Oops. There's long, and then there's overlong. I think this chap is, ya'll. Sorry, lol, but I had to get this part of the story out. I hope you still enjoy it, and please let me know what you think. I'd really like to know your thoughts on this chapter, specifically. You'll see why later...Thanks! hugs

Chapter 34

Sam shivered. "It's already cold in here."

Simon pulled the blankets up around her shoulders and got out of bed, shivering himself even after he'd grabbed a jacket. "I'll turn the heater on."

"Good idea," she answered wryly. When he came back, he shucked off the jacket and quickly climbed back under the covers with her again; she had already lain back down. "Should we even bother going to work today?"

"I can work from here, but as for you, I suppose you should call…"

She sighed. "Right." But she snuggled back up next to him. "Later though. Let the house warm up."

He smiled. "It sounds like a plan."

When Daniel got to the SGC, he found that for once, it was warmer than outside. He'd been driving through snow flurries, and the cold had been biting. And the snow had only just begun. Beyond that, they didn't know how long this darkness would last. It could stay this way, or it might revert; the scriptures weren't completely clear on that part.

General Landry was in the control room, a jacket over his arm as if he had just arrived himself. He looked back at Daniel with an uncertain expression as he came up the stairs.

"You know what caused this, don't you?"

He took note that there was no one else here. "I believe it's a judgment from God, if that's what you mean."

Landry nodded slowly, "I thought that was what you'd say." He paused. "You know that I could turn you in, don't you? All of you. It's not illegal, what you believe, but the Potentate doesn't like it at all, and you know it. It may well be illegal one day."

Daniel took a breath. "Yes sir. I know. All of us know it; we know it'll be illegal one day."

"That's in the Bible too?" he asked, eyebrow raised.

He nodded.

"And that doesn't bother you?"

"It is frightening, when we really think about it, but we're willing to stand for our belief even so. We know it's the truth, sir, and we're willing to die for it. We hope it doesn't come to that…but we know it might."

Landry looked at him hard for a minute, before turning back to stare absently out the windows again. "I see…" he sighed. "Well, I haven't turned anyone in yet, and I don't plan to. Even if it really does become illegal to be Christian, I'm going to protect my daughter--and the rest of you."

He swallowed. "Thank you, sir."

The general nodded wordlessly, and Daniel got the feeling that the conversation was over.

As the others arrived, Daniel gathered them in his office. Sam was the last to get there, and she looked like a woman with a mission.

"Sam?" he asked, standing.

She threw her jacket over the back of an extra chair. "No, sit back down. We need to talk about some things."

He sat back down slowly, looking at her.

"You okay, Sam?" Carolyn asked.

She smiled and sat. "Oh, I'm fine."

"What is it then?" Reynolds questioned.

Sam leaned forward, crossing her arms on her knees. "I think we should start stockpiling supplies offworld: as soon as this is over, if it stops, and if not, then as soon as possible."

"We knew we were going to have to start sometime, but why the certain interest?" Daniel asked.

She shrugged. "All the talk from the eastern Trib Force about the Co-op got me thinking."

"The co-op…that's the network of believers who'll be trading during the second half of the Tribulation so that the Christians here on Earth will be able to get what they need, right?" Siler clarified.

"Right. Not only should we start stockpiling, but I think that we should organize something similar between the other planets we have contact with, just incase Carpathia's control ends up being that tight out there. We already know he will have control. No, there's probably no way he'll be able to stop 'all' commercial buying and selling without his mark in the rest of the galaxy, but it'll still affect everywhere to some extent."

"True," Daniel nodded. "To be honest, I was thinking along the same lines, but I wasn't sure how that would work."

"Well, for one thing, every group that can needs to buy up as many cargo ship or bigger vessels as possible in the next year or so that we have. The Tok'ra have several, the pockets of jaffa have a few, and there are others."

"Is that enough space to transport enough supplies to keep every cell of believers in the galaxy alive, though?" Reynolds asked.

"Probably not, but we have time. We'll make it work," Sam said confidently. "I've been giving Chloe some peripheral assistance organizing the Co-op here, so I'll know what I'm doing, hopefully," she smiled.

Carolyn sat forward. "I'll help."

Well, Daniel had known that Sam was doing that as well as still helping out with the responses on Ben-Judah's website. He only hoped she was right. "We all will," he said. "But in the meantime, we should mention this to the Tok'ra. We'll need their ships, cloaked, to get supplies off of Earth. We're supposed to meet them in a couple of weeks.."

Reynolds nodded. "If this keeps up until then, I hope they still let us go despite the weather," he said wryly.

"Yeah…" he sighed.

That night, a press conference was held where several well-known scientists offered their opinions on what was causing the darkness. Doctor Chaim Rosenzweig was last, and after being e-mailed by Buck, who was still stuck in Israel, the Trib Force SG-1 in Colorado made sure they were together to watch his remarks. Ben-Judah and Buck had both continued to witness to him, and it looked like they were beginning to get through.

He spoke of Doctor Ben-Judah briefly, and of a few other related things not quite on topic, but finally he got around to the point, even though the host had attempted to cut him off more than one already. Rosenzweig ended with a thought-provoking statement.

"Ben-Judah was ridiculed for his beliefs, for his contentions that scriptural prophecy could be taken literally. He said an earthquake would come. It came. He said hail and blood and fire would scorch the plants. They did. He said things would fall from the sky, poisoning water, killing people, sinking ships. They fell.

"He said the sun and the moon and the stars would be stricken and that the world would be one-third darker. Well, I am finished. I don't know what to make of it except that I feel a bigger fool every day. And let me just add, I want to know what Dr. Tsion Ben-Judah says is coming next! Don't you?" And he gave the address of the website. (Dialogue of Rosenzweig is taken directly from Apollyon by Jerry B. Jenkins and Tim LaHaye.)

Power wasn't a problem at the SGC, being a government-based institution, but in residential areas it was minimal, after a day or so. Solar power plants were non-operational all over the planet, and power was low everywhere, not even counting all of the power lines that were down because of the ice. Everyone except Sam ended up staying at the base from them on, to stay warm. The church didn't meet that week.

Three days after the darkness began, Nicolae Carpathia himself went to speak with the two Witnesses at the Wailing Wall, even in the freezing cold and snow that blanketed the planet. The Witnesses were still in their usual place, dressed in sackcloth, and still barefoot!

The argument was heated, but Eli and Moishe still did not lift the drought over Jerusalem, nor did they leave--of course. At the end of the broadcast, Carpathia announced that no-one who was 'sympathetic' to Tsion Ben-Judah and his teachings were fugitives any longer, as if he actually did want to appease the two preachers at the wall.

They all knew that it wouldn't last long. Eventually it would be a death sentence for any of them to be out in broad daylight. But for now, it was good for the original Tribulation Force members who had already been forced into hiding in the Chicago area, and others hiding elsewhere. It would give Buck the chance to get back to his family in the states without fear of being captured or killed.

And it would give the SG-1 Trib Force the freedom to get their plans for an offworld Co-op like organization underway.

Two days after Carpathia went to the Wall, the day began at the usual hour, with its usual brightness. Thousands worldwide had died of the cold before it was over.

But both Vala and General Landry refused to speak of anything to do with God.

And that wasn't the end of it. The next week, everyone was looking at what at first seemed to be a shooting star, until astronomers realized that it was a lot smaller, and much closer., and that it was descending to Earth fast. As it was studied more, it was obvious that it wasn't really a threat, but that didn't help to ease the Trib Force SG-1's uneasiness as it came.

Scientists speculated that it would burn up in the atmosphere, but burn up it didn't, and it came down in an uninhabited region of the Fertile Crescent, a place where many believed the cradle of civilization to be. GC scientist were near enough the point of impact to see it happen, but they reported that it went right into the earth, as if a crevice were already there. The area was visual scanned by plane, but there seemed to be no way to reach the spot on the ground. All the world could do was watch from afar.

Soon, seismology readers were picking up eruptions high on the Richter scale; apparently the falling…thing, had cause volcanic activity wherever under the surface it had lodged. When it all finally erupted, the shockwave knocked nearby planes off course, and a mushroom could sprouted up from the earth with no other explainable cause.

The cloud was bigger than any in history, and it didn't dissipate. Instead, it spread in every direction and within days threatened to block the sun the globe over. The smoke was thick and black, and continued to gush from the crevice. Scientists could only speculate, but it was rumored that they were afraid it was all from an underground inferno that would erupt at some point, shooting flames miles into the sky and vaporizing anything too close.

But as there was no foreseeable solution to the problem in the near future, SG-1 was permitted to go offworld the Monday after the object had fallen.

"I don't know what to do," Daniel stressed, pacing back and forth. "I know she understand now. I know she believes God is real--even that Jesus did die on the cross--but she won't accept him. She doesn't think she can, that's she's not worthy, or something. I don't even know for certain why. I keep feeling like I'm doing something wrong--like if I was doing it right, she would get it."

Morgan stood from her seat on the bench by the wall in her room. "It is not your fault, Daniel. She will come around when the Lord decides that she should. It is not up to you."

"I know, I know, but…" he slowed and stared at the floor in shame, arms crossed over his chest. "I keep worrying that that time will never come. I know that sounds crazy and irrational, but I feel that way sometimes."

"It does not sound so completely irrational to me," she answered. "I understand."

He looked up in surprise, a little sheepishly. "You do?"

"I understand why you feel such things even though it does not make sense, if that is what are asking; yes," she nodded.

Daniel blinked. "What? Why then?"

"Because you care for her."

"Well of course I do. She's my friend. I care about everyone I know who's not saved. I don't want them to go to hell," he said evasively.

"True, but you admitted yourself that you worry more about her than the others at times," she pointed out, taking a few casual steps closer to him.

"All the time," he mutter, not looking at her.

Morgan smiled. "I know. But it will not help to hide the reason for it from yourself."

He stiffened defensively, out of habit. "She's not a Christian, Morgan."

"No. No yet. But perhaps all that she needs is for you to be honest with her."

Daniel's mouth fell open "Honest…? I don't lie to her about anything. Of course I'm honest with her!"

"Are you?" she questioned, eyebrow raised.

He took a couple steps away. "Morgan, I don't know what you're on about, but--"

"You know exactly what I am 'on about', Daniel Jackson," she interrupted him firmly. "I have been aware of it ever since the first time I saw the two of you in the same room almost four years ago on Atlantis, and you cannot hide it from me. Just because I am an 'Ancient' does not mean that I know nothing of love. In fact, I most likely know a good deal more than you."

Now he just stared at her, refusing to admit anything. "B-but…even if that was the case, how would that have an impact on her becoming a Christian or not?"

"Perhaps more than you would think," she assured himself. "Not to mention that you owe it to the poor woman."

Daniel forced his arms to fall back to his sides. "Morgan…no. Just…no." he would give no more detail, and as she looked at him, her expression softened.

"Just think about what I have said, Daniel," she said gently. He shrugged absently, crossing his arms again. "You have other friends to see before you go," she reminded him, giving him a small smile again. "Perhaps you should go see them."

He sighed. "You're right."

"I will see you another time," she said, hugging him. Daniel returned the embrace for a moment, then looked at her.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't get mad at you. You're right in that you probably know a lot more than me," he smiled.

"I'm glad you agree," she chuckled. "Now go, before I decide to lecture you again."

Daniel gave her a mock salute and left. Near the rings he came across Sam and Anise/Freya, conversing intently over something. "What's so interesting?" he asked as he approached them. Sam looked up.

"Oh, Daniel, good. Anise had some news, and we were discussing plans for our trading routes."

"That's good…and what news?" he asked curiously.

"To stay on the 'safe side', as you say, we have already began to grow to tunnels for your shelter when your people leave Earth," Anise reported. "As requested, they are on a different planet. We agree with the logic that we should not all be in the same location. Too many people in one place would attract more attention, and having more than one shelter would hopefully ensure that not all of us would ever be found. There are already too many here. The previous ascended have been speaking of moving."

Daniel nodded. "Makes sense. Thank you so much for the help and…" He looked at Sam. "Have you asked her yet?"

Sam nodded. "She took me to the council. It took them about five minutes to agree that they can help us start to move things to the new shelter as soon as we want to."

"Great." But he wasn't entirely there. His mind was on what Morgan had said, it was on Vala, and it was on the black cloud covering the planet above them just as it was covering Earth, and every other planet Stargate Command or the Tok'ra had heard from. A similar object had fallen on each world, and there wasn't much time for Vala if it was bringing what he was afraid it heralded.

As if in answer to his thought, suddenly a voice that sounded as if it came from everywhere and nowhere at once echoed through the tunnels.

"Woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of this world, because of the remaining blasts of the trumpet of the three angels who are about to sound!"

A chill ran down his spine, and his mouth dropped open again. "Oh no…"

Sam and Anise were white, and he was sure that he was something close. Anise shook herself back to composure. "There is no other way into this shelter but the rings. We blocked the escape tunnel when the object fell. The locusts will not be able to get in. The few unbelievers here will not be attacked. But…"

"But we should go. Now," Daniel nodded. "Sam, come on. We have to find to find the others fast."

Finally able to speak again, she beyond him down a side tunnel. "No need."

He turned and saw Vala and Reynolds skidding around a corner. Reynolds appeared concerned, but Vala looked petrified. Reynolds stopped next to them, but she almost knocked Daniel down when she ran into him and clung tight.

"What was that!" she gasped.

Daniel put his arms around her for a brief moment and squeezed, before gently prying her off of him. "It was an angel."

"It's warning of the coming judegements," Reynolds winced.

"Which is why we need to get home quickly," Daniel added.

"We should," Sam agreed, moving quickly toward the rings. Vala didn't need any prompting to follow. There was already a low rumble coming from the surface.

Anise got out of the way, and after she had bowed her head for a second, Freya spoke. "May God be with you."

"Thank you," Sam nodded.

Daniel stepped onto the ring platform with the rest of his team. "All of you be safe. I don't know how this will effect 'gate activity. I don't know when we'll see you again." He was glad he had already seen Skaara, Ashada, and Kasuf earlier. It had been Anise and a few of the other Abydonians he knew that he had been going to see before he ran across Anise/Freya and Sam in the corridor.

The rumble was escalating to a higher pitch and had developed more of a metallic quality. Reynolds glanced up, more worried now. "Good luck with keeping the seal in that escape tunnel in tact. Something tells me these buggers are going to be persistent."

Vala stared at him. "What?"

"I would say, but hopefully you won't, and I can explain once we're safely back at the SGC," Daniel said quickly. "We need to go, right NOW."

Freya nodded, Anise bid them farewell, and the Tok'ra quickly activated the rings.

It was afternoon in New Babylon, and Jack had just walked through the front door of his family's apartment when the angel's announcement reverberated through the universe. Immediately he ran into the living room, where Sara had stood, holding Gavin tightly, and was staring wide-eyed out the windows at the dark clouds in the sky.

"Sara!" he called.

She turned and saw him, and there was relief written all over her face. "You're here, Jack; thank God."

He went to them, and Gavin, now about fifteen months old, reached out to him. "Daddy!" he cried. His little voice was frightened, and Jack pulled the boy into his arms and held on tight.

"It's okay, buddy," he soothed. "There'll be some bugs outside soon, but they won't hurt you. We'll be safe in here…" He hoped so, anyway. Sara's arms snaked around his waist and clasped there, and Jack leaned his head against hers.

Once the light faded, they saw that the clouds had darkened considerably, and seemed much lower. The noise was deafening--like chains clanking together, rattling and thumping--and coming closer and closer. They covered their ears as they ran for the 'gate, which was hard to see in the darkness. But they hadn't made it up here fast enough.

Out of the dark smoke flew hundreds of small creatures, and he realized it was the beating of their wings that made the noise.

"Hurry!" he shouted above a cacophony.

Sam put on a burst of speed and headed directly for the DHD, while Reynolds was pulling up his P-90.

"That won't help!" Daniel reminded him. "I don't think we can kill them!"

"But maybe it'll help keep them away from her until Sam can get the 'gate open!" the colonel shouted back. That was a good idea, actually. Daniel got his hands on his own. Sam was almost at the DHD, and Vala wasn't far behind. But the creatures were gaining.

Daniel didn't even have to look at them hard to know what they looked like. In horror he ran over the description in his head, comparing it to what he saw. They were brown, black, and yellow, and about five or six inches long, from what he could tell. They were the shape of miniature armored horses with scorpion's tails, hair, and an indistinguishable head.

And they were demons bent on tormenting unbelievers. One bite or sting from one of the creatures would leave a person in agony for five months. He couldn't let that happen to Vala, no matter how much he wanted her to be saved.

Sam reached the DHD, and Vala ducked down behind it. Daniel and Reynolds ran around the DHD to cover Vala as Sam began to dial.

But they were just seconds too late.

The 'locusts' converged on them when she was halfway through the address. Sam batted them away as they screamed and fought past her toward Vala. The men began to fire at them knocking a few of them back with pings of impact, and a few even dropped, but they always recovered. The creatures were invincible.

Vala, not one to be helpless, pulled out a zat and tried to help them keep them back, even though her expression was terrified. Against her protests, Daniel pushed her down and covered her as much as he could with his body, but still the creatures fought toward her. They didn't even seem to see the other three humans; they only had eyes for the unbeliever among them.

"Daniel!" Vala shouted.

Sam slapped her hand down on the dome in the middle of the DHD. The wormhole burst open behind them. "Go!" she shouted.

The creatures came out of the darkening clouds without warning. They swarmed down into the streets below and sought out any and all they could get to, that was not sealed by God. That was most everyone in this city. People were bitten or stung by the grotesque beasts and dropped to the ground, writhing in agony. The creatures pinged against the windows, but did not show much interest into getting in beyond gnashing their teeth--yes teeth, huge teeth--at the believers inside the building.

Jack quickly ushered Sara and Gavin away from the room with the many windows, and into the larger of the two bedrooms, where he and Sara slept. He pulled the shade over the one small window in the room and swallowed.

"Maybe we had better just stay in here," he said shakily, sitting down on the edge of the bed next to Sara with Gavin still in his arms. Sara put hers around both of them.

"That sounds like a good idea," she agreed softly.

She and Reynolds kept as many of the bugs back as they could, and Daniel pulled Vala to her feet and shot toward the event horizon.

A few of the creature got past Sam and the colonel. Daniel yelled at Vala to get through as fast as she could, and turned to fight them off. She slowed for a fraction of a second. "What about you!"

"They can't hurt us; Go!"

She went. Daniel fired as rapidly as the weapon would allow, and Sam and Reynolds were hurrying toward the 'gate now himself, but somehow one got past all of them. Somehow.

Daniel heard a piercing scream from behind, and spun to see Vala on the ground, wailing in pain as one of the creatures let go of her shoulder.

"NO!" he shouted in anger. He lunged at the creature as it started to fly off again, and swung his P-90 toward it. Instead, it was his hand that came in contact with it, knocking it away, and he cried out pain himself.

Chest heaving, he ignored it, and hauled Vala to her feet, an arm around her waist. Reynolds continued firing at the advancing creatures, and Sam helped him pull her through the stargate.

"Close the iris!" Reynolds yelled immediately, once they were on the other side. Instantly it started to slide shut, but one of the creatures--probably the one that had bitten Vala--made it through the shrinking hole before it closed off completely.

The doors were already closed, because the 'gate was open, thank goodness, and when it snapped off, they stayed that way.

"We have to catch that thing!" Daniel yelled to the few standard guards at the base of the ramp. One of them had the mark of the believer, but only one. Even if they kept this room close off, more people would suffer if that thing wasn't stopped.

The creature went straight for the guards without the mark, of course, and one of them had been bitten and was on the floor writhing before anyone could react. It went for the others, and they ran. Sam and Daniel lowered Vala to the ramp, where she clung to Daniel panting and moaning pitifully, shrinking away from the flying thing.

Reynolds headed quickly down the ramp, and pulled off his jacket. The creature had one of the poor men trapped in a corner, but he couldn't stop it from biting him as well. The second man sank to the floor, screaming, but before the bug could fly off, Reynolds flung his jacket over it, closed his hands around the edges, and slammed the captured creature into the wall. When the parcel fell away from the wall, he was left holding a limp, now heavy, jacket. The thing was probably stunned, though they couldn't see it.

"We need something in here to help these people and contain this thing!" the colonel called urgently, hands closed tightly around the jacket.

Within minutes, a medical team was in the 'gate room, and the creature had been deposited into a sturdy metal cage with crossbars dense enough that it could not, under any circumstances, push its way out.

Carolyn Lam swallowed hard at the sight of the squirming, howling bite victims from the guard detail. Vala was quieter, though obviously in just as much pain. Sweating already and gasping, she refused to let go of Daniel's arm. While the two men were being carted off to the infirmary, Carolyn whispered to him.

"Take her to her room. She'll be more comfortable there, and that's all we can really do anyway," she told him, looking worriedly at their suffering friend.

Daniel nodded wordlessly. As the adrenaline faded, the anger was replaced by sorrow, and his throat felt clogged. He put one of Vala's arms over his shoulder and started out into the corridor. Sam hurried to take her other side and helped him get her to he room, but at the door he stopped.

"I've got her from here," he said quietly.

"But--" He looked at her pleadingly. Sighing softly, she let go and backed away. Daniel silently thanked her, and brought Vala into the room himself.

He pushed the door closed behind them and helped her over to the bed. Gently he lowered her shivering figure down onto the mattress, pulled off her jacket and boots, and knelt beside the bed. He could barely breathe for the lump in his throat, and he couldn't stop a strangled sound of distress from escaping when she suddenly cried out loudly and clung onto his arm again. He winced at how tight the grip was, but said nothing.

"D-Dan-iel--" she gasped. She opened her eyes and looked at him finally, the expression full of agony. "Help…"

"I c--I can't do anything," he choked. His chest and throat hurt so badly from holding back tears that it made him want to cry in and of itself.

Vala closed her eyes again and moaned loudly, squirming. Daniel managed to pry his arm out of her grip and take her hand with his instead. She squeezed that too. "Please!" she pleaded. "Do something, I can't-AH!"

He squeezed her hand more tightly himself, his eyes snapping shut in anguish; it would be like this for her, to some degree, every day for the next five months. He knew the reason, but he didn't want it to be this way. He didn't want her to suffer!

"There's nothing to be done…" he answered quietly, no louder for fear of his voice cracking again. "You can't stop it; you can't die. It's to...to get people's attention, so they'll know that he--that God is serious. He's real, and he wants them all to accept Him…" he trailed off. "Everyone," he whispered finally. "Don't you understand?"

Vala heard, but didn't reply. She was too busy panting from the pain.

Daniel let out a sob. "I'm sorry," he said again. "I wish I could do something." He wanted her to be saved more than anything, but he still wished he could ease the pain just the same. But wishing didn't help her.

Eyes closed and breathing harshly, she still didn't say anything, or even open her eyes, so he withdrew his hand from hers and stood, turning away to get control of the tears in his throat. But they refused to be forced down.

Daniel started to cry. It was only softly at first, but soon became forceful sobs. He hid his face in his hands and stood against the wall, his face next to it because he tried to keep her from hearing. It wasn't until he felt a shaking hand on his shoulder that he realized he had failed miserably. He turned in surprise, and saw that a gasping vala had managed to pull herself out of bed on her own and come the few steps to where he was near the door.

When he turned around, her arms slipped around his waist, and her head pulled up against his chest and rested there while she held onto him as tight as she could even though her body was already weakening. Before he was even completely certain of what he was doing, Daniel let his arms go around her in response. He was still crying some; his chest jerked spastically in the aftermath, and tears still streamed down his cheeks.

"Don't," she whispered, voice raspy and barely loud enough to hear.

"What?" he asked quietly, voice still choked.

Her words were choked as well, as if she, too, were crying. But he couldn't see her face with her head pressed to his chest and the top of it just under his chin. "Don't cry for me…please…"

"Wh-why not?" It was all he could think of to say.

He couldn't have expected Vala's quiet, tearful answer. "Because it only makes me love you more…and all that does is hurt worse when you don't love me back."

Daniel could have sworn he stopped breathing. He stared ahead for several seconds in shock, before he finally sucked in a quivering breath and his eyes closed.

"Don't say that," he protested weakly.

She swallowed a moan, but still held onto him. "Why? You don't. It's…all right. I don't blame you…and you don't have...to stay in here…"

He tightened his arms around her and pushed his head down next to hers, so his mouth was by her ear. He could feel her shivering in pain against him.

"Don't. I mean it. Don't say that," Daniel said shakily. Unbidden his mind returned to what Morgan had said no more than an hour before, but suddenly he didn't care that he was admitted exactly what he had denied then. He was doing just exactly what he had firmly declared that he wouldn't do.

"But--"

"I don't ever want to hear you say that again, you hear me?" he told her more fiercely. "Never."

Realizing what he meant, Vala slumped against him, sobbing in pain, joy, shock, and relief all at once. Daniel held on tight, crying again himself. He gently picked her up and carried her back to the bed, where he sat and held onto her more, while she clung to him and cried until she either fell asleep or lost consciousness. He wasn't sure which.

But still Daniel held onto her.

Finally he realized that he never wanted to let go.