A/N: A short chapter to get this story jump-started again. I'm on Thanksgiving break, so even though I have a little homework, I should be able to get another, longer chapter or two done before I have to start focusing again.

Sorry for the delay.

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Chapter 7

Teal'c was the first to make his way to Daniel's beside. At a glance, it might have seemed that the man was sleeping, resting for the coming day, but he looked too pale and he lay too still. As much as Daniel Jackson deserved peace in his life, he was too peaceful.

"You have been asleep for more than a day, Daniel Jackson," Teal'c spoke as he sat in the chair next to the bed. "We are all most concerned." The Jaffa inclined his head a moment to meditate on the steady hum of medical equipment. This was not the first time he had sat at a comrade's sickbed, nor did he suppose it would be the last. He knew that Daniel was in the best of care and he had confidence that if anyone could bring him back from the darkness into which he'd fallen, it was Janet.

So, Teal'c did the only thing he could do—he talked to him. The old warrior spoke of times and events which he'd never mentioned to anyone before. Some of the stories he told were such that could only be born of Earthly imagination, but they were all true, and he told them all to Daniel as he lay in his shock-induced slumber.

"I have seen and overcome much, Daniel Jackson," Teal'c concluded, his tone warm with reassurance, "as I am certain you will also overcome this."

"That was nice, Teal'c," Sam spoke up from the doorway.

"Yeah," Jack chipped in. "You forgot to invite us for story time, though."

"O'Neill, Major Carter," the Jaffa greeted the newcomers. Sam was seated in a wheelchair, her cast-encased foot elevated, while Jack rested a hand on one of the handles, most likely because she had steered him there as opposed to the other way around. He'd pulled a cap down over his head in an attempt to at least partially hide his gauze-covered eyes.

"There a chair around here?" he asked.

"Over here, O'Neill," Teal'c told him, rising from his seat and leading him over to the chair.

"Thanks, T," Jack told him. "How's he doing?" Sam wheeled herself closer to the bed as Teal'c found another seat.

"Daniel Jackson remains unconscious."

"So I hear," the colonel reached out until he found Daniel's bed, putting his hand on the younger man's arm, as though he needed to assure himself that he was still there. Sam lowered her leg so she could get close enough to lay her head on her arms by Daniel's legs as they talked. And that is how Janet found them when she went in to check on her patient—Teal'c keeping silent watch as his teammates slept. The doctor had simply shook her head. SG-1 often reminded her of a bunch of hapless puppies... and each time one of them got sick or injured, they all became sad.

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To be continued...

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