Teal'c had entered the fever ward just in time to see Daniel Jackson strike Dr. Fraiser in his delirium, and had helped to calm his friend down after O'Neill had escorted Dr. Fraiser away. He had heard the man's cries for help, for protection from the Goa'ulds he believed to be surrounding him, and he had watched helplessly as Brom's assistants had sedated him and restrained him more securely than before.
Now he had taken up vigil at his friend's side, taking the cool cloths O'Neill had left behind and attempting to keep the sick man's temperature down as much as possible.
Memories of sitting by this man's side as he died slowly and painfully from radiation poisoning came unbidden to Teal'c's mind. He remembered how difficult it had been to see his friend - his brother - wrapped in bandages so completely that he would not have recognized him had he not known his identity, and to hear his groans of agony as his body had succumbed to the fire that had burned him from the inside out.
This situation was no easier for him. Daniel Jackson was obviously suffering, his brow creased with pain and fear and his eyes glazed with his raging fever. He tossed his head and moaned, occasionally muttering or crying out in words that Teal'c could not understand. Teal'c wanted to do something for him... anything to ease his pain and help him to sleep free of the nightmares that plagued him even while he was awake. He wished he could do more than just sit by his friend's side and be a silent witness to his suffering, but there was nothing more to be done. The illness must run its course, unless a cure could be discovered in time.
"Sha're..."
Daniel Jackson's quiet whimper immediately earned him Teal'c's undivided attention.
"Sha're, it's me... Daniel..."
Teal'c remained silent and simply watched as Daniel Jackson's expression changed from one of anxiety, to one of pain and fear, and then to one of heartbreak and betrayal. He knew which memory this was - his first encounter with Ammonet, the Goa'uld who had taken his wife for its host.
He wiped his friend's burning forehead with the cloth as the whimpers turned to sobs. "It is alright, Daniel Jackson," he soothed.
"Teal'c..."
The Jaffa's ears perked up at the sound of his name. "Daniel Jackson?"
"Don't do it, Teal'c... please..." He tossed his head from side to side and strained against his bonds.
Teal'c could only stare at him, dumbfounded. He had known this memory would rise to the surface, but no matter how prepared he felt he had been, the guilt of what he had done settled over him like a blanket. He had fired the shot that had killed Sha're. Daniel Jackson had forgiven him for doing so, but that didn't alter the fact that it had devastated him... both of them.
"No! Sha're!"
Teal'c finally had to look away from the anguished eyes that stared up at the ceiling, seeing things that no one else could. It broke his heart to see his friend this way.
"Doc, I thought you said you'd be resting."
Teal'c's gaze was drawn to the doorway of the ward at the sound of O'Neill's voice. Dr. Fraiser was walking towards him with a determined air, an ice pack pressed against the right side of her face.
"I will be resting, Colonel," she replied. "I want to stay with Daniel. Is that a problem?" She spun around to face him as she asked this question, and O'Neill gave a reluctant shrug in reply. "Thank you," she said.
She then turned to face Teal'c, who automatically rose from his chair and offered it to her. "Thank you, Teal'c," she said softly as she sank down onto the seat.
He bowed respectfully in response.
"Teal'c, make sure she actually rests, okay?"
"I will, O'Neill."
O'Neill nodded and, after taking a quick glance at Daniel Jackson as if to ensure he had been looked after, he walked over to the other end of the room to speak with Brom.
Teal'c then turned his attention back to Dr. Fraiser, who had taken up the cloth and was bathing Daniel Jackson's face, neck, and arms with it. "Don't even say it, Teal'c," she warned without looking up. "I can't just sit here and do nothing when he's..." Her voice broke mid-sentence, so she left the rest unspoken.
"I understand, Dr. Fraiser," Teal'c assured. "I would expect nothing less."
She looked up at him curiously at this statement, and he calmly met her gaze with his own. After a moment, she nodded and turned back to the man in the bed.
Teal'c's eyes scanned the rest of the ward, noting that the illness' ten remaining victims were resting more peacefully than he had yet seen them. It was a good sign that the illness was slowly coming to an end. They had managed to contain it early on, and no new cases had been reported since Daniel Jackson had fallen ill. Perhaps the worst was over.
He moved on to tend to the man in the next bed, leaving Daniel Jackson and Dr. Fraiser alone.
Even though her attention was focused on Daniel, Janet heard Teal'c move away and knew he had done it to allow her some time alone with Daniel. For that she was immensely grateful.
She was tired of playing the emotionally detached physician. This was Daniel lying here. Her Daniel. She wanted to touch him, speak comforting words to him, to simply be there for him.
As Dr. Fraiser she had to keep herself distant, to treat him the same way she would treat any other patient, to fight against the temptation of allowing her emotions to make the decisions. She had handed his care over to Dr. Carmichael months ago for this very reason, but in this case it had been necessary for her to be the one looking after him. As hard as it was, she had somehow managed to keep a clear head throughout the events of the day, and to be "the doctor" that she knew she had to be. Alone with him now, however, she could just be Janet - the woman who loved him more than any living soul in this universe.
With a wary glance over her shoulder to make sure no one was watching, she brought the ice pack down from her eye and wiped it slowly over Daniel's flushed face. She knew she should stick to the damp cloth, but it wasn't doing a thing as far as she could see.
"Daniel," she whispered, leaning in close to his ear. "Please come through this. I don't know what I'd do if you left me now."
"Janet..."
The whispered word made her start and sit up straight to get a better look at his face. "Daniel?"
"Janet," he whispered again, his anxious eyes staring straight ahead, unseeing. "Voices... so many voices... what's going on?"
This exchange seemed eerily familiar to Janet. Could it be that he was reliving the memory of the alien consciousnesses invading his mind? "It's alright, Daniel," she soothed as she again stroked his forehead with the ice pack. "It's just a dream. Everything's going to be alright."
The touch seemed to bring him up out of the depths of his mind, and he slowly turned his face towards her. To her surprise, his gaze fastened directly onto her face in a way that he hadn't done since before the disease had taken hold of him.
"Daniel? Are you with me?" she asked, unsure whether she was just imagining it or not.
A look of fear passed over his face, but he was undoubtedly looking at her and seeing her. He flinched and tried to edge away from her, but his bonds held him securely in place.
"Daniel, it's okay. It's me... it's Janet." Suddenly feeling she had to get through to him at any cost, she pulled the surgical mask down from her face and let it fall to hang around her neck. "See? It's me. No one's going to hurt you. It's okay."
He seemed to relax the moment he could see her face, and he blinked slowly a few times as recognition dawned.
Janet smiled, relieved. "There you are," she said, cupping the side of his face with one hand. "I've missed you."
Daniel blinked at her again. His face crinkled up in concentration as he focused on a particular portion of her face.
It only took Janet a moment to realize he was staring at her fast-forming black eye. She felt strangely self-conscious under his scrutiny, and reached up her other hand to lightly touch the swollen skin under her right eye.
"Hurts?" Daniel asked. The word was slurred, but nonetheless coherent.
"It's fine, Daniel," she reassured him. "Just a bruise. I'll be okay."
Daniel's breathing started to quicken and his eyes darted from her face to his bound hands and back to her face. "Out... I have to get out..."
"Shhh, Daniel, it's okay. Just relax..."
"No, I have to get out!" he cried, the panic and confusion returning with a vengeance. "They're hurting you! I can't let them hurt you!"
"Daniel, no one is hurting me. Everything's okay, just calm down."
"I don't know what it is! I don't know how to turn it on! Please!" He screamed in pain and his body jerked as if he'd received an electrical shock.
Janet gasped and jumped to her feet as she realized what memory Daniel was in now. He was being tortured by the Honduran rebels who had kidnapped him just a few months earlier.
"Doc!" Colonel O'Neill was suddenly at her side, grabbing her shoulders and spinning her around to face him. "What the hell are you doing?" he demanded, his tone sounding half angry and half scared out of his mind.
Janet could only stare at him in shock. She couldn't understand why he seemed angry with her, until he began to pull the mask back up over her nose and mouth.
"What were you thinking?"
"I... Daniel was..." She looked back down at Daniel, who was writhing in pain and muttering pleas for mercy. "He was fully conscious for a moment, and I thought..."
"Don't do that again," the colonel snapped. "The last thing we need right now is for you to get this damn thing, too." His eyes softened as he looked down at his friend laying on the bed in obvious agony. "What's he seeing this time?" he asked, his tone one hundred percent calmer than it was just a moment before.
"Honduras."
That one word was enough. O'Neill flinched as though he had been punched in the gut. He shook his head and rubbed his forehead wearily. "When's it gonna end?" he said with a sigh.
Janet felt a sudden chill, and wrapped her arms tightly around her body. She didn't bother to answer the question, because she couldn't truthfully say anything he would want to hear.
She knew that the worst was yet to come.
To be continued...