Author's Note: Wow! I almost ran out of virtual gold stars to hand out... (oh my). The reviews and encouragement have been awesome, guys. Keep it up! And (as always) huge thanks to Mara Jade Jedi for the beta.
Chapter Eight: Desperation of a Dying Species
He cupped her face. "No more talking, I promise," he whispered just before his lips touched hers. It was wonderful. It was perfect. But, it wasn't what had happened.
Three years ago when Janet had kissed him, Daniel had freaked out. Adrenaline kicked in, sobering him quickly. He'd stuttered out some excuse about forgetting about something in his office, adding that he hoped to see Cassandra another time, and had launched out of her living room (and her house) as quickly as possible.
Daniel had justified his actions later. He didn't want to take advantage of her emotional state. That she didn't want him, she was looking for anyone who cared (and sarcastically he thought he had done a fabulous job in supporting her by running off like that). That they weren't 'couple material'. And they didn't think of each other in the romantic sense. They were only good friends.
It took a lot of brooding before Daniel could acknowledge the truth. The truth was that Daniel was scared. He was scared of getting hurt again.
It had happened three years ago, and they had never talked about it. The tension between them lasted months before normality was reestablished. Even then, the friendship still wasn't there. But after he ascended and came back again last year, things seemed to revert back to the pre-kiss comfort level –something that Daniel was immensely grateful for.
"No, no. This isn't right…" Daniel muttered, pulling away.
Janet frowned and stroked his face lightly, "It's what you've always wanted."
This universe was influenced by his thoughts. It wasn't really Janet looking lovelorn into his eyes –it was his own emotions projected onto her, reflected back at him. It wasn't real, and Daniel couldn't live with only a fantasy.
He repelled his body away from the tantalizing woman who was and wasn't Janet.
"Virgil!" he screamed to the ceiling, "I've had enough!"
"You can't go back. Not yet." The false-Janet was gone, and in her place was the unforgiving white and a disappointed Virgil.
"What do you mean 'not yet'?" Daniel's tone was harsh, his stance aggressive.
"It is not time. We have not accomplished our goal."
"What goals! What are you doing, Virgil!" Daniel grabbed the man by the arms. His grip should have hurt, but Virgil didn't show any discomfort. Daniel reasoned it was because this place wasn't real. They were in his head.
"Our species is dying, Daniel. We haven't been capable of genetic recombination for hundreds of your years."
Daniel wasn't a doctor –correction: a medical doctor (or a geneticist, biologist, biochemist, or any sort of scientist that would understand this stuff). So he asked what he thought was the obvious question, "What does that have to do with me?"
"We told you that your species is similar to what ours was before The Big Change, the last evolutionary step that stripped us of the ability to reproduce sexually. We hope that we will be able to solve this problem through your integration."
Daniel hadn't been there (he'd been "ascended" at the time) but he'd read reports that claimed the Asgard were in the same sort of situation. Idly, Daniel wondered if that was the fate of all "advanced species" –evolution eventually stripped their ability to survive. It was a contradiction he'd leave thinking about for another time.
Daniel sighed, "I sympathize. Really, Virgil. But keeping me here in this..." He paused, trying to recall what Virgil had earlier called it: "…Thought Universe isn't solving that. Integrating me won't solve it either. We need to work together. Let me go back, and I'll explain to my people what's going on. They're confused. They don't know what's happening to me. They need to understand." He was appealing to their humanity.
Unfortunately, they weren't human. They hadn't been human for a long time.
"They understand perfectly. We have already made our demands," Virgil countered.
"How…" Daniel began to mutter, but then memory flashed upon him. He had clutched Janet roughly in front of him as he had coldly told his teammates to give him access to the Stargate or he'd kill the woman he held.
They were controlling his movements while they had him trapped in the Thought Universe. He was in a prison of his own mind.
"You told me you were scientists, Virgil! Historians! Academics! I should have known better," Daniel accused, "You're conquerors. You're no better than the Goa'uld!"
Janet awoke with that familiar post "shot with a zat" feeling. Her vision was blurred, sprinkled with dark spots and her head felt like it'd been kicked a few times for good measure. She let out a groan to announce her presence to the conscious world. Dr. Warner seemed to pop up from nowhere –though Janet doubted he'd been hiding under her infirmary bed, waiting to scare her.
"Dr. Fraiser. You're awake." Dr. Warner had impeccable observational skills.
Janet tried to sit up, but dizziness kept her pinned down. "How long have I been out?"
"Twenty minutes. I don't think you should be getting up, Doctor."
Frankly, Janet didn't care what Dr. Warner thought. She pushed herself upright and looked over at the bed next to her where Daniel was still unconscious, his arms and legs bound with brown leather buckles.
"He was knocked out only for a few minutes from the blast –looks like you took the brunt of it. We had to sedate him. He should be out for a while."
Janet nodded, agreeing with his information. "I have to see the General," she told him.
Warner replied, "SG-1 is updating him right now in the briefing room." Janet figured as much.
Janet tentatively put her feet on the ground and stood up; her hand on the infirmary bed kept her balanced.
"Dr. Fraiser, I really must insist that you rest…" Janet's glare cut off his sentence immediately. She took a couple of steps and confident that she wasn't going to collapse, she let go of the bed and walked towards her office. Every step she took was echoed with a pounding in her head. After popping a couple of aspirin from a bottle she kept in her desk drawer, she grabbed her notes.
As she headed out the door to the briefing room, she called over her shoulder, "I want to know immediately when he wakes up, Dr. Warner." She didn't wait around to hear his reply.
They were discussing base security when Janet walked into the briefing room.
"Dr. Fraiser!" The General was surprised at the petite red-head's entrance. Dr. Warner had estimated she'd be unconscious for an hour at least.
"General," she acknowledged and quickly made eye contact with her three other friends.
"We were just discussing the incident." The General looked troubled and exhausted, Janet noted.
"Yes, sir. About that. I think I might have found a solution." With no further introduction, Janet went on to explain Law-18 and Dr. Milligan's research.
"So what you're saying," Sam summed up, "Is if Daniel is injected with Law-18 that it will help Daniel's immune system identify the alien cells?"
"And hopefully evoke an immune response to cause cell death." The implications were self evident.
"Okay, let's do it," Jack demanded. They'd figured out how to cure Daniel. Problem solved.
"Sir, remember we would practically be committing genocide," Sam argued, playing devil's advocate.
Jack didn't look at his second-in-command; instead, he looked to the General to decide.
"How long will it take for you to acquire this Law-18, Doctor?"
"We have some on base, sir."
"Proceed then," ordered the General, and anticipating the Major's objection he added, "It is a threat to this base, Major." It was all the justification that the General needed. It was all Jack and Teal'c needed too. However, it didn't sit right with Sam, and Janet had her reservations too. It was a hostile species, but did that justify annihilating them all? What was more important, a billion trillion microscopic lives or the life of a friend?
A sergeant interrupted the group with a message: "Sir, Daniel Jackson has regained consciousness."
TBC
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