ALL IN THE MIND
CATEGORY: Action/Adventure.
SPOILERS: minor ones. Don't remember exactly. Not that important.
SEASON / SEQUEL: This story takes place AFTER Shades of Grey and BEFORE Chain Reaction!!!
RATING: PG - T
CONTENT WARNINGS: None really important. Maybe some swearing, but with Jack's mouth, what's new?
SUMMARY: NID is thickening the plot to take over the SGC…
DISCLAIMER: This story is written entirely for entertainment and is not intended as an infringement against the copy written material that belongs solely to Showtime, MGM/UA, Gekko Films, et al. I'm only playing with their characters and will return them as soon as the story is finished. The following story is the property of the authors and is not to be copied, or published without the express, written consent of the authors.
AUTHORS' NOTES: This story is written by CD57 (aka Corine) and Margo. It started out based on an idea Margo had, but then we got stuck. Half a year later we changed perspectives and came up with a whole other ending. Hope you like it... Let us know….
The Stargate disengaged as SG-1 walked down the ramp passing their weapons and gear to the armory personnel.
Colonel Jack O'Neill as usual was the last to exit the wormhole and was bringing up the rear behind Teal'c, Dr. Daniel Jackson and Major Samantha Carter. General George Hammond stood in the Control Room listening to the friendly bantering going on between the team. As usual, Colonel O'Neill was baiting Dr. Jackson.
"Daniel, it was a roooooock!" the Colonel announced with a wide smile and a slap on Daniel's shoulder, exaggerating the word for the archaeologist's benefit.
"You know sometimes, Jack you can be a real ass! That artifact has writing on it at least a thousand years old. And you were throwing it around!"
"SG-1, welcome home! Report to the infirmary. Debriefing is in one hour," General Hammond interrupted the discussion.
"Yes, Sir," Colonel O'Neill threw a salute towards the observation window and led his team through the blast doors.
"Okay people, if there is nothing else to report, you are on stand-down for five days." General Hammond was once again amazed how much valuable information SG-1 had brought back. This group of individuals with their distinct differences had melded together to form a perfect team. Colonel O'Neill had the ability to access their individual strengths and build on them. Yeah, all the SG Teams were superior, but this particular one was special and unique. Uniquely formed by the ex-Special Forces, career military man Colonel Jack O'Neill, the whiz-kid Dr. Daniel Jackson being both the linguist and the archaeologist of the team, Dr. Samantha Carter as the astrophysicist, also a Major in the Air Force and the Jaffa Teal'c, an alien who has proven to be invaluable to the program.
"Yes, Sir. Okay, kids. You heard the General. I want you to leave the base and have some fun. Carter, this means no hiding out in your lab. The same goes for you, Daniel. Teal'c, I know you'll have fun." Jack had to smile at the expression on Teal'c's face. "I'll see you guys on Monday." With a wave of his hand, the Colonel headed for the door.
General Hammond walked towards his office overhearing the conversation. He suppressed a smile as he stepped inside his office, closing the door behind him. Who would have thought four years ago that Colonel Jack O'Neill would find a family and a home here at Stargate Command? It was hard to believe that SG-1's leader was the same man as the hard-nosed, detached person he had met so long ago.
Daniel exchanged a look with Sam, and then stepped outside the briefing room, scanning the corridors of the SGC. Jack was already halfway towards the elevators. "Jack, do you want to get together for pizza and beer this weekend?" Daniel yelled after him.
O'Neill didn't slow down and looked briefly over his shoulder. "Yeah, that would be great. Call me and let me know when." With that short comment, he disappeared around the corner.
It was Saturday night. Daniel and Sam had decided to get together in the afternoon to discuss the latest artifact they had brought back. They had invited Teal'c and ordered pizza but hadn't been able to find the Colonel.
"I don't know, Sam. I haven't talked to him all week. Maybe he decided to go camping or fishing?" Daniel wondered out loud.
"Perhaps we should go to his house. O'Neill seems to spend a lot of time on the roof with his telescope..." Teal'c suggested.
Sam thought it over for a brief second. "Okay, guys. Grab the pizza and drinks. Daniel, you think the Colonel will be okay with us showing up and crashing his stargazing party?"
After Daniel's shrug they wrapped up the pizza, stuffed some beer in a cooler and left.
They pulled into O'Neill's drive. The Colonel's truck was parked beside the house but the place seemed deserted. The friends left the car and made their way around to the ladder at the back of the house. Teal'c climbed up to the homemade observatory.
"O'Neill is not here."
"Okay, let's try the door, maybe he's asleep." Sam felt a bit uncomfortable with showing up unannounced.
The team knocked on the door and rang the doorbell several times but received no answer. They turned and walked back towards their car.
"Well, I guess Jack left with someone else." Disappointment was clearly evident in Daniel's voice. The team enjoyed getting together during their downtime and he had been looking forward to it once again.
"Let's go back to my apartment. I'll warm the pizza up again. I'm sure it's cold by now." Carter was trying to hide the disappointment in her voice.
"Perhaps O'Neill has forgotten about us getting together." Teal'c knew his friends were a little upset that their CO was not home.
"Yeah, Teal'c. You're right," Daniel said and Sam nodded her head, starting the car to leave.
It was Monday morning. Daniel and Sam arrived at the SGC, meeting at the parking lot. Walking towards the entrance of the Mountain, they exchanged thoughts.
"Daniel, did you talk to the Colonel yesterday?" Carter asked.
"No. I tried all day, but couldn't reach him. I'm sure he'll show up with some big fish-story to tell."
"Yeah, we'll have to hear how he caught a 29lb. bass. You know he's worse than a kid sometimes." Sam and Daniel both laughed, remembering their friend could be so juvenile at times.
By mid-morning Jackson realized he still hadn't seen his friend. Normally, Jack always showed up in his office before lunch. O'Neill was usually bored with the paperwork by this time and they would go for coffee or Jack would just come down to harass him. Daniel picked up the phone and dialed O'Neill's office.
"Yeah?"
"Jack, is that you?" the archaeologist asked, not immediately recognizing the hoarse voice.
"Now, who else would it be, Daniel?"
"I haven't seen you all day, are you okay?" Jackson started to get worried; Jack didn't sound like himself.
"I'm fine," O'Neill answered briefly.
"Jack, I'm coming down…" Daniel announced, hung up the phone and headed for O'Neill's office. He really needed to see his friend and check on him. He knocked softly on the door and stepped inside.
"Hi, Jack. Did you have a good vacation?" Daniel examined his friend thoroughly, noticing Jack looked rather tired. An unnerving feeling made him shiver. There was something; something just didn't seem right with the man in front of him, but he couldn't describe the feeling.
"Yeah, Daniel… it was good." O'Neill was very distant and short in his answer and hardly looked up from the papers in front of him on the desk.
"Sam, Teal'c and I got together for pizza on Saturday. We were hoping you could join us."
"Oh, well… I… got busy doing other stuff..." The Colonel seemed to stammer with his comment. He stared at the paperwork on his desk.
"Jack, you look tired. Are you sure you're all right?" The archaeologist neither liked the sight of his friend, nor the way he was acting.
This time, O'Neill looked up at the linguist. His face was pale, his eyes sunken and he briefly waved at the stuff on his desk, trying to sound reassuring. "Yes, Daniel. I'm fine… I'm just busy with all this paperwork. All this end of the month stuff... you know this drives me crazy! So if you don't mind, I really need to get back to work."
"Oh, okay. Call me later. Maybe we can get together for coffee..." Reluctantly, SG-1's only civilian walked out and closed the door behind him. Lost in his thoughts, he walked through the corridors. Startled by a voice calling his name, he looked up to see Sam and Teal'c staring at him. "Oh! Hi guys, I didn't see you."
"Daniel Jackson, are you all right?" the big Jaffa asked, raising his brows.
"What, no, no… I was just thinking," the linguist stammered and quickly tried to put a smile on his face. He wasn't sure he needed to tell them he was worried about Jack. After all, it was only a feeling he couldn't explain. Plus, Jack would only get crankier with three people fussing all over him.
"Daniel, have you seen the Colonel? We want to go for lunch," Sam asked. Normally, the team would get together for breakfast or lunch if they were on base. This morning, she'd been busy in the lab. When Teal'c had shown up, they had decided to have a late lunch.
"Yeah, I just talked to him. He's doing paperwork, so he's not in a very good mood. We should probably leave him alone for awhile…"
"Is he all right? I'm still wondering where he was during our downtime, although he's a big boy and I guess he can take care of himself…" She was still very curious as to where her CO and friend had been the last five days.
"A big-boy, Major Carter? Is O'Neill not considered a man in this world?" A puzzled looked appeared on Teal'c's face.
"Yes, Teal'c. It's just an expression... It means he can take care of himself." Carter was grinning, trying hard to keep from laughing. Sometimes the Colonel did act like a very mischievous and energetic boy, but she would never tell him that.
Daniel was also having a hard time holding in the laughter. "Oh, I don't know Sam… a boy pretty much describes Jack sometimes. Or maybe a juvenile delinquent boy!" He was thinking of the practical jokes their friend had inflicted on them.
Jackson reconsidered his decision about his friend. Maybe Jack could use some company. Plus, the man couldn't throw them out if all three of them showed up in his office, could he? "Well. He's got to eat sometime. Let's go rescue him from all that boring paperwork to go for lunch."
"Sir, you look tired… Did the fish keep you up all night?" Sam was trying hard to bait her CO. The Colonel had barely spoken three words since they had convinced him to join them for lunch. He looked exhausted and every now and then he absently rubbed his chest. Daniel had tried to question him about that but he had cautiously changed the subject. He was playing with his food without really eating.
"What? I'm sorry, Carter. I wasn't listening." O'Neill looked up to see three concerned faces staring at him. He really had to get his act together or they would be fussing over him all day. "I was thinking about all that damn paperwork waiting for me. You know how much I hate that crap!" Hopefully, he sounded convincing.
Daniel shrugged, noticing they weren't getting anywhere and tried to change the subject. "So, Jack. What did you do all week?"
"Oh, uh, well, I watched some hockey …fishing, went fishing, yeah. I had a great time." O'Neill had a hard time remembering what he had done. He vaguely recalled going fishing with a buddy, but who was it? Where did they go? Some images about a fight crossed his mind. Had he been in a fight? That would explain why he was so sore and how he got those damn bruises on his chest. He needed to convince his team everything was all right, or they would force him into going to the infirmary. Now, that he could remember, that he didn't want to go there.
"O'Neill, did you catch any fish?" Teal'c did not understand how catching a fish could be considered fun. Catching a fish meant nothing more to him than having a meal when he would get hungry on some faraway planet. But it was not fun.
The Colonel thought about it, but he couldn't remember. Everything was jumbled together. There were some memories but they all seemed wrong. He really must have had a lot of beer on this fishing trip.
Noticing the dazed look on their CO's face, Carter asked, "Sir? Come on; don't tell us you didn't catch anything!" She frowned, thinking he was really acting strange. Something was definitely not right. Usually, the Colonel would share big fish tales with them. Today, he seemed to be at a loss for words, and that was not like him at all.
"You know, I'm really tired. I'm going to finish my work and then try and get some rest." Jack was already on his feet heading for the door, barely missing an airman who promptly saluted, but the Colonel failed to reciprocate.
"Well, that was really weird. Does anybody else think something is going on here?" Daniel's voice cut through the stunned silence following the Colonel's sudden disappearance. This lunch was supposed to alleviate his fears and concerns for his friend. Instead, Daniel was convinced now that Jack was in trouble. He just didn't know if he was sick or if something else was going on.
"Yes, indeed, O'Neill does seem to be troubled," Teal'c as usual stated the obvious fact.
"Okay, so what do we do? He obviously doesn't want to talk about it." Sam kept her voice low since there were too many people around and she didn't want to draw any attention to them.
"Perhaps O'Neill just needs some sleep. He does seem to be tired." The stoic Jaffa was trying to ease his friends' concerns, but he was determined to keep a close eye on their CO.
"Yeah, you're probably right, Teal'c." Daniel knew that Jack was a private man who needed plenty of space. "Maybe he is having nightmares again. They can really keep him awake for some time and he hates to talk about that," he thought out loud.
"Daniel, let's just keep an eye on him. I'm sure he's okay. Look guys, I've got a lot of work to do before the briefing this afternoon." Carter stood, ending the conversation, but not completely relieved.
The linguist wanted to finish a report before the briefing and Teal'c was working with one of the technicians concerning weapons. They all left the commissary, each going separate ways.
You already sense some trouble? What is going on? More tomorrow... I promise ;-)
