Part 7: Homecoming

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Half of the cell was filled with rubble, but luckily the shield-like walls had held back the full force of the detonation. McKay and O'Neill had been almost completely protected by the shield. If the door had been closed, the blast wouldn't have effected them in the slightest.

Jack sat up slowly, his ears ringing from the explosion. The first thing he reached for was his radio... but it had fallen off of his vest at some point..

"Daniel," Jack called, coughing from the dust as he pulled the flashlight off his vest and started shining it towards the rocks that had invaded the cell.

McKay sat up and coughed from the dust, shocked that they were still alive and unharmed. He looked up at the walls of the room. There were piles of dirt, rocks, and stray strands of colorful wires pressed against all of the visible walls, but no obvious cracks. "This is spectacular! I can't believe the NID has been keeping this stuff a secret. I mean, we could be using this for..."

"Shut up," Jack said sharply, still scanning the debris for movement or body parts. "Help me look for Daniel."

McKay stopped talking immediately, his eyes catching sight of a dirty foot in the rubble of an area Jack was about to examine. "Over there!" he said quickly, pointing. McKay hoped the foot was still attached to the rest of Daniel.

"Give me a hand," Jack said, propping up his light to dig with both hands.

McKay scrambled up to the pile, shoveling rocks aside.

Within a minute they could see his head. The impact of the blast had spin Daniel a little as he entered the room. He was face down with his feet pointing inside the cell and his head resting in the direction of the elevator. His arms were pinned under his body.

Jack carefully turned Daniel onto his back. His right shoulder and arm were misshapen with deep purple bruising where the rocks had probably landed and broken the bones.

"Careful," McKay reminded fearfully. "He might have a broken back or something. Right," McKay agreed as if it were the most important revelation he had ever had. "Breathing first, broken bones later. Is he still breathing?"

Jack looked at him, perplexed by how strange his best scientist was acting under pressure. "Yes, he's still breathing."

McKay started thinking out loud. "Those parasites will probably repair anything wrong with him. He was pretty weak when we got here. I'm surprised that he made it from one end of the cell to the other on his own, let alone all the way to the door as fast as he did. Do you think he'll be ok?"

Jack looked back towards the cot. "Grab his feet. Let's get him into the bed."

"Now we're going to have a bloodthirsty monster on our side of the room," he muttered

Jack lifted Daniel from under the shoulders and he and McKay laid him down on the rickety little bed.

"That blood Fraiser brought down," Jack began. "Have you seen it?"

They both scanned the floor.
McKay bent down and picked both packages up. "Got them. And there are tubes and needles."

Jack gestured at Daniel. "This bloodthirsty monster just saved your life. If we set up the transfusion hopefully he won't try to eat us when he wakes up."

McKay held out the packages and tubing towards Jack.

Jack didn't take it.

"Hey, it's not like I'm not grateful, but I haven't had medical field training in at least a year," McKay clarified. "Asking me to hit a vein right now would be like asking Dr Lee to dance for the Russian Ballet. "

"Fine." Jack took the packages. "Use your flashlights and start looking for the radio." He pointed towards the left wall. "We came in on that side so hopefully we find it in one piece."

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Daniel opened his eyes, jolted awake by the realization that the emitter had stopped working. His bed squeaked when he moved.

"Hey," Jack said from the floor near the rubble. He and McKay were sitting as far from Daniel as this small room would allow. "You've been out a long time. How's your head?"

The power running through the walls left a pale blue glow to the room, just enough light for the humans to see most shapes and for Daniel to see everything with a blue tint.

"What happened?" Daniel asked urgently. The moments leading to the explosion were a little fuzzy. He closed his eyes and took a slow, deep breath, trying to get his instincts under control. It had been years since he'd been in a room with normal people he wasn't required to kill. As soon as he asked the question he heard both men recall the events in their own minds.

"Booby trap. It might have been worse if you hadn't gotten to the device first," Jack admitted calmly. "And good thinking about the room."

"I don't think it could have gotten any worse, but we're probably going to suffocate anyway," McKay added quietly. He turned on the flashlight, aiming it at Daniel for only a moment.

Daniel's eyes reflected the light back, but it felt like an ice pick had been pushed through his head. He turned away, blinded and annoyed.

McKay let out a squeal of fright and aimed the beam back to the floor.

Daniel blinked several times until his vision cleared. He surveyed what was left of his room, and then noticed the half-empty unit of blood with which he was being transfused and the empty package on the floor. He pilled the needle and tubing from his arm with his mouth, took the bag in his hands and began drinking directly from the package. The shackles were still limiting his dexterity. Eating something else was the best way of keeping McKay and Jack alive.

McKay made a gagging sound.

Jack simply looked away, waiting for the process to stop.

Daniel finished the bag and dropped it behind the bed. He needed more, so being trapped in a room with the two people he wouldn't dream of killing or infecting was leaving him on the verge of a panic attack. "Do you have your radio?" Before he finished asking he already knew the answer. Having two people in the room with him was deafening.

"Can't you just..." Jack made a wiggling motion with his fingers near his head and up to the ceiling "... and let them know we're still alive?"

Daniel sighed. "Too far and I think the emitter on the main floor is still running." He looked at the ceiling. "The one down here was crushed, so I'm getting caught up pretty quick about everything I missed. I never learned a way to turn it" he gestured at his head, "off."

"The radio was crushed." Jack answered.

"They'll still try to look for us," McKay lied to himself, panic in his voice.

Jack looked at McKay as of McKay were crazy, which Jack didn't doubt. "We're what, 70 'er 80 feet down? Even if they knew we were here I don't really see things working out in our favor."

"Do you have any tools with you?" Daniel asked McKay. He didn't need to ask but he was trying very hard to block the chatter. McKay was having a panic attack, and this was making Daniel anxious, too.

McKay nodded. He lifted his bag a little to show he still had the whole bag he'd arrived with.

Daniel put his feet on the floor and stood. There wasn't a part of him that didn't hurt, especially his shoulder and his head.

"Take it easy," Jack said, standing. "What'd ya need?"

Daniel wobbled and sat back down. He held out his arms towards McKay. "I need you to remove these."

McKay picked up his bag, stood, but didn't move. "Is it safe for me to .. Um.. You're not going to bite me, are you?" He was hugging the bag.

"It's hard for me to focus," Daniel admitted. He shook his head at an awkward angle, and closed his eyes tightly for just a moment. "It would help me a lot if you quit thinking about how many different ways there are for me to kill you."

"Not exactly a glowing endorsement," Jack said to Daniel.

"Can I show you how this works?" Daniel asked McKay.

McKay was still hugging the bag. He looked at the shackles and back at Daniel. "I guess."

Daniel mentally relayed all he remembered about where the power source was, how to get to the wires, where the bolt was attached, the giant washers to prevent him from pulling free… then the memory of pain and blood as they threaded the bold between the bones of his forearms… He stopped.

McKay was hugging his bag and shaking, not saying anything, staring at Daniel.

"Sorry," Daniel said. "I'm a little out of practice."

Jack was still standing. He waved a hand in front of McKay's face.

McKay made a whimpering sound. "W-What?" he asked towards Daniel.

Jack looked back at Daniel. "You broke our scientist. We don't have a spare and you broke him."

Daniel pushed the hair out of his face, looking at the floor in defeat. "It just got so jumbled." McKay's panic was replaced with shock and confusion. At least it was a little quieter for a minute.

"What?" McKay asked again, this time directing the question at Jack.

Jack pulled the workbag away from McKay and the flashlight, walking over to Daniel. "Use words."

Daniel nodded a little. "Small, flathead screwdriver. Wire cutters. Two crescent wrenches. Any size pliers."

Jack started digging in the bag, laying each tool next to him as he located it.

McKay sat down, still in shock. He looked at his own forearms, then folded his arms and drew up his knees to his chest. For a split second he had seen his arms stretched out in front of him as the iron was fitted around them. Then felt the exact moment when the blunt bolts tore through his skin andhe couldn't stop thinking about the grinding sensation of metal scraping against the bone.

Jack shown the light on the metal. "Where do I start?"

"Both sides have a little hatch," Daniel explained, showing both sides of the gauntlets. "Pry off the covers."

Jack held the small flashlight with his teeth and started to scrape at the crease. His eyes glanced up at Daniel. Daniel's eyes were closed and his breathing was a little uneven. Staying with me? Jack thought as clearly as he could.

Daniel nodded and opened his eyes. "I'm not around people much anymore." Being so close to Jack was pulling at every instinct he had failed to conquer for the last eight years. His injuries were feeling better by the second, but his thirst was returning just as quickly.

Jack popped the first panel off.

"You see the head of the bolt? There's a bunch of wires wrapped around it. Cut them all."

Jack snipped the wires.

Daniel turned his hands over to access the other side. "Same this side."

Jack started scraping again on the other panel, the flashlight still in his teeth. They ever look into why I didn't get infected?

Daniel shook his head. "I don't think they cared."

I remember Frasier said something weird about that; didn't get a chance to tell you since we already thought you were dead. Jack snipped the wires wrapped around the nut. He took the light out of his mouth. "You remember that stuff about the Ancients and their genetic marker? The ancients had a genetic trait that allowed them to use their technology. Some people these days still have the gene. We were in a time crunch to use their tech to , you know, save the world so the whole base was tested for the marker. Only a couple people had the gene. Fraiser checked and Sam didn't and neither did you. At first Fraiser thought it might have been the Gao'uld protein marker that made me any different, but Sam and I both had that when she was infected."

Daniel laughed a little, the first time in a long time. "You finally remembered everything a doctor said to you."

Jack looked serious. "You were my best friend and I thought you were dead. Carter is still out there, so those things have been sticking with me a little better than they used to."

Daniel nodded again, looking back to the gauntlets. "Hold onto the head of the bolt on this side with one wrench and twist the nut off on the other. There will be some blood so use the tools."

Jack put the light back into his mouth and did as he was told.

Every turn sent a fresh stab of pain through both arms. His teeth were clenched. The pain was motivating the parasite to take action.

The nut fell to the floor.

Daniel took another ragged breath. "Use the pliers to pulled the washer away."

Jack slid the washer away, horrified to see the end of the bolt sticking out of his friend's forearm. The wound was so fresh it looked like it had just happened a few minutes ago; something he would see in an emergency room or as a result of this cave-in, not an existing injury.

"H-Hold the head of the other washer with the pliers," Daniel sputtered. "I'm going to pull my hands away from it."

Jack clamped the pliers around the washer below the head of the bolt, holding the grip with both hands. Ready "Rea-ee." Jack thought and mumbled at the same time.

Daniel pulled his arms away from Jack, leaving the pliers holding the bloody bolt and the second washer.

McKay was staring at the others, still in some form of shock.

Daniel grunted in pain as he separated his wrists, and tried to use his stiff fingers to pull the remaining metal off his arms.

Jack dropped the bolt and tossed down the pliers. He reached for Daniel's hands to help slide the final pieces off, but Daniel pulled away, walking all the way to the back wall.

"Too much blood. Don't want to press your luck," Daniel said simply, his voice still pained. "I just need a minute." Daniel was flexing his fingers, trying to wake up the circulation.

Jack took the flashlight out of his mouth and sat down next to McKay. The color in Daniel's shoulder had returned to the normal pale shade- he could see it through the torn fabric. As he watched Daniel flex his hands the blackish stain faded, too. With each movement his joints bent more smoothly.

Daniel slid each of the remaining metal sheaths off his hands as he walked back to the bed. He pulled one of the sheets away from the bed and started to wipe away the blood from his forearms. His fingers were still stiff, but the places the bolts had been were just pink scars.

"Better?" Jack asked.

Daniel nodded, his eyes falling on McKay. "You ok?"

McKay shook his head a little, still staring a Daniel. "T-That was a little- a little too much."

"What did you actually do to him?" Jack asked.

Daniel shook his head a little. "Breck warned me once that math and languages are easy to," he gestured from his head towards Jack, "It's all just facts." He pushed the hair out of his face, this time able to use a single hand to push the hair behind on ear. "I've never seen a schematic for that device so I showed him what I knew. I haven't done this in a while and when I was relaying how to remove it then the way they were instilled slipped through too."

"So much pain," McKay muttered. "They've been doing that sort of stuff to you for years, haven't they?"

Daniel didn't answer the question. "Rodney, I'm sorry you experienced that."

McKay nodded a little. "You, too," he whispered, finally looking away from Daniel.

"How long did they have those things on you?" Jack asked. "It looked pretty fresh."

"A month." Daniel flexed his fingers again, rolling his wrists to check the range of motion. His wrists cracked and ground at the joint as they moved for the first time since the bolt was inserted. "They electrified the bolt and it kept the parasites from making it heal. They think that's what did it, anyway, but it might have just been the pain and restricted blood flow." Daniel walked towards the rubble at the entrance and held his hand out towards the elevator. He closed his eyes and moved his hand a little, palm forward, like he was warming his hand by a fire. "The elevator shaft isn't fully caved in. Thirty feet foreword, twenty or so feet up… there's a big air pocket. I can get us there, then make a push for the surface." He opened his eyes again and walked back to the cot.

"Do I even wanna know?' Jack asked.

McKay was staring at Daniel again.

"I can tell when solid things aren't solid," Daniel tried to explain. "Would be helpful if I was still working at archaeological sites." He swept his hand above him, and then towards the ceiling throughout the room. "There's a small break in the glass over there." He pointed above the cot. "We need to move before it gives out."

"And you've tried this before?" Jack asked, a nervous tone to his voice for the first time all day. "I mean, actually walking all the way from one end of something solid to the other? Last time I saw you it was just walking through walls between rooms or falling through floors."

"And have you ever taken anyone with you before?" McKay asked.

"It's a plan," Daniel said with clenched teeth, his temper finally getting the better of him. "Come up with another one before we run out of air." It had been a long time since he'd had to cooperate with anyone. He'd been in that room mostly by himself for far too long. He forced himself to take a more pleasant tone. "I have brought two people with me before, but never this far. That's why we need to stop in the elevator shaft."

"I'm ready to go when you are," Jack said more cheerfully, standing up again.

McKay stood, too, still too frozen by his fear to ask anything else or warn about potential the dangers.

"Stand on either side of me," Daniel instructed.

Jack and McKay positioned themselves, all three now facing the rubble.

Daniel grabbed each of them tightly around the upper arm. "Don't try to move around too much." For just a moment his instincts flared and his grip tightened beyond what was necessary. His mouth was dry and he could feel their pulse through their shirts.

"How much is too much?" McKay asked almost too quietly for Jack to hear.

"Just don't try to talk," Daniel added with a glance at McKay. "It will feel like I'm dragging you though deep water or sand. You won't be able to breathe, but I'll get us though as fast as I can."

McKay took a few deep breaths, as if preparing for a swim, and then gave a nervous nod.

Daniel stepped towards the wall first, pulling Jack and McKay into the wall after him. They all disappeared.

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Daniel's torso emerged into the opening first.

The space was small, about 6ft by 6ft with a low ceiling.

Daniel took a few more steps and pulled both Jack and McKay into the empty space. He let go of them as quickly as he could and doubled over stumbled to the floor.

Jack and McKay both coughed a few times, panting and taking deep breaths.

Jack reached into his jacket and pulled out the flashlight. "Watch your head," he warned McKay.

McKay nodded and learned away from the pieces of rebar protruding from the ceiling.

"Danny, how you holding up?" Jack shined his light on his friend.

Daniel was sitting on the floor. Staring up at them intensely, not blinking.

"Still with us?" Jack asked nervously.

Daniel could barely hear anything aside from the beating of Jack and McKay's hearts. He shook his head a little, trying to make the feelings recede. He felt like he was starving again and every part of him wanted to grab onto one of his friends and just start drinking. "I need something to drink or I won't be able to get us to the surface," he struggled to say.

Jack's vest had several pockets, and started to pat a few of them and finally found what he was looking for. He removed a nearly empty water flask and his knife. He uncapped the flask and pulled out the blade, poised to cut his hand.

"Jack, wait," Daniel said quickly, holding out his hand for urgency. It took all of his strength to force himself to stop Jack. Every part of him was eager for spilt blood.

Jack stopped. "What? If I put it in the flask you won't use your teeth. No teeth, no parasite."

Daniel smiled very weakly, proud of his friend again proving that he cared enough to remember the details written in a report. "Good idea, but if you have an immunity the way the Jaffa did, you remember what happened when I drank his blood?"

Jack nodded. "Epic food poisoning."

"And if your blood is some sort of cure this would be the worst time ever to turn me back into a normal person." Daniel held out his hand above him, sensing where the next gap or air pocket might be. "If I get cured now we'll suffocate in about an hour." A pain shot through his head. He pulled his hand away quickly and put it to his forehead, eyes closed. "Or we'll be crushed," he added. The pain lingered, but not as badly. If he tapped into another active ability before getting something to drink, his friends would never make it back home.

Jack looked over at McKay.

"Me?" he asked very quietly. "B-But I don't handle pain very well. I can't just cut myself open the way you soldiers keep doing."

"Hold the canteen for a minute, and I'll do the rest," Jack offered.

Daniel clenched his fists, rocking slightly as he started to get back to his feet.

"Danny?" Jack asked. "Just give us a minute. Try thinking about something else. Pick my brain. There's probably something more interesting in there that what I'm doing now."

"When we get back to the base, remind me to share this memory with you and you'll never try to give me that advice again," Daniel laughed a little, still watching them. "This is another reason why I haven't tried to escape in the last two years," he added more softly. He was leaning against the wall using all his willpower to not close the gap between them.

McKay took the flask and offered Jack his hand.

Jack ran the blade fast across McKay's palm and lined up the cut with the flask.

Daniel rushed towards his friends, but stopped just inches away from McKay's hand.

McKay give a whimper and closed his eyes, but he didn't move.

Daniel was finally able to hear a full, coherent narrative inside McKay's head. Of all the odd times for it to have changed focus, he wasn't obsessing over Daniel's ability to do him harm. Rodney was thinking remorsefully about his estranged sister and the niece - or was it a nephew? - he was never going to meet. He had no doubt that the child would be as smart and talented as his sister, and this moment was the first time since he found out about the child that he genuinely thought he'd never get to meet whoever that child grew up to be.

Jack grabbed the flask and kept it aligned with McKay's hand as if nothing unusual were happening.

Daniel inched away, forcing himself to keep his distance. It had been years since he had had to control himself like this. His hands were shaking, but he managed to turn his back on the scene.

The blood had slowed to a droplet every few seconds but the flask already had several tablespoons added to the water.

Daniel was breathing more normally, and not shaking anymore. He'd been keeping his eyes shut and did as Jack suggested. He was exploring Jack's memories of reading very dry mission reports of routine SG-6 and SG-11 surveying or agricultural assignments. They were interesting enough to Daniel to hold his attention, but Jack's level of boredom during the time he was reading it kept Daniel from getting too stimulated.

Jack didn't want to make a fresh cut, so he held out the flask for Daniel. "Danny."

Daniel turned quickly, grabbed the flask and drained the mixture of water and blood in just a few swallows.

Jack closed his knife and put it back in the right pocket. He slapped against another pocket and pulled out a paper-covered square of sterile gauze. He tore open the package and pressed the gauze against McKay's palm.

"Is it over?" McKay asked, opening only one eye.

"Keep pressure on it," Jack said, grabbing McKay's unharmed hand and pressing it against the gauze. He looked back at Daniel. "Ready to keep going?"

Daniel was licking at the opening of the flask but stopped as if caught doing something unacceptable. He dropped the flask onto the rubble. "I'm not going to stop until I get both of you to the surface."

Daniel could feel his face starting to burn as soon as his head broke the surface. He flinched and squinted to keep his eyes open in spite of the blinding light as he continued to rise. It had been more than a minute since they'd entered the wall and if he stopped now McKay and Jack might pass out from lack of air.

One of the nurses let out a scream, and a group of soldiers looked over in disbelief.

Daniel landed in a kneeling position, solidly on the ground with his arms still extended into the rock and rubble. His skin was steaming. They had appeared in the shade of a decorative parking-lot tree, but it wasn't dark enough for his skin. With one last burst of strength he pulled them both onto solid ground.

Jack and McKay were coughing badly as Daniel released them.

Daniel could barely see. He could tell it wasn't in direct sunlight, but his skin was still burning. Holding up a hand to shield his eyes, he looked around for some shade.

Apparently he hadn't made a very straight line to the surface because he was kneeling on solid pavement outside of the building. There was a set of metal stairs leading up to what was left of a warehouse's doors with some wooden planks hiding the empty space under the stairway to keep homeless and stray animals out.

Daniel scrambled towards the boards, tore one plank away and slipped into the shade.

"General?" Dr Fraiser shouted as she ran for the pair on the ground. "Are you ok?"

Daniel felt like he was in the middle of a war zone. Despite the pain he was still in and the confusing din of sounds from around the building, he was still appreciative of his proximity to a working emitter. He was hungry and tired and if not for the emitter there were a dozen people he could easily overpower.

Jack cleared his throat a few times before breathing normally as Fraiser started to check his pulse.

"I'm fine, too, thanks," McKay snapped sarcastically, still coughing and grasping hard to the gauze to his hand

Another medic came over to Rodney.

"I feel fine. Where's Daniel?" Jack asked, looking around as he got to his feet.

"You might be fine but I still have sand in my lungs," McKay complained, with another dramatic cough.

"His lungs sound clear," the paramedic told the group quietly.

Daniel's hands were shaking, again. That's the farthest he'd ever traveled with even one person in tow, and on top of that his skin looked charred in places and red all over from too much exposure to daylight. "I'm under here," he called to Janet. "T-Toss me a p-package..." His heart was pounding so fast he was starting to feel dizzy. He struggled to make his eyes focus. If he passed out due to hunger, the parasite would take full control and he couldn't risk harming any more people now that he was away from NID experiments. He was determined to never be in a position to harm someone again.

"Got it," Janet called, digging into her bag as she approached the staircase. She crouched down by the broken boards and held the bag into the darkness.

Daniel licked his lips. He needed blood and he could almost smell the warm liquid running through her wrist. He quickly grabbed the bag from her hand and recoiled back into the alcove. "I need a little space."

"Are you feeling alright?" Janet asked, still at the entrance.

"Peachy," he lied, puncturing the corner of the bag just enough to drink from it.

"I mean it," Janet said quickly.

Daniel had finished half of the bag and stopped drinking, considering an honest answer. "You've already given me the only thing that will help. Go take care of Jack and McKay."

"Are you sure?" Janet continued.

Daniel started drinking from the package again, hoping that silence would give her the message.

"Daniel?" Janet asked urgently, concerned he might have passed out or something.

"I'll be fine," Daniel said slowly, his teeth clenched. His hands weren't shaking the way they had been and his skin wasn't stinging quite as much. "Are they going to be ok? I haven't had to go that far before with people."

"McKay's still being McKay but they both seem healthy," Janet reported warmly. "What happened down there? We just stepped off the elevator, the General was on the radio, and we got out the front door when we started to feel the ground shaking. Two teams and a couple of the NID prisoners are still unaccounted for. It's all so unstable that we haven't been allowed to start digging for them yet."

"There was a trap," Daniel said simply. "I made McKay and Jack get into the cell while I tried to disconnect the device that started the countdown. It didn't make a difference. The walls were strong enough to protect them. They dug me out and I got them to the surface."

"So they're alive thanks to you," Janet stated more than asked.

"If I hadn't brought them back up here, they would have suffocated or I would have killed them myself," Daniel simplified harshly.

Janet seemed surprised. She stood, turned to walk away, and paused, turning around again to add another thought. "I can only imagine what they've put you through over the last eight years, but today you did something good."

"I'm not the person I used to be." He moved as close to the opening as he could manage without being burned again.

The ground rumbled suddenly, like a dump truck had just emptied its load inside the building. Some of the taller pieces of the building that had been left teetering from the first explosion were wobbling and beginning to fall towards the ground.

Daniel knew it must have been the shielded room collapsing because at this same moment the last emitter was destroyed. He instantly felt a unified focus on Janet from the minds of the people in the crowd. The wall was on its way down on top of her, as well as himself, but only a few people in the crowd even knew he was there…

Janet started to open her mouth to warn Daniel when Daniel ran out of the hiding space and wrapped his arms around her.

The wall crashed to the ground leaving a deep pile of debris and sending a cloud of dust into the sky and onto the crowd.

The crowd was silent.

Jack pushed the nurses away and he, Teal'c and a few of the SGC soldiers ran towards the mess. They started to pull at the bricks above the spot where Janet and Daniel had been standing.

The dust hung in the air as minutes passed and more of the stones were moved away.

Jack suddenly saw one of the rocks moving in an area a little farther from the building than he'd last seen his friends. Daniel's sharp-nailed hand came up from under the rocks, passing through the stones like the ground was just a hologram. Jack grabbed onto his friend's hand, pulling him upwards.

Daniel was still holding Janet, but she wasn't moving. Finally, both on solid ground, he pulled his hand away from Jack, laid her on her back and knelt beside her. His hands were shaking again, but at least the dust in the air was keeping his skin from burning in the light. "She needs CPR. We were under ground too long."

A paramedic bent over Janet, tilting her head back and breathing two puffs of air into her lungs. He'd only given her two chest compressions when she started to cough, opening her eyes.

Janet had been holding her breath for so long, but then when she tried to breathe no air would come in. She was wheezing, still laying on her back. She grabbed onto Daniel's hand tightly. "Thank you," she whispered, unable to find her full voice.

Daniel flinched when she touched him. He allowed her the moment but then pulled his hand away from hers. Now that they were on the surface again the thoughts of the observers were far less unified and he was feeling as weak as he had when he'd brought Jack and McKay to the surface.

"What took you so long?" Jack asked seriously.

Daniel's eyes wandered towards the crowd.

They were all starring at him, wanting an explanation for what they had twice seen him do.

Daniel looked back to Jack and Janet. "We started to fall then I got turned around. I started to hear everyone again and I went towards the sound…" That was about as simply as he could explain what had happened.

Jack helped Janet to her feet.

Daniel tried to stand, but lost his balance and fell back onto one knee.

"We should get you back to the SGC," Janet told him, her voice back to full strength. She offered him her hand to help him up.

The dust was beginning to settle. He tried to look up at her to answer but he flinched and looked away as the light started to sting his eyes. "I shouldn't…" If he touched her he was sure he would hurt her. It felt like some had given him too many caffeine pills. His hands were shaking more badly and he was on edge around all the people so close by. He tried again to get his footing and this time he was able to slowly stand up straight.

Janet led him quickly to the nearest ambulance. "Give us a minute, please," she said to the paramedic by the door. "We will be using some of the blood supply."

The medic nodded and opened the door for them.

Daniel followed her inside and the medic closed the door. The tight space was making his cravings even worse, but the dim lighting of the ambulance was a welcome change.

Janet opened up the refrigeration and found a package of O Negative. She rummaged a bit more on the shelves and found a bottle of water, offering them both to Daniel.

Daniel took the items from her slowly. The fear he had seen in her before the building collapsed was gone, replaced by her usual warm bedside manor. He drank from the bottled water first. "Can you find me a jacket with a hood and some heavy gloves? And maybe some boots?" Near the building, like bacons of light in a dark place, he could still hear the intense, terrified thoughts of the living people trapped in the rubble. A few beacons faded in just the short time between Janet's recovery and their entry into the ambulance, but others were still there. He also wanted Janet to leave him alone, for her own safety. His mind was so foggy that once he punctured the package of blood he wasn't sure if that chilly liquid would be enough to satisfy his thirst.

Some of her levity waned. Janet looked at him, trying to hide her disappointment and doubt. "Planning on making a run for it?"

Daniel shook his head quickly and finished the water. "I can hear at least ten people who are sill buried. I want to find them before it's too late."

"Even with everything that's happened…" Janet didn't finish her sentence. She was beaming at him, displaying the warmest smile Daniel had seen in all his eight years on this secret base. "I'll be right back." She opened the door and left, shutting it again behind her.

Daniel sighed to himself, looking at the package of blood. This was the first time he had been alone all morning. Really, though, it was the first private moment he had had in the last eight years. No cameras were watching or scientists waiting to monitor why he behaved in a certain way under certain conditions… No condemned prisoner was locked in the room with him…

Jack was outside, concerned and curious, but at last the other voices outside were finally turning into white noise.

Being part of the rescue team meant he would finally be able to use his abilities to do some good, but it also meant his long morning was going to turn into a very long, hot day and require several more bags of blood in order to save everyone that was still buried. He brought the package up to his mouth and used one sharpened tooth to tare a jagged opening.

The package was half empty before he realized he'd started drinking.

He paused for just a moment to reflect, forcing himself to break the trance this beverage had put just him in. This was another behavior he couldn't allow himself to continue. When he got back to the SGC, he'd insist on traditional blood transfusions. If he kelp allowing himself the instant fix of drinking the blood, his whole focus in life would continue to be finding someone or something to drink from. Janet was outside of the ambulance, so he finished the bag quickly and put the empty package in the biohazard disposal bin.

Janet knocked and came in before receiving an answer, holding an armload of clothing. "They have a canopy, too, to help with the sunlight. We can move it wherever you need to go."

"Can I have another drink?" Daniel asked, pointing towards the refrigerator.

"Help yourself. We'll be outside, and if you need a break you can come back in here." She dropped the clothing beside him and left again.

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"To minimize his prolonged proximity to base personnel, we have a room setup on the outer edge of level 19," Major General Henry Landry began. "They're rigging the plumbing in the sink and shower with a fifteen minute UV wastewater purification before being sent through the usual sanitation protocols. It's already one of the quarantine rooms, so maybe the reinforced walls will cut down on base noise for him. And, before you say anything, I know he can walk though walls and that he isn't a prisoner, so we are removing the locking mechanism from the doors. We should have it move-in ready in about an hour. You're positive you want to transport the legendary Dr. Daniel Jackson - who isn't actually dead - back to the SGC even though he's murdered people while he was held by the NID?"

Landry had been commander of the SGC for three years already, and had only known Dr. Jackson due to numerous reports citing humanitarian efforts and the final report about his death while in NID custody. The details he had been given throughout the day had been conflicting. The new reports simultaneously cited Daniel as being the primary cause of numerous deaths, but later there were reports of his selflessly helping trapped people get out of a collapsed building.

The Colonel O'Neill had invited Teal to his meeting with General Landry.

"Yes," Teal'c answered before Jack could.

"More executed than murdered," Jack said, hoping semantics would help the General get on board. "What else are we going to do to him? We still can't dial the planet where this all started, so should be just kill him? Or keep him locked up down in that same kind of cell the NID designed for him the rest of his very long life? He pulled eleven people out of the ground this morning, not even counting me, McKay, and Fraiser. A few people didn't make it, but when he got them out, they were still breathing. We owe him another chance for that and for ever believing a word the NID said about him being dead. We dropped the ball but we have another chance."

"It is possible that the people from the vampire planet were responsible for the encoded messages that arrived thought the Stargate in the first weeks after DanielJackson's incarceration," Teal'c continued. "As well as some of the messages of unknown origin that we have received over the last eight years. He suggested a device that will translate these messages."

Jack held up his finger. "That's right! We need him back here to build the… whatever it is he needs to build."

"Can't Dr. McKay build the device without Jackson's help?" Landry suggested.

Jack hesitated.

"It is unlikely," Teal'c said definitively. "The documents detailing the translation device have been buried, or are still in possession of the rogue NID, but due to his ability to recollect and share memories it is likely that DanielJackson's assistance will be required." He paused, thinking. "Additionally, allowing DanielJackson to acclimate to the dense population of the SGC, prior to needing his assistance, may reduce the likelihood of unfavorable insolents during times when his cooperation is critically required."

Jack nodded, and decided to simplify. "He's pretty jumpy about loosing that emitter technology. The rogue NID we have in custody won't say anything about the stuff they were working on down there. With time, and Daniel nearby, we could get some real answers."

"Do you really believe it's safe for him to be around people?" Landry asked.

"Of course," Jack said automatically. "Well..." He actually thought about the answer this time. "Eventually. If we let him go to the infirmary a couple times a day for a transfusion, he'll probably be fine."

Landry laughed a little. "Probably? And how likely do you think it is that he'll stay on this base? He broke out of here once and that was before the strain put on him by the NID."

"I believe he will comply with your orders," Teal'c answered.

"Besides, before the NID faked his death everyone was willing to let him come back here," Jack pointed out.

Landry thought a little, then nodded. "If he can't adjust to living here again, we might need to consider other arrangements, but I've read a lot of positive things about him. It will be a pleasure to finally meet him."

"I'm happy you're committed," Jack said diplomatically. "He'll be down here in a few minutes. He's with Fraiser and McKay on the surface."

"Excuse me?" Landry asked in surprise.

"We couldn't exactly leave him where we found him," Jack argued.

Landry sighed heavily, frustrated by his commander's leadership style.

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Daniel was leaning against the bumper of one of the canvas-covered trucks with his arms folded. His eyes were focused on the bright world at the end of the tunnel. He blinked a few times and rubbed his eyes, the outline of the tunnel still burned into his eyelids. The sun would be up for at least two more hours.

"How are you feeling?" Janet asked from behind him.

They had finished finding everyone trapped in the ruble by 1 pm, and by 1:30 pm they were on their way here in the back of an ambulance as part of a military caravan. Janet and a paramedic named Lisa had ridden with him in the back of the ambulance. They'd kept him supplied with both a saline and a blood IV. This was a prudent approach to curbing his appetite in transit, but also served as a crash course in ignoring his instincts in preparation for the close confinement at the SGC.

While on the road, he had been allowed to change into a clean set of scrubs. All of the cloths he had been wearing were bagged up for either decontamination or incineration. The ambulance had an electric razor and both Janet and the paramedic helped cut his hair, briefly sharing a laugh with Daniel as they tried to make it stylish. The discarded hair and the razor were both bagged for disposal. The last thing Daniel was waiting for was a shower.

Daniel was also getting a little better at closing out the noise from the minds around him, but anyone within twenty feet was still like a radio he couldn't shut off. Janet's mind was running though the treatments she was hoping to use on his blood samples once they got downstairs and McKay was wondering what was being served in the cafeteria this week. There were also six airmen within range who had a jumble of random thoughts related to duty and family simultaneously. Lisa and her ambulance had left to be cleaned and restocked.

"It's kinda loud up here," Daniel admitted, opening his eyes again to glance back at her. "But it will be even worse down there."

"After being in that tomb for eight years, a monastery would seem loud," McKay said, chewing nervously on the edge of a hangnail as he leaned against the opposite side of the same truck's bumper as Daniel. "But all those people at monasteries do is think, right? So maybe a monastery would be loud for someone who can read minds." He nibbled more on the hangnail. "Do you think Landry is going to sign off on this?"

McKay really meant that he didn't want to spend any more time with Daniel. "I don't know," Daniel answered calmly. "Jack outranks him, so I think he doesn't have a choice. I hope Jack's right." He'd gotten used to people thinking the worst of him. They weren't wrong, so having support from friends like Jack, Teal'c and Janet was something to get used to again. "You can go down to your office any time. You don't need to stay up here with me."

McKay realized his mind must have floated back to his fear of Daniel. During the trip back he had been sent the preliminary report about the operation in preparation for the debriefing. The report included some of what Daniel confessed before the booby trap was triggered. "I-I don't put much stock in psychology," he admitted suddenly. "You saved my life. I'm truly grateful for that, so you can't hold a person's passing notions against…"

Daniel turned towards McKay quickly, his stare alone silencing McKay's rant. "The passing notion is that I'm still a good person. Everything else is persistent," Daniel said very quietly, his tone matter-of-fact. "You even keep going back to the question of what powers would I have if I got infected, and then, like clockwork, you remember the what I accidentally showed you during the cave-in. You realize the price of those powers and you start thinking of all the different ways I could kill you because being killed would be better than being infected. The same loop over and over. If you don't drop it, some part of that might become a self-fulfilling prophecy."

McKay was scared frozen, his eyes wide. "I'll be in my office!" He jumped up and ran for the elevator as fast as he could.

The elevator opened as McKay arrived. O'Neill and Teal'c started to step out and were almost knocked down by him.

"Sorry, Sir!" McKay said quickly in a high voice as he began repeatedly punching the button until the doors finally closed.

Jack and Teal'c walked out towards Janet and Daniel.

"That guy is disturbed enough without you pushing his buttons," Jack scolded.

"It's probably better for everyone if he stays away from me," Daniel explained. "He dosen't understand subtle and doesn't trust kind. Threatening him is almost the only way of getting a message to stick."

"Ready to head back home?" Jack asked, gesturing towards the entry. "We couldn't give you your old room back, or your lab space, and it might be a week before we get your stuff out of storage… But home is where the Stargate is, am I right?"

Daniel rubbed his eyes again, and the bridge of his nose, as if nursing a headache. Eight years without eye glasses and he found the gesture still helped him relax. Jack was somewhere in the range of 90% sure he had made the right decision. He opened his eyes again and tried to hide his own concern with as much of a smile as he could muster. "Teal'c, whenever you're free would you mind giving me a refresher on the Jaffa Mediation techniques? I've had plenty of time on my own to think about…" Daniel paused "…pretty much everything I've every wanted time to think about, but right now a structured approach might be more helpful."

Teal'c was visible happy. He gave a small bow. "It would be my pleasure. I am not scheduled to go off world again for two days. After you have rested I would welcome your company."

This time Daniel didn't need to strain to show a smile.