DISCLAIMER: Stargate SG-1 and its characters are the property of Showtime/Viacom, MGM/UA, Double Secret Productions, and Gekko Productions. No copyright infringement whatsoever is intended. The story is for entertainment purposes only. The original characters, situations and story are mine. Please check with me first if you want to archive or link to this story.

SEASON/SPOILERS: Season 7/ Evolution 1 & 2

SYNOPSIS: As Daniel struggles to cope with his ordeal, Jack and Janet begin to suspect something more might be troubling him.

Chapter 1

Jack heard the raised voices before he entered the infirmary. He paused just inside the doorway, listening to the argument that originated behind a drawn curtain.

"Daniel, we had a deal. You promised if I'd release you just long enough to welcome home Sam and Teal'c, you'd come straight back and get into bed."

"I want to renegotiate."

"You want to renege. You promised, Daniel."

"Because it was the only way you'd let me out of here! I'm fine, Janet. I made it to the 'gateroom and back with no problems, no ill effects. I don't need to stay here."

Fraiser's voice sharpened. "You've only been back forty-eight hours, Daniel. You were severely dehydrated. You have a bullet wound in your thigh, two cracked ribs, bruises, cuts, contusions. Your chest and back--" Her voice, which had grown progressively less steady, broke. She cleared her throat. "The burns were already showing signs of infection. Another twenty-four hours on oral antibiotics will ensure--"

"No."

It was that one little word that got Jack's feet moving. He recognized that tone, understood exactly what it signified. Quiet, unassuming--it might easily be underestimated, just like a certain archeologist he'd grown to know and love. Jack knew better. When Daniel was upset, frustrated, he ranted and paced and waved his arms. That low, nearly emotionless voice meant his friend had taken all he was going to take.

Danger, danger, Will Robinson!

"Howdy, folks. Everything okay in here?" He raised one eyebrow when his cheerful greeting was met with two hostile glares.

"Was there something you needed, Colonel?" Fraiser folded her arms, and for the first time he glimpsed weariness behind the anger in her eyes.

"Just stopped by to see if Daniel was up to joining me, Carter, Teal'c for some lunch." When she narrowed her eyes, he added, "It's the second most important meal of the day."

"Yes, I'd--"

"No, he's--"

Daniel and Fraiser stopped talking and resumed scowling.

"Yeah. See, that would be why I asked if everything was okay." Jack looked at his friend. "Daniel?"

Daniel turned away, his lips pressed tightly together.

Okay. No help there.

"Doc?"

"Dr. Jackson disagrees with my diagnosis of his injuries."

Daniel's head snapped back around. "I didn't say that."

"Really? Then the problem must be that you don't trust my judgement when it comes to treating those injuries."

"I didn't-- The problem is that I object to being held prisoner in the infirmary when I'm well enough to go home."

Interesting choice of words, Jack thought. He held up both hands, palms out. "Okay, okay. Everybody just calm down a minute. "You." He pointed at Fraiser. "How crucial is it that he stays here? I mean, sure, he looks like crap, but that's still a lot better than he looked two days ago."

"Gee, thanks, Jack."

Janet ignored Daniel's mutter. "Colonel, he sustained a gunshot wound and third degree burns under conditions ripe for infection. We just discontinued the I.V. antibiotics today and I'd really like to keep him under observation for another twenty-four hours to make sure the oral medications are doing their job."

"Which is completely--"

"Ah, ah!" Jack cut Daniel off with an upraised finger. "You." He pointed at his friend. "Why are you so dead set against doing what the doc says? I mean, it's just one more night, right?"

"Jack..." Daniel screwed up his face, frustration written in every line. "The shack we were held in had no bathroom facilities and roaches the size of tanks. The only food or water we saw for days was what disappeared down Raphael's throat. I've been kicked, punched, shot, and...and jump-started. I want to go home." He looked at Fraiser, his voice dropping to little more than a whisper. "Please, Janet. I just want to go home."

Fraiser melted like a popsicle left out in the sun. "I suppose it's not imperative you be on base, but I certainly wouldn't want you alone in case--"

Jack jumped in. "I hear a motion that Daniel be allowed to finish convalescing at home under my expert supervision. Will someone second it?"

"You? Expert?" Daniel snorted. "Seems to me that last time you were supposed to be expertly supervising my convalescence you--"

"Will someone second the motion?" Jack growled.

Daniel's sigh was martyred. "Fine. You can sleep on the couch."

"Seconded! All in favor signify by saying--"

"Shut up, Jack."

"Enough, Colonel."

"Not what I had in mind, but it'll do." Jack shoved his hands in his pockets and rocked back on his heels. "Truce successfully negotiated thanks to yours truly. My work here is done."

Fraiser pursed her lips and looked at Daniel. "You may come to regret this."

Daniel groaned. "I think I'm already there."

Jack eased the truck around a corner and accelerated smoothly, continuing another meandering circuit through quiet neighborhood streets. He darted a quick glance at his passenger. Daniel was still out, hands tucked under his arms and head tipped against the window. He'd dropped off five minutes from his house--hence the reason Jack had been driving aimlessly for the past twenty-five minutes.

Rest, Fraiser had said with her patented no-nonsense glare. Something Daniel needed desperately but had been sorely lacking. The tremendous energy required to heal injuries like Daniel's came at significant expense to the body. Weakened by starvation and dehydration, Daniel was vulnerable to infection both from without and within. Eating and sleeping should be the only things on his friend's agenda for at least the next week.

Jack had tossed off a joke about unlimited beer, pizza, and the sports channel. Then Fraiser had taken him aside, ostensibly to give him Daniel's medications.

Fraiser ushered him inside the drug supply room and shut the door. Any smart remark he might have made died when he saw the look on her face.

"Colonel, I wanted to speak with you in private."

Jack waved his hand around the tiny, windowless cubicle. "Well, this is private, all right. Do you mind telling me why we're doing this here and not your office?"

"Because I don't want Daniel joining us for this conversation."

"Okaaaay. And that would be...why?"

"I've observed some things that have me very worried about him."

"Well then, shouldn't he be the one standing here in the closet with you? Not that is isn't a nice closet, mind you, but I really--"

"Normally I would agree with you, Colonel. But Daniel and I share a history that might make him...resistant to my concerns."

"It's not like you to beat around the bush, Doc. Spit it out."

She folded her arms. "I'm worried about his mental status. I don't think he's coping with his ordeal nearly as well as he'd have us believe. I wanted you to know that I've made a formal recommendation for counseling. He won't be released for active duty until he meets both the physical and psychological requirements."

Oh for cryin'... "You're over-reacting, doc. You know better than anyone what those bastards did to him. Of course he's going to be a little jumpy for a while."

"Colonel, I have never forgiven myself for what happened four years ago. Do you honestly think I'd make such a recommendation if I wasn't absolutely certain it was necessary?"

The truth in her words took the wind out of his sails. "That bad, huh?"

"He flinches at the slightest sound, barely eats or sleeps, won't take his pain medication, is argumentative and uncooperative with my nurses...." Fraiser ticked off each item on her fingers.

"Whoa, slow down." Jack ran a hand through his hair. "Let's say, just for the sake of argument, that Daniel's as screwed up--"

"Traumatized."

"--whatever, as you think he is. What do you expect me to do about it? He's a big boy, Doc. I can't make him eat or sleep any more than you can."

"Perhaps not. But you can get him to talk. In fact, you're probably the only one who can. And that's what he really needs, sir. Until he acknowledges how badly he's been hurt, he'll never be able to heal."

Jack groaned. "You know how lousy I am at the touchy-feely stuff."

Fraiser grabbed a bottle of pills and opened the door. "Too late to back out now, Colonel. You wanted him, you got him."

A small sound from the passenger seat drew Jack's gaze. Daniel's slow, deep breathing had quickened, and sweat had broken out on his brow. Lines appeared around his eyes and mouth and his shoulders twitched spasmodically.

"Daniel?" Jack said the name quietly, hoping to wake his friend without startling him.

Daniel's respiration turned to short, sharp pants and he moaned--the low, wounded cry of a child. Jack pulled to the curb and gripped his friend's shoulder.

"Daniel, wake up."

Daniel's whole body jerked and both arms flew up as if to ward off blows. He stared at Jack through wild, unseeing eyes.

"Take it easy; it's just me. You were dreaming." Jack deliberately left his hand in place, relieved when he saw comprehension seep into Daniel's gaze.

Flushing, Daniel rubbed a trembling hand over his face. "Sorry."

Jack sat back and watched his friend regain his composure. "Nothing to be sorry about. Looked like a doozy."

Daniel frowned. "Huh?"

"The nightmare. I've had enough of 'em myself to recognize a bad one when I see it."

Daniel's somewhat bewildered expression immediately transformed to a blank mask. He turned his head and looked out the window.

Jack pressed a little harder. "Want to talk about it?"

"Where are we? This isn't the way to my place."

So that's the way it was going to be. Change the subject and just ignore the elephant standing in the middle of the room.

"I took the scenic route."

Daniel looked at the dashboard clock and then Jack through narrowed eyes. "We left the mountain over an hour ago."

Jack put the car into gear and pulled into traffic. "Did we?"

"It only takes thirty minutes to drive to my house."

"I'll take your word for it. I've never timed it."

"Jack."

"Daniel?"

Jack had long ago learned the value of obtuseness. Faced with banging their heads against a brick wall or moving on, most people chose the latter. Of course, Daniel was hardly most people. He'd called Jack on his devious little technique the first time he'd tried it. Still, it was worth a shot.

Daniel glared at him for a long moment, then let out a long gust of air. "Forget it."

Damn, Fraiser was right. Daniel letting him off the hook that easily was as worrisome as the nightmare.

"You hungry? You must be. You missed out on lunch."

"I was trying to get some work done."

"Is that why Fraiser was chewing your ass when I walked in?"

Daniel made a rude sound and scrunched lower in his seat, arms folded. "She actually had an SF come to my office and escort me to the infirmary!"

"You don't mess with Dr. Dread, Daniel. You sure as hell should know that by now."

"Huh. I'm surprised she didn't have him use restraints. If I'm going to be treated like a prisoner, she might as well pull out all the stops."

There was that word again, Jack thought, watching surreptitiously as Daniel gritted his teeth and muttered something under his breath. We've got some serious control issues here. What exactly is going on inside that head of yours, Danny?

"Sooo, pizza? Chinese? Mexican? Name your take-out poison."

Daniel twitched his shoulders. "Suit yourself, Jack. I'm really not hungry."

"Fraiser said you--"

"The last time I checked, I was an adult male in his thirties. I'll decide when, what, and how much I eat. I don't need Fraiser, you, or anyone else telling me what to do."

"Fine." Jack pressed his lips together, stemming a tide of angry words. Frasier's half-smile and quirked eyebrow flashed before his eyes. You wanted him; you got him.Jack tightened his fingers on the steering wheel. If the past ten minutes were any indication, he was in for one helluva long night.

Continued in Chapter 2