Part 6a

Another day, another mission for SG-1.

//Finally// Jack thought as he left the Generals office to find the rest of his team. They had been on a kind of stand down for some time, giving the members of the team time to catch up with various paperwork, in Jack's case, or other work. It was a little miracle, mused Jack, that they had managed to get Carter out of her beloved lab during this time. But since she had been as worried about Daniel's stalker as he was it wasn't terribly surprising after all. It wouldn't be so bad if they had any clue at all as to why this man was after their resident archaeologist.

Jack had reached Carter's lab and had enough sense to knock before entering. He had no desire to walk in another one of Carters 'unstable experiments'.

"Enter!"

Carter wasn't making any experiments at the moment, but was typing rapidly on her computer. So the experiment was over, and since he hadn't heard any klaxons Jack supposed it had gone well.

"What can I do for you, Sir?"

"We have a mission tomorrow at 1100. The General just gave his okay."

"And how long did you have to pester him? …Sir."

She looked up from her work, trying to hide her smile. Jack glared back half-heartedly. She was lucky that he didn't think the good-natured teasing was insolence. As long as nobody was near to hear their exchanges he never said anything.

"For your information, Major, I do not pester, I request."

"If you say so, Sir."

She did her best to hide her little telling smile, but Jack saw it nonetheless. Carter turned back to her computer, saved her work and stood up.

"Should we tell Daniel, Sir?"

"I think so. We probably will need some time to find him in that museum he calls an office"

Now Carter didn't even try to hide her smile. Together they made their way to Daniel's office, only to discover that it was empty. A quick call with the guard at the base entrance showed that Daniel had arrived at the base about an hour ago, only question was where he was now. They checked the mess hall, but he wasn't there either, so they decided that the next likely place would be the infirmary.

They had been right. They could hear the voices of Daniel and Janet coming out of her office as soon as they walked in. Sam wanted to go straight into the office, but Jack held her back. His expression indicated that he wanted to listen to the conversation. Sam just wanted to tell the colonel what she thought about eavesdropping on friends, but then the topic of Janet's and Daniel's talk registered and she stayed silent.

"Daniel, why would this man go after you like this? He isn't a Headhunter, more, he never seemed to actually go looking for a challenge."

Janet's voice was puzzled and also a bit angry. Jack and Sam shared a bewildered look. What was the doctor talking about? Daniel let out a short bitter laugh at Janet's words.

"He and I have history together. Ugly history."

"Then this is about revenge?" Janet asked. Daniel took a long moment to answer so that Jack and Sam really thought he wouldn't say anything at all. But finally he said:

"Yes. Yes, you could say that this is about revenge."

Daniel's tone of voice send shivers down Sam's back and Jack didn't look too happy about his friends strangely emotionless words either. They both realized that Janet and Daniel were probably talking about Daniel's mysterious stalker, a topic Jack and Sam were both very interested in.

"Why, Daniel?" Janet's voice had strange mix of anger and worry in it "What did you do to him to warrant this kind of behaviour? And why is there nothing in the files about it?"

"The files don't contain everything there is to know. Like I said, it happened a very long time ago."

"Don't give me that, I want a straight answer for once. What happened? I can't imagine you doing anything that would make someone hate you so…"

"Are you so sure of that, Janet?"

Daniel's voice had a strange undercurrent at it all of sudden. Something dangerous. An intonation neither Jack nor Sam had ever heard from Daniel. It was frightening.

"I wasn't always a nice person, Jan, and you know it."

"That still doesn't answer my question."

Janet's voice was calm, but sounded a bit forced at the same time. Jack and Sam exchanged a long look. What was going on in there?

Daniel sighed and when he spoke he sounded distant, as if his mind was somewhere else:

"I didn't do anything."

"Then why…"

"Because he thinks I did do something. But I didn't. Neither to help nor to stop it…"

"Stop what, Daniel?" Janet asked gently. Daniel didn't answer.

"Daniel?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

"But…"

"Please Janet, just let it be. There are some things in my past I'm not ready to share. Not even with you."

Janet didn't say anything else, but it was clear that she wasn't satisfied. Jack and Sam, still in front of the office door didn't know what to make out of this. They had hoped to hear something that would help figure out what was going on with Daniel lately, but the conversation they had overheard had only added to their confusion.

Something strange was going on now the only thing they had to do was find out what.

*********************

He shouldn't have said it. 'A pretty easy mission'. Fool! Idiot! He really shouldn't have dared their luck like this. But who could have suspected that something like this would happen?

The mission had started ordinary enough: A peaceful world with lots of trees. No signs of civilization or other inhabitancy apart from a few fluffy animals. But the MALP had shown traces of Naquadah, which was the only reason why a team had been sent at all. Everything had been quiet, no apparent danger at all. Carter had gone straight to her samples with Daniel helping her.

Jack knew he should have been suspicious about this. It was a fact that the worst things happened when the world seemed most peaceful and everything was functioning without a hitch. When it had happened it had taken them all by surprise. One minute he had been listening to Carter and Daniel talking about something and the next moment he had heard Daniel scream and they had been surrounded by not so friendly looking natives with long, mean looking spears. Primitive weapons, yes, but way too many of those. It took the attackers only moments to take the weapons of SG-1. Jack's hands were bound before him and a quick look showed that Teal'c was treated the same. Hopefully Daniel would be able to talk them out of this mess.

Carter's desperate voice made Jack turn and he felt himself paling at the scene before him. Daniel was half lying on the ground, half leaning against a tree. A spear had stuck Daniel in his stomach, going all the way through, practically pinning him to the ground. Blood flowed freely from the wound. To much blood and way too fast. Daniel was breathing hard and was very pale with his eyes closed. Jack started towards his fallen friend, but one of the natives held his spear at Jack's throat, effectively stopping his advance.

"Okay, I understand, don't move." Jack muttered unhappily. He cast another glance to his friend. Carter was kneeling next to Daniel, talking to him in a low voice and trying desperately to stop the bleeding despite her bound hands. Somewhere inside him Jack knew that she didn't have a chance. The red liquid was coming too fast. An artery was probably severed. Daniel would only have a chance if they could get him to the infirmary in the next ten minutes, and even then his chances would be slim at the best.

Daniel captured Sam's hand with surprising strength and said something to her in a low voice. Carter was shaking her head at him furiously, but Daniel just looked at her with sad, pain-clouded eyes talking again. Jack was damn sure he could see tears in the eyes of his 2IC. He couldn't blame her; he himself could feel the sting behind his eyes.

Suddenly one of their attackers grabbed Sam and dragged her up, away from Daniel. A spear-tip in his back showed Jack that their captors wanted to move on. And a look back showed that they had no interest in taking Daniel with them.

"You can't just leave him here!"

Carter was struggling against her captor trying to get back to Daniel.

"Major, stop it."

Jack's voice was cold, without any feeling in it. Out of the corner of his eye Jack could see Daniel flinching slightly. But he didn't know if it was because of the pain, or because of this tone of voice, the same Jack had used when he had met Daniel for the very first time.

"But Sir…"

"It is too late, Major." Jack hissed urgently, hoping against hope that Daniel wouldn't hear him. "I don't want to lose you, too!"

For a moment she looked as if she was about to argue, but then stayed silent. But Jack could clearly see that he hadn't heard the end of this. Not even close. They let themselves be led away, leaving their mortally wounded teammate. It was going against everything Jack believed in, but he had no other choice. He turned a last time, searching for Daniel's look. His friend returned the look, and managed a strained smile. This sad and knowing smile was the last thing Jack saw of his friend, before he was dragged out of view. He refused to let the tears he felt gathering in his eyes fall.

Daniel watched his friends and their captors disappear and took several deep breath. He wouldn't live much longer; he knew that. But he had to do something first, before his body could start to heal itself. With determination he grabbed the shaft of the spear, slick from his own blood, and pulled. The weapon came clear of his body, but he couldn't suppress a scream of pain. That hurt! Panting Daniel laid back and closed his eyes. Now he could only wait. Wait for his Quickening to wake him from death again.

A short way down a battered path, Jack could hear the scream of his friend and flinched violently. A single tear made it beyond his iron defences.

//I'm sorry Danny. I'm sorry//

*********************

Cages. They had been stuffed into fucking cages like animals! Carter and himself were together in one big wood cage at the outskirts of this settlement, but Teal'c was trapped in a little one in the centre of a relative big square between the huts. Several men were standing guard. Jack had no idea what happened to their weapons, they were probably stored away in one of the huts. Unreachable.

Night had fallen over the planet, but the people at the SGC wouldn't get suspicious until tomorrow morning when the next check-in from SG-1 would be due; and then it would take another hour before a search-mission would be launched. Too late to help.

Carter hadn't spoken a single word since they had been forced to leave Daniel behind. Jack was thankful for this; he didn't feel much like talking himself. The last glance from Daniel's eyes, so calm and understanding about what was happening, haunted him and would probably never leave him alone as far as he knew. Daniel was dead! It was just like this horrible day when they had returned thinking their friend had died in front of their eyes. Only this time it was real. Daniel wouldn't show up suddenly, declaring that everything was all right. He was dead, and had died alone, left behind. Jack O'Neill had been forced to break the one rule he had never wanted to break where his team was concerned: No one gets left behind. It was like the nightmare of Nem's planet was repeating itself all over again.

Jack closed his eyes tightly. He wouldn't cry. Not now! He needed a clear head to get the rest of his team out of here. And then he needed to find a good explanation for the General how a standard mission, a supposed milk run, could have gone so wrong so fast. After this he would have a nice, scheduled breakdown.

Jack heard a muffled sob next to him. Carter was crying and desperately trying not to show it. Without saying a word, Jack put an arm around her pulling her into a hug. This gesture broke the damn inside Carter obviously and she started to sob openly. Jack just held her, burying his own grief deep inside. It wouldn't help her if he broke down with her. She needed a rock to cling to at the moment and he was determined to give it to her. After a few minutes of silent crying she whispered:

"He said that he was going to be fine. He was dying and still tried to reassure me."

So this confirmed this little rumour that Daniel would always say he was fine, however bad off he was. If the whole situation hadn't been so damn frustrating, it could have been funny. It was… had been so typical for Daniel to worry about everyone else first before wasting a thought for himself.

A muffled thud from the direction of Teal'c cage caught Jack's attention, startling him out of his beginning depression. One of his guards lay on the ground, motionless. The second followed this moment, again without a sound other than the dull thud when the body hit the ground.

Jack could see a dark figure detaching itself from the shadows and starting to work on the door of the cage. Jack couldn't see more than the dark silhouette of whoever it was, but he could clearly see that they had a helper. Teal'c and the person were talking shortly, then both disappeared back into the shadows between the buildings. Jack noted with satisfaction, that the guards in front of their own cage had seen nothing of this. Good. Whatever Teal'c and their unknown ally were planning, it had better work.

Only minutes later chaos broke loose. Fire exploded at the huts at the far end of the settlement: Flames striking high, illuminating everything in an eerie light. People were coming from all directions in order to help to kill the flames. Their guards abandoned their post as well to help save the buildings. The minute they were gone, Teal'c showed up, and opened their cage. He had their weapons with him. Without loosing a second the three of them ran towards the woods. During their run away from the village Jack saw another fire breaking out, far away from the first one. Whoever was doing it, was giving them a pretty good distraction. Jack had to remember to thank this person.

After 15 minutes of running in the dark forest, Jack called a stop in a small clearing. They should be far enough away by now to be safe if anybody out of the village would find the time to realize that the prisoners weren't there anymore.

"Thanks big guy." Jack said to Teal'c "By the way, who was our mysterious rescuer?"

A rare smile showed on Teal'c's face.

"I think you will be surprised, O'Neill."

Jack didn't know what to make out of this words or Teal'c expression for that matter, but he hadn't too much time to think about it. Behind Teal'c a figure came out of the darkness of the forest into the relative light of the clearing. A figure Jack had thought he would never see again. This wasn't possible.

"Danny?" he whispered, staring. The next moment he had raised his gun, pointing directly at the person who wore Daniel's face.

"Who are you?"

The man's eyes locked with Jack's, holding the hostile gaze of the Colonel with his own, slightly sad one.

"Who do you think? I'm Daniel Jackson. You know me."

"Daniel is dead." Jack stated harshly, feeling himself cringe at his own words "No one could survive his injuries. I ask again, who or what are you?"

The man in front of him looked clearly troubled. Worrying his lower lip between his teeth he said:

"Please Jack, it's really me. I am Daniel."

Jack stared at the man in front of him. He looked like Daniel and sounded exactly like his friend, too. But Daniel was dead and this guy was walking around without a scratch. No, that wasn't entirely right. The shirt was ripped and blood-soaked where the deadly wound should have been. Under the clothes there was only mark-less skin.

"Okay, lets say for a second that I believe this: How come you're walking around when you are supposed to be dead or at least very badly injured?"

Daniel, or not-Daniel… whatever… took a deep breath while looking suspiciously at Jack's raised gun.

"Do we have to hold this conversation at gun-point?"

"I won't take the gun down, until you give me an explanation I can believe." Jack replied in his typical sarcasm "In the meantime I'll just continue to be cautious."

A sad, tired smile sowed on Daniel's face at these words.

"Well, I can't fault you for that, even if I don't like it."

Daniel took another deep breath, his face showing his concentration.

"Well, it isn't an easy thing to explain…"

"I'm still waiting" Jack sing-songed in his most irritating voice. Daniel glared at him like he always did when Jack annoyed him on purpose.

"Okay, cliff note version: I'm an Immortal. I cannot be killed and don't age. Injuries of any kind heal themselves in a matter of minutes."

"Immortals?" Jack's scepticism and sarcasm couldn't be missed. Daniel nodded, his never wavering gaze challenging.

"You expect me to believe this!" Jack retorted, clearly angry, raising his weapon he had taken down a bit while Daniel talked, once again. Daniel's whole expression spoke of cold determination, as he looked Jack straight into the eyes.

"Since it is the truth, yes, I expect you to believe it. Haven't you learned by now that there sometimes is more than would meet the eye about some things? Immortals have been around before the Goa'uld were ever on earth and will most likely be around for some time longer."

"I still don't know if I should believe any of this Sci-fi crap"

"Jack, you're currently walking around another planet. You are living this Sci-fi crap."

Daniel sounded somewhat amused while Jack turned his patented glare up another notch. Not that it had ever had any effect on Daniel whatsoever.

"He does have a point." Sam mumbled absently. Until now she had followed the conversation between the Colonel and Daniel silently, while trying to figure out for herself what was happening. She had also noted that Teal'c was taking this whole development suspiciously calmly. He seemed to see nothing strange or alarming in the fact that a supposed dead man was walking around and currently arguing with Colonel O'Neill about his identity. Did he know something they didn't?

"What was that, Carter?" Jack snapped at his 2IC. Sam, used to her CO's short temper when he was stressed answered calmly:

"I just said that Daniel has a point, Sir. During the last two years we encountered more than one time things that we would have thought impossible, didn't we. I'm just saying that we shouldn't dismiss the possibility that Daniel is telling the truth just yet, Sir."

Jack looked doubtfully (and a little bit betrayed) at Sam then turned back to Daniel. Teal'c remained in the background, ready to interfere if it should become necessary.

"I don't suppose you could prove your claim?"

Daniel made a pained face at the sarcasm. This wasn't going well. In fact, the mission had stopped going well the moment the natives appeared. Now Jack wanted proof. Wonderful. How was he supposed to give it to Jack? Let him shoot him?

At this moment Daniel really wished that Janet were here. She could most likely explain this way better than him.

Suddenly an idea shot through Daniels thoughts and a small smile appeared on his face.

"I can give you proof, but I won't guarantee that you'll like my method."

Not waiting for an answer he bent down and retrieved a knife out of its sheath in his boot. It wasn't a military issue-knife but one out of his private collection. He had made a habit out of carrying a knife on him all the time a long time ago. At times it was way less conspicuous to have a knife hidden somewhere instead of walking around with a full-length sword and a well thrown knife would stop an immortal challenger just as effectively for some time.

Jack's eyes lit with suspicion when Daniel had retrieved the knife, and gripped his gun tighter. Daniel noticed this reaction of course but didn't comment.

Holding the knife in his right hand, he placed the sharp blade against his left palm.

"Look closely." Daniel said to no one in particular around. Before any of his companions had the chance to ask at what they should look, Daniel closed his left hand around the blade and then pulled it free with one fluid motion. Harsh pain shoot through his hand and blood immediately welled up between his fingers. Sam gave a startled shout of alarm but Teal'c held her back with a gentle but firm hand on her shoulder.

Ignoring the pain, Daniel opened his hand and held it so everyone could see it.

"Look!"

In front the astonished eyes of his friends the bleeding stopped and miniature blue lightning started to dance over the wound. Flesh started to knit itself back together until the only sign of any injury was the spilled blood. Even Teal'c looked slightly impressed.

Jack, who had stared at the wound like mesmerized, lifted his eyes to Daniel's and the Immortal felt himself go cold. His friend's look held confusion but such utter betrayal too that Daniel suddenly feared that their friendship might not survive this confrontation.

Blind to the subtle byplay of the two men Sam exclaimed:

"Wow! This is incredible! And this works with any kind of injury? What was this electric charge about?"

"Sam, stop! One question at time please!" Daniel interrupted her "Yes, given time this will happen to nearly any wound and the electricity, like you call it… well, it's what heals me."

Daniel had no interest into going into a longer explanation of the Quickening. He didn't understand this strange energy himself most of the time.

"As fascinating as this may be" Jack said with bitter irony before Sam could comment again "At the moment I'm more interested in why Teal'c hasn't said anything about this yet."

Jack transferred his glare over to the Jaffa who was standing impassive as ever, not a bit worried about the fact that a person who should have been dead was standing in front of them, without a scrape.

"You knew about this, didn't you?" Jack finally asked silently a hint of accusation in his voice.

Teal'c had the grace to look (slightly) guilty.

"Yes I did know, O'Neill."

"How? Did Daniel tell you, or what?"

"I didn't tell him Jack." Daniel interrupted, sensing that Jack was getting more and more angry with every passing minute "Not really. He witnessed something that I would have been unable to explain any other way but the truth."

Jack looked back at Teal'c. He had known. His gaze wandered over to Daniel. His friend had never told him, and from his actions had never planned to. So, this was how much Daniel trusted him really.

"Jack?"

His emotions had probably been pretty vivid on his face. Clear to see for Daniel. The archaeologist had always been to damn good at reading his emotions.

"Who else does know?" Jack asked, trying to hide his anger but not doing a very good job at it. Daniel sighed and answered quietly:

"Janet does. But she knew about this before either of us joined the SGC. She is the only one despite Teal'c in the SGC who knows."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Jack demanded angrily, glaring at Daniel "How long did you plan to hide this from me?"

Daniel returned Jack's aggressive look with calm. But inside he was getting desperate. This situation got worse by the minute. He didn't think he could bear to lose another friend.

"I don't know. Truthfully, I never really planned on telling anybody."

"You didn't trust me!"

"This has nothing to do with trust, Jack." Daniel protested immediately, incredibly hurt by the poison in his friend's voice "You're not dumb, I'm pretty sure you can imagine what the NID would do with the knowledge about immortals? I do not intend to end as a lab-rat somewhere under the desert of Nevada!"

"Like I said, you didn't trust me enough to keep quiet."

"And what would you have done if someone ordered you to tell this secret? I'm sorry Jack, but I stopped trusting the military a long time ago. I didn't want you to get into a conflict between protecting me and your military career."

"It wouldn't have been a conflict." Jack whispered, voice strangely choked, looking straight at Daniel who felt his own throat constrict at the look in his friend's eyes.

"It has nothing to with me not trusting you Jack, you've got to believe this. I trust you more than I have anybody for years."

Daniel said, much calmer, smiling sadly.

"It's simply the way I am. I learned the hard way during my life that some secrets better stay unsaid"

"How old are you anyway?" Jack snarled "You said something about not ageing. So, how long have you lived Daniel… if this is even your real name."

A slight, very slight, blush started to colour Daniel's face, as he muttered something not understandable.

"What was this?"

"I said, I'm approximately six-thousand years old and Daniel is my name since 20 BC."

There was nothing but stunned silence from Jack and Sam for the next couple of minutes. Both were trying to process what Daniel had just revealed.

"HOW OLD?"

A bitter smile touched Daniel's features at Sam's shocked exclamation.

"Six thousand years give or take a few centuries. I'm not really sure. The calendar hadn't been invented when I was born."

"That's… that's…"

"A very long time." Daniel ended Sam's sentence. She was still staring at him full of wide-eyed amazement.

"Yes, that too. It's fascinating! To think what…"

"It's a curse, Sam." Daniel interrupted bitterly. Sam stared at him dumbfounded, so Daniel continued:

"Have you any idea how long this time is when you're actually living it? How many times I had to bury a friend or a lover because they simply died of old age? How many times in my life I was uprooted and had to start my life again from scratch? How many cultures I have seen rise from the dust and vanish in it again? No one but me remembers the culture I was born in anymore, no one but me knows it even existed. Believe me Sam. Immortality is a mixed blessing."

Daniel's little speech was greeted with uncomfortable silence by the rest of SG-1. The beginning of understanding showed in Sam's eyes while Teal'c offered his support by laying his hand on Daniel's shoulder.

Jack's expression betrayed nothing. Daniel looked into his friend's eyes and could hardly suppress a flinch. He knew this particular look of Jack only to well, had seen it when they had met for the first time. The emotional barriers were rising again inside Jack and Daniel feared that he had just lost his friend.

"Let's get back to earth, before the locals send a search-party." Jack's emotionless voice sent shivers down Daniel's spine "And I expect a complete explanation when we are back Doctor Jackson."

This time Daniel did flinch. Jack hadn't called him by his title since his return from Abydos.

The mood was sullen and an uncomfortable silence reigned during their walk back to the Stargate. Daniel felt like a prisoner instead as a part of the team since he was the only one who wasn't carrying a weapon (apart from his knife, but that wasn't exactly much help against a MP) and then, there were the looks Jack kept shooting towards him, looks full of coldness and mistrust. Closing his eyes, Daniel send a short prayer to the gods of his childhood days.

Please! Don't let me loose another friend because he thinks I betrayed him.