Hidden Pain

Disclaimer: Even though I wish I did, I do not own Stargate or related characters, paraphernalia, etc. If I did, I would have elaborated a little on the side story in Nemesis. They are owned by MGM, et al. So don't try to sue me or you'll be quickly sent to a Goa'uld occupied world with no GDO to get back home. Be warned!!

Chapter 1: Rough Aftermath

It had been four days since three of the members of SG 1 had gone on a reconnaissance mission to a small town in Oregon where they had to take down a town full of people taken over by Goa'uld clones and stop them from constructing some sort of new ship. If only that had been the only trouble that they had faced. It had, in truth, only been the beginning. After returning to the SGC from Oregon, Colonel Jack O'Neill had been captured by the Goa'uld Baal and held prisoner and tortured. It had been up to Sam, Teal'c, and Jonas Quinn to find a way to rescue O'Neill with a little help from their allies. Now everyone was home safe, Jack had recovered, and SG-1 was now sitting in the briefing room with General Hammond, wrapping up debriefing on the longest week of their lives.

"I believe that about sums everything up. Okay people, that's it for today. In fact, I've placed SG-1 on stand down until Monday. You have the next three days to relax. I think you all need it. I'm ordering all four of you to take it easy. Dismissed." Hammond declared as Sam sat back down after finishing briefing them on her part.

"Yes, sir. Thank you, General." Jack smiled as his team followed him out of the room. "Well, team, I suggest that we do some group bonding. Why don't the three of you stay the night at my place tonight? I have a big house with a lot of extra room so I can accommodate all of you. We can order in a pizza and have some beer and then maybe watch some movies and relax. It'll be like a little party. So what do you say? You guys in?"

"Yes, sir. I'm in. I think that's a great idea. We need to just spend some time together, especially after the week we've had." Sam smiled.

"I concur with Major Carter. I, too, shall accept your invitation, O'Neill." Teal'c assented with a nod of his head. They all then looked to Jonas, who appeared to be lost in thought.

"Jonas!"

"Huh? Sorry, I guess I spaced out for a minute. What were we talking about?"

"I invited everyone over to my house for a little sleepover of sorts. Carter and Teal'c have already agreed to come over. How about you? Are you in?" Jack repeated.

"Oh, yeah. That sounds great. Count me in, too." Jonas said distantly. Sam looked at her friend, a little concerned about his inverted behavior, but didn't really think anything of it at the time, figuring the young Kelownan was just fatigued.

An hour later, they were all sitting around in Jack's living room with some drinks and had just finished ordering a couple of pizzas. It didn't take them long to realize how good it felt to not have anything to worry about and to have a chance to actually completely relax.

"Now, this is the life, isn't it? Nothing but beer for us, water for Teal'c, pizza on the way, a television, movies, and time to just be ourselves. By that I mean that for the next three days we aren't SG-1. We're all individuals who are getting a well deserved break."

"I think you're right, sir. I can't remember the last time we had more than a day for downtime. It'll be nice. It was good of you to invite us over tonight. It's going to be fun." Sam said, grinning as the doorbell rang signaling the arrival of their dinner.

"Hang on, campers. I need to go answer that." Jack announced as he got up off of the couch and went to answer the door. A few moments later, the group was sitting in the living room with two steaming hot pizzas on the table between them. "Dig in, guys. I'll go get the beer out of the fridge and be right back."

"What's this?" Jonas asked as Jack handed a bottle of beer to him.

"It's beer, Jonas. Alcohol. Trust me, it's good."

"Hey, you're right. Very interesting."

After they had eaten every last slice of the pizza, Jack pulled out his large DVD collection so they could decide on a movie that they wanted to watch. Once the movie started, the four settled in and made themselves comfortable. Sam was sitting on the couch beside Teal'c, Jonas was lounging in a large, cushiony chair and Jack was sprawled on the floor in the middle of the room with his hands clasped behind his head. They were growing more concerned about Jonas because he was unusually quiet and this wasn't normal for him and it wasn't in his character at all to be so inverted.

It was about 10:00 that evening when the movie finally ended. It had been a very interesting science fiction flick that three of them had never seen before. Jack was dozing on the floor because he'd seen that particular movie at least 20 times before.

"Colonel. Sir, wake up. The movie's over." Sam called softly, tossing a small bit of pizza crust across the room to hit Jack on the head, causing Jonas to bust into laughter. It was then that she noticed that their Kelownan friend had consumed half a dozen beers in less than two hours.

"Huh? What's up? I guess I must have fallen asleep. Sorry." Jack yawned.

"We have had a long and tiring week, O'Neill. You have no need to apologize." Teal'c commented quietly.

"Teal'c right, sir. After all we've been through over the past week, I'm surprised we didn't all fall asleep."

"I guess you're right. It's just that I feel like a bad host to invite you guys over and then fall asleep in the floor. A little off subject here, but what's wrong with Jonas? He sounds like a laughing hyena over there for crying out loud."

"Well, I'm not really sure what's wrong with him. All I do know is that he's been unusually quiet and inverted tonight and he's downed a half dozen beers in not even two hours. I'm getting a little worried." Sam explained as O'Neill nodded wordlessly.

"Hey! I'm a part of this thing too, so you don't have to talk about me as if I wasn't here. I'm going to get some sleep so you can say whatever you want about me and not worry about being heard." Jonas exclaimed, hurt and a little angry, getting up and heading out of the room.

"Jonas, wait!" Sam called out but it was too late, Jonas was already out of earshot.