"Hello there, Doctor Jackson. It's good to see that you are well."
"Well, uh, thank you for that," Daniel answered. He was stretched out on a gurney, his hands resting comfortably on his lap as he watched the NID agent carefully. Doctor Fraiser hovered close to his left, while Jack remained on guard further back to his right. "Um, who are you?" Daniel asked.
"Major Riley," he answered. Tucking his hat under his arm, he sent Daniel a forced smile. "I've come to have a little chat with you, Doctor."
"A chat?" Daniel smiled at him. "What would you like to talk about? The Maori? The Moche? Oh, how about tapestries in ancient China?"
Riley gestured in what Jack called a dignified snort. "Funny. But I'll be asking the questions here, Doctor."
"Questions?" Daniel shrugged, looking over at Fraiser and then Jack. "About?"
"Let's not play games," he said sternly, stopping at the foot of the gurney. "We both know why I'm here."
"Yes, we do," Jack said, rocking on his heels. "And we both know it's a waste of time."
"Waste of time? Really?" Riley chuckled. "From what I hear, Doctor Jackson had a little incident off-world, an incident that left him…beside himself."
"Oh, you're funny," Jack said, smiling, though feeling anything but pleasure. He paused a moment while he swallowed down the immediate hatred he was feeling for the man.
"This is no laughing matter, Colonel." Riley licked his lips. "I take my work very seriously."
"Your work?" Daniel cocked his head, bringing his arms up to hug himself. "Is that what you're calling it now?"
Great, he picks now to get snarky. "Daniel…" Jack warned.
Riley chuckled again, and held out a hand to silence Jack. "No, it's okay, Colonel. He won't be so smart when we take a little trip down to Area 51."
Jack tensed, but knew there was no way in hell that Riley would be taking Daniel anywhere. Daniel, despite all his annoying little everythings, was too important to the SGC to give him up as a lab rat.
Doctor Fraiser seemed to think differently. While shooting a nervous glance at Jack, she took a protective step closer to Daniel. "Colonel?"
"He's not going anywhere," Jack said, his voice dismissive. "He's going to be staying right here."
"I'm not so sure about that, Colonel. You see, I do have my orders and I have every intention of carrying them out."
"I'm sure you do," Jack said with a lop-sided smile," but you aren't taking my team member anywhere. You got your questions; ask them."
Riley glared at him, but remained slippery smooth. Jack started to wonder if all these guys went to the Maybourne School of Sliminess. "You're very protective of your team, Colonel. That is admirable." He smiled. "But my main priority is not Doctor Jackson. It's the others."
