Chapter 11

Jack was certain that Daniel had been abused in a pretty sadistic way on Almadas, and the very thought of it made him want to run down to that holding cell and start perpetrating some abuse of his own. To start with, it was the way Daniel was always so jumpy. He'd flinch if someone would talk a little loudly. If someone shouted, he'd bury his head in his hands, often pressing them over his ears as if to keep the sound out. When it came time for him to debrief to General Hammond, he broke down in tears more than once. Because of Daniel's fragility, they took the debriefing very slowly, and by bits and pieces they'd managed to learn what had happened to him. He'd arrived on Almadas, met Maykell, and was taken to the town to have dinner with the Council, Maykell, and Maykell's men. Then came that wretched cabas drink, waking up in the hospital, undergoing physical therapy, and then being adopted out to Karl and Mara. While he wasn't explicit with the details about his time with them, more than one person could tell that he'd been very stressed out while he'd been there.

The worst thing, the thing that made Jack ready to kill the Almadans, was the fact that Daniel began to have nightmares when he slept, which was much of the time. He seemed exhausted all of the time, and Janet insisted that he be allowed to sleep as much as he wanted. The only times she insisted he be up was to walk and stretch a little, to wash and change, and to eat. The commissary, elated to have Daniel back, made sure that all of his favorite dishes and snacks were sent up to the infirmary on a regular basis, but he didn't have much appetite. Most of the time he would eat about five mouthfuls before going back to sleep, and everyone found that very worrying.

It was General Hammond who initially questioned the Almadans. Once Daniel had been settled in the infirmary and was sleeping, Hammond went to talk to these people. He didn't understand why they would…shrink…a fully-grown man, nor did he understand why they kept insisting that Daniel was their son. He didn't understand any of it. (If he listened to Colonel O'Neill's suggestions, these people would be hung, drawn, and quartered before being burned at the stake.)

What was most perplexing was the fact that they denied abusing Dr. Jackson. He pointed out the fact that Daniel's behavior indicated that he'd been abused, but all three of them insisted that nothing of the kind had happened. Dr. Mackenzie, after observing security videos of the infirmary and seeing the nightmares that Daniel had had, corroborated what General Hammond had told them. Once again, they denied that it had ever happened. Frustrated, Hammond returned to his office to regroup. To his great chagrin, Jack was waiting for him.

"Hi, General," Jack said as he walked in.

"Hello, Colonel."

"How are the Almadans?"

"They're fine. Nervous, furious at being held, but they're fine, despite rumors that there's a money pool on how long it will take before you kill them on your own."

"Yeah, well, that pool's not so foolish," Jack admitted. "Every nightmare Daniel has pushes me a little closer to the so-called edge. I've seen the tapes of your visits with them, and I can't believe they're saying that they didn't hurt Daniel. A guy doesn't have nightmares like that without having something truly awful happen to him. I know that for a fact."

Unspoken was both men's knowledge that Colonel O'Neill had been in black ops and had even spent time in an Iraqi prison.

"Dr. Jackson is very reluctant to even speak about what happened to him," General Hammond reminded him.

"Yeah. He did mention, though, that little seminar on brainwashing and indoctrination he attended a while back."

"They were trying to brainwash him?"

"I don't doubt it," Jack assured him. "Not for an instant. I don't know if we should actually have him have sessions with Mackenzie or not, but I do know that he's terrified the Almadans are going to get out of their cell, come after him, and take him back through the Gate. He hasn't said so, not while he was awake, anyway, but I can tell that's what he's thinking."

"Not while he's awake?"

"He's been talking in his sleep, and when he wakes up with a nightmare he screams that they're gonna take him."

"Does that happen every time?" Hammond asked, surprised.

"Every time."

Jack could see General Hammond thinking. "Colonel, I have a feeling that there's something on your mind that you haven't brought up yet."

"Yep."

"Care to share what it is?"

Jack put his hands behind his head and stared at the ceiling. "Daniel's on pins and needles. He's a walking bundle of nerves. Use whatever cliché you want, but I have a feeling that he's not going to relax unless he's off the base."

George felt a smile starting. "What are you suggesting, Colonel?"

"Let me take him home with me tonight and bring him back Monday. The Almadans can wait a couple days. Daniel will be able to chill out at my place and recuperate a bit. Like you once said, sir, I'm the closest thing he's got to a family. Who's he going to turn to to help him through this?"

Hammond nodded. "And he doesn't like being in the infirmary, despite being friends with Dr. Frasier and most of the staff."

"Is that a yes?" Jack said, sitting up and looking closely at Hammond's expression.

"It's a yes, Colonel," Hammond assured him. "Take him home, feed him, get him to relax, and bring him back more like his old self, all right?"

Jack stood and saluted. "Yes, sir. Thank you, sir."

"Dismissed, Colonel."

--

"How long do you think they'll keep us?" Mara asked that evening.

"I have no idea," Karres admitted. "They may decide to let us go, but then again…."

"We're in trouble, aren't we?" Karl muttered.

"I think so."

"I just wish they'd let us see him," Mara said, fighting tears as she sat down on one of the beds. "Is he all right? Is he afraid? Is he eating? Does he need anything?"

"According to that general, he doesn't want to see us. He's afraid of us," Karl said, still sounding as if he couldn't believe it. "Why does this general keep saying that Daniel's been abused? We've never struck him! Never! Not once!"

"Perhaps they have a different concept of abuse?" Mara suggested. "Perhaps what was done to him counts as abuse here."

"Ridiculous!" Karres snapped. "He was done a favor. He had a chance to be young again! Who wouldn't want a chance like that?"

"Apparently, Daniel didn't," Karl said, sighing.

All of them were nervous. They'd been brought to the cell, given physicals by some medical staff, and left alone for hours. By the end of that stretch of time, they were too exhausted by nerves to think about much else. General Hammond arrived soon after they had finished a meal (they had no way of knowing what time it was in this place) and sat down with them at the table to talk. The first thing out of Mara's mouth had been, "How is Daniel?"

"Dr. Jackson is in our infirmary at the moment, and he is sleeping," General Hammond had said. "However, we have received his report about what happened to him on Almadas, but I would also like to hear what you have to tell me."

So they told him. Karres told of being contacted by the Council, who'd said that they had a candidate for the procedure. Karres went to the Council Hall and tested Daniel there for the viability of the procedure and found him to be the perfect candidate. He took Daniel to the hospital, performed the procedure, and placed him in a ward with nine others like him for the requisite physical therapy and recuperation. Once Daniel had been sufficiently recovered, he'd been placed with Karl and Mara.

Karl and Mara described taking Daniel home, taking him shopping, on outings, introducing him to his grandparents, and then taking him to school.

"Did he ever have nightmares?" the General asked.

"Not that we know of," Karl admitted. "Why?"

"Just wondering," Hammond told them. "If Daniel did something wrong, how was he punished?"

"He never did anything wrong," Mara said firmly. "Well, he left his bedroom a little messy once, but he put it right when we asked him to. We never had to punish him."

"Dr. Karres? Was Daniel ever punished at the hospital?"

"Of course not."

General Hammond appeared to think about this. "Thank you for what you've told me. Due to certain security procedures, you will be kept in this room. Meals and fresh clothing will be brought every day. I will be back later to talk with you again."

It seemed the three Almadans had to be content with that.

The General did come back later, and with him came a man named Dr. Mackenzie. The man was a specialist in mental health, it seemed, but they weren't happy to hear what he had to say. How dare the man say that Daniel had been abused! They had never harmed Daniel, not once in all his time on Almadas! They'd only wanted what was best for Daniel! Certainly that meant that he hadn't been abused!

So the General's visits continued up to the present. It didn't look as if they were going to be let go anytime soon.

--

Jack found Daniel where he'd been for the last few days: the infirmary. He was lying in bed, staring listlessly at yet another snack the commissary had sent up for him and looking as dejected as Jack had ever seen him look.

"Hey, Danny boy," Jack said, plopping into a chair next to the bed. "Howya doin'?"

"I'm okay," Daniel said, not sounding okay. "You just missed Teal'c. He played chess with me this morning."

"Ah, well, I'll catch him later. It's you I came to see."

"What for?"

"I know a certain archeologist and best bud who has his name all over pizza, a couple of DVDs, and the guest room at my place this weekend," Jack said, grinning. "The general's already said yes, so it's no use refusing."

Jack's little speech actually won a short chuckle from Daniel. "Has Janet already said yes? She says she won't release me until I put on a little weight."

"You'll do that this weekend, trust me. We're going to pig out on junk food and laze about, watching TV and reading comics and being stupid. You'll love it."

"Are we?" Daniel said, starting to smile. He still looked tired, and a large part of his expression told Jack that he didn't think it would happen.

"Yep. I'm going to go get you some clothes, and then we'll be going. Think about the type of junk food you'd like, okay? I'll be right back."

"What do I do if Janet comes?"

Jack paused to think about it. "Pretend to be asleep. Even before all this crap happened to you, every single nurse on this base thought you looked cute asleep."

Daniel actually laughed.

It took Jack all of five minutes to find some clothes in the base exchange and it took only five more minutes to take them back to the infirmary. He brought them to Daniel, pulled the curtains closed around the bed, and waited for him to get dressed. Janet, seeing that something was going on in her infirmary, came out of her office. "What's all this?"

"Daniel's coming home with me for the weekend, and before you say anything, General Hammond's already given the okay."

Janet headed for the phone, called Hammond, and asked for an explanation as to why her orders as chief medical officer had been circumvented.

"I think it will be beneficial for Dr. Jackson to have a little time off-base," he said over the phone. "You have to admit, Doctor, that he hasn't been doing well. That is no reflection on your care of him, but sometimes a man needs more than pills and the attention of nurses, Doctor."

"Thank you, sir," Janet said, feeling herself agree with him whole-heartedly. "I will expect to see him again first thing Monday morning."

"Let the colonel know."

"I will, sir," she assured him before hanging up and heading back out to see the colonel and Daniel. "First thing Monday morning, I want him back here, got it, Colonel?"

"Yep, gotcha, Doc," Jack assured her as Daniel finished tying his shoes. "Ready to get outta here, Daniel?"

"Yes," Daniel said, pulling on his jacket. "See you Monday, Janet."

Janet smiled, watching the two of them leave. If she didn't know better, she would have said that they were father and son, but she knew that was preposterous. They were only two good friends, and one of them was trapped in a child's body. Sighing, Janet returned to her office to finish her paperwork, reflecting that Jack and Daniel were fortunate in the fact that they were friends. It was rare that two people found such friends, and she was thankful that they'd found one another.