Daniel juggled his basket of left over's in one hand while he fumbled with his key in his lock. He was tired, in pain and just looking forward to going to bed, doped up to the gills thanks to his good painkillers. He'd had a wonderful day with the people he now considered as family but was happy to spend the evening as he normally spent Thanksgiving - alone.
It had taken him a long time to actually feel comfortable in the company of others, many years infact. He'd been a loner most of his life because of the circumstances of his upbringing and actually found that he did enjoy his own company. So, he was more than ready to pull on his tatty sweats and hide away.
He pushed the door open with his hip, flicked on the light, made his way into his kitchen and deposited his basket on the worktop before grabbing a glass and filling it with water. He was more than ready for some pain relief alongside a good swig of Peptol Bismol as his Thanksgiving meal was still sitting uncomfortably. After quickly taking the medication, he sorted through his basket and put the perishables in the cooler, started a pot of coffee and then made his way into his bedroom to change. Although it wasn't late, he was looking forward to stretch out in bed to try to elevate the pain in his abdomen; sitting so long in a chair over lunch had not helped his muscle strain.
After closing the drapes, he quickly changed, grabbed his pot of fresh coffee and a mug and then settled down in bed. He picked Nick's book again and as he sipped his coffee, he started to read.
Xxx
"Was that Daniel I heard leave?" Sam frowned, wandering into the kitchen with her empty glass.
"Yup," Jack confirmed as he emptied a bag of chips into a bowl.
"Oh?" Sam crossed and placed her glass in the dishwasher.
"He wasn't feeling too good," Jack shrugged and grabbed another bowl.
Sam sighed as she took a seat. "I thought he wasn't his usual self. Did he say what was wrong?"
"Headache and bit of an upset stomach. Daniel speak for exhausted. You know how he gets," Jack shrugged again, trying not to make too big a deal about it as he knew that Sam would want to leave and check on Daniel for herself. "He said that he's gonna get an early night."
"Do you think," Sam cocked her head towards the phone on the wall, "we should give Janet a call?"
"Nah. She's with her family today, Carter. Daniel's just over done things again. He'll be fine."
"He was pale..."
"He's always pale." Jack picked up the bowls of chips. "He's just over tired," he reassured his second in command. "Come on, time for a game of cards," he grinned. "I'll let you be banker."
Sam hesitated for a moment and Jack could see that she was torn whether to contact the base Doctor or not. "Daniel's tired, Carter. Nothing more. He wouldn't appreciate a gathering of mother hens."
Sam ducked her head and smiled. "You're right," she conceded. "I don't know what it is about Daniel but he just brings out the mothering instincts in me."
"It's the big blue eyes," Jack chuckled as he made his way out of the kitchen. "Come on. Grab the cards out of the draw under the sink," he called over his shoulder. "Ace is high..."
xxx
Daniel closed his book with a heavy sigh and tossed it on the end of his bed. After removing his glasses, he inched down in bed as he was beginning to feel increasingly unwell. The pain in his stomach was now constant as was his nausea.
He lifted his sweat top and traced the area of his abdomen that hurt, expecting to feel some sort of wound but all he felt was flat, goosebump covered skin. Infact, his whole body was covered in goosebumps and he suddenly realised that he was shivering slightly. After pulling his sweat top back down, he curled up on his side and buried his head into covers, desperate to warm up but as soon as he turned his stomach rolled which increased his pain so he struggled to sit up once more. He rested his head back against his pillows, pulled his quilt up to his chin and tried to relax.
It wasn't long before the position made him feel worse so he pulled his legs up into to his chest and rested his head on knees. This gave him some sort of relief from the pain but did little to help the nausea. Knowing it wasn't going to be long before he would probably start to vomit, he decided it was time to take his quilt and camp out in the bathroom – this was something he usually did when his crippling migraines struck. It was either that or a bucket by the bed and that was something he hadn't done since he was a child. He'd spent many a night either curled up on his bathroom floor or hanging over the toilet. Years of being alone meant he was well prepared to deal with any illness that struck - alone.
After grabbing his glass of water, he dragged his quilt into the bathroom feeling extremely sick and wandering if the others were sick too as he quickly put his rolling stomach down to something he'd eaten. Poor Jack, he would be mortified if he knew that he'd been responsible for poisoning his guests on Thanksgiving.
Xxx
Jack handed Sam a mug of coffee. "I accept IOU's," he grinned.
The poker game had been fun and had rounded the day off perfectly.
Sam rolled her eyes as she accepted the mug. "I'm still not sure you didn't have an extra ace up your sleeve, sir. What do you think, Teal'c?"
"I do believe that Colonel O'Neill folded the rules to suit himself," the Jaffa agreed.
"Bent, Teal'c – bent the rules," Jack chuckled and lowered himself into his normal chair. "Nah – no ace guys. You were beaten fair and square."
"Umm, I'm not so sure about that," Sam looked at him with narrowed eyes before leaning back and relaxing with her coffee. It was late now, nearly ten o'clock and she was ready for her bed. She had agreed to leave her car and let Teal'c drive her home and, after she'd finished her drink, that was exactly what she was going to do.
It had been a wonderful day only tainted by the fact that Daniel had had to leave early. "Thanks again for a great day," Sam smiled as wrapped her hands round her mug. "It's just a shame that Daniel wasn't feeling the best."
"Yeah," Jack agreed. "They'll be other Thanksgivings."
"I know but, after everything he's been through, it's just sad that he had to leave early."
"I concur," Teal'c agreed. "Had it not been your intention to talk to Daniel Jackson in regards to the loss of Nicholas Ballard today, O'Neill?"
Jack reached and placed his mug on the coffee table. "Yeah, if the time had been right. I was hoping that a couple of glasses of red would have loosened his tongue but, there you go," he sighed. "I'll speak to him in the morning."
"Janet will if you don't, sir."
"I know, Carter. I know."
"Perhaps Daniel Jackson does not want to discuss the matter, O'Neill."
"Ah, Danny aint gonna get a choice in the matter, big guy. It's either he talks to us or Mackenzie's gonna get his mucky paws on him."
"Then I suggest we make our endeavour a priority."
"I hear ya," Jack nodded. "I'll have a go in the morning and if that fails, you can have a go, Carter," he turned to Sam. "Carter?" He repeated when he realised that Sam was dozing. "Wakey, wakey."
"Wha?" Sam came a wake with a start. "Sorry," she yawned. "Must have dozed off."
"Indeed you did, Major Carter," Teal'c nodded. "May I suggest we get the play on the road?"
"Show, Teal'c. Show on the road," Jack chuckled at the Jaffa's attempt at Earth slang again.
"Indeed, O'Neill. Perhaps we should get the show on the road, Major Carter," Teal'c repeated and Sam nodded and pushed up off the sofa.
"Perhaps we should," she agreed as she stretched.
"I'll fetch your coats," Jack slapped his knees. "And, sort you out some left over's."
"Thank you, sir. That would be great."
Before they knew it, Teal'c and Sam were then both loaded up with containers full of food and were on their weary way home.
It had been a wonderful day.
xxx
Daniel dry heaved a couple of times and then spat in the toilet. As he'd thought, it hadn't taken long before his rolling nausea had turned in to out and out vomiting. He'd been hanging over the toilet for a good hour as his stomach attempted to turn itself inside out making the pain in his side more prominent due the exertion of being physically sick. He was totally exhausted and, after taking a few deep breaths, he sat on the floor and tried to decide if his stomach had settled enough to go back to bed and sleep. He grabbed his trusty glass of water, took a few sips and after waiting for a while, he came to the conclusion that it wasn't going to come back up anytime soon so he pushed himself upright on surprisingly weak legs, picked up his quilt and staggered back to bed.
The digital alarm readout showed that it was just after four in the morning, which meant that he had a good three hours before the alarm went off so he inched down in bed, hoping that any sleep he might catch was as cleansing as possible – he had a very busy day ahead of him.
Unfortunately, three hours later Daniel was still awake after miserably tossing and turning so, knowing that there was no way he was up to going into work feeling like he did, he sat up and grabbed the phone.
Resting his head back and closing his eyes, he waited for the phone to be answered and when it was he actually jumped slightly as an airman's voice pulled him out of the light doze he hadn't realised he'd fallen into.
"Chenneyne Mountain."
"Oh," Daniel cleared his throat. "Hi. It's Daniel Jackson. Could you put me through to General Hammond if he's in please?"
"Of course sir. Stand by."
As he waited for the General, Daniel reached for his glass of water and took a couple of sips. When the water sloshed round in his empty stomach, making him feel nauseous again, he returned the glass back on his bedside table and sat, rubbing his rebelling abdomen with his free hand. His cramps were getting worse and he had a feeling that his time spent in the bathroom was not over just yet.
"Doctor Jackson?" General Hammond's voice soon came over the phone and Daniel inched up in bed slightly, hoping that the movement would help him sound better than he actually felt.
"Morning sir, sorry to call so early."
"That's fine son. Is anything wrong?"
"Actually," Daniel began. "I'm not feeling too well this morning, stomach bug I think. I think it's best that I don't come in and share my germs, sir."
"Do you need me to patch you through to the infirmary?"
"No, no – it's fine. I think it's something I ate. I just need to sleep. I'm sure I'll be back in tomorrow."
"Was there anything pressing on your agenda today?"
"Just a full day of training but Robert can step in. He knows what we're working on."
"I'll sort everything this end, don't worry. Just concentrate on getting some rest."
"Tell Robert he can contact me any time and I'll catch up on some research on my lap top while I'm home..."
"No Doctor Jackson, no work. You're to rest up and get yourself better. That's an order."
"Yes sir," Daniel sighed, resting his head back when a wave of exhaustion washed over him. The General was right, he needed to rest. "I'm sorry about all this," he added softly.
"It's not a problem. Feel better and if you need anything, just call."
"I will sir, thank you sir."
"Sleep well."
"I will." Daniel disconnected the call, tossed the phone onto the bottom of the bed and snuggled down again, his head pounding and his stomach rolling.
Sleep about now, would be a very good idea.
Xxx
Jack powered up his computer, tapping his pen impatiently as he waited. He hated paper work with a passion and that was what he had ahead of him for the day as he still hadn't typed up his note from the recent mission.
He struggle with anything technical, including computers. He was a soldier first and foremost but he'd had to learn to keep up with the computer geeks on his team.
Sam had installed several games on his PC, knowing that he bored easily, and he was just about to click on his favourite, rather than his report when he noticed that he had mail. Normally he'd just ignore his emails but the top one in his inbox was from General Hammond and was marked urgent.
He clicked his mouse...
Just to let you know, Doctor Jackson will not be in today as he has a sickness bug. Robert Rothman will take over his training sessions.
"Dammit," Jack sighed and reached for the phone.
It was so unlike Daniel to phone in sick.
xxx
The sound of the phone pulled Daniel from his deep sleep. He slowly sat up, winching at the pain the action cause and patted round the bed until he found the phone.
"Daniel Jackson," he croaked.
"Hey, Danny," Jack's cheerful voice came over the phone. "How ya feeling, buddy?"
"Tired," Daniel rested his head back, feeling no better for his sleep.
"I didn't wake ya did I?"
"Actually – you did."
"Sorry about that. You feeling any better?"
"Some."
"Still vomiting?"
"Not so much, just wiped out. Is everyone else alright?"
"Yeah, we're all fine."
"So, it probably wasn't something I ate then."
"I think there's stomach flu doing the rounds."
"That explains it then," Daniel sighed and lay down again, resting the phone on the pillow as he rolled onto his side.
"Hammond said you're going take the rest of the day."
"Yeah, don't want to spread this round the base. I'm sure I'll be back tomorrow."
"I was actually phoning to tell you to take a few days; you looked dead on your feet yesterday. It's been a stressful couple of weeks."
"No," Daniel protested as he tried to find a comfortable position. "I'll...," he paused and bit down a groan when the pain in his stomach escalated again.
"You okay?" Jack's tone turned to one of urgency as he'd obviously heard Daniel's distress.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," Daniel managed to reassure when the pain lessoned slightly. "Just stomach cramps."
"You taking anything?"
"Yes, mom."
"Good. Get some rest and call if you need anything."
"Yeah, I will," Daniel sighed. "I'll phone in later, let you know if I'll be back tomorrow or not."
"Okay. Take care."
"Kay." Daniel disconnected the call and reached to place the phone back on the table but as he did the pain in his stomach grew which increased his nausea and he stumbled out of bed and dashed to the bathroom, just in time to empty his stomach again.
This stomach bug sure was a persistent one.
