The Next Stage

By Gemsong

Genre: Angst/Drama/Kidfic

Summary: After years with the Stargate program it was bound to catch up with Jack in some fashion.

Spoilers: Everything up to New Order but before Jack gets promoted to General.

Warning: Weirdness, My spelling and my grammar

Disclaimer: Not mine. I stole them without permission and not likely to give them back. Don't expect them to be in the condition I found them. Where's the fun in that?

Author's Note: Yes, I know what you're thinking. Patience, grasshoppers.

Feedback: Yes. Flames: No

Chapter 1

Colonel Jack O'Neill woke up with a headache. During the last two weeks he had awakened with a headache that had been getting progressively worse every day. It was usually after having rather intense dreams of his past. But it was also after dreams of death, murder and mayhem. In those dreams he was a goa'uld. Other dreams were of things and places he had never seen or been and doing things he didn't understand and those dreams left the worst morning headaches. It was definitely one of the latter headache types.

With a sigh he rolled over onto his back and put his arm over his eyes to block out the daylight that was trying to steal its way through the curtains of his bedroom. He focused on his tenure with the SGC he had pretty much done it all mostly to partially block out the memory of the dream. Sometimes it seemed to help.

Let's see. He had been snaked twice. Once had been by Hathor and one of her pets, as if being turned into a Jaffa hadn't been bad enough the first time they met her. Then he got his body hijacked by the Tok'ra Kanan and ended up being tortured by Ba'al for who knows how long. Sarcophagus withdrawal sucked too.

Of course he had to add the ancient libraries downloaded into his brain not once, but twice and mentally interfacing with an Asgard computer after the second time which enabled him to come up with an anti-replicator gun. Jack wondered how much worse it could possibly get. It all sounded like the worst episodes from Wormhole X-treme.

But the reality was that it did happen. All of it. Thor had said the knowledge had been removed again, however the last couple weeks was making him wonder if that were true. Lately the dreams seemed to crowd into his mind so much he didn't know where he was much less who he was.

The phone beside his bed began to ring which sent additional pain spiking through his head. He picked up the phone and answered with a pained snarl.

"What?!"

"Jack?" It was the voice of Daniel Jackson.

"Who else would answer the phone here?" Jack growled as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "What do you want?"

Daniel seemed to hesitate. "Jack, we had a briefing at eight thirty with SG-5 and…."

"I know that," Jack interrupted with a snap. "Get to the point."

"Jack, its eleven thirty am," Daniel said unable to keep the concern out of his voice.

Jack's eyes flew open in shock. "What?" he asked in a weak voice.

"I've been calling you every fifteen minutes," Daniel continued. "This is the first time you answered. If you hadn't General Hammond would have sent a team to find you." Daniel paused. "Jack, are you all right?"

"Fine," Jack replied forcing himself to sit up. "Just a headache. I'll be there in thirty minutes." Without allowing Daniel to say more he hung up the phone.

He rested his aching head in his hands. He had slept through not only his alarm but the repeated phone calls. He never even heard them. He must have been more tired than he thought. Although, the night before he had such a hard time getting to sleep he had resorted to a shot of bourbon to help him relax. While this was not his typical behavior, one shot wasn't enough to explain why he had slept so deeply.

After returning from the Asgard home world, SG-1 had been given two weeks of down time to recover from the physical and emotional aftermath. Jack was not enjoying his downtime with the constant pain and fatigue. He was able to fake it on team night during the first week. They were all tired and a little unfocused. Carter had been rather rattled after her experience with Fifth. Now this.

Maybe there was something wrong with him. Something Frasier did catch on his post mission physical. But Janet had been very thorough with her testing. Thor had said he was in perfect physical health however the CMO had to make sure for herself. Everything had come back normal except for the fatigue. Janet wouldn't have let him leave the base if she had found the slightest anomaly.

Jack sighed and started to get up. The room spun drunkenly around him sending him falling back onto the bed as a shaft of pain sliced through his head making him see a burst of brilliant light that plunged him into a senseless blackness.

oOo

"Colonel O'Neill has not checked in," Hammond announced as her reentered the conference room. The remainder of SG-1 looked at him with growing concern.

Major Samantha Carter looked at Daniel. Did you try calling him again?" she asked.

Daniel nodded. "A couple of times," he replied. "There was no answer. Though he was in a foul mood and since he has caller ID could be ignoring me."

Teal frowned slightly. "This is most unlike O'Neill," he said. "Have any of you spoken to him since 'team night?"

Daniel and Sam exchanged looks and shook their heads. It was obvious that none of them had spoken to Jack in almost two weeks. Daniel felt a stab of guilt. During long downtimes, Jack would call him to do something 'fun'. But this time that hadn't happened this time. He had been spending his down time doing some personal research and had accomplished a lot. The stab of guilt grew sharper. He should have suspected something was wrong.

"Why don't the three of us go to his house," Daniel said.

Sam nodded getting up from the table. "We can take the route he usually drives just in case his truck broke down or something," she said. She felt guilty as well. If Jack had a breakdown then he would have called on his cell and he wasn't answering that either. He could have had an accident.

Hammond nodded to the three of them. "Let me know what you find," he said. He was just as concerned about Jack as they were.

"Yes, sir," Sam said and she turned to follow Daniel and Teal'c from the conference room.

oOo

They drove Daniel's car which had the leg room to accommodate Teal'c's long legs. They took the route that Jack normally drove from his home directly to the base. They saw nothing out of the ordinary. There were no accidents on the side of the road which relieved at least one concern.

When they pulled up to Jack's house they saw his black SUV still parked in the driveway. Daniel pulled up beside it. The three of them quickly got out of the car and ran to the front door. Teal'c rang the bell but there was no answer. The three exchanged looks and Sam pulled out her spare key. They all had one, even Teal'c.

They stepped inside the quiet house. All seemed normal enough. It had changed over the last few years they had known each other. Jack had an addition built on to accommodate a couple more bedrooms and a bath. There had been more than one occasion when "Team Night" turned into over night stay. Jack had said he liked the fact that they could all stay over if they needed to with being crowded and struggling to sleep on a lumpy couch.

"Jack?" Daniel called out. There was no answer.

Systematically they began to search the house periodically calling Jack's name and not getting an answer.

"I found him!" Sam yelled.

Sam had entered the master bedroom and found Jack lying on his back clad only in a pair of sweat pants. Daniel and Teal'c hurried in to join her. Sam moved over to the bed. "His skin is clammy," she said as she took his wrist. "Pulse rapid. Shallow breathing."

"What's wrong with him?" Daniel asked worried.

"I don't know," Sam asked. "Call the base. Have them send an ambulance."

"It will be more efficient to take him there," Teal'c said firmly.

"Do you think we should move him?" Daniel asked.

"We do not have a choice," Teal'c replied. He wrapped the blanket around Jack's body and seemed to lift his limp form with ease.

As Teal'c carried his friend down the stairs, Sam was on her cell phone to the base. As they were putting Jack into the back seat of his SUV she reached in to check his pulse again.

"I will drive," Teal'c said. "Major Carter will come with me. Daniel Jackson, you will meet us there."

None of them argued. "I spoke to General Hammond," Sam said. "A medical team will be waiting for us at the top."

Teal'c maneuvered the large vehicle out of the driveway and head out at high speed and with more than some skill. Daniel followed in his car trying to keep up and hoping that they weren't too late in helping Jack.

To Be Continued…..