"Is she all right?" Daniel asked the doctor as the older woman emerged from an examining room, Rachel trailing after her now wearing a hospital scrub shirt. She didn't look any happier than she did when she had gone in with the Doctor. Jack stood from the hard plastic seat he'd been in and stood beside Daniel.

"Well, she has a concussion, bruising around her ribs and one cracked rib, a second degree burn on her shoulder and a few other fairly deep bruises on her arms and legs." The doctor glanced at Rachel who was picking at the bandage on her hand. "I recommend that she get plenty of rest and stay off her feet for at least two weeks"

"Sweet" Rachel muttered glaring at Jack who swatted her hand away from picking at the bandage.

"I've prescribed a light painkiller, incase she needs it" the doctor handed the prescription sheet to Daniel, who looked at it trying to decipher the messy scrawl.

"Okay, thank you" He said smiling. The doctor motioned him off to the side, which Daniel followed having a hunch he knew what it was about.

"I'm not going to ask how she got these injuries," the doctor began. Jack had originally flashed his military ID stating that everything was classified when they'd brought Rachel in, making up some story about a car accident. Daniel glanced toward where Jack was talking to Rachel before turning back to the short woman before him. He noticed that Rachel obviously didn't care what Jack was saying, and had resumed picking at her bandages.

"But I am going to suggest she see a psychologist about it." Daniel opened his mouth to protest, but was silenced by the doctor. "Her injuries aren't from a car accident, Doctor Jackson, I wasn't born yesterday. Get her to see someone." Daniel conceded and nodded. The doctor smiled tightly and walked away. Daniel made his way over to his teammate and daughter.

"Ready to go?" he asked Rachel who looked dead on her feet. She nodded slightly, wincing as the throbbing in her head increased ten fold.

They made a stop at the pharmacy in the hospital, which was always open late, before getting into Jacks truck and heading towards Daniel's apartment. Daniel explained to Rachel that they were going to stay at Jack's house for the night, just incase the clean-up crew didn't get all of the kidnappers at the warehouses. They would just stop by the apartment briefly so they could get some clothes and Daniel could get his car.

Jack led the way as they all climbed the stairs. Their pace was much slower than normal on account of Rachel's sluggish movement. A few minutes later the trio ventured back down the stairs to their respective cars, Daniel carrying Rachel's backpack with her clothes in it, and a bag of his own things as well.

They followed Jack back to his house and Rachel followed the men into the house tiredly. Much to her protest the doctor at the hospital had given her a shot with some sort of painkiller and muscle relaxant in it. Only now was it really starting to work and it was making her very sleepy.

"You can have the guest room, Daniel you get the couch" Jack said to father and daughter.

"Are you hungry?" Jack asked next, eyeing the drowsy girl worriedly. She shook her head a bit.

"Hey are you alright?" Daniel stepped up to her and grasped her elbow gently. She glanced at Daniel with unfocused eyes.

"Fine… doctor gave me something … s'making me tired," she mumbled. Daniel let out a small sigh of relief. Guiding her to the guest room he made sure she was okay by herself, before leaving so she could change into her pajamas. He didn't stray far from the door just in case, and waited shaking his head every time he heard a muffled curse through the door.

Getting dressed alone was hell with injured rib or any other injury for that matter, but Daniel suspected that even in her lethargic state Rachel would adamantly refuse any help. He waited a couple more minutes before knocking. Hearing no response he entered slowly, peeking in the room. He opened the door fully upon seeing Rachel in pajama pants and a big sweatshirt sound asleep on the bed. He carefully moved her so she was under the covers.

Anger flared to the surface as he saw a huge purple – almost black – bruise on her leg as her pajama pant leg rose a little with movement. Tucking the covers in around her, he brushed some hair from her bruised face and leaned over kissing her on the forehead, well aware of the fact that if she knew he did that she'd be pissed. That brought a small smile to his face as he left the room, leaving the door half open. He went down to the living room where Jack was sitting drinking a beer.

Jack reached over and grabbed another beer from the table beside him, handing it to Daniel. Not normally a drinker, Daniel took it gratefully, taking a longgulp before settling into the recliner beside the couch.

Jack watched his friend.

"She asleep?" Daniel nodded and ran a hand over his face.

"Yeah."

"I called the base. The clean-up team's pretty sure they've got all of them"

"That's good" Daniel felt all of his anger being taken over by sheer exhaustion.

"What did the doctor say?" Jack asked referring to when she'd pulled Daniel aside at the hospital.

"She wants Rachel to see a psychologist… she didn't believe the car accident story."

"Figured no one would, but it looks less suspicious in paperwork than torture" Jack immediately regretted his choice of words as Daniel winced. But both men knew that Rachel had been tortured. Her injuries were definitely not as bad as it could have been though. Daniel sighed.

"Yeah but I doubt it's the first time she's been beat up like that" he commented taking a large gulp of his beer. Jacks eyebrows rose at that piece of information.

"What makes you say that?"

"...Foster care sucks" Daniel answered, unconsciously using a very popular word in his daughters' vocabulary.

"Did she mention anything?"

"No but her mom did say she suspected that she was abused"

"Maybe she should see someone then" Jack said slowly. He didn't want to overstep any boundaries.

"Probably." Jack finished off his beer and stood up.

"Well I'm gonna hit the sack. There's blankets and a pillow in the hall closet" he said patting his friends shoulder briefly as he left the room.

Daniel stared into the fire, absently picking at the label on the beer bottle. The following days would be hard, especially when Rachel would almost definitely want to know why she had been kidnapped. He'd have to talk to Jack first so they could make up something to explain what a Harcesis was, without actually telling her the truth.
Yawning, Daniel put his beer on the table and went to get some blankets. He was going to need his sleep if he had to face a tired, grumpy, and in all likeliness, extremely pissed off sixteen year old the next day.

well this chapter was short and pointless i know... but i needed a transition to the next part... sort of...

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