"Well?" Sam was forcing herself not to turn around as she heard the colonel storm out of the tent, boots audible even on sand as he stomped towards the rover, snarling something about cleaning up.

"Daniel Jackson has left for the caves once more," Teal'c reported. "O'Neill has gone for the water supply on the transport."

She looked down at the pot over a new fire. "Damn." She chucked in two MRE packs in the water and watch the vapors waft up as they cooked. Sam finally dared to look over her shoulder, catching a glimpse of Daniel pacing in a cave a few spots down from the first one he was in, perched on a higher slope to her right. The archeologist stopped, hand reaching up to adjust his hat. Then he vanished as he sat down to begin his work. He didn't even look their way.

Sam heaved a sigh, looking away to stare at the pot. The bubbles heating the MRE packs danced around merrily, unaffected by the dark gloom she could feel pulling her back to a curve. It felt like someone was playing a joke on her, remembering how she herself was tapping her feet, pulling at the standdown orders like a restricting rein, waiting to get back into action. Now, she wanted nothing more than to go home and crawl into bed.

"He appears to be upset," Teal'c observed.

"Which one?" she muttered back. Resting her chin on the heel of her hand, she used the other hand to rub circles on her forehead.

"Are you well?"

"Headache," Carter replied, blinking as she heard a rustling sound before a small bottle appeared below her eyes. She smiled gratefully, shaking the container a little before coaxing two white pills out with a tap of the bottle against her palm. "Thanks."

"You did not sleep restfully," Teal'c declared, not missing the pale streaks across her cheeks. The Jaffa swiveled towards the cave where O'Neill was freshening up. "Nor did O'Neill."

"It just feels strange," Sam murmured, yawning wide before tossing the two aspirins into her mouth. With a dry swallow, she made a face as she tipped her canteen back to wash them down.

"Strange?"

Gesturing towards the caves before her, then behind her where the colonel was at, she shrugged. "Strange. You know, like something is not right."

"They are not speaking with each other," the Jaffa commented. He stood straighter, eyes narrowed as he took a scan of the area, ever on alert before continuing. "Daniel Jackson is upset."

Sadly, Sam nodded. "I guess I can't blame him though. He must feel like we turned our backs on him."

"I am not sure if that is the reason."

Sideways glancing over to him, Sam waited.

"He is upset at what has occurred to him, but not at how it occurred to him."

She blinked. "I don't understand." Sometimes, the alien could be very cryptic. She wondered briefly if maybe she misunderstood what the Jaffa was trying to say.

Teal'c stared at her steadily. "I was Apophis' First Prime."

Sam frowned at the sudden change of topic. "I know," she hedged.

"Many things happened during my duty to him." Teal'c's face darkened. "Many things." He tightened his fist around the staff weapon he held. "But I do not blame him."

"He made slaves of your people," she pointed out.

"I hold him responsible for this, yes. But my service to him was of my own doing enforced by fear of the gods." Teal'c raised his chin higher, eyes narrowing. "I could have rebelled."

"You had no choice at the time. You didn't know if there was a chance to resist," she argued.

"Yet I would blame myself," he added in a gentle voice that made her blink.

"Oh." Lowering her head, she chewed her thumbnail thoughtfully. She raised her gaze towards him. "You think Daniel's blaming himself for what happened to him?"

"Perhaps."

"Wasn't his fault."

"Have you told him this?"

Sam stopped again. She pulled the MREs out of the pot, pouring its contents in mugs, handing one to Teal'c. She spied Daniel getting up, shuffling out of the cave he was in, moving on to the next one. Determined, she wrapped her fingers around the mug handle of the hot meal.

"I'll bring this to him," she said, shaking the pot of coffee brewing besides the other cooking pot. She caught out of the corner of her eye the colonel, armed with a towel, ducking into one of the caves they designed for baths since there was no natural body of water nearby. She winced as she saw a boot fly out, signaling he was toweling off and averted her eyes back to Daniel.

"Be right back," she murmured, cringing as she heard another boot landing outside on top of something metallic. Hopefully, it wasn't one of the satellite dishes. Ripping the MRE pack open, she poured the meal out into an aluminum mug, giving it a shake to mix it up. She grabbed a cup of coffee Teal'c poured for her and nodded. Rising to her feet, she took a deep breath and started walking.

The hallways looked so bleak and long. Dark and narrow walkways filled with people in white coats shuffling about, no hurry in their step, as emotionless as the machines chirping in her lab back on base. Sam shifted from one foot to the next, uneasy in a place like this. Even more disturbed that Daniel would be in a place like this. And judging by the way the colonel refused to look anywhere but at the empty chair in the waiting room, he must have felt the same. Teal'c said nothing, standing there with his hands clasped behind him, but she could see the Jaffa eyeing every person who walked past his scope.

The clipboard landed with a loud thump next to her, and she jumped. A tired looking clerk waved a pen that was attached to the clipboard through the window of his alcove. "Sign here."

Sam glowered at the clerk, who did nothing more than fiddle with his computer, bald head gleaming in the only light source around, nestled in a desk lamp between his small television set and stack of outdated magazines below the counter.

"Nice," her CO muttered, not really meaning the compliment as he tapped his foot, waiting for Mackenzie, not even realizing the names he scribbled down were crooked and diagonally through the lines.

A muffled howl, wordless and animalistic was heard down the hallways, far beyond the reach of her sight. Sam jumped once more.

"Is this customary?"

"Huh?" She turned to Teal'c. The taller man looked upset, not that anyone could easily tell. But after years of fighting along side with these men, she could tell when a twitch of an eyebrow was more than a twitch. And the twitches in both Teal'c's and her CO's eyebrows were screaming bloody murder. She shrugged, not saying anything.

"Humans tend to lock away problems they can't handle."

She blinked in surprise at the harsh words, about to snap off a retort that Daniel wasn't a 'problem'. He was a friend, and the colonel of all people should know that. But when she turned around to him, her words died before they even left her mouth.

Dark eyes, hooded by a furrowed brow, O'Neill leaned against the wall away from them, both arms crossed in front of him. The officer looked furious, but she very much doubted it was towards Daniel.

"Carter," he suddenly said quietly.

Out of habit, she straightened. "Sir."

"Daniel said before..." O'Neill paused. "Back on the planet, where we found the bodies, he said he felt something brush against him."

"We've already discounted the ReTu, sir," she pointed out.

The colonel glared at her as if he didn't like the reminder. "I know, but could there have been some..." He waved a hand in the air. "Something with a cloaking...thing that could have went by him, did this to him?"

"The room was sealed for centuries, O'Neill," Teal'c jumped in. "It is highly unlikely someone or something could survive that long of a period."

"Oh." Her CO fell silent, chewing his lower lip in deep thought.

"Maybe Daniel will know more," she suggested, and the colonel nodded absently. She was about to try for something more positive when approaching footsteps made O'Neill stand away from the wall, head turned towards the hallway.

Hands in his long lab coat, Mackenzie considered them for a long moment, giving only a "Hm" for comment as he counted how many were here. "I assume you're here for Daniel."

"Yes," O'Neill grated out. "We are here for Daniel." He stressed the last word, keeping his gaze on Mackenzie.

The psychiatrist only gave another "Hm" and motioned them to follow him. Sam had to hurry to catch up as her male teammates suddenly framed the doctor, filling up the hallway.

"...Calmed down considerably now," Mackenzie was telling her CO by the time she reached within earshot. "Although I would recommend keeping your distance. Schizophrenia patients can easily become excited and be dangerous if we aggravate them. Medication doesn't always work immediately with a new patient."

Sam winced. Patient? She quickened her steps to ask her question. "Is he...Is Daniel...I mean...can he understand us?"

"You mean coherent?" Mackenzie tapped a pen to his chin, nodding a little. "As much as can be expected of him, yes, he is a bit coherent. But there were times the staff had to...calm him down."

"What do you mean calm him down?" O'Neill asked in a tight voice. Sam winced.

The doctor just hemmed and hawed again, stopping at the end of a hallway. She stared at the door, the dark greens and blues painted across the walls, the wire meshed window that showed the white harsh light of the room. Too bright, she thought. It was too bright. Daniel usually kept the lights dimmed in his office because they hurt his eyes when he was in front of the computer too long. She opened her mouth to ask him to lower them when the psychiatrist opened the door.

"Don't expect much. If he becomes agitated, call the aides."

She and O'Neill gave Mackenzie twin glares. Daniel? Agitated? She wanted to snort as they filed into the room quietly. Not counting one or two occasions of anger- due to interference from some drug or outside influence, she had never seen Daniel willingly raise his hand in violence. It just wasn't in him. She could see her CO was thinking the same thing, lips pursed with disapproval. It wasn't Daniel. No, it-

Her boots met soft padding on the floor, giving her step a slight bounce, making her turn at the physical signal of her arrival.

And then she saw Daniel.

Oh God.

Sam blinked, wondering why her eyes watered. With her thumb, she brushed away the moisture that was surely from sand blown into her eyes by the winds. She stood there, watching Daniel kneeling, working away on one wall, almost with a fevered pace as if racing against a clock only he could see and hear.

Breakfast was balanced in both her hands, but she didn't feel urgent any more to move closer. Hidden behind the shadows her tent made, she watched her friend sigh, rocking back on his heels and lowering his head into his folded arms.

Daniel looked tired, even from this distance, worn with a slouch in his back she hadn't seen since his return from P3X-808 with SG-6. She remembered the archeologist's shock to see the embarkation room in shambles, half a room freshly painted. The Stargate braced with support beams as repairs were underway to erase the damage of the black hole. At the pace everyone worked, it was almost as if they wanted to erase the death of Frank Cromwell as well. And Daniel's shock over the condition of the base grew to full-grown worry when he saw her and Teal'c standing at the bottom of the ramp, sans one.

Finding out the colonel was still unconscious since the explosion that imploded the black hole, Daniel haunted the infirmary with his weary presence night after night. It should have drove Janet up the wall, but instead, the doctor took it all in stride, like how she took everyone's abrupt visits to the infirmary with quiet resignation. The medical facilities were going to be crowded until Colonel O'Neill woke up. Too tired to sleep, too stubborn to find a bed to lie down, Sam seen her friend often leaning against a hallway wall instead, staring off into nothing with a cup of coffee in his hands, looking very alone and lost. She tried talking to him, coaxing him to the commissary, even to the labs, but he usually just gave her a weak smile, a small joke, and was back to his lonely vigil one corridor down from the infirmary, in full view of Janet's office and the infirmary itself. It was something that pained her to see, even though she was doing her own watch herself by working on any project in her lab. But watching him watch the world go by as he paced like a ghost from office to office while everyone else had a job to do and him with too little engineering knowledge to be useful to keep busy was hard to stomach. She'd tried constantly until Teal'c finally told her one night it was no use. Daniel Jackson was always one to worry, and like when she and the colonel were rescued from Antarctica, he wasn't going to rest until everyone was here and okay. It both warmed her heart and worried her at the same time. Something that she professed to the recuperating colonel days after he finally woke, getting only a knowing nod from him before he tossed a half-exasperated glance over to Daniel when the younger man came strolling in to visit once more.

But this was no vigil Daniel was holding this time even though Sam could see the stubbornness that would have her friend rocking back and forth on his heels. His head bowed in the dark cave, Daniel didn't speak, or do his usual monologue as he protected himself from the outside light, refusing to find a place to sleep or admit just how much what had happened to him had bothered him.

When she saw Daniel bring his hand up to massage his neck, she stuck her chin out and strode determinedly up the rising slope into the cave.

"Breakfast!" she announced, setting the tin mugs right next to his left hip before crouching down next to him, peering at the faint lines trying to shine out of layers of dust.

With a soft exhalation of breath, Daniel lowered his hand and looked down at the plate of brown gunk before opting for the steaming cup of coffee. He gulped the hot liquid with one impressive swallow and grimaced. Turning back towards the wall, he lowered his mug to the ground, picked up his discarded brush and tapped at the wall again, muttering "Thanks."

"You're not eating," she pointed out to him, waving a fork at him.

"Not hungry," he mumbled back, not looking. Daniel paused, leaned back and studied the painting critically. "This one's different." He nodded towards the wall. "There are no signs of coloring or paint in these carvings. Why do you suppose that is?"

"Daniel." She pulled at his sleeve, stilling the brush. "You're tired and exhausted. You need to eat if you're going to keep this up."

The archeologist worked his jaw as he stared at the slender strokes on rock. He acted like he didn't hear her. "First one had sketches of hunting, or being the prey, these seem more...older...different tribe maybe? Different visitors?" He gave Sam a look, inviting her to theorize but when he saw her point to the meal once more, he sighed. "Sam, I-"

"Eat." She nudged the mug towards him. "Eat then work if you have to, but eat first."

Reluctantly, Daniel dropped down on the ground, rearranging his legs, crossing them as he took the fork Sam offered him. Slowly, hesitantly, he scooped up a bite and chewed on it. Eyes on the wall, he mechanically took another bite.

The woman studied Daniel as he speared his breakfast. Up and down the fork went, Daniel barely chewing, swallowing as if a dry pill.

Speaking of which.

"Daniel," she checked around his area, not seeing them. "Janet said she issued you some meds a while back to counteract what Doctor Mackenzie gave you. Are you still taking them?"

Stiffening, Daniel lowered his fork. "Why?"

Surprised, Sam blinked. "Uh...no reason. I was just wondering if you were still taking them. Maybe you shouldn't be drinking coffee if you're-"

"I'm not," he said flatly. Daniel lowered his mug, fork tossed into the container. "I should really get back to work."

Sam chided herself as she watched the back go rigid defensively. "Daniel, I didn't mean anything by it. We just want to..." Carter paused as she saw Daniel pick up his tools again, already working on the wall. "Daniel...we're really sorry about what happened."

"I'm not angry," whispered Daniel. "Not at you." He turned to look sideways at her. "I'm just trying to move on."

"I agree." She smiled sadly at him. It faded when Daniel averted his eyes back to the cave wall. "But I think we should talk about it." The young man didn't reply, and she quietly added "I think you need to talk about it."

"Sam..." The brush going harder on the wall, Daniel didn't speak, a grim set of his mouth as he scrutinized the carvings slowly coming to light. "There's really nothing to talk about." He placed his brush down, fishing a bottle out. Shaking the clear liquid inside, he dabbed some on a cloth, the chemical fumes making him wince before he gently swiped it across the surface. He stopped, seeing a small lone figure standing in a valley, what looked like grass or spokes surrounding it. Despite the simplistic etchings, the crudely drawn figure looked upset, frantic, thin carved arms waving above its head in a midst of a field of strokes representing perhaps grass. But there was no animal running wild on the same plane of the figure. Daniel frowned, unable to decipher to pictogram. Tilting his head towards her, Daniel saw she was still waiting. He ruefully shook his head.

"It happened. I understand why you guys did what you did. At the time, I was acting very-" Biting his lower lip, Daniel added softly "I just want things to be back the way they were before." He gave her a pleading look. "I really don't want to talk about it, Sam."

She watched as his hand shook before Daniel realized it and shoved it into his backpack, rummaging around for something. "Daniel...we can't just ignore this. I want to help you. If you can't talk to us, at least talk to someone-"

"No," Daniel cut in sharply.

"Daniel-"

The archeologist suddenly stood up. "Sam...I have a lot of work to do."

Carter gazed up at him before lowering her sight to the mugs below. The half-filled containers stood there quietly, a breeze slowly filling them both with sand.

"I'm...I'll be fine," Daniel murmured. "I really do have a lot of work to do here." He sat down again, wordlessly placing the two mugs in her waiting hands. "And I think I do need some more core samples from other areas." Jackson took the soft rag he was using and started wiping at the wall again.

"Yeah." She rose to her feet. "Um...I'm probably going to check out the caves on the east side, towards the dry riverbed we went through to get here. Keep your radio out and open, okay?"

Daniel bobbed his head once absently, murmuring a soft farewell as she walked away. He stopped what he was doing, looking at her departing back.

"Sam?"

The major froze.

"Uh...thanks for breakfast."

She raised the mugs to show them over her shoulders. "You didn't exactly eat much of it."

"I...just wasn't hungry."

Carter nodded her head, staring at her shadow before continuing on to the campfire to gather her things.

She could hear Daniel screaming before it faded as the drugs began to work. Mackenzie cleared his throat, opening the door wider now, signaling them to leave.

"Daniel," she murmured. To her dismay, her eyes filled with tears again, and she hid the gesture of wiping them by raising her hand as if to tuck hair behind her ear. She saw her friend slumped on the floor, eyes half opened, mouth still moving. He looked so small and powerless, crumpled in the white room, surrounded by two aides, who were holding his arms a little too tightly in her opinion. But she didn't know for sure. How could she? She didn't even know what they did to trigger Daniel's episode.

The colonel slipped past her, out the door without a word and she followed after an equally silent Teal'c. She gave the room one last look, lip trembling as she saw Daniel's eyes were shut now, the men already rearranging him to sleep more comfortably. Like a puppet with its strings cut, Daniel didn't move or react as the door closed behind her.

Another wipe with her sleeve edge, she paused when she only saw Teal'c standing there, silent, brooding.

"Where's...where's the colonel?" she managed without her voice cracking.

The Jaffa nodded towards a lone door to her far left, the word "RESTROOM" faded and barely legible in the dim lighting of the corridor. She nodded absently, rubbing her arms as she stared at the door, occasionally seeing the heads of the aides passing by the window.

"That was not Daniel Jackson," Teal'c declared. "He would not act this way."

Stop it, she wanted to say. She knew that wasn't Daniel, but yet it was. She felt her heart break as he had whimpered out "Jack?" when they first came in, before breaking down crying uncharacteristically, apologizing for being a "headcase".

God. She covered her mouth, closed her eyes. She felt Teal'c's hand on her shoulder, steering her until she was sitting on a chair next to Daniel's room. She heard a distant howl of another tortured soul, and one tear did escape. As she sat there, Teal'c standing guard over her, no words were exchanged. The two watched dully as more people in white coats went by, murmurs of doctors reading charts drifted their way.

Thud.

Out of muffled silence, from the restroom, Sam heard a distinctive thump of flesh against linoleum.

It sounded like what her head and heart were screaming to her.

Daniel didn't belong here.

"Major Carter?" Teal'c stood in front of her. She paused. When did she reach the campgrounds so quickly?

"He's working," she said lamely as she caught Teal'c casting a look over her head. Sam stopped herself from sighing, but it came out anyway in a hushed breath, and her shoulders slumped. Teal'c understood and nodded gravely. "Uh...I'm going to go get some more core samples and check on the telescopes." She stopped, stretching out her hand to give Teal'c the mugs. She spied O'Neill storming out of the cave, towel slung over his shoulder, no improvement on the dark face he'd worn before. She called out where she was going, and the colonel just grunted, pointing to the ground to say he'll be standing watch. Sam nodded, quietly gathering up her equipment, nodding to Teal'c to come along.

Silently, the pair left for their designations, leaving Jack to sit by the fire once more, staring at a cave off the distance.

"How about some soup?"

Daniel stared at the server blankly, hand pulling away from the plate of pork chops he was going to take from the counter. "Excuse me?" For some reason, some of the soldiers in the commissary fell silent.

"Soup," the lady said, nervously adjusting her apron with a wavering smile. "We just made some nice soups over there." She pointed to the far table where the kettle pots stood.

Frowning at the pork chops he was going to take, he was about to say something when he saw the worker surreptitiously trying to move the knives away from his reach, covering them with her wiping rag. Daniel lowered his hand, a lump in his throat. He pasted a smile at her, not really angry, but his stomach twisted regardless. Suddenly, he wasn't really hungry any more.

"Uh...soup sounds fine," he managed, turning around but not before catching the look of pity from the woman as he headed for the pots. He kept his eyes on the ladle, pouring a bowl of whatever he was scooping out. He could feel every stare on his back, the room silent as if they were all holding their breaths, waiting for him to do something.

Do what? Daniel wanted to spin around and tell them that they were wrong. It was all from Machello's traps, but he knew word must have spread the moment he was pulled onto a gurney and taken away with Mackenzie hot on the medics' heels. He could only imagine how that must have looked, Doctor Mackenzie running alongside the gurney rather than Doctor Fraiser. The shrink instead of the doctor. Why did he even come here in the first place?

Oh yeah. Daniel looked down dully at his bowl. For lunch.

It now seemed like a very bad idea.

"Hey, Daniel!" A sounding clap on his back made him drop the ladle, and it crashed to the floor, spilling its contents. He heard a few chairs rise as people shot out of their seats as Daniel spun around to see who it was.

Ferretti raised his palms towards him. "Oops. Sorry, man. Just got back from recon. Wanted to grab something to eat before debriefing." He peered at the pots in front of Daniel. "What's good?"

He could feel everyone staring at him, waiting, just waiting for something to happen.

"Soup," Daniel croaked out, pushing the bowl towards the major. "Excuse me," he mumbled, veering around the lanky soldier, heading for the door. He kept his eyes averted, hearing someone calling his name after he bumped into him, but Daniel kept on going until he saw the elevator. Ducking into it, grateful it was empty, Daniel punched the floor for his office. As the double doors closed, he saw Jack running towards him, coming out of the direction of the commissary, and Daniel flushed, realizing the colonel must have been there the whole time and seen everything.

Tap tap tap tap.

Daniel's chisel went along the hairline crack he found, peeling layers of old carbon off like flaked paint. Brushing a gloved hand along the wall, he snuck another look out to Jack, who was again walking back and forth, back and forth at the center of the campsite.

Setting his jaw, Daniel forced himself to look back at the wall, back to his work in coaxing the figure out of the cavern surface.

The crudely drawn figure was indeed a puzzle. Clearly drawn the same way, maybe with a chipped off piece of rock, or a sharp knife, man was represented by a figure drawn with the right amount of arms and legs, but there were no signs of paint used to decorate the artwork. Instead, there were scratches along its torso, along its surroundings to make the textures of the relief.

"Older?" Daniel murmured, flinching at the sound of his voice. He gulped back the rest of his musings, biting his lower lip as he wiped off another layer of carbon. Peeling cracked sections away with his hands, checking occasionally to make sure nothing was damaged at the same time, Daniel realized the carvings were definitely older, buried in more layers than the first cave he checked. Mentally he counted back. Including the first few caves he'd been in, including the one he found the fossil of, that made perhaps five different period drawings so far. Some had buffalo decorating the walls, surrounded by simplistic representations of man. Others had no animals at all, presumably after the planet was plummet with meteors, killing all animal and plant life systematically yet they drew figures running away from something. Running from whom? Did the survivors of this riddled planet stay time and time again after every disaster? So did survivors draw those? Were they hiding in the caves back then?

Daniel scratched his head, a pounding beating behind his eyes. It didn't explain why the drawings without animals were all drawn so differently. Why so many? And was it from the same tribe? If not, where did they all go?

"Odd." The archeologist cringed. He really had to stop doing that. Last thing he needed was for Jack and the others to start popping their heads in and asking once more-

"How's everything going?"

Bingo.

Head heavy, Daniel swiveled on his heels towards the voice. Sure enough, Jack stood at the center of the mouth, light blocked by his body, shrouding the older man in shadow. He couldn't see the expression on Jack's face but knew it was probably the same bated breath look Daniel felt boring holes in his back like in the SGC cafeteria.

Daniel forced himself to shrug, turning towards the wall, blinking rapidly as the ground seemed to surge below him like the ocean. He rotated his shoulders, taking one deep breath after another.

Air must be thinner here, he thought as his chest tightened considerably.

"That looks different."

Lifting his eyes, Daniel saw Jack looming over him, the colonel's gaze on the cavern artwork. "Huh?" Daniel said blankly.

Jack gave him a funny look. "The pictures."

Pictures? Daniel twisted back to the front, staring at the figure on the wall. Oh yeah, the carvings. He ducked his head, searching through his tools for the brush he was using before. Wasn't he using a brush?

"Hey." Now Jack was stooped down to his level. His mouth was crinkled downward as he surveyed the archeologist. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," mumbled Daniel as he pulled out the cloth, staring at it, puzzled. Wasn't he looking for a brush? He sighed, shaking his head. Then he tensed as he recalled Jack was still sitting next to him. He forced his mouth to spread wide into a smile.

"Tired?" Jack asked sympathetically. "You didn't look like you were getting much of a good night's sleep."

Daniel opened his mouth, about to argue that he felt fine, but he could tell from Jack's tight lipped expression it wasn't going to work. He heaved his shoulders, then nodded once. "A little tired."

The admission appeared to make Jack relaxed. "Yeah, same here." He gave his arm a little scratch, making a face. "Feels like I got sand everywhere," Jack groused, stamping his feet to the ground, his left calf itching again. It was almost as bad as when he was in Iraq. Sand used to get in the oddest places, leaving him feel itchy and gritty all the way until he got captured during Cromwell's- Jack stopped, deliberately lowering his hands. His complaints about the desert weren't the issue here. Daniel was agreeing with Jack's comment, his posture a little more relaxed as he too scratched his back under his jacket.

"Used to get sand in my frames," Daniel said vaguely, pushing the eyewear back up on his nose with an index finger. "Back in Abydos." He looked sadder at the mention of the planet. "Never could figure out how that happened. Sha-" He paused before taking a deep breath. "She kidded me saying I must have my head in the sand."

Encouraged, the older man sat down cross-legged on the ground next to Jackson, nodding once more. "Surprised your glasses lasted that long." He quirked a grin. "You had a tendency to go feeding big smelly animals candy and go sand skiing with them."

A soft laugh escaped Daniel, and Jack's smile broadened at the sound, unable to believe how long it was since he heard the archeologist so readily laugh with him and the rest of the team. He twisted around, chuckling as well. It seemed so long ago they were sitting on top of another sandy mound, wondering how to find the seventh symbol to get everyone home, him thinking of the nuke left in the Stargate chamber.

"I think it just wanted more candy," Daniel murmured.

Jack's chuckle grew louder. "Maybe we should have left you a supply?"

"You wouldn't have done me any favors," Daniel scolded, another tight smile flitting across his face as Jack nodded in agreement. "It wouldn't stop following me around." Shaking his head, Daniel pulled off his eyeglasses. "I was scaling the south wall to read the hieroglyphics on the top tier they used as a look out for the sandstorms. It was looking for me, knocked my ladder right out from under my feet as it tried to reach me."

Jack winced sympathetically. "Oops."

"Oops," agreed Daniel. "Fell on my back, broke my glasses frame in the process. Practically terrified her." He fiddled with his eyewear, long fingers tracing the side wires, remembering. "She fixed it up for me again."

Head back, Jack grunted. "Oh yeah. I think I did see some sort of cloth around your glasses."

"Sha're," Daniel said softly. He twirled the glasses in his hands, watching it double to two, then three as his vision blurred. Tired, he didn't notice Jack's scrutiny. "She wanted me to not use them any more. Couldn't understand my explanation that I needed them to see. They don't have the word nearsightedness in their language."

"So she fixed them for you?" Jack asked.

Daniel nodded. "She said she might as well. Didn't want me to hurt myself with my glasses..." He drifted off, staring at his glasses.

The glasses ripped from his face, and he reached for them before finding his hands jerked back behind him, a buckle wrapping harshly around his wrist.

"Stop!" He twisted, trying to break free and felt himself being slammed down the quilted floor, eyes tearing as dust rose from the creases.

His glasses jiggled before him, his own flushed, wide eyed expression gawking back distorted at him from his lens.

"Wouldn't want you to hurt yourself or anyone else like you did the colonel," a voice sneered over his head.

"I d-didn't," he stuttered. A flash of him clawing at Jack's neck scorned him, accusing him of being a liar. He swallowed. "I...How is he?"

The voices above him didn't answer.

"P-please, I didn't h-hurt him did I?"

Hot breath scalded his ears as a voice whispered back, "You should be asking yourself that question you headcase."

Another slam made him gasp. Daniel didn't protest as he saw his lens move away to go into someone else's pockets. He merely closed his eyes, wincing as the binds tightened on flesh and waited for the next prick in his arm to carry him back to nothingness.

"Yeah," Jack commented, smiling. "That would have sucked," he quipped.

Swallowing, Daniel opened the glasses, slipping them over his eyes. He ducked his head. "I was pretty much careful with them after that."

Jack was puzzled why suddenly the wistful expression on Daniel's face turned to something darker, frowning as if a bad taste lingered in his mouth. O'Neill rolled the conversation back a few seconds, wondering what was said that might have triggered it but finding nothing. He cleared his throat, interrupting the silence before it grew too heavy to penetrate. "Been...uh...been quite a day, huh?"

"I didn't really do anything." Picking up the brush, Daniel fiddled with it. "Just been here the whole time."

"Yeah, but..." Jack trailed off, realizing he ran out of small talk.

"It's okay, you know."

Jack looked at Daniel. "What is?"

Waving the brush in a circle in the air, Daniel spoke very softly. "You guys don't have to...watch me like this."

Jack stared at the brush twirling in the air in lazy circles, shaking his head. "We're not."

The brush lowered to Daniel's lap. "It feels like it."

"We're not...watching you, that is. I..." Jack ran a hand through his hair, frustrated. "Ah hell...this is weird, you know? What the hell happened, Daniel?"

I went nuts, and now you're waiting for an encore performance, Daniel thought. Out loud though, he mused, "I don't know. A lot did, but it's over, right?" He placed a hand on the cave wall, feeling the coarse bumps and cracks of the surface.

"Sure, Daniel. It's over. Past history." Jack sounded more than happy to agree. "Over and done with. We should just move ahead."

"Right." Daniel looked at the wall sadly. "Past history. Nothing can be done to change the past."

Jack nodded. "Yeah."

"And some things," Daniel went on saying in a soft, faraway voice. "Some things..." He pulled his hand away and saw the cracks had run into the cave painting, marring the carved lines like a cobweb.

"And some things can't be fixed ever again."

A cold lump gathered in Jack's stomach, his throat tight. "Daniel-"

"No, Jack," Daniel cut in firmly. Pale hands went up to massage his forehead as his headache returned, spinning the cave in lightheaded dizziness. Swallowing, throat dry, Daniel croaked out, "I really don't want to talk about it."

"Neither do I," Jack murmured, watching his friend take a deep shuddering breath. There was something sorrowful in Daniel's gaze as he turned back towards him.

"Well...that gives us something in common."

Jack's brow furrowed. "Do we need something in common, Daniel? Hell, we're as opposite as two sides of a stick most of the time, and we could still...talk about...you know...stuff." He spread his hands apart. "What's different this time?"

"Me," whispered Daniel. "I'm different."

A bitter taste filled Jack's mouth. "Yeah," he said hoarsely. "I can see that." Daniel wouldn't look him in the eye. It occurred to Jack this whole mission, Daniel wouldn't hold his gaze for too long, breaking contact as if fearful his usually expressive eyes would betray something to Jack he didn't want revealed. Jack leaned forward and grasped Daniel firmly by the shoulders. "Come on, Daniel, what is different? I-" He stopped when he saw Daniel flinch. While the archeologist didn't break free, the involuntary wince the moment Jack touched him was enough. The colonel reeled back, aghast. "What do you keep acting like we would hurt you? Like I would?" The reaction made his hands feel filthy. He wiped them on his vest.

"I didn't," Daniel denied it venomously, but Jack wasn't fooled.

"Damn it, Daniel, you know by now that no matter what we're a team, and we're not going to knock you on your back!" Jack waved his hands, frustrated and caught another reflex from Daniel. He froze. If not them, then it had to be...

"Christ, what happened back in the ward?" Jack whispered.

Daniel's face seemed to pale further, going for transparent. "N-nothing."

Caught. Jack heard the slight quaver Daniel couldn't hide. Exhaustion was wearing the scientist's wall down, and while Jack felt like a heel to take advantage of it, he pressed on. "No, something happened there. I'm right, aren't I?' Alarm grew inside the colonel as he saw Daniel's face pale impossibly further. Jack mentally flipped through every face he encountered back in the ward, his rage bubbling in his chest. "Daniel, did they hurt you?" His hands hidden in his lap bunched into fists. "Did they?"

Shaking his head, Daniel looked positively nauseous doing the gesture. His head swayed and for a moment, Jack thought he was going to pass out. Alarmed, the older man latched on to Daniel's left arm. It startled the archeologist enough to rip a "No, don't touch me!" out of him.

Shocked, Jack's hand hung in mid-air.

Huge stunned brown eyes glued to Daniel. Jack's hand still frozen in place as he managed to sputter out "Daniel, what-"

"O'Neill!"

The two men jumped as both their radios came to life with a shout. Teal'c's voice, normally calm and even, came through their black boxes with an urgency that was clear despite the static. Jack ripped the radio off his shoulder attachment. "What is it?" he snarled, angry at the interruption. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Daniel shakily run a hand through his hair, deep breaths rising his shoulders up and down like a seesaw as he regained his composure.

"Major Carter..." The radio crackled some more. "We were retrieving core samples from the caves. Apparently, one of the floors was unstable, and she fell through a crack-"

"What?" Daniel sat up higher. "Is she okay?"

Teal'c heard the question. "She is well, Daniel Jackson. She has reported to me she is uninjured but there is something...I believe you must see..."

The two men looked at each other, baffled. Jack flicked on his radio again. "Teal'c, where are you guys?"

"The ground level caves, the one below where we placed our temperature sensors."

Without another word, Jack got up to his feet, glanced behind him to see if Daniel was following before they ran out of the cave.