Title: As the 'Gate Turns: Trust
Author: Annerb
Warnings: Minor language
Summary: SG-1 gets themselves into trouble and Jack may have to turn to an unexpected source for help.
Classifications: Series, Drama, Action/Adventure
Season: Mid-season 8, up through End Game (AU from there)
Archive: Yes, SJD and Heliopolis
Disclaimer: The characters mentioned in this story are the property of Showtime and Gekko Film Corp. The Stargate, SG-I, the Goa'uld and all other characters who have appeared in the series STARGATE SG-1 together with the names, titles and backstory are the sole copyright property of MGM-UA Worldwide Television, Gekko Film Corp, Glassner/Wright Double Secret Productions and Stargate SG-I Prod. Ltd. Partnership. This fanfic is not intended as an infringement upon those rights and solely meant for entertainment. All other characters, the story idea and the story itself are the sole property of the author.
Author's Note: This came from me wondering what Haley and Jack would talk about if they were stuck on some planet together. Plus, I thought it was time for a break from pure Angst (yeah, right, who am I kidding?), so this is a little run of the mill episode adventure break. By the way, all the people who think I have lost the S/J plot, all I can say is patience is a virtue and that some is quickly heading your way, I promise! ;) Thanks for all the great feedback! Montage and Triptnx, as always, thanks for the encouragement!
Feedback: Always appreciated!
Part 6: Trust
Haley worked hard not to roll her eyes, but it was getting more and more difficult as each moment passed. She mechanically nodded her head yet again, as she had been doing for the last twenty minutes every time Sam paused to take a breath. Haley was staring intently at Sam's left eyebrow to make it appear that she was paying attention as the older woman droned on and on. It was a skill Haley had picked up quickly in the last few weeks. Sure, Haley wasn't actually listening to a word Sam was saying, but it wasn't like she hadn't heard this speech a thousand times before.
Haley risked a quick glance at Daniel, who was currently lounging in a chair behind Sam. Haley had to suppress a smile at the sight of Daniel's slightly glazed look. It must really be getting bad if Daniel had managed to lose all amusement in Sam's compulsive behavior. Haley felt her lips twitch and quickly looked back at Sam, hoping she hadn't noticed Haley's wandering attention. If Sam suspected for even a second that Haley had missed a word she said, she would undoubtedly start all over again, no matter how much it cost to keep a wormhole open.
Haley was about to risk opening her mouth to remind Sam of this fact when she was saved by General O'Neill charging up the stairs into the briefing room. Haley silently reflected that she had rarely been so glad to see him before.
"Colonel!" he barked. "Just what in the hell do you think you're doing!"
Sam jumped like she had been shot and turned around to find General O'Neill glaring at her. Haley saw Sam's eyes quickly dart towards the open wormhole and back to the General's face before stammering out, "Sorry, sir. I seem to have lost track of time."
"Ya think?"
Sam flinched at his steely tone and gestured half-heartedly at Haley. "I was just making sure Haley was going to be okay while I was gone."
"Yes, you were. And I could even understand the need if this wasn't the sixth time you have been off-world since she first got here!" Sam visibly shrank under the General's relentless glare. "For cryin' out loud, Carter! She's not a child and it's not even like she's going to be alone! Siler and Walter can keep an eye on her."
Now it was Sam's turn to glare and General O'Neill cleared his throat awkwardly. "I mean…I'll watch out for her," he corrected petulantly. Haley was far too amused by their exchange to be offended. Daniel, Haley noted, was now leaning forward in his chair, once again enthralled by the scene in front of him.
With his back still to Daniel, General O'Neill sniped, "Cut it out, Daniel," and then wearily lowered his head into his hands. "Don't you two have a planet to explore?"
Daniel and Sam wisely bit back smiles and dashed for the gate room with a final wave at Haley. General O'Neill, meanwhile, seemed to have forgotten Haley was in the room, because he started muttering to himself something like, "No respect for the stars…" Haley couldn't risk being caught laughing at the General, so she quickly exited the room, sighing slightly at how uneventful the Mountain would seem without Sam and Daniel to drive the General insane for her amusement.
By this time, Haley had established a usual routine when SG-1 was off-world. She quietly skulked the halls, occasionally eavesdropping outside people's labs. She secretly loved listening to Dr. Felger mumble to himself when he thought he was alone. He certainly had a thing for SG-1. Once or twice a day, when she was sure the General was tucked away in his office, Haley would sit in the control room and chat with Walter. Haley still hadn't quite figured out what exactly Walter did besides opening and closing the iris, but he was still interesting to talk to. Sometimes she would hang out with Siler and watch him tinker with various interesting machines, offering advice when it came to her. All in all, it wasn't the most exciting of routines, but it passed the time. You'd be amazed how much time people watching can take up, and the SGC was full of some interesting specimens.
The only dark spot to her days was dinner, which General O'Neill insisted on taking with her when Sam was off-world, probably out of some misplaced sense of responsibility. It wasn't even like he enjoyed it, he usually had very little to say. One of them would comment about the food, the other would mention some meager piece of base gossip. Mostly they both just pretended to be enjoying their food.
This particular time, however, luck seemed to be on Haley's side. She had dutifully shown up at the required time, only to find the commissary blissfully General-free. She waited for about fifteen minutes before loading up her own dish and grabbing a corner table. She shamelessly shoveled her food down, hoping to escape before he managed to show up. Soon she was wandering through the rather empty halls with a slight stomachache for her troubles.
Eventually, Haley's curiosity got the better of her and she found herself peeking in to the control room. Upon seeing only Walter and some other unfamiliar airmen, Haley ventured to see if Walter was up for some conversation. As she approached the consol, however, she noticed General O'Neill down in the gate room with two SG teams.
"What's going on, Walter?"
Walter turned to look at Haley with a smile, but he seemed unwilling to share too much information. Unfortunately for Walter and many others like him, Haley had quickly worked it out that half the men on this base were secretly in love with her mother. Haley had been told (quite a few times) that she had her mother's smile and had rapidly come to the realization that it could be used as a devastatingly effective weapon. She turned a full-watt smile on Walter and waited for him to start showering her with information.
He blinked at her for a moment before replying, "SG-1 missed two scheduled check-ins. General O'Neill has decided to send in SG-4 and 7 as backup."
Haley's smile faltered at this information and she suffered the unpleasant effect of unease on top of her already unhappy stomach.
Walter must have noticed her sudden discomfort because he rushed to reassure her. "It's standard procedure. I'm sure it's nothing to worry about. Dr. Jackson probably convinced Colonel Carter to spend a little more time at some ruins or something. Or they unknowingly wandered out of radio range."
Haley nodded absently, completely willing to be reassured, but something in her gut (probably the Tuna Surprise) wouldn't let her. What were they always saying in those movies Teal'c made her watch all the time? 'I've got a bad feeling about this.' Usually right before they were swallowed by space monsters or smashed by galactic trash compactors.
While Walter was suitably distracted by dialing the Stargate to send off the SG teams, Haley hid herself away in a dark, out of the way corner of the control room, determined not to leave until SG-1's fate had been discovered. General O'Neill soon joined them in the control room and he either didn't notice Haley or simply decided to ignore her breach of protocol. Haley watched him pace the control room, wondering if he felt the same sense of foreboding that currently plagued her.
This was one of those times when Jack really hated his job, when he wished that he had never given up command of SG-1. Not because he didn't think Carter could handle it, but because waiting was something that Jack had never been good at. But that seemed to be the main activity of the Commander of the SGC. So he did it, pretending not to notice Haley or the way her wide eyes followed him as if asking him to just do something. He waited for word of SG-1, waited for the wormhole to engage and bring them back.
Less than an hour later, he was roused from his dark thoughts by the alarms announcing an incoming wormhole. Jack rushed down to the gate room in time to see the SG teams returning with three stretchers carried between them. The PA system echoed with a call for a medical team and soon the room swarmed with white coats. Jack tracked down the commander of SG-4 and demanded to know what had happened.
"We found them 3 clicks west of the Stargate, sir. All three of them were lying unconscious next to a large stone monument of some kind. They were unresponsive, but generally stable so we booked it back with them as fast as possible. There was no evidence of unfriendlies. As far as we could tell, the planet is uninhabited." He handed Jack a digital camera. "This was found with Dr. Jackson, I thought maybe it might help figure out what happened."
Jack nodded and dismissed the man with "Good job, Colonel. We'll debrief at 0900." He glanced up at the control room to find Haley watching him, her face a carefully constructed mask.
Haley had managed to sneak into the infirmary rather easily while Dr. Warner was talking on the phone in his office. This was the one room in the SGC that she strictly avoided as a rule, mainly because it seemed to remind her of Jonathan and her time with the NID. Now, as she carefully approached the first bed that held Sam hooked up to a plethora of beeping and humming machines, she knew she would have yet another bad memory to associate with this place.
Haley reached out a hesitant hand to touch Sam's face and was alarmed at the heat that radiated from her skin. Sam's chest rose shallowly with each labored breath. Haley was overwhelmed with the familiar sense of helplessness. This feeling had been a constant companion her entire childhood. She couldn't believe that she would have to lose her mother in a similar way, when she had just so recently found her.
Haley's eyes traveled to the next bed, where Teal'c lay in a similar state of illness. Haley had spent quite a bit of time with Teal'c over the last few weeks, as they both were generally confined to the base. She had a hard time remembering how fearful of him she used to be. Now she only knew him as a quiet and loyal man who had a thing for Star Wars and told the best Jaffa jokes.
Haley wandered over to the last bed in the ward to find Daniel sleeping peacefully. His skin also seemed to radiate heat, but somehow he didn't seem as ill as Sam and Teal'c. Haley pulled up a stool in the dark corner next to Daniel's bed and crouched there, watching with hooded eyes the three people she had begun to think of as family.
"Okay, doctor, tell me what you've got."
Haley looked up at the sound of General O'Neill's voice to see him standing with Dr. Warner near the doorway. "Well, sir, initial bloodwork shows the presence of some sort of microscopic organism in their blood stream. In Colonel Carter and Teal'c the organisms seem to be attacking their major organs."
"And Daniel?"
"He has the organisms present in his blood, but in much lower quantities. They also don't seem to be having the same effect on him. Frankly, I don't see any reason for him to even be unconscious."
"Any ideas why Daniel is reacting so differently?"
"At this point, sir, we have very little to go on. I have tried using anti-viral agents that seem to be having some effect. I can't get rid of the organisms, but I at least seem to have been able to slow down their growth."
"Alright, what's the bottom line here?"
"Well, sir, if we can't find a way to eradicate the organisms, Teal'c and Colonel Carter are facing imminent organ failure. They are both already having some trouble with their breathing and it will only get worse."
General O'Neill rubbed his hands over his face. "Timeframe?" he asked resignedly.
"It's hard to say, but if I had to guess, they probably have a couple of days, four at the most."
"Alright, Doctor. Keep working on it and let me know if anything changes."
Dr. Warner nodded and retreated back into his office. Haley watched from her corner as the General slowly approached Sam's bed. He took her hand in his and said something so softly that Haley couldn't quite hear it. He reached out his other hand as if to touch her face, but stopped just short of actual contact with her skin.
Haley held her breath as she watched him in this unguarded moment, surprised by his intensity and tenderness. The spell was roughly broken in the next instant by the appearance of a nurse. The General stepped back quickly from the bed as if he was doing something he shouldn't. He watched the nurse change Sam's IV bag for a moment before turning on his heel and charging back out of the infirmary, tenderness replaced by determination.
Haley stared after his retreating back for a long time, absently listening to the chorus of beeps that documented SG-1's continued struggle for life. She reached out once to touch Daniel's skin as if to reassure herself that he really did live, despite his utter stillness. Unwillingly she began to think of Jonathan and Katherine and all the other children. How many people was she destined to helplessly watch die?
"No!" Haley didn't realize she had spoken aloud until one of the nurses regarded her with surprise, Haley's hiding spot blown. Haley ignored the nurse and leaned over Daniel's bed. "Not this time, Daniel. I promise. I won't let it happen again." With one last glance at her mother and her team, Haley left the infirmary, determined to do anything it took to get them back.
Jack listened impatiently to the pompous voice of Dr. Malek as he tried to bore Jack to death with useless information. They had been looking at the images from Daniel's camera for the last hour. All they had revealed so far was a large, mostly overgrown, stone monument. At the center of the ruin was a hand shaped imprint with some writing around it. SGC's finest had been working on analyzing the images ever since SG-1 returned. Dr. Malek, the official senior member of the anthropology and archeology department, was currently briefing Jack on the 'progress' they had made so far. "We're fairly certain that it's an obscure dialect of Goa'uld, but we're having a bit of a hard time with the translation"
"That's because it isn't Goa'uld."
Jack and the five linguists currently hovering around him all looked up to see Haley standing at the far end of the table staring thoughtfully at a photograph.
Dr. Malek was the first to recover from the unexpected interruption. "Excuse me?"
"You're having trouble with the translation because this," she shook the photograph for emphasis, "isn't Goa'uld."
Dr. Malek looked to be quite taken aback to be so brusquely contradicted by what looked to him to be nothing more than a random young woman who might have wandered in from the street. He turned to General O'Neill, probably hoping for some support. "General, please. Do we really have to listen to this?"
Haley ignored the linguist and continued reiterating her claim. "Look, you've tried translating it assuming it's Goa'uld and what have you gotten?" She glanced down at a pad of paper on the table. "Beware the flaming book-cat?"
"That's still a rough translation," said one of the other linguists sheepishly.
Haley's only response was to snort in a very unladylike manner and to continue to dig determinedly through the piles of photographs.
Dr. Malek, apparently, had had enough, however. He marched up to Haley and grabbed the photograph from her hand. "Look, I don't know who you think you are, but we are the foremost experts on ancient languages. We have more PhDs between us that we have people! Now why don't you scuttle back to wherever you came from and leave this work to the professionals?"
Jack winced as each word left Dr. Malek's lips, but didn't step in to interfere, mainly because Haley wasn't supposed to be here and deserved what she got for sticking her nose in where it didn't belong, but also because he secretly wanted to see what she was going to do. Jack didn't have long to wait, Haley's eyes blazed dangerously and Jack was worried for a moment that he might have to save the poor doctor. After all, Jack knew what Haley was capable of. Luckily for the poor doctor, Haley seemed to content herself with simply yelling bloody murder rather than beating anyone.
"With all due respect, Doctor," she said, practically snarling his title like a swearword, "the members of SG-1 are currently in the infirmary dying, in case you have all forgotten! We don't have time to argue about who has more advanced degrees!" She grabbed the photograph from his hands again and roughly jabbed a finger at it. "This. Is. Not. Goa'uld."
Before the outraged Dr. Malek could recover enough to say anything, one of the quieter linguists stepped up to Haley and asked in a low, slightly frightened voice, "Do you know what it says?" Dr. Malek glared at the younger man, but he ignored him and looked earnestly at Haley.
Haley looked from the photograph to the clearly curious linguists and took a deep breath. She stared at it for a long moment as if accessing long suppressed information, which, Jack reflected, she could very well be doing. Jack felt the same vague unease he always did when Haley did something odd or unexpected. Just as the linguists were beginning to shift impatiently, Haley read out the line in a lilting and, to Jack, completely incomprehensible language. "Roughly translated," Haley said eventually, "it says 'Legacy of the Doomed Ones.'"
Dr. Malek scoffed, but the other linguists began twittering excitedly to each other. "Please," he drawled in a scathing voice, "she just made that up."
Haley tore her attention from the images to glare at Dr. Malek. "I may not have an advanced degree from one of your distinguished Earth institutions, but I have access to more"
"Haley!" Jack abruptly cut her off before she could reveal more than she was supposed to. Her 'abilities' had been kept on a need to know basis, and Dr. Malek certainly didn't need to know. "Might I have a word in my office?"
"I need to go to that planet," Haley demanded without preamble as she followed him into his office.
"Never going to happen." Jack didn't even take a moment to consider her 'request,' if you could even call it that. He just sighed, wondering where all of Haley's aggression and stubbornness came from. Carter had always been levelheaded and compliant, well...relatively.
"General-"
"No. What in the world makes you think I am going to let anyone go to a planet that has rendered three people unconscious?"
"The other two SG teams are perfectly fine, I think we can assume that another team may be capable of traveling there without getting infected."
"Not worth the risk."
"General! Those ruins represent our only chance for figuring this all out! There has to be more writing or something there that can give us a clue as to what is happening to SG-1! You know the doctors aren't getting anywhere with the organisms."
Jack blinked at Haley for a few moments. "How the hell do you even know any of this! Hasn't anyone on this base ever heard of the term 'classified'? Or have you started stealing files from people's desks?"
"I lurk."
Jack just stared at Haley, wondering how that answered his question. Eventually she continued with a sigh. "I'm pretty good at being invisible, something I picked up from when I was with the Goa'uld. I overhear things. A lot."
Jack shook his head, making a mental note to put a bell around Haley's neck so they could always know where she was. "Fine. Whatever. But you are still not going to that planet."
"Somebody has to go and with Daniel in a coma, exactly how many experts in xeno-linguistics do you have?"
"Quite a few, actually," Jack said tartly, gesturing towards the briefing room.
Haley rolled her eyes. "General, they don't have a clue and if Daniel were here, he would be the first person to agree with me."
"Well, Daniel isn't here," Jack snapped, "so this will have to be my call."
"I'm the only one who can read this language and you know it. Somebody in my gene pool obviously knew that language or I couldn't have read it! Those linguists could spend an eternity trying to figure it out; we don't have that much time!" She closed her eyes and dropped her head in a moment of exasperation. "Look, General, I know I'm not your favorite person and that you still don't trust me at all for some reason, but you need me."
"Haley this has nothing to do with"
An arch glance from Haley stopped Jack mid-sentence. Okay, Jack admitted silently to himself, so he didn't trust her, wasn't that reason enough to not let her go traipsing around the universe?
"Please, General. I know I can help. Just give me a chance."
There was a quiet desperation in her voice that made Jack look closer at Haley for a moment. He could see now, what all this bluster and anger was really about. Haley wasn't just pestering the linguists out of some perverse pleasure; she was actually scared. Really scared, judging by the tautness of her face and the slight panic in her eyes that Jack hadn't let himself notice before. Jack had consciously not been paying much attention to Haley and her relationship with SG-1, but he was surprised to see that somehow Haley had become as completely devoted to them as they were to her. 'When had that happened?' Jack asked himself.
Suddenly, looking at Haley, Jack had a hard time seeing her as an unknown threat or as a reminder of events and people he would rather forget. Now all he saw was a woman scared to death for her family and desperately needing to help. Unwillingly, Jack remembered how many people Haley had already watched slowly deteriorate, knowing there was nothing she could do about it. But this time, Haley seemed to think that she could. And maybe she was right.
"They're going to be okay, Haley."
Haley seemed momentarily startled by the gentleness of Jack's voice. She looked away from him and stiffly asked, "How can you know that?"
"Because they have to be."
Haley regarded Jack for a moment and then nodded. "I can figure this out, I just need to see the rest of the ruins. Trust me." Her voice was now calm and even and Jack couldn't help but think of Carter. Haley's hauntingly familiar blue eyes watched him with the same calm determination and certainty that Carter's did the countless times she had saved them all against insurmountable odds.
Jack eventually nodded, sure that he was going to regret trusting her later, but knowing that he owed it to SG-1 to give her a chance. After all, she seemed to be their only hope, as much as he didn't want to admit it.
Less than an hour later, Haley had been properly equipped after passing an under two minute break down and reassembly of her side arm. She had rolled her eyes at the request and done it in one minute flat. Jack had just nodded once, secretly wishing he didn't think that it was irresponsible to send someone off-world without at least some form of protection. Haley looked rather comfortable in a pair of fatigues and Jack hoped that this little trip wasn't going to give her ideas about joining an SG team. Carter would surely kill him if it did.
SG-4 was also ready and equipped, waiting in the gate room to accompany Jack and Haley to the planet. There was just one obstacle left in the form of a clearly unhappy Sergeant who was currently standing stubbornly next to the dialing computer with his arms crossed across his chest.
"Walter," Jack snapped. "It's not like I've never been off-world before! I'll be fine."
"Last time you ended up stranded on a planet with Colonel Carter and almost died, sir," Walter calmly reminded him.
Jack sighed. "No, the last time I went off-world was that treaty signing on P2X-595."
"You mean the trip were you inadvertently ended up married to the chieftain's daughter?"
Jack groaned. "That was Daniel's fault and besides, everything was resolved peacefully. I'll be fine."
Walter still didn't look convinced.
"Frankly, Walter, I think I'd be in more danger if I stayed behind."
Walter looked at him in askance.
"Do you have any idea what Carter would do to me if she found out I let her daughter travel to another planet without watching her six personally? She's already going to kill me when she wakes up for even letting Haley step through the gate. I'm not risking anymore astrophysicist wrath."
At hearing a distinct snicker behind his back, Jack turned to glare at Haley. "Sure you want to push my buttons right now, Haley?"
Haley instantly sobered. "Sorry, General O'Neill."
"Oh, for cryin' out loud! Call me Jack, will ya? One Carter calling me General and sir all the time is more than enough."
Walter and Haley tried, unsuccessfully, to share a covert smile that Jack easily picked up on. Glaring at both of them for good measure, Jack led Haley down to the gate room, knowing he would just be glad to hear Carter say anything again, even if it was only 'sir.'
The trip to the planet as uneventful as Jack predicted. Jack ordered SG-4 to hold position and secure the gate while he marched off with Haley to the west. The giant stone monument seemed even bigger in person that it had in the photos. There was an ancient stillness to the place. It was obviously long abandoned, the stone walls partially crumbling in places and the rest of it grown over with thick green vines. Another couple of decades and this place might have disappeared back into the forest completely.
Haley immediately set out for the one wall free of vines that boasted the handprint and writing only to be stopped by Jack's voice. "Don't touch anything," he reminded her.
Haley just nodded and carefully approached the wall. The next thing Jack knew, she was running her hands along a vine-covered wall to the left of the handprint. "Haley! What did I just say!"
She ignored his outburst and began pulling at the vines. "I think I've found more writing. Help me clear this off."
After twenty minutes of tugging the resilient plants off of the wall, they had revealed a six by six foot area of tiny, compressed writing. "There has got to be something here that can help," Haley said brightly.
Jack hoped she was right. "Get started on a translation. I'm gonna check the perimeter again."
Haley waved distractedly at him over her shoulder, her nose already pressed against the wall as she scribbled notes on a thick pad of paper.
They had been on the planet for four hours when the sun began to set, casting the wall in deep shadows. Jack wandered over to see how Haley was progressing.
"What have you got?"
Haley glanced up at Jack and sat back on her heels. She gestured at the wall and said, "This is basically a history of the people who lived here. They called themselves the Reynaul and apparently, they used to be ruled by a 'great demon' that used them as slaves. It speaks of a 'material of the gods' that was obtained as offerings."
"Goa'uld," surmised Jack.
Haley nodded. "One day there was no more material to be found and the demon abandoned the Reynaul. This 'liberation,' as it is called in the text, was followed by a millennium of prosperity and peace during which the Reynaul 'mastered the wonders of the earth and sky.' There is even reference to travel through the 'Holy Ring,' that I can only assume is the Stargate. Eventually, the Reynaul seem to have run amuck of one system lord or another because it speaks of great attacks from the heavens during which the demons tried to reclaim the planet." Haley paused and stretched her back. "That's all I've gotten so far."
"So basically the Reynaul probably became too advanced and the Goa'uld wiped them out."
"Seems like it."
"Charming." Jack looked over the wall. "Anything here to help SG-1?"
"Not yet. Maybe in the second half."
"It's getting dark," Jack observed casually, taking a moment to watch the colors that streaked across the horizon. Haley didn't respond, but just went back to scribbling notes on a yellow pad of paper and squinting at the wall. Jack sighed and decided to see about an evening meal. He would let Haley work a little longer.
Haley eventually had to use a flashlight to illuminate the surface of the wall. She leaned against the wall for a moment as she absently rubbed at her temples.
"Headache?" Jack asked, startling Haley.
She shrugged and turned back to the wall. "It's not too bad."
"You've been at it for hours. It's time for a break."
"Is that an order, Jack?" she asked caustically.
"Does it have to be?" he shot back.
Haley sighed and followed Jack back to the area he had set up their camp. Jack almost laughed at the surly pout on Haley's face. Jack had years of field experience dealing with overzealous scientists and archeologists who didn't know when to quit thanks to Carter and Daniel. Thinking of his former teammates wiped the smile from Jack's face. He took a moment to stare at the giant monolith and wonder if it held any secrets that could help his friends.
Haley sat down across the fire from Jack and began to mindlessly shovel food into her mouth. She kept surreptitiously glancing back at the wall, still clearly trying to work out the puzzle.
Jack, having had more than his fair share of experience with workaholics, knew that if he hoped to get Haley to take any sort of rest he would have to distract her. With Daniel, Jack would just say something annoying to get Daniel's indignation up and with Carter, he would just tell a lame joke. He wasn't sure if either would work with Haley.
In the end, he didn't have to come up with anything, because Haley abruptly turned to him and said, "How do you do it?"
"Excuse me?"
"How can you live like this? Constantly just one step ahead of disaster? Just one fool's wish away from loosing your friends and family on some far off planet?"
"It's part of the job, Haley. We have all accepted that."
"I don't remember being given a choice." It should have sounded petulant, but Jack knew the truth behind her words. Wives, husbands, children, they were all collateral damage from the choices made by the people at the SGC. Personally, Jack had really only begun to understand the truth of this when he became one of the people left behind. He had a lot more sympathy for Sara and everything he put her through these days.
"Maybe not," Jack admitted, "but you and others like you are what we fight for. It's worth it."
They were silent for a while as they both ate and stared at the flames. Jack was just building up a lecture to convince Haley to lay down for a while when she suddenly spoke up again, her eyes considering him carefully.
"What exactly is it between you two?"
"What?" Jack asked distractedly, truly having no idea what she was talking about, but not liking the shrewd look on her face.
"You and Sam."
"I don't know what you're talking about," Jack said, not quite meeting Haley's eyes. "She, Teal'c and Daniel were my team for seven years. We're like a family. We all care a great deal for each other."
"Uh-huh," Haley said disbelievingly.
"Haley, look…" Jack started only to roughly break off. Haley was staring at Jack, her eyes slightly out of focus. Jack got the feeling that she wasn't really looking at him, as if she was seeing something else entirely. Frankly, it was wigging Jack out. "Haley?"
She jumped slightly and shook her head as if waking herself from a daydream. She smiled slightly at Jack. "Sorry, I guess I'm more tired than I thought." She rubbed a hand over her tired face. "Maybe I'll just lay down for a bit."
Jack nodded but didn't say anything as he watched her stretch out on the other side of the fire. What exactly, he wondered, had that all been about?
Haley didn't manage to get more than an hour or two of fitful sleep before she was driven to the wall again by a nagging need to find the answers. Jack eyed her as she got up, looking like he might protest.
"Would you hold the flashlight for me?"
Jack sighed, but got up and silently followed her to the wall.
Dawn had just begun to streak the sky when Haley finally got to the last passage: "May those of pure-blood carry on the fight for us and may our gift help them with the struggle. One day the demons will fall, but the memory of the Reynaul will persist. This is our final wish."
Suddenly, everything fell into place in Haley's head. "Oh my god."
"Haley?"
Haley stared blindly at Jack for a moment before bolting to her feet and grabbing her pack. "We have to go back. Now." She started back towards the Stargate, not even bothering to see if Jack was following her. She could hear him calling after her, but she just kept moving, her mind focused on what she had learned. She just hoped she wasn't too late.
Jack had caught up to her by the time she was halfway back to the gate, but Haley was too lost in her thoughts to give him much attention. The pages and pages of information she had just translated were whirling around in her head, such that she barely noticed the trip back through the Stargate or even what she had said to Jack. The next thing she knew, she was standing in the infirmary with an incredulous Dr. Warner staring back at her.
"You have to stop treating Daniel."
Everyone was staring at her like she was insane. She turned pleading eyes towards Jack, hoping that he would trust her.
"Jack, please, time is something we don't have a lot of."
Jack stared at her for a moment and then nodded at the doctor. "Do it."
Haley took a deep breath and collapsed into a chair next to Daniel's bed. She watched the nurses pull Daniel's IVs.
"Haley, I need you to explain this to me."
"It's not a disease, I think it's a sort of organic program." She turned to Dr. Warner. "Did you take a CAT scan of Daniel's brain?"
Dr. Warner nodded, still looking rather mystified.
"Did you find a high concentration of the organisms in the parts of his brain dedicated to memory?"
"How did you know?"
"I think the organisms were engineered by the Reynaul to upload information into the mind of a 'pure-blood' human. They knew they were doomed, so they came up with a way to ensure that their advances against the Goa'uld would not be forgotten."
"But Carter and Teal'c"
"I know, I couldn't understand it at first either. I kept thinking about the term 'pure-blood.' I didn't understand what that meant and then it hit me. They were mortal enemies of the Goa'uld, so they must have made it so that the upload wouldn't work for Goa'uld or Jaffa. I bet that the organisms are meant to interact dangerously with naquadah."
"How does this help them?"
"It doesn't."
Haley was getting really tired of everyone staring at her like she was crazy. She took a deep breath and plowed on. "The only thing I could think of is that if Daniel can successfully receive the information the organism is meant to impart, then maybe he can tell us how to help Sam and Teal'c. I know it's a long shot, but I think it's our only chance. We have to let this thing run its course in Daniel."
"And if you're wrong?" asked Dr. Warner.
'Then he dies and it will be my fault,' thought Haley morosely. She didn't voice this fear; rather she just looked down at Daniel, took his hand and prayed that she wasn't wrong.
Haley didn't leave Daniel's side the whole night, and Jack didn't even try to make her. He just brought her food occasionally and sat with her when he could. Daniel's fever spiked at about three in the morning and Dr. Warner begged to administer something to lower his temperature. Haley adamantly refused, her face pale and drawn. "We have to wait it out," she mumbled to herself. Dr. Warner just shook his head and put an official protest on file.
Near five in the morning, Daniel began mumbling incoherently. The sound brought Jack's head up from the side of Carter's bed where he had dozed off. Haley was leaning over Daniel, her ear close to his mouth. She looked up a Jack with intense, wide eyes that looked suspiciously wet. "It's Reynaul, Jack. He's speaking Reynaul."
They stared at each other, sharing a moment of relief and triumph. They had done it. Haley smiled at Jack and he could feel an answering smile on his own face. "Nice job, Haley," he said hoarsely, "nice job." Now they just had to hope that Daniel had the answers they needed.
Daniel struggled to wake from a strange dream about Goa'uld and burning deserts. His whole body felt like it had been run through a paper shredder. With a great deal of effort, he managed to crack one eye open. There was someone sitting by the side of his bed and he squinted myopically at the shape. He tried to form words, but his mouth stubbornly refused to cooperate. He must have made some sound, however, because the blurry form by his bed jerked and leaned closer. Now he could see Haley's face, her eyes bloodshot and face pale.
"Daniel?" her voice asked softly, hopefully.
Daniel continued to open and close his mouth and soon another set of hands was offering him water. He drank greedily, only realizing his thirst as the water hit his throat. The water was pulled away sooner than Daniel would have liked. He glanced around the room to see Jack standing by the foot of his bed, looking nearly as bad as Haley. He was watching Daniel intently and seemed to be holding his breath. A hand insistently tugging at his brought Daniel's attention back to Haley. He stared at her for long moments before croaking out, "Haley…why are you wearing BDUs?"
There was a long pause before Haley let out a relieved laugh that sounded suspiciously like a strangled sob. She collapsed back on a chair behind her, head dropped into her hands.
"Daniel." Jack walked up on the other side of the bed and offered him his glasses. "I know you don't feel great, but we really need to talk to you about what's happened. What's the last thing you remember?"
"Ummm…" Daniel closed his eyes and tried to wade through the heavy fog in his brain. "PS6-976. We went to PS6-976."
"Yes. What happened when you got there?"
Daniel was drawing a blank. He rubbed a hand against the pounding at his temples and shook his head. "I'm sorry…it's really fuzzy in here right now."
"Headache?" came another voice, one Daniel recognized as belonging to Dr. Warner.
"Yeah."
"I assume I am allowed to give him something for the pain?"
Daniel's eyes snapped up to Dr. Warner at his accusatory tone. Dr. Warner was staring rather maliciously at Haley, who didn't even look up. She just nodded her head and continued staring at the floor.
"What's going on?" inquired Daniel.
Jack shook his head after sending what looked like a concerned glance in Haley's direction. "Later. First, could you look at this and see if it jogs your memory?"
Daniel reached out a hand for a photograph of a familiar site. "Yes. I remember this now." Daniel struggled to sit up excitedly, headache temporarily forgotten. "There was a temple or monument or something that had writing on it that I couldn't decipher. It looked like Goa'uld, but it wasn't. Like some culture had adopted the Goa'uld writing system to their own unique spoken language."
"Yeah, that's what Haley thought, too. What happened next?"
Daniel scrunched up his face, trying to remember. "I was trying to read the writing and I reached out and touched the handprint. There was a clicking sound and then this stream of smoke or something poured out." Now Daniel did sit straight up in bed, even as the world began to sway around him. "Sam and Teal'c! It knocked them unconscious!" There were hands trying to steady Daniel and as the world began to right itself, he could see Sam and Teal'c sitting in the next beds. "What's wrong with them?"
"We were hoping you could tell us."
Daniel just stared in shock at Jack. "What? I have no idea!"
"You were all infected with a disease that seems to have something against naquadah."
Daniel didn't need to be told that they weren't doing well. Sam's face was sallow and she was hooked up to so many machines that she almost didn't look human anymore. Even Teal'c looked sicker than Daniel could ever remember seeing him. "And you thought I could tell you why?"
"It was just a theory," Jack said resignedly. "At least you are going to be okay, Danny." Jack turned to Dr. Warner. "He is, right?"
Dr. Warner nodded and held up a medical chart. "There is no evidence of the organisms in his blood anymore, just a strange chemical that seems to be a byproduct of the dying organisms. I think he is going to be fine."
"Good," Jack said before sighing and looking over at Haley. "Well, it was worth a shot."
Haley looked up with alarm. "What, that's it? You're giving up?"
"Daniel doesn't remember anything, Haley!"
"Maybe not consciously. We don't really know how this is meant to work." She turned to Daniel suddenly and said, "Tell me that you understand me."
"Of course I understand you," Daniel said without thinking. It was only after Daniel noticed Jack's look of complete surprise that he realized he hadn't spoken in English. He looked up at Haley, who had a smug expression on her face. "What the hell was that?"
"That," Haley replied with a broad grin, "was Reynaul."
"Reynaul?" Daniel asked incredulously. "Should that mean something to me?"
Jack looked nearly as confused as Daniel felt. "Haley, I don't get it. He can speak the language, but he doesn't really remember anything?"
Haley shrugged. "Maybe it's a sort of latent knowledge. He didn't actually get memories or knowledge per se, but rather intuitive understanding." She considered Daniel for a moment. "I don't really know what it's done, but the fact that he can understand the language must mean that it did something to him. Maybe we just need to stimulate that part of his brain."
"And how exactly do we do that?"
Haley pointed at a photograph and asked Daniel, "Do you know what this is?"
Daniel stared at the photograph. "Legacy of the Doomed Ones," he read out.
Haley nodded at him. "They were destroyed by the Goa'uld."
Something was forming in the back of Daniel's brain, something important that he couldn't quite get a grasp on. "They built this to be remembered," he said slowly.
Haley nodded again. "May those of pure-blood carry on the fight for us and may our gift help them with the struggle. One day the demons will fall, but the memory of the Reynaul will persist. This is our final wish," she quoted.
"Yes! That's it!" Daniel cried, reverting back to English as the knowledge just outside of his reach solidified. "They built that place as their final gift to the fight against the Goa'uld."
"And this gift is what, the ability to speak Reynaul and a virus that kills naquadah-laced beings?" asked Jack, clearly relieved that the conversation had turned back to a language that he understood, but impatient to figure out what was happening to Teal'c and Sam.
Daniel was shaking his head. "No, the disease, the fever, was just a test to see if I was 'pure-blooded.' There is something else there, I just know it."
"Let me guess," said Jack resignedly, "you want to go back to that planet."
"It may be Teal'c and Sam's only hope."
Jack nodded and Daniel swung his legs over the side of the bed, nearly tumbling to the floor in the process. "Damn it, Daniel! You can barely stand!"
"It doesn't matter, Jack. We don't have a lot of time. And something tells me I'm the only one who can figure this out."
"It's a three mile hike to the site, Daniel," Jack reminded him.
Daniel just smiled and made a rough grab for the billowing back of his hospital gown. "I'm sure you'll figure something out, Jack." He looked around the room. Haley was intently staring at a light fixture in the ceiling. "Now, could I get some clothes or something?" Daniel tried to ignore the chuckle from Jack as one of the nurses offered him some help.
Jack certainly didn't disappoint. When Daniel was wheeled (against his will) into the gate room an hour later, Jack had managed to procure a four-wheeler that looked to be the perfect size to fit through the gate. Jack was standing over it with Siler, both of them looking approvingly at the newest acquisition of the SGC. "We should have gotten one of these years ago," Jack was saying to Siler, who was adamantly agreeing. Daniel imagined that Jack must have finally remembered that as The Man he could do almost anything, including buying cool new gizmos. And of course, claiming the right to partake in the inaugural test run.
Jack finally noticed Daniel as he rather ungraciously pushed himself out of the wheelchair, determined that he could at least walk up the ramp under his own steam. "Space-monkey! Ready to go for a ride?"
Daniel nodded and slowly made his way to stand by SG-3, who was also geared up and ready to watch the gate for them on the other side. He was grateful that none of the soldiers tried to help him.
Jack had just gestured for Walter to dial up the gate when the blast doors pulled back to reveal Haley charging into the gate room. Daniel was pretty sure he heard Jack take a deep breath as if preparing himself for a fight.
"You weren't really going to try and leave without me, were you?"
"You are not coming this time, Haley." Jack was using his don't-mess-with-me-I'm-a-General voice, but Daniel noted that it really didn't seem to have much of an effect on Haley.
"I though we already went over this, Jack." So it's Jack now, is it? Daniel noted as he wryly watched the interaction. They certainly seemed a lot closer than when Daniel last saw them.
"For cryin' out loud, Haley! Can't you just follow my order just this once?"
Haley just crossed her arms and looked mutinous. "What if you need my help with translations?"
"Haley! Think about it for one minute. Last time Daniel went poking around at this place, he released some disease that kills people with naquadah in their blood." Jack looked around the gate room. "And how many people here have naquadah in their blood?"
Haley blushed, but didn't back down.
Jack put a hand on Haley's arm, his voice softer. "I'm not risking you, Haley. Please, just stay here."
After a long moment, Haley finally nodded. "Bring back a cure," she said quietly.
"We will," Jack said before giving her arm a final squeeze and gesturing for SG-3 to head on out through the gate.
"You two seem to have worked out your differences," observed Daniel as he started gingerly up the ramp.
"Yeah, well, she really helped us out, figuring out the writing and everything. If it wasn't for her, I would have been left relying on Dr. Malek."
Daniel snorted. "He's clueless."
Jack laughed, "That's exactly what Haley said you would say."
Soon they were on the other side, tearing through the open countryside towards the ruins on the shiny new 4-wheeler. Daniel had to admit that this really was much better than hiking. As they pulled up in front of the monument, Jack made some crack about valet parking before pulling out two gas masks. He gestured for Daniel to take one. Daniel thought to protest, but one look at Jack's face made him reconsider.
"I don't really have a burning desire to learn to speak Reynaul, if it's all the same to you Daniel."
Daniel nodded, but somehow didn't think they would need to worry about it. He approached the monument slowly, noting the newly cleared wall covered in writing. Before he could become diverted by the text, Jack cleared his throat and reminded him gently that they were on a tight schedule.
"Right," Daniel said distractedly. He knew that he was here to do something important, but his head was beginning to feel funny. 'Sam and Teal'c,' he quietly reminded himself, 'you have to save Sam and Teal'c.' At this thought, Daniel was drawn to the handprint that gleamed on the front of the structure. He could hear Jack saying something to him in the background, but his voice was fuzzy and distant. All Daniel could see was the handprint that he just knew he was supposed to touch. He stretched out one hand and pressed it against the surface of the wall. There was a sharp prick to his palm and he cried out as he snatched his hand back away.
Daniel heard a familiar click and flinched, waiting for them to be immersed in the deadly mist. It never came, though. Instead, the central wall began to slowly retract, leaving a gaping hole in the front of the monument.
Sharing a glance with Jack, they both pulled out flashlights and slowly advanced into the newly revealed room. Inside was a cavernous space that seemed to swallow the light from their flashlights. The floor was smooth and regular, which was kind of a surprise considering the rugged appearance of the exterior. Rather than the musty smell of a long enclosed space that Daniel was expecting, the place had a sharp antiseptic scent.
A few steps in, Daniel bumped against a low table. Running his hand gingerly over the edge, Daniel registered the cool, rigid feel of metal under his fingertips. There was a nagging sense of familiarity in the back of Daniel's brain that was fairly disconcerting.
He could distantly hear Jack muttering about finding the lights. Without thinking, Daniel walked into the far back corner of the room, where he found a smooth panel projecting from the wall. Shining his light on the surface, he stared at the regular writing for a moment before pressing a sequence of three glyphs. The room suddenly flooded with light and the hum of systems turning on.
Jack spun around and stared at Daniel with obvious surprise. Daniel just shook his head and raised his hands. "Now I know how you must have felt, Jack, doing things when you had no idea why."
"What is this place?" Jack asked incredulously.
The two men looked around the room that had just been revealed. The ceiling and walls seemed to be made of rock, while the floor and furniture, if you could call it that, gleamed white and chrome. A soft light fell over the entire facility, though Daniel couldn't quite divine the source. There were low metal tables every ten feet, some holding bizarre looking contraptions, other conspicuously empty. On the distant side from where Daniel was standing, there was a wide screen that now displayed a message.
"It's a lab," Daniel said, staring intently at the message on the wall. "This welcomes the 'chosen' and charges them with 'bearing the fruit of our labor.' This is it, Jack! There has to be something here that can help Sam and Teal'c!"
Daniel rushed towards the screen, hoping to find an interface of some sort, but there was nothing. Where was a keyboard when you needed one? "We need to run a search or something, to find any notes on the organisms."
"And how do we do that?"
"I have no idea."
Jack groaned. "You'd think if they were so eager for someone to find this place that they'd make it easier to use!"
Daniel ignored Jack and continued to glance frantically around the room. "I guess a big sign saying 'Secret Cure Here' would be too much to ask for," Daniel grumbled. He skimmed the writing visible on the screen again, hoping he had missed something. "Search, search, search," he mumbled under his breath. "Search!"
Daniel almost fell over when the screen in front of him changed. There was now a single word with a blinking empty space next to it.
"What did you do, Daniel? What's that say?"
"It says 'search'. I think it's voice activated!" Daniel spun around and looked at Jack. "What should we search for?"
"You're asking me?"
"Right. Uhh…How about 'antidote'."
The screen changed again, revealing a long list of items. "Too generic, I guess. It seems like they were working on a lot of antidotes."
"What about naquadah?" offered Jack.
"Yes, good! Naquadah!"
Nothing happened. Daniel stared blearily at the screen, his head seriously beginning to ache. Why hadn't that worked?
"Umm...I'm no linguist, but did the Reynaul use the word naquadah? Or something else? I remember Haley saying something about 'material of the gods'."
"Of course," Daniel almost kicked himself, but suddenly the right word was hovering on his tongue. "Material of the gods."
The screen flashed and off to the right, a silver canister appeared out of a long tube. Jack reached out and took the cylinder carefully, handling it like it was an explosive. "Is this it?" He carefully opened the canister to find a liquid substance inside a clear vial.
Daniel looked back at the screen to find a long entry on experiments and results for the 'mind-fire.' "This talks about 'dispersing the gift.' It has to be it."
"Let's find out." Jack wasted no time radioing SG-3 to guard the monument and all its gifts while Jack and Daniel hightailed it back to the SGC.
Dr. Warner handed Jack a thin folder. "I ran some preliminary studies on the serum with samples of Colonel Carter's blood. In each case, the organisms were eradicated. I would prefer to do some more long term studies, primarily to gauge the effects on human physiology, but…"
"But we don't have time for that," Jack finished for him.
"Pretty much. At this point, I am not sure they could get any worse. With your permission, sir, I will begin treatment immediately."
Jack nodded. "How long until we know if it's working?"
"It's hard to say, sir. We should notice decreased organism levels within a few hours of the first treatment."
Jack sat down by Haley and watched Dr. Warner prepare doses for Sam and Teal'c. "This is going to do it, Haley. I just know it."
"I hope you're right, Jack," Haley sighed. "Where's Daniel, anyway?"
"He was persuaded to lay down and rest for a couple hours."
"Persuaded?" Haley asked with a slight smile.
"I didn't threaten him, if that's what you're insinuating. I didn't have time. He was too busy fainting as we came back through the gate."
"Is he alright?"
"Yeah, nothing a little sleep and some food won't fix."
"Good," Haley said softly as she turned back to watch Dr. Warner adjusting Sam's IV. "One down, two to go."
Jack paced around the infirmary during the next hours, generally making a nuisance of himself. Another benefit of being a General, Jack thought wryly, there was no one who outranked him who could order him to leave or get rest. He did leave once, to help organize the long-term team that would be sent to PS6-976 to explore and catalog the Reynaul lab.
By the time he returned, Dr. Warner was ready to check the organism level in Sam and Teal'c.
"Significant drops in the numbers, General," Dr. Warner announced proudly. "A few more treatments and at least 8 hours of sedated rest and they will probably start to come around."
Haley looked like she was ready to faint from relief.
Jack patted her on the shoulder. "You did it, Haley."
She smiled brightly at Jack. "No, we did it."
Jack couldn't even roll his eyes at the cliché; instead, he just smiled back at Haley. "They're going to be fine now, Haley. Why don't you lie down and rest." Jack gestured at an empty bed, probably realizing that trying to get her to leave would be an exercise in futility.
"Yes, sir," Haley said cheekily as she gave Jack a saucy little salute.
"Impudence," Jack groused affectionately.
Haley laughed softly and lay down on the bed, at last being able to rest.
Sam lay very still for long moments, her brain carefully trying to take stock. She could hear hushed voices and beeping. Crisp, sterile air filled her lungs. Infirmary. Again. She vaguely wondered what she had gotten herself into this time as she forced open her eyes. The light was low, but she could see Jack slumped in a chair by her bed. Sam smiled at the image, grateful that he was there as always when she woke in the infirmary. He looked exhausted, she noted.
"Sir." The word came out as more of a gasp, but it still had the desired effect. Jack jerked awake and stepped closer to the bed.
"Carter! Welcome back to the world of the living!"
"Thanks," Sam tried to say, but her raw throat didn't seem to want to cooperate.
Jack seemed to realize her dilemma and handed her some water.
"Thanks," Sam tried again, pleased to hear her voice come out a little stronger.
Sam looked curiously around the room to see Teal'c resting on one side and Haley curled up sleeping on the other. "What's happened?"
"Oh, you know. Alien viruses, Goa'uld evilness, SG-1 unconscious in the infirmary. Just another day at the SGC."
"I take it this was a close one," Sam said, taking in the deep weariness on Jack's face, just barely concealed by his false levity. He was obviously relived that she was awake and talking.
"No closer than usual," Jack shrugged.
Sam almost laughed at his poor attempt at being blasé. "That bad, huh?"
Jack didn't answer. He looked away for a moment and when he met Sam's eyes again she could see that it really had been that close. They had both built some pretty solid walls over the last few years; they only came down in moments like these, when a close call had been a little too close. They stared at each other for long moments, reading in each other the things they would like to say. Sam gingerly reached out a hand to touch his arm, needing the contact as much as he did. She could feel his muscles tense under her fingers before he stepped abruptly back from the bed.
With effort, Sam repressed a sigh and knocked back rebellious feelings. Jack shoved his hands in his pockets and his eyes were once again carefully shuttered.
"Yeah, well," Jack continued, picking up their earlier conversation as if nothing had happened, "that's what you get for letting Daniel touch things."
Sam smiled weakly. "If I remember correctly, sir, you didn't have any better luck with him yourself."
Jack laughed somewhat humorlessly and gestured towards the door. "Well, paperwork calls. I'll just let you rest…" his voice trailed off and with one more glance at Sam he retreated from the infirmary.
Once he was gone, Sam let out a heavy sigh and rolled onto her side, only to find Haley watching her carefully from the next bed, her expression unreadable.
A few days of enforced rest later, Daniel walked into his lab to find Haley there, fiddling with an ancient funeral figurine. "Haley."
She looked up and smiled briefly at him, carefully putting down the artifact.
"We just finished talking to the Tok'ra about the Reynaul. Apparently, one man managed to escape with a small group of children through the Stargate. Granted this was hundreds of years ago, but supposedly, some of the children grew up to be hosts for the Tok'ra. It explains how you recognized the language."
"That's interesting," Haley said distractedly. "Did the Tok'ra think any of the Reynaul technology would be helpful?"
Daniel shrugged. "Well, there certainly was no silver bullet or the Reynaul would have been able to defeat the Goa'uld themselves. But there are a few things in there that look promising, especially if we can modify them with Earth and Tok'ra technology."
Haley nodded and picked up another artifact. "How's your head?"
"Okay, I guess. It's a little disconcerting to know things that I shouldn't."
"Tell me about it," Haley said dryly.
Daniel smiled. "Yeah, I guess you would know all about that." He began shifting through his overflowing inbox.
"Did you finish reading all the reports?"
Daniel looked up to find Haley watching him intently, her eyes darting to the folders in his hands. "Yeah," Daniel said, a little confused by Haley's tone.
"Dr. Warner's?"
Daniel nodded, taking in Haley's pale face and the way her fingers mindlessly played with an amulet as if to let off nervous energy.
"I could have killed you."
"What?"
"If I had been wrong…you could have died and it would have been my fault."
Daniel was taken aback by the guilt he saw in Haley's face. He had read Dr. Warner's report, including all of the notes protesting the cessation of treatment. But he also read at the end, where Dr. Warner admitted that Haley had been right, and that she had undoubtedly saved all of SG-1. Haley must know that, too.
The silence must have stretched a bit too long, because Haley put down the artifact and whispered, "I'm sorry, Daniel," before heading for the door.
Daniel grabbed her arm as she passed. "Haley-"
Daniel was interrupted by the timely arrival of Jack. "Hey campers! What do you say we get out of here?"
Daniel immediately dropped Haley's arm.
Haley looked up at Jack, confusion on her face. "Out?" she asked somewhat stupidly.
"Yeah, Haley, out. As in topside, out of the Mountain," Jack said with a wide grin.
"But, I'm not allowed"
"Yes you are. I'm the General and I say you can. Carter and Teal'c have been given the all clear and we're going to barbeque! It's a great American pastime that you just can't pass up on."
Haley smiled at the boisterous General who was obviously very pleased to have his favorite team back on their feet. Who can say no to Jack when he was this happy? "Sure," she said, smiling cheekily as she followed Jack out of the office, "can I drive?"
Daniel heard Jack groan as the two disappeared down the hall. By the time he finished sorting his inbox and was ready to head out, Daniel still couldn't decide if he was relieved or disappointed that he had been interrupted by Jack.
Sam was elated to finally be out of the infirmary. Jack had invited them all over for a little back-on-our-feet party to celebrate. Sam had even heard whispers of cake. She had been a little surprised that Jack had insisted that Haley come along. Not that she wasn't grateful, Haley deserved to get out of the Mountain and experience new things. At this moment, however, the 'new thing' Haley was experiencing was Jack's GameBoy.
"Haley," Sam said teasingly, "that thing's going to rot your brain."
Haley smiled but didn't break eye contact with the game. "Is it my fault that I'm a natural genius when it comes to Tetris?"
Sam laughed and glanced out in the backyard to see Teal'c and Daniel standing by a heavily smoking barbeque. Sam really hoped that there actually was some cake around here, or they might starve.
Haley finally put down the GameBoy, though Sam couldn't be sure if it was because she lost or because she already passed the game. "Is that supposed to happen?" asked Haley as she nodded out towards the column of smoke currently flooding the deck.
Sam just laughed and was interrupted by the appearance of Jack from the kitchen, laden with drinks.
"Haley, want a drink?" Jack waved a Guinness in front of her face.
"Sir…" started Sam, clearly not pleased to have Jack offering her daughter a beer.
"What?" Jack asked innocently. "Haley's like, what, twenty-five or something? More than old enough to enjoy the finer things in life."
Sam rolled her eyes but gave up trying to convince either of them that Haley was really only a year or so old. She would have to get used to Jack trying to corrupt her daughter, especially since the two seemed to have bonded during their little adventure.
Haley smiled up at Jack and took the beer. "Thanks, Jack." She cautiously sniffed at the bottle and then took a swig. Her face quickly took on a greenish tint and she dashed from the couch to the kitchen.
Sam couldn't quite hold back a laugh and Jack glared at her. "Maybe you should have started with something a little lighter, sir."
Jack ignored Sam and followed Haley into the kitchen. "Okay, so we'll stick to soda for a while."
Sam chuckled softly, absently listening to Haley accuse Jack of trying to poison her. As Sam joined Daniel and Teal'c out on the deck, she couldn't help but think that Dorothy had got it right, there really was no place like home.