The First Cut Is the Deepest
Part 3
Author: Mac
Disclaimers in Part 1

Cassie sat next to Daniel, holding his hand. She felt she should be with him since her Mom couldn't at the moment. In fact, her Mom seemed to be acting really weird about this. She wouldn't come out of her office to see Daniel.

"Daniel," Cassie whispered, wiping a stray tear from her eye, "please don't think Mom doesn't love you cause she's not here. I think she's just really confused with Jake coming into town. Don't worry about a thing. Sam and I will get her in to see you. We promise."

Cassie was surprised when she felt Daniel squeeze her hand. "Cassie?" he said, opening his eyes. The light was too strong for him and Cassie quickly dimmed it.

"Hey, Daniel! Lemme get Dr. Warner."

A few minutes later, the doctor in question appeared. "Dr. Jackson, you've surprised us yet again," he said, examining his patient.

However, Daniel's thoughts were preoccupied. "Cass..." he whispered, looking around.

"Don't worry, I'll go get her!" Cassie replied. She was certain her Mom would come to see him now. Everything would be fine, she thought as she ran into Janet's office. "Mom!"

She wasn't there, but Sam was and she looked a little pale. "Cassie. Oh God, is Daniel all right?"

"Yeah," Cassie answered her. "Daniel's fine. In fact, he's awake and he's asking for Mom." Sam was still looking pale and Cassie took her hand. "What's wrong?"

Sam had no idea how to tell Cassie about the phone call from Janet. She had no idea how to tell Cassie that her mother was going after Jake, who had somehow escaped from police custody.

"Cass, we need to talk."

Daniel wouldn't go to sleep until he saw Janet and made certain she was all right. He also refused to let the nurses give him any pain medication until that happened.

Jack strolled up to his bedside. "Daniel, what are you doing?" he asked his friend as he winced in pain. "Take the damn medicine or they'll put it through th IV."

"Where's Janet?"

Jack took a deep breath. Daniel had to be told. "We don't know... exactly."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Well, we have an idea--"

"Jack, just tell me!" Daniel exclaimed.

"Apparently her ex-husband escaped. She's gone after him. Carter's been working with a team non-stop to figure this out."

Daniel glared angrily at him. "And why the hell didn't you tell me about this?" he growled, pulling out his IV and ignoring the pain coursing through his body.

"Daniel!" Jack said, rushing to his friend's side. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"I... have... to help her," Daniel gasped. "Jack, please!"

"Just lie back down, Daniel. The only thing you can do now is get better. Janet wouldn't want you to collapse just because you were looking for her. She knows we're all going to try our damndest and you need to know that too."

Daniel nodded slowly, weariness getting the better of him. He was acting foolishly. "Fine, but after I've rested, I'd like to see what Sam's figured out."

"With any luck, by the time you wake up, she'll be right here next to you," Jack replied, helping Daniel back into bed. He watched as a nurse fiddled around with inserting the IV again.

"Wait!" Daniel cried.

The nurse looked up at Jack. "What is it, Daniel?"

"Let me talk to Cassie first." Jack nodded to Daniel and told the nurse to wait another five minutes. She smiled and left to take care of another patient. "Thanks, Jack."

Cassie immediately ran over to Daniel. He saw that her eyes were red rimmed. "I'm sorry, Daniel."

"For what?" he asked as she took his hand.

"I promised you that we would get Mom to see you. God, now I don't even know if I'm going to see her again!"

Daniel slid over and pat the bed. "Come here, Cass," he said. She eyed him skeptically. "Just come on. I'm going to have the nurse give me some of that ever wonderfully 'happy juice' and then we're going to take a nap."

Cassie smiled and climbed onto the bed, wrapping her arms around his waist. "I'm not hurting you, am I?"

"Not in the least," Daniel replied. He watched as the nurse injected the medicine into his IV and a few minutes later, drifted off to sleep.