Daniel woke up from yet another nightmare shaking and drenched in sweat. The fuzzy feeling in his head still hadn't gone away, and his nightmares tonight had been worse than ever. Whatever Sam had done to him, he failed to see how it could possibly be a good thing.
He rolled onto his back and stared up at the ceiling for a minute or two as he tried to calm himself down. It didn't work. Shadows fluttered across the walls of the room, and he found it hard to convince himself it was just the branches of the tree outside the bedroom window swaying in the wind. They looked like hands - Unas hands. They were coming towards him, closer and closer, ready to grab him and eat him alive...
"No!" he cried, sitting up and pressing his back against the headboard.
A pair of eyes glowed in the darkness. Goa'uld eyes. He heard Janet stir next to him, and he knew he had to keep that Goa'uld as far away from her as possible. "Go away!"
"Daniel?"
She didn't know. She didn't see it, but the eyes still peered up at him, glowing an eerie yellow in the dim light from the streetlamp. He yanked his pillow out from under him and launched it at the creature, that being the only object close at hand that he could throw. "Get the hell away from me!"
It yelped and jumped down from the bed, and he watched as a small form scurried out of the room.
"Daniel, what the hell are you doing?" Janet grabbed his arms and pinned them down as he started groping around in the dark for a book to throw at the retreating figure. "It's Leroy! It's just Leroy!"
Leroy? It couldn't be... "I saw a Goa'uld. I saw it! It was right there!"
"It was the dog, Daniel," she insisted. "His eyes must have caught the light from the window. You're just hallucinating again."
"He... oh God!" Daniel groaned and lay down on his side, his back still against the headboard and his head on Janet's pillow. "Please tell me I didn't hurt him!"
"Don't worry, you didn't," she said. She stroked his arm as he buried his face in the pillow. "I think you just scared him."
Daniel gripped the hair on the back of his head so tightly in his fists that the pain took precedence over the fuzziness. "What's happening to me?" he wailed. "It's all getting worse!"
"I'm sure it isn't, Daniel." Her voice sounded close, like she was leaning down to speak into his ear. He then felt a gentle pressure against his hand and knew that she had rested her forehead against him. "I'll take you to the SGC in the morning and we'll run some tests, okay? We'll go as soon as Cassie heads back to school."
He wasn't sure whether he enjoyed this somewhat intimate contact with her or not. His feelings for her were growing more and more confusing every day, swinging from feeling like he needed her to feeling like he needed to get away from her in a matter of seconds. He still couldn't believe he'd hugged her the way he had earlier that day. He'd just suddenly been overwhelmed with emotion, and felt like he had to get as close to her as possible. It was almost as though he'd thought that holding her would make it all go away. When it hadn't, he'd realized how stupid that notion was, and had quickly made his escape before he lost control again.
Thinking about that now brought on a flashback of a passionate kiss they had shared at some time or another, her fingers laced through his hair and his hands caressing her bare shoulders as they slowly and contentedly explored each other's mouths. The memory was so vivid and felt so good that for a moment he wanted to recreate the sensation.
He slowly lifted his head and turned to face her as she sat up again. His eyes focused on her lips, he kept on moving towards her, intending to lean forward and kiss her just to find out whether it still felt the same as it had in his memory.
Before he got near enough, however, she scooted over to the edge of the bed and got up.
Daniel sighed in frustration. She wasn't interested in kissing him? Fine. It was a dumb idea anyway. Of course it wouldn't feel the same as it did before. He wasn't in love with her now, and from the looks of things, she was rapidly losing interest in him, too. And who wouldn't in her place? He was a ticking time bomb, not safe to have in your house let alone in your bed. He was amazed that she hadn't dumped him on Jack's doorstep days ago.
Janet soon returned, with Daniel's pillow in hand. "Will you be able to last the night?" she asked as she handed it to him.
Daniel flopped it back down onto the bed, punched it a couple of times, and let his head fall onto it with his face turned away from her. "I'm fine," he said. "They're just hallucinations."
"Okay." He felt her slip between the sheets and lie down beside him again. "If you have any more problems, just wake me up."
"'Kay."
They lay there in silence for what seemed like forever until Daniel finally fell back into a restless sleep.
"I'll be back on Friday afternoon," Cassie said into Daniel's chest as he hugged her goodbye. She leaned her head back to look up at him with a playful glare. "You be good, do you hear me?" she teased.
Daniel forced the corners of his mouth to turn upwards, but it ended up looking more like a grimace than a smile. "I'll try."
Cassie then turned to Janet and they wrapped their arms around each other. "Call me and let me know the results, okay?" she whispered so that only Janet could hear.
"I will," Janet whispered back. "You take care," she said louder as she pulled away.
"Okay." Cassie smiled and opened the car door. "Bye, guys."
Janet and Daniel stepped back as Cassie's friend Damian started the car. As soon as Cassie was seated inside and buckled in, he backed down the driveway and drove off down the street.
Janet glanced over at Daniel once the car was out of sight. He was standing there staring at the ground, his hands stuffed deep inside his pockets. "Are you ready to go?" she asked.
He nodded and headed to her car without a word.
They spent the entire drive to the SGC in silence. Daniel even had his face turned away from her looking out the window the whole time, so she couldn't tell what he was thinking or feeling. Not that she would have known even if she could see his face. He was a complete enigma to her now.
The airman at the gate of the complex greeted them warmly, but Daniel didn't even look at him. The same thing happened at each checkpoint along the way to Level 21, and with everyone who passed them in the halls and said hello. Daniel's mouth remained set in a straight line, his eyes looking dead ahead and his hands in his pockets.
"You could say hello to people, you know," she said irritably while they were alone in the elevator. "It couldn't hurt."
"Why? So we can pretend everything's fine?" He sounded more sullen and depressed than ever.
"No, so we can be polite."
"Why bother?"
Janet stared at him open-mouthed. Was he really that lacking in social skills because of his brain damage, or was he just feeling ornery today? "Because they're people who deserve to be treated with respect, Daniel."
He shrugged and looked down at his shoes. As soon as the elevator came to a stop and the doors opened to the infirmary level, he stepped out and started walking down the hall.
Janet was two steps behind him all the way, watching his slouched back as he walked along. She never remembered seeing Daniel slouch like that before. She noticed as well that he was no longer as muscular as he had been just two weeks earlier, and she made a mental note to suggest he take up exercising again.
"Daniel! Good to see you again. Come on in."
She heard Andrew's voice from inside the medical bay before she saw him. He sounded genuinely glad to see Daniel, so she beamed a smile at him as she entered the room.
"Janet, good to see you, too," he said, returning the smile warmly. "I have to say that you two are both looking much better than when I saw you last. How have things been going?"
She glanced over at Daniel before answering, not knowing whether he would pipe in with some negative comment on how awful the past few days had been, but he just stood there looking at the floor. "It's... been up and down," she said, giving Andrew a meaningful look that hopefully told the rest of the story. "He was slowly improving until yesterday when Sam came to give him his treatment. Since then he's complained of a 'floaty' or 'fuzzy' feeling in his head, a feeling that usually only comes over him when he's about to hallucinate. He's had a couple of hallucinatory episodes, which were worse than any others he has experienced, and last night his nightmares were even more intense than usual."
"Why are you talking about me like I'm not even here?"
Janet wasn't surprised to see that Daniel was glaring at her over the rims of his glasses even though his face was still turned down towards the floor. She would normally have just shrugged it off, but because she was already overtired, she found it made her angry instead. "You're free to jump in and speak for yourself any time you want," she said.
Daniel rolled his eyes and looked away.
Andrew looked back and forth between them throughout this exchange like he was watching a tennis match. He finally settled on looking at Janet for an explanation.
"He's also been moodier than ever," she said.
"I see." Andrew nodded. "Okay, well, let's get you checked out, shall we?" He looked at Daniel and motioned for him to sit on one of the cots.
Daniel shuffled his feet as he crossed the room and climbed up onto a cot. He was silent and brooding throughout Andrew's examination, and when Andrew suggested he go for an MRI with Dr. Warner, he followed him out of the room without a word. That in itself was worrisome.
Janet wandered around the infirmary while she waited for Daniel, casting a longing look at her office as she passed it. She didn't regret her decision to take time off work while Daniel recovered, but she was so used to working almost around the clock that it was starting to feel quite strange being at home all day. If Daniel's company had been more enjoyable, she probably wouldn't have minded as much, but she often found herself wishing she could go to work just to get away from him. This thought made her feel guilty, which made her even more miserable than ever. It was a vicious cycle that she wanted out of ASAP.
"Wanting to get back to work already?"
Janet jumped and swirled around to see Andrew standing behind her. She had been staring at her office door for longer than she'd intended as she had been lost in thought, and he must have noticed. "Yes, actually," she replied. "I do miss it."
He stepped forward and laid a hand on her arm. "I really don't think there's anything to worry about with Daniel," he said. "He's recovering a lot faster than I originally expected over all. This is probably just a temporary setback caused by Major Carter activating a healing process in a part of his brain that hadn't been touched yet."
"I know," she said with a sigh. "But that doesn't make it any easier to live with."
"Has he started to... warm up to you at all?"
Janet nodded slowly. "There have been moments where he's seemed to. Then again, there have been moments when he's practically bitten my head off for one reason or another." She tried to smile and laugh at this statement, but it didn't really work. She suddenly felt very tired.
"I'm sorry," he said. The look in his eyes was so sympathetic it warmed her from head to toe. "I know this is no consolation," he continued, "but we're sending the first batch of vaccinations off tomorrow. I spoke to Brom yesterday myself, and he said his people are all very grateful to us for our help and anxious to accept whatever medicines or advice we give them. We've done a wonderful thing there, Janet, and it's mostly thanks to you and Daniel."
Janet smiled, tears filling her eyes at his words. "Thanks, Drew." She wasn't sure what else she could say, so she wrapped her arms around his waist and gave him a brief hug.
The sound of someone's throat clearing broke them apart. "Sorry to interrupt, but uh... I'm done."
Janet felt her cheeks heat up as she turned to face Daniel. It had been nothing but a friendly embrace, but for some reason she felt ashamed anyway. It certainly didn't help that the look on Daniel's face could have killed whole armies of Jaffa and he was pointedly aiming it at her.
"Daniel. There you are." She couldn't believe how idiotic the words sounded.
"That's stating the obvious," he sneered.
Yes, he actually sneered at her. Daniel, her beloved Daniel, who had not long ago only looked upon her with love and devotion smiling through his eyes, was standing there sneering at her like he was the cat and she was his pet mouse. She couldn't even respond to his comment. Words completely abandoned her and left her gaping.
"Can we go?" He directed this question over her head to Andrew.
"Yes, I don't see why not," Andrew replied. He sounded more than a little uncomfortable at the tension between the couple before him. "Either I or Dr. Warner will call you with the results of the tests once we get them."
Daniel nodded and strode towards the elevator without a backward glance.
Janet knew he would likely leave without her if she didn't follow, so she turned to go. "Thanks, Drew," she said, but before she could take a step, he grabbed her arm.
"Look," he said, his voice so low it was almost a whisper, "I know how volatile he must be right now, and that little display did nothing to assuage my fears on that score. So you have to promise me, Janet... promise me that if he hurts you, you will tell someone."
Janet was touched by his deep concern. She smiled sadly up at him. "I will. I promise."
He let go of her arm then, so Janet started to walk away. A moment later, however, he called after her, "Is Friday still on?"
Daniel had reached the elevator by this time, but he swung around at this question. He watched Janet in curiosity as he waited for her to answer.
Janet wasn't sure what to say. They had been planning a party for weeks that would serve as a joint celebration for her birthday and, just between herself and Daniel, the six-month anniversary of the day they had confessed their feelings for each other and shared their first kiss. She hadn't been sure, but she'd had a suspicion that Daniel was going to propose to her during that party, so the thought of going through with it now was almost unbearable.
A few seconds passed as Janet hesitated to think over her reply, and this didn't go unnoticed by Daniel. He took a few steps back towards her and said in a loud voice, "Aren't you going to answer him, Janet? Is Friday still on or not?"
Janet glanced over at Andrew as Daniel spoke, and he looked sufficiently embarrassed for the situation he'd placed her in. "I'm sorry..."
"No, it's fine," she said, holding up her hand to silence him. "Yes, Friday's still on. I look forward to seeing you there." With that, she walked straight into the waiting elevator and pressed the button for Level 11.
Daniel hopped in just in time before the doors closed in his face. He went as if to stand at the rear, but instead he stood directly behind her, his chest pressing lightly against her back. Janet fought the urge to move, determined that he wasn't going to intimidate her.
"What's Friday?" he asked.
She could feel his breath in her hair, and it made her shudder. "Friday is my birthday. We've been planning a party for weeks. I just forgot about it with everything else that's been going on."
"And Andrew's coming," he said in a fake cheerful tone.
"All of my friends from work are coming. He's one of them."
She could feel him staring down at her, and it made the hairs at the back of her neck stand on end. She was immensely grateful that the doors took that moment to swing open, and the two of them stepped out and made their way to the second elevator that would take them to the surface.
Daniel fell into one of his silent moods during the next elevator ride, and by the time they reached Janet's car he was positively sulking. Janet was selfishly grateful that she didn't have to talk to him, so she made no effort to smooth things over between them. He had embarrassed her in front of one of her colleagues, sneered at her, and tried to intimidate her. He wasn't exactly her favourite person in the world at the moment.
As soon as they got home, he muttered something about being tired and stretched himself out on the couch with the TV remote in his hand. She'd never figured him for being a couch potato, but as long as he was out of her hair and not harming himself or anyone else in the process, she didn't mind what he did.
She found Leroy curled up under the table in the kitchen. He seemed happy to see her, but she noticed that he didn't go out to greet Daniel like he usually did.
Janet sighed. "Just when we think things are starting to get better, hey Leroy?"
She was in for a long week.
To be continued...