It felt wrong only being the three of them sat around the conference table, well three and the General who sat and listened intently to Daniel's debriefing. It had been a tough mission for all of them, none more so than Daniel. It was supposed to be a standard recon, but then that's how most of their bad, really bad missions started. Sam half wondered if it was that was the soul reason they seemed to get into the worst kind of trouble, the promise of an easy outing luring them into a false sense of security and the resulting chaos and misery ensued.
She watched as Daniel explained, Teal'c beside her, his own eyes closed as Daniel's words caused them all to re-live that horrifying moment when their CO plummeted twenty-feet into a tree canopy and ultimately the floor below.
The fall was the result of faulty climbing equipment, the Colonel being the unlucky one to have chosen that particular set. Sam was in a way glad that Daniel hadn't had the same misfortune, not because she favoured him above the Colonel, but because if it wasn't for Daniel being in-tact and so desperate to help his injured friend, Colonel O'Neill would be dead now instead of just extremely bruised and suffering a broken leg for his troubles.
A thought that saw her blink back tears, Oh how her heart had tore as she watched him fall, first ten-feet only to stop and frantically work to solve the rope problem before that final push of gravity slammed him to the ground below.
"Continue, Dr. Jackson." The General urged when Daniel had stopped without warning. Sam took a moment to study him. When they had come back through the gate, Daniel was covered from head to toe in mud, soaked to the skin and completely exhausted. Everyone had been so completely worried about the Colonel in the state that he had been carried back in, that Daniel had managed to just sneak away, escaping the grip of the medical staff to shower and be alone. As such he was clean, and now in warm clothes, but his hair remained soaking wet and pushed back from his face, though now as it dried, tendrils of that long floppy hair began to fall and frame his face.
He sat back, almost slumped in the chair as he frowned, seeming to pull his words into order before continuing, his mouth opening and closing but only the faintest of sound emerging. It was like his voice was to exhausted to work, the only mutterings it could manage, were brief, choked rasps. He attempted to clear what ever was restricting his words a few times, but the forced coughs only made his voice more strangled and even promoted a coughing fit or two.
Sam, still teary got up, pushing her own discomfort and emotion aside and made for the water cooler filling a small paper cup half-way and returning it to him with a gentle hand on his shoulder.
"Thanks," he muttered and slowly drank the contents down, his eyes closing briefly as he clearly enjoyed the coolness the water offered. He ran a now moist tongue over dry lips and this time when he spoke he was a little clearer, though not without the coughing still and Sam returned a few times with another drink as the de-brief continued.
"Major Mitchel thought it was best no one else followed us down. He didn't want to chance anyone else on the team would suffer the same accident..." Daniel continued and the General sat back and just listened intently. A brief silence stretched before General Hammond finally inputted his thoughts.
"I am very concerned by this, people. Did no one think to check the equipment before you put it to use, considering the past couple of weeks?"
Daniel just looked down at his cut and sore hands, while Sam took the initiative.
"They were inspected, sir. By the security team you posted to the Colonel before we left for PX1-759, and again by a member of the security team once we were planet side." This of course gave the General even more cause for concern and Sam closed her eyes as she thought back over the past few weeks.
Attempts on the Colonel's life had been made with alarming frequency as of late, it was only his unusual luck that saw him scrape by with only minor injuries. The incidents were happening so regularly that the General had posted a patrol in the Colonel's neighbourhood just to protect him, which seemed to stop them for a while. Until these attempts, or rather freakish accidents now followed him off world.
He had almost been blown up by a faulty mine, and his own weapon had backfired. It was now the security team had been posted to accompany him off-world but still it happened. Who ever was behind it, sure was resourceful.
"Alright," the General raised his voice, obviously angry by what this meant. "I want a full investigation, thorough back-ground checks done on everyone who had access to that equipment, as well as the name of the man responsible for that final check." Sam nodded and looked over at Daniel who hadn't looked up from giving his initial report. "Dr. Jackson, if you can continue, I would like to know how you and Major Mitchel managed to get back to the gate." Daniel still didn't move an inch. "Dr. Jackson?" At the sound of his name yet again, Daniel finally lifted his head and fixed the General with bright-blue, red-rimmed eyes, the left blood-shot to hell.
"I'm sorry, what?" His voice barely audible choked out the sentence but the General was obviously more concerned with his man, than hearing the rest of the report.
"It's fine, Dr. Jackson. It's obviously been a very stressful three-days for you, go get some rest, that's an order, and come back to my office when you're up to filling in the blanks."
"Yes, General."
---
Hammond stood and both Sam and Teal'c done like-wise. Daniel himself tried but had only stretched half way by the time Hammond had nodded and issued his dismissal. Now standing straight, Daniel's whole body was protesting. From his feet which were cut and blistered from the - mostly - uphill treks to his shoulders, which were bruised from the harness he had wore, initially for his ab-sailing but as events turned for the worse he had fashioned a kind of sled out of the stretcher. It was all he could think of to get Jack back up to the high-ground which held the gate and the harness was perfect to attach the stretcher to, leaving Daniel free to use hands, feet, tooth and nail to get the traction he needed, to get up there and get them home...
In hind-sight it would have made more sense to walk the miles to were the ground slopped down, rather than ab-sail down a sheer drop. A fact Daniel was sure he brought up at some point during the whole disaster.
"Where's the fun in that?"
Jack's voice echoed from his memory.
"Daniel?" He looked to his left where Sam stood, her hands itching to reach for him but he was stubborn and she knew it. Any attempt to help him would be shoved back gracelessly though not with malice. Daniel was intensely private, to used to being alone and doing things alone. Was it any wonder he was able to cut himself off from his home world completely and live on another planet light years away? It was a transition he found easy to achieve as he was used to just depending on himself. A trait he had counted entirely on during these past three days. "You look..."
"I feel." He replied with a small weary smile.
"You should do as General Hammond instructed, Daniel Jackson."
"I intend to. Honestly I'm not sure how much energy I have left," he confirmed as he politely eased by Sam who hovered as close as she knew Daniel was comfortable with. "Actually if I'm being honest I hit empty a day ago." That was also when their water ran out, or rather they were down to the one bottle, to which he gave to Jack and rationed it so dehydration wouldn't be on the list of his friends ailments when they finally did get home.
"Come on," Sam ignored her friends boundaries and rubbed his arm as an older sibling would. "I'll walk you to the nearest bunk." A tempting offer in Daniel's mind, but it wasn't the place he was headed to just yet and he shook off the suggestion.
"I'm not leaving Jack yet," he said stubbornly. "I just wanted to shower and tell the General what I could, but I promised Jack I would see him through this."
"You got him home, Daniel. Come on you're dead on your feet."
"But I'm still on my feet, and while I am, I promised Jack nothing would get him, no one would hurt him..." He coughed at that point, having tried to clear the hoarseness out of his throat and failed. If anything he irritated it more. "Whoever is behind this, they very nearly killed him this time," he felt emotion threaten to crush his chest. During his whole life he had never gotten close to no more than two people. One had been stripped from him and was now lost somewhere in the universe, the other was breathing with the aid of a respirator in the infirmary. "I had to fight to get him back here with a pulse, I'm not stopping now so someone can finish the job."
"He'll be safe with..."
"The security detail? Sam, the way the General put it, he seems to think one of those men might be in on it!"
"I was going to say, me." Daniel sighed having put his foot in it completely but Sam just shook her head with a smile. "Daniel, please go and get some sleep, I promise I'm not letting him out of my sight."
"Nor I." Concurred Teal'c.
Sam, now completely ignoring Daniel's defencive walls, looped her arm through his and gave a gentle squeeze.
"You done so well to get him back," her words were choked and laced with more emotion than she would probably ever admit to later on but Daniel nodded sharing her anguish. "You saved his life and we're all going to need to be strong now more than ever, so when and if they strike again, we're ready..."
A good argument, usually Daniel was the one to persuade others to re-evaluate their reasoning and accept others opinions as one that should also count. It seemed Sam had been taking notes.