Daniel didn't even look up as they left. He was already involved in his copying, because you had to absolutely make sure that the copy was exactly right – otherwise the translations could be way off. Like the time he'd thought a clay tablet written in ancient Mesopotamian had said that the way to the pure life was through good hair instead of through good works. That one had thrown him for quite a while until he'd actually gone back to the site and rechecked his work. After that he was always careful to make sure he copied right the first time. And then he double-checked it.

It didn't take him long to finish, though, even with his double-checking. Less than half an hour. He carefully tucked his notebook back into his pack, and stood up, stretching and looking around. Jack and the others were probably pretty close to being done with their search, and he wondered if he should go find them. Looking for Jack wasn't the same as wandering off, he reasoned. Wandering off meant going somewhere without a particular goal in mind, and this just wasn't the case just then. He knew where he was going, after all. He was going to find Jack.

With that firmly in his mind, he shouldered his pack and headed out the same direction the others had taken. The only problem with that was that he hadn't actually been watching the direction they were going.

OOOOOOOO

Jack sighed, and looked around, wiping the sweat from his forehead.

"Well, Campers… I'm tired of looking for rocks. Let's go get Daniel and head home."

Ian couldn't help but agree, even though he had hoped to find more of the little buildings. It just didn't make sense that there would only be one structure in the area like that. But they'd left the shelter of the trees, passing to the side of a weird bog, and had been out in the direct rays of the sun long enough that he was sweaty and hot – and the sweat was stinging the welt on his side – although he hadn't complained about it, since he didn't want Jack to make a big deal of it.

"Perhaps if we went back in a different direction than we came, we might have the opportunity to explore further as we walk…" Teal'c said. The Jaffa didn't look sweaty at all, Ian noticed. He probably liked it warm like this. Or maybe he just didn't sweat quite as easily as humans did.

"We can do that," Jack said, shrugging. As long as they didn't go too far out of the way. He didn't want to take any longer than necessary, since he really didn't trust that Daniel wouldn't find something to distract him if left alone too long. "I don't want to cross that swamp area we saw, so let's go that way," he said, pointing off to their left.

Not only did he not like the idea of swamp crap on his boots, but he hated the thought of washing the stuff out of Jaffer's thick fur.

The others nodded, and they all headed back, the two labs springing forward to take the lead now that they had a direction to go.

OOOOO

"Jack!"

Daniel called Jack's name for about the twentieth time, and sighed, wiping his forehead while he waited for a response. Again. And again there wasn't one.

"Well… great…" He muttered, putting his hat back on to beat the heat, even though he was in the shade of one of the trees. "They must be lost." Jack was always getting lost, Daniel noticed.

He went for his last resort, figuring that if O'Neill was lost, he'd at least make sure they were okay. Keying the mic on his radio, he started back the way he'd come, back towards the swampy area he'd just veered around.

"Jack?"

There was only a moment's hesitation before there was a reply.

"Yeah, Daniel. We're on our way back right now. Stay put and we'll be right there."

Um… right…

Daniel looked around him, and sighed again, then spoke into the radio once more.

"Yeah… about that…"

There was another hesitation, and he could imagine the look that was on Jack's face just then; a sort of cross between annoyance and concern – with a big scowl for good measure.

"Please tell me you didn't wander off?"

"I didn't wander off," Daniel said.

"Good."

"I came looking for you."

"Daniel…"

Now it was a sort of resigned sound, and he knew the scowl would still be there, but the irritation would be gone.

"I'm not in any trouble or anything," Daniel said quickly. "I just thought you guys might be lost…"

"No, we're not lost, Daniel," Jack told him. "Where are you?"

"Standing by a tree."

"Daniel-"

"Near a swamp."

"Stay where you are." Jack's voice was still tense, but not worried. Daniel knew Jack wasn't worried about finding him – not with Jaffer and Jack there to track him down – but he also knew that Jack was probably coming up with a million things that could happen while they were looking for him. Things that most likely weren't going to happen. Jack tended to worry too much, sometimes, Daniel thought.

"I'll be right here," Daniel promised, looking around for a good place to sit while he was waiting.

"We'll be right there. O'Neill out."

OOOOOOOOO

"Well, so much for going right home…"

Ian looked over, wondering why Jack wasn't angrier than he was. He was pretty sure if he'd been the one to get lost, Jack would have chewed him a new one. But Jack was acting like this happened frequently. Then he remembered that Jack had warned Daniel twice not to wander off before they'd left and decided that maybe it did happen a lot. Which made him wonder why Jack had left Daniel there in the first place – and he decided it was because Jack hadn't wanted to stick around and be bored watching while Daniel made his copies.

"The dogs should be able to find him, shouldn't they?" Ian asked.

Jack nodded, and turned back towards the swamp area that he'd been hoping to avoid.

"They always do."