Okay, I'm back from my trip now! Sorry it's been, like, over two weeks since I've updated, but family comes first you, know. Okay, second after God, Jesus, your Christian walk, etc-but anyhow, here I go with the rest. Updatesshould come faster now as summer is here and I won't go on anymore trips soon and such, so please enjoy this new chapter and please review so I know what you think and to continue! Thanks!

Chapter 15

Samantha Carter continued to look back and forth between the two Daniels—the one standing beside her, and the slightly different one sitting on the floor in front of her. Their voices were still ringing in her ears, Daniel voice twice, "join the club." It might have been funny if she still weren't so shocked. Finally, she managed to clear her throat and say something intelligible.

"Okay, so…you're Daniel, but…where are you from?"

The other Daniel looked thoughtful for a few seconds, then responded. "Uhhm…the future…" he answered carefully.

Her own Daniel's eyebrows went up. "Ah. Thought so. You do look obviously older."

His counterpart shot him a withering look. "Thanks for the vote of confidence." Then he rolled his eyes. "To think that came from myself."

Sam brought up her hands. "Okay! No arguing! We need to straighten this out. Okay, so…the future?"

Their newest cell mate nodded. "Right. Though…I probably shouldn't tell you how far in the future."

Carter nodded back. "Right. You shouldn't, and nothing about any other part of the future either." She looked up at the younger Daniel, who looked like he was about to protest. "No matter how much we may want to know something," she quickly added.

Daniel's mouth snapped shut again, but the hopefulness mixed with pain that had appeared in his eyes didn't go away. The Daniel on the floor looked up at him, and she could see a similar pain reflected in his eyes, and something seemed to pass between the two. This Daniel seemed to have changed, but she supposed some things always stayed the same. Sam couldn't keep herself from wondering the same thing she knew her Daniel was worrying about…What had happened to Sha're in the future?

Finally the younger Daniel broke the silence, shifting uncomfortably. "Okay, so I guess that means he shouldn't tell us how he got here, either."

The other sighed. "No problem there; I'm not really sure 'I' know how I got here. There was just some crazy device, a big flash of light, and…I'm here." He frowned, "That's been happening way to often lately." Then he sighed again and let his chin drop to his chest. His hands came up to cover his face, and he rubbed his forehead absently. Sam thought she heard a faint moan.

Sam and Daniel glanced at each other for a moment, but soon he looked away, staring at the floor.

"Daniel?" Carter questioned quietly.

"What?" both replied, looking up at her.

Sam grimaced. "Okay…I can see right now that we're going to have a problem with this." She looked at both of them. "One of you is going to have to be something else."

"Like what?" her Daniel asked.

Carter shrugged. "I don't know…Danny?"

Neither looked happy with that, but after a moment of staring at each other finally the one standing shrugged, sighing heavily. "Fine. I'll be Danny. I'm the younger one of us, after all." He seemed happy with that part of it, anyway, and purposely ignored the new glare his twin cast in his direction, obviously hiding a smile. Sam had to smother her own before it led to a giggle.

"All right. I guess that will work," she agreed. Then she looked at the newcomer, and took a deep breath. "Daniel…you didn't answer my first question: Are you okay?"

His eyebrows went up. "Me? Oh I'm…fine, just…." He winced, and one of his hands went to his forehead again.

"Hand device?" the other Jackson asked.

He nodded. "Yeah."

"Then you saw her…"Danny gulped, inquiring.

Suddenly the older Daniel seemed even older, his expression pain. "I did. But I don't…I don't want to…to talk about it. It's just…so hard to see her like that again…" He broke off, gulping back tears, and Sam put a hand on his arm.

"It's okay. I know this must be really hard for you…both of you, and I'm so sorry this happened…" She looked at her own Danny. "That we ended up here in the first place, what you've been through…" Then she looked down at the future Daniel again. "And that you're having to re-live this. But we have to…" She paused, wondering what she should say, next, what she could say. "We have stay positive, and…if we all just work together, we can get out of this, and hopefully get Sha're out of here too. Okay?"

Danny nodded, looking hopeful, but Daniel sucked in a sharp breath at her comment. Carter looked at him, but he quickly looked away in the Daniel Jackson version of 'no comment'. She sighed. At least the Daniel Jackson of the future seemed to pay more attention to her scientific advice. The Daniel she knew now would have told his past self what had happened to his wife by now. In fact, she had o doubt that if he had the chance, he would go back and tell himself of what would happen to her before she had even been taken. But he couldn't do that, and this Daniel knew it. Her only regret of that fact was the pain she could see in his eyes caused by it.

"Come on," she said quietly, slipping an arm under one of his. "Let me help you up."

"Sam, you don't have to-I mean, I'm not exactly—"

"Stop," she interrupted, holding up a hand. Then she dropped it and smiled at him. "Just because I won't know this you for a few years doesn't mean you're not my friend, Daniel. Let's get that straight right now."

"She's right, you know," Danny agreed. "Besides, we all have to help each other if we're going to get back to our respective homes."

Daniel sighed. "Right. I'm sorry; I'm still a little confused. I mean, I just got thrown several years into the past, run into you and myself, and then, well…" He looked at his counterpart, "…you know."

"We know," Sam assured softly, as her Daniel nodded. Then she retook her loosened hold on his arm, and pulled up. Danny joined in to help, taking his other arm as they guided him to the bench they had been sitting on minutes before. He had to admit, though, that it did feel a bit strange to be literally helping himself around. It seemed his future self felt the same way, as he fumbled through his thanks once Danny and Sam had set him down and sat down them selves, still on either side of him.

"Thanks…. I, uh, probably could've gotten up on my own, but, right now everything's kind of crazy, and I just…Well, thanks," he sighed.

"No problem," Sam replied.

"So what now?" Danny asked. "We have to do something. We know alternate universe counterparts can't stay in the same place for more than a few days before it puts them in danger. We have no idea when it comes to time travel like this." He glanced at his older self, but Daniel shrugged as well, signaling that he didn't know any more than they did on the subject.

With that established, both Jacksons turned to Carter expectantly. She felt her stomach tighten minutely. Okay…no pressure……Good grief, who am I kidding? I'd really rather Daniel not have to go through what Dr. Carter and I had to go through when she had been in our reality too long; goodness knows Entropy Cascade Failure isn't pleasant. But it was bad enough to just have me and another version of myself counting on me—now I have two Daniels depending on me to fix this. Perfect. Bring on the nervous breakdown.

Sam took a deep breath. "Well…obviously we have to get out of here first, and…Okay, with three of us we'd have a better chance of storming the guards the next time they come—what?"

Daniel was shaking his head. "I wouldn't. It didn't work so great the first time—"

"Daniel—"

"Hey, as long as I don't tell you anything that could change any major events I'm aloud to save us all any unnecessary pain, aren't I?" he asked heatedly.

Carter sighed. "Fine. Sorry. I'd just really hate to majorly screw something up…"

"Yeah, I know. You haven't changed in the future," Daniel smiled.

Sam raised an eyebrow. "You say that almost like it's a bad thing."

"Okay," Danny butted in. "If we can't rush the guards, what can we do?"

His question was directed at his older self, and it quieted Daniel as he thought about it. Finally he shrugged. "I got nothin'," he admitted.

Sam hid a smile, and Danny made a face. "Oh, please don't tell me I start acting like Jack."

Daniel looked honestly confused. "What? Why would you ask that?"

"You just said 'I got nothin'.'"

"What, that? Oh come on, we've all picked up a few of his phrases by now—I mean by my time. Whatever. But it doesn't mean any of us start acting like him."

"Thank goodness," the younger Daniel sighed, and his counterpart laughed slightly.

"Seriously."

Carter couldn't restrain her giggle, and both Daniel's turned to look at her again. "What?" they asked together.

At that she laughed again. They kept their gaze on her until she stopped and answered them. "I'm sorry. I'm just trying to decide if this is more fun for me or for the… uhm…two of you."

"Ah," Daniel replied simply. But Danny's face fell abruptly.

"This isn't fun, Sam," he said quietly, the sadness in his voice rudely jerking all of them back to the seriousness of the problems at hand—namely the one that was closest to the heart of the two Jacksons. "I'm so worried about Sha're right now…"

"Worried?" Sam asked curiously as Daniel frowned now as well.

"Yeah. Remember I told you she was able to take control for a few minutes?" Sam nodded, and then he continued, looking back and forth between her and his future self. "Well…what if…if a Goa'uld can do something to punish their host if they don't cooperate, if they do something like that. Not physically, but…you know. I don't know. I'm probably just being paranoid, but I just don't want her to suffer any more than she already is by being a host in the first place, on my account."

Now Carter was frowning. "No, I see where you're coming from. I even understand why you might think that," she said slowly, careful of her friend's feelings. "I mean…Jolinar never would have hurt me, but the way it was, the way I perceived things in there while she had control of my body; the way it worked…I suppose she could have. How, exactly, I don't know, but…" She trailed off when she saw both Daniels go pale, though there was more of a resigned look on the older one's face; she remembered that he had probably heard this before.

Sam sighed. "I'm sorry. I don't mean to scare you or make you worry even more, but I'm not going to lie to you," she finished quickly, apologetically.

"It's okay; I understand," Danny nodded. "Thanks. I…guess you're the closest thing we have to an expert in here." But then he turned his gaze on Daniel, who looked back at him for a moment, struggling to keep his face from betraying anything.

"I don't know," Daniel finally shrugged. At his younger self's skeptical expression, he quickly added more. He remembered how he had been then, trusting everyone but himself; he couldn't blame him for not believing him immediately. "If I knew enough to tell you that she was all right now, I would tell you that, but I don't know. I promise. I don't know any more about how it works than either of you do."

The younger Daniel seemed to accept that and stood, sighing. "Okay."

"What are you doing?" Sam asked when he headed toward the other side of the room.

"It doesn't look like we're getting anywhere fast at this point, so if you don't mind I'm going to try and get some sleep," Danny replied, lowering himself to the opposite bench. "Maybe I just came out of a sarcophagus, but it didn't help with the exhaustion any."

"First or second time?" Daniel asked suddenly, and then mentally kicked himself. If this was just after they had been brought here, just after the first time he had been put in the sarcophagus, then he had just given away something rather big. He heaved an inward sigh of relief when he heard the somewhat flustered reply to his question.

"What? Oh, um…second time," his counterpart answered, grimacing.

Daniel winced in return. "Sorry. I was just trying to pin down exactly, uhm, when I am."

"It's fine," Danny answered, sliding down to lie on the bench.

"We've been here almost thirty-six hours," Carter supplied.

"Thanks." Okay, then that means we'll hopefully get of here in…two…three days? Or was it just one more? He remembered painfully well what had happened here, and much of it in excruciating detail—detail he wished he didn't remember. But most of the physical torture in itself was a blur even years later, which left his sense of how long they had been here useless. He had never cared to ask, but now he wished he had. He had no way of knowing enough to make absolutely sure nothing important was changed-like the day they were rescued, or escaped, or whatever.

But even once we get out of here, there's still the problem of figuring out how to get back to the future…Daniel suppressed a smile. Back to the Future…didn't that scientist who had gone to Atlantis—lucky nerd—McKay, the one who had driven Sam up the wall right up to the moment he'd left for the Pegasus Galaxy…didn't he hate those movies? Why had it been again? Something about the science being unsound and his 'superior intellect' seeing right through the plethora of scientific mistakes and plot holes…Never mind.

Carter's voice interrupted his thoughts. "Hey, are you sure you're okay? Maybe you should get some sleep too. I know I'm going to," she said, rubbing her forehead.

"What? No. No, I'm fine. It was still morning when I got tossed back here, so my body's probably on something like mid-afternoon," he answered. But then he found himself yawning, and saw a small smile spreading over Sam's face. "But then again that hand device can wear a person out," he amended. Carter grimaced, nodding in agreement. "Right…Okay, fine; we all get some rest, then. I guess I can't argue with that."

"Good," Carter said, scooting over to the back bench and laying down herself. "I'm exhausted too."

Daniel sighed and lay back, lacing his arms behind his head. Once he had his tired nerves and muscles, worn out and frazzled from the lasting effects of the ribbon device, began to tell him that he too, did indeed need sleep.

Across the room, the Daniel of this time also closed his eyes. His body had been healed, so the tiredness was more emotional than physical. He was exhausted from the ordeal of the pain he had been subjected to from the staff blast wound for several hours, and the added emotional stress of seeing Sha're again only to lose her once more, but he didn't need the sleep any less.

Both Daniel Jacksons drifted toward sleep, both exhausted, both agonizing over Sha're, both wishing for this to be over, or that it was only a nightmare…and both still trying to rid themselves of the rather strange feeling that came with having another of yourself around.