Disclaimer: I don't own Stargate: SG-1

To Save a Life

Chapter One

"I'm not going to do this anymore, Daniel!"

The 'gate closed behind the team as they made their way down the ramp, Colonel Jack O'Neill shouting the whole way. Most of it was directed at Daniel, though some made its way by the way of side remarks to Teal'c and Major Carter. Taking note of the suddenly tense situation, General Hammond thought it best to leave the control room and greet SG-1 in the gate room.

"Jack, please. Just—"

The Colonel spun on Jackson, stopping abruptly in his quick walk to the infirmary for their required after-mission examinations.

"Just," he said, gesturing with two hands in the air, "Shut up." He looked like he was going to say more but the anger General Hammond saw—at least he thought it was anger—seemed to come off of Jack in waves. Instead, Jack all put threw his gun at the airmen waiting to take it and left the gate room without a single word.

The General took a few more steps into the room, walking toward the area where a very stunned Daniel and quiet Sam and Teal'c stood, watching the spot where the Colonel just been.

"What just happened?" he asked of the group.

"I…um, I'm not completely sure, sir," Carter said.

Daniel nodded his agreement.

"Colonel O'Neill is exhibiting most unusual behavior," Teal'c commented.

"Something must have happened with the machine," Daniel continued.

"Machine?" the General asked and then shook his head. "Go get checked out and we'll debrief in an hour."

"Yes sir."


"What do you mean he just 'freaked out'?" General Hammond asked of the almost fully assembled SG-1.

Colonel O'Neill had been held back by Dr. Janet Frasier in the infirmary for further testing following the incident in the gate room.

"He came out of the room and lost it," Daniel answered.

"For the record, sir, I think he had lost it before he came out," Carter interjected. "We really have no idea why, or what happened, sir."

"What was the device supposed to do?" the General asked.

Daniel and Carter looked to each other with unsure glances but it was Teal'c who said, "We are unsure of that as well, General Hammond."

"And Colonel O'Neill willingly obliged to test it anyway?"

Truthfully, the rest of SG-1 found it odd as well. But they hadn't been there at the time. The scientists on Scartella had separated the team up in order to give them a full tour of the station in the time allotted to do so. SG-1 only agreed because the Scartellans seemed virtually harmless and definitely docile, and their government really did only give them two hours to look around the facility. Both Daniel and Carter were eager to learn more about them—something having to do with advanced technology resembling that of the Asgard, Teal'c recalled—and O'Neill okayed it without a second thought.

How wrong they'd been.

"We weren't there," Dr. Jackson repeated for the fourth time in the last fifteen minutes. "They split us up. We thought it was because they wanted to give us a full tour, something they couldn't do in two hours with us all in one area."

"Did any of you encounter a similar device?" Hammond asked.

"No," Teal'c answered.

"Jack was given the technology-centered tour," Carter added. "Or at least that's what appears to have happened."

"Which makes no sense given that we stated outright that Sam was the scientist," Daniel added.

"If I had known at the time, sir, that that's what they'd show him—"

"Major, don't apologize," Hammond told her.

"But sir—"

"Carter! Leave the man alone."

Their attention quickly changed to the Colonel who was now standing in the doorway to the briefing room, looking somewhat annoyed that they were obviously talking about him.

"He told you to stop apologizing, so stop," he added, now that her attention was on him.

Normally she wouldn't have thought twice about the statement, except this time there seemed to be an underlying tone of hostility in his voice, much like there was in the gate room just over and hour ago. She looked to Daniel, giving him a look that questioned the Colonel. Daniel nodded almost imperceptibly, agreeing to Carter's unstated evaluation of their team leader.

Jack sat down next to Teal'c, giving his attention to only the General as if not wanting to acknowledge anyone else's presence—and only doing so to the General because he was his immediate superior.

"Did I interrupt something?" he asked, though it wasn't in a polite fashion. "Continue on," he sarcastically gestured to the air.

Hammond's eyebrows rose. This was definitely not the Jack O'Neill that had left for the mission earlier today.

"We were actually more or less done for today," Hammond told him, unsure that continuing the briefing would be a good idea. He'd wait and read their individual reports later, knowing that if there were any other concerns, they would come to him by themselves.

"You're all dismissed. Good night."

He stood, Sam and Jack just a moment after, and left.

"Well, good night all," the Colonel told them. "Glad I could come in last minute."

"Jack…"

"Daniel, I don't want to hear it."

"What is your problem?" Daniel hissed. He couldn't keep it back any longer.

Jack turned to the archaeologist. "Hmm?"

"You've been like this since we all met up after the tours. What happened to you?"

"Nothing," he lied. Jack didn't feel like dealing with this right now. All he wanted to do was go home, have a beer and lose himself in an episode of the Simpsons.

"Colonel…"

"Will you all please just shut it?" he asked. "Let it drop, alright? I'm fine."

As he left the three of them to look at each other with puzzled expressions, Daniel noticed that things were not fine. Just how he'd get Jack to admit that, much less what actually happened back on Scartella, he didn't know.

He just knew he had to.


When Daniel Jackson set his car into "park", his heart nearly jumped to his throat. He was sure the Colonel didn't want to see him, much less anybody else, but he hoped that maybe Jack would share what happened at least with him, out of friendship if for no other reason.

It'd only been about an hour since Jack left the rest of SG-1 staring in disbelief as he all but stormed off after the debriefing. It left them with more questions than his presence answered, and everyone wanted to know what had truly happened on that planet to have the Colonel so riled up.

When Jack answered the door, Daniel held up a small cheese pizza as a form of peace offering, hoping it would break the ice and win him a chance inside the house to pry into O'Neill's head.

Jack took the box and opened it to view its contents.

"Free pizza," he said. "I must be in trouble."

"Can I come in?"

The Colonel sighed. "Guess so. Drink?"

"Uh, no. I'm all set, thanks."

"Your loss."

Daniel was ushered into the living room as Jack fished in his refrigerator for a suitable liquid. Though by Daniel's observation, the act would be futile. It seemed that all of the alcohol Jack could have possibly owned was sitting near his couch. The usual beer was in a case on the floor right next to one end of the couch and a sizeable bottle of whiskey took a foothold on the coffee table.

This is not good, Daniel commented to himself as Jack returned with nothing in his hands.

"Couldn't find anything," he said, answering Daniel's unasked question.

"I think that's because it's all out here."

Jack's eyes closed for a second in a flash of frustration before opening again and glancing at his friend. "What do you want?"

"Can we talk, Jack?"

"About the mission? No. About the show you're making me miss by paying me this visit, sure."

"What happened?"

Jack shook his head and shrugged. "Nothing. Nothing at all."

In his customary act of mentally trying to find another way to ask a question, Daniel bit the inside of his cheek and looked off to the right for a second.

"Do you know what the device they showed you was for?" he tried.

"No, I don't," O'Neill replied. "We didn't get that far."

"Are you sure?"

"What is this? Draw straws and get the short one again, Daniel? Get out of my house." Jack stood and gestured roughly in the direction of the front door.

Daniel also stood but didn't otherwise move. He took a deep, settling breath before saying, "You have to tell us, sometime, Jack. Whatever it did, it's changed you. You can't deny that. Just look at you," he said before pointing to the case of beer and adding, "Just look at that."

"I've always got a case of beer, what man doesn't? Get out."

Sighing, Daniel gave up. At least he had tried. Maybe it was just too soon.

He held onto that last thought as he left Jack's house and started his car.


"I wish you'd just wake up and snap out of it," Daniel confided in his friend from the middle of an otherwise empty room in the infirmary. The only sound was that of the machines around Jack's bed, beeping in time- the only thing telling Daniel that he was still alive.

Jack had been in a sudden onset of a coma for a day now.

"If you had just told us what happened before this happened, maybe we could have stopped it."

Daniel shifted in his seat beside the Colonel's bed. "You know, I honestly doubt what Janet said about this, that you'd be able to hear what I'm saying despite being, you know, in a coma. But seriously, Jack, you should have said something. Anything. Given us a hint, something to go on. And no, being an outright ass isn't a hint." He smirked. "Not for you, anyway."

Please come out of this, he thought to himself.