Home sweet home!

Jack shadowed a very wobbly Daniel down the hall, ready with a supportive hand if necessary. "Bed or couch, Daniel?"

Daniel stumbled on, head down and concentrating on every step he shuffled. "Bed. Definitely bed," he admitted as he used a hand against the wall to steady himself. The thought of being away from the hospital had seemed very appealing but now it was a reality, Daniel would quite willing turn round and go back. The hall way seemed to go on for ever and he was so relieved when Jack finally reached round him and opened the door to the spare room.

"We're here, buddy."

Daniel nodded in acceptance and quickly made his way to the bed where he lowered his aching body down with heavy sigh. "Need to lie down."

"Hold fire." Jack quickly dumped Daniel's holdall in the corner of the room and then turned to his friend. "You need to change first. Here," he grabbed the pair of clean sweats he'd had the forethought to leave out. "Let me help you," he said as he handed them to Daniel who quickly snatched them off him.

"I can do it myself," he grumbled and, with shaking hands, started to undo the buttons on his plaid shirt.

Jack moved away and watched, itching to undo the buttons for Daniel but knowing that the intensely private and stubborn man would not allow him to help. After several minutes, Daniel managed to remove his shirt and pull the sweat top on. He then turned his attention to his boots.

"Let me at least do the laces, Daniel?" Jack knelt in front of him, searching Daniel's face for permission and the sick man closed his eyes and reluctantly slowly nodded. Jack quickly removed the boots for him and then reached up to help him with his pants. Daniel tapped his hand away.

"I've got this," he stated, his head still bowed and eyes closed.

Jack hesitated for a while, wanting no more than to insist but he could see by the stubborn set of Daniel's jaw that he needed to back down. "Ok," he capitulated. "I'll just go and sort out your medication."

"Thanks," Daniel nodded again and Jack sighed in frustration but allowed his friend the privacy he obviously craved.

"Won't be long."

xxx

"Dammit!"

Daniel threw his discarded pants into the corner of the room and then used the clean pair to mop the sweat off his brow before they quickly followed. He'd just go to bed in his boxers as he was too exhausted and in too much pain to bother to struggle any more. He inched back on the bed, an arm wrapped round his waist to try and smoother the agony in his gut. Janet was right, there was no way he would have been able to cope on his own and the fact that he was forced to admit that fact, devastated him. After gingerly managing to get under the covers, he lent back against the bed head knowing that there was not much point lying down yet as his body screamed for some pain relief and thankfully it wasn't long before Jack knocked on the door.

"You decent?"

"Yeah," Daniel mumbled, biting the bottom of his lip, trying desperately not to groan.

Jack was special ops trained for a reason. "Hurting?" He asked as he placed a tray with medication and a bottle of water on the bedside cabinet.

"Oh,yeah," Daniel admitted with a nod and Jack quickly handed him the water, two pain killers and an antibiotic.

Daniel just as quickly tossed the pills in his mouth, washed them down with a swig of water and handed him the bottle back. "Need to sleep," he stated as he slowly and carefully lowered himself down onto his side. He reached and pulled the quilt up over his shoulders and curled up, his arm still wrapped round his abdomen.

Closing his eyes, he concentrated on riding out the pain, aware of Jack sorting things out around him, opening draws,and closing closets. By the time the medication had toned the pain down to a dull roar, his belongings had been put away and the drapes had been draw on the miserable, wet afternoon.

"I'm a shout away if you need me," he heard Jack whisper before the bedroom door was gently closed.

Daniel opened his eyes and glanced round the now empty room and tears filled his eyes. He was alone again.

Quickly reaching up, he brushed them away angrily. What was wrong with him? He was used to being alone. He coped better alone, no matter how much it hurt and it did hurt.

Two days. He would give himself two days and then he wouldn't bother Jack anymore.

xxx

Jack channel hopped, not really concentrating on the television at all. It was now early evening and his house guest was still sleeping. After checking on Daniel several times in the first hour as he would check on a child, Jack had actually resorted to doing some paper work to while away the boring, baby sitting hours. It was as if he couldn't allow himself to relax in his own home which sounded stupid even to him. This new found 'family' thing was going to take some adjusting too by everyone.

The last time he'd felt like this was when Charlie had chickenpox and Sarah was out of town for the weekend, snowed in at her mothers. Jack had spent the majority of his time then just pacing the floors, ready to spring into action if and when his boy needed him.

Daniel wasn't his son, he knew that, but he sure felt like a father right now.

Knowing that he was being stupid and in an endeavor to prove a point, Jack choose the most violent, bloody film he could find and settled back with a bottle of beer. Daniel was a grown man and didn't need Mother Henning.

xxx

Daniel sat on the edge of the bed, bent over with his head in his hands. This time it wasn't pain that plunged him into a miserable existence, it was nausea, stomach rolling nausea - not bad enough to produce out and out vomiting yet but bad enough not to be able to sleep because of it and bad enough to endure a pity party for one.

He waited out the feeling until he was sure the contents of his stomach would remain where they should and when he felt able to venture out of the bedroom, he grabbed the robe off the back of the door and slowly made his way into the lounge where he found Jack nursing a beer and flicking through the channels.

"Hey," he greeted as he gingerly sat on the sofa. "What you watching?"

"No a lot. Just finished watching some sort of crappy blood bath of a B movie," Jack shrugged. "How you feeling?"

"Felt better," Daniel admitted with a shrug.

"Pain?"

"Actually, not too bad."

Jack tossed the TV controls over to Daniel. "Well, you're way past time for an antibiotic and I've got some chicken soup simmering on the stove. You've gotta eat."

Daniel made to get up. "I can get..."

"Oh not you don't," Jack patted him on the shoulder on his way over to the kitchen. "I've got this. See if you can find something you enjoy on the box."

"But..." Daniel continued to protest as Jack walked away.

"I'm not arguing with you Daniel," Jack called over his shoulder. "Just stay put and relax, the Doc will will have my head on a platter if I let you over do things on the first day."

As much as Daniel wanted to stamp his feet and tell Jack that he could damn well manage on his own, he knew that he would probably fighting a loosing battle. Actually, he still felt slightly nauseous and so reluctantly conceded that he needed to be waited on for a short while. Tomorrow he'd help out more.

xxx

Jack watched Daniel continuously stir his soup, "Don't you like it?" He asked. "It's Grannie O'Neill's special cure all aliments recipe."

Daniel stirred the soup one more time, scooped up a spoonful, blew on it and slurped it down. "It's good," he gave Jack a shaky smile and then took another spoonful.

Happy that Daniel was finally eating and not playing with his food anymore, Jack turned his attention back to the TV. "Who knew you'd like Zena Warrior Princess," he chuckled.

"What can I say," Daniel shrugged. "It's my guilty pleasure."

"Well, Zena is a mighty fine Princess," Jack winked.

Daniel flashed him a quick smile back and then placed his spoon back down on the tray. "I can't eat anymore," he sighed. "It's really good but I'm kinda full. Sorry."

Jack went to argue but noticed how wiped out his friend look. "No problem," he smiled as he held out his hand for Daniel's tray. "Don't forget those antibiotics." He glanced down at the capsules and Daniel quickly popped them in his mouth, took a mouthful of water and placed the glass back on the tray.

Feeling a little disappointed that Daniel hadn't really eaten that much, Jack took the tray back to the kitchen. Although Janet had warned him that the recovering man wouldn't be up to eating much, he was a little sad that the cure all soup he'd slaved over most of the afternoon hadn't gone down as well as he hoped. Maybe he would try and persuade Daniel to have some more later so he grabbed another beer and returned to the living room to find Daniel curled up on the sofa, an arm wrapped protectively round his abdomen.

"You need your painkillers before I sit down?" He asked, pausing in the doorway.

"I'm good. Just tired again," Daniel admitted with a sigh.

Jack snagged a comforter off the back of the sofa and laid it over his friend. "Sleep then," he told Daniel." I'll keep an eye on the Warrior Princess for you."

xxx

Daniel slowly sat up, using his arms to support himself so he could lean forward and take deep breaths. The slight nausea that followed him into his restless doze had now turn into stomach rolling nausea that he was confident would turn into out and out vomiting pretty soon. He glanced over at Jack and noticed that he was thankfully fast asleep still nursing his bottle of beer so, happy that his friend was oblivious to how he was feeling, he managed to stand and then stumble out of the living room, down the hall and into the bathroom.

He quickly locked the door behind him ,sat down on the closed lid of the toilet and placed his head in his hands, regretting not taking up Jack's offer of pain killers as he knew that if, no scrub that, when he started to vomit it would hurt like hell. God he wished he was at his home where he could be ill in private.

Listing Egyptian Gods in his head in an endeavor to halt the nausea was not working, in fact it was making him dizzy so knowing that it was only going to be a matter of seconds before he started to throw up, he reached up to turned the taps on in an attempt to muffle any sounds he made. The last thing he wanted was for Jack to hear him and start making a fuss.

He rested his head on the sink for a while, praying that the feeling would just go away. Unfortunately his body had other ideas and he quickly found himself on his knees, in front of the toilet.

Within seconds his stomach turned inside out and Daniel quickly lifted the toilet lid and started to vomit. Pain shot through his still healing abdomen, making him sob in reaction as he struggled to stay upright. Tears poured down his cheeks as he continue to heave until he was sure that he'd thrown up an organ or two. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity to him, his stomach began to settle and he dry heaved a couple of times, tore some toilet roll off and wiped his face before reaching up and flushing. He sat down, his back resting against the bath and took some deep breaths. He was exhausted, in more than a little pain and so fed up being ill. His trip to Egypt seemed so long ago now and the never ending cycle of illness was getting him down. He was now regretting going in the first place.

He rested for a while and when he was sure he would stand, he staggered over to the sink, splashed some water on his face and sucked some toothpaste out of the tube. After drying his face he turned the taps off and made his way back into the lounge and found that Jack was still sleeping. He felt really proud of himself, his stealth movements hadn't disturbed the special ops Colonel, although the sound of creak of the sofa when he lowered himself down on to it had Jack instantly wide awake and stretching.

"Time for bed, Daniel," he yawned. "Pain killers and then bed." Jack clicked the TV off and turned to Daniel. "How long have we been asleep?" He yawned.

Daniel plastered a smile on his face. "Couple of hours."

Jack gathered up the empty cups off the coffee table. "You need anything?" He called over his shoulder as he made his way into the kitchen.

Daniel sat back and slowly rubbed his sore still churning abdomen. "Pain killers and some water, please." He replied.

"Got it." Jack called. "Do you need a hand to get back to bed?"

"I'm good," Daniel assured as he pushed off the sofa, wishing that he'd just gone back to bed after throwing up as the journey back down the hall seemed like a marathon to him.

"I'll bring your medication in after I've locked up, okay?"

"Okay," Daniel called as he opened the door and after quickly removing his gown, he grabbed the trash can from the corner of the room and hid it behind his bedside cabinet in case he needed it later. He didn't think he'd make it to the bathroom again if he found he had to then gingerly climbed into bed feeling decidedly queasy once more.

Yup, he really wished he was at home, in his own bed, away from an audience.

xxx