"He's here. I know he's here," Daniel growled, pacing back and forth along the dining table in the tiny quarters at Groom Lake. "The memorial's in twelve hours. He can't not show up." But Teal'c didn't answer, still watching him impassively from the sofa. "He hasn't answered his phone in four days, Teal'c. I've been trying to call him for four days."
"He is grieving," the Jaffa said simply.
"Yeah, well, so am I!" Daniel shot back. "So are you. So is everybody else. Is it so wrong of me to want to grieve with my best friend?" Teal'c didn't so much as bat an eye, but Daniel corrected, chagrined, "Both of my best friends?"
"It is not. Nor is it wrong of O'Neill to wish to grieve in peace. It is unfortunate that your desires are so different."
"Yeah, well, it's not all about him, Teal'c."
"Nor about you." He let that gentle rebuke rest for only a moment before he asked, "Have you read the letter Colonel Carter left for you?"
"No. I…. No." But he'd brought it; it sat on the cheap wooden table beside him. "It has to have something to do with the estate stuff. Why me?"
"You will not know until you read it."
Frustrated, upset, Daniel snatched the envelope off the table and slid a finger down the crease to open it. "It says… there's a file on her computer. With letters for people. But she took her laptop with her, didn't she?" If so, whatever she'd written was gone along with her.
"I am certain the files are stored elsewhere. Colonel Carter was extremely thorough," Teal'c reminded him.
"Right. Yeah. I'll find them when we get back."
~/~
Teal'c was unfailingly level-headed, and sometimes Daniel hated him for it. Jack had arrived by SUV at 0959, less than a minute before the memorial was set to start, his mirrored sunglasses firmly in place. He'd located Daniel and Teal'c in the crowd and had then chosen to stand on the other end of the military contingent – as far from his former teammates as he could possibly get. Only the Jaffa's quick grab for Daniel's arm had kept the other man from storming across the flight line and starting a confrontation that would have doubtlessly delayed the service.
He didn't want to be angry. He wasn't, really; Daniel was far more worried about his best friend than mad at him. Jack had cut off all contact, sending their calls to voice mail and ignoring their messages. Daniel knew without a shadow of a doubt that the other man was grieving deeply – and he knew what grief had done to Jack in the past. He wanted to be the stalwart, concerned, helpful friend to get him through his pain. But he was in so much pain himself, so overwhelmed with grief and worry that the anger and frustration kept winning. And he hated it. And he hated that Teal'c kept having to rein him in when the Jaffa had lost just as much.
The memorial service went on around him – different speakers, prayers, presentations – but Daniel was too overwhelmed in his own thoughts to hear any of it. Two hundred lives reduced to photos and wreaths. And hundreds more people shattered. He didn't delude himself; even in the mostly military crowd, he knew SG-1 weren't the only people who'd suffered heavy personal losses. He glanced around, looking for red-rimmed eyes like his own and wondering if they'd been friends of the lost. Lovers. Spouses. And it just made him hurt more.
Daniel only realized the memorial had ended when the crowd started moving. Glancing up, he found Jack headed straight back for the same SUV that had brought him, and to Teal'c's credit, he didn't try to stop Daniel from going after him. The archaeologist weaved through the mourners, picking up speed until he broke free of the crowd and headed for the SUV at a jog. "Jack."
It wasn't his imagination; Jack started walking faster. An Airman already had the passenger door open for the General by the time Daniel caught him. "Jack, enough!" Grabbing his friend's arm, he forced him to stop and turn.
"What?" the other man asked simply, his eyes hidden behind his sunglasses.
"What? Jack," he complained. But he tried to shove aside the frustration and anger, if only for a moment. "Jack, we're worried about you."
"I'm fine, Daniel. I'm busy."
"You're not fine." Jack tried to turn away again, and Daniel stopped him. "Please talk to me. Please."
"What do you wanna talk about?" the other man asked him.
With an annoyed huff, Daniel pressed, "Oh, I don't know. Sam?"
"What's there to say?" The words were sharp. "She's gone. That's it. She's gone."
"Jack -"
The officer pulled his arm free and climbed into the SUV. The Airman closed the door behind him, and the vehicle rolled away.