Warning: this fic will tug at your heart strings. Bittersweet ending ahead. This is the fic that tells you the worst possible outcome of defeating the goa'uld. I do not own SG-1.
Jack O'neill was alone in the room. The bag hanging from the ceiling swayed back and forth as he punched it for all he was worth. Sweat streamed down his face and arms. Every hit was punctuated by a curse in his mind. He was so angry. No matter what he did or how hard he tried he couldn't stop the images from flooding his mind.
Samantha Carter sat alone in her lab. Tears streamed down her face. She stared at her computer screen willing her brain to work. She couldn't focus, her mind kept going back to what had happened.
Teal'c sat alone in his room meditating. He dreamed of what had happened. He willed himself to get over it. It didn't work.
Daniel's room was empty. As if waiting for the wayward archaeologist to return. It had stood empty for a week. People couldn't bring themselves to enter, only stand at the door and look in until they could feel their hearts breaking.
The team had been sitting around a table in the mess silently after the funeral. Each of them had been lost in their own pain, avoiding the gazes of the people around them. The people looked at them and away, afraid to come face to face with the reality of their pain. Sam took a shaky breath in, "He's not coming back is he?" She said, her voice cracking in a sob at the end. "No," Jack replied, in the quietest of whispers, "No he's not." Teal'c's shoulders drooped just a fraction of an inch. For him that was like falling to the ground in tears. Sam reached out and held his hand, placing her other hand on Jack's shoulder. She remembered when it happened.
It had been chaos, a surprise attack by the goa'uld. They had thought that they had gotten all the Jaffa. They had been wrong. It only took one lucky shot by a dying warrior to hit Daniel so hard that his neck broke. It was so obvious, she knew right away that there was no saving him. She had fallen to her knees, Oh, god, no. Jack had yelled Daniel's name, rushing over to his side and kneeling next to him. Teal'c had carried him home as Daniel took his last trip through the stargate.
The team was quieter now, a new fourth member had yet to be assigned. She had a feeling Jack had intervened. He was good at that, sensing that the team wasn't ready. He always looked after them, now more than ever. Jack's hand was a fist on the table. At Sam's touch he slowly opened it and laid it on the table.
"We're going to win." Sam said. Teal'c looked into Sam's eyes, questioning. Jack turned his head slightly and said quietly, "What?" "We are going to win this war. The three of us are going to win it. For Daniel." "For Daniel." Jack repeated. "For Daniel Jackson." Teal'c repeated. The process of turning crushing grief into iron resolve started there. Jack embraced Sam, he was the only one who could, he loved that she could say just the right thing at times like this, when he was speechless. They needed each other, in so many ways, the whole team, they were nothing alone.