anything until after he rinsed the shampoo out. "Going to get better any minute now." He slid his hands around Daniel's chest and pulled the young man back against him, his erection nestling in the crease between Daniel's buttocks. Slowly, he rubbed back and forth, simulating the act he wanted to perform. When Daniel arched back, Jack let his right hand drift lower to caress the flat stomach.

Daniel put his right hand over Jack's, and the other reached behind him to hold the back of Jack's neck. The feeling of Jack rubbing against him was intensely stimulating and part of him wanted to take it further. The other part hoped that Jack wasn't going to push things because he didn't want to say no again. He knew Jack was trying to be patient but understood the continued rejection would be taking its toll. "Jack..." he moaned as pleasure rolled through him. Jack always made him feel so good.

His fingers wrapped around Daniel's shaft and stroked it in counterpoint to his thrusts. This felt so good, and he could imagine that he was actually thrusting into Daniel. He gently bit the side of Daniel's neck, being careful not to leave a mark. "Danny, please..." he whispered, wanting desperately to be inside his partner.

Knowing exactly what Jack was asking, Daniel tensed. "I can't," he said softly. He moved his left hand down to cover the one Jack was resting on his chest. "Please don't ask me."

"Just a finger." At this point, Jack would take what he could get. "Just one."

Daniel contemplated the request. He wanted to know what it felt like but didn't want to go the whole way. It would please Jack, he knew, and there was always a niggling thought that if he didn't put out, then Jack might dump him and look elsewhere. "Just one," he agreed.

Jack nearly came at those words. Daniel was finally letting him do this. Granted, it would only be one finger but that was a start. Releasing Daniel, Jack turned his lover around so they were face to face, then pulled him in close. Sliding his hand down over the smooth back, he soon reached his destination. He rubbed his finger over the puckered muscle. "Ready?"

Daniel took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He could do this. "Yes." He felt the finger push in and instinctively clenched his muscles. It didn't hurt but it felt strange.

"Relax, love." Jack put his hand behind Daniel's head and pulled him in for a kiss.

Daniel didn't want to relax because he was worried that he might lose control and go further than he wanted to. But he tried to obey Jack's order, gasping as the finger slid further in. His muscles clenched around the digit, and he heard Jack moan. "What does it feel like?" he asked, curious to know why Jack thought it was so good.

"Very hot," Jack replied. "Tight." He kissed Daniel again. "Curious, are we?" He wriggled his finger, eliciting another gasp from his linguist.

"A little." Daniel relaxed his muscles again to let Jack in deeper. His skin was starting to prickle as a different kind of pleasure began to build. He was beginning to see why gay men enjoyed this so much. That led to another thought. "Jack?"

"Hmm?" Jack started to slowly move his finger in and out.

"Um... this is supposed to be really good, right?"

"Right." The question sank in and Jack pulled back slightly to look at Daniel's face. "Am I hurting you?"

"No, no, I'm fine," Daniel hastily assured him. A shock of pleasure burst inside him and he briefly rested his head on Jack's shoulder while he got his breathing under control again. "Wow. No, what I meant was, if it's so good, why don't you want me inside you?"

Jack froze. Daniel wasn't supposed to ask that question. "I have my reasons."

"Like what?" Daniel lifted his head to look at Jack. The tense way Jack had answered the question worried him.

"Iraq," Jack stated. He withdrew his finger from Daniel and started to turn away. He didn't want to think about what had happened there. Although he'd had sex with men before that, Iraq had left its mark, and he hadn't touched a man since until he had met Daniel. Memories of the assaults danced in front of his eyes. Oh, he had plenty of reasons why he didn't want anyone inside him.

"Jack." Daniel put a hand on Jack's shoulder. He hadn't meant to upset his lover. "I'm sorry. I didn't realise..."

"It's not something I advertise." Turning the shower off, Jack stepped out of the stall and grabbed a towel. He was no longer in the mood for sex.

Daniel quickly followed, snatching up a towel and wrapping it around his waist. Jack's reaction seemed way out of proportion and he was worried. He caught up with Jack at the bedroom door. "Jack, don't walk out on me," he said, latching onto the older man's arm.

Halting, Jack kept his eyes on the wall opposite. "Daniel," he warned. He did not want to talk about this.

"It was just a question, Jack. Just a question," he repeated softly. Accepting that Jack was going to shut him out, Daniel turned away and went to sit on the bed, wrapping his arms over his stomach. He was certainly doing a wonderful of stuffing sex up.

The tone of voice made Jack turn around and his heart wrenched to see Daniel sitting there so despondently. It wasn't Daniel's fault about Iraq, so he had no right to take it out on him. Going over to the bed, Jack sat down and put his arm around his lover's shoulders. "I know, love. And I'm sorry for spoiling the mood. The memories can still be pretty bad."

Daniel nodded in understanding. "Penetration for you is associated with rape."

"Yeah." Jack hated that 'r' word, now more than ever because he was terrified that it would happen to Daniel. "I didn't think I'd ever have to worry about having sex with a man again, and then you came along. I could handle the thought of making love to you but it never crossed my mind that you might want to make love to me too."

"It didn't occur to me until just now." Daniel wasn't sure why he hadn't thought of it earlier. He looked into Jack's eyes. "I'm sorry. I didn't know."

"It's okay. It's my fault, not yours," Jack hugged Daniel close. "I can't promise you that I'll ever be able to, uh, bottom, but if you really want to, I'll try." Only for Daniel would Jack make that promise.

"I don't think either of us are ready for that but thank you." Daniel appreciated the offer but he wouldn't force Jack into something held such bad memories for him. "I won't pressure you."

That made Jack feel guilty for pushing Daniel. He resolved to be just as patient as Daniel would be. "Neither will I," he promised. Jack kissed the side of Daniel's head. "Enough serious talk for now. Let's go eat."

Daniel smiled - Jack and his appetites! "Let me get dressed first."

"Spoilsport."

"Pervert."

"Only for you, love," Jack replied. "Only for you.

~~~

It was supposed to have been a routine mission. But Jack should have remembered that for SG-1, there was no such thing. When Teal'c explained to him about what Korush-nai meant, Jack's immediate reaction was to get everyone off P3R-233 immediately. With that reason in mind, he went to find the rest of his team. "We're outta here."

Daniel was surprised by the briskness. "What? Why? This place is a treasure chest of artifacts from diverse human cultures." It was also the first indication they'd had that other races like them explored through the Stargate.

"Daniel, I don't wanna hear it. Let's go." Jack would apologise to his linguist later but right now, getting everyone off the planet safely was more important that hurt feelings. He started towards the Stargate, confident that Daniel would follow.

"You don't wanna... hear it." The words hurt; Jack had never been so abrupt before. Daniel started putting some of the artifacts in his backpack. If they couldn't stay then he would take some to study at the SGC. He vaguely heard Jack call out to him again as he picked up a blue-and-pink artifact. A sound to his right caught his attention and he turned to see a mirror. Curious, he went over to it and slowly reached out to touch the reflective surface.

~~~

"Come on, Daniel!" Jack called again, mildly surprised that the linguist hadn't yet appeared. When there was still no response, Jack muttered, "For crying out loud. Wait here," he ordered as he headed off to drag his lover back to the gate.

When he got to the lab, there was no sign of Daniel. He noted that a few artifacts appeared to be missing, so he figured Daniel had taken them. But where was the archaeologist? "Daniel!" Jack's heart seized in his chest; where was he?

After a minute of trying to raise Daniel on his radio and looking around, Jack went back to the gate. "Daniel seems to have disappeared."

"What? How?" Sam exclaimed.

"I don't know." It pained Jack to admit that. "Teal'c, how safe would it be to remain here?" He couldn't leave without Daniel.

The Jaffa replied, "Of that I am uncertain. It would depend on how long ago this world was contaminated."

"Right. Carter, go back to the SGC, explain what's happened. Get some fancy sensors and see if this planet's still radioactive or whatever," Jack ordered. "Teal'c and I will start looking for Daniel."

"But sir--"

"That's an order, Captain."

Sam bit back her concern. "Yes, sir."

Leaving Carter to it, Jack headed out again, this time with Teal'c in tow. How could Daniel have disappeared into thin air? Jack was determined to find out.

~~~

Daniel struggled as he was led handcuffed through the SGC. He didn't know what was going on but he knew he didn't want to be put in a cell again. "I am Daniel Jackson, I am a member of SG-1," he repeated, not understanding why the SF's didn't know him, or for that matter, why General Hammond was a Colonel. Daniel felt like Alice when she had gone through the Looking Glass; everything was the same but different. How could this be real? "Let me talk to Jack O'Neill," he demanded as he was dragged into the MRI room. The SF's pushed him onto the bench. "No, don't give me that!" he protested as a doctor approached with a needle.

His protest was ignored. Daniel turned his head away briefly then looked at the SF's again. "I'm not a Goa'uld. Please - let me talk to Colonel Jack O'Neill." Jack would know him.

"You mean General O'Neill," one of the SF's corrected.

Daniel was stunned. General? Jack was a Colonel, not a General. What the hell was going on?

~~~

Several hours later, Daniel knew what was going on but he couldn't believe it. He was in an alternate reality, one where Jack and General Hammond had swapped roles, Sam wasn't in the military but was heading up the civilian science department, Catherine was part of the program, Teal'c was still First Prime, and Daniel's counterpart was most likely dead. Oh, and the SGC was currently under attack from the Goa'uld, and Earth was about to be wiped out. Him along with it if he couldn't convince this world's Jack to let him go through the Stargate. "Look, this is going to sound pretty selfish but where I come from, none of this has happened yet. My reality, the Earth I know, still has a chance."

"You want to explain that?" General O'Neill demanded.

Daniel bit his bottom lip before continuing, knowing how this was going to come across to these people. "If this address does lead to a Goa'uld world where the attack originated, and I can get this information to my world, well then maybe I can stop this before it starts there."

"What makes you think the Goa'uld are even going to try attacking the Earth in your reality?" Sam asked.

"Oh, I'd say we've pissed off the Goa'uld as much as you, maybe even more," Daniel replied. Most likely more because his SGC had been roaming around the universe much more than these guys had.

"Okay, wait a minute. Let me get this straight." General Jack O'Neill looked at the young man, trying to assess him. "You want us to give up what might be our last chance to strike back at the Goa'uld so we can save ourselves in a... what?" It was a bad tactical decision - so why did he feel like he should agree?

"Alternate universe," Sam supplied.

"Not just yourselves - everyone on Earth," Daniel stated. He had to get them to agree. He didn't want his Jack - or any of their friends - to die like this.

"Your Earth."

"Yes. The Jack O'Neill I know would do it." Of that, Daniel was certain.

"Well, apparently you and I have never met," O'Neill shot back. What kind of man was he in this other universe that he would even contemplate doing such a thing?

"No, apparently not." Daniel was disappointed. Was this how his Jack would have ended up if he hadn't had Daniel in his life? It was extremely egotistical to think so but based on the evidence in this universe, it was possible. "Look, all I know is that because I came here, I have seen what can happen. And I have a chance to keep this from happening to the Earth I come from if you help me!"

Jack looked into those expressive blue eyes and began to get an inkling about why Daniel's Jack was different. The man standing in front of him was the reason. And for the short time he had left to live, Jack regretted that he didn't get to know the man's counterpart in this world. Turning to Sam, he asked, "How much time, doctor?"

"Twenty-two minutes," she replied.

"All right, the argument is academic then. We could never hold them off that long anyway." At least that meant he wouldn't be around to see the rest of Earth destroyed.

"Well, maybe we could buy some time," Daniel said, an idea beginning to form as he watched his teammates on the screen.

"How?"

"Not how. Who."

~~~

Jack felt like hitting something. Hours of searching and they still hadn't found Daniel. Where the hell had he gone?

"Sir." Carter headed over to her CO. "None of the search teams can find Daniel."

"He's got to be around here somewhere, Carter. Keep looking," Jack ordered. As Carter nodded her acknowledgement and walked away, Jack looked upwards at the ceiling. 'Please come home, Danny. Please,' he prayed.

~~~

'I'm coming, Jack,' Daniel sent a mental message to his lover as he sprinted into the gateroom. He knew the Jaffa were getting close, and that this world's Jack was already dead. The connection was muted but Daniel had known, much as he would with his own Jack.

There was an explosion in the briefing room and Daniel knew that Sam was gone too. The fact they had sacrificed themselves to help him would haunt him forever, even though he knew that they would have died anyway; the loss was still the same. He saw Jaffa enter the control room just before the blast doors went down - Catherine would soon be dead. And so would he if the gate didn't hurry up and engage!

A huge blast punched a hole through the steel door. Teal'c stepped through and aimed his weapon at Daniel. The linguist just stared at the man he knew as his friend, saddened by the knowledge that soon Teal'c too would be dead.

The Stargate whoosed into life behind him, drawing Teal'c's attention for a moment. Daniel weighed up the risks of running for it - he knew how good Teal'c was at marksmanship - and decided that getting home was worth it. He bolted up the ramp, his movements not seeming fast enough. A searing pain shot across his right shoulder, flinging him through the wormhole with its impact.

Landing on the other side hurt. Daniel hit the steps hard and he rolled down them, coming to a stop ten metres away. He lay there for a moment, waiting to see if anyone would follow him through. When no-one did, Daniel assumed that the self-destruct must have gone off. Either that, or Teal'c didn't consider him important enough to chase down. Daniel slowly got to his feet and examined his shoulder, almost wishing he hadn't when he saw the charred skin. As wounds went, it was painful but not life-threatening yet. But it would be a good idea to get it seen to as soon as possible.

Running into the lab, Daniel found the mirror right where he had left it, and it was still switched on. He went over and touched his hand to it, feeling the electric shock go through him again. It aggravated his wounded shoulder and he dropped to his knees, breathing through clenched teeth. The pain was getting worse as the adrenaline wore off. "Help me!" he managed to call out, hoping that someone - Jack, preferably - would be around to hear him.

~~~

Jack thought he was hearing things but realised he wasn't when Carter's head whipped around as well. Quickly, he led the way towards the room where the voice had come from. He halted briefly when he saw Daniel on his knees, obviously in pain, then continued to move forward to his lover. "Daniel!"

The linguist's eyes held Jack's as the older man knelt in front of him. He was home! "Hey, Jack."

"What the hell is this?" Jack exclaimed, noticing the wound on Daniel's shoulder. How had Daniel managed to get injured?

"It appears to have been caused by a staff weapon," Teal'c observed. He would know that injury anywhere.

Bingo, Daniel thought silently as Jack put an arm around his waist and helped him to his feet. Daniel leaned against Jack for a moment, savouring the feeling; he was home again. But unfortunately, all was not well with this world. He held the crumpled piece of yellow paper out to Jack. "Goa'uld."

"What?" Jack straightened the piece of paper and looked at it. "A Stargate address?" He didn't get it.

"They're coming, Jack," Daniel stated with certainty. He knew he would be hard pressed to convince everyone else though. "They're coming."

Jack stared at Daniel for a few seconds, not sure what to think. "Let's get you to Fraiser and get that wound cleaned up. Then you can tell us all about it." He hated seeing Daniel injured and in obvious pain. Jack squeezed Daniel's waist, letting the young man know that he was pleased he was safe. Then he accompanied Daniel back through the Stargate.

Nothing much was said as the doctor - not Janet - examined Daniel's injury. Daniel was given some painkillers, which made the wound more bearable. When the doctor started cleaning the wound, Daniel started telling his story to take his mind off the pain. He wasn't surprised to see the disbelief on their faces but he persevered nonetheless, knowing that Earth's safety was at stake. "These are the co-ordinates the Goa'uld will launch their attack from. It's a warning."

"Or so your vision foretells," Teal'c stated.

Why was this so hard to believe? "No, it wasn't a vision or a dream or a hallucination, it was--" Daniel took a sharp intake of breath as the doctor bound his wound. Why was everyone ignoring this very visible piece of evidence? "Real. Now I know this is hard for you guys to believe but I swear to you the entire time you thought I had disappeared on P3R-233, I was experiencing an alternate reality!" It had taken so little to convince the others who barely knew him but his own friends wouldn't believe him!

Jack just couldn't believe it. Alternate universes were tales of science fiction, not reality. He looked at his teammates in turn as he said, "And you were there, and you were there, and there's no place like home," he finished, looking at Daniel.

"As a matter of fact, you were there!" Daniel stared at his lover, pleading his eyes. 'Please believe me, Jack. I am not crazy.'

'I want to, love,' Jack projected back at Daniel, wishing that the story didn't sound so far-fetched.

"Daniel, it's not that we don't believe you--" Sam started to say.

"So you do?" Daniel interrupted.

"It's hard to believe, Danny," Jack finished for Carter. "I mean, it's supposed to be science fiction."

"So is travelling to other worlds through a wormhole," Daniel countered. "Jack, this is important." He continued to stare at his partner, willing him to believe.

Jack went to say something but Sam beat him to it. "Alright, when you were in this alternate reality, were there differences?"

"Yes. Ah, Teal'c was leading the attack on Earth - actually, he was the one who shot me," Daniel said, looking sideways at the stoic Jaffa. Teal'c's expression changed minutely to convey guilt. Daniel continued, "I wasn't even part of the program, you and Jack were engaged to be married." That last part had disturbed him, and had caused him to wonder whether his Jack was attracted to Sam as well.

"Excuse me?" That surprised Jack completely. Sure, he thought Carter was quite attractive but there were no feelings behind that. There was only one person in this room that he wanted and that was Daniel.

"What?" Sam was equally as shocked but for a different reason. She liked Jack as more than a CO but knew her feelings couldn't be acted upon. But Daniel was talking about another version of herself who clearly didn't have those boundaries. If, of course, Daniel had really experienced this. "Okay, ah, even if you did actually experience this alternate reality, doesn't the very fact that there were differences mean that we won't face the same fate?"

Daniel hadn't missed the 'even if' part of the question and for a moment, he resented Sam's narrow thinking. "Maybe, but the defining event, the death of Ra, took place on both worlds." The other SGC's mission to Abydos hadn't had himself or a suicidal Jack on the team, and the other Jack had set the bomb and hightailed it out of there as soon as Ra's ship landed, not caring that he had killed hundreds of innocent people.

Teal'c knew immediately what the battle the scholar described was. "An attack of retribution." They had found out who had killed Ra and wanted to eliminate the threat.

"Yes!" Daniel was glad of Teal'c's input. "And the same thing is going to happen here unless we stop it!"

The idea of the entire Earth being destroyed made Jack's blood run cold. If it were really true, could he sit by and do nothing? "How do you plan on us stopping them?"

"I don't know yet," Daniel admitted, relieved that Jack appeared to believe him now. "But we have to do something."

"Daniel--" Sam still didn't entirely believe him.

"Carter, I think we should give Daniel the benefit of the doubt," Jack cut her off. "How else did he get injured?"

Sam couldn't answer that. "General Hammond won't authorise a mission," she pointed out.

"Well, we'll just have to be very convincing then," Jack stated. He gave Daniel a long look, seeing the relief in the linguist's body language.

Daniel shot Jack a grateful look. At least someone believed him. But the hardest part was yet to come.

~~~

Later that day, well into the evening, Daniel snuggled into Jack's arms. They were in Jack's house, in the main bedroom, but fully clothed. Neither of them felt like making love after the announcement that the SGC would be closed down. Daniel was hardest hit by this, knowing that a Goa'uld attack was coming and that his wife was still out there somewhere. If they couldn't go through the gate, then neither would matter because everyone would be dead soon.

"You okay?" Jack asked. He hated it when Daniel was this quiet.

"No," Daniel replied honestly.

"Me either." Well, part of him was because they wouldn't be able to find Sha'uri, meaning that he got to keep Daniel. The rest of him wasn't because if Daniel was right and the Goa'uld did attack, then they would both die very soon. Unless, somehow, they could go through the gate.

"What are we going to do?" Daniel shifted his head slightly so that he could see Jack's face.

"I don't know." There weren't too many options. "We could go through the gate and try to stop the attack. Or..." Jack hesitated, not sure how Daniel would take the other suggestion.

"Or?" Something in Jack's tone made Daniel wary.

Jack tightened his hold on Daniel. "Or we just go through the gate."

Daniel sat up and stared at Jack. He couldn't believe what he had just heard. "You want us to abandon everyone and let them die?"

"No," Jack hastily reassured him. "No, babe, I don't." He wanted Earth to survive but in the eventuality that it didn't... "I just don't want to lose you. And if the Goa'uld attack while we're still on Earth, then I will." He didn't want either of them to die, not when he was so happy.

"You love me that much?" Daniel was stunned.

"I do." Daniel was his world, and Jack was selfish enough to want his world to survive. He didn't want everyone on Earth to die, especially when the majority of them wouldn't know why, and if they weren't allowed to save them, there would be nothing he could do.

Daniel shook his head. "I'm not more important than everyone else."

"You are to me." Jack drew Daniel in for a lingering kiss. "No matter what happens, never forget that."

Despite his gloomy mood, Daniel felt a kernel of warmth inside him at those words. He had never been that important to anyone except his parents, and that was a long time ago. He stared into those loving brown eyes and made a decision. "Make love to me."

"What?"

"I want to know what it's like to have you inside me," Daniel continued. If this was their last chance to be together, then there was no use holding back. He would deal with the consequences later - if they survived.

It was Jack's turn to be stunned. He had psyched himself up to keep waiting. "Are you sure?"

"Jack, if we stay here for the attack, or are killed trying to stop it, I don't want to have any regrets. And this is something I'll regret not doing." Daniel started to unbutton his own shirt.

Jack put his hands over Daniel's; he wanted to do this right. "Allow me." Jack loved undressing Daniel, and so he took his time, letting his fingers brush against the bare skin as it was bared. Then he slid the shirt down over Daniel's arms, being careful of the wounded shoulder, to bare his upper body. The shirt caught at the wrists so Jack deftly undid the cuffs then pulled the shirt off and threw it away. After running his fingers over the smooth chest several times, Jack gently pushed Daniel onto his back. Then, kneeling over his lover, Jack proceeded to kiss, lick and nibble his way from Daniel's throat to the top of his trousers.

Daniel's fingers tightly gripped Jack's skull as his arousal grew. Even after five months, it still amazed him how much he enjoyed sex with Jack, and how good Jack made him feel. He pushed his hips up towards his lover, hinting there was something else Jack needed to pay attention to, then he growled as firm hands pushed his hips down into the mattress.

"Patience, Dannyboy." Jack kept one hand on Daniel's hip and used the other one to undo the button and fly on Daniel's trousers. Then he lowered the blue briefs a little and planted a kiss at the top of the pubic hair. "Good things come to those who wait."

"Promises, promises." Daniel's breathing became more rapid as Jack inched his way down, avoiding the solid erection. "Jack..."

The older man slid the briefs off then crawled up to lie on top of Daniel. Once there, he leaned down and kissed Daniel slowly, taking his time and exploring the moist cavern with his tongue. Kissing Daniel was always something to be savoured, and this was no exception. Jack could never get enough of it.

Daniel's hands weren't idle during the kiss. He untucked Jack's t-shirt and tried to pull it off - a hard job considering their positions. He loved the feel of the material against his bare skin but didn't want to be the only naked person in the bed.

After much wriggling around, and only the briefest separation at the lips, Jack was stripped of his t-shirt. Daniel shifted his legs so that Jack was lying between them and then he pushed upwards, rubbing his groin against Jack's.

"Danny, slow down," Jack chuckled at his partner's eagerness. "I don't want to hurt you but if we rush this, then that's exactly what will happen."

Daniel sighed; now that he had made the decision, he wanted to get it over with. But he knew that Jack wasn't to be argued with on this matter. "Okay," he reluctantly agreed.

Jack kissed the tip of Daniel's nose. "That's my boy." He laughed when Daniel screwed up his nose in disgust. "Moving right along," he said before Daniel could say anything, "we will now proceed to the next part of this evening's entertainment." He stretched over to the bedside drawer and retrieved the lube.

When Daniel saw the tube, he was reminded why it had to be used, and that led him to thinking about how big Jack was. This time his rapid breathing wasn't due to arousal but rather to fear. How was Jack going to fit?

Jack could feel Daniel tense up and he flashed back to when they had first tried to make love all those months ago; he hoped Daniel wasn't going to back out again. "Hey, it's okay, just relax." Jack put the lube down so that he could cup Daniel's face with both hands, and he took deep breaths, encouraging Daniel to do the same. "Breathe, love."

Daniel matched his breathing to Jack's, feeling some of the tension leave him. "I'm sorry," he apologised. "I just, um..."

"Freaked out a little," Jack finished for him. "It's okay, I understand." He kept doing the breathing thing until he thought Daniel was calm enough. "Ready to continue?" When he received a nod, Jack retrieved the lube. Then he moved off to the side and started kissing the young man again.

Daniel threw himself into the kiss, wanting to concentrate on that rather than what was going to happen at the other end. He felt Jack wriggle around a bit, and when he heard the whisper of material and then felt bare legs against his, he realised that Jack had been getting undressed. A hand ran down the inside of his right thigh, encouraging him to open his legs wider. The hand wrapped itself around his erection and started stroking firmly. He thrust up into the grip, comfortable with it because it was a regular part of sex.

Jack kept up the stroking for a couple of minutes, occasionally shifting his hand to stroke Daniel's thigh. When he judged that Daniel was relaxed enough, he let his hand drift lower.

Daniel instinctively tensed when he felt the finger brush over his anus, then he consciously relaxed. The finger disappeared for a few seconds then returned covered in lube. And it was cold. "Jack!"

"Sorry," Jack said, sounding amused rather than contrite. He rubbed the gel over Daniel's entrance then slowly pushed in. "Just relax."

"I'm trying." Daniel forced himself to relax, feeling the finger push further in. When Jack rubbed inside, Daniel felt that prickly sensation again all over his skin. It was a strange feeling but not exactly unpleasant.

"How're ya going?" Jack asked.

"Okay." This isn't too bad so far, Daniel thought.

"Ready for two?" Jack knew they had to work up to actual penetration - in the future it wouldn't be needed every time.

Daniel bit his lower lip then nodded. He was prepared for some pain but was surprised to only feel a slight twinge. He let out the breath he'd been holding then took another one when Jack pushed deep inside him and touched something that sent pleasure straight to his groin. The pleasure kept rolling through him as Jack rubbed inside him, and Daniel barely noticed when the third finger went in.

Jack was relieved that Daniel was getting pleasure from this. He kept up the fingers until Daniel started to push down on them, and then Jack figured it was time. Slowly, he withdrew his fingers, then rolled so his back was against the headboard. Then he tugged at Daniel until the young man was kneeling over his thighs.

"Why are we doing it this way?" Daniel wanted to know.

"Because you get to be in control," Jack informed him. "And if you want to stop, you can just move off me."

"Oh." Daniel watched Jack prepare himself with the lube, still a little concerned as to how Jack was going to fit. Then he let Jack guide him until the erection was pressing against his entrance.

"Ready?" Jack could see the nerves reappear on Daniel's face. He moved one hand to guide himself in.

"As I'll ever be." Daniel felt a broad pressure start to push its way in. His muscles started to burn; he closed his eyes and rested his forehead against Jack's, trying to control his breathing. The burning got worse, segueing into pain, and involuntary tears came into Daniel's eyes. He hadn't known it was going to hurt this much.

"Do you want to stop?" Jack asked when he saw the tears leak out from under the tightly closed eyelids.

Daniel shook his head. He could do this. Besides, not all of the tears were for the pain. Some were because one part of his life was ending with this act, and he was essentially saying goodbye to Sha'uri. Letting out a shaky breath, he consciously relaxed his muscles, causing him to slide a couple of inches down Jack's shaft. The movement tugged at sore muscles, making him gasp at the sharp pain. When the pain subsided a little, he tried again and found himself sitting in Jack's lap.

Jack lightly kissed Daniel's eyelids, hating that his lover was in so much pain yet revelling at finally being inside him. He held still, waiting until Daniel was ready to move. Jack rested his hands on Daniel's hips, his thumbs stroking over the hipbones. "Love you."

"Love you too," Daniel responded automatically. He was concentrating on how Jack felt inside him, that hard length filling him more than he ever thought possible. The pain was beginning to subside, leaving just the burning as his muscles stretched to accommodate Jack. Moving was not an option at the moment.

Jack felt the grip on his shoulders gradually ease off as Daniel got used to the pain. Jack knew what it felt like, and that was why he wanted to make this as easy as possible for his lover. Moving one hand up to cup Daniel's chin, Jack drew him in for a kiss, feeling those soft lips tremble against his; Daniel tasted so sweet.

Daniel fell into the kiss eagerly, giving him something else to focus on. The pull on sore muscles was the first indication he had that he was beginning to move on Jack. He released Jack's mouth and tried rocking again gently. There was a twinge of pain but it wasn't bad. Daniel did it again, and this time there was a little bit of pleasure as well. Maybe this would be better than he thought.

Jack wiped away the tears from under Daniel's eyes. "Okay?" he asked.

Daniel nodded. He lifted himself a little higher and then dropped back down, pleasure spiking inside as Jack's shaft brushed over his prostate. The burning was still there but it was beginning to be overshadowed by other feelings. He started to move slowly and continuously, moving no more than an inch until he got used to the sensations. Then he started lifting himself up higher, but not faster, until he was moving along the whole of Jack's length.

It felt unbelievably good to Jack, moving inside that hot, tight channel. He could see that it was beginning to feel good for Daniel too, his lover's flaccid penis starting to harden again. Jack moved his hand down to stroke it a few times, eliciting a moan from Daniel.

The stroking felt very good, and Daniel started to move faster in response. He felt Jack put his hands on his hips and start thrusting upwards into him, the shaft rubbing harder over his prostate to create more pleasure inside him. "Oh god," he moaned, arching his head back.

"Oh yeah..." Jack gripped Daniel's hips tighter and thrust harder into him, losing himself in the pleasure. He could feel Daniel clenching around him, the contractions bringing him closer and closer to the edge. He moved one hand back to Daniel's erection and started pumping faster.

Daniel's thigh muscles began burning but he didn't slow down. He felt Jack pin his hips and then stiffen, a sudden heat exploding inside him and pushing him over the edge into orgasm. Daniel gasped Jack's name as his own heat splashed between them, then he dropped his head to Jack's shoulder, exhausted. That was the most intense orgasm he'd had in his life.

Jack's hand came up to cradle Daniel's head to him as he too came down from his high. He planted a kiss in the sweat-soaked hair, overjoyed that they had finally gone all the way and that it had been every bit as good as his fantasies. Jack could feel himself finally slip out of Daniel, and he immediately missed that warmth. It had felt so incredible and he couldn't wait to do it with Daniel again. And speaking of his lover, Daniel hadn't moved since collapsing onto his shoulder. "Daniel?"

There was a slight movement. "Mmm?"

"You okay?"

Daniel hesitated before answering, "Yes." He felt completely loved and satiated, even though his body was aching. He was going to be sore tomorrow, that was for sure, but right now that didn't bother him. Lifting his head, he looked straight into Jack's eyes. "Thank you."

"That should be my line," Jack stated. He knew it hadn't been an easy decision for Daniel to make because the young man had not been ready to give up on finding Sha'uri. Jack ran his fingers over Daniel's face, lingering on the swollen lips. "How do you feel?"

"Good," Daniel replied. "Sore. Tired." Sad, he added silently; he would never return with Sha'uri to Abydos to live. He saw Jack's sympathy and knew that the older man understood just what making love had meant to him, and Daniel loved Jack more for that.

"Shower then sleep," Jack decided. He helped Daniel up, not missing the winces of pain on his lover's face, and then guided Daniel into the bathroom. They showered together, cleaning each other lovingly and lazily. Jack felt guilty when he saw a few drops of blood on the washcloth; he hadn't wanted to hurt Daniel.

"It'll get easier," Daniel said when he saw the guilt in Jack's eyes. "I don't regret it," he assured his partner, cupping Jack's face with his hands.

Jack put his hands over Daniel's and pressed a kiss to both palms. It meant a lot that Daniel could say that. "I love you so much," he said hoarsely, emotions welling up inside him. He didn't want to lose Daniel now.

Daniel responded by kissing Jack hard, trying to control his own emotions. He kept it up until he needed to breathe then he drew back. "Benhibik, Jack."

That was the only word of Abydonian that Jack understood. He turned off the shower, led Daniel out, and then they dried each other off. Then Jack put his arm around Daniel's waist and walked with him back to the bed. They snuggled up together, Daniel's head on Jack's shoulder, and closed their eyes, both falling asleep within minutes.

~~~

It was with a heavy heart that Jack went down into the control room early the next day. He had just talked with Hammond about the closing of the SGC and had failed to talk his CO into keeping the facility going. The rest of SG-1 were waiting for him in the control room as he entered it. Jack noted that Daniel was still standing up, the soreness from last night obviously still bothering him. "Hammond's given up. They're going to bury the gate day after tomorrow."

"Then I must return through the gate as soon as possible," Teal'c stated. He could not remain on Earth if they were not going to continue the fight against the Goa'uld.

Daniel nodded. "Yes, we all should go through the gate as soon as possible." He'd had a long think about the situation that morning and he had decided that they needed to stop the attack. However, he hadn't had a chance to talk to Jack about it yet.

"Whoa," Sam said, looking at Daniel in surprise. "Go through to where?" Her family was still on Earth and she wasn't going to abandon them.

"The co-ordinates I got in the other reality," Daniel stated. He braced himself for the argument that was bound to come.

"Daniel! Dammit!" Why didn't Daniel talk to him about these things? This was obviously why Daniel had been so quiet this morning.

"Jack, we have to stop the attack!" Daniel looked at his lover and pleaded with his eyes. This was the right thing to do.

"Daniel," Sam cut in. She still didn't totally believe that her friend had experienced an alternate reality. "Even if this is real, how do you know that the address correlates with this reality?"

"Well, there's only one way to find out, isn't there?"

Teal'c agreed. "We should enter the co-ordinates and attempt to open the gate." He, for one, had no doubt that it would work.

Sam shook her head. "Hold on. Has anyone considered that we would be in gross violation of orders? Sir, we would be court-martialed the second we got back!"

"If." Personally, Jack didn't think coming back was likely. He looked sideways at Daniel, hating that the linguist wanted him to agree to this mission. "If we got back."

That sobered everyone and made them realise just what the stakes were. Were they willing to disobey orders and risk their lives by trying to stop a full-scale Goa'uld attack on Earth? Jack still liked his idea of escaping with Daniel but he knew it was an idea he could never carry out.

Daniel made one last-ditch effort to get everyone to see things his way. It wasn't that he wanted to die but he knew he could never live with himself if he did nothing. "If we don't go through, what I saw in the other reality could happen here. This whole planet could be wiped out! Now, in the other reality, by the time I left Sara was dead. Sam, your whole family was dead, hell, I was dead! Everyone was dead!"

"We got it!" Jack definitely got the point.

"Okay, well don't you think we should see if we can stop the same slaughter from happening here?" Daniel looked at each of them in turn, pleading silently for them to do the right thing, but his gaze rested longest on Jack.

"How are just the four of us going to stop the attack, even if we go through?" Sam wanted to know, drawing Daniel's attention back to her.

Daniel hadn't exactly thought that part through - that was part of why he wanted the others to help him. But he didn't say that. "Well, we would have a lot better chance now than we would trying to stop an overwhelming onslaught later. Trust me, I've seen it."

Teal'c weighed in again, giving his trust and support to Daniel. "If the co-ordinates are of a Goa'uld world which is not on the Abydos cartouche, the Goa'uld will most likely not expect us. I believe a medical attack would be successful."

"Surgical attack, Teal'c," Jack corrected wearily. He rubbed a hand over his face as he made a difficult decision. "It's called a surgical attack." He turned to Daniel. "We go."

"I too will go," Teal'c stated.

The three men turned to Sam, who was busy weighing up the options and coming to the inevitable conclusion.

"It's not an order, Captain," Jack said, not wanting to pressure her. But he hoped that she would come along - they needed the whole team to pull this off.

"I understand that, Colonel, thank you." She looked directly at them all. "I'm going."

"Alright, we're going to have to plan this very carefully. We're going to need a lot of ordinance and a way to get through the gate. Let's get busy," Jack ordered. He waited until the other two had left before he said the next thing. "Daniel--"

"Thank you, Jack." Daniel knew it hadn't been an easy decision for him to make.

"Don't thank me yet." Jack took a calculated risk and drew Daniel into his arms. "You hardly said a word this morning. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Daniel replied automatically. He looked around anxiously. "Jack, should you be--"

"I'm either going to be dead or court-martialed, Danny, so it doesn't matter." No-one was around to see them anyway. "Any soreness?" He had noticed that Daniel had remained standing throughout the discussion.

Daniel blushed at the question, knowing exactly what Jack was referring to. "Just a little," he muttered, looking over Jack's shoulder at the Stargate. The pain was hardly worth mentioning.

"I'm sorry, Danny." Jack brushed a stray lock of hair back from Daniel's forehead. "Maybe we shouldn't have done it last night."

"Jack, I'm fine," Daniel repeated, slightly exasperated. "I'll be able to do my bit on the mission."

"I know you will." There hadn't been any doubt in Jack's mind about that. "And this is probably a bad time to bring it up but assuming we stop the attack and you get to go on searching for Sha'uri..." Jack looked directly into Daniel's eyes. "Will you go back with her?"

Daniel just stared at Jack, shocked that he would even ask that question. "I made a choice, Jack. I know that if everything turns out right, that we can keep searching and maybe find her. But I chose last night to stay with you no matter what happens." He and Jack were truly connected now.

Jack felt both relieved and ecstatic to hear those words. Daniel was going to remain his - if they both lived. Talk about an incentive to stay alive! Jack enthusiastically kissed Daniel, wanting one last kiss in case they didn't have another chance. "Let's go kick some Goa'uld butt!"

~~~

It was dark when they arrived. The team had their infrared goggles on to start with but soon took them off when they saw there was no immediate threat. Jack ordered Daniel to send the MALP back and then proceeded to check out the room. The large containers caught Jack's attention. "Teal'c, what are these things?"

"Transport containers, much like your shipping crates."

"So they're shipping something through the gate?" Sam asked.

"Or receiving." Teal'c opened one of the crates, the blue surface of the open gate providing illumination.

Jack peered into the container. "Cool. Zat guns. These are going to come in handy." He picked up three and handed one over to Carter, then threw one to Daniel. Teal'c already carried one.

A whining noise started up. "What the hell is that?" Jack queried. To him, it sounded like an engine starting up.

"What's happening?" Sam added her own question.

"I am not sure," Teal'c replied.

A sudden blast of energy caused everyone except for Teal'c to fall to the floor. Daniel had the furthest to fall, having been standing at the top of the stairs. The fall hurt his already sore body, and he gritted his teeth; just what he didn't need.

"Everybody okay?" Jack asked, his eyes lingering on Daniel.

"Yeah," Daniel replied, picking himself up off the floor. "What was that?" He rubbed his left shoulder where the staff weapon wound was.

Sam got to her feet as well. "It felt like some weird planetary shift." She didn't think it was anything to worry about.

Teal'c, however, had a concerned expression on his face. He had his suspicions about what had just happened. "We should dial home immediately."

Jack took one look at Teal'c's face and didn't argue. "Do it, Daniel."

Daniel, who was closest to the DHD, did as he was ordered. But as soon as he put his hand on the orange dome, the gate shut down. Daniel began to get a sinking feeling in his stomach.

"Daniel?" Jack queried.

"What? I dialled home just like I did a minute ago, just like I've done heaps of times before." It wasn't his fault.

"Well, do it again." Jack did not like the thought of being stuck there.

Daniel dialled again but the gate still wouldn't work. "Uh-oh." This was not good.

Part 5

Things then went from bad to worse. The lights came on and the door started to open. SG-1 scattered, finding whatever hiding places they could. Jack ended up behind the DHD and he prayed that no-one could see him. He held his MP-5 at the ready, just in case.

Daniel poked his head around the edge of the container he was hiding behind, curious as to who was coming in. As he did so, he saw his night-vision goggles lying near the container opposite where anyone could see them if they looked that way. He moved back into his hiding place and arched his head back so it rested against the container. He had carelessly tossed the goggles aside earlier and now that gesture could mean discovery. How could he have been so stupid? If they were captured, it would be his fault. Daniel held his breath until the door closed again. The first thing he did was secure his goggles, relieved that the item hadn't been seen. Then he stopped to look at the ball floating in the Stargate. He ignored Jack's sarcastic comment about the Jaffa as he tried to figure out what the ball was. "Teal'c, what is this?"

"It is a long-range communication device somewhat like your television only much further advanced." And, of course, it was only used for communication, not entertainment.

"Think it gets Showtime?" Jack asked no-one in particular. He looked over at Daniel, who was attaching the goggles to his belt, and then he turned to Teal'c. "Can you open that door?" Since they were stuck here, they might as well explore the place and see what kind of damage they could do.

"Now that I know its location, I believe I can," Teal'c replied. He went over to the door, turned the serpent symbol, and then stood back as the door started to open.

Jack made sure the corridor was clear before taking point and heading out. The rest of his team followed. They avoided the Jaffa patrols and soon arrived at another door. Teal'c opened it and the team entered cautiously.

Right in the middle of the room was something very familiar. "A sarcophagus," Daniel stated flatly. He didn't have very good memories of that thing.

"Oh great. More snake-heads," Jack muttered as he caught Daniel's eye and sent him a supportive look. "Teal'c, any idea which one's in there?" No answer. "Teal'c?" Jack looked over to see why the Jaffa wasn't answering and saw what was on the viewscreen. "Uh-oh."

Daniel looked up from examining the sarcophagus and his eyes widened when he saw the streaks of light on the viewscreen.

"We're not on a planet, are we?" Sam asked the obvious question.

"That is correct." What Teal'c had feared was true. "It appears we are aboard a Goa'uld transport vessel."

"And that jolt was..."

"Hyper-launch."

Okay, that was not good. Jack stared at the stars whizzing by and started threat-assessing. The rest of the mission was going to have to be changed. "Teal'c, why didn't you tell us we were on a ship?" That piece of information would have been very handy.

"I was not sure," Teal'c stated. "I have never been aboard a Goa'uld vessel of this design.

Neither had Klorel, Daniel realised as he tried to search through the Goa'uld's memories. This ship must have been built recently. His thoughts were interrupted by a Jaffa who ran into the room. Daniel immediately ducked behind the sarcophagus, and saw Sam and Teal'c likewise hide, but Jack was caught out in the open.

"Kel-to-nak!" the Serpent Guard shouted, aiming his weapon at Jack.

"Hey! How ya doing?" Jack kept his hands away from his own weapon as he warily watched the newcomer. "Uh... seen a bathroom around here?" He ducked as a staff blast headed towards him; that would be a 'no', Jack thought.

Sam stepped out of hiding and zatted the guard twice. Teal'c then shot him a third time, disintegrating the Jaffa. No-one blinked an eye at that; they all knew what a zat could do, although Daniel didn't really think that the third time had been warranted.

Sam turned her attention back to the viewscreen. "The blast spread across this area like there was glass here," she observed. "This is a force field of sorts."

Teal'c inclined his head. "That is correct. There is no transparent material capable of withstanding this velocity."

"Or temporal displacement," Sam added, her mind turning the idea over. "We're travelling faster than light, right?" At Teal'c's confirmation, she continued, "So the ship must have been in orbit around a planet when we gated here. Then it launched or left orbit, which explains why we can't gate home."

"The point of origin isn't valid anymore," Daniel concluded. They wouldn't be able to gate anywhere until the ship stopped.

This was getting worse by the moment. "Well, I suggest the two of you figure out how to get us back home," Jack stated. This just wasn't his area of expertise.

"The only way to do that is to turn us around and go back to where we started," Sam told him.

"Teal'c, you know how to fly one of these things?" Jack asked.

"Of that I am unsure. It appears to be of a new technology," Teal'c replied. Plus, he'd had little training in flying a Ha'tak vessel.

"Daniel, what about you?"

The linguist gave Jack a blank look then remembered why he was being asked. "Uh, I don't think so."

"O'Neill, I suggest we relocate to another chamber as soon as possible," Teal'c stated. "The royal sarcophagi are rarely left unattended for long."

"Lead on."

~~~

Nearly an hour later, after discovering the Death Gliders and the fact that the ship was heading towards Earth, SG-1 found themselves back in the gateroom just as Apophis's visage appeared in the communication sphere. "Chel hol, Jaffa. The end of a dark moment in Goa'uld history approaches."

Jack raised his eyebrows; he hadn't realised how much the Goa'uld must fear the Tau'ri.

"Soon we will wipe out the scourge that plagues us. I will rejoin you as we come out of the shadows. Until then, you are to follow all orders of my son as if they were my own." The lid of the sarcophagus opened with perfect timing. "Bow down now. Show your reverence to my son - the mighty warrior, Khnom."

Daniel peeked around the crate and recognised the host as one who had been picked on the same day as he had been. A chill then went down his spine - this could have been him if Jack hadn't rescued him. Trapped in his own body and leading the attack on Earth, helpless to do anything... He was very grateful that it hadn't come to pass. He felt someone squeeze his left hand, and he looked down to see Jack looking up at him. Daniel gave him a grim smile, knowing that Jack would understand what it meant.

It seemed a long time until Khnom and his entourage left the gateroom, with SG-1 praying that they wouldn't be discovered. Jack put aside the relief he had felt at Apophis's 'son' not being Daniel, and got straight down to business. "What do you think Apophis meant by coming 'out of the shadows'?"

"He means to join with Khnom in the attack on Earth," Teal'c replied.

"Yeah, but now or in a year's time?"

"Of that I am uncertain."

That made things difficult. "Even if we take out this ship, Apophis will still try and attack Earth, won't he?"

"It is likely," Teal'c admitted. "He will have more of a need for vengeance."

"So we have to destroy both ships," Daniel stated, thinking about what needed to be done to save Earth. Then he became aware that everyone was staring at him. "What?"

Jack shook his head; he didn't feel up to explaining how wrong those words sounded coming out of Daniel's mouth. "We've only got enough C4 for one ship."

"What if we took out the engines on this ship?" Sam turned to Teal'c. "Would that be enough to destroy it?"

"It would not. But it may be enough to lure Apophis's ship closer where it would get caught in subsequent explosions," Teal'c replied. "I believe the gateroom would also be a strategic location."

"The naqadah," Sam stated. "You're saying that the naqadah in the gate would amplify the explosion?"

Teal'c nodded. "As will the fuel in the Death Gliders."

"Okay, so we plant C4 in here, on the gliders, in the sarcophagus room, and the engine room," Jack decided. "Then once the ship stops and Apophis gets close enough, we ring over there, plant more C4, then try to get off the ship." Somehow. "Carter, you and Daniel take the gliders and the sarcophagus. Teal'c and I will take the engine room. We'll meet back here in forty minutes." He didn't want to be parted from Daniel but this was the best strategic option.

Sam looked like she wanted to protest but she said, "Yes, sir," and stood up, ready to leave.

Daniel didn't want to leave Jack but could see that he didn't really have a choice. He put his hand on Jack's leg as though using it to help him stand up, connecting with Jack one last time. Then he followed Sam out the door.

Jack let his eyes linger on the doorway for a few seconds, then he pulled himself together. "Engine room." Daniel was going to be fine, he told himself as he followed Teal'c out of the room. Just fine.

~~~

Daniel and Sam made it to the glider bay without incident and planted the C4 on one of the gliders, knowing the explosion would cause a chain reaction. Then they made their way back to the room with the sarcophagus, hiding from several patrols of Jaffa along the way. When they got there, Sam signalled for caution - they didn't know who would be in there. Daniel got out his zat, loathe to kill if he didn't have to, and then followed Sam into the room.

They took out the first two Jaffa easily. The third one fired his staff at Sam, who ducked behind the sarcophagus. Daniel, however, was sent flying across the room by Khnom's hand-device. He hit the wall with a thud and slid down it to the floor, stunned.

Sam saw Daniel go flying, and she wanted to go over to him and check on him but she knew she had a job to do first. She popped up from her hiding place and aimed for the Jaffa. But he had moved and the extra second that it took her to track him cost her. She too was thrown across the room by the hand-device, her MP-5 falling out of her hands.

Khnom was pleased with the capture. He ordered the remaining Jaffa to get reinforcements to guard the prisoners. Then he alerted the rest of the ship just in case there were more infiltrators. That done, he went over to the male intruder, who was just beginning to stir. Something felt strange about this one. Khnom crouched down beside the human and moved the long hair away from the back of his neck. It was then that he saw the scar, and with a shock of recognition, realised who this human was. "Klorel?"

Daniel looked sideways at the Eurasian host, wondering who he had been before he had become a host. "He's dead," Daniel informed Khnom. "And as you can see, all of the host remains."

Khnom drew back, his eyes flashing gold. "The host does not survive."

Daniel didn't feel up to debating the point but he gave it a shot anyway. "Then how do you explain the fact that I'm still here?"

"Silence!" Khnom shifted his hand into the human's hair and tightened his grip. He did not know what had happened but he knew that his brother Klorel was no longer in this host. "You are of the Tau'ri."

"How'd you guess?" Daniel winced as the grip tightened again, pulling on his scalp. His head was starting to throb from the impact with the wall; this was the second time a Goa'uld had done this to him.

"You will watch as we destroy your world and then you will die." Khnom pulled the human to his feet and then dragged him over to the peltak. The Jaffa came up behind him, holding the woman. "As will your friends."

That was so clichéd, Daniel thought, gritting his teeth and trying to remain upright. Fortunately, the pounding in his head was dying down a little. "Don't count your chickens," he said. Sam had the controller for the C4; if all else failed, they could still use it.

Khnom threw the human a puzzled glance. What were chickens?

~~~

Following his instincts, Jack decided to go back via the sarcophagus room. When he and Teal'c approached it and saw the guard outside, Jack knew that something was up. He cursed himself for sending his team in there when he should have gone himself. "We'll draw them out," he suggested. Teal'c nodded his agreement. Jack got out a smoke grenade and threw it in front of the doorway. Two Jaffa came rushing out of the room to join the one standing guard and were immediately shot. Jack and Teal'c then moved into the sarcophagus room and started taking out the Jaffa there.

Sam took advantage of the distraction. She spun around, punched her Jaffa in the jaw, then grabbed his zat and fired.

Daniel tried to do the same. He elbowed Khnom in the stomach, hoping that the grip in his hair would be loosened, but he had no such luck. Khnom simply raised his left hand and activated the hand-device. Daniel felt the searing pain start in his forehead. He brought his hands up to lock around Khnom's wrist, intent on pushing him away. However, the hand-device was quickly sapping his energy, his knees buckling as his strength left him.

"O'Neill!" Teal'c yelled at the warrior, alerting him to the danger DanielJackson was in. He brought his staff weapon to aim at Khnom but O'Neill was quicker. Several bullets entered Khnom's body, dropping the Goa'uld to the floor.

Seeing no more threats, Jack quickly went over to Daniel, who was kneeling on the floor, gasping for breath. His heart had frozen when he had seen what the Goa'uld was doing, and his instinctive reaction had been to kill. "You okay?" He tentatively put a hand on Daniel's back while his lover recovered.

Daniel just grunted, unable to speak just yet. He was going to have one whopper of a headache soon. He took comfort from Jack's supporting hand rubbing in small circles on his back, and reached out blindly for Jack's other hand. Finding it, he squeezed it in appreciation before letting go, knowing that Jack would understand what it meant.

Sam saw the gesture and wasn't surprised by it. She knew the two men had a unique friendship and that they reached out for each other when they were hurt. Sometimes she wished that she had a friend like that too.

"O'Neill!"

"Yeah, give me a minute here." Jack didn't even look up from Daniel when Teal'c called.

"I cannot." They did not have a minute.

Jack looked up and saw Earth in the window. "That's not possible," he said as he stood up, helping Daniel to stand at the same time. His linguist seemed to be breathing easier now.

"Earth." Sam sounded amazed.

Daniel looked out the window with a sinking feeling. "I thought you said we couldn't be there for at least a year." Earth was nowhere near ready for an attack right now.

"I guess this ship can travel way faster than ten times the speed of light."

"Carter, did you get your C4 in place?" Jack asked.

"Almost." Sam took out a block of C4 and placed it on the front of the peltak. "Sir, given enough time, I might be able to figure out--"

"Negative." Jack knew what she was suggesting. "We should expect some of their reinforcements through that door any second. We need to get out of here."

"Jack." Daniel had been watching the view through the window and had seen something appear there.

"What?"

"Apophis's ship approaches," Teal'c announced. He had seen the same thing.

"We overheard him saying in the Gateroom that he would rejoin Khnom once they came out of the shadows," Daniel stated. He rubbed the bridge of his nose; his headache was very annoying.

"You okay?" Jack asked quietly. He received a pain-filled look in return. Jack gave him a sympathetic look then got back to the business at hand. "All right, we've set the charges. Carter, tell me you put them on automatic timer."

"They're on automatic timer," Sam dutifully replied. "We'll have 24 hours from your mark."

"Twenty-four hours?!" Well, at least that would give them plenty of time to get over to Apophis's ship. "Okay, set it."

"Yes, sir." Sam pressed a button on the timer and it started counting down.

One day to get over to Apophis's ship and set the rest of the charges - Jack wasn't insane enough to believe that they would get it done with plenty of time to spare. A bang sounded on the door. "Just a minute!" he called out to the Jaffa outside. The hardest part was going to be getting out of this room and over to the other ship. "Teal'c, is there any other way outta here?"

"None."

Well, that was just great. Jack looked at the doorway - a crack was appearing in the middle. "Cover up, kids. This is turning out to be a bad day," he muttered the last part to himself as he hid behind the pedestal thing. Jack turned his head and shared a long look with Daniel. Then he turned to fire at the doorway.

Daniel just sat there, not having grabbed a weapon. He was just starting to pray that they would live through this when he heard something metal-like rolling on the floor. Then there was a bright light before everything went black...

~~~

Daniel woke up with a splitting headache. He opened his eyes but couldn't see anything. Everything was dark and not getting any lighter. This seemed to indicate that he was blind, not just in a very dark room. Daniel felt around him but couldn't find any of the others, so he assumed he was alone. Fighting back the wave of panic, he continued searching with his hands until he found a wall. He moved so that he was sitting against it, then rested his head in his hands and massaged his forehead - what he wouldn't give for a few aspirin right now!

"O'Neill?"

The suddenness of Teal'c's voice made Daniel jump. So, he wasn't alone. He held his breath, waiting to see if Jack would respond, very afraid that he wouldn't.

Jack flung out his arm, trying to locate where Teal'c was. He felt a shoulder and then a face, and realised it was Teal'c. "I'm here." He tried sitting up and opening his eyes. The movement made his head spin. But worse than that... "Ah, Teal'c, I can't see."

"I am blinded as well. It will pass," Teal'c stated knowledgeably.

"What the hell was that?" Jack put a hand to his head as if that would make the pain stop.

"A Goa'uld shock grenade. Though extremely painful, its effects are temporary."

"That's good to hear." Jack needed to find out how much time they had left of their twenty-four hours. He also needed to know if Daniel was alright. And speaking of which... "Daniel? Cart--Ow!" Jack put his hand down on someone's face and it was bitten. Hard. "God! Ow!"

"Colonel?" Whoops, Sam thought. "Sorry, sir. It's just so dark."

Jack shook his hand out. "It's all right, Carter. I like your attitude." That was one team member down. Where was--

"It isn't dark," Daniel said in a miserable voice. He had been listening to the conversation but hadn't felt like talking. He rubbed his temples again. "We're blind. And we failed."

Jack heard the misery and defeat in Daniel's voice and hated it. It wasn't like Daniel to give up so easily. "All right, take it easy, Daniel. We've been in worse situations than this."

"Not to my knowledge," Teal'c piped out.

"Thanks, Teal'c," Jack said dryly. He crawled over to where he thought Daniel might be.

"Right now they're getting ready to wipe out the major cities of Earth." Daniel heard a shuffling noise, then a hand landed on his leg. The hand then travelled upwards until it found his hand, which was then squeezed. Daniel squeezed back, knowing instinctively that it was Jack. The hand continued up to his forehead, where it was joined by the other one and they both started massaging his temples. "They'll do it from orbit out of reach." The massage started to alleviate some of the pain in his head.

"Daniel..." Jack started to reassure his lover but didn't quite know what to say. Fortunately, he was cut off.

"Jack, I've already been through this once before. I've seen this before." Daniel leaned his head back against the wall.

"Daniel, will you relax?" Jack kept up the massaging, knowing that Daniel's headache would be worse than his. He leaned forward and pressed a kiss to Daniel's forehead, hoping to restore some of the linguist's natural optimism. "You've been through it before and you survived. We're... just having a bad day."

"Colonel, I think I'm starting to see something," Sam exclaimed, holding her hand up in front of her.

"My sight returns as well," Teal'c added. Because his symbiote healed him faster, he was able to make out the outlines of O'Neill and DanielJackson.

"Now that's what I want to hear," Jack said as he slowly drew back from Daniel. He kept his eyes fixed on Daniel's face and thought he saw a hint of blue staring back at him. "Carter, if someone comes in here, you... bite 'em in the hand."

Sam smiled at the attempted humour. "Yes, sir."

Things were quiet for the next few minutes as everyone got their sight back. Teal'c got up and started looking for a way out, and he was soon followed by Jack. Daniel didn't bother since he was still feeling under the weather.

When footsteps sounded outside the cell, and the silhouette of a Serpent Guard could be seen, Jack and Teal'c moved as one to either side of the doorway. The team heard the sound of the helmet being retracted, then the door opened and the guard walked in.

"Bra'tac?" Jack said in surprise. Then he reeled back after being struck in the nose. "Oh, God!"

Daniel moved to take a step forward to help Jack but Sam stopped him by putting a hand on his arm. Right, don't show any weaknesses, Daniel told himself.

"Fools! Hashak!" Bra'tac spat out at the Tau'ri. His eyes focused on the one he hadn't seen before and recognised him as one of the chosen ones, the one who had been captured by the Tau'ri. Bra'tac got up close to him and sensed a faint trace of naqadah but not enough to indicate that the Goa'uld was still within him. Interesting, he thought. "You doom yourselves," he continued as he stepped away towards the female and then towards the other male. "It is all I can do to keep you alive. Do you know all I have done to regain the trust of Apophis and join this campaign? Hmm?"

Teal'c stepped towards his former master. "Tek mat'te, Bra'tac."

The Jaffa's face softened. "Hello again, old friend. It is good to see you. But you should not have come."

"I stand by my friends. I believe this world may be our only hope in one day overcoming the false gods," Teal'c stated. He did indeed believe that, although they still had some way to go before that goal was achieved.

Bra'tac nodded. He had seen indications of that as well. "Yes. As pathetic as that might seem at the moment, I agree."

"You do?" Daniel asked in surprise. He knew who Bra'tac was although they had never met before.

"I may have even been able to save this world had you not interfered," Bra'tac stated.

"Hey!" That comment annoyed Jack. He got up, still holding his nose. "What do you think we've been trying to do? It is our world you're talking about."

Bra'tac dismissed that impatiently. "Enough, human! This is not the place to talk of such things. I have been ordered by Apophis to execute you." He looked around at the apprehensive faces. "An order I intend to disregard. Come!"

SG-1 followed Bra'tac out of the cell. Two Jaffa fell into place behind them. Jack made sure he was close to Daniel, concerned about the tightness around the linguist's eyes. "Still bad?" he mouthed.

Daniel nodded briefly. The headache was bad but he'd had worse. He could still function and pull his weight on the mission.

In one of the deserted corridors, Bra'tac turned his head to look behind him. "How did you remove the symbiote?"

The question surprised the team. Jack recovered first and replied, "We found a planet that didn't like Goa'ulds. They removed it."

Bra'tac nodded, not pushing for more details. He hadn't thought the Tau'ri would have the technology to do it. "Apophis was not pleased when you took Klorel. He had big plans for his son."

"Yeah, well..." Jack couldn't think of anything clever to say to that. "We do what we can."

"So it would have been Klorel leading this attack then," Daniel stated rather than asked. The knowledge made him even more glad than ever that the Goa'uld was no longer inside him.

"Yes." Bra'tac turned into the gateroom and went over to one of the crates. "Here are your weapons. You will need them."

Jack went over to the crate and started retrieving the weapons. As he handed them out to his team, he said, "Um, Bra'tac, you mentioned something about saving the world. Care to elaborate on that?"

"By assaulting Khnom, you have made that impossible."

"Why?" Daniel queried as he accepted a rifle from Jack. He expertly checked it and made sure it was loaded.

"Among the Goa'uld, a pharaoh's power is more often challenged by their sons than by their enemies. Once we had joined battle with your world, I was prepared to lead my wing against Apophis in Khnom's name."

Teal'c saw where this was going and approved. "Apophis would assume your attack was ordered by Khnom and reciprocate. A daring plan."

"I had hoped to drive a stake of mistrust between them. Now I fear they will bond against their common enemy."

In other words, the Tau'ri. Wait a minute... "What bond? Khnom's dead," Jack said.

"He will rise again," Bra'tac stated confidently.

Daniel groaned mentally. Of course. "The sarcophagus."

Oh no... "Wait a minute." Jack turned to face Bra'tac. "You put him in that thing to bring him back?" They so didn't need this right now.

Bra'tac nodded briskly. "I knew it would delay the attack until he arose. Perhaps when the warships of your world attack..."

"Uh, excuse me, did you say the warships of our world?" Sam interrupted. That was rather an assumption to make.

Bra'tac looked at her quizzically. "Surely you have such vessels?"

"Well, we have a number of... of..." Daniel looked to Jack for help. "Shuttles," they said in unison.

"These... shuttles... they are a formidable craft?" Bra'tac began to get a sinking feeling.

"Oh yeah," Jack lied. He looked at the rest of his team, who simply stared back at him. "Oh yeah, bad day." Very bad day.

~~~

It was a lot harder to get back to the main peltak since Jaffa were standing guard everywhere, but the group finally got there. Bra'tac had displayed why he had managed to live to 133 - Jack was very impressed with his fighting and deception skills. Now the Jaffa Master was insisting that he enter the peltak first with his loyal followers while SG-1 waited outside for the signal. "You will know when it is time," he said.

"Whoa! You're just going to walk in there alone?" Daniel asked, not sure about that part of the plan.

"I am Khnom's loyal servant," Bra'tac simply said. Then he and his Jaffa disappeared into the room.

Jack shook his head; he wasn't so sure about this part either but Bra'tac appeared to know what he was doing. He waited impatiently, every instinct on high alert. When he heard the staff blasts, he ordered, "Let's go! Daniel, watch our backs!" Jack didn't want to risk Daniel in a fire-fight while his concentration might not be the best. Jack shot Daniel one last look and then headed into the room.

Daniel held his MP-5 at the ready, determined to do his best to keep the others safe. He could hear the sounds of zats, staff weapons and MP-5's being fired inside the room, and he hoped that his friends didn't get hurt.

Two Jaffa suddenly came around the corner in front of him. Startled, Daniel managed to shoot both of them before they could shoot him but it was a close thing. "Jack!" Come here and help me, he called silently, knowing more Jaffa would be along soon.

No sooner did he think that than another Jaffa appeared from around the corner and fired at him. Daniel felt an immense pain in his left shoulder and chest as the blast threw him back against the supporting column. He lay there for a few seconds, fighting to get past the pain, then he struggled upright and shot the Jaffa - somehow he had managed to hold onto the MP-5.

Jack raced out the door to find his lover sitting on the floor with a huge staff weapon wound blackening his uniform. "Daniel... Dammit!" This was not supposed to happen! Right away, Jack knelt down in front of Daniel and started searching for a bandage.

"I'm dead anyway," Daniel said, holding his right hand out to Jack. 'Just get outta here." His wound was fatal, he knew that instinctively.

"I am not leaving you here," Jack stated, trying to come up with a plan that would keep Daniel alive.

"Jack, get outta here! You're just going to blow up with the other ship anyway!" They were both going to die and nothing could change that. "What difference does it make? Just go! I'll stay and watch your back," Daniel finished sadly. He didn't want to die alone but by staying, Jack would put everyone else at risk.

"I will never leave you behind, Danny," Jack promised. He knew the others would be able to carry out the mission without him. They would take Khnom as a hostage to the other ship and... wait. Khnom... "Wait here. I'll be right back."

"Where am I going to go?" Daniel muttered as Jack got up and went back into the room.

"Daniel's badly hurt," Jack told the others. "I'm going to take him to the sarcophagus, then we'll do some more damage and try to get off the ship. Carter," he handed her his C4. "Plant as much C4 as you can and then get off too. I expect to see you and Teal'c back on Earth, understood?"

"Yes, sir." Sam wasn't happy about it but she understood the orders. "How bad is Daniel?"

"Very," Jack replied in a flat voice.

Near death, Sam assumed, or maybe even dead already. She moved over to the rings. "Bring him back, sir."

"I will." Jack watched them leave then went back to Daniel. "Come on. Let's get you to the sarcophagus," he said as he helped Daniel stand up.

~~~

It occurred to Sam as they were running around Apophis's ship, just why the colonel had stayed with Daniel - they were a couple. Of course, she didn't know for sure but it would explain why they were so close, and why Jack would be willing to abandon the mission to save Daniel's life. She found that she didn't like that idea at all; she was jealous, in fact. Realistically, she knew nothing could ever happen between herself and the colonel but that didn't change the way she felt. How could they do this to her? And what about Sha'uri? Daniel was supposed to be in love with her!

"CaptainCarter?"

Sam brought her mind back to focus on the mission at hearing Teal'c's voice. The relationship between the two men could wait until they all got home.

If they got home alive.

~~~

"Come on, come on, come on," Jack muttered as he looked at his watch for the millionth time. The sarcophagus was taking way too long, and there were only a couple of minutes left before the C4 blew. He had wanted to leave in a glider or maybe catch up with the others, but that wasn't an option now. There was always the gate but Jack wasn't sure if it would work. But it wouldn't matter if the... Finally!

The sarcophagus lid opened and Daniel sat up, briefly disorientated. He checked his chest - the wound was gone. Surprisingly, so was his headache.

"Danny, you okay?"

"Fine." Daniel got out of the sarcophagus, straight into Jack's arms. "How much time do we have?"

"Two minutes." Jack kissed Daniel's lips briefly, knowing they didn't have the time for more, then enveloped him in a big hug. "Spacemonkey," he said affectionately. He couldn't say where the name came from.

"Gateroom."

Jack didn't question Daniel, trusting that his partner had come up with an idea. Together they ran to the gateroom, arriving with twenty seconds to spare. "Where are we going?" Jack asked as Daniel started punching symbols.

"Beta Site," Daniel replied. He put his hand on the orange dome and the gate whooshed into life. Sending a small smile towards Jack, he took his lover's hand and together they raced for the wormhole.

~~~

Seconds later, the ship exploded.

~~~

Jack and Daniel tumbled out of the wormhole on the other side, letting go of each other as they tried to break their fall. Behind them, the wormhole blinked out of existence.

"Ow!" Jack complained, coming to a stop at the bottom of the stairs. He lay there for a couple of seconds until the Alpha Site team stepped forward. "Hi guys! How ya doin'?"

"Colonel O'Neill?" Lieutenant Kelly from SG-6 said in surprise. "Doctor Jackson? What are you doing here?"

"Oh, nothing much. Just saving Earth from annihilation," Jack said casually as he stood up and brushed the dirt from his clothes. "Same old, same old."

"Is General Hammond here?" Daniel asked as he got up.

"The General stayed on Earth," Kelly replied. He knew the two men but he kept his gun trained on them until he was certain they were themselves.

"Well, in that case, you'd better let us go there," Jack ordered.

"I'm sorry, sir, I can't do that."

"What?" Jack wasn't happy with that response and it showed. "Why not?"

Kelly stood his ground. "Because you might have been compromised, sir."

"Oh, for crying out loud," Jack muttered. "Does it look like I'm a Goa'uld?"

One of the SG personnel checked for a scar on the back of the colonel's neck. "He's clear, sir."

"Thank you. See, Kelly, everything's fine. And I vouch for the fact that Daniel is not a Goa'uld either." Protocol could be so annoying sometimes. "Now can we go?"

"Yes, sir." Kelly saluted smartly, as did the others.

"Oh, can we have a GDO? We kinda lost ours," Jack requested.

"Yes, sir." Kelly handed his over.

"Thanks."

Daniel stepped up to the DHD and quickly dialled up Earth. Jack sent the GDO code through, then gave the device back. Then he and Daniel stepped through the wormhole to the SGC gateroom.

~~~

General Hammond was quite surprised to see the two men arrive in the gateroom He looked at them in bewilderment, not expecting to have seen them again. "Doctor Jackson! Colonel O'Neill! Was SG-1 aboard one of those ships?"

"Yes, sir," Jack replied, a big grin on his face. They were home!

"Well, how did you get...?"

"There was a Stargate aboard the ship we were on," Daniel anticipated the question. "Once I realised we were close enough to use Earth as a point of origin, I dialled P3X-984."

Hammond stared at him. 'The Alpha Site?"

Daniel gave him a half-grin. "Yeah, well, they called it the Beta Site in the alternate reality." And it was just as well that he had remembered the address.

Jack glanced proudly at his lover, forgetting for a moment that Hammond was in the room. That kind of quick thinking was part of why he loved Daniel.

The general looked behind them, curious. "Where's the rest of SG-1?"

Daniel and Jack shared a look before Jack replied, "We don't know." He had been so happy to get back that he hadn't thought about the fate of the rest of his team.

"I think you'd better fill me in," Hammond ordered.

~~~

"So you're saying that you abandoned the mission in order to save Doctor Jackson's life, and then left two of your team to possibly die aboard the other vessel?" Hammond asked his 2IC. That kind of action went against all the rules, and made Hammond suspicious of the motivation behind it.

"Yes, sir." Jack kept his eyes on the briefing table, unable to look his CO in the eye. He had done the very thing he had been afraid of - he had put Daniel's life above the others. But even if they had just been friends, how could he have just walked away and left Daniel there to die?

"Doctor Jackson, could you have reached the sarcophagus on your own?" Hammond turned to the linguist, who was sitting across the table from Jack.

"I don't know," Daniel replied. "I don't think so." After the ribbon device, the shock grenade and the staff weapon wound, he wasn't sure if his body would have co-operated to get him there.

"I was planning on going back for them, sir," Jack stated. "But the sarcophagus took too long and we barely made it off the ship before it blew." He hoped the others had too.

"That's not the point, Colonel." The general was not happy with him. "The point is that you abandoned two team members and jeopardised the whole mission to save Doctor Jackson's life. Give me one good reason why I shouldn't strip you of your command right now."

Jack swallowed hard and then steeled himself to look straight at Hammond. 'If your best friend was about to die in front of you, and you knew there was a way to save him, what would you have done, sir? I wouldn't have been able to live with myself if I'd let him die."

George sighed, his anger draining away. It had been a hard choice to make and he wasn't sure what he would have done in Jack's position. But he wasn't about to let Jack off scot-free on this one. "And if Earth had been attacked because of your decision? Or if Captain Carter and Teal'c haven't survived?"

Jack couldn't answer that question. He knew he would feel bad but it would be nothing compared to if Daniel had died.

An airman entered the room just then and stood at attention. "General, we've just received word from NASA. One of their shuttles' has picked up Captain Carter, Teal'c and a Jaffa named Bra'tac, who were travelling in, uh, Death Gliders not far from the site of the explosions," he reported.

"Thank you, Airman." Hammond was relieved that the rest of the flagship team had made it.

"Yes!" Jack exclaimed softly, glad that his team had survived. He looked at Daniel and grinned; despite all the odds, SG-1 had done it!

Daniel returned the grin, also happy that his friends were safe. He would have felt awfully guilty if Sam and Teal'c hadn't survived because Jack had chosen to help him instead.

"Well, I recommend that you two visit the infirmary then get something to eat and some rest before the others return," Hammond ordered. "Colonel, I'll decide on whether to lay any charges after I hear Captain Carter's report. Dismissed."

"Yes, sir." Jack got up and headed for the door, closely followed by Daniel. When they got into the elevator together, Jack leaned against the wall and rested his head back against it. "We made it," he said tiredly. Exhaustion was beginning to set in.

"Jack." Daniel moved to stand right in front of his lover. "Thank you for saving me. And I'm sorry that I made you choose between me and the others." If Jack was court-martialed for dereliction of duty, it would be Daniel's fault.

"You didn't make me choose," Jack stated. "It was my choice alone." One that was going to cost him a lot.

Daniel could see that Jack wasn't going to be persuaded otherwise right now. He remained silent for the rest of the journey and throughout the examination in the infirmary. Daniel was pleased to note that all the injuries and aches he'd left with the previous day were completely healed. The scar on his neck was still there though, presumably because it was an old injury.

They went to the locker room to get changed, and that was when Daniel spoke up again. "Spacemonkey?"

"What?" Jack's mind had been a million miles away. He started getting changed automatically.

"When we were on Khnom's ship, you called me Spacemonkey," Daniel said. He couldn't work out where this latest nickname had come from. "Why?"

"It just seemed to fit." Jack couldn't explain it better than that.

Daniel had to smile at that. "You think I look like a monkey when I'm in space?" When Jack didn't answer that, Daniel's smile faded. He went over to Jack, coming to a halt right in front of him. "What's wrong?"

"I'm just tired, that's all," Jack excused himself with. He started to turn away but Daniel stopped him.

"Are you worried about being court-martialed?" Daniel knew what it involved and was well aware Jack could spend time in jail for not only disobeying orders but for abandoning Sam and Teal'c.

"No," Jack replied truthfully. "I knew that going in."

"Then what?"

Jack looked around him as an airman entered the locker room. "This isn't the place," he stated. He finished getting dressed into the green uniform he wore around the base. "Come on, get changed."

Daniel stared at him for a few more seconds then went back over to his locker to get changed. The content of Jack's words implied that the reason had something to do with their relationship. And that was not good.

~~~

After eating a light meal, they found empty quarters and settled themselves into separate bunks. Daniel stared through the darkness at where he could see a Jack-shaped lump and said, "You're worried that the general is going to find out about us, aren't you?"

"Kind of," Jack replied. "I abandoned the mission to save you. I put you over everyone on Earth. I think Hammond would get a little suspicious about that." He wondered whether he could talk Hammond into handing him a dishonourable discharge rather than jail time.

"But you were planning on continuing the mission," Daniel stated. "Doesn't that count?"

"Not to a jury, it won't. It's the results that matter, not the intent. I abandoned the others to save you." Which proved that he could no longer effectively lead the team while Daniel was on it.

Daniel began to understand the problem. He knew it was exactly what Jack had feared when Daniel had first joined the team. "Would you have left Sam or Teal'c there to die?"

"Teal'c's got that 'it's a good day to die' mentality - he wouldn't have let me help him," Jack replied. "As for Carter... I don't know. She knows the risks."

"So do I, Jack. I knew there was a chance I could die." And he had been prepared to accept that despite the fact he hadn't wanted to leave Jack. "There's a chance that could happen every time I step through the Stargate."

"But I didn't want you to die. I'd be upset if Carter died but I'd be able to go on without her. That wouldn't be the case if you died." Jack was feeling guilty about that too.

Daniel was silent for a minute. He didn't doubt Jack's word because he knew how close the older man had come to committing suicide after Charlie died, and he hated that he could be the cause of Jack's next attempt - as flattering as it was that Jack loved him that much. "Jack, if I die, I don't want you to die too. It's more important that you keep going through the gate and defending Earth."

"Daniel--" The protest was only half-hearted; Jack knew Daniel had a point.

"Jack, this - what we're doing here - is bigger than both of us. There might be a lot of good men and women who will die because you're not there to help them."

"Well, if they court-martial me, the result will be the same, won't it?" And he wouldn't be able to protect Daniel if he was in jail. Or hold him as they drifted off to sleep, or kiss every inch of that perfect body, or bury himself inside Daniel again...

"I don't think General Hammond will court-martial you." At least, Daniel was fairly sure the general wouldn't. "We saved the world - that should counter any broken rules."

It should but Jack wasn't so optimistic. "We'll see," was all he had to say to that. "Go to sleep, love." The endearment slipped out.

Daniel sighed; he hated it when Jack got like this. But so long as they were on base, there was nothing he could do to pull Jack out of it. So Daniel rolled over and tried to get some sleep.

~~~

Six hours later, the men - refreshed from their rest - waited in the briefing room on Level 27 for the rest of SG-1 to arrive. They hadn't talked much since waking up, and Daniel respected his partner's silence - for now. He still believed that the general wouldn't worry about a court-martial but Jack wasn't going to believe it until Hammond said the words.

Sam was the first one Daniel saw, and his face lit up with a smile. It was good to see her again, knowing she was safe. Then his smile widened when he saw Teal'c, and he thought absently that four months ago, he would not have been happy to see the Jaffa.

Sam responded to Daniel's smile with one of her own, and she hugged him, pleased to see he had survived. Then her gaze shifted to the colonel and she remembered what she had thought of back on Apophis's ship - the two men were involved. Her smile faded. Jack had put Daniel's life ahead of hers because they were sleeping together. How dare he do that!

Jack was taken aback by the glare Carter directed at him, and he assumed it had something to do with events on Apophis's ship that he didn't know about yet. He knew he shouldn't have abandoned his team but Daniel had needed help. Even if they hadn't been lovers, Jack hoped that he would have done the same thing - that is, help Daniel to live. Carter and Teal'c were capable warriors and he'd had every faith in their abilities to defend themselves and get home safely. He switched his gaze to Teal'c and was relieved to see no sign of anger in the Jaffa's expression. So then... what was Carter's problem? Jack pasted a grin on his face. "What took you so long?" he said lightly.

"It is good to see you again, O'Neill," Teal'c replied with a straight face. However, those who looked hard enough could see amusement in his eyes. He turned to the scholar. "And I am pleased to see you well, DanielJackson."

"Thank you, Teal'c." Daniel heard the affection in the Jaffa's voice and was touched by it.

General Hammond came into the briefing room, a happy expression on his face. "Captain Carter, Teal'c - welcome home. And you must be Master Bra'tac," he said, turning to the older Jaffa.

Bra'tac stepped forward and inclined his head. "You are Hammond... of Texas?" He gestured over his head, indicating the baldness.

"I am."

Daniel's attention was caught by the glances Sam was sending him, and they puzzled him. They seemed to contain hostility and he couldn't work out why. He continued puzzling over it during the little ceremony the general had organised, and when it was over, he fell into step beside Sam. "Hey."

"Hey." Sam crossed her arms. She didn't want to talk to Daniel right now.

"Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," Sam replied. Then she quickened her step and left Daniel standing there.

Jack came up behind Daniel. "What was that about?"

"I don't know," Daniel said, bewildered. Sam had never treated him like that before and he couldn't quite believe it.

Resolving to have a chat with his 2IC, Jack said, "Listen, I've got a meeting with Hammond. Meet you at home?"

"Uh, actually, there's a couple of things I need to do here," Daniel hurriedly excused himself. He knew he had said he was fine about making love the other day but that had been when he had thought he would die. Now he was beginning to wonder whether he had been too hasty in giving himself to Jack.

"I'll see you tonight then." Jack could sense something was bothering Daniel but he put it down to concern over Carter. "Don't work too hard." He left Daniel at the elevator doors and headed back down the corridor.

Instead of going to his office, Daniel went up to the surface and got into his car to drive to his apartment. He needed time to think about a few things.

Part 6

"Sit down, Colonel," General Hammond ordered.

Jack took one look at his CO's face and his heart sank. This wasn't going to be pleasant.

"I don't know where to start," Hammond said. "Firstly, you disobeyed orders not to go through the gate, and you took your team with you, one of whom could be facing a court-martial. Secondly, you abandoned half your team to save one member, albeit a civilian who is an important part of the SGC. What do you have to say for yourself?"

Jack folded his hands in his lap and chose his words very carefully. "Sir, I believed that there was a risk to Earth, and I couldn't sit back and watch the Goa'uld wipe us out. I knew what I was risking, sir, and I am prepared to face the consequences."

"You believed Doctor Jackson's story about Earth being attacked in an 'alternate reality'?" Hammond still wasn't prepared to entirely believe the story, although he couldn't explain how the doctor had received his wound.

"Yes, sir, I did. Well, I didn't at first but I've never known Daniel to deliberately lie, sir. And Teal'c believed him too," Jack pointed out. "And even if I hadn't believed him, I would have gone because I couldn't, in all conscience, run the risk of the Goa'uld launching an attack against Earth."

Hammond nodded. Jack's responses made sense and matched what the general knew his reputation to be. He shouldn't have expected Jack to obey orders that he thought were stupid anyway. "Speaking of Doctor Jackson, can you explain why you deserted the rest of your team in an attempt to save his life?"

"Daniel's a civilian, sir, and as a member of my team, he was my responsibility. I knew that he needed my help more than Carter and Teal'c did - his wound was fatal, sir. And if he had died, then the SGC would have lost something very important." Everything he said was the truth; he was just leaving out the other reasons. "And... he's my best friend. I couldn't leave him there to die."

"They were your only reasons?"

"Yes, sir," Jack lied smoothly, meeting Hammond's steady gaze.

"Jack." General Hammond switched to informal mode for the next question. "Is there more to your relationship with Doctor Jackson that just friendship?" He was trying to indirectly bypass the 'don't ask, don't tell' rule.

"No, sir." Jack didn't have the slightest qualm about lying. "We're just friends."

"I see." Although Jack appeared to be telling the truth, Hammond wasn't quite sure that he was. But since it had only once affected the colonel's ability in the field, he decided to let the subject lie, so to speak. "The President has recommended that no charges be pressed against you or your team. However," he continued as Jack sighed with visible relief, "there will be an official reprimand placed in everyone's files regarding this incident."

"Yes, sir." That was a huge weight off Jack's mind. However, he still wasn't sure that he shouldn't resign given that he had broken the rules to save Daniel's life.

"Tell your team to take a few days downtime, Colonel. Dismissed."

Jack left the office torn between feeling pleased and guilty. He would have to talk it over with Daniel about staying on the team - he knew what Daniel would say but Jack didn't want to make a decision without asking for his input first. Of course, whether he listened or not was another matter.

When he entered the locker room to get changed, Carter was there. Fortunately no-one else was around so Jack decided to have a little chat with her. He quickly got changed and then said, "Carter."

"Sir?" Sam halted her activity but did not turn to look at her CO.

"Well done on blowing up Apophis' ship." Jack took a seat on the bench.

"Thank you, sir." She still didn't look at him.

Jack began to get a little annoyed. "That said, what the heck is your problem?"

"Sir?"

"Don't play dumb, Carter. First you brush Daniel off, and now you won't even look at me. Spill," he ordered.

"Permission to speak freely, sir?" Sam bit the words out, angry at him and jealous that he hadn't chosen her.

"Go ahead." Jack was sure he would regret it but he needed to know what was bothering her.

Sam spun around to face her CO. "How long have you been sleeping with Daniel?"

"Excuse me?" That was the last thing he had expected to hear and it stunned him.

"You put his life above everyone else's, sir. There's no other reason why you would do that."

"How about because he's my friend? Or because he's a civilian and it's my responsibility to keep him safe?" Jack reused the reasons he had given Hammond. "He was fatally wounded, Carter. Would you have just left him there?"

"Our mission was more important," Sam argued, sounding less certain.

"And Daniel is very important to the Stargate program," Jack countered. "He figured out how to use the gate in two weeks!. He knows more languages than the staff in his department combined. He thinks outside the box, which none of us do. If you had been in Antarctica with me, would you have tried another address first or taken the DHD apart to find out what was wrong with it?" Her guilty expression told him the latter. "So tell me, why should I have let him die if there was a chance that the SGC would keep going?" Jack was angry now.

Sam couldn't counter those arguments without sounding childish and petulant. "Are you sleeping with him?"

"Would it matter if I was? There is nothing I would have done differently one way or the other." Jack truly believed that.

That wasn't what she wanted to hear but Sam knew she wouldn't get a better answer.

"Whatever problem you've got, I suggest you get over it if you want to remain on the team."

"Is that a threat, sir?"

"No, it's a suggestion," Jack stated. "I don't want to break the team up." They all worked well together. And he knew that he would rather keep Daniel on the same team than Carter if it came down to that.

Sam saw it as a threat though; don't rock the boat and you can stay on SG-1. She could take her suspicions to General Hammond but did she really want to put the colonel and Daniel through an investigation? The jealous part of her demanded 'yes' but the rational part overruled it. "Yes, sir." She wouldn't do anything... yet.

"Good. Hammond's given us a few days downtime. I'll see you then." Jack got up and left, leaving a miserable Carter behind. He headed down to Daniel's office but found that the linguist wasn't there. So then he went up to the surface and discovered that Daniel had already left the base. Assuming that Daniel had gone to his house, Jack got in his car and drove home. He got a surprise to find that Daniel wasn't there either. Jack was puzzled; why wasn't Daniel at home? The only other place Jack could think of that Daniel would be was at the apartment, so he picked up the phone and dialled Daniel's number. "Come on, Danny, pick up," he said as the phone continued to ring. "Come on."

~~~

Daniel remained seated on his couch and just let the phone ring. He knew it would be Jack and he didn't want to talk right now. Jack would probably come around in an hour or so when he got worried but until then, Daniel would have some time to think.

His life had been a roller-coaster ride since he had accepted Catherine's offer of a job. Finding out he could travel to other planets; gaining a wife and then losing her; getting snaked and then un-snaked; and then becoming involved with Jack, all within such a short time. He and Jack had dated for two months before making love, and then it had taken him four and a half months to fully commit to the relationship. If anything, the speed that his and Jack's relationship had progressed was the complete opposite to the rest of his life. That was a good thing - it was stable, dependable. Or it had been until they had taken it to the next level.

Daniel hadn't had time to think about how he'd felt to have Jack inside him. He had been acting on an impulse that he had thought was right at the time. Daniel hugged his knees closer to his chest; he still thought it was right. But he hadn't been mentally prepared for it. In his mind, penetration had always equalled commitment, and Daniel hadn't been ready to give that while Sha'uri was still out there because a part of him still feared that Jack was going to leave him. He had been hedging his bets, afraid to believe what he had with Jack. And now he had given himself to Jack, he was even more afraid of losing Jack because now he was committed. It wasn't entirely rational, he knew that, but he couldn't help feeling that way. His life had been full of people he loved leaving him; he had accepted that was the way things were. The only problem was, now he didn't want to accept it. He wanted to believe that he could spend the rest of his life with Jack.

Daniel got up and went out onto his balcony. He leant on the rail and just looked out over the town. He wasn't very good at allowing himself to be happy except when he was involved with his work. Oh, he had been happy with Sha'uri but there had been something inside him that hadn't trusted the feeling, and that had tainted his life on Abydos. The same thing had happened with Jack. And he had held a small part of himself back because he hadn't trusted life to let him be happy.

A small smile formed as he remembered what it had been like to make love with Jack, to have his lover inside him. It had been incredible and intense, and probably would have been more so if a part of him hadn't been thinking about his wife. Daniel wanted to try it again but not straight away; it was too intense, and he didn't want that right now.

"Daniel."

The young man jumped when he heard Jack's voice. Had it been an hour already? He felt Jack slide his arms around his waist, and Daniel leaned back into the embrace, disregarding the many eyes that might see them. "Hi."

"Hi yourself." Jack rested his chin on Daniel's right shoulder. "You didn't come home." Jack had only waited twenty minutes before giving in to his concern and driving over to the apartment to see if his errant lover was there.

"I just needed to think." Daniel put his arms over Jack's. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay. If you need some space, just tell me." Jack could deal with that but he couldn't deal with not knowing where Daniel was.

"Okay."

They stood like that for a few minutes, not saying anything, until Jack kissed Daniel's neck. "Come inside, love."

Daniel obligingly went and they settled down on the couch together. "How did it go with General Hammond?"

"He's not going to lay any charges," Jack stated. He decided not to bring up the problem with Carter; Daniel looked like he had enough on his mind. "You were right - saving the world countered the fact that I disobeyed orders."

Daniel didn't gloat over being right; he was just relieved that Jack wouldn't be going to jail. He leaned into Jack's side, enjoying the fact that they could still do this. "What about leaving Sam and Teal'c to save me?"

"Hammond didn't say anything else about it," Jack lied. "But he's probably going to be keeping a close eye on us for awhile."

"Would he court-martial you if he found out about us?"

"I don't think he'd have much of a choice." Jack didn't raise the possibility of it still happening until he knew for sure whether Carter was going to say anything. "Or he might just let me retire."

Daniel was silent for a minute, contemplating that. He had been thinking earlier about his roller-coaster life but he had forgotten that Jack was on one too, and he had more to lose than Daniel did.

"Hey." Jack squeezed Daniel's waist, seeing the downcast expression. "It's just a job, Daniel."

"I know." But there was still a part of him that couldn't believe Jack would sacrifice his career for him. "Jack, what would you have done if it was me instead of Khnom on that ship?"

"You know how to ask the hard questions, don't you?" Jack replied. "I don't know, love."

"Would you have shot me?" Daniel persisted.

Jack considered that. "Probably, if you were trying to kill one of my team." He felt Daniel tense up. "But it would be a different situation because I wouldn't be in love with you."

"General O'Neill would have done it," Daniel stated. "He was just like you were before Abydos."

"Ah." There was no need for further explanations. "Just as well you came into my life then."

Jack said that with such sincerity that Daniel found himself blushing. It was still hard to take compliments like that in his stride. "Jack--"

"Shhh." Jack silenced Daniel with a kiss. "For tonight, let's just pretend we're two ordinary men who don't have any cares in the world. No alternate realities, no near-death experiences, no saving the world... just us." He just wanted some time with Daniel without worrying about anything else, and he had the feeling Daniel did too.

"Sounds good." Just him and Jack - he couldn't think of anything better.

~~~

Three weeks later...

It was absolute chaos on Nasya. SG-1 had been having a nice friendly visit when some Death Gliders had come calling. Now the team and several others were trying to get the Nasyans to safety through the Stargate.

Daniel, as usual, found himself in the thick of things, helping the injured make it to the Stargate. "Okay, come on, come on," he said as he ushered people through the gate. "Don't panic, we'll have you out of here in a minute."

As the last of the refugees went through, Daniel turned to look for Jack. He saw his lover helping Sam stand up, Death Gliders not far behind them. He wanted to stay and make sure Jack and Sam made it but he felt a hand on his elbow and then he was propelled through the Stargate by Teal'c. Daniel stumbled out of the wormhole on the other side alone, Teal'c having stayed behind to protect the others.

"I want a full medical quarantine until these people can be examined," General Hammond was ordering as Daniel stepped away from the gate. "Colonel O'Neill and the rest?"

"Right behind me, and a dozen Jaffa right behind them." Please make it, Daniel prayed silently, staring at the wormhole.

His prayers were answered when the rest of SG-1 stepped out of the wormhole.

"Lock it up!" Hammond called to the tech in the control room. The iris closed and a loud splat could be heard as something impacted against the iris.

Jack was heartily relieved to be off that planet. After a glance at Daniel to make sure he was alright, Jack turned to his 2IC. "Carter? You okay?" There was blood around her mouth which concerned him. He had seen her giving mouth-to-mouth on the planet; had it happened then?

"Yeah, I'm fine, thanks." She wiped some of the blood off on the back of her hand. "The guy bit his tongue before he died."

"Okay." Jack left her and moved further down the ramp towards the general.

When Jack got close, Hammond asked, "Is everyone alright?"

"We're fine, sir," Jack replied.

"Good. Briefing is in one hour."

Jack nodded, then led his team out of the gateroom. As Daniel fell into step beside him, Jack commented sarcastically, "Well, that was fun."

"Oh yeah." Daniel rubbed the bridge of his nose, feeling a headache coming on. "We should do that more often."

Jack chuckled at the joke. "Just what we need." Today had been close - again. Rare were the missions where nothing went wrong. "Just once I'd like to go to a planet that doesn't know about the Goa'uld, and the Goa'uld don't know about them. Harlan doesn't count," Jack added when he saw Daniel open his mouth.

"Actually, I was going to say Heliopolis," Daniel stated.

"It still ended up being dangerous," Jack pointed out. "Besides which, I didn't go."

"It's natural to be wary of strangers," Daniel went back to the original topic, "regardless of knowing the Goa'uld." He followed Jack into the elevator and Teal'c joined them a few seconds later. "It's a part of going through the gate."

Jack didn't reply to that; he knew Daniel was right. That didn't make it any easier to accept though.

~~~

Sometime later, the team and General Hammond sat at the briefing table discussing why the Goa'uld had attacked the Nasyans. "It's not normal for the Goa'ulds to suddenly just show up and wipe out a peaceful people for no apparent reason, is it?" Hammond was asking.

"In the past, there was usually some reason. Most often they seem to attack civilisations that are advancing to a point where their technology could be a threat but that wasn't the case here." Daniel was drawing on memories as well as personal experience in that statement.

"Maybe they found out we were there," Jack said from his seat on Daniel's left.

"Well, how could they know?" Daniel questioned, turning to Jack. He didn't believe SG-1 was the reason. "Or more importantly, why did this particular Goa'uld care?"

"They might have been a little concerned because we just kicked the crap out of Apophis." Jack was very pleased that particular Goa'uld was dead because of the pain he had caused Daniel.

Teal'c, sitting across the table from his team-mates, spoke up. "I have seen the Goa'uld wipe out civilisations for no reason, simply because it gave them pleasure." And he had been unable to stop it.

Daniel had to agree with that, given his knowledge of Goa'ulds. However... "So what, Nasya was just next on the list? Part of me wishes it was that simple but I don't want to underestimate them."

"Maybe the reasons just weren't made apparent to you, Teal'c," Sam stated from further down the table. "I mean, you are just a Jaffa." Four pairs of eyes focused on her in surprise. "All I meant was that Apophis wouldn't necessarily have explained everything to Teal'c, even if he was First Prime, would he?"

"That is true."

Daniel stared at Sam a moment longer, focusing on her face. She appeared nervous, and Daniel thought that was an odd reaction. And now that he was concentrating, he could sense something odd about her. He would need to get closer to her to check it out. Meanwhile... "I agree with Sam. The Goa'uld are a more complex society than we give them credit for."

"The better you understand the enemy, the better prepared you are in battle," Sam stated.

"Exactly."

Hammond nodded, then changed the subject. "What's the status of the Nasyan survivors?"

Daniel fielded that question. "We managed to rescue 237 people. The critically burned and some of the overflow our infirmary couldn't handle were transferred to the Air Force Academy Hospital. The rest are awaiting relocation." They had done a good job in saving those people.

"Proceed."

"Sir, I think it's important to try and find the reason why Nasya became a target." And if he was correct, the answer could very well be in Sam.

"Agreed. But relocation is the first priority. The three new teams 10 through 12 will co-ordinate with you," Hammond told Jack. "Dismissed."

Daniel got up and walked behind Sam as Jack was talking with her about the post-mission check-up. Then, after Sam left, Daniel stepped up to Jack's side. His suspicion had been confirmed. The feeling that he got from standing near Sam was the same as he felt near Teal'c. "Jack." Daniel shot a glance over his shoulder to make sure Sam wasn't nearby. "Sam's been Goa'ulded."

"What?" Jack found that hard to believe. He wanted to believe Daniel but there was no obvious evidence to back him up. "Are you sure?"

"Positive. I can sense it." Daniel didn't know how they were going to get it out of her considering Thor's Hammer had been destroyed.

"How did it get in her?" Jack tried to work out how and when it would have happened.

"I don't know. But I suggest that we do something quickly before it has a chance to hurt anyone."

Jack was in complete agreement. "Alright, you tell Hammond, I'll go talk to Fraiser, see if we can stop it from leaving the infirmary."

~~~

When Jack got to the infirmary, a zat hidden under his jacket, Janet was just finishing Sam's check-up. "Uh, Doc, could I have a word?"

"In a minute, Colonel." Janet recorded her findings on a chart and said, "Okay, Sam, you can go."

How could Fraiser have missed the symbiote? Jack stepped forward, not sure whether he should alert the Goa'uld by bringing out the zat. "Doc--"

"What's going on?" Sam asked as two guards just outside the door stopped her.

Jack was glad he had put the guards there; he just hoped it wouldn't be necessary to shoot Carter. "Just a precaution."

"For what?" Janet asked, confused.

"We suspect we may have brought something back with us," Jack stated. "Hammond wants us all to be checked out thoroughly, just to be on the safe side."

"I'm fine," Carter said.

"The general wants to make sure," Jack continued. "He's ordered us to stay in the infirmary until we've been cleared. Daniel and Teal'c will be down soon," he lied. He was watching Carter closely but still didn't see anything...

Carter's eyes flashed and she quickly snatched the gun from one of the guards. She clubbed the other guard with it then pointed the gun at Jack. "Take me to the Stargate!"

Jack had drawn the zat as soon as he'd seen the glowing eyes. "No." He fought down the memory of Daniel with glowing eyes...

"I must leave!" the Goa'uld demanded in that metallic voice.

"Not gonna happen," Jack promised. He kept his zat trained on Carter.

"I must go!" the Goa'uld insisted.

"You're not going anywhere." Except to a cell, Jack thought.

The clubbed guard got to his feet and trained his weapon on Carter again, standing well out of reach. The Goa'uld's attention was diverted for a moment, and Jack immediately fired his zat. As Carter crumpled to the floor, Jack was reminded of doing the same thing to Daniel earlier in the year. The only problem was, they couldn't get rid of this Goa'uld the same way.

~~~

"How in the world did it get into Captain Carter?" General Hammond was saying ten minutes later. He was standing in the briefing room with three-quarters of SG-1 and Doctor Fraiser, trying to figure out how Carter had become a Goa'uld. Jack was pacing back and forth, watched by a calm-looking Doctor Jackson, while Teal'c stood impassively nearby. Doctor Fraiser was seated at the table.

Janet spoke up. "Sir, I don't know what to say. I examined Captain Carter myself. There were no visible signs of entry. I mean, she had a small abrasion on the back of her throat but it could have been anything."

Just as well Daniel noticed something wrong then, Jack thought, shooting a glance at his calm lover. There was a hint of tightness around Daniel's eyes though that hinted he wasn't as calm as he appeared.

"Are you saying it entered through her mouth?" Hammond exclaimed.

"The parasite's goal is to attach itself to the brain stem." She shot a quick look at Daniel. "The soft tissue at the back of the throat is as good a place as any to start."

"Oh, wait a minute," Jack said, remembering something that had happened on the planet. He rubbed his face with both hands. "Oh my God, she was giving some guy on that planet mouth to mouth. There was blood but she said the guy just bit his tongue before he died."

"If a Goa'uld can infest a human host with no detectable physical signs, then we're going to have to start giving all personnel who go through the gate an ultrasound or an MRI," Janet said in horror.

There was a thoughtful silence as everyone contemplated that. "Well, for now, let's make sure we haven't let any more Goa'ulds through the gate this time!" Hammond broke the silence.

"What would a Goa'uld be doing in a Nasyan man in the first place?" Daniel asked. "We certainly didn't notice any of them acting Goa'uldish, and neither Teal'c nor I sensed its presence." He turned to Teal'c and received a nod in confirmation.

"Maybe it was a set-up, trying to get a spy into one of us," Jack suggested. One that had certainly backfired, that was for sure.

"Even if it was," Daniel said, "what are we going to do about Sam?" Shouldn't that be their first priority?

"We're gonna get that damn thing out of her is what we're gonna do!" Jack exclaimed, looking at Daniel's calm visage in disbelief. Why wasn't Daniel more upset about this when he knew exactly what Carter would be going through?

"Well, that didn't really work with me, did it?" Daniel said calmly, trying to get Jack to think rationally. "And if any of those NID guys like Colonel Maybourne find out about this..." They would try to do the same to Carter as they had done to him.

"Well, they're not going to! Right, General?" Jack turned to his CO. He might not have been able to stop the NID from getting to Daniel but he would make sure they wouldn't get to Carter too.

Daniel bit his lip, slightly hurt that Jack was reacting to him this way. He knew that Jack was upset that another member of his team had been Goa'ulded but that didn't make it hurt less. He turned away from the group, tuning out the conversation in favour of trying to think of a solution. How could they get the symbiote out of Sam?

"Doctor Jackson!"

With a start, Daniel realised the general was talking to him. "Yes, General?"

"I want you to go to the Academy Hospital and talk to the Nasyans, see if any of them noticed one of their own acting strangely," Hammond ordered.

"Yes, sir." Daniel looked across at Jack and saw the resigned look on his face. When Hammond dismissed the group, Daniel was about to head over to Jack but the older man quickly left the briefing room without looking at anyone. Again, Daniel felt hurt at the behaviour Jack was displaying.

Teal'c saw the expression in the scholar's eyes and went over to him. "O'Neill has been asked to interrogate the prisoner," he explained.

Well, that explained the behaviour, Daniel thought. "Thanks, Teal'c." He managed to smile briefly at his friend.

"I believe it may be wise for someone to talk with O'Neill before he attempts this task," Teal'c continued. "He is not accepting of the situation."

That was an understatement. "I think it would be better coming from you," Daniel said. He didn't think Jack was in the mood to listen to his ex-host lover.

Teal'c inclined his head. "If you think it is best."

"I do." Daniel didn't want to make this any harder on Jack than it was. He watched Teal'c walk away and then left the briefing room himself.

~~~

Jack stood outside the cell, trying to work out how to question the Goa'uld. This was the second time he'd stood here facing a Gou'alded team member - okay, Daniel hadn't been an official member of his team at the time - in the space of a year. And clearly this Goa'uld was not going to be co-operative given that he or she had tried to hide its presence. Add to that the fact that there was no way to remove it, and Jack wasn't happy.

"Let me go," the Goa'uld suddenly said. It stood up and advanced towards him. "Let me go through the Stargate, and I will find another host and send your friend back to you."

"You can do that?" Jack asked somewhat sceptically. "Leave a host without killing them?" He had always wondered whether Klorel had been lying about that.

"Yes. It is possibly but not easy. I could die but I promise I will try."

"The Nasyan man died when you left him," Jack pointed out, not willing to trust just yet.

The Goa'uld shook its head. "The Nasyan man died first, that it why I left him. He was beyond my natural abilities to heal."

If the Goa'uld had been able to heal the Nasyan man, then they would have gone unnoticed on Earth, Jack realised. "What were you doing in him in the first place?" he questioned. It couldn't have just been because of the Tau'ri.

"Carter's mind would be intact," the Goa'uld avoided the question. "She would return to you as you knew her before."

"Yeah, I realise that," Jack stated. "Or didn't your probe into Carter's mind tell you we've been through this before?"

"It did. It also told me what your relationship now is with the host."

Jack's face didn't betray any reaction but his eyes got flintier. "That's nice. Did it also mention that we're never going to let you go?"

"I have done nothing to harm you," the Goa'uld changed tactics. "But you wouldn't let me go even if you did believe me."

Right in one, Jack thought. He turned to leave, having had enough of the conversation. When the Goa'uld switched to Carter's voice, Jack kept going, knowing that it was a Goa'uld trick. He shut the door behind him, cutting off the pleading voice. Maybe Teal'c would have better luck.

~~~

When Daniel got back to the SGC later, he was summoned to the briefing room. Jack and Teal'c were already there, as was General Hammond. Daniel chose to stand at the window and look at the Stargate rather than sit down with the others.

"The missing Nasyan is an Ashrak," Teal'c was saying. "A Goa'uld sent by the System Lords to eliminate Jolinar."

Daniel turned away from the window at that piece of information. "That's the name of the Goa'uld in Sam?"

"It is."

"Ring any bells?" Jack asked Daniel without looking directly at him; all this was dredging up some painful memories.

"No," Daniel replied. He turned back to the window; Jack's attitude continued to hurt even though he understood it. He tuned out what Teal'c said next until the word 'Tok'ra' was mentioned. Now that rang some bells. "Resistance."

Teal'c inclined his head. "The Tok'ra are a small alliance of Goa'uld who oppose the System Lords. It was my teacher Bra'tac who first spoke to me of them."

Hammond was sceptical. "Well, this Goa'uld inside Captain Carter could be lying, spinning a tale to gain our trust."

"It's quite a spin," Jack stated. Even if he didn't trust them, the story was at least plausible and not something the average Goa'uld would come up with.

"That's why Jolinar didn't reveal himself to be a Goa'uld," Daniel hypothesised, putting the pieces together. "He was actually hiding out in the Nasyan man."

"Until he was hunted down by the Ashrak," Teal'c added. "When he realised we may help him to escape through the Stargate..."

"He improvised," Hammond finished. "So where does this leave us?"

"Bottom line, sir? We may have a Goa'uld out there on a mission to kill Carter." And Jack was very worried about that.

"And we don't even know what he looks like," Daniel mused absently.

"Doctor Jackson, I'd like you to see if you can get a description from this Goa'uld," Hammond asked.

"Yes, sir." Although he wasn't looking forward to it, Daniel agreed. Maybe the sooner they could get this situation over with, the sooner Jack would talk to him again, he thought as he watched Jack quickly leave the room again. Thinking back to the alternate reality where Jack and Sam had been engaged, Daniel realised that he hadn't asked his Jack about those kind of feelings. What if that was why Jack was being so distant? Maybe his feelings for Sam had grown and this situation had brought them to the fore.

With a sinking heart, Daniel headed off to the cells.

~~~

"Tell me." Daniel came back to the topic closest to his heart.

"I cannot."

Daniel stared at the Goa'uld who wore Sam's face. "Why not?"

Jolinar stared implacably back. "I will give her back to you when you let me go."

He knew it could very well be a lie but did he want to pass up the chance of getting Sha'uri back? "I'll ask." He left the cell, missing seeing the Goa'uld's smug smile. All the way up to Hammond's office, Daniel thought about Sha'uri and how close they were to finding her. Surely General Hammond would let Jolinar lead them to her.

Daniel knocked on the office door and entered when ordered to. He was surprise to see Jack and Teal'c already there. Jack was not going to be happy with what he had to say.

"Did you get a description, Doctor?"

"No, sir. Jolinar doesn't know what the Ashrak looks like." Daniel sat down in the empty chair. "But she did offer me information in exchange for his release."

Jack's head turned sharply towards his linguist. There was something in Daniel's eyes... "What kind of information?"

Daniel took a deep breath and looked directly at Jack. "He knows where Sha'uri is."

That announcement when over like a lead balloon. Jack, in particular, was speechless. He didn't want Sha'uri to be found. Well, he did but he didn't. For Daniel's peace of mind, he wanted it. But he didn't trust the Goa'uld to deliver. "Daniel, it's a ploy. He's playing on your greatest weakness."

"Well, that may be so but it might be the only chance we have to see Sha'uri again," Daniel stated. And he didn't want to miss that opportunity. Sha'uri was his wife and he had a responsibility to get her back.

"I believe Jolinar speaks the truth," Teal'c stated from his corner. He knew the Goa'uld race well enough to state that with conviction.

Daniel shot Teal'c a grateful look then turned his attention onto Hammond. "Look, he told me about this resistance. Now, they have a totally different way of life from the Goa'uld we know. They don't believe in taking hosts against their will. They take humans who are about to die, who choose to live and co-exist with the Goa'uld. Now, according to Jolinar, this can be a rewarding relationship." Much better than the Goa'uld - a kind of sharing thing, Jolinar had told him. Way better than the symbiote just taking over the host completely.

Jack braced himself, knowing that what he was about to say would hurt the young man. "Daniel, I'm sorry. I know what this means to you." No-one knew better than him. "But I will never, never trust a Goa'uld." He saw Daniel's face fall, as well as the deep sadness in those beautiful blue eyes. Jack hated himself for causing that but there was no way he could trust this Goa'uld.

The phone rang and the general answered it. Daniel used the opportunity to try and get his emotions under control. He hadn't really expected Jack to say 'oh yes, let's go get her' but it hurt that Jack had been so adamant in his negative response. Daniel kept his eyes on the floor even when General Hammond told him that the refugees had arrived and could he go up and escort them to the gateroom. "Yes, sir," he replied dully. He got up and left the room, not looking at any of its occupants.

"I believe DanielJackson is upset," Teal'c understated.

"No kidding," Jack responded sarcastically. He was partially the cause of that, he knew, because he hadn't once stopped to think about what Daniel might be going through. Jack had been focused on freeing Carter and on his own reactions to having another member of his team Goa'ulded that he had lost sight of Daniel. Considering how long they had been together, and how much Jack loved the younger man, that was not a good thing. He would have to fix that very soon.

~~~

Daniel turned away from the Stargate after Talia went through. He had genuinely like her, and had sympathised with the loss of her husband. He hoped that she would be happy again on the new planet.

As he descended the ramp, Daniel saw a familiar-looking guard standing at the bottom. It wasn't one of the regular guards, and as Daniel got closer, he recognised the man as the doctor who had been in Talia's room. And if he remembered correctly, something hadn't felt right about the man but Daniel hadn't focused on what that was at the time. Now, as he drew closer, he recognised it - he could sense a Goa'uld in this man. This was the Ashrak.

Daniel raised his eyes to General Hammond and started backing away from the Ashrak, knowing that the Goa'uld would be able to sense him too. But he didn't move quickly enough. The Ashrak grabbed him, spun him around, and put an arm across his chest and a gun to his head. "Oh boy," Daniel muttered. This was not good.

Hammond had seen Daniel start to back away from the guard, and by the time he realised why, the guard had a gun pressed to the doctor's head. Hammond pressed the alarm to bring reinforcements and nodded to the nearby airman to make the announcement.

"Do not try and stop me or I will kill him!" the Ashrak threatened in that metallic voice.

"Release him and no harm will come to you," Hammond said into the microphone.

"Turn it back on!"

"We can't do that. Let him go," Hammond ordered.

The Ashrak retreated further up the ramp. "Turn it back on now or he dies!"

Daniel was a little afraid that the Ashrak would actually carry out that threat - he didn't want to die. But he couldn't resist saying, "They're not going to let you go."

"Silence! Open the Stargate!" The Ashrak fired at the control room and the glass window splintered with the impact.

When the gun was pressed back against his temple, Daniel could feel the slight heat of the barrel, and his heartrate picked up. He didn't want to die like this, especially not with the way things were between himself and Jack.

Just then Teal'c strode into the gateroom. He summed up the situation quickly, then said, "I am sorry, DanielJackson." Then he fired his zat.

Daniel fell to the ramp as the zat discharge coursed through him. At least he hadn't received the full blast this time, and for that he was grateful. On the other hand, he had been zatted again. Why was it always him?

"Are you injured?" Teal'c inquired, kneeling solicitously next to the scholar.

"Dumb question." Daniel tried to sit up but found that his limbs weren't co-operating yet. "But thank you. I think."

"You are welcome." Teal'c held out a hand to assist Daniel.

"Just don't ever do that again." Daniel hated the effect it had on him. He sat there for a few more seconds until he felt ready to stand up.

"The Ashrak attacked CaptainCarter before he came here," Teal'c informed the scholar. "Doctor Fraiser is presently attempting to save her life. O'Neill is with them."

The first sentence made Daniel's heart sink; the last one cracked it. Why had Jack remained there instead of coming to rescue him? Daniel didn't think of the fact that Jack wouldn't have known he was in trouble - all he knew was that Jack hadn't come. Jack had promised to keep him safe so why hadn't he kept that promise?

Daniel was vaguely aware of being led to the infirmary and deposited on one of the beds. He stared at nothing until he was startled by one of the nurses coming over to check on him. "I'm fine," he gave his standard response. The nurse - Wendy, he remembered - took his vitals and shone a light in his eyes to check his pupils' reaction. Then she left him in peace.

Jack walked into the infirmary, having been informed by Teal'c that Daniel was there. He was feeling a bit stunned himself, having just witnessed the Goa'uld in Carter die to save her life. The action went against everything he had ever thought about the Goa'uld. It had also made him realise that perhaps he could have trusted Jolinar to take them to Sha'uri. Now it was too late.

When he saw Daniel sitting there staring morosely at nothing, Jack stopped dead in his tracks. He had helped to put that expression on Daniel's face, and Jack felt guilty about that. He had never wanted to hurt the young man. Jack knew that he had been ignoring Daniel, not wanting the reminder that the linguist had once been a host too. And looking back on that, Jack realised he had done the wrong thing. How could he have done that to Daniel? "Hey," he said softly.

Daniel jumped when he heard Jack's voice. Wasn't he supposed to be with Sam?

"You okay?" Jack stepped over to Daniel's side. "Teal'c told me what happened." He wished now that he had gone instead of sending Teal'c.

"I'm fine." Daniel automatically hugged himself in reaction to the question. "How's Sam?"

Jack wished they weren't in the infirmary because he couldn't take Daniel into his arms the way he wanted to. He could hear the hurt in Daniel's voice underneath the concern. "She'll recover. The Goa'uld died trying to save her."

Daniel was curious in spite of himself "Really?" he asked, looking at Jack.

"Yeah. It was very weird. They were both, you know... dying, and then all of a sudden, Carter was fine while the snake just died." Jack sat down next to Daniel and nudged him with his shoulder. "I would have come if I'd known."

"It's okay," Daniel stated, looking away again. "You were busy." He understood that - it was just that it hurt. After being told by Jack a few weeks ago that he was Jack's world, being ignored had really hurt.

"Still, I shouldn't have ignored you." Jack knew he had a lot to apologise for.

Daniel didn't know whether the fact that Jack knew what he'd been doing was good or bad. "You didn't want the reminder, I understand that."

"I don't want you to understand, I want you to yell at me," Jack said. Anything was better than Daniel sitting there and accepting what he had done as if he was used to it.

"That would look really good on the security cameras, wouldn't it?" Daniel said dryly. "Your priority was to get the Goa'uld out of Sam, that was your job. You had to focus on that, not me." He was a big boy, he understood that.

"God, Daniel!" Jack clenched his fists by his side, frustrated at the submissive way Daniel was behaving. "Yes, I had to focus on that but I didn't have to ignore you to do it! And right now, I don't care what the cameras think! You have every right to be angry with me."

"I'm not angry." He wasn't. He was just hurt. The reason behind it was irrational but he couldn't help it.

"Right. We are going home to sort this out." Jack tried to pull Daniel up with him but the linguist shrugged the hand away.

"What about Sam? We can't just go off and leave her." Even though Sam had been a little weird around him lately, Daniel still wanted to make sure she was alright.

"She'll be fine," Jack argued.

"If it was me, you wouldn't leave the base," Daniel pointed out. "We owe it to Sam to stay for a while."

"Dammit, Daniel, we need to talk!"

Daniel shook his head. "Well, I don't want to right now. So if you want to go home and talk then go right ahead but don't expect me to come with you."

"Why don't you want to talk?" Jack wanted to know.

"What part of 'I don't want to talk' don't you understand?" Daniel felt his temper rising, which he realised had probably been what Jack had in mind. "Please, Jack," he said in a softer tone. "Just leave it alone."

"Communication is important in a relationship, Danny." Jack didn't want to leave things like this.

"I know." Maybe that was why his relationships had all failed. "But not now."

Unfortunately a nurse came in and Jack had to leave it at that. But he was determined to get Daniel to talk later.

~~~

Daniel went in to see Sam a couple of times but she wouldn't speak to him. He understood that, having been like that after Klorel left him, so he didn't push her to communicate. Jack had stuck around too but hadn't gone in to see her more than once. Janet had brought Cassie in to see Sam and that seemed to help more than the other visits.

When he was sure Sam was getting better, Daniel went back to his apartment to do some thinking before Jack arrived. He had tried to put his hurt aside but hadn't totally succeeded; he had become too used to having Jack's attention focused on him to easily shrug it off. The little boy inside him who had always been ignored was scared that Jack would start doing it too. But how could he explain that to Jack without sounding like a whiny and needy child? He couldn't, that was how. Jack wouldn't understand what it had been like growing up and having people treat you as if you didn't matter, as if you didn't exist.

Daniel got out his father's thesis and held it to his chest. His parents had never ignored him. Oh, they had often been busy and unable to stop and play with him but they hadn't ignored him. The only time they had come close to that was the day they had died setting up that coverstone in the New York Museum of Art. He had wanted their attention, they had been too busy, and then they had died, leaving Daniel to wonder whether it was his fault for distracting them. He had carried the guilt of that for years and no-one, not even Jack, knew about it. Maybe that would eventually happen to Jack - Daniel would want his attention and because of it, Jack would die. He couldn't do that to Jack.

The apartment was quiet when Jack let himself in. He wandered through the rooms to the balcony, and when he didn't find Daniel there, went to check the bedroom. When he saw Daniel sitting in the middle of the bed, holding the book to his chest and tears in his eyes, Jack immediately went over and took him in his arms. "I am so sorry, love."

"I killed them, Jack," Daniel said without thinking. "I distracted them and they died."

"What?" Jack tried to work out what Daniel was talking about and then it came to him. Daniel was holding his father's thesis. Daniel thought he had somehow contributed to his parents' death. "It wasn't your fault."

"If I hadn't wanted their attention, they might still be alive."

"Oh babe." Jack hugged Daniel closer. He could see where this had come from. "The chain snapped, you told me that. They would never have got out anyway."

Daniel didn't want to listen. "If they'd ignored me, then it mightn't have happened. They would have heard it or something."

"And if they had listened to you, they might have lived as well," Jack pointed out. "They did not die because of you, and neither will I." He felt Daniel tense at that. "Never ever think that paying attention to you is going to cause me harm, Danny. Because it won't. I have the feeling that not paying attention to you would cause the most damage."

Daniel leaned into Jack's embrace. "I feel so stupid," he said.

"Why?"

"I shouldn't need you to pay attention to me all the time." It was a selfish thing to want and Daniel had never been a selfish kind of guy.

"Love, everyone needs that from someone," Jack replied, "whether child or adult. You shouldn't feel stupid for wanting it from me."

"Do you need it?" Daniel inquired, feeling a little better.

"Yes, I do. From you." Jack shifted so he could kiss Daniel on the lips. "In fact, I get jealous when you pay more attention to the artifacts than to me." He gave his partner a half-grin and was pleased to receive one in return. "I seem to recall many occasions when Sara complained that I was ignoring her."

"Were you?"

"Probably. I was never the perfect husband," Jack admitted.

"Neither was I," Daniel sighed. "Sha'uri wasn't happy at the amount of time I spent exploring the map room."

"It's part of loving someone," Jack said. "No-one likes to be shut out by someone they love. And I apologise in advance because I'm bound to do it again." He could practically guarantee it.

"Apology accepted." Daniel felt a lot better about the whole thing and so did his inner child. "At least everything worked out in the end," he said, relaxing his grip on the book.

"Eventually." Although it had been a close call. "So, anything else we need to talk about?"

"Lots of things," Daniel replied. "But I think they can wait till morning." He put the book on the bedside table then lay down and pulled Jack to lie half on top of him. "How do you put up with me?" he asked half-seriously. He had put Jack through so much.

"Because I love you, and because I have my own faults too," Jack replied. Then he kissed Daniel briefly, recognising that his lover just want to be with him tonight - he had learnt Daniel's signals well. Jack didn't mind; he always enjoyed just being with Daniel.

"No-one has ever been this patient with me," Daniel stated. Except for Sha'uri but Daniel didn't know how long that would have lasted had their time together not been interrupted.

"It's a gift." Jack rolled onto his back and brought Daniel with him so the young man's head was tucked into his shoulder. And speaking of gifts, it was Christmas in a few days time. He was going to spoil Daniel rotten...

Part 7

Christmas morning rolled around bright and clear. Jack was awake at dawn but he stayed in bed for a while just watching Daniel sleep. The young man was curled up on his right side, his back to Jack's chest, and Jack could easily see the scar on Daniel's neck. It had faded quite a bit over the eight months since Daniel had been freed until it was just like any other scar. Jack shifted his left hand to trace over it; he had been so lucky to get Daniel back. And now he had two team members who had been hosts - he didn't like those odds. But at least Carter had improved and was getting back to her normal self, although she was still having trouble looking him in the eye. Jack sighed; she obviously thought he was breaking the rules with Daniel and was uncomfortable with it. Jack hoped she would get over it soon before Daniel started to suspect something and get hurt again.

As Jack pressed his lips to the scar, Daniel started to stir. Moving his arm down to encircle his lover, Jack said softly, "Danny?"

"Mmm?" Daniel snuggled further back against his Jack-blanket, not wanting to wake up properly yet.

Knowing Daniel wasn't fully awake, Jack just continued to hold him; it was the perfect way to start the day. He wished he could do this every morning but there was no way he could do that until he retired.

Daniel slowly drifted towards complete consciousness, happy in the knowledge that Jack was still in bed with him. These were the mornings he liked best when Jack would stay in bed with him so they could just be together. It was very lonely on the nights when he had to sleep alone in his apartment, and he didn't know how he had held out on this for two months. "Mornin'," he mumbled, turning over to face Jack and opening his eyes.

"Morning." Jack gave Daniel a quick kiss. "Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas," Daniel said echoed with a smile. "What time is it?"

"Nearly 0830," Jack replied.

Daniel translated that into civilian time out of habit; 8.30 - that wasn't too bad. "I suppose you'll want to get up soon."

"Oh, I think we've got a bit of time," Jack said, rolling Daniel underneath him.

After a long love-making session, a shower, and some breakfast, the two men finally got round to opening their presents from each other. Jack had searched high and low for something that Daniel would really like, and had eventually stumbled across an old authentic scarab pendant. It had been expensive but Jack knew it had been worth it when he saw Daniel's face light up.

"It's beautiful, Jack, thank you." Daniel held the pendant reverently and wondered if Jack knew what it symbolised.

As if Jack knew what Daniel was thinking, he said, "It's a symbol that my love for you is as everlasting as the Egyptians thought their afterlife to be."

That was the nicest thing anyone had ever said to him! Daniel reached over and kissed Jack thoroughly. "Thank you." He had never been more sure that being here with Jack was the right thing.

"You're welcome. So, what did you get me?" Jack asked with a grin.

Daniel got the present from under the tree and handed it to Jack. Then he scooted over to sit between Jack's legs at his lover's urging, and rested back against the firm chest. Jack held the present in front of Daniel and slowly unwrapped it to reveal a statuette of a lion and mouse together. The lion was sitting on his haunches, protecting the mouse between its front legs. Jack had no trouble working out what it symbolised but he didn't want to presume anything. "One of Aesop's fables, right?"

"Yes. I saw it in an antique shop and it just reminded me of us." Daniel smiled at the memory of the tale. "When the mouse tried to help the lion get the thorn out of its paw, the lion tried to scare it away."

"But the mouse didn't listen," Jack finished for him. "And they became good friends." He wrapped one arm around Daniel's waist and squeezed. "Thank you. Although I don't generally think of you as a mouse," he said playfully.

"Me neither," Daniel had to admit. But Jack was most definitely the lion - his protector. "But the analogy still fits."

"That it does." Daniel, the very brave mouse, who wouldn't let Jack intimidate him right from the start.

"I got you something else too," Daniel said. "If the others are coming over, I thought we would need 'friend' presents to open in front of them." He hated having to hide their relationship.

"Me too. Great minds, hey?" Jack put the statuette aside so he could just hold Daniel. He knew he would have to keep his hands to himself while they had company and was therefore savouring the time they had alone. "What time did the others say they'd be coming?"

"Sometime around eleven," Daniel replied, glancing at the clock. Just over an hour to go. "Janet said she'd bring Cassie along too."

"Sweet." Jack liked the young girl. "I bet Janet is running late though. She'll have bought Cassie so many presents..."

"Yeah," Daniel agreed, a wistful smile on his face. Christmas presents had virtually dried up after his parents' death. Little did he know that that was the main reason Jack was going all-out for Christmas this year.

"What can we possibly do until then?" Jack mused as he leaned in to nuzzle the side of Daniel's neck.

Daniel could feel Jack hardening as a similar desire started up in him. But... "Jack, we can't. Don't we have to get ready for our visitors?"

Jack sighed and dropped his head to rest on Daniel's shoulder. Daniel was right; making love again would take too long today. "It's not fair," he mumbled. "Why are they coming so early?"

"So that Sam can go visit her father this afternoon, and Janet is taking Cassie to meet her adopted grandparents," Daniel replied. "Which means we'll have the afternoon free." He dropped his head for a moment - he had no family to visit, and Jack had chosen not to visit his this year.

To his credit, Jack knew what was bothering Daniel. "Hey, you're my family now too."

"I know. I just thought that you'd want to visit your parents today." Daniel knew that he couldn't have gone with Jack - not as his partner, anyway.

Jack held Daniel tighter. "My father still hasn't forgiven me for Charlie's death so I think I'll hold off on the visit for now." Jack could understand how his father felt because he still hadn't entirely forgiven himself. "You're all the family I need."

Daniel smiled shyly at that; it was nice to hear. "Same here. But you should at least call your mother."

"Okay. But later." He wanted to put it off for a while. "Come on, let's get ready."

~~~

The guests started arriving just after eleven. Janet arrived first with Cassie, then Sam drove Teal'c out from the base. Presents were then distributed while the conversation about Christmas traditions flowed. Since Teal'c and Cassie had never experienced Christmas before, they were full of questions, Cassie viewing everything with fascination. Jack spent a lot of time with Cassie answering her questions, her presence muting the slight ache in his heart at Charlie's absence.

Sam quietly watched everyone, Cassie the only one to draw her into the conversations. As well as the feeling of grief that she was still experiencing over Jolinar's death, Sam was also hurting at the connection she could see between Daniel and Jack. She had been keeping her distance from them over the past few weeks, trying to get over her jealousy - not an entirely successful mission. She still didn't like that Jack had chosen Daniel over her. But here in this setting, she could see why. Daniel was, at times, as full of wonder as Cassie at celebrating his first proper Christmas in over twenty years. When Daniel's eyes lit up at the presents he received, Sam could just see Jack's expression melt. It was love, she decided, looking at how comfortable Daniel was around Jack. And as much as it might hurt, she had to accept that. Also, given how much Daniel had been hurt in the past, she would keep their secret. For Daniel's sake only, not Jack's.

Just before lunch, Jack noticed a change come over Carter. She had been trying to avoid talking to or looking at him and Daniel but now she wasn't. Jack figured that she had come to terms with what she thought his and Daniel's relationship was, and he breathed a sigh of relief. Sooner or later, her attitude would have hurt Daniel, and Jack had wanted to avoid that. Fortunately, things were now looking better.

Unbeknownst to Jack, Teal'c was watching also. He had long suspected a relationship between his two male comrades, which their body language today confirmed. He had also deduced that CaptainCarter now suspected as he did, and she was not happy about it. However, to her credit, she hadn't said a word. Teal'c believed that if anyone deserved happiness, it was these two men, who had already suffered too many losses in their lives. And Teal'c only hoped that one day he would, like them, again find someone with which to share his heart.

The lunch went very well, with Jack getting many praises for his cooking. Janet and Cassie left first, as they had the furthest to travel. Jack walked Carter and Teal'c to the door while Daniel started cleaning up, giving Sam a chance to talk to her CO.

"Jack," she started hesitantly, finding this difficult.

"Yeah?"

"I just want you to know that, um..." Come on, she told herself; just say it! "I'm not going to tell."

"Neither will I, O'Neill," Teal'c stated, knowing what CaptainCarter was talking about. "DanielJackson needs you, as you need him."

Jack stared at both of them, surprised that they were mentioning it. He should have guessed that Teal'c would have working it out. "Thank you." What else could he say?

After they left, Jack went into the kitchen and spooned up behind his lover, wrapping his arms around the slim waist. "So, did you have fun?"

"I did." He really had. It had been so nice to be surrounded by his extended family. "Thank you." Daniel turned to face Jack and then kissed him.

"You're entirely welcome," Jack replied when they surfaced for breath. He wondered whether to mention that Carter and Teal'c knew about their relationship - did Daniel need to know? Jack chided himself - of course Daniel needed to know. "By the way, Carter and Teal'c know. About us," he added at Daniel's puzzled look.

"Oh." Daniel wasn't sure how he felt about that. Then his mind made a connection. "Maybe that's why Sam has been acting weird around me lately. Maybe she thought that was why you stayed to save me on Khnom's ship." Even though he understood, it hurt that she had reacted that way.

"Well, she wouldn't have been wrong," Jack stated. "She said she won't tell anyone."

"Why would she? Oh, don't ask, don't tell," Daniel answered his own question. "Jack, she's our friend, of course she won't tell."

Jack wished that he had been that confident three weeks ago. "Of course," he echoed. "Now, what would you like to do for the rest of the day?" The idea of just relaxing with Daniel was very appealing.

Daniel was still thinking about Sam. "Maybe I should talk to her--"

"No," Jack said firmly. He didn't want Daniel talking about them with anyone. "She'll be fine. So, wanna watch a movie?"

"Sure. But first you need to ring your mother."

"Daniel--"

"Jack, family is very important." Daniel looked up from beneath his lashes. "Please?"

"Oh, alright." The sooner he made the call, the sooner he could appreciate having Daniel all to himself for the rest of the day.

Daniel watched Jack head into the living room and smiled to himself. Jack was such a pushover at times. Still smiling, he continued to clean up the kitchen and dining room. While he was doing that, he started thinking of the year ahead. Would it be the same rollercoaster ride? Would they find Sha'uri? Would he and Jack still be together? He hoped the answer to the last two would be 'yes' but he was afraid that it might not be.

Jack went back into the kitchen and saw Daniel staring into space. "Danny? Whatcha thinking?"

"I'm sorry we haven't... you know... again." Daniel ducked his head, embarrassed.

"Hey, it's okay. I assume we're talking about sex?" Jack moved closer to Daniel.

"Yes."

"It's okay," Jack repeated. "I know it's been tough for you."

"I want to try it again," Daniel blurted out.

"What?"

Daniel looked at the floor in embarrassment. "I want you to make love to me," he stated.

Jack was only too happy to oblige. "Now?"

Daniel shook his head. "Tonight."

"Sweet." Jack pulled Daniel closer and kissed him. He would be inside Daniel again - what more did he need for Christmas?

~~~

They had a lazy afternoon watching movies and just spending time with each other. At ten o'clock, Jack took Daniel off to bed because he could see how tense the younger man was becoming. In the bedroom, he slowly undressed Daniel, his fingers lingering everywhere until Daniel was too aroused to be thinking about what was coming next. Then he got Daniel to lie down on the bed while he quickly divested himself of his clothing.

Daniel drew Jack down to lie on top of him once they were both naked. He rocked his hips upwards as his tongue duelled with Jack's, creating delicious sparks of pleasure in his groin. The two men continued pushing against each other for a couple of minutes until Jack thought that Daniel was ready.

Jack shifted off Daniel to retrieve the lube, then moved back to his lover's side, making sure they were touching along the full length of their bodies. Then he warmed the gel before squirting some onto his fingers. "Ready?"

"Yes." Daniel tensed when the first finger pushed inside but soon relaxed again. He remembered how good it had felt last time and he wanted to feel that again. He bent one leg up for easier access and drew Jack down for another kiss at the same time.

Jack pushed a second finger in, glad that it was easier this time. He found the prostate and rubbed it, causing Daniel to arch his head back in pleasure. Jack took the opportunity to plant kisses on the pale throat while silently exulting that he could make Daniel feel so good.

When Jack got to three fingers, Daniel was panting heavily, his body singing with pleasure and about ready to burst. "Come on, Jack! Hurry up!"

"Geez, you're pushy in bed," Jack mock-complained. He withdrew his fingers and then coated his erection with the lube. Then he moved back so he was lying on top of Daniel. "Like this?"

Daniel nodded. He lifted his legs and wound them around Jack's waist so that his pelvis was tilted at a better angle. Jack moved slightly and then Daniel could feel the head pushing its way in. He consciously tried to relax his muscles and found that the passage was easier this time. There was still some burning but not as much as the last time. "Jack..."

"What? Does it hurt?" Jack was immediately anxious.

"No. Feels good," Daniel assured him with a smile. He clenched his muscles around the hardness inside him. "Keep going."

Jack gritted his teeth at the sensation; he didn't want this to end quickly. "Just be patient, Dannyboy." He withdrew a little then pushed back in, anxiously watching Daniel's face for any sign of discomfort. When he saw none, he did it again... and again...

Daniel gasped as Jack's shaft continually rubbed over his prostate. His legs gripped Jack's waist tighter as his lover rocked into him, and he gave himself over to the pleasure that was building.

They remained locked like that for a couple of minutes, their movements gradually speeding up. Daniel came first, his erection having been rubbed by the firm muscles of Jack's stomach, adding to the stimulation. Jack followed a second later, his orgasm triggered by Daniel's clenching muscles.

The heat exploding inside him was intense, deeper inside him than Daniel had remembered. Jack's head dropped to his shoulder and Daniel could feel the hot breath against his skin. He wrapped his arms around Jack's shoulder, keeping his lover where he was while they both came down from their high. He felt Jack soften inside him, and his muscles contracted to keep him there.

After a minute or so, Jack went to move but found himself firmly pinned in place. "Danny?"

"Don't move," Daniel murmured. He just wanted to savour the experience for a while longer.

"Okay." Jack wasn't sure what was going through Daniel's mind but he obliged anyway. He caught Daniel's lazy smile. "What?"

"I love you." This was where he was meant to be, not on Abydos. He had never felt this true connection with Sha'uri.

"Right back atcha," Jack replied, kissing Daniel's swollen lips. He felt Daniel release his shoulders and took that as permission to move. He carefully pulled out of Daniel and then took the young man into his arms.

Daniel snuggled into Jack's embrace and drifted off to sleep, truly happy. He was truly Jack's now - he finally belonged to someone, and Jack belonged to him. It seemed that Fate was finally giving him a break.

~~~

The next five weeks were very good to Daniel, both personally and professionally. His relationship with Jack was going along smoothly, and at work, the team had gone to several planets where the locals were friendly and hadn't tried to kill them. Looking back over those weeks, Daniel should have known that something was going to happen to disrupt that.

The day had been ordinary - Daniel had worked in his office all day, stopping only when his team-mates interrupted him. Then he had gone home with Jack to the house, where they were just spending a lazy evening watching television together.

Jack couldn't be happier with life at the moment. He had all of Daniel, the younger man giving everything to the relationship and trusting that Jack would not hurt him. Jack had reciprocated except for the matter of letting Daniel make love to him - he was still afraid to let Daniel be inside him. But his resolve was beginning to waver on that point because he had seen how much Daniel enjoyed penetrative sex, and Jack was beginning to wonder just how much he was denying himself - and Daniel.

It took him a few seconds to realise that the phone was ringing. Of course, Daniel elbowing him in the ribs helped with that. Jack picked up the phone. "O'Neill."

Daniel took the opportunity to steal some of Jack's popcorn; he had eaten all his some time ago. Then he snuggled back into Jack's encircling arm while he listened to Jack's side of the conversation.

"Yes, sir, he's here with me." Pause. "Why?" Another pause, then a quick glance at Daniel. "What news, sir?" Pause. "We'll be right in, sir."

Jack's heart sank as he hung up the phone. This wasn't happening! It wasn't fair! Just when life was going so well, fate had to go and spoil things.

Daniel sat up and looked at Jack. "What did the general want?"

"We have to go into the mountain," Jack replied, holding onto Daniel for as long as he could.

"Why?"

"Skaara's just arrived."

Daniel grinned at the thought, then just as quickly frowned; shouldn't Jack be happy about that? "Skaara? Well, that's good news, isn't it?"

Jack paused. He didn't want to tell Daniel the next bit because he knew how the linguist was going to react. But he had to tell him. "Danny, Sha'uri is on Abydos."

Daniel stared at him in shock. "No, that's not possible. Apophis wouldn't let her go."

"Well, apparently he has. That's why Skaara came through to the gate - to tell us." And to consequently put both their lives into disarray; Jack had been hoping that Sha'uri would never be found.

"Why would Amaunet go to Abydos?" Daniel questioned. He didn't believe for a second that it was Sha'uri and not her Goa'uld captor.

"I don't know." Jack noted the use of the Goa'uld's name. "But I'm sure we'll find out soon enough. Come on." The sooner they got this over with, the better. He got up and started searching for his keys.

Daniel reluctantly got up too. Much as he had wanted to find Sha'uri, he hadn't expected it would ever happen. And if it was really Sha'uri on Abydos and not Amaunet, then Daniel wasn't sure he could face her, especially if Jack was there too. How could he tell her that he wouldn't be staying with her, that he had chosen to spend his life with Jack?

~~~

Both men were very quiet on their way into the base, both occupied with their own thoughts. It wasn't until they got into the elevator to go down to the briefing room that Daniel finally spoke. "Are you okay with this?" He was worried about how Jack was taking this development.

"Me? I'm fine, not a problem." Jack avoided Daniel's eyes.

"Don't you dare lie to me, Jack," Daniel said firmly. That was the last thing he needed right now.

"I'm not--" Jack saw the glare Daniel sent him. "Okay, maybe I did a little. I'm just a bit... you know." He didn't want to come right out and say the word.

"I know." Daniel knew that Jack sometimes got jealous of Sha'uri, which was understandable. "You know that I'm not going back to her though, don't you?"

"Yeah, I know." Well, his head knew that. His heart still got worried sometimes. "If she's... okay, you know, not Goa'ulded, how are you going to tell her?"

"I don't know yet," Daniel stated, crossing his arms over his chest. He stepped out of the elevator and into the near-deserted corridor. "I've been trying not to think about it."

"Ah." Jack could understand that.

"O'Neill! Danyel!" Skaara's exuberant voice caught their attention. The young Abydonian rushed over to embrace his friend first, then his brother. "You are looking well, Danyel."

"I am well, Skaara," Daniel replied, a huge smile on his face. "I am sorry that I haven't visited for a while."

"You were searching for Sha'uri," Skaara indicated his understanding. "Now you can visit because she had come home to us."

"Yes, how exactly did she arrive?" Daniel questioned his brother-in-law.

"Through the Stargate."

"And it is definitely Sha'uri, not-not the Goa'uld?"

"It is her," Skaara replied with conviction. "The demon inside her has gone."

Daniel still couldn't believe it; it didn't feel right. There was no way Apophis would have taken the snake out of her, so she still had to be a host. But why had she gone to Abydos? And why would the Goa'uld have remained hidden?

"Colonel, if you think it's safe, I'd like to send SG-1 to see what's going on," Hammond stated from his place nearby.

"Couldn't be safer, sir," Jack stated, ignoring what had happened nearly a year ago.

Hammond was a bit sceptical but allowed the visit anyway. "You have a go then."

~~~

Daniel changed into his Abydonian robes while the rest of the team geared up. Jack nagged him about carrying a weapon and Daniel finally gave in, concealing a zat under his robes. He didn't think they needed to go in armed but, as Jack said, it was better to be prepared than not.

He stepped through the gate with Skaara, and the rest of SG-1 were close behind. They were met on the other side by Sha'uri's father. Daniel moved forward and greeted him. "Good Father."

Kasuf nodded in return. "Welcome, Good Son. And to your friends." He looked them over and recognised O'Neill but not the other two.

"Good Father, this is Sam," Daniel gestured towards her. Sam hadn't visited when he and Jack had last returned. "She serves in the military as Jack does. And this is Teal'c. He will not harm you." Daniel knew what reputation the Jaffa had amongst the people of Abydos.

"Tal mal tiak, mal we-ia," Teal'c said solemnly, inclining his head. "I am honoured."

Kasuf assessed the man his son called friend with a practised eye. "Bai ah kawk ma tee." He was uncertain of this Jaffa but he would give him the benefit of the doubt. Kasuf also assessed how close O'Neill was standing to Daniel; knowing how his son disliked people being close to him, Kasuf judged that there was something between the two men that had not been present on their previous visit.

"Skaara told us that Sha'uri is here," Daniel stated, cutting to the chase. "Is this true?"

"It is. Come." Kasuf turned and walked away, leaving the other no choice but to follow.

"Kasuf does know Sha'uri's a host, doesn't he?" Jack asked Daniel quietly.

"I don't know," Daniel replied softly. "I didn't tell him, and I'm not sure whether Skaara has or not." Daniel hadn't been able to bring himself to tell Kasuf about it last time. "Maybe he genuinely believes it is Sha'uri."

"Yeah." But Jack doubted it. Kasuf knew that Daniel had been a host so he had to know about his daughter. If not, he would be in for a nasty shock.

As they neared the town, Daniel quickened his step to catch up with Kasuf. "Good Father, how long has Sha'uri been here?"

"It has been one week since she returned," Kasuf answered.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Daniel queried, then was immediately apologetic; in Abydonian culture, his question to his adopted father was extremely bad mannered. "Forgive me, Good Father."

"I should have told you," Kasuf acknowledged. "I have my reasons why I did not."

Daniel knew better than to ask, although he wished that Jack was nearby to ask for him. "Has Skaara told you what happened to her while she was gone?"

Kasuf nodded once. "He has. The demon is no longer inside of her."

"How can you be sure?"

"I know my own daughter," Kasuf replied, incredulous that Daniel would even ask such a question.

Daniel refrained from commenting on that, aware that anything he said would upset Kasuf. "How have you been?" he asked, changing the subject.

"I am well. As are you, I see."

"Yes, I am." Daniel shot a look over his shoulder at Jack, a move that did not go unnoticed by Kasuf.

"That is good." Kasuf stopped in front of his tent, waiting for the others to catch up. He motioned for Skaara to wait outside and then Kasuf entered the tent, Daniel close behind him.

The first thing Daniel noticed was Sha'uri's rounded stomach. Then he lifted his eyes to her face, looking to see if it was really her and not the Goa'uld. "Sha'uri?"

"Husband?" Sha'uri seemed surprised to see him.

Jack, who had stopped beside Daniel, looked her over. Sha'uri was pregnant - the rounded stomach was a dead give-away. No more than seven months, he judged, which ruled out Daniel as the father - thank goodness. If Sha'uri had been carrying Daniel's child, Jack knew he would have lost him. But this had to have happened after she was snaked, which left one prime suspect...

"I am Sha'uri's husband," Daniel replied, taking a step closer and sensing the naqadah in her. It was strong so he assumed the Goa'uld was still in her. "Who are you?" he asked, looking into her eyes. The warmth there seemed to indicate that it was Sha'uri but he wasn't positive.

"My Danyel, please!" Sha'uri pleaded.

"The demon is still inside her, Good Father," Daniel spoke to Kasuf. "One of great power and evil."

Kasuf turned to his daughter for confirmation.

"He speaks the truth, Father," she said to him.

"No! But you said you returned had to me!" Kasuf stated.

"And I have."

"Stop it! Just stop it!" Daniel stated forcefully. "You can't fool me. I know what you are. I've seen what you are, and I can sense it."

"Please believe me!" Sha'uri continued to plead.

Daniel shook his head. "No." He couldn't do that, not while the Goa'uld was still inside her. He couldn't take the chance.

"The demon sleeps because I am with child."

Daniel's eyes were again drawn to Sha'uri's stomach, realisation dawning. She was pregnant - and it wasn't his child! He looked at her with an anguished expression, hurt by this fact even though he had not wanted a child with her.

"Hear me, husband! Amaunet sleeps for the sake of the child."

"Why?" Jack cut in, edging forward so he could see Daniel's face. His lover was not taking this news well, Jack noted.

Sha'uri switched her gaze to Jack. "If she awakens, the child will come forth stillborn."

Which wasn't necessarily a bad thing, Jack thought. Who knew how Apophis would treat the child?

"I have never known a Goa'uld to father a human child," Teal'c stated, his face a mixture of horror and disbelief. He knew better than anyone else did what this meant.

"Apophis is the father?" Sam said in surprise. She had just assumed...

"Yes," Sha'uri confirmed. "He has hidden me away. He does not want to reveal the true purpose of this child to his enemies."

"What true purpose?" Daniel demanded. When his wife didn't answer, he continued. "Sha'uri! What does Apophis want with the child?"

Sha'uri looked directly at her husband. "He wished the child to one day become his new host."

Daniel turned his head to look at Teal'c, who was the only who would be able to confirm this. "Is that true?" Teal'c's neutral expression told him it was. Daniel turned back to his wife. "Sha'uri?"

"I'm sorry, Danyel." Sha'uri turned to her father and started crying into his shoulder.

Daniel felt disgusted at the thought of Apophis using the child that way. He also felt betrayed, even though he knew it hadn't been Sha'uri's choice to have the child. Wanting some space, he turned and left the tent.

"I'll go," Jack said to Carter, who had turned to follow Daniel. Jack went outside and found his lover crouching down not far away. Skaara was crouched next to him, trying to comfort him. Jack went over and sat on a nearby rock, his knees creaking at the effort. "Hey."

"Not now, Jack." Daniel just wanted to be alone.

Jack was silent for a few moments, trying to work out what he should say. It couldn't be easy for Daniel to come back and see Sha'uri like this. He knew that he would have been horrified if he had found out Sara was having a child that wasn't his. "Skaara, could I have a word with Daniel alone?"

"As you wish, O'Neill." Skaara left.

"Do you want us to take Sha'uri back to Earth?" Jack asked Daniel quietly.

"I don't know," Daniel answered. "She deserves to stay here and spend time with her family but..."

"You want her there so we can de-Goa'uld her," Jack finished for him. "If we find another way."

"Yes." Daniel looked at Jack then and saw the fear in the brown eyes. Fear that Daniel would leave him to stay with Sha'uri. Daniel didn't know how to reassure Jack that he wasn't going to leave him. "But if we do, the NID will want to talk with her and maybe even take the child since its father is a Goa'uld." And Daniel didn't wish for either of those things to occur.

"So what do you want to do?" Jack knew Daniel had a point. "We can't let Apophis have the kid."

"I don't know," Daniel repeated. He didn't know which was the lesser of two evils. "All I know is that I can't let Maybourne put her through what he did to me."

"So we can't take her back to Earth. What about another planet then? She could hide out there until the baby is born."

Daniel shook his head. "When the child is born, I'm betting that Amaunet will wake and then the inhabitants will be in danger. I couldn't ask anyone to risk that."

Jack then had an idea. He didn't think Daniel would go for it - he wasn't too sure he liked it himself - but it was worth putting forward. "What if we just hide the child, say, on Earth? With us?"

"What?" Was Jack suggesting adopting the child? "Us raise the child?"

"Why not?" Jack was sure they could do it.

"It's Sha'uri's child, Jack. Regardless of her being a host, I couldn't take it away from her." Or more to the point, he wasn't sure he wanted a reminder of her around the house.

"So you'd let Apophis have the kid?"

"Don't!" Daniel stood up and started to walk away but was stopped by a hand on his arm. He half-turned to face Jack. "Let go."

Jack slid the hand up to Daniel's nape. "We'll figure something out," he promised.

Daniel closed his eyes at the touch. "How do I tell her, Jack?"

"About us? Or about the kid?"

"Us." Daniel opened his eyes again to look at Jack's sympathetic expression. Then a movement behind Jack caught his eye and his heart sank.

Kasuf had exited the tent in time to see O'Neill touch Daniel in a very familiar way. He could also see, in that unguarded moment, how much the two men cared for each other. "Good Son, I must speak with you."

Daniel braced himself; he hadn't wanted Kasuf to find out this way. Now he would likely lose his Abydonian family. "Jack, could you give us a minute please?"

Jack didn't want to but one look at Kasuf's stern face convinced him that he should. "I'll just be over there..." He gestured to the other side of the street and then moved over there.

Kasuf didn't waste any time. "Are you and O'Neill mated?"

"Yes." Daniel couldn't lie to him.

"For how long?"

"Eight months," Daniel replied.

"Not before?"

"No, Good Father." Dating didn't really count.

"So you will not be returning to my daughter once she is free of the demon?" Kasuf questioned.

Daniel hesitated, not wanting to answer. But he had to answer him. "No, I won't." He ducked his head and crossed his arms. "I'm sorry."

Kasuf stared at Daniel for a long moment then nodded. "You love O'Neill."

"Yes, yes, I do." Daniel looked up and was surprised not to see anger in Kasuf's expression. "I didn't mean to. It just happened."

"He treats you well?" Kasuf loved Daniel like his own son and wanted to see him happy.

Daniel couldn't help smiling as he answered, "Yes, he does."

Kasuf could see that Daniel was very happy with O'Neill. He was about to ask another question when Daniel's friends coming out of the tent, interrupting him.

"Uh, Daniel?" Sam said. "Sha'uri wants to talk to you."

"Do not tell her," Kasuf said to Daniel before he could move.

"Why not?" Daniel was surprised by the order.

"The demon knows what she knows, yes?"

"Yes."

"Then do not tell her."

Daniel got it; if any Goa'uld found out about himself and Jack, it would be a powerful weapon to use against them. "I won't." He left Kasuf's side and went into the tent. Sha'uri was tending to the cooking pot in the corner. He just looked at her, feeling the love that he had for her, but he knew that he was not meant to be with her.

"You hate me," Sha'uri said suddenly.

"No, no, I love you," he reassured her. He went over to her and embraced her. He did love her but he loved Jack more.

"You forgive me?"

"God, there's nothing to forgive. None of this was your fault." Jack had called it well all those months ago, Daniel realised, remembering that conversation in the storage room. He couldn't blame Sha'uri for any of this.

"I'm so ashamed," Sha'uri continued, holding on tight to Daniel.

"There's no need. God, I hate what's been done to you. I hate Apophis for the child growing inside of you." It should have been his child. "I love you, Sha'uri. Everything else... I love you."

Sha'uri was silent for a few seconds. "Will you stay?"

Daniel was glad she couldn't see his face so she couldn't see how hard this was for him to say. But he couldn't take her back to Earth with him - for her sake and for his. How could he take his wife home with him and not feel guilty about betraying her? "I can't. And I can't take you home with me because you would be a prisoner there."

"Because of the demon inside me?"

"Yes." He couldn't put Sha'uri through that. "But I promise I will come back before the child is born." Hopefully with a plan about what to do with both of them. Daniel planted a kiss in Sha'uri's hair.

"I will miss you, my husband." Sha'uri moved away from him to check on the fire. "How was the demon inside you removed?" she asked curiously. Perhaps hers could be removed the same way.

"There was a device on one of the planets out there that killed it," Daniel replied, deliberately being vague. He didn't want to inform the Goa'uld inside her about Cimmeria. "Unfortunately, the device was destroyed to save Teal'c."

"How long can you stay for?" she asked, disappointed.

"I don't know. That's up to Jack." Daniel was torn between staying for a while and going home as soon as possible, and felt guilty about the latter.

"I understand." She would savour the time she had then.

~~~

Jack waited impatiently outside, letting Daniel have some time with his wife. He had to admit that he didn't like Daniel being in there with her but there wasn't anything he could do about it without appearing distrustful. He was tempted to go in there and drag Daniel out but he resisted, knowing it wouldn't be a good move. He drummed his fingers on his MP-5, which he was still carrying, and looked over at Kasuf, who was talking to Carter. Kasuf had only glanced once at him after Daniel had gone into the tent, and then had started a conversation with Carter. Oh yeah, Kasuf knows, Jack thought, hoping that he hadn't messed things up for Daniel; he knew how much Daniel valued his Abydonian family.

Eventually, Daniel came out and straight away went over to Jack. "I've told Sha'uri that we'll come back for her before the child is born," he stated. "That will give us enough time to work out what to do."

The others drifted over to them. "But what if Apophis comes back before then?" Sam asked.

"We can't take her back," Daniel told her. "Can you imagine what the likes of Maybourne will do? We'll just have to take the risk." And trust that everything would work out.

"Are you sure about this?" Jack asked, seeing what this was costing Daniel by the self-hugging the linguist had going.

"Not entirely, no," Daniel replied. "But there's really no other option."

"She will be well looked after, Danyel," Kasuf stated. "Do not worry for her."

"Thank you." Daniel reached under his robes and took out the zat. "If the demon comes back, use this, Good Father. Once will be enough to stop her temporarily. Twice will kill her," he said as he handed it over.

Kasuf took it gingerly. "So I should only use it once, yes?"

"Yes." Daniel told him how to activate it, despite knowing that Kasuf would probably give it to Skaara. Then he turned to Jack. "Shall we go?"

"Don't you want to stay for a while?" Jack didn't want to deprive Daniel of time with his family.

"It's probably best that I don't." Daniel still loved Sha'uri, and being around her while she was pregnant with another man's child was hard. Not to mention the guilt that was starting to eat at him because he was leaving her here. He turned to Kasuf. "Thank you for letting us know about Sha'uri."

"You are welcome," Kasuf replied. He looked squarely at O'Neill. "You will look after him." It was an order, not a question.

"I will," Jack promised solemnly.

Kasuf nodded then went back into the tent.

"I think that's our cue," Jack noted. "Let's go, kids." He gestured to Carter and Teal'c to precede him. Then he waited as Daniel stared at the tent for a few long moments, the linguist's face a mixture of emotions. "Come on, babe," Jack said softly so that only Daniel could hear.

Daniel pulled his gaze away from the tent and looked at Jack. "I'm doing the right thing, aren't I?"

Jack wanted to reply 'I don't know' but knew Daniel needed to be reassured. "Yes, you are." They would just have to risk Sha'uri still being here when they came back. He put his hand on Daniel's back and gently pushed him away from the tent, already planning what to tell Hammond. If the NID found out about the child, they would try to get to Sha'uri anyway. How could he spin this so that they would never know?

~~~

Jack informed his team of the story on the way back: it had been Amaunet posing as Sha'uri, and she had fled once SG-1 had turned up. Once they had their stories straight, they reported to General Hammond and then went home. Daniel went home with Jack, and since it was the early hours of the morning, they both went straight to bed.

Jack was concerned about Daniel's silence, and once they were snuggled up together, he asked, "Do you want to talk about it?"

"Not really," Daniel stated. He needed to sort through what he was feeling before he could talk to Jack about it.

"Okay." Jack respected that, although he didn't like it. But he would try again in the morning.

~~~

Daniel was in the shower, trying not to think, when Jack woke up the next morning. Jack got undressed and joined his lover, sliding his arms around Daniel's waist. "Hey," Jack said casually.

"Hey," Daniel responded.

"You're up early," Jack commented, placing a kiss on the back of Daniel's neck.

"Couldn't sleep." Daniel rested his arms over Jack's and tried to relax into the embrace.

"Sha'uri?"

"Yes." He had gotten some sleep but he had always been thinking about his wife. He was feeling guilty about leaving her there; he should have brought her back.

"It was a hard call to make, love." Jack wouldn't have wanted to decide. "You did what you thought was best for her."

Daniel shook his head. "Did I? I should have stayed with her, that's what she wanted. That's what would have been best for her." He felt Jack tense at his words. "Leaving her there was easiest for me."

Jack didn't think it was easiest for anyone, especially Daniel. "How?" He knew the answer but selfishly wanted Daniel to say the words.

"I never wanted this choice, Jack. I didn't want to choose between you and Sha'uri." Daniel fought the emotions rising in him. "It was easier when I thought she would never come back. So I left her there knowing that Apophis could get her again before we go back." And that would make the choice for him. "If I'd brought her back here, then I would have had to tell her about you, and I didn't want to hurt her like that. And if I didn't go back with her once she was freed, everyone would want to know why. And I couldn't do that to you." His voice cracked on the last word.

"Hey, it's okay, love," Jack soothed his partner. He didn't believe any of that had occurred to Daniel yesterday - the linguist would have been dwelling on his choice all night and come up with a way to feel guilty about it. "I don't think this was the easy option. The easiest thing would have been to bring her here and let the NID have her. Sure, you would have felt guilty but at least she wouldn't be your responsibility while she was there."

Daniel didn't want to listen. "I should have stayed."

It hurt that Daniel was saying that but Jack forced it aside and tried to understand what his lover was thinking. "You know you couldn't, Danny," he said softly. "At least, I hope you couldn't."

Daniel bit his lip as tears came to his eyes. "I'm sorry." He knew he was hurting Jack with his words, and that added to the guilt he was already feeling.

"There's no need to apologise." Jack understood; family and loyalty were very important to Daniel. "You love Sha'uri." He still, in a way, loved his ex-wife but it was a platonic thing nowadays.

"Then why does a part of me hope that Apophis returns for her before we do?"

Jack could hear the self-loathing in Daniel's voice, and knew where it came from. Daniel didn't have a selfish bone in his body, nor was he a coward, so he hated the fact that he didn't want to have Sha'uri back. Jack, on the other hand, had plenty of selfish bones, all of them wanting Daniel for himself. He had been kind of been hoping the same thing, that Apophis would take Sha'uri away again. But he tried to be understanding for Daniel's sake. "Because you don't want to hurt her," he said gently.

"I put my life with you ahead of her - I have since the first time you kissed me. She deserves better than that." Daniel was in full guilt-mode now.

What could he say to that? Jack didn't say anything about how Apophis couldn't possibly be better than Daniel because the young man didn't need to hear that right now. "If she truly loves you, Danny, she'll understand."

That caused the tears to overflow. Daniel turned around and buried his face in Jack's shoulder.

Jack just held Daniel as the young man cried, releasing his feelings of guilt.

Finally the sobs lessened and Daniel lifted his face to Jack to kiss him hard. "I love you, Jack," he said in a shaky voice. Jack always tried hard to be understanding about Sha'uri, and he knew how hard this was for Daniel, and the linguist loved him for that.

"Love you too, Danny," Jack said before he found himself pressed back against the glass wall as Daniel pushed his groin against him. "Danny?"

"Please, Jack," Daniel whispered, his lips mere millimetres away from Jack's. He just wanted to forget for a few minutes. He pushed his hips against Jack's.

Jack pinned Daniel's hips and pushed back, quickly becoming aroused. The two men then kissed furiously as they rubbed against each other, their desire building quickly. Daniel came first, Jack's name muffled by the kiss. The heat splashing onto his stomach pushed Jack over the edge.

There was silence for a minute, only the running water and harsh breathing breaking it. Jack made the first move, guiding Daniel back under the spray. He didn't say anything though, knowing Daniel needed to speak first. Jack gently washed his lover, occasionally planting kisses on the wet skin, and waited for Daniel to talk.

"Thank you," Daniel eventually said. "I needed that." Contentment was flowing through him right now, although he knew the guilt would be back later.

"Anytime," Jack offered generously. He loosely wrapped his arms around Daniel's waist. "Feeling better?"

Daniel nodded. He returned the embrace, linking his hands behind Jack's back. "Everything's going to work out, right?"

"Right," Jack agreed, hoping that he wasn't lying. "And even if it doesn't, remember I'm always here for you."

"I know." Daniel's lips curved into a half-smile. Even thought things had been so up and down over the last nine months, Jack was still there for him. And their relationship had continued to grow through everything, proving that they were meant to be. Whatever obstacles life threw at them, they would be able to get through them together. Daniel drew Jack in for a kiss. Nothing could separate them.