DISCLAIMER: The characters mentioned in this story are the property of Showtime and Gekko Film Corp. The Stargate, SG-1, the goa'uld and all other characters who have appeared in the series STARGATE SG-1 together with the names, titles and backstory are the sole copyright property of the people who made them up. This fanfic is not intended as an infringement upon those rights and solely meant for entertainment. All other characters, the story idea and the story itself are the sole property of the author.

A Snake In The Hand Is Worth Two In The Bush

Part eleven

Daniel knocked on Clare's door. It was the day after the mission where they had retrieved the 'paperweight' (as Jack called it) left by Machello. The previous evening, after being checked out in the infirmary and treated for burns and cuts, SG1 had been released and Daniel had called on Clare to invite her to dinner with them before they headed home. Clare had pleaded a headache, said she had been to see Dr Fraiser already and was going to get an early night.

He was a little puzzled when he received no response to his knock, normally she was up and about when someone called, even if she wasn't quite ready, still adjusting to the early hours kept by the military. He tried the door handle and found the door unlocked as he had expected. What he hadn't expected was to find the room completely empty. After taking a good look around, he realised she really was missing. Grabbing the 'phone he spoke hurriedly to General Hammond and sent the guard to bring the rest of SG1 from the mess hall where he knew they would be waiting for him to arrive.

Two hours later a thorough search of the base had been carried out and no trace of the missing Clare had been found. The guard on overnight duty had not seen her leave and none of the duty stations had seen her either.

SG1 met up with Hammond in the briefing room to plan the next step, Dr Fraiser joining them.

'She did see me about a headache yesterday, there was nothing else out of the ordinary, so I gave her some aspirin and told her to come back if she got any worse,' Dr Fraiser advised them. 'Except…'

'Except what Dr Fraiser?' Jack asked tersely, he hated to think that maybe the goa'uld that had been in her had left more control over her than they had realised.

'Well, she seemed a little withdrawn. She's usually happy to chat about how her work is going, but I just put it down to the headache - I'm surprised that's all she's had so far, to be honest, she's been through a lot and is doing remarkably well.'

'So you think maybe she was a little - depressed. Enough to make her act irresponsibly?' Hammond asked, trying to determine what was going on.

'I think depressed, yes, but not anything to make her do anything stupid. Daniel, you saw her last night - anything else you noticed?'

'Well, she was a bit pale, but I put it down to the headache, although now you mention it she did seem tense, like she just didn't want to be around anyone.'

At that moment they were interrupted by one of the SF's.

'Sir, we've found her outside, on the side of the mountain.' He saluted smartly and waited for Hammond to speak.

'Why didn't you bring her back with you?' Jack snapped at him irritably.

'She appeared to be - unwell.' He sounded hesitant, trying to find the best way of describing the situation.

'In what way?' Jack asked, calming down a little now that at least they knew where she was.

'Well, she's just sitting there ignoring everything. When we spoke to her or tried to get her back inside, she acted like we weren't there. It was kind of spooky, sir.'

'Thank you son,' Hammond spoke up, preventing Jack from saying anything further. 'We'll take it from here. Dismissed.' As the airman left, Hammond turned to SG1 and Dr Fraiser. 'Dr Fraiser, I'd like you to go along with SG1 to see what's going on. Let me know what you find out.'

Fifteen minutes later they reached the secluded spot on the top of the mountain where Clare was sitting, arms hugging the knees which were drawn up to her chest, oblivious to their arrival.

'Jack?' Daniel asked, receiving a nod in response. Jack indicated for the others to remain with him while Daniel approached Clare.

'Hey,' Daniel spoke softly to avoid startling her.

Clare continued to sit there without responding for a few moments. At last, she slowly raised her head and looked at him.

'Daniel.' There were shadows under her eyes and they were rimmed with red, her face showing where the tears had dried.

'How are you doing?' Daniel crouched down next to her, and when he received no answer, 'Mind if I stay with you a while?' Clare shrugged which Daniel took for acceptance. 'So,' Daniel said as he sat down next to her, shoulders touching. He could feel her tense up at the physical contact, but after a while she relaxed, comfortable with his presence.

Clare turned towards him and spoke, falling over her words. 'I'm really sorry about all this. I just didn't think - I had to get out of there, get away and…and I just couldn't think straight at all. I'm sorry to be so much bother, I know you've all got such important things to do, I'm really sorry, I didn't mean…'

'Shhhh,' Daniel said soothingly, stopping the slightly hysterical apology before it got out of control and putting an arm around her shoulders. 'It's nothing to worry about, you were upset and we all do dumb things when we're upset. The others will understand. It's ok.' Daniel could feel the quivering stop as she took a couple of deep breaths and started to speak.

'It would have been my first wedding anniversary today.'

'Clare, I'm so sorry, none of us realised. How are you feeling?'

'Empty, numb, drained. Like everything is way too much effort so why bother any more.' Clare paused, not wanting to look at Daniel, to see the horror in his eyes that she could possibly say something so self-destructive. 'But then, I keep seeing the faces of the people I've met recently - you and the others - and it's pulling me in another direction, and I guess I'm lucky in a way to have been given a second chance, a chance to carry on and do something really important. But at the moment, the other side is winning, the side telling me to give up.'

Clare turned to face Daniel as she finished, surprised when she didn't see revulsion in his face but understanding and sympathy, like he really knew what she was talking about.

'Let me tell you about my wife, Sha're,' Daniel didn't want Clare to dwell too much on those negative thoughts - he'd been there, done that twice now and knew that without the strength and support of his friends and team-mates he would never have survived.

As Daniel finished, Clare placed her hand on his in sympathy, the realisation that what he had gone through was so much worse in many ways. First to lose your wife and her brother to the goa'uld, always hoping you could get her back, never knowing what she had been put through, then to have her killed by one of your closest friends who had no choice. At least she knew her parents and husband were dead, had identified the bodies and known it was an accident. For a moment she didn't seem too badly off at all, then the feeling passed.

'How did you keep going?'

'Well, it wasn't always easy, but having a goal, something to strive for made a difference. First I was looking for her, and then after she died, I was searching for her child. Now it's like I can't let her have died for nothing, I have to carry on the fight, have to make her death worth while.' He looked towards her, then said his final words. 'And I had my friends, they helped me, especially Jack and even Teal'c - they were there for me when I needed them. I know you've not known us long, but we've been thrown together and we all want to help you - if you'll let us.'

Leaving Clare to her thoughts, Daniel moved back to the others.

'Well?' Jack demanded as soon as he approached.

'She's going to be fine,' Daniel reassured them, 'Today would have been her first wedding anniversary and I guess everything just started to get to her. Hardly surprising when you think about it.'

'Anything we…' Sam started to ask, but Daniel had anticipated this.

'Not just yet, I think all she wants is a bit of space right now. She'll talk when she's ready.'

'Good work, Daniel,' Jack smiled briefly at him. 'Ok, well in that case we'll leave her to you and Dr Fraiser. The rest of us can head back down and let General Hammond know what's going on. Catch you later.'