The pain woke him again, but it wasn't as excruciating as it had been the first time he'd woken up. Either that or he was getting used to it. It was always there, after all, and he was always aware of it – even while he slept.

"Janet?"

His voice was no more than a whispered croak, but Janet Fraiser was close at hand, and the infirmary was practically deserted, since it was late at night, so she heard him, and was at his side in an instant, kneeling down next to the bed so she could see his eyes when he opened them. The eyes were the mirror to the soul, after all, and were the best way to judge how someone was feeling. Daniel's were still glazed with shock and pain, and Janet frowned when she saw them, although almost immediately she schooled her features into her best bedside manner.

"Hi, Daniel," she murmured softly, knowing that his aching head didn't need her yelling in his ear. Even if she wasn't yelling. She ran her hand gently along his shoulder, which was pretty much the only place that was safe to touch on him at the moment. Everywhere else was bruised or burned. "How do you feel?"

"I'm okay..."

He didn't look okay.

"Do you hurt?"

He tried to nod, but pain lanced through his neck and he groaned softly, instead. Fraiser winced in sympathy, and ran her hand along his cheek. She was already giving him the most potent painkillers she had, and short of knocking him completely out – like she had Colonel Mitchell – she was doing all she could for his pains. The problem was, she needed to be able to talk to him every now and then to see how he was healing, so she couldn't put him out completely for any length of time.

"Think you can drink something?"

"Coffee?"

"Water."

"Okay."

He was too miserable to argue.

Janet had a cup of water handy, and it was a simple matter to put a straw in it and hold the end of the straw against his parched lips. Daniel took a sip, and promptly choked on it, which triggered a round of coughing that left him in more pain than he'd started with when he'd woken. His ribs hurt so bad he wished they'd just amputate them, and he'd never had a headache like the one he had.

Janet rubbed his back while he heaved, knowing that a touch could be soothing at times, and hoping this was one of those times. When he finally regained his breath, she gave him a worried look that he didn't notice, and debated for a while whether or not to put him under anyways. She hated seeing him in pain like he was.

"How's Melony?" Daniel asked, trying to focus on Janet a little. The white of his sheets hurt his eyes, and everything was blurry. Of course, he wasn't wearing his glasses, but he hadn't considered that.

"She woke up for a minute the other night." Janet told him.

"So she's going to be okay?"

"We're hoping so. I've done everything I can. The rest is up to Talon."

"Where's Jack?"

It hurt to talk, but Daniel felt like he was out of touch with everything and everyone – for good reason – and he wanted to know what was going on.

"I sent him home. He's been here since you and Colonel Mitchell reappeared, and I decided that they all needed to get more sleep than they'd get sitting on the bench outside the infirmary."

"I bet he didn't like that."

She smiled and shook her head.

"No more than Brad or Teal'c or Sam did."

"You sent them all home?"

"Mm-hmmm."

"How long have I been asleep?"

"A few days."

"Really?"

"You were hurt."

He still was.

"How... have you heard anything about the system lords?"

Janet smiled. She'd heard a lot about the system lords lately. Mostly from Jack, who was so proud of Daniel and Mitchell that he was about to burst.

"The plan worked, Daniel. You and Melony have managed to do what no one else could do."

Daniel shook his head, and winced again. That had been dumb.

"I didn't do anything... I was just there for the ride."

"I don't believe that."

He shrugged, too tired to argue, and closed his eyes.

Janet touched his cheek again, and Daniel sighed.

"Go back to sleep, Daniel." She told him, softly. Hopefully he'd feel better when he woke up. Talking had obviously tired him out.

Daniel opened his eyes, and tried once more to focus on her.

"I'm not going to die?"

She shook her head.

"You're going to be fine."

"Really? Or are you just saying that?"

Janet smiled.

"I promise." Medication did funny things to people, sometimes.

"I... need to tell you something..."

"Oh?"

"I should have told you before."

"What's that?"

Daniel hesitated, but really... when would be a better time to tell her? At least there wasn't anyone around to make fun of him.

"I love you."

"Daniel..."

"I wanted to tell you before," he said, hurriedly – well, as hurriedly as he could. "But I... well, it wasn't a sure thing that we were coming back... and I was afraid..."

She wasn't sure what to say. He looked like he was absolutely serious, but Janet also knew that he was on medication, so she didn't know if he even knew what he was saying. She frowned, and caressed his cheek once more, pushing his bangs out of his eyes. God he had pretty eyes.

"We'll talk about this later," she said, finally.

"I mean it, Janet..." He said, trying to reach out for her hand, and grimacing when the movement hurt him worse than he'd expected it to. She took his hand to immobilize it, and shook her head, resting her weight against his bed because she was getting sore crouching down next to his bed like she was.

"I know, Daniel. But we should discuss this when you're feeling better." And when he wasn't so medicated.

"But-"

"You need to rest."

"Janet..."

She shouldn't have, she knew it, but she couldn't resist the temptation to kiss him, and she leaned forward a little more and brushed a gentle kiss against his cheek. If he was so medicated that he was thinking clearly, he probably wouldn't remember it anyways. And if he did, well... she loved him, too, so what harm was there?

"Go to sleep, Daniel. I'll be here when you wake up again, and we can talk about it."

He closed his eyes, giving in to his exhaustion. Besides, sleeping didn't hurt as much as being awake did.

"I love you..." he repeated, almost stubbornly.

Janet smiled, caressing his hand until his features relaxed and his breathing eased. Once she was certain he was asleep, she leaned forward and pressed another soft kiss against his cheek.

"I love you, too, Daniel."