"Excuse me. Sorry. Excuse me." Daniel inched his way down the aisle until he found his seat, apologizing to the other passengers as he went. There was nothing worse than being the only late person on a plane. The sighs and tuts that greeted his arrival made his entrance more noticeable and Daniel was more than happy to finally sink down in his seat and hide behind the safety handout while the air hostess continued her presentation.

He had no one but himself to blame for his tardiness as he'd overslept again. The trip to Egypt, which was meant to be a vacation, a break from the stresses and strains of gate travel, had turned out to be anything but relaxing.

Janet had practically ordered him to get away from everything. Sam and Jack were still convalescing after their ordeal in Antarctica and Teal'c had returned to Tulac to spend sometime with his family. Daniel had sat at Jack's bedside for over a week and, after the injured man was transferred to a rehabilitation centre, there was little he could really do to help. He had then buried himself in his work, so much so that he had worked himself into an overnight stay in the infirmary with exhaustion. Janet had told him that enough was enough, take a break, find some sun and forget about work. When he felt rested enough, Daniel had jumped at the suggestion and had contacted Alex Johns, an old college friend who he knew was at a dig and Egypt and plans were quickly mad to join him and he relished the idea of getting his hands dirty again.

This had been the first real contact Daniel had had with friends from his old life and at first he had found it difficult to cope with keeping the whole Stargate programme secret. Oddly enough he actually found that an activity he had normally loved seemed boring in comparison with the amazing adventure he now found himself on.

Soon though, he and Alex had immersed themselves in the ancient historical dig, even going off the tourist track to piece together several new finds that seemed to be of great importance. A week turned into two, then three and then four, with the full approval of the SGC. They lost themselves in long days and even longer nights, camping under the stars and working round the clock. Daniel had relished the hard work at the time but hadn't realized just how hard he had worked until he returned to the base hotel in Cairo. It was when he then allowed himself to actually rest did he realize how exhausted he actually was and he spent the week at the hotel struggling with some sort of flu-like virus . Thankfully though he did wake up feeling a bit better today, still tired but better than he had.

Luckily the seventeen-hour flight ahead of him meant that he had more time to catch up on the sleep he still craved and he hoped that would rid him of any lingering signs of illness before Janet saw him.

Daniel reached up and twisted the temperature control over him to let some cool air flowing as the plane began its taxi down the runway. He quickly removed his jacket, bunched it up so he could rest his head on it as he leant against the window. He then closed his eyes and tried to relax. Hopefully he'd sleep until he landed.

xxx

"What time does Daniel land, sir?" Sam asked as she pulled up a chair next to Jack.

Jack took a bite of his sandwich. "Not till morning, Carter. Long haul flight."

Sam stirred her soup. "It seems an age since we saw him last," she sighed.

Of course they'd all kept in touch as much as they could with Daniel but once their friend was at the remote dig, communication had been impossible. He had managed to phone them with his flight details and General Hammond had quickly given Jack permission to pick his archaeologist up from the airport in person, something Jack hadn't let on to the errant member of SG1.

"Yeah, it does," Jack agreed with a sigh. Down time, recovery time did not sit well with him. At first he had been so ill that he hadn't cared but as his recovery went on the more and more impatient he became for the return of normality. Since his return from medical leave he had spent most of his time either catching up with missions that had gone on without the SGC flagship or lecturing new recruits. It was part of his job that he hated and he just itched to get back through the gate again and Daniel's return would be the final piece of his recuperation. Once the younger man had recovered from this trip, SG1 would go on the next mission that came up and Jack was more than happy about that. "I'm picking him up at 0800. You wanna come along for the ride?"

Sam shook her head. "As much as I'd love to sir, I've got a ton of diagnostics on the Antarctic gate to figure out. Rain check till supper with Daniel?"

Jack nodded, threw his napkin on his now empty plate and stood. "It's a date," he smiled and picked his tray up. "Catch up with you later," he turned to leave.

"Oh, sir," Sam called after him. "I'll make a trip to the grocery store, grab a few necessities for Daniel so he doesn't have to worry."

"Good idea. Don't forget to feed his fish."

xxx

"Excuse me, sir?"

An insistent voice pulled Daniel from his sleep. He groaned, shifted in his seat and the opened his eyes. "Um...hi," he cleared his throat and smiled at the hostess standing by the refreshment cart. "Sorry."

"Would you like something to eat?" The hostess smiled back.

"Um?" Daniel sat u p straighter and ran his fingers through his hair. "Um, what time is it?" He frowned, blinking slowly as he tried to clear the fog from his mind.

"It's nearly ten o'clock, sir," the hostess informed him.

"Oh," Daniel glanced at his watch, feeling slightly foolish that he hadn't checked the time for himself. He must have dropped off to sleep immediately after take off he realized. It was now dark and they'd been in the air for nearly three hours. "I...um..."

"I'm sorry, sir, would you like me to come back later?"

"What? No, no that's fine." Daniel smiled. "I'm just a little disoriented."

"That's fine, sir. I was just wondering if you wanted something to eat? We have meatloaf, pot roast..."

As the hostess started to list off the menu, Daniel realized that he wasn't actually that hungry. In fact he felt chilled and slightly nauseous.

"No, thank you," he waved away her suggestions. "I'm not really hungry but I would love a coffee if you have one and a blanket. It's a bit chilly."

"You've got to be kidding dude," the man behind him interrupted. "It's like a furnace in here."

Daniel glanced round the plane, taking in the other passengers who were sat in their short sleeves, some fanning themselves with their in-flight magazines. "Oh," he shrugged, still feeling cold. "I must be half a sleep still," he smiled at the hostess again.

"I'll fetch you that blanket and a coffee," she smiled back. "I won't be long."

"Thank you." Daniel watched her go and then struggled back into his jacked. He wrapped his arms round his waist in an attempt to warm himself up and tried his hardest not to shiver. A hot cup of coffee sounded wonderful.

xxx

The coffee actually did little to warm him up when it came.

It had actually turned his stomach even more and he now felt pretty miserable again. He had managed to doze for a couple of hours but a nasty headache had had woken him and the noisy snoring from the people around him was making it worse.

There was still another five hours to go before they landed. The lights on the plane had been turned off, only the glow from the televisions of the few others who couldn't sleep penetrated the darkness. The cabin crew had long since finished their duties and the only noise came from the drone of the engines and the muffled sounds from personal headphones.

Daniel curled up as much as his six-foot plus frame would allow him and try to sleep again. He was never a good flyer and this flight obviously didn't agree with him at all. He longed to be home in this warm bed with a bottle of Tylenol on stand by in case this headache turned into one of his migraines.

xxx

Daniel reached up and turned his intercom light on with a groan. His headache was relentless and anymore sleep proving to be an impossibility because of it. He flopped back in this seat and started to remove his jacket. After being cold for so long, he was now overly warm. He flashed the approaching hostess a wan smile as she approached.

"Can I help you, sir?" She whispered so not to wake the other passengers.

"I'm sorry to bother you but do you happen to have any aspirin? I've left mine in my suit case."

"Are you all right, sir?"

"I'm fine. Just a headache that won't go away. I'm sure some medication would help."

"Of course, sir. I won't be long."

"Thank you," Daniel nodded and then pulled his sweater off. He hated to be a nuisance but he knew it could be a long, long four hours if he didn't take the aspirin. After altering the temperature to cool, he found that he was the one now fanning himself with the in-flight magazine, feeling warmer by the minute.

He couldn't wait for this flight to end.