Title: Righteous Anger
Author: MegTDJ
Category: Missing scene; drama
Rating: K+
Pairing: Daniel/Janet friendship
Spoilers: Serpent's Song
Summary: Missing scene for Serpent's Song. Daniel and Janet have a little conversation in the commissary over a bottle of ketchup. #13 in the Love Comes Softly series.
Disclaimer: Stargate SG-1, its universe and its characters are not mine. The story itself is, however, so please don't archive without my permission.

Author's notes: Thanks to Kerri for the help!

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Righteous Anger

Daniel sat with his elbows on the table and his chin on his fists watching the ketchup slide slowly from one bottle to the other. Ever since he was a kid, he'd loved taking a bottle that was almost empty and standing it upside down over another one until its contents were happily "married" to the rest. Almost-empty bottles looked so lonely.

He had a million other things he should be doing, but at that particular moment, he didn't want to think about any of them. In fact, he didn't want to think at all.

"I know where your child is."

"My son."

"Yes. I brought him into the world with my own hands, on Abydos."

"He was taken by Heru'ur."

"No. By me."

Daniel sighed and shook his head. No matter how hard he tried to stop it, that conversation with Apophis kept echoing in his mind. For quite possibly the first time in his life, when faced by his enemy he hadn't flinched, hadn't hesitated, and had actually spoken the words that were on his mind.

"We have no use for the child now. Ammonet... I knew from the moment I laid eyes on her, she was the vessel for the queen."

"If you don't tell me where she is, I'll kill you right here."

He'd resorted to threats, for God's sake. And for what? What purpose did it serve? There was no logical reason for him to stoop to Apophis' level. The bastard was dying anyway - threatening to kill him wasn't going to accomplish much. He'd just been so damn angry that he couldn't see straight.

He took a deep breath and focused on the bottles again. Drip... drip... drip...

"Daniel, what are you doing?"

He looked up to see Janet standing by his table with a food tray in her hands. He'd been so lost in his own head that he hadn't even noticed her come in, let alone walk past him to the food counter. "I'm... marrying the ketchup," he said.

Janet gave him an odd look. "I see," she said. "It must be fascinating work. You've been staring at those bottles for ages."

Daniel smiled sheepishly. "Just trying not to think about anything else right now," he said.

Janet sighed and nodded. Then she set her tray on the table and sat down in the chair across from his. "I guess I can relate to that," she said. "I don't really want to think about what happened today, either."

Daniel glanced at the French fries on her plate and separated the ketchup bottles to hand her the one that was now more or less full. "Ketchup?"

She grinned and took it from him. "Thank you," she said. "Though I hate to break the newlyweds up."

Daniel laughed. He was glad he wasn't the only one whose inner child still took the words "marrying the ketchup" literally.

Janet held the bottle over her plate, but after ten seconds passed with no ketchup, she gave it a slight shake. Still nothing. A harder shake...

A huge glob of ketchup erupted from the bottle with a loud squelch, splattering all over her plate and even the table.

"Dammit!" Janet groaned as she slumped in her chair and surveyed the mess. "Why don't they have squeeze bottles for the ketchup? I'm way too tired for this."

Daniel jumped to his feet and grabbed some napkins. "I'm sorry," he said. "My fault." He rushed right in to clean it up before Janet had the chance to lift a finger. She'd done enough work for one day.

By the time the mess was cleaned up and Daniel was back in his own seat, Janet was staring at him with a rather amused look on her face. "What?" he asked.

Janet shook her head. "Nothing, you just... nothing."

"That's not an acceptable answer," Daniel said. "What is it? Do I have ketchup on my nose?"

"No." She smiled and made a nervous movement as if to tuck her hair behind her ear. "You've just been so... gentlemanly at times today, and it still kind of strikes me when you do that. I'm so used to being surrounded by macho military men."

Daniel's mouth opened and closed a few times as this comment sank in. He wasn't sure whether to feel flattered or humiliated. "Gentlemanly?" he repeated. He honestly had no idea what she was talking about.

"Well, you know... when Apophis was here, every time we were in a room together you'd stand right behind me like you were... I don't know, trying to protect me or something. Coming from anyone else it would have been irritating, but coming from you it was actually rather sweet."

Daniel blinked. He'd done that? How could he possibly have done that and not even noticed it? "S...sorry," he said, confused as to how he should react.

Janet laughed. "Don't be sorry," she said. "I told you, it was sweet. I appreciated it. Especially knowing... how you felt about him."

Daniel swallowed hard and looked down at his hands. Yes, that must have been it. He'd seen for himself what Apophis could do to a person, and Janet had to work so closely with him the whole time he was here. He couldn't just stand at a distance and be of no use if something went wrong. He knew that when it came to the Goa'uld, you had to be on guard constantly. Janet seemed to forget when dealing with her patients that sometimes even tender loving care couldn't fix everything that was wrong with a person.

"It was very strange having him right here on the base," he said quietly. "It was like I'd stepped into the Twilight Zone or something. He was right there in front of me, and yet I still couldn't get to him. Couldn't get him to tell me where my wife is." He looked up at her, but quickly looked down again when he saw the expression of sympathy on her face.

"Yet you maintained your objectivity, Daniel," she said. "That's something to be proud of."

Daniel shook his head and gritted his teeth. "Not the whole time," he said. "I actually threatened to kill him at one point." He didn't even have to look at her to know she was shocked by that statement. "If Sam hadn't come in when she did... I probably would have done it. I wanted to."

"Daniel... the host was..."

"Innocent, I know. But at that point, I honestly thought the host would be more or less dead after all these years. When he broke through and started talking... I suddenly had an image flash into my mind of Sha're one thousand years from now, still a host to Ammonet, still fighting her at every chance she got. It's just... unimaginable what that poor man has been through." He finally met her gaze as his anger started to rise. "And we just sent him through that gate so he could go through it all over again."

Janet sighed and pushed her plate away, leaning forward in her chair and rubbing her face with her hands. "I know," she said. "The thought of that sickens me. And for what it's worth... I think the fact that it makes us angry actually proves that we're human beings."

Daniel had to agree with that. While he may not be proud of the way he'd acted towards Apophis, his anger about what they did to his host wasn't something he was ashamed of. His only regret in that regard was that nothing he did or could have done would have saved him.

They sat in silence for a few moments, the commissary empty of anyone but the two of them and the airman behind the food counter. Daniel would have enjoyed the rare peace and quiet if it hadn't been for his turbulent thoughts.

"Still," Janet finally said, "at least we gave him a few minutes of hope. I almost cried when you were talking to him."

"Me, too," Daniel said. Then he sighed. "I just hope he doesn't think we sent him back into that life again willingly."

Janet nodded gravely. "If he has the knowledge of Apophis, though, I'm sure he knows we had no choice," she said.

"I hope so." Daniel forced a small smile, and it was mirrored back to him.

After another moment or two of silence, Daniel took a deep breath and tried once again to push all thoughts of Apophis to the back of his mind. "Your fries are getting cold," he said in an effort to lighten the mood. He reached out to grab one, but Janet swatted his hand away.

"Go get your own," she said, picking one up and popping it in her mouth.

Daniel grinned. "Maybe I will."

The End