Act II - Through the Looking Glass(es)

For Julia, supplier of both ideas and stellar beta'ing.

Author's Notes: This may be my favorite Dannyfic yet. You all let me know how I did, ok?

Present

"Dr. S!" Janice yells from the front room.

"Yes, Janice?" I reply with a sigh, I swear if that girl wasn't my wife's niece..

"He's back!" She says in a rush bounding into my lab. She knows I hate it when she does that.

"Who's back?" I ask not looking up from my equipment.

"Daniel Jackson!" She says in whispered awe.

"What?!" I question completely shocked. For this, I look up from my magnifying glass. Janice is standing there grinning at me like a fool.

"Daniel Jackson is back." She repeats happily.

"But..but..isn't he dead?" I say aloud.

"Sounded pretty alive to me." Janice says snapping her gum and turning back towards the ringing telephone. "He'll be in tomorrow at 9."

7 years earlier

"Hello?" A voice called out from the reception area. "Is anyone here?"

Damn! Where was that girl? I swear if Sally wasn't my wife's little sister… I exit my lab and come face to face with a rather disheveled looking young man wearing an atrociously broken pair of glasses.

"Hi there." I say brightly offering the young man my hand. "I'm Dr. Shields."

"Daniel Jackson." The man replies taking my hand.

"So Daniel," I begin. "This is just a guess now, but I'm thinking you might need a new pair of glasses." Daniel blushes slightly and takes the broken pair off his face.

"I don't suppose you can just fix them?" He asks hopefully toying with the dirty looking tape holding both pieces together.

I resist laughing and take the offered lenses. "Daniel, my son," I say somberly. "I'm afraid these glasses are beyond redemption."

He let out a soft sigh and then fidgets slightly. "Can you get me a new pair?" He asks hopefully. "In the next two hours?"

This time I do laugh aloud. "Daniel Jackson, this is not Lens Crafters®!" I say standing up and taking the damaged glasses towards the backroom. Maybe I could salvage the lenses…

"Lens Crafters®?" Daniel asks looking baffled.

"Eyeglasses in under an hour? Found at all those damn super malls? Any of this ringing a bell?"

"Um..no?" Daniel replies a little embarrassed.

"What planet have you been on?" I ask chuckling.

Daniel coughs a little and fidgets some more. "I'm an Archeologist." He explains. Ah! That explains the sorry state of his glasses. An Archaeologist huh? I thought they worked further north? Montana maybe? Isn't that where all those dinosaur bones were found?

The poor boy looked so forlorn sitting there squinting in the summer sunshine, that I thought I'd offer him a bone.

"Tell you what I'm going to do Mr. Jackson.."

"Dr." Daniel replies offhandedly. He then blushes. "I'm sorry!" He apologizes. "I'm not one of those education snobs, really. It's just I haven't been called Mr. In a long time.."

I hold up a hand to stop his ramblings. "Don't worry about it Dr. Jackson." I say pulling up a stool. "I'll tell you what I'm going to do for you." Daniel looks at me hopefully.

"This frame here is pretty darn basic and I think I' should have something that we can use for the interrum.."

"Thank you Dr. Shields!" Daniel says happily. Well as happy as this boy got. Talk about old souls! The poor man looked like he had lived a hundred lifetimes. Sad eyes.

"But!" I say holding up a hand. "It would be unethical for me to produce these lenses without verifying your prescription. Do you happen to have it handy?" I was pretty certain I knew the answer, but I wanted to see what he'd say anyway.

"Er..no." I could see him thinking. The poor man hasn't a clue when he last had his eyes examined!

"Well then," I say tapping the eye scope mounted on the counter. "Poke your head in here and let's see what you've got."

3 Months Later

"Daniel, just what is it that you do?!" I ask as I write up his order for three more pairs of glasses. He'd gone though four in the last three months and this time the young man was buying in bulk!

"Archaeology mostly." He says awkwardly. "And a little translation work every now and then…"

"And you break your glasses how?" I ask pointedly.

"Accidents." He says fidgeting.

"Accidents, huh?" Daniel nods but looks down when I try to make eye contact.

"Daniel?" I ask him softly.

"Yeah?"

"Do you have a boyfriend?" No sooner were the words out of my mouth then Daniel jerks straight up. I don't think I've ever seen a human turn red quite so fast.

"Of course not!" He replies. "Why would you say that?"

I shrug. "Well, with all the broken lenses, I was thinking maybe some domestic dispute. A boyfriend or girlfriend perhaps..?"

"No!" Daniel says standing up clearly upset. "I'm married!" He begins taking in shallow breaths and I'm afraid he's going to hyperventilate. Obviously I had gone too far. Still, I had to ask. Twice he'd come in with scrapes and bruises and once with a broken arm!

"Daniel, I'm sorry." I say contritely urging him to sit back down and take deep steady breaths. Seeing him hesitate, I waive him forward. "Come now Dr. Jackson, I have children that need to be schooled. I can't afford to lose your business!" Daniel gives a weak laugh and sits back down.

"I am sorry Daniel." I say again. He nods an acceptance.

"If it settles your mind any, we think we've got the little er.. problem that has been causing me to break so many glasses under control."

I feel my eyebrows rise. "Problem?"

"It's complicated." Daniel says as if that might explain everything. "But I really shouldn't break so many glasses this time."

"Which is why you're buying three pairs?" I say smiling.

"Which is exactly why I'm buying three pairs."

Six months later

"This makes nine pairs Daniel." I say tiredly as I hand him his latest pair. "Are you sure I can't talk you into contacts?"

"No!" Daniel replies forcefully. No? Wow, someone really doesn't like plastic.

"Can I ask why?"

"Too dangerous." Daniel say instantly and then gasps as if saying something he shouldn't have.

"I had no idea wearing contacts was so dangerous!" I say cheekily. My wife is totally rubbing off on me! Or maybe it's Cecilia, my current receptionist (wife's cousin).

"I'm just saying that I might be in the middle of something really important and.." He pauses as if considering his choice of words. "What if I get something in my eye and go blind!"

"Blind?" I laugh. "Daniel, all you would have to do is apply a little saline and flush it out! Wearing contacts is not a big deal!"

"No." Daniel says emphatically shaking his head. "No contacts."

One year later

"So the contacts didn't work out huh?" I ask as I watch Daniel walk into the store. Glasses. Once again he was wearing glasses. It took me another two pairs to convince him to give contacts a shot and what happens? He puts them in, appears to be happy and then disappears! I had asked him to come back in a few days and let me take a look at his eyes! Did he come in? No. Did he call and say he wouldn't be in? No.

"Apparently contacts don't hold up too well under dire conditions." Daniel says dryly as he writes down an order for another two pairs.

18 months later

"What about these?" I ask showing him the latest in flexible lenses. "You can run these glasses over with a car and they'll still keep their shape!" Daniel holds up the rimless glasses and frowns.

"I don't like them." He says finally giving them back to me.

He doesn't like them. He's gone through 15 pairs of glasses in two years and doesn't like the pair that will save him hundreds of dollars a year. I just don't get it! I mean if.. Suddenly a light bulb went off and I understood.

"You get to write them off don't you?" I ask pointing a knowing finger at him.

"Excuse me?"

"Your glasses!" I say guessing now at his reluctance to change frames. "You must be able to write off your glasses on your taxes!"

"Taxes?" Daniel asks looking once again bewildered. "Wha... I... I think I forgot... write off... Really?"

Two years later

"So what was it this time?" I ask as I sit Daniel down and start the exam. It had taken nearly a year, but I had convinced him to give contacts another shot. Judging by his pale complexion and the ugly looking mark on his temple, the boy had had a rough time of it these last few weeks. I couldn't decide if he looked better or worse with short hair.

"Cold." He said reading off the letters on the eye chart. "Apparently contacts don't stand up well under extreme temperatures."

Four years later

"You sure about this?" I ask handing Daniel a small package containing two pairs of contact lenses.

"Not really." He says sighing. "But Jack insists." Jack huh? Thought Dr. Jackson said he didn't have a boyfriend? Daniel must had guessed what I was thinking as instantly he went on to explain.

"Jack's the guy I work with. Kinda like my boss." He wrinkles his nose. "Well, sort of like my boss." He clicks his tongue in thought. "Jack just bosses me around every now and then whenever I leave my office."

"Ah." I say as if any of that made sense.

"Jack thought you should get contacts?"

"Yeah." He replies forlornly clutching the paperbag to his chest. "But just to be on the safe side, could you make me up two pairs of glasses as well?

Five years later

"Daniel, are you all right?" I ask as I adjust the instrument on his nose and record the numbers. Seems Daniel's distance is getting a little worse.

"Hmm?" Daniel asks distractedly. "I'm sorry Dr. Shields, what did you say?"

"I asked if you were all right." I repeat. "You seem a little down these days."

"I'm fine." He replies a shade short of curtly. Fine huh? He doesn't sound fine.

Six years later

"Dr. S!" Janice screams clearly on the verge of hysteria as she runs through the open door.

"Janice?" Hadn't she just left for lunch? "What's wrong?"

"I was in line at a coffee shop.. you know the one down the street near the mall…when I heard these two guys talking…some of those military guys you know…..and one was really sad…and the other….

"Janice, call down!" I say running out of the lab. "What is it?!" Once the girl gets into ramble mode, it's pretty difficult to her to slow down. What could she possibly have done or seen to have made her so upset?

"I just heard." She says tearfully plopping down into one of the patient's chairs.

"Heard what?" I ask curiously.

"Dr. Jackson." She whispers. "I think he's dead."

Present

"Daniel Jackson!" I breathe out in a long sigh as I take in Daniel's presence. Wherever he's been this last year, it seems to have done him good. He looks rested. Focused. Almost content. Whatever demons he was facing in the last year before his disappearance seems to have left him.

"Hi Dr. Shields." Daniel says smiling as he steps forward and shakes my hand. I can scarcely see the shy, insecure man I first met seven years ago.

"Welcome back to the land of the living." I say offering him a seat. He chuckles.

"It is a bit of a change." He agrees smiling once again.

"Are you going to tell me where you've been?" I ask not really expecting an explanation. After all these years I know that if Daniel wanted to tell me something he would.

"Around." Daniel says wryly smiling a little and making a little hand motion. "Apparently, I never really went very far."

Next posting will be a Barista!
Oh! And if you're wondering what Daniel was talking about at the end of three months, just think back to early trips through the Stargate. A tad bit bumpy, weren't they? *VBG*

Completed February 9, 2004