Author's note: Nope, no marriage in this story (sorry)

...................

It was raining on the planet they gated to. Not just a gentle spring rain, either. It was a downpour. The rain was falling so hard and the wind was blowing so furiously that the rain was actually coming down sideways at times.

"Was it raining like this when SG-3 came in?" Jack yelled at Daniel, to make himself heard.

"No! This is new!" He couldn't hear Jack any better than Jack could hear him. Jack shook his head, and put the earpiece of his radio deeper into his ear, and pulled his hat down tight. He was already soaked, and rain was dripping off the barrel of his P-90. He gestured for the others to do the same, figuring it'd be easier for them to hear him over the radio. He waited until he saw them all adjust their earpieces then keyed his radio.

"We're going to split up, guys. Teal'c, you and Carter head south with Jack. Daniel and I will go east." The ground looked pretty rough, and visibility was going to be next to nothing. "If it's been raining long, then the dogs aren't going to be much help finding any scents to follow, but we'll do what we can."

There were nods all around.

"See if you can raise Hammond, Carter, and let him know what's going on."

Sam nodded again, and headed for the DHD. She'd have to open the gate to get a message through, and they could send the probe back at the same time. AT least that way, Hammond and the others at the SGC would know that it was raining, and that things weren't going to be quite as easy as they'd hoped.

As he watched Sam, Jack knelt down next to Jaffer, running his gloved hands over the black hide. Jaffer was lab, a water dog, and Jack knew from experience that the rain wasn't going to kill him, but he didn't like having his baby out in the rain unless it was necessary. Which in this case it was.

"We're ready, Colonel," Sam told him, and Jack nodded. They had to revert back to formality when they were working, and both of them understood it without even discussing it. There would be times, of course, when he slipped and called her Sam, and vice versa, but they couldn't distract each other when there was a possibility of danger, or something dangerous. They both knew and understood this, and it made their relationship a lot smoother because of it.

"Let's go, then." Jack called to them. "Keep in constant contact, and don't let the person you're with out of your sight." He looked over at Daniel as he said this, and the younger man scowled, knowing that was meant almost exclusively for him. Jack wanted Daniel where he could keep an eye on him.

They moved out, Teal'c, Jack and Sam immediately disappearing into the gloom the rain and clouds caused, and Jack, Jaffer and Daniel soon were out of visual sight of the Stargate. Jack checked his compass constantly, though, knowing that he'd need it to find his way back. Not even Jaffer was going to be a ton of help navigating through this.

"I'm beginning to hate the rain," Daniel said, darkly, about ten minutes later. He wasn't really talking to Jack, but O'Neill looked over at him, anyways, and smiled in sympathy. Daniel looked like Jack felt. Drowned. His hat – which was a floppy brimmed hat compared to Jack's ball cap type – was soaked, and hanging limply in his eyes. His hair was soaked, and water was running from the brim and landing in various areas of Daniel's neck, where it immediately ran under his jacket and probably his shirt. His clothes were soaked, his P-90 was dripping water in a steady stream from the barrel, and Jack was sure his boots were just as full of water as his own. Even Jaffer didn't look all that happy, and since the black lab was almost constantly cheerful, this was saying something. They were cold, wet, and there was no letting up as far as they could tell. Probably they'd just get wetter and wetter.

"Well, look on the bright side, Daniel..." Jack yelled over.

"What's that, Jack?"

O'Neill shrugged. "I was hoping you'd find it and let me in on it."

Daniel scowled, and continued walking.

The only good thing was that they weren't walking in mud. They would have been if the ground had been dirt, but they were walking on rock, and the rain was just bouncing off. Which was adding to the noise around them. Jack keyed his radio again, hoping that Teal'c and Carter had found the missing team so they could go home.

"Teal'c? Carter? Anything?"

"Rain, Sir." Sam's voice was sounding as miserable as Daniel's. "Lots of rain. Although we're coming up to some trees. How about you?"

"Lots of rock. Keep your eyes open."

Trees meant the possibility for an ambush, although Jack would hopefully be some help in detecting something like that before they could walk into it.

"You, too, Sir."

"Always."

He sighed, and pointed to their left, since the ground looked a little les rocky there, and hopefully they'd find some kind of cover from the rain as well. The rocks were rising up around them – or they were starting to walk downhill – and Jack felt like they were in some kind of runoff thing, which could get dangerous as well. Especially if the rain didn't let up. He didn't want to get flooded out with no place to go to escape.

They moved on, and the rain kept pouring down on them.

Daniel saw the break in the rock formation first, and whacked Jack on the shoulder to get his attention. When he turned to see what he wanted, the archeologist pointed at what he'd seen. Where the rocks had been rising up well over their heads on their right, they now saw a crumbled area that was about eight feet wide, and came all the way down to the round.

Jack nodded; it was as good a place to look as any. With Daniel beside him and Jaffer bringing up the rear, they turned and headed that way, the wind whistling in their ears and playing havoc with their hearing, and the rain driving into their faces which was messing with their vision. Especially Daniel, whose glasses were fogging up faster than he could clear them off.

"This sucks..." Jack mumbled, looking through the break when they reached it, and then stepping across the rock-littered ground and through it. Daniel followed him, agreeing completely, and Jaffer jumped the mess looking as though he agreed as well. Then it happened.

The ground under their feet had changed from solid rock on rock to shale on dirt, and the dirt had been compromised by the heavy rain and was far more treacherous than it looked. Jack felt it first, but Daniel was only half a step behind him, and when the bottom dropped out under Jack, Daniel felt it at the exact same moment. The ground under the shale had been nasty before the rain, but as soaked as the mud now was, there was nothing holding the shale up, and as a consequence, there was nothing holding up Jack and Daniel.

For a moment Jack grabbed at Jaffer. An automatic reaction that he immediately quelled. His hand jerked away from the lab as he realized that he was going to fall, and Daniel was, too, but Jaffer was on solid enough ground that he might not.

"Daniel!"

They went down. Tumbling tail over teakettle down a steep slope they hadn't even realized they were close to.