Jack knocked on Janet's door, poked his head round and grinned. "Hey, Doc," he greeted.

Janet looked up from the work. "Colonel," she smiled in reply.

"How's he doing today?" Jack asked, leaning on her office doorframe.

"Better," Janet nodded.

They'd whisked Daniel straight to the infirmary on return and he'd spent the following twenty-four hours or so hours back on drips as the stress of the journey home had caused his fever to climb again. He'd been pretty sick overnight but he was awake and eating this morning, even though he was still attached to the drips and looking pretty pale and wan.

"Is he up to visitors?" Jack asked.

"As long as they don't stay too long," Janet said. "He needs to rest."

Jack hesitated for a moment. "Hammond's given us some leave time," he said, picking up one of the book on her desk and flicking through the pages. "How long ya gonna keep him?"

"At least another week." Janet leant back in her chair and sighed. "He's still running a fever and I'm giving him IV antibiotics again." She smiled sadly. "No leave time for Daniel, I'm afraid."

"Oh?" Jack placed the book back onto the table and shoved his hands into his pockets. "I wanted to take him fishing."

"No fishing. The only place he's going is to a VIP suite next week… if he's lucky."

"Kill joy."

"Colonel. He's been very serious ill and is still pretty sick," Janet reminded him. "Don't rush things."

Jack nodded slowly. "I know," he sighed. "Never seems to catch a break does he?"

"No, he doesn't," Janet agreed. "There will be other fishing trips he won't really want to go on that you'll bully him in to," she added with a hint of teasing in her voice.

"That there will." Jack grinned and waggled his eyebrows jokingly. "So... can I?" He then pointed towards the main infirmary.

"Knock yourself out," Janet grinned back. "But not for long, he needs to rest."

"Okay."

Jack turned and left the room, closing the door behind him, and Janet returned to the training plan she was typing up for Lilly's stay on Earth.

Xxx

Daniel lay on his back—staring at the familiar ceiling of the base infirmary—counting the square tiles, making sure there was the same number there as always. The sights, sounds, and smells of the infirmary were strangely comforting and, even though he still felt unwell and exhausted, it was good to be home.

"Hey."

He turned his head at Jack's voice. "Hey," he greeted his friend as he approached his bed.

"How are you doing?"

"Good. Did you get your hair cut?" Jack looked different somehow—squeaky clean and groomed.

"Yeah. Why?"

"No reason."

Daniel watched as Jack stood almost nervously at his bed.

"Can I see your scar?"

That was a strange thing to ask, even for Jack.

"No." There was no way Daniel was going to give Jack the satisfaction and extra teasing fodder!

"Fraiser says it'll be about a week before you're out of here." Jack changed the subject.

"You know. It's funny. After everything we've been through the past few years, and it's my appendix that lays me out." Daniel sighed. "But, it's not going to be a week. I practically feel fine now!"

"Wanna go fishing?"

To try and prove a point, Daniel attempted to pull himself upright, only to be hit by blinding pain once more.

"Actually. I wouldn't... well, maybe... you know," he cleared his throat slightly. "I think, maybe I will stay here for two to three... three days," he conceded, biting his bottom lip to control the pain in his stomach.

"Bye."

Daniel blinked slowly as he then watched Jack turn and walk out of the infirmary. He actually felt sad that he was not able to go fishing, not that he'd ever admit that to his friend. But the way he was feeling at the moment, all he could think of was sleeping until he felt better. With a sigh, he removed his glasses, tossed them onto the end of the bed, and gave into his exhaustion—happy to be home, happy to be in the familiar bed...

Xxx

"Did you sleep well?" Ben grinned at Lilly while they enjoyed a lunch break together.

"It was strange," Lilly admitted, stirring her soup.

After undergoing the many medical clearance tests on arrival, Lilly had been shown to her room where she fell asleep almost immediately. Unfortunately the sleep was short lived, and she tossed and turned, worrying about the weeks ahead for several hours, until Sam had knocked on her door and asked her to join her for breakfast. She hadn't seen Ben all morning and had been looking forward to catching up with him over the midday meal.

"I'm sure it was odd," Ben nodded, stirring his soup. "I can't sleep in a strange bed either but you'll soon settle in."

"There is no light sunlight here," Lilly said. "I am not used to it."

Ben knew that the SGC took a lot of getting used to, and he had struggled for a long time to adapt to the artificial living here. He longed to show Lilly the real world.

"I'll show you Earth in all its beauty in a few days," he promised. "There is sky, sun, green grass..."

"I am glad of that," Lilly picked up her mug of tea. "I was worried that everywhere was as grey and dull."

"No, just here," Ben chuckled. "There is life off the base."

"Good, "Lilly beamed, and Ben smiled in return, feeling a bit better for seeing the turn in his friend's change of mood.

"So, what did you do this morning?" he asked, taking a slurp of soup.

Lilly leant forward. "Well, I had breakfast with Sam and Teal'c, after which Walter—I think that was his name— gave me a tour of the base," she said, her eyes shining with excitement. "Everyone has been so friendly and welcoming. They are all lovely people."

"They are," Ben agreed and smiled.

"Doctor Janet is going to show me the medical facilities this afternoon," Lilly continued, "and then we are going to go over plans for the rest of my education which is going..."

Ben sat back in his chair and watched Lilly wax lyrical about her stay, feeling so happy that she'd made the decision to come back with them. He was just about to tease her about her pronunciation of an Earth slang word that Jack had taught her, when the claxon's sounded around the base, causing Lilly to jump and drop her spoon.

"W-what was that?" she stuttered, glancing around the room.

"Not sure," Ben admitted, following her glance. "Probably a team returning." He shrugged, picked up his spoon, making light of the situation for Lilly's sake. "Ignore it," he suggested, tapping his spoon on her dish to encourage her to eat. "This happens all the time."

"Oh." Lilly smiled and picked up her own spoon, exchanging looks with Ben who had gone back to eating his soup. If he wasn't concerned then she wasn't worried...

Xxx

"We need to tell Doctor Jackson." George Hammond accepted the cup of coffee his senior medical officer offered him.

It was now five hours since Sam and Teal'c had followed Jack onto the Asgard ship. Major Paul Davis was on route from Washington, and the General was taking five minutes to fill Janet in on the situation. He knew once Daniel found out what had happened to the rest of his team, he would be worried about them. It would be better to inform him gently and then offer all the support they could.

"He's sleeping, sir." Janet sank in her seat with a sigh. "He's still pretty sick and I'm not sure how he'll take the news."

"If we don't tell him and he finds out we've kept the news from him I don't think—"

"I know," Janet interrupted, knowing full well the general's concerns, as she was thinking along the same lines herself.

"We've always prided ourselves on being honest and forthright with our teams, Doctor," Hammond said, taking a sip of coffee. "Doctor Jackson needs to know," he added, smiling sadly.

"I'll tell him," Janet offered, "but he's not going to be happy."

"None of us are, Doctor," the general agreed, "but keeping him in the dark will probably cause more harm than good."

Janet grabbed her stethoscope from her table and slung it round her neck. "There's no time like the present then." She rose to her feet.

"I'll leave it with you." Hammond pushed away from his chair and turned towards the slight cough that sounded from the office doorway. "Yes, airman?"

"Major Davis has arrived," the young airman informed him.

"I'll be right there." Hammond nodded and turned back to his senior medic. "Look after our boy," he stated softly.

"Will do, sir," Janet nodded.

Xxx

"Why is everyone rushing around?" Lilly side stepped the oncoming airman and jogged to catch Ben up. "What's going on, Ben?" she asked, glancing down the corridor.

"Nothing," Ben replied, grabbing her hand when a member of the engineering department darted between them.

He'd just been filled in by a colleague about SG-1's disappearance and was eager to keep the news from Lilly, as he didn't want to worry her unduly. He knew these kinds of things happened every now and again. They were used to unexplained incidents on the base, and the probability was that the situation would soon be well under control and SG-1 would return and everything would go back to normal. There was no point in upsetting Lilly just yet. Of course, if things continued like this, his hand may be forced. For now, though, he'd occupy her attention by showing her round one of the labs.

"It's just a normal day on base." Ben turned and grinned when they reached Lab 2. "Come on, I want to introduce you to Doctor Clivert." He swiped his key card. "You won't believe what he does." He shadowed her into the room, feeling a sense of relief when the door closed behind them. At least they could hide away in here until the crisis was over. Hopefully.

"Ah, young Lilly," Bernard Clivert greeted with an outstretched hand. "Come and have a look at what we're studying." He smiled warmly at her, and soon Lilly was hanging off his every word.

Xxx

"What's going on, Janet?" Daniel hadn't missed the worried glances being exchanged by the medical staff, or the pinched look on his doctor's face as she checked his readouts. "I'm not dying, am I?" he chuckled nervously. Sure he still felt pretty shitty, but the removal of his catheter while he slept pointed to an obvious improvement in his condition.

"No. You're not dying," Janet said as she placed his chart back on the end of the bed.

"So, what's with all the whispering and worried looks?"

Janet pulled the curtains round Daniel's bed, perched on the edge, and took his hand in hers. "There's no easy way of saying this, so I'm just going to come right out and stay it."

"Janet? You're scaring me here."

Janet took a deep breath before continuing. "Jack was beamed up by Thor—"

"What? When?" Daniel struggled to lift his head off his pillow, and Janet gently eased his shoulders back down.

"He's fine," she reassured him. "We've heard from him. Thor has a problem on his ship and beamed Jack up to help."

"What sort of problem?"

"I'm not totally sure. Sam and Teal'c have followed to see if they can offer any assistance."

"What!" Daniel jerked his head up again and then groaned when the action caused pain to shoot through his stomach.

"Easy, easy," Janet soothed. "As I understand it, they have everything under control."

Daniel gritted his teeth and closed his eyes tightly as he fought to control his pain.

"How long have they been gone?" he asked when the pain dialled down to a dull roar.

Janet gently brushed the back on his hand. "About six hours now."

"What!"

"Shh..." Janet soothed again. "Major Davis has arrived from Washington and he's lending his expertise—"

"Why? Why is Washington involved? There's more to this isn't there, Janet? What aren't you telling me? "

"Something about an infestation of some sort aboard the Asgard ship. It's heading straight to Earth," Janet mumbled as quickly as she could.

"So what why does Thor need SG-1? He can deal with this!"

"Thor is incapacitated and he needs SG-1 to blow up the ship before it impacts with Earth—"

"What! That's... that's... suicide!" Daniel struggled upright again.

"Daniel!"

"Fetch me my clothes," Daniel hissed, swinging his legs off the bed.

Janet sighed and moved to one side, knowing very well that where SG-1 were concerned there was no way Doctor Daniel Jackson would not try to move Heaven and Earth to help them.

"If you're going to do this, Daniel," she said, "then I want to make sure you have some pain relief and, if you're not back in bed before your next dose of antibiotics, I will hunt you down, okay?" She turned, filled a glass of water, and handed Daniel two painkillers.

"Thanks." Daniel swallowed the capsules down with the water.

Janet smiled thinly as she accepted the empty glass back. "Sit tight and I'll get your clothes."

"I-I just have to do this... you know?" Daniel stuttered as he tried to explain himself.

"I know." Janet patted his leg and smiled warmly. "Just pace yourself, please, and if you feel any worse, you come straight back here."

"I will," Daniel promised, as he plastered what he hope was a reassuring smile on his face.

"I'm not happy about this—"

"I know."

"I won't be long." Janet pulled the curtains back and went in search of her patient's clothing.

Daniel leant his head back onto his pillows and took deep breaths. He had to pull himself together. He had to be there for his team.