Fallen Angel

"I'm not sure that we can count on Daniel for anything anymore."

– Carter, 'Full Circle'.

Prologue

At 16:42 a telephone rang deep within Cheyenne Mountain.

"Hammond."

There was a pause as the general listened intently, his grip tightening on the black receiver.

"I'll send someone right away," he responded and put down the hand-piece.

George Hammond crossed his office quickly and yanked open the door.

"Get Dr Fraiser and SG-1 up here immediately," the general ordered his secretary.

The efficient lieutenant noticed her commander's urgent manner and obeyed his instruction at once.

At 16:56 Dr Janet Fraiser, Colonel O'Neill, Major Carter, Teal'c and Jonas Quinn stood assembled in the general's office awaiting his announcement.

Hammond took a deep breath and then broke the news.

"It appears that Dr Jackson has been found."

Eyes widened and muscles tensed all around, but no one spoke. They waited for the general to continue.

"Major Davis was visiting a relative in Colorado Springs County Hospital when a man he recognised as Daniel Jackson was brought onto the ward," he told them. "After making inquires he discovered that the patient was an unidentified causality of a road accident in Colorado Springs earlier this morning. The man is at present unconscious, but the major swears that it is Dr Jackson."

"Request permission to – " O'Neill began.

"I'm releasing you to take a trip to the hospital," Hammond said, cutting off the predictable request.

Part One

Three men and a woman dressed in civilian clothes quickly ascended the steps leading up to the visitors' entrance of Colorado Springs County Hospital, a female doctor hurrying after them.

In the lobby a dark-haired man, also in civilian clothes, met the man at the head of the group half way to the reception desk.

"Colonel."

"Davis, where is he?" Jack O'Neill asked at once.

"This way." Major Davis led the anxious members of SG-1 and Dr Fraiser towards the lifts.

Five minutes later the group was walking onto the intensive care ward.

"Jack!" A cry of relief came from the far side of the room.

"Daniel?"

"Do you know this man?" a harassed doctor cried.

The white-coated man was aiding two nurses to hold down the unwilling patient in question.

"Yes," O'Neill replied, as he and the others hurried across the room.

Seeing familiar faces in front of him, the patient stilled much to the breathless doctor and nurses' relief.

A white hand shot out and gripped the colonel's arm.

"Jack!"

O'Neill placed a comforting hand over his friend's.

"We can take it from here," Dr Fraiser told the hospital's doctor, picking up the patient's notes. "Thank you for your help."

"Excuse me, who are you?" the other doctor demanded to know.

"Dr Janet Fraiser, US Air Force." Fraiser held up her ID and shook the doctor's hand. "I'm this man's doctor."

"Dr Jenkins," the county doctor introduced himself. He turned to his nurses and dismissed them with thanks and a smile.

While Janet led Dr Jenkins out of earshot and engaged him in a conversation about Daniel's condition, SG-1 surrounded the hospital bed and looked closely at the patient who lay there.

Dr Daniel Jackson was stripped to the waist with most of his torso wrapped in white bandages and wires led from his chest to a monitor beside the bed. His pale complexion was only coloured by a thin red gash on his forehead and a purple-blue bruise on the left side of his chin. The side of one bare forearm was badly scratched telling a story of being scrapped along tarmac and little cuts marked him from being showered with glass fragments.

"Daniel, what happened?" Jack asked, softly.

"I-I'm not sure," Daniel stammered, his blue eyes showing the remains of shock.

He struggled to pull his thoughts and memories together. "The others, the Ancients, wouldn't let me destroy Anubis. They were furious with me for intervening with what they said did not concern me. There was trial and they concluded that I was a dangerous outsider, a loose cannon, who must be stopped. I was to be punished for my actions.

"The next thing I remember, is finding myself stood on a path in a street. I felt weak and dazed. It took me a while to realise I was Human again, during which time I must have wandered into the road, for suddenly I saw a van coming straight for me. I can recall being hit and falling to the ground and then nothing more…until I woke up here just before you arrived."

Jack squeezed Daniel's hand, supportively.

"It's ok, Daniel," he said, looking into his friend's terrified eyes. "You're safe now."

The two doctors came back over to the bed. Fraiser smiled down at Daniel, her eyes wet with the happiness that came with seeing him again, and altered the speed of his intravenous drip slightly.

SG-1 watched her, anxious to be told of their friend's medical condition.

"Daniel's going to be just fine," she assured them. "A few broken ribs and a concussion. He's been lucky." Janet looked down at him with mock-irritation and added, "Again."

Sam lent forward and tenderly wiped a stray strand of brown hair off Daniel's pale forehead.

"I missed you, Daniel."

"I missed you too."

"Did you?" There was something dark in her tone and she drew back away from him.

Her sick friend frowned with confusion. "Yes, of course I did."

"It is good to have you back with us, Daniel Jackson," Teal'c said.

Daniel smiled and nodded.

"Da – Dr Jackson, I…" Jonas felt out of place and glanced around nervously. "Get well soon." He hastily stepped back and stared out of the window, biting his thumbnail.

"Thank you, Jonas," Daniel said. "It'll be nice to get to know you."

Jonas looked back, pleasantly surprised. "A-and you."