Withdrawal
Missing scene from "Need".
"Jack?"
"Yes Daniel?" he replied, coming out of the kitchen to look at the man sprawled on his couch. Daniel was mostly over the withdrawal symptoms now, but hadn't been speaking since the episode in the storage room, except to answer questions. Frasier had allowed him to leave the base as long as he had someone with him, thinking the space might do him good. And so he had ended up here on Jack's couch for most of the last three days.
"I have a question for you."
"Shoot."
"You don't have to answer if you don't want to. I mean, I'm curious, but it's kind of private. So you can just tell me to mind my own business..."
"Danny..." Jack's tone said 'get on with it', even if he didn't say it aloud.
"Well, back in the storage room, you said..." Daniel trailed off and looked away.
"What is it, Danny?" Jack asked, sitting down in the armchair and leaning over towards his friend.
"Never mind, it doesn't matter."
"Daniel. Will you please just ask your question, for crying out loud?"
Danny met Jack's eyes tentatively. "Well, um, you said you knew what I was going through. And it sounded like... it sounded like you knew... from personal experience. And I... I was..."
"You were wondering what happened." Jack finished the question as a statement, and Danny looked away again.
"It doesn't matter, Jack. I shouldn't have asked."
Jack sighed and rubbed his hands through his hair. "It was in Iraq. '83. I was in prison, and when the beatings didn't make me talk, they tried drugs. After a while, I got addicted. Then they started withholding doses so I'd go into withdrawal if I didn't talk. And when I got through withdrawal, they got me hooked again, because now I knew how bad it hurt, and I'd have so much more to look forward to..."
"God, Jack, I'm sorry."
"It's okay, Danny. You didn't know. And besides... this way you know... if you ever need someone to talk to, I'm here."
"Do you ever need someone to talk to, Jack?" Daniel asked in a small voice.
"Not in a while."
"Well, if you ever do..."