It never fails - every time one needs to be still and silent, one's nose starts to itch.
Sam finally couldn't stand it anymore, so she lifted her hand and rubbed the offending facial feature viciously.
"Are you alright, Major Carter?" Teal'c asked in an almost-whisper.
"Just getting restless," she whispered back. She shifted position slightly to take a quick look at her watch. "We were due back half an hour ago," she told him. "I don't think we're going to be able to dial the gate anytime soon, but hopefully General Hammond will realize something is wrong and try to contact us."
"Does he not wait a few hours before he makes contact?"
"It's Christmas Eve, Teal'c. He'd know we wouldn't be late back tonight unless something drastic is happening."
"I see."
Sam was about to respond when she heard the familiar sound of a Stargate activating. She couldn't keep a triumphant smile from appearing on her face. The Jaffa who had been guarding the gate were now turned towards it. This was the opportunity they had been waiting for. "What did I tell you?" she said as she scrambled to her feet. "You take the ones on the right."
Not another word needed to be said. She and Teal'c took advantage of the Jaffa's inattention to gun them down. By the time they clued in to where their attackers were and started returning fire, there were only three of them left. Soon even those three were no longer a threat.
"SG-1, this is Hammond. Please come in, over."
Sam smiled in relief and keyed her radio. "Carter here, Sir. We have a situation, I'm afraid. We were on our way back to the gate approximately an hour ago when a group of Jaffa appeared out of nowhere. They surrounded us within minutes, cutting us off from the gate. Daniel took a hit, and Colonel O'Neill went back for him."
"Are you still cut off from the gate, Major?"
"Not anymore, Sir, thanks to you. We took them out while they were distracted by the incoming wormhole. There are still at least two patrols out there, though, Sir, and Colonel O'Neill and Daniel are stuck. We'll need reinforcements and a medical team, if at all possible."
"They'll be there in less than an hour. Anything else you require?"
Sam exchanged a look with Teal'c, but he merely tilted his head in the negative way. "Not at the moment, Sir," she answered.
"Very well. Sit tight - I'll be sending reinforcements through shortly. Hammond out."
Sam gave a sigh of relief as the gate shut down. Then she and Teal'c took cover again and settled in for another long wait.
Jack sat back and listened to the exchange between Carter and Hammond without interruption. Carter was handling it just fine, and he knew that if he spoke up he would have to give a description of Daniel's injuries. That was not something he wanted to do in front of the guy.
Truth was, Daniel's condition was growing worse by the second. He even seemed to have run out of energy to talk, which in Daniel's world was one step away from being comatose. Every time he closed his eyes, Jack was scared that he was slipping away.
After Hammond signed off and the radio went silent, Daniel turned his worried face to Jack. "Medical team? Did she say medical team? You don't think he'll send Janet, do you?"
"When you're the one they're coming to rescue?" Jack said. "Nah, I doubt it. Technically, she's not supposed to treat you directly anymore, remember? Let alone be sent out into the field after you."
"Right," Daniel said, though he didn't look any less worried.
"Besides," Jack said, anxious to calm him down any way he could, "like you said, she's at home with Cassie as we speak, getting the place dolled up for her handsome hero's return." He grinned and cuffed Daniel lightly on the shoulder.
Daniel forced a smile in return and seemed to be trying to relax. "I sure hope so."
"Sir, are you there?"
Jack keyed his radio at the sound of Carter's voice. "We're here, Carter. We heard everything. Good job."
"Thank you, Sir. How is Daniel doing?"
"He's..." Jack stopped as Daniel lifted a hand and gave him a feeble swat on the arm.
"I'm okay, Sam," Daniel said through his own radio. "We're in that dugout I found yesterday. You remember where it is?"
"Yeah, I do. It's good to hear your voice, Daniel."
Jack decided that was enough of that, so he pushed Daniel's hand away from his radio before he could say anymore. "No more talking," he said. "Rest."
Daniel made a grumpy face, but laid his head back and closed his eyes.
"Carter, there's a group of Jaffa that keep passing our location - about twice in the last half hour - so be on the lookout when you head this way."
"Will do, Sir. If all goes well, we'll be there to extract you within an hour. Carter out."
Jack stared solemnly at Daniel for a full minute after the silence fell over them again, just watching his chest rising and falling with each ragged breath and the contortions of his face every time the movement caused him pain. He wished there were more he could do for him, but there was nothing more to be done. Still, he couldn't just sit there for the next hour watching his friend deteriorate like that. He grabbed his canteen and nudged Daniel's shoulder.
Daniel started and snapped his eyes open. "Wha?"
"Sorry," Jack said, feeling guilty for disturbing him. "You should have some water."
Daniel nodded, so Jack helped him take a swig from the canteen. "That's enough," Daniel said after one mouthful, waving it away.
"You have to drink, Daniel."
"If I have more, it'll just come back up," Daniel said, resting his hand on his stomach and squeezing his eyes shut.
"That bad, huh?"
Daniel didn't answer, which was enough of an answer in itself.
He laid his hand on Daniel's forehead, partly to check his temperature and partly to offer some form of comfort to him. He almost expected him to feel cold, as there was quite a nip to the air now that the sun was setting, but instead he felt burning hot.
Jack sighed and rubbed his face wearily. That medical team couldn't arrive fast enough.
Daniel was jerked out of a doze by the sound of gunfire. It sounded close - much too close.
"Jack?" he gasped, looking around in the dim light and finding himself alone.
"Over here, Daniel," Jack's voice said from somewhere behind him. "Stay down and keep quiet."
"What's going on?" he asked anxiously. He couldn't seem to wrap his mind around where he was and what was happening.
"Didn't I just tell you to... crap."
Jack fired his P-90 again, causing Daniel to flinch and cover his ears from the noise. The sudden movement sent a wave of pain through Daniel's entire body, its epicentre being the wound in his side. He couldn't stop a moan escaping from his lips.
"You okay?" Jack was by his side in a second.
"Fine, just... ow."
"Sorry. The Jaffa have made our position, but I think I've scared them off trying to get in here."
One of the Jaffa outside the dugout chose that moment to send a staff blast through the narrow opening, and it hit the wall across from Daniel, just a few feet away from his position. Jack sent a volley of fire through the opening in response, and a few angry Jaffa curses were thrown at them in retaliation.
"Well, this is a pleasant situation," Daniel said, though his tongue didn't want to work properly and slurred the words all together.
"Isn't it, though?" Jack rolled his eyes and then looked over at Daniel in the way that he'd been doing ever since Daniel had been shot. Daniel hated it - it felt like Jack was trying to figure out whether he was about to keel over or something. "Were you asleep for the conversation I had with Carter?" he asked.
"Um... if it wasn't the one I joined in on, then I guess I was."
Jack nodded. "Hammond sent the reinforcements through about two minutes ago. They should be here any second now."
Daniel wasn't sure whether to be happy or terrified to hear that. He was still worried that Janet would be on the rescue team, as unfounded as those fears might be. While he would love to have her there with him, fussing over him and using those healing hands to make everything right again, he didn't want her to enter the field of battle like this. If she got hurt trying to save him, he would never forgive himself. He'd rather die instead.
Scarcely a minute later, more gunfire could be heard. This time it was in the distance, and getting closer.
The Jaffa outside the dugout started shouting, and soon their staff weapons joined in on the racket. Jack took up position at the dugout's opening, conserving his ammunition for when it was absolutely needed.
"Colonel?" a voice called from outside during a lull in the shooting.
"Over here," Jack called, waving his hand out of the opening. He stepped back as a group of people wearing camo gear entered.
One of whom was five feet two inches tall and carrying a large med kit.
"No," Daniel groaned as she made a beeline straight towards him. "You shouldn't have come."
"It's good to see you, too, Daniel."
"You know what I mean."
"You were expecting me to stand back and watch someone else head off to save your life?" Janet asked as she crouched down beside him and set to work. "I thought you knew me better than that."
"I thought you'd be at home with Cassie," Daniel said, grunting as she started her examination and touched a rather painful spot.
"I was waiting for you before heading home," she said. "When you didn't come back, I started getting worried. Then General Hammond ordered a medical team..."
"And you badgered him into letting you go."
Janet paused in her work to give him an innocent smile. "I asked nicely, and he said yes."
Daniel grinned, but as soon as he started to laugh the pain put a stop to it. "Please, don't make me laugh," he begged.
Janet's expression immediately turned to one of sympathy. "Does this hurt?" she asked, applying pressure to a spot on his abdomen right next to the wound.
The pain was so intense that Daniel couldn't even speak. His writhing and groaning told Janet all she needed to know. She continued her examination quickly but carefully, giving quiet, one-word apologies every time she did something that caused him more pain.
Daniel barely even noticed the sounds of fighting coming from outside now that Janet was with him. It didn't even register in his mind that it had all quietened down until he heard Jack's voice.
"Is it bad, Doc?" he asked from somewhere off to Daniel's left.
"If we can get him out of here now, he should be okay," Janet replied.
Daniel looked over at Jack when there was nothing but silence in reply. The guilty look on Jack's face didn't fill him with much confidence.
"That might be a bit of a problem," Jack finally said.
"What? Why?" Janet asked.
Jack didn't answer, just gestured around him.
Daniel and Janet both looked around to see that Sam, Teal'c, SG-3, and Janet's two medics had all joined them in the little shelter.
"Please don't tell me we're all stuck here," Janet said in a low voice as she slowly rose to her feet.
"It seems the Jaffa had reinforcements of their own sent through the gate just after you arrived," Jack told her. "We're just lucky you guys came through when you did, or you'd all be dead by now."
"So..."
"So we've all been chased in here and can't get out without falling right into their hands," Jack said, looking like he wanted to spit.
"What are we going to do?" Janet asked. She looked about as close to panic as Daniel had ever seen her.
"It's dark now," Jack replied. "Do you think he'll make it until morning? I think it'd be best if we wait until daylight to make our next move... or until Hammond sends another team or two, which might end up being a bad idea considering what happened to this one."
Janet looked down at her shoes for a second, but then straightened her back and looked Jack right in the eye. "I'll do my best," she said, "but it really depends on how long the nights are on this planet."
"Same as Earth, give or take," Daniel said, mostly to show that he was still alive and following the conversation.
Janet looked down at him with a mixture of pain and fear in her eyes. The intensity of it caught Daniel off guard for a moment, and he had to look away.
"I'll do what I can," she said. She dropped down to her knees at Daniel's side as Jack walked away, and looked into her med kit for something.
"Janet?" Daniel said, keeping his voice barely above a whisper so that no one would overhear.
"Yes?" she said without even looking up at him. She busied her hands with preparing a syringe of what Daniel assumed to be pain medication of some kind.
"Tell me the truth," he said. "How bad?"
It seemed as though she wasn't going to answer at first, but then she took a deep breath and steeled herself for her response. "You need surgery," she said. "Rather urgently."
"You can't do it here?"
"No. Not without killing you. I can keep you stable for a little while. Hopefully long enough that we'll still get you back in time."
The fact that she didn't make eye contact with him sent off warning signals in Daniel's brain. He'd had a feeling all along that he wasn't going to make it out of this alive, and she had just all but told him these suspicions were true. He suddenly felt very, very tired.
"This is for the pain," she said as she gave him the shot. "It's about all I can do for you at the moment."
"Thank you." Daniel relaxed as he felt the drug begin to take effect, but tensed again when he saw Janet start to stand up. He lifted a weak hand and touched her leg. "Please don't leave me."
He could barely see her face in the semi-darkness, but he could tell that she forced a smile for him. "I'm not going anywhere," she said, sinking back down to the ground beside him.
She laid her hand on the side of his face, and Daniel leaned into it and closed his eyes. Even though he would have given anything for her not to have been placed in this dangerous situation, he was glad that she was with him. She could always make him feel better just by one little touch.
The moment was broken by a sudden staff blast fired through the opening of the dugout. Daniel's heart just about leapt out of his chest at the sound, and his pulse felt strange afterwards, making his breath catch in his throat.
"It's okay," Janet soothed, stroking his hair with one hand as she checked his pulse with the other. "Just relax."
Daniel winced as one of his comrades returned fire. For some reason, every sound seemed louder to him now. Once everything was quiet again, he tried to force his breathing to return to normal but found that he couldn't.
He was dying, and he knew it.
"Janet?" he said as a shiver wracked his frame.
"I'm right here."
He smiled. Of course she was. She was always there when he needed her. "Listen... if I don't make it..."
"Don't say that, Daniel," she cut in. "You are going to make it."
"But if I don't... I need you to know..." He paused and took a shuddery breath. "I love you," he finished, taking her hand and giving it a weak squeeze.
Janet smiled and squeezed his hand back, though she looked like she was about to cry. "I know, Daniel. I love you, too."
Daniel's heart fluttered at those words, this time for a different reason than his injury. It gave him just the courage he needed to say what he had to say next. "If I do make it... will you marry me?"
Janet's mouth fell open in surprise, and for what seemed like forever she just sat there staring at him in stunned silence.
It started to worry Daniel. "Janet?"
Janet gave herself a slight shake and came back down to reality. "Daniel, I don't think this is the right time for you to be asking me a question like that," she said quietly. "You're injured, you're on pain medication, you're not thinking clearly..."
"Yes, I am."
"A lot of people say and do things they don't really mean in this kind of situation, so I think it's best..."
"Janet!" Daniel cut her off, trying hard not to laugh at her babbling. "The ring is at home, hidden in the back of my sock drawer. I was going to ask you tonight, over hot chocolate and gingerbread cookies, sitting by the Christmas tree with a cozy fire burning in the fireplace. I've been planning it for weeks."
Again the stunned look appeared on her face. "It is? You were? You... you have?"
Daniel finally couldn't hold back a chuckle, but then winced and gripped her hand as a wave of pain ran through him. He leaned his head back and closed his eyes to wait for it to pass.
Janet pressed her fingers to his neck again in concern. "Daniel?"
Daniel let out a slow breath as the pain eased off. "I love you so much, Janet," he said, opening his eyes and gazing at her lovingly. "I can't imagine living another day without you. Please say you'll marry me."
Janet smiled, her eyes sparkling with unshed tears in the light from their teammates' flashlights. She cupped his face in her hand and answered, "As unromantic as this setting is for a proposal... yes, Daniel. I'll marry you. I want nothing more."
Daniel grinned in relief. This had turned into a win/win situation - if he died, he would die happy knowing the loveliest woman in the galaxy loved him enough to want to marry him. If he lived, he was sure to be the luckiest man alive.
He closed his eyes and lifted his hand to touch her face as Janet leaned down to press a gentle kiss to his lips. God, how he loved her.
His hand dropped limply to his side as she pulled away, but the brief kiss had done for him what no sedative or painkiller could ever do. He felt warm, relaxed, and loved.
"Here, come forward for a second," Janet said, taking him gently by the shoulders and pulling his upper body away from the wall.
Daniel allowed her to move him, feeling only a twinge in his side as a result. She slipped in behind him easily, sitting with her back against the wall of the dugout, and then eased Daniel back against her.
"Rest now, okay?" she whispered.
Daniel didn't object. She was cradling him like a child, her arms wrapped securely around his chest as she stroked his hair and rocked him slightly from side to side. He hadn't felt so at peace for as long as he could remember.
His eyelids were beginning to droop when he felt something touching his legs. He opened his eyes to see Jack draping a blanket over him. He hadn't even noticed how cold it was getting until that moment.
When Jack noticed that Daniel was looking at him, he forced him a smile. "Hey, Daniel, how're you doing?"
Daniel smiled back, though it was a rather pathetic, shaky thing from what he could tell. "Jack, she said yes," he said, his voice sounding weak and thin even to his own ears.
Jack flicked his eyes over to Janet for a second, but then looked back at Daniel with an expression of feigned innocence on his face. "What was the question?"
Daniel knew Jack knew, so he didn't even bother answering him. He snuggled contentedly into Janet's arms as she pulled the blanket up under his chin and kissed the top of his head.
'If I have to die,' he thought to himself, 'I couldn't think of a better way to go.'