Teal'c was already sat in his usual place when Jack and Sam arrived in the briefing room. General Hammond entered shortly after. SG-1 began to stand. "As you were," Hammond said, "Doctor Fraiser tells me Doctor Jackson's fine. It's good news."
"Yes, sir," Jack replied.
"What about our guest?" Hammond asked. Sam shot Jack a nervous look.
"She's… dead, sir," Jack finally answered, "I'm not sure how. She said something about transferring her life force to Daniel before she died. Something about a mission."
"What kind of mission?" Hammond asked.
"I'm not sure, sir," Jack continued, "she just kept apologizing. I asked what she was talking about but she died before she could answer." He hesitated, "Sir, she said she was near to the end of her life, but from the look of her she couldn't have been more than twenty-five."
Teal'c raised an eyebrow, "Perhaps she has had access to a sarcophagus," he suggested. There was a long silence. Jack decided to tell everyone what Sam had said.
"Carter thinks she was a Goa'uld," he put in.
"Major?" Hammond looked at her. Sam explained the feeling she had when L'Anya touched her arm. "Are you absolutely sure?" he asked. Sam nodded. "I thought you said she was running from a group of Jaffa?"
"She was," Jack answered, "Could have been a setup."
Sam looked confused. "But sir, why would she give her life freely if it was a setup?"
That was a point, Jack thought, Why would she? And what the hell was the mission she was talking about? It was all too much to think about.
"Well, SG-1," Hammond said, "Until Doctor Jackson is fully recovered, you all have some well overdue leave to make use of." Jack and Sam smiled. Hammond stood up, "Dismissed."
About an hour later, Jack was ready to go home. He decided to visit Daniel. Teal'c had already visited, so had Sam. It wouldn't look too good if he was the only one who didn't go to see him. He walked into the infirmary and was greeted by Janet. "How's he doing?"
"He seems fine. Better than fine actually, considering. I've put off running any tests for a while incase I disturb whatever L'Anya did to him. I'll be checking him in about and hour to see what actually happened."
"Thanks, Doc," Jack answered. He made his way over to Daniel's bed. "Hey."
"Hey."
"Doc' says you're gonna be fine."
"Yeah, I feel fine. Actually I feel… great… what exactly happened to me?"
"You, um… died."
Daniel stared up in disbelief. "I died. Okay… I wasn't expecting that… Am I dead now?!" He smiled.
Jack smiled back. "No, you're alive and kicking Dannyboy," he laughed, "Anyway, Hammond's given us some leave while you recover. Carter's gone home, Teal'c's off visiting his family, I'm off to… um…"
"Sit on your ass and do nothing?"
"That's it!" Jack said. "So if you feel like fishing sometime you know where to find me." He stood up.
"I'll… keep that in mind," Daniel said, "See ya!"
"See ya Danny!" Jack left the infirmary laughing to himself. He really couldn't imagine Daniel fishing.
Jack sat at home, on his ass, drinking beer and doing nothing. For a moment, the idea of retiring again passed through his thoughts. He enjoyed doing nothing. It was relaxing. A knock at the front door interrupted his thoughts and he reluctantly put down his beer and got up to answer it.
Back at the SGC, Janet called a nurse over, "Give me a hand with these tests, will you? I wanna know what L'Anya actually did…" She stopped in the infirmary as she saw Daniel's bed was empty. She looked around for him, giving up after failing to find him. The tests didn't really matter for the moment. Daniel was fine. "Never mind. It can wait 'til morning." She took on last quick glance around the room, as if expecting to find Daniel hiding under a cupboard, before going back to her office.
"Hey Daniel!" Jack said, surprised at the man who stood at his front door. He stepped aside to let Daniel in. He walked blankly past Jack. "Shouldn't you be… resting… not here?"
"I told you I'm fine," he replied, "I just needed to get out of the infirmary, that place was driving me crazy."
"Ceiling décor getting to you?" Jack joked
Daniel laughed. "That was bad enough. It's just every few minutes people were coming through asking me how I was, if I was all right. It just really started getting to me."
Jack picked up his empty beer bottle and attempted to drink. After failing that he went through to the kitchen.
"Want a beer Daniel?" He knew what the answer would be, but it was only polite to ask.
"Sure, why not?" Daniel sat down by Jack's chessboard and stared across the room.
Jack looked up. That certainly wasn't the response he had expected. The last time Daniel was here he told Jack he didn't even like beer. Jack opened the fridge again and got another bottle out, opened it and carried it through to where Daniel was sat. He handed the beer to Daniel. His friend looked miles away as he took it.
"What's on your mind Dannyboy?" Jack sat down opposite Daniel.
"Hm? Oh! I was just thinking about all that we've been through in the past … what is it? Two years?"
"Uh, Almost five, six if you count the first Abydos mission " Jack corrected him
"Six years…"
"It's been one hell of a ride, that's for sure"
"It's amazing, I mean, I've been killed, travelled in time, visited alternate dimensions, swapped bodies with people…" he stopped, "if you had told me five years ago that any of this was even possible… I would have thought you were totally crazy!"
Great, Jack thought. This is where he starts to pour his heart out. He went to get another beer. As Jack opened his third bottle he sensed Daniel behind him. "You know Daniel if you really want another beer you could just ask. Sneaking up on people to steal their booze isn't very nice. There's plenty in the fridge." Jack turned around. Daniel was staring at him. "Well if you really want this one…" he joked, holding out the beer towards Daniel. Daniel turned away and started for the living room. Jack followed him and put his hand on Daniel's shoulder. For whatever reason, Daniel needed a friend right now; He seemed preoccupied. Almost reflexively, Daniel spun around and looked straight at Jack, his eyes glowing. "Oh crap!" Jack whispered to himself.
