"For crying out loud, Danny, hurry up!"
Jack O'Neill was staring to get really impatient. He had promised to take Daniel with him when he drove to the mountain in the mornings, after the archeologists car had a major break-down. It hadn't surprised Jack when he heard the news since he knew Daniels car which seemed to come out of the last century. Okay, perhaps that was slightly exaggerated, but it wasn't new either.
So he got stuck with picking Daniel up. If he had suspected that his friend needed so much time to get ready in the mornings, he wouldn't have volunteered for this duty.
The only good thing with this situation was that Jack now had some control over Daniel's suicidal working habits. If left alone Daniel wouldn't leave the base for a whole week, working through everything including sleep and meals.
"I'm coming Jack. I just have to get this disk with translations, then I'm ready."
Jack rolled his eyes. He should have known it. Because he had nothing better to do, he started pacing Daniels living-room. At least it wouldn't take Daniel to long to find what he was looking for. For Jack the clutter Daniel had accumulated may seem like chaos, but Daniel always knew where to find his things.
The second time Jack passed the couch, something caught his eye. There was something lying under the couch, which looked suspiciously like a blade. Perhaps a knife? But then, what was a knife doing under someone's couch?
His curiosity aroused Jack bent down and got the thing out. It was a... sword? What the hell was Daniel doing with a sword under his couch? What was he doing with such a weapon at all? Interesting questions.
Jack looked at the sword a bit more closely. He was no expert on these kind of weapons, but he could see that it was well taken care of and rather valuable. Why was Daniel hiding such a piece of handiwork under his sofa? It looked more like a saber on second thought, the blade narrow and light, not like the swords he knew out of history films. Probing the blade Jack promptly cut his thumb. Damn, the thing was sharp! Curious, Jack tried a few moves he had seen in those adventure-films on TV. As far as he could tell, the sword was very well balanced. He made another move that was supposed to be an attack when he heard a light chuckle behind him. Daniel was standing in the door and observing Jacks attempts with the sword.
"Looking for some damsel in distress to rescue?"
"Nah, just wondering what you are doing with such a saber. Is there something you want to tell me?"
Daniel was still grinning, but Jack was sure that there had flashed something in his eyes that didn't belong there: Fear. What was Daniel afraid of?
"First of all, this is a rapier, not a saber, and there is no big secret. I used to do some fencing in college. I still do it once in a while and it is fun to use real swords."
Jack looked from the blade in his hand to Daniel and back again. Fighting with real swords? With real sharp swords like this? Daniel? And he was still alive?
His confusion must have been evident in his face, because Daniel started chuckling again.
"What is it Jack? Didn't you think I could handle sharp objects?"
"You're accident prone on a good day, Danny. I don't want to think about what could happen with something like this."
Suddenly, too fast even for Jacks fight trained reactions Daniel started to move. The next thing Jack knew he was sitting on the floor with Daniel holding the sword very close to his neck and Jack had absolutely no idea how this had happened. Hell, he was ex-covert ops, a soldier for nearly all his adult life, no one should be able to surprise him like this. You didn't live too long if you let yourself be surprised in battle. But then, this wasn't a battle and Danny was the last person on earth he would expect to attack him.
"What do you say now, Jack?"
Daniel was holding the tip of the blade still uncomfortably close to Jacks throat, but the Colonel knew that Daniel wouldn't hurt him for real… would he?
"Can you teach me that move?"
"What?"
Daniel finally put the sword down, looking very surprised at Jack, who picked himself up from the floor.
"I asked you if you could teach me this move."
"I heard you the first time. Why?"
Jack shrugged, looking all innocent:
"Why not? I'm always willing to learn something that could help in a fight, and this certainly would. And then, I really would like to see if you could manage to surprise me like this again. So, are you going to teach me?"
For an endless moment Daniel just looked at his friend, but then he said:
"Sure, okay, why not."
But even when he said this, he thought:
//I must be losing my mind. I haven't taught in more than a century and never any mortals and Jack O'Neill is most certainly mortal, even if he doesn't act like it sometimes. Why am I doing this?//
"Good! Now come on, we are already late."
Daniel didn't say anything. What was there to say anyway? When Jack was walking towards the door, Daniel grabbed his coat and hid the sword in the linen. Better safe than sorry.
While walking towards the door he thought again about the promise to show Jack a few defense and offense moves. Hopefully that wouldn't make the Colonel even more suspicious.
//What have I let myself in for?//
*********************
"You are going to do what?"
"Oh, calm down Janet! Nothing's going to happen!"
Janet stared across the table at her friend in disbelief. They had met for lunch, or more exactly Janet had dragged Daniel out of his comfy office to get him to eat. During their small talk, Daniel mentioned his upcoming self-defense session with Colonel Jack O'Neill.
"I thought you did not want anybody to find out."
"Why should anybody find out?"
Janet returned Daniel's puzzled look. Nothing indicated that he knew what she was talking about, nothing but that little twinkle in his eyes!
"Daniel!"
Her annoyance was more than evident in that one little word. Daniel just started grinning, but he became serious again very fast.
"Janet, I know I should have been more careful this morning, but what could he possibly suspect? I never denied to know my own share of self-defense, its just that nobody ever believes me! I'm a bit fed up that everybody here seems to think I'm unable to look after myself. By now at least Jack should know that I can fight for myself."
"I think they are just confusing your roles."
Now it was Janet who was grinning. This wasn't the first time the two of them had this conversation. Normally Daniel didn't care if somebody underestimated him, after all it was an impression he had worked hard on, but occasionally he got really annoyed with the protectiveness of his team.
"What roles?"
This time his confusion was for real. He really had no idea what she was talking about. Janet didn't stop grinning when she said:
"The I'm-just-a-harmless-little-archeologist and the don't-mess-with-me-or-you'll-rue-it one."
Daniel looked at her as if he couldn't decide if he just had been insulted or not, but then he started laughing silently.
"If they know both sides of my character, they shouldn't be so surprised every time I 'switch roles'. You should have seen Jacks face when he realized that he was sitting on the floor. It was priceless. The last time I've seen such surprise in his face was when I showed up at his place his last birthday."
Chuckling Janet tried to picture that particular look on Jack O'Neill's face.
"I think I can imagine."
They were both laughing now. Other people in the mess turned to look, but neither Daniel or Janet cared.
"Are you coming tonight?" Janet asked suddenly.
SG-1 plus Janet had this little tradition, meeting once a month in town for a bit of R&R which generally meant drinking, swapping gossip and having what Jack referred to as a good time. The best thing was, this meeting was often held at Richards Club.
"If I don't find a good excuse that Jack will believe, I'll be there."
Jack and Daniel had a little competition going. Every month Daniel tried to find a reason why he couldn't come to the evening out and every month Jack tried to find a reason to drag him along nevertheless.
"Don't pretend you would put your work over a nice evening with your friends. You'll have fun."
"If you say so…"
Daniel didn't sound convinced at all, even as he was smiling while saying that. Absently he glanced at his watch and was surprised at the time.
"I've to get going, or Jack is going to send a search team."
With these words Daniel stood up. He and Jack were going to meet in fifteen minutes in the gym. Problem was, this was the time when the SGC-gym was normally most crowded. Daniel was reluctant to show Jack his moves in front of other people, even if it wasn't his reputation that would suffer. A small smile started to spread on Daniel's face. Jack was in for a good surprise.
*********************
The gym was crowded, just like Daniel had predicted. He had tried one more time to talk Jack out of this idea, but without success. The Colonels mind was set on this little session and Daniel had no choice but to play along.
It didn't take Daniel to long to figure out Jacks motivations for this insistence. The Colonels ego needed a boost after this morning and the man really hadn't expected to loose again. Like Daniel had thought, his friend had been in for a nasty surprise.
After Colonel O'Neill was sent to the mats for the third time in a row he started to realize that his Danny knew a bit more about self-defense techniques than he had thought. At least this last time he had been able to remain on his feet for a whole three minutes. What the hell was going on here? This wasn't the first time he had dragged Daniel down for a little training, it was just the first time that Daniel had the upper hand all the time. Jack had a sneaking suspicion that something was going on.
Jack stood up again and eyed his friend suspiciously for a long moment, then decided to give it another try. After all, he knew his own fair share of attack and defense moves, should know them after all his time in the military. The problem was, Daniel always seemed to know what Jack would try next. And it always ended with Jack lying or sitting on the training mats. This time was no exception. When Jack attacked, Daniel didn't try to move aside, like taught in normal martial art lessons but made a step towards the colonel, reaching him when the man was mid-step. He managed to grab Jacks right arm, then turned. Jacks own speed carried him further and gave Daniel all the velocity he needed. It ended with Jack lying on his back with a sore shoulder and Daniel looking down on him, a small grin on his face. He extended a hand to help his friend up and Jack took it, grumbling. Back on his feet he cast a quick look around. The two of them were the center of attention at the moment. Jack grimaced. He shouldn't have ever suggested this. Not after the surprise he got this morning.
"What technique is this anyway? Where did you learn it? When? And why didn't you ever tell me about it? I could have saved my attempts to teach you."
Jack fired the questions in a rapid order but Daniel only raised his eyebrows questioningly. Jack realized suddenly that it was normally his friend who fired questions at him like this.
"I don't know if this technique has a concrete name. It is more like a mix of different ways of fighting. Some of this a friend from China taught me, when I was there… a long time ago. I also once learned a bit of capuera and other not so well known techniques. You could say my style is a little bit of everything. And for why I never told you…"
Daniel shrugged smiling.
"… you never really asked and you seemed to have fun playing the teacher to me."
Jack tried to glare at Daniel, but he knew from long experience that the archeologist was immune to this look. And Daniel was right, it had been fun teaching this stuff, but now Jack felt a little bit… used. He really never noticed, just assumed that a bookish person like Daniel wouldn't know the first thing about fighting. Damn it! But then, Daniels newly discovered abilities raised some other questions.
"When did you have time to learn all this stuff? And why? Honestly, I never thought of you as a fan of fighting at all."
Daniel's smile faltered a bit and Jack thought that he could again see the same strange look from this morning. This… nervousness or fear…or whatever it was. What was for sure, was that Danny was uncomfortable with this question. But why? Jack's suspicions came back full force. Something was going on here. Something big! And he still had no idea what. Perhaps he should have a little talk with Carter and Teal'c if they had seen something suspicious.
"I didn't spend all my time in libraries, Jack. And sometimes it is rather… desirable to know how to fight back. And, even if you don't believe it, I kind off like this form of weaponless fighting."
"And fencing…"
Jack put in slightly puzzled. Okay, this explanation made sense. Daniel was just the person to attract bullies and fighting back wouldn't be the worst course of actions but he just couldn't connect his Daniel, a man who always seemed to favor a non-violent approach to things, with the men he was coming to know now, after nearly two years. A man who liked martial arts and playing around with real, very sharp, swords.
Seemingly Daniel didn't know what to say: a notable situation in itself. Again this look crossed his face, but only for a second. Jack would have missed it if he hadn't observed his friend so closely.
"Ever heard of active archeology? The fencing started as part of a little project and I kind of stuck with it… don't get me wrong, I don't like fighting, I like the sport at it. The theory of the moves, the muscle control and balance you need… and the history behind the different styles fascinates me."
Trust Daniel to give an absolutely in-character explanation for an absolutely out-of-character behavior. Of course it had to have something to do with history or archeology, what else?
But even this, for Daniel, completely logical explanation wasn't able to dismiss Jack's freshly bloomed suspicions. He had this nasty feeling that something wasn't right here, that Daniel hadn't told the whole truth about this matter. The question was: why? What was Daniel hiding here? Perhaps he really should arrange a little talk with Carter and Teal'c. Daniel had been acting weirdly the last few weeks, even for him, and it was high time that the rest of the team did something about it. But for know…
"Okay, lets try again! Show me the move from this morning."
And Daniel did just that, patiently showing his friend every little detail. You could get the impression that it wasn't the first time in his life that he was teaching this particular subject.
Jack didn't need long to grasp the theory and then the praxis of the moves. While the two friends were training, Jack was well aware of the stares they got from most soldiers in the gym. Whispered comments drifted back and forth. The majority of the audience was just as surprised as Jack about Daniels seemingly newly developed abilities, but there were also different opinions. Like what this 'stupid geek' was thinking 'showing off' as if 'he knew anything about fighting in the first place'. Jack wouldn't have cared about comments like this, not greatly at least, but when he heard something that sounded suspiciously like 'this geek needs to be taught a lesson', he turned around searching their audience. Comments like this, especially when directed at members of his team, really ticked Jack O'Neill off. He cast a scathing look around the gym and quite a few people suddenly remembered that they had other important things to do, far away from the gym and Colonel O'Neill.
Good! His patented glare was still working. After this short treatment none of the remaining soldiers were particular eager to repeat certain comments. Satisfied that he still had some authority over fellow military when not over a particular archeologist, started to rise in Jack but was brutally cut short.
Suddenly Jack found himself lying on the mats, again! Daniel had ruthlessly taken advantage of his temporary distraction to make his move. Now he was grinning down on his friend and asking sweetly:
"Wasn't it you who told me, to never let anything distract you during a fight?"
"Oh for crying out loud, Danny!"
Daniel let out a short chuckle, then extended a hand to help Jack back on his feet. But now it was Jack who took advantage of his friend. One long trained move later it was Daniel who lay on his back looking up rather surprised. Jack stood over him, hands on his hips smirking. Daniel blinked a few times then a smile found its way back on his face.
"Is your ego happy now?"
"Yep!"
Jack wanted to help Daniel stand up, but his friend beat him to it and came back to his feet with a little jackknife jump. Jack had seen Daniel do this move more than once on missions, but it always surprised him a bit how agile his friend really was. His bookworm look tended to distract people pretty well from the facts.
"You know what, my friend?"
Daniel gave Jack a wary look. When Jack asked something like this, in this particular tone of voice, it generally wasn't pleasant.
"Since your performance bruised my self-confidence pretty badly, you are going to buy at least one round of drinks tonight."
Jack was grinning brightly but Daniel just looked at him with high drawn eyebrows.
"Tell me Jack, how do you always seem to manage to find an excuse why I should pay for your drinks?"
"Lifelong experience. So you will be there tonight."
"As if I had a realistic chance not to." Daniel mumbled in response, while packing his things and heading to the showers.
But he had to be honest with himself. He really liked this evenings out with the team. Sometimes they were joined by members of other teams like Ferretti. A small smile spread on Daniel's face when he remembered a little incident which had involved a group of marines and several bottles tequila. General Hammond had not been a happy man when he found out that three SG-Teams were inoperable because of severe hangovers. Janet hadn't been too pleased either.
Even after nearly two years Daniel had still a hard time dealing with Jacks insistence on these little 'team-building-acts' like the colonel used to call this. It wasn't in his nature to become so deeply involved, a self-defense mechanism in its own. Two thousand years of memories and experience were more than enough to drive one lesson home: Nothing lasts, above all not friends. And his returned memories seemed to prove this theory. So Daniel tried to stay away from close friendships, tried to stay by himself. But he made the mistake of falling in love with Sha're, letting her close, allowing himself to feel again. After Apophis made Sha're a host, Daniel had desperately wanted to hide himself away again in his emotional shell, but Jack O'Neill had come along and dragged him out to the real world. The colonel had needed friendship just like Daniel had needed it and so Daniel broke his own rule to keep the distance again. Soon after, Sam and Teal'c were included and Daniel started to realize that he had missed the normality of simple friendship. And he also realized at one point, that if he didn't go away soon he would be unable to leave at all. He was still here.
*********************
The evening was coming along nicely. They had already reached their second or third drink and the conversation started to loosen up. Janet chatted in a lively fashion with Sam with Teal'c contributing his point of view from time to time. Daniel just sat there watching them and nursing his drink. And Jack was watching Daniel.
He was sore after the little workout this afternoon and wondered if Daniel felt the same. If yes, he never showed it. But then, when did Daniel ever complain about bodily harm at all. His universal answer to every injury, however severe, was "I'm fine".
After he had had some time to think about it, Jack wondered exactly why he had been so damn surprised about Daniel's performance. After all, he had seen the archeologist in action before! He had seen how Daniel could turn from mild mannered, shy geek right to determined fighter in one heartbeat. On their very first mission he threw himself in the way of a staff blast for him after all. At least then Jack should have realized that he had underestimated Danny badly. But in his opinion Daniel still needed protection.
The thoughtful, slightly forlorn look Daniel had in his eyes at the moment did nothing to reassure Jack that Daniel was alright. Janet had told him that nothing was wrong with his friend, at least not physically. But this left the one important question: was he mentally all right? Jack had pondered on this question since the disaster with Nem. Since they had returned to earth, he had found his friend alone in the darkness of his office, staring at nothing. Daniel had never told them exactly what had happened while the rest of SG-1 believed him dead, but it couldn't have been nice. The archeologist had been awfully jumpy for weeks afterwards and then mess with Carter and Jolinar hadn't been helpful either. They all had been freaked by that incident.
But after a while Daniel seemed to calm down somewhat, even if Jack still had the feeling that something was amiss. It wasn't anything in particular, just that Danny was acting even stranger than usual from time to time. Then the meeting with the Tok'ra had occurred. Whatever it was, something unnerved Daniel gravely about this meeting. He didn't show it openly, only sometimes, when he thought nobody was looking. There was an expression on his face that Jack couldn't quite place. Something odd, between remembrance of old pain and antipathy and the knowledge of some secret he couldn't tell. It was confusing.
Even more confusing was a situation that arose shortly before they departed for the Stargate to go back to Earth. Jack, impatient as always has gone looking for Daniel and found him standing with one of the Tok'ra of the High Council. One of those who had opted to make sure that the Tau'ri wouldn't be a threat in a rather uncomfortable way. Daniel, already leaving, had turned back to the Tok'ra and said something in a language Jack didn't recognize. Nothing unusual here, but the Tok'ra's reaction was. The man had paled so fast that Jack had feared he would faint on them. Without a backward glance Daniel had walked away, unaware that Jack had seen the whole exchange. The colonel still had no idea what Daniel could have said that scared this high and mighty Tok'ra so much.
After this encounter Daniel's weird behavior had been back. Again, nobody who didn't know Daniel would have suspected that something was wrong, but Jack had noticed. The nightmares Jack remembered from the time Daniel had stayed with him after his return from Abydos, were more frequent again. At least every time they shared a tent on missions the colonel noticed that Daniel would wake up in the middle of the night with a start and then had problems going back to sleep. It sometimes amazed Jack that his friend was still able to function so well with his lack of sleep.
At some point Carter and Teal'c both had also realized that something was on Daniel's mind. Sam had tried to talk to him and when this failed had started to pester Jack to talk to Daniel. Teal'c had mostly stayed silent and impassive as always, offering silent support to his friend, but at the same time seemed to observe Daniel more closely. Until a few weeks ago. Suddenly something in his behavior towards Daniel had changed again and Jack was unable to tell what exactly what it was. He just had this feeling that Teal'c had been let in on the secret of Daniel's behavior and now refused to tell the others.
"Hey Janet, what's this?"
Sam Carter's voice started Jack out of his gloomy thoughts. Interested he looked over to Janet who was blushing quite nicely while trying to hide something on her wrist. Looking closer Jack made out a… tattoo? Since when did Janet Fraiser possess a tattoo? And why didn't he know about it? Definitely not getting all the memos. Two short sideways glances showed Jack that Teal'c was as interested in Janet's answer as Carter; that is, if you knew how to tell with Jaffa's impassive gaze. Daniel on the other hand was grinning but trying his best to hide it. He was obviously not terribly surprised about this. What was going on now?
"It's nothing, Sam. A sin of my youth, nothing more."
Janet was clearly embarrassed about this. Jack saw the perfect opportunity to come back at the doctor for all the needles she used to poke him with whenever she had him in the infirmary.
"What, Janet? Where you part of some obscure sect or something."
Janet glared at Jack, than shifted her look to Daniel, who now had a very hard time to stifle his laughter. Not even Janet's icy glare could stop him. Daniel knew something. Again. And he wasn't telling. Again. Had some cosmic existence called a conspiracy against Jack O'Neill or what? Since it didn't look as if Janet would answer Jack's question, Sam tried to get the doctor talking.
"Oh come on, Janet. Tell! It can't be that bad."
"No, it is worse Daniel whispered while biting his lip to prevent from laughing out loud. Apparently no one had heard the words. No one but Jack, who started toying with the thought of pulling rank here. Whatever story was behind this tattoo, it could prove to be major blackmail material against the good doctor. An opportunity you shouldn't let pass.
"It's really nothing. Something I did while I was still in college."
"Has it a hidden meaning or something?"
Sam's curiosity had woken and nothing short of an Goa'uld attack would be able to stop her now. Come to think of it, probably not even that. But Janet wasn't an easy target for this, since she had enough experience with begging and pestering soldiers not to give in to fast. But she hadn't counted on one thing, or better person Sam could pester instead.
"Daniel, what does the symbol mean?"
Daniel's grin vanished instantly. Apparently, he hadn't thought that Sam would ask him about this.
"What makes you think I would know about the meaning of Janet's tattoo?"
"Mhh, perhaps because you normally knows the meaning of every alien-symbol we stumble across or perhaps because you are grinning like the cat who stole the cream since I discovered the tattoo. Come on Daniel, give!"
Janet and Daniel exchanged a short look, before Daniel turned back to Sam:
"You're right, I know the story behind the tattoo. Has something to do with a student-organization, but everything else you have to ask Janet about. It's her story to tell."
Jack gave his friend a short calculating look. He would find out what this was about when they met the next time for beer, pizza and movie. Given the right amount of pestering and generally being unbelievably nosy, Daniel would tell every secret. Or so Jack thought.
Before either Jack or Sam had a chance to ask further questions, Daniel suddenly turned around, searching the room with a slightly confused, but also worried expression in his eyes. Jack registered the fast, knowing look between Teal'c and Janet, but didn't comment on it. Something to file away for later reference.
A man was making his way over to them, a concerned look on his face. With a slightly bad premonition Jack recognized the bar-owner. He had no chance to ask the man, he knew only as Rich if something was wrong, because to Jacks utter surprise he spoke directly to Daniel:
"Daniel? Can I speak with you for a moment? In private?"
Daniel looked puzzled for a moment, but not as puzzled as Jack felt. What was happening now? Without a further word of explanation Daniel stood up and followed Rich. Jack's look followed them for a moment before he turned back to his friends at the table.
"Can somebody tell me what that was about?"
"It appears that Daniel Jackson and the owner of this establishment are acquaintances."
Jack send a questioning gaze over to Teal'c. The Jaffa had obviously again taken language lessons with Daniel. Only SGC's resident linguist could understand something like this without thinking.
"Teal'c is right", confirmed Janet, "Daniel and Richard have known each other for a long time"
And you have no idea exactly how long
Jack turned away for a moment, looking the way Daniel had gone. Why had he the feeling that here was another story hidden that he should know?
*********************
"Okay Rich, what is the matter? Don't tell me another hunter has found his way into Colorado Springs."
Daniel's attempt at humor wasn't very successful, only a small, barely visible smile sneaked on Richard's face and disappeared again immediately.
"I'm not exactly sure. Somebody was here yesterday, asking for you. One of us."
"And?"
Daniel had a bad feeling about this already. A very bad feeling. Of course, it could be simply an old friend trying to find him, but Richards attitude suggested that this somebody hadn't acted like seeking a long lost friend.
"I don't know. Something about him set me off. I really didn't like him, from the moment he set foot in my bar. When he asked for you, he didn't seem too friendly, you know. All cold and disdain. If he hadn't been an Immortal, I would have thought he was with the police, looking for some mass-murder. The guy simply gave me the creeps. I told him I hadn't seen you in a while, and he should try looking in Egypt."
The last sentence was said with a self-satisfied smirk on Richards face, but Daniel had grown worried. He hadn't that many enemies among their kind and none of them would come seeking him out for a fight. So who was this mysterious man? A terrible suspicion began to form in Daniel's mind.
"What did the man look like, Rich?"
"Mhhh… A bit smaller than you, about 5'11'' but more muscular. Looked a bit like a body-builder. Darker complexion, black hair. Would say Mediterranean origin. Brown eyes. Had something that looked like tribal markings on the left side of his face. Looked really scary, you know… Daniel, are you still listening? Daniel?!"
While listening to Richard's description of the man Daniel had grown alarmingly pale. It looked as if he was about to faint any minute. Richard had never seen such a reaction from his long time friend. He could see that Daniel was afraid, the question was why? Was this some old enemy coming to settle a fight?
Daniel's thoughts were running in circles. This couldn't be! This had to be a mistake. Chel was supposed to be dead, not still running around looking for him.
"Daniel, damn it, snap out of it!"
Richard was not happy with the situation. Daniel was starting to frighten him. Finally Daniel found his way back into reality and muttered:
"I'm fine, Rich, no reason panic."
Richard didn't believe his friend for one minute, but he knew that it would be fruitless to try to get more information out of him.
"So you know this guy?"
"Yeah."
"And I'm right when I say he isn't exactly your friend."
"Yes and no. He was my best friend once. It's a long time ago. Now he just wants to kill me."
Richard let out a short impressed whistle.
"What in heaven sake did you do to piss him off like this?"
Daniel didn't answer, but looked broodingly down on the floor. After several moments he finally said:
"It's not really important anymore. But promise me not to mess with this guy. He can be very dangerous!"
Richard looked doubtfully at his friend. From his short encounter with the stranger he was sure that Daniel was right, but he didn't like the thought that his friend was in danger. If this guy was after Daniel, then it was only a matter of time until they had a run in.
"I'm going back, before the others start to wonder where I've disappeared to."
Daniel's words shook Richard out of his thoughts. Apparently Daniel had calmed down again, or was he just hiding his apprehension? Richard had no chance to say anything else before Daniel left the room to go back to his friends. But silently Richard decided to find out about this stranger.
Daniel was deep in thought as he made his way through the people towards their table. So Chel was finally back. Ice-cold fear spread through him at this thought. He really didn't want to face his brother again.