Well, here it is. As promised, I would post another chapter today.

Thanks again for all your reviews!

Enjoy!

THIS OLD MAN.

By LetitiaRichards.

Previously:-

He wasn't aware of anything for a while.

Chapter 25

This old man, he played six,

He played nick-nack with my sticks...

Miriam, now heavily sedated, was taken away by an ambulance.

The police had arrived earlier to find Teal'c still hanging on to her despite the number of bruising kicks she'd hammered his legs with her feet, or the few marks she'd caused by bringing her head back and trying to break his nose.

Daniel had been occupied with checking Jack over and mopping up the blood rapidly seeping from the numerous cuts he'd sustained from yet another beating. The young man was still trying to put all the puzzling pieces into some semblance of order in his head that would make some semblance of order therefore giving him the right picture. As of now, it had appeared to be more mystifying than ever. There were so many questions ringing through his mind that he wasn't sure if he was still asleep in the back of the truck or wide awake. It all seemed like a bad dream to him, just another one of his occasional nightmares from which he couldn't wake up.

Statements were taken, wounds tended to, and although Teal'c had refused to visit the hospital, his excuses were reluctantly accepted. However, because of the seriousness of the attack and a suspected concussion coupled with fact that he had been drifting in and out of consciousness since, they did insist on taking Jack to the hospital so Daniel went with him. General Hammond had already been informed and was expected to arrive later that morning, bringing Janet Fraiser along with him.

All that was left for them to do was wait for Jack to regain full consciousness and hope that Teal'c had been in time to prevent any real damage from being done.

OoOoOoOoO

"I'm sorry sir; you'll have to wait out here." Daniel was prevented from following the gurney Jack was laying on when they disappeared through the double doors. "If you wouldn't mind stepping over to the nurse's station, we need you to give us all your friend's details. Thank you." Then she too had gone and Daniel felt lost. When he'd come back from Abydos, SG-1 became a way of life, they were his family. Now that family seemed to be falling apart before his very eyes and he was wondering if things would ever be the same again.

He had been over the moon when Sam and Jack finally decided that their lives would infinitely be better as a couple than living a lie as they had done for so long, denying even to themselves the true depth of their feelings for each other. Teal'c had seen it early on and had welcomed their decision. As were the many others in the SGC who had guessed correctly too.

"Ah...Sir?"

Daniel shook himself free from his meanderings and approached the desk.

"We need to fill in the victim's details..."

"Jack is not a victim!" Daniel felt more than a little aggrieved by the use of this term with regard to Jack. Jack was not dead. He was going to be fine. He had to be. He realised too, when he saw the nurse back off, that he'd more or less spat the words out in his frustration and anger. "I'm sorry. It's been a tough..." What? Day? Week? Month? Quite a few of the latter in reality. "Sorry. What is it you need?" he asked apologetically, regretting allowing his exasperation to vent on the poor woman.

"Name, address, next of kin, all of that and more if you can supply it."

"Sure," he responded a little more cooperatively to show that he hadn't meant to snap at her. It wasn't her fault that Jack had been hurt, yet again. "It's Jack. Colonel Jack...er...or rather it should be John, I think. Colonel John O'Neill USAF..."

Daniel filled her in on all the details that he could and wished that Janet would hurry up and get there.

There was quite an attractive Doctor standing next to him and taking in everything he'd said, though he didn't notice her feminine qualities at that time. Once he'd signed his name at the bottom of the form, the nurse handed over the folder to the auburn haired medic, who browsed through the details again.

"So, you were with Jack O'Neill when this happened?" she asked Daniel, having walked him over to the waiting area so they could sit down.

"Um...no. Not exactly. We arrived on the scene just in time to see him lose consciousness and to stop the attack."

"And you are Dr Daniel Jackson?" she asked reading the information on the form.

"Yes, but I'm a doctor of Archaeology and Anthropology, not of medicine."

She glanced over at him as if seeing him for the first time, taking in his younger appearance and his tired looking features.

"Are you a friend of Colonel O'Neill's, or a colleague?"

"Both, actually. We work together, but we are friends too."

"I see from the information you've given, that he has a wife, Samantha O'Neill. Could you tell me if she will be here soon? Have you contacted her at all?"

Daniel was lost for words. How could he explain that nobody knew where Sam had gone or if she would be that concerned if Jack was injured? For all he knew it was this recent catalogue of catastrophes to hit Jack that had possibly driven her away.

"Ah...no. No I haven't called her. She's away you see. Air Force too."

He could see her nod as if she'd known what that had meant. If only she knew!

"Okay. Any questions you'd like to ask me?"

"You're the doctor assigned to Jack?"

"I am. My name is Dr. Patti Armstrong. And I can assure you that I'll do my best to make him as comfortable as possible."

"When can I see him? I really need to be there when he wakes up! It's all to do with national security. Our work is highly classified."

"I see. Well, he's having a series of scans and X-rays at the moment, but as soon as he's returned I'll send someone out here for you."

"Thank you." Daniel watched as she rose from the seat and made her way back through the doors. It wasn't until after she'd gone that he wondered why she had asked all those questions. But, there again, this was Minnesota, so maybe they did things a little differently around here. From what he'd seen of the State so far, it had been under a thick blanket of snow and damn cold. Colder than Colorado, that was for sure. It was at times like this that he missed Abydos.

He wandered over to the coffee machine and helped himself to some coffee. Not that he liked it much but it was something to do with his hands while he waited.

And waited.

People came and went.

He'd finished his coffee and was playing with the plastic cup when he heard a commotion down the corridor. Looking that way, he smiled and stood feeling utterly relieved.

General Hammond, was marching regally along the passageway, his face filled with restrained anger. On his heels was Janet, almost having to run to keep up with the senior officer. Stepping calmly along behind them both came Teal'c, his hands behind his back and his face as unreadable as ever, and bringing up the rear were several security guards from the SGC.

Just then the doors opened and a nurse called Daniel over.

"Dr. Jackson?"

"Yes?" he tore his eyes away from the sight of his colleagues and turned towards the nurse.

"Colonel O'Neill is beginning to wake up."

"Oh! Right." He was torn between waiting for the others and hurrying to Jack's side, finally deciding that he couldn't wait for them to catch up to him as they'd probably be detained at the desk for a while. Turning away from his friends, he slipped through the doors quickly, knowing they would follow as soon as they could. Right now though, Jack was waking up and he needed to be there for him.

The young nurse led him down a maze of corridors until she stopped and opened one of them, indicating that he should enter.

Dr. Armstrong was already in there, making some notes from the readouts on the monitors. It was comforting to know on hearing the regular beeps coming from the machine, that Jack was obviously okay and probably none the worse from his sister's deranged encounter.

The tall doctor turned and greeted him with a smile, beckoning him forward to take a place on the other side of the bed. Moving into position, he winced when he saw the bruising on Jack's face, neck, shoulder and arms.

"Is he going to be okay?"

Dr. Armstrong smiled and nodded, finishing her notes. That done, she looked across the bed at Daniel.

"He'll be fine. A few bruises here and there as well as a severe concussion. I'd like to keep him here over night preferably, but that depends on your military doesn't it?"

"Um...yeah. Actually, they're already outside," Daniel grimaced in an unspoken apology. Don't worry though, Dr. Fraiser will probably agree with you, even though I doubt Jack will." He smirked a little at that, knowing what a terrible patient Jack was, especially when he was well on the road to recovery. As soon as he began to feel better, he wanted out and Janet always had her hands full trying to keep him there until he'd healed enough to be released from her care.

He reckoned this civilian doctor wouldn't stand an earthly chance against Jack's bull-headed full bird Colonel treatment. He'd seen grown men quake when Jack slipped into command mode and tore them off a strip for some misdemeanour or other.

She looked down at her patient and smiled when she saw his eyelids flicker.

"He's waking up Dr. Jackso..."

"Daniel..." he interrupted. "Please, call me Daniel. It'll mean less confusion all round."

She giggled with amusement, instantly liking the young man. Leaning over slightly, she called out to the patient.

"Jack?" Come on Jack. Open those wonderful dark eyes of yours for me!"

Jack blinked a few times but came to a little more with a groan. His face screwed up slightly and Daniel thought it was from pain. He was bound to have one hell of a headache. He had several neat stitches in the cut over his left eye, right through that scarred eyebrow Daniel noted. Then it dawned on him that this doctor must know Jack, which was probably being that this was Jack's adopted home territory. She'd known he had dark eyes, and that she'd referred to them as wonderful, so this could be interesting, he concluded.

"Sam?"

"Jack!" Daniel interrupted, worried that Jack had forgotten that Sam had left him. It almost broke his heart to hear Jack's need so much in evidence.

"Give him time Daniel. He's not really with us yet."

Daniel knew better of course. Once Jack was awake, he was awake!

"Daniel?"

"I'm right here Jack."

"What...? How?"

"Uh...Let's just say T...em...Murray and I were keeping an eye on you, as per General Hammond's orders. It was a good job too given the circumstances."

Jack knew he wouldn't have survived without someone stopping Miriam. Her madness had lent her the extra strength needed to take him down. It was his own fault too, he'd let his guard down..."

"Sam!" Jack struggled to sit up now, driven by a desperate need. He screwed his eyes shut tight against the splitting head and the nausea, swallowing hard.

"Jack lay back. It's okay."

"No! It's Sam," he gasped through the pain thrumming nauseatingly inside his skull. He fixed Daniel with a penetrating eye and desperation in his voice.

Both Daniel and Dr. Armstrong forced him to lie back again, but his gaze was locked onto his friend.

"Daniel please!"

"She's not here Jack. We don't know where she is."

"No! She's here Daniel." Jack closed his eyes and recalled the shock of seeing her car under that canvas. The wing was badly mangled, but he'd recognise her car anywhere, and when he'd pulled the cover off he knew for certain. The big question was - Why?

"What?" Daniel was more likely to believe Jack was delirious than to believe that Sam was here.

Jack fought against the pain and was losing the battle to stay focussed.

"Rest Jack," Dr. Armstrong advised. "Talk later."

Jack blinked sleepily and turned towards the voice, wondering why it sounded vaguely familiar to him.

When his sight settled on the attractive red-head, she smiled down at him.

"Hi Jack."

He frowned at first, squinting slightly from the pain. Thinking and concussions didn't sit together well inside his head. Then he recalled the pretty but rather shy girl from his class back in high school.

"P…Patti?" Her smile deepened as he recognised her.

"The very same, Jack O'Neill. I knew you had joined the Air Force, but I hadn't realised you'd make it so far or stay in for so long. Colonel huh?"

He raised a heavy hand and flicked at the stethoscope hanging loosely round her neck.

"Doctor huh?" he replied with a patent grin.

"That's right and you are my patient at this moment so get some rest Jack. Doctor's orders! I've given you a little something for the headache and the nausea."

Jack sighed, nodded his acceptance that he needed something to kill the damn pain, and closed his eyes, making Daniel think that Jack had probably forgotten that he was there... until he spoke.

"Daniel," Jack huffed, giving a little pout but kept his eyes closed.

"Jack?"

"Get Hammond to send someone over to the house and look for clues. Sam's car is in the garage, beaten up a little but I swear it's hers. I want to know why it's there and what happened to her? And I am not imagining it. I saw it Daniel. Something's happened to her and I need to find her," he pleaded, now grasping onto Daniel sleeve in desperation. He couldn't do it, so he had to make sure his friends would. "Promise me you'll go?"

Daniel laid his free hand on top of Jack's hand and gave it a little squeeze.

"I will Jack. I promise. You just rest. General Hammond's outside now with Janet so I expect her to come flying in here any minute. Don't worry, Murray and I will leave her to it and start looking into things." He paused, keeping his hand there for a moment longer. "We'll find her Jack."

"Miriam?" Jack asked tiredly.

"They...um...took her away to a hospital."

Jack nodded, relieved and ready to fall asleep again but then he suddenly recalled what day it was. He fought against the sleep and struggled to rise again, despite both Daniel and Patti preventing him from doing so.

"Jack! Lie back. It's okay We'll go back to the house right away."

"Mom..." he gasped as the throbbing in his head and shoulder made him curl up against it. "Crap!" he ground out breathlessly.

Daniel had completely forgotten about Jack's Mom's funeral.

"Now don't you worry about her Jack," Patti assured him with a smile. "Your Mom's not going anywhere for a while, but she's doing a lot better now. We'll be keeping her in here for a few more days yet so you'll be able to see her yourself tomorrow, depending on how you are."

Jack and Daniel gaped wide eyed and open mouthed at Patti with shocked surprise.

"She's... What?" Jack flopped back limply onto the pillows, the wind completely sucked out of his sails.

"She's here?" Daniel put forward the question Jack couldn't seem to get his head round. She was supposed to be dead. Patti nodded wondering why both of them looked stunned.

"God Dammit! I can't believe that bitch lied to me about that!" Jack fumed, wanting to get his hands on his sister so that he could strangle her. "How could she say such a thing? Why?"

"Excuse me?" Now Patti was mystified, but Jack now looked beetroot red with anger, so she looked to Daniel for an answer. "Who?"

"Miriam," he grimaced, feeling the acute disbelief. If he felt this way, Jack must be feeling absolutely murderous. "Jack came all the way here because she told him his Mom had died and today was the funeral."

Patti gasped and reeled back in shock. She'd known Miriam from when they were all kids at school, but she had no idea the woman was crazy.

"But why would she do that?"

"Beats me." They both looked down at Jack who had fallen silent and Daniel knew how he must be feeling now the initial shock had passed. His Mom was alive and in the same hospital too. Daniel reached out a hand and patted Jack's arm in compassion.

"I'm gonna go talk with the others while you rest Jack. We'll get to the bottom of this. I promise."

Jack nodded absently; his mind in such an emotional turmoil he didn't trust his voice to say anything thing at this point. The pain in his head dimmed in comparison with the one wrenching at his heart right now. The pain of bitter betrayal. However, it was tempered by the knowledge that his Mom was still alive and doing well. He closed his eyes, hoping that they would leave him alone so that he could come to grips with his inner turmoil without an audience.

Daniel turned and left, while Patti felt really bad that she had shocked them like that, but also happy to have informed Jack that his Mom was okay, even if she hadn't yet given him all the startling details of her ill health.

This old man, he played six,

He played nick-nack with my sticks,

With a nick-nack paddy-whack...

TBC