General Hammond slammed the phone down and stormed out of his office toward the infirmary. He was almost there when Janet passed him in the corridor. "Dr. Frasier! The hospital just called. Dr. Jackson is missing."

"Missing?"

"Missing. Have you seen Colonel O'Neil?"

"No sir," Janet quickly ran to catch up to the general, following him into the elevator. "What do you mean missing, sir?"

"I mean he is no longer at the hospital. What about Captain Carter?"

"No sir," she watched as he pressed the button which would take them to the officers' quarters, "Sir, how did he get out of the hospital? He's hardly in any condition to just wander off…"

General Hammond stepped out of the elevator and turned to face her, "Well Doctor, I think he had a little help."

Janet stared at the steel grey of the elevator doors as they slid closed. "Help?" She pushed the button for the level her office was on. If she was right then she would be getting a phone call very soon…

Sam glanced at her passengers in the back seat through her rearview mirror. "How are we doing back there?"

"Ok Sam."

Jack glanced down at Daniel, "we're doing fine Sam."

Daniel was laying across the back seat with his head propped up against Jack. He shivered from a cold that only he felt as Jack tucked the blanket around him more securely, "thanks."

"Don't worry Danny, we're almost there."

Teal'c, who sat quietly in the front passenger seat turned to look at Jack, "O'Neil, how will we get Daniel Jackson into the complex?"

Jack looked up from Daniel who had fallen asleep, "Somehow, I don't think that will be a problem…" and nodded to the gate they were approaching.

Sam could see the guards clearly and saw one of them step inside the small guard booth to make a call.

As they pulled up to the gate, the other guard told them that they would be met at the entrance to the complex and waved them through. Before any of them were even out of the car, Janet was running toward them. "What the hell do you think you're doing?!"

Teal'c opened Jack's door and was helping him get Daniel out when the General joined them.

"You better have a damn good explanation for this Colonel!"

"Sir, I…"

Daniel, who was being held up between Teal'c and Jack, cut off any explanation Jack was about to give. "I asked them to, sir."

"Dr. Jackson, do not concern yourself, you shouldn't even be up and about. I don't understand what is going on here gentleman, but I'm ready for some answers."

Daniel took another deep breath but before he could say anything, what little strength he had had left him and he collapsed. Jack grabbed his waist to hold him upright as Teal'c bent to lift him in his arms.

Holding Daniel, Teal'c looked at the general, "Perhaps we could bring Daniel Jackson inside before we continue this questioning?"

"Now, Colonel O'Neil, would you mind telling me why I have to explain that three of my best men took it upon themselves to kidnap a very sick man from the critical care unit of a hospital?"

"He asked me to, Sir."

General Hammond took a deep breath before looking into the eyes of the man before him. Seeing the pain there he let it out in a sigh, "Colonel...Jack, it won't make a difference where he is. It won't stop the inevitable."

"I know that, Sir."

"The it doesn't matter..."

"With all due respect, Sir, it matters to Daniel."

He could hear the grief in his colonel's voice. He could also hear anger. It was something he understood. It was such an injustice for something like this to happen to the youngest member of SG1. Hell, it would be an injustice no matter who it had been.

He had been a commander for a long time and he knew enough not to get too friendly with the men under his command. If that happened you lost your edge, it made making the hard decisions that much harder. It was much easier ordering a soldier into a battle they might not win than it was ordering a friend into that very same battle.

Somehow, SG1 was different. They were by far his most troublesome unit. Arguing orders, disobeying commands, in and out of the infirmary more than any other unit under his command...But there was something about them that reminded him of when he had been a brash young officer...He heaved a sigh.

"Your right, Colonel. It does matter. Why don't you go down and see Dr. Jackson. I need to make some phone calls."

Jack turned to go, he knew the General had a soft spot for SG1's young doctor, they all did. //What is it about Daniel that lets him get under your skin?// "Yes, Sir."

Janet sat in her office and stared at the paperwork before her. She was sick and tired of paperwork and...she was just...tired. She glanced up. From her desk she could see most of the ward.

Sergeant Anderson had finally settled down and she could see that the duty nurse had finally convinced Major Carson to leave the infirmary. Her eyes focused on the corner of the room. The curtains had been drawn around Daniel's bed. Now, if only they could convince Colonel O'neil.

Janet sighed. She wished there were something she could do. Not for the first time she cursed being a doctor. At least if she wasn't a doctor, she wouldn't know what was going on. She wouldn't know all the assorted details and symptoms and what to look for and what to worry about...She would just be Janet. No one would expect her to perform a miracle. They wouldn't look at her with hurt filled eyes. No one would ask her how long or...

In a swift angry motion Janet swept everything from her desk. She vaguely heard the crash of her favorite coffee mug as it hit the floor. As her papers slowly followed the mug, Janet buried her head in her folded arms and wept.

Janet jerked awake. Still groggy, she rubbed her hands over her eyes and through her hair. She spared a glance at the clock, it was a quarter to seven in the morning, she had been asleep for almost eight hours. Her attention was drawn to the sudden bustle of activity on the ward.

Janet jumped up and ran from her office. As soon as she entered the ward she was bombarded with the sounds of alarms and physical activity. She whipped away the curtain surrounding the bed and quickly assessed the situation. The patient was convulsing, his back arching off of the bed as his body shook uncontrollably. She yelled to a nurse to prepare a syringe as she placed a tongue guard in Daniel's mouth.

Her attention was divided as she overheard arguing to her right. She nodded to the nurse preparing the syringe and then cast her eyes to the right, "Colonel, out!"

O'Neil met her stare with his own. She just shook her head indicating that there was nothing he could do here. She looked past Daniel and saw that Anderson was awake and staring at the scene unfolding a few feet away as was..."Carson! Get him out of here!"

She quickly refocused on her patient. On the edge of her perception she could hear O'Neil arguing with the Marine Major. Someone pulled the curtain back around the bed.

Jack was pacing the corridor outside the infirmary as Sam and Teal'c approached. Sam took one look at her commanding officer's face and knew something was wrong. She bit her lip as she waited for him to tell them what that was.

"What is DanielJackson's condition?"

"Sam. Teal'c."

Now Sam was really worried. She thought about the stupidity of that thought. Daniel was dying and she was worried that he might not be ok...

"Sir?"

"I don't know." Jack suddenly stopped and leaned against the wall, letting out a long breath. Putting his fisted hands to his temples he leaned his head back against the cold metal, "Some kind of seizure or something...I just don't know..."

Sam snapped her head around, staring at the door that lead into the infirmary as if there were some kind of monster behind it. "Oh, God..."

Teal'c placed a hand on her shoulder, anchoring her to the reality of the present, "DanielJackson is strong."

Sam was shocked as she heard the bitter laughter. Had Jack completely gone mad?!

Jack couldn't help it. The last two days were catching up to him. He pushed himself away from the wall. All the stress, the fear and worry, the guilt..."It doesn't matter! None of it matters! Don't you see, Daniel's not going to get better! He's going to die and there's not a damn thing you or I or Janet or anybody else can do about it!"

"Sir! Don't..."

"What Carter?! Don't face the truth?! You know as well as I do that there's nothing on Earth that can help him. And its not likely that we're just going to find a Sarcophagus just lying around for us to use..."

Teal'c had had enough. "O'Neil, You will cease this attack on Captain Carter. She is not responsible for DanielJackson's condition."

Jack's anger instantly deflated, "No...No, she isn't Teal'c. I am."

Before Sam or Teal'c could say anything else, the door to the infirmary was pushed open and Janet walked out. Janet easily detected the tension in the corridor.

It was Sam that finally spoke, "Janet, how's Daniel?"

Janet took a deep breath, "He's as good as can be expected."

"And just what does that mean?"

Janet ignored the sarcasm in Jack's voice, "It means, Colonel, that he's still with us."

Sam nodded, "What happened?"

"He had a seizure. It was expected." Janet tried to detach herself from the situation. If she let herself think about the fact that this was a friend instead of just a patient, she didn't know if she would be able to say what they needed to know. "I think now would be a good time to tell you all about what to expect."

Sam, Teal'c and even Jack raised their heads at that. None of them were really sure that they wanted to know the assorted details of what was happening to Daniel. So far, well, before this, all they'd had to deal with were chills, exhaustion, and the occasional headache.

"It's going to get worse and if you are going to be there for him, you need to know."

Sam nodded and saw that both Jack and Teal'c were doing the same. She knew what Janet was trying to say. It wasn't more of 'if they were going to be there' as it was 'couldn't drag them away if you tried,' and Janet wanted them to be prepared.

"The chills and exhaustion are going get worse. The headaches are going to come more frequently, we have medication that can help with that. We also have medication to help with nausea if that becomes a problem." Janet took a deep breath before continuing, "There will probably be more seizures. With that comes some additional risks as well as the possibility that he could injure himself. Blindness is also a possibility. Also...coma."

Jack sat beside Daniel’s bed. Janet had given him some pain medication and even though Jack knew that he would probably be out for a while, he just felt he needed to be here. He’d meant what he’d said to Teal’c. It was his fault. It didn’t matter how much he questioned what he should have done, how he could have prevented it or how often he came up with the same answer, nothing. It didn’t even matter that Daniel himself didn’t blame him. He knew that he would blame himself ‘till the day he died for not doing something to prevent it. Just like Charlie…

//Sometimes I can forget but I can never forgive…//

“Jack?”

His head snapped up at the whisper, “Hey there, Danny. How ya’ feeling?”

“Tired…thirsty.”

Jack reached beside the bed and grabbed a cup of ice chips. He gently spooned some into Daniel’s mouth.

Daniel smiled slightly, “Thanks.”

“No problem.”

“So how did the Avalache’s do? Did they win in the fourth inning?”

Jack laughed. “Daniel, that’s baseball, not hockey!”

“Oh.”

Seeing Daniel blush at the blunder, he shook his head. “So, I hear the nurses are outbidding each other over who gets to give you your sponge bath.”

Daniel turned a dark shade of red, “Jaaack!”

The older man just shrugged innocently, “what?” He suspiciously looked around the ward before he leaned closer to Daniel, “I’ll bet you ten on Nurse Billings…”

“Jaaack!”

Jack glanced at the young man and raised an eyebrow, “twenty?” He smiled as Daniel burst into laughter. “What?”

Daniel shook his head. This was the Jack that he knew, not the man from the last day and a half…Day and a half…thirty-six hours…such a short time…Daniel sighed…such a long time…

Jack caught the sigh and wished there was something he could do. It was all just so unfair. He was suddenly distracted by a low crackling sound. It wasn’t the first time that he had heard it but just like before he couldn’t find it’s source as he looked around the ward. Maybe it was a loose fixture or something. He reminded himself again to let the civil engineers know.

As he looked around, Jack’s eyes fell on the occupant of the only other occupied bed. Anderson, he was SG6’s 2IC. Jack’s eye’s narrowed as he met the stare of the man. There was something about him that unnerved Jack. He didn’t know what it was but something about the man just wasn’t right…

“Jack!”

“Huh? What?”

Daniel smiled at his friend, “I said, you look like hell. When was the last time you got any sleep?”

Jack gave Anderson one last glance before focusing on what Daniel was saying, “Sleep? Oh yeah, well…”

Daniel grew concerned over the lack of response, “Oh God, Jack, tell me you’ve at least gotten some sleep in the last two days!” Given Jack’s lack of response combined with the sheepish shrug gave Daniel all the answer he needed. “Jack, look I really appreciate this…you being here and all…but you have to get some rest…”

“I’m fine…” Jack knew he wasn’t going to get away with it. He could bluff Sam, Teal’c, even Janet but not Daniel, never Daniel. Jack shook his head, the man knew him too well. “Alright, I’m going…you gonna be ok?”

“Yeah. I’ll be here.”

Jack smiled sadly, “You better be.” He gently patted Daniel’s shoulder before turning toward the door. Just before he got there he turned back, “I’ll be back in four hours.”

Daniel drifted in and out of sleep. He knew that the injury itself made him fatigued but he also had to deal with the effects of the drugs floating around in his system. He was getting kind of tired of being in this bed…he smiled at his little joke…tired…

What he really wanted to do, was get out of this bed and walk around but he had neither the energy nor the strength. Not that he wanted to go anyplace in particular, he just wanted to move around a bit. He glanced at the chair that Jack had occupied not long ago. He wished that there was something that he could do or say for his friend to help him get through this but at the same time he felt angry and jealous.

He was angry because this whole situation was unfair. He was going to die and there was nothing that he could do about it and there was nothing that anybody else could do about it. He was also jealous of his friends. He knew that they weren’t trying to upset him but every time he saw one of them he thought about how it could be the last time and also that they had the rest of their lives ahead of them and he had only a few short days…Daniel sighed, of course this thought led right back into anger. He had two maybe three days left and he didn’t even have the energy to do anything besides lie here and think about the end. If he had still believed in a God, he didn’t now. What kind of God could allow such pain?

He glanced around the ward and saw that Sergeant Anderson was awake also. Daniel smiled at the man staring at him. He didn’t know the Sergeant that well. The only times they had had occasion to speak was in a briefing Daniel had given on how to recognize Goa’uld markings. He hadn’t seemed that interested and Daniel figured that he had only gone because he was under orders to attend.

Snuggling down into the blankets as a chill passed through him, Daniel felt himself start to drift off again. Geez, he really hated the side-effects of drugs. Daniel shifted once more trying to get more comfortable. A faint blue glow emanating from his left was the last thing he saw before his eyes drifted closed.

Jack made his way back to the infirmary. It had been six hours since he had left Daniel there. He silently berated himself for breaking his word, he had told Daniel that he would be back in four hours…

He pushed open the doors leading to the infirmary and was immediately shocked to see the changes that had occurred while he’d been away. There were more machines around Daniel’s bed than there had been before…a lot more. He hurriedly started froward but was quickly stopped by a small hand on his arm. Jack tore his gaze away from Daniel’s bed and found himself looking into the worried eyes of Dr. Janet Frazier.

As soon as he looked at her, Janet could see the confusion and worry as well as the guilt. She knew that Jack was taking Daniel’s…illness…badly. She kicked herself mentally //How else could you take something like this!//

“Janet?”

She dropped her gaze for a only a second but it was enough for him to know that things were not good. “He’s slipped into a coma.”

Jack shook off her hand and took a step back, “Coma?” He shook his head, “But you said we had more time! How can he be…”

Janet met his gaze steadily, “I’m sorry. It happened about an hour ago.”

She watched as the man took another step back and she heard him mumble something that sounded suspiciously like ‘should have been here.’ “Jack, there was nothing we could have done.”

Jack’s eyes slowly came to focus on Janet. He’d heard the implied, “nothing you could have done” in what she said, he just couldn’t bring himself to agree with it. “Yes there was.”

Janet sighed as Jack brushed past her. She had watched as his hard exterior mask had slipped into place and she knew better than to try and comfort him now. He was in pain and when Jack O’Neil was in pain, he closed himself off from everything and everybody around him. She would just have to wait and hope she was there when the mask finally cracked, and she knew she would only get one shot at it.

Jack made his way across the room to Daniel’s side. Sighing, he brushed a stray lock of hair away from the younger man’s face, “You just couldn’t wait, could you?” His hand lingered above the still face, “Couldn’t you have just followed orders, just this once?” Sighing, he moved a pillow out of the way and sat down on the hard plastic chair beside the bed.

The one thing in all the world that Jack hated the most was waiting. Waiting was the worst. The minutes slowly ticked by stretching into hours, hours into days…Everything seemed to slow down until nothing seemed real and all you knew was that at any moment your whole world could change and there wasn’t a damn thing you or anybody could do about it.

After a while, Jack started to wonder why he stayed. Was it really out of friendship, not wanting to leave Daniel alone, or was it guilt that made him stay. Everybody had already told him that it wasn’t his fault, that there wasn’t anything he could have done, it was an accident, that was it. He knew subconsciously that they were right but he also knew what he felt. He shook his head to clear his thoughts, it’s not about me…It’s about Daniel.

Jack jerked awake. When had he fallen asleep? He didn’t remember nodding off, but then again he hadn’t had much sleep in the last few days. He suspiciously glanced around the room for what had awakened him, his eyes coming to rest on the man staring at him from the next bed, Anderson. Once again Jack got a feeling that all was not right there.

Despite his discomfort, he gave the man a slight nod before turning back to check on Daniel. Eyeing the monitors, he couldn’t tell if his friend had slipped any further away. All he knew for sure was that he was still here and that at least for now he was holding his own.

Jack brushed his hand across Daniel’s forehead. As he smoothed back the stubborn lock of hair that always seemed to get in Daniel’s eyes, he leaned down next to Daniel’s ear and whispered, “Danny, you’ve gotta hang on. Just a little bit longer. Sam and Teal’c are looking for a sarcophagus and then you’ll be ok. You hear me Space Monkey? You have to hold on.”

Movement from the next bed brought Jack’s head up. He found himself staring into the glassy black stare of Sergeant Anderson. “Why do you keep him here?”

Jack was taken aback by the question, “What?”

"Why do you keep him here? He is in so much pain yet you will not let him go."

“Let him go? What the f***! He’s going to be fine! You hear me! He’s gonna make it!”

Slowly blinking, the black gaze shifted to Daniel and then back to Jack, “Please forgive, we meant no offense.”

Jack glared at the man through narrowed eyes. “Ok…just…he’s going to be fine.” Jack glanced down at Daniel, when he looked back up Anderson appeared to be asleep. He leaned down next to Daniel’s ear, “I gotta go for a little while, Danny, but you hang in there. We’ll find a cure, I swear it.”

Two hours later Jack made his way back to Daniel’s bedside. He wearily sank into the hard plastic chair. Leaning over he gently took Daniel’s hand in his own, hoping that he would somehow know that Jack was there. Turning his head, he watched the steady blinking of the monitors finding comfort in their undecipherable yet undeniable proof that Daniel was still with them.

He had just spent two hours listening to Sam’s scientific mumbo jumbo about how and where they would find a sarcophagus in time. He shook his head as he recalled the conversation that had drained some of the hope he’d had. After she had finished with the technicalities it all boiled down to the fact that it could take months even years to find a planet that held the device that they needed. Even looking at the situation through rose-colored glasses, it would take at least a couple of days. Days that Daniel didn’t have.

Jack shook his head. After talking with Sam he had made his way through the gray corridors to the infirmary and Dr. Fraser’s office where a little more of his hope was drained. Daniel was dying, there was no denying that. The best they could hope for was to slow down the inevitable enough for Sam with Teal’c’s help to find a sarcophagus.

It was all a catch 22. You have to do this before you do that but you can’t to do that without this. Letting his head fall onto the bed he finally acknowledged in some small way that they might not win this one.

A gentle nudge on his shoulder roused him. Looking up he saw Janet Fraser standing beside him. Smiling, she held out her hand and he was rewarded with the sight of two small white pills resting in her palm.

“Lord, thank you! Now if I just had…”

Jack let out his breath in a slight laugh as he took the cup of coffee, “You’re a saint!” Popping the pills in his mouth he knocked them back with the coffee. “Thank you, my head is killing me.”

Janet smiled, “Well, those Motrin ought to help a little but what you really need is some rest.”

Working the kinks out of his neck, Jack refocused on the man in the bed, “I can’t leave, Janet. I have to be here.”

“I can make that a medical order, you know…”

“Please…” Jack glanced up at the doctor as he squeezed Daniel’s hand, “I can’t leave him alone like this. I just have to be here. Please…”

Janet sighed. It wasn’t like the Colonel to beg for anything. Normally when she suggested that he rest he would bluntly tell her no or later and that was that. She knew that this situation with Daniel was messing him up and that eventually he would break but for now she could see that he was just skating the edge, not falling. She nodded that he could stay and instantly saw relief in his eyes before he refocused on Daniel. Sighing again, Janet made a mental note to check on him more often and she crossed her fingers and sent a silent prayer for Sam and Teal’c to find a solution to this mess. Quick.

Sam worked feverishly to find a planet that was either advanced enough to have ‘sarcophagi’ technology or a sarcophagus itself. With Teal’c’s help she had already managed to cross-reference thirty-two planets. None of which offered the technology they required in order to save Daniel. They also had tried to contact the Tok’ra and well as the Nox only to find that the Tok’ra refused to get involved and the Nox gate would not engage.

Slumping forward she rested her head on her arms and tried not to give in to the tears of frustration that threatened to overflow. She pushed herself up and away from the counter. “Ok, Sam, you can do this. You have to do this. Daniel is counting on you.”

“Captain Carter, are you well?”

Sam spun around only to see Teal’c standing in the doorway holding a large styrofoam cup. “Uh…Yeah, I’m fine Teal’c. I was just thinking out loud.”

Teal’c nodded and held out the cup he was holding, “Perhaps this will help you think more clearly. Daniel Jackson often spoke of its redeeming properties.”

Sam raised an eyebrow as she took the steaming hot cup. Lifting the lid she broke into a smile, “Coffee. Thank you, Teal’c.”

“You are welcome Captain Carter.”

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