Janet dashed up the basement steps and picked up the phone on the third ring. "Hello?" she said breathlessly.
"Hey, Doc. How's it going?"
"Hello, Sir," she said. She craned her neck to get a peek into the living room, but she couldn't see the couch where she'd last seen Daniel lying fast asleep. Still, she figured it was safe to answer with, "It's going very well, thank you."
"Daniel's doing okay with the whole Mackenzie thing?" Colonel O'Neill asked.
Janet nodded, even though he couldn't actually see her. "Yes, Sir, he's doing well. He just gave a complete description of his kidnappers, in fact. I honestly didn't expect him to progress so far so quickly. He's tired for a while after each visit, but once he's had a short nap, he seems fine."
"That's great. Any chance he's up for visitors?"
Again, Janet tried to see into the living room before answering. She stepped a few paces away from the door and lowered her voice as she said, "Actually, Sir, I think that would be wonderful. Daniel seemed to be feeling almost himself this morning until Dr. Mackenzie came. I think talking about what happened to him takes a lot out of him, so he needs to just forget about it for a little while."
"Say no more, Doc," Colonel O'Neill said. "Carter, Teal'c, and I to the rescue. What time does Cassie get home from school?"
"Usually around three," she said.
"Great. We'll be there around 1600 hours. We'll bring pizza."
Janet laughed. "Thank you, Sir. I'll see you then."
"Take it easy, Doc."
Janet smiled as she hung up the receiver. Things were starting to feel almost normal again.
"Was that Jack?"
Janet nearly jumped out of her socks as Daniel suddenly appeared at her side. "Daniel!" she gasped, pressing her hand to her heart as if to stop it from racing. "You startled me."
"Sorry," he said through a yawn. He rubbed the top of his head sleepily. "When will you be seeing him?"
"Um... Colonel O'Neill, Sam, and Teal'c are going to drop by this afternoon for a visit," she said, her heart going from racing to melting at the adorable mess Daniel was in. His hair was standing up, his clothes were rumpled, and he had a huge red mark across his cheek from the couch cushions. He looked so cute and childlike that it took all of her energy to restrain herself from reaching up to pinch his cheeks and ruffle his hair.
Daniel nodded, but then scowled at her. "Why are you looking at me like that?"
Janet shrugged. "You look cute," she said, trying not to smile so much that he'd get the impression she was making fun of him. She raised her hands to smooth down his hair. "Did you have a good nap?"
Daniel snaked his arms around her waist while he had the opportunity. "Pretty good," he said. "Is it time for lunch yet?"
Janet rested her hands on his shoulders when she realized her attempts to get his hair back under control were failing miserably. "I'll tell you what," she said. "How about you go take a nice shower, and I'll make us something to eat."
"Sounds good to me," Daniel said. He leaned down to kiss her, and then released her and left the room.
Janet had just started opening a can of chicken soup when she heard Daniel calling her from upstairs. At first she feared that something had happened to him, so she dropped what she was doing and ran up to him. "What's wrong?" she asked when she reached their bedroom.
"Nothing," Daniel said, seeming confused by her worried expression. "I just couldn't find the shampoo."
Janet sighed in relief. "Oh, right," she said. "I forgot, I lent it to Cassie last night. I'll get it for you."
She hurried off to Cassie's bathroom, located the shampoo, and hurried back to Daniel. She entered the bathroom just as he was taking off his shirt, and her eyes were immediately drawn to the ugly red marks that still marred his once perfect skin.
If Daniel noticed her double take and subsequent staring, he didn't react. He simply thanked her and took the bottle from her hands.
"Do... do you need anything else?" Janet asked as she tried her hardest to look anywhere but at his chest and arms.
"No, thanks," he said. "I do remember how to take a shower."
Janet looked up at his face then, and saw that he had a twinkle of humour in his eyes. She smiled. "Of course you do," she said. "I'll leave you to it." She quickly left the room and closed the door, not exactly anxious to see more of his wounds than she already had.
She sighed heavily as she walked back down the stairs. She'd hoped the strange marks would have started to wear off by now, but if anything, they looked even brighter than before. Even the more recent wound on his arm had begun to heal over and disappear. She wished they knew what had caused the marks in the first place, but at the same time, she knew they were lucky that Daniel had been able to tell them all that he had so far. It had only been a few days since he'd come home, and already he was starting to act like his old self again. She didn't want to push him too far too fast in case he ended up breaking.
Somehow she managed to put all thoughts of what had happened to Daniel out of her mind for the rest of the day. The two of them enjoyed a quiet lunch, went for a short walk together, and curled up together on the couch to watch a movie while they waited for Cassie to come home. It seemed like no time at all before they were sitting around the kitchen table with SG-1, eating pizza, chatting, and laughing like the past few weeks hadn't even happened.
As had happened during their last visit with SG-1, Janet noticed that everyone was keeping a subtle eye on Daniel, watching for any signs that their company was becoming too much for him. Unlike the last time, however, Daniel never wavered. He didn't add much to the conversation, and most of his smiles seemed forced, but he seemed to follow what everyone said with great interest. He even looked disappointed when Colonel O'Neill announced that it was time for them to go.
Once they were gone, Janet started clearing up the dishes while Daniel and Cassie retreated to the living room for a game of chess. She heard them talking as they played, discussing the test Cassie had taken that morning and the work she had ahead of her over the next few weeks in the same class. Every now and then she would just stop to listen. The two of them sounded more comfortable with each other now than they ever had before. It almost brought tears to her eyes.
The rest of the evening also passed without incident. Daniel seemed quite relaxed, and he and Cassie went through just about every board game they owned, one after another, not even stopping to eat when Janet brought them a tray of sandwiches. Janet joined in every now and then, but for the most part she was content to sit across the room with a book, pretending to read it as she watched them from the corner of her eye.
Partway through watching their second game of Scrabble, Janet found she was starting to feel tired, and looked up at the clock to see what the time was. To her surprise, it was after ten o'clock. "Cassie?" she said. "Have you noticed the time?"
Cassie looked at her watch and sagged a little. "Crap, it's bedtime," she said. "Can't I just stay up for another half hour? Please?"
Janet glanced at Daniel and saw that he was stifling a yawn, so she shook her head firmly. "No. You have school tomorrow. Time for bed. Besides, Daniel's tired. He needs to rest."
Daniel shot her a dirty look, but he didn't argue. "We can finish it tomorrow, Cass," he said as he slowly stood up and stretched.
"Okay, okay." Cassie dragged herself onto her feet and stood on her tiptoes to kiss Daniel on the cheek. "Night, Daniel," she said. Then she went over to Janet and kissed her, too. "Night, Mom."
"Goodnight, sweetheart."
"Night, Cass."
Once Cassie had stomped up the stairs, Janet stood up and went over to lay her hand on Daniel's back. "Are you okay?" she asked.
"Yeah, of course," he said. "Why wouldn't I be?"
"You've had a long day," Janet said. "You must be exhausted."
"Today's been good," Daniel said, putting his arm around her shoulders as they headed for the stairs. "I can't even explain how good. It's like I've been asleep all this time, and I've finally woken up."
Janet smiled up at him. "That's wonderful, Daniel," she said. "I've been so proud of you today."
Daniel smiled back at her and dropped his arm so he could squeeze her hand.
They fell silent as they passed Cassie's room and entered their own, and it wasn't until they'd both been to the bathroom and changed into their nightclothes that Daniel spoke again.
"You've really been proud of me?" he asked as they settled into bed.
"Of course I have," Janet replied. "I can't imagine how I'd be right now if I'd been through..." She stopped herself when she realized what she was saying. He'd probably managed to keep the past few weeks from his mind all day, and here she was bringing it up again. She gave him an apologetic look, but he just shrugged it off.
"It's okay," he said. "And for what it's worth, I'm sure you'd handle it better than I ever could. You're the strongest woman I've ever known."
Janet's heart fluttered as she lay there looking into his eyes. His expression was full of so much love and admiration that it took her breath away.
"I love you, Janet," he said.
Janet could feel her face light up like a neon sign at those words. "I love you, too," she said. She wished she could come up with something a little more original than that, but nothing more came to mind.
Then he touched her face, and she closed her eyes almost subconsciously as she relished the feel of his fingers on her skin. She kept them closed as she sensed that his face was drawing closer to hers, and waited expectantly for his kiss.
She wasn't disappointed.
They'd shared a few brief but sweet kisses over the last couple of days, but nothing so sensuous and intimate as this. It took her back to their honeymoon, when they'd felt so happy and at peace, taking their time and just enjoying each other. Everything else just melted away until all she could think about was Daniel, and how much she loved him and wanted to make him happy. They'd never spent time apart. They'd never suffered. There were no marks on Daniel's body, and even if there were, she had the power to kiss them away. Everything was just as it should be.
She sighed as he started kissing her neck, and slipped her hands up under his shirt to feel the bare skin of his back. His arms pulled her closer, and she was more than happy to comply. She hadn't felt so good in so very long.
Scarcely a moment after she pressed her body against his, however, Daniel cried out and pushed her away.
Janet's mind fell back to reality with a thud she could almost hear. "Daniel?" she gasped. "Are you hurt? What happened?"
Daniel sat up and pressed his back against the headboard, drawing his knees up to his chest and panting for breath. He looked scared half to death. "Oh God..." he whispered. "I can't... Janet? God, help me!"
"What is it?" Janet asked, feeling as though her heart was going to burst right out of her chest it was pounding so hard. "Daniel, you're scaring me. Tell me what's wrong."
He held his head in his hands as he started to shake from head to toe. "Oh God," he groaned. "I didn't remember. I don't want to remember. Please..."
Janet moved her pillow aside so she could sit next to him, and gently guided his head to lean against her chest as he began to sob. He was trembling so hard that it went right through to her bones, and he grasped her nightdress tightly in his fists as she stroked his hair and rocked him from side to side like a baby. She couldn't believe how quickly and drastically his demeanour had changed.
After a few moments of sobbing, Daniel went limp so suddenly that Janet feared he had passed out. When she lifted his head to look at his face, though, she saw that his eyes were open, but filled with despair. He looked completely exhausted.
"Are you okay?" she asked as she wiped the tears from his cheeks.
Daniel sniffed and closed his eyes. "I'm sorry," he said. "I just... it was... it suddenly came into my mind... so fast..."
"What did? Please, Daniel, tell me what happened to you."
He took a deep, ragged breath and leaned his forehead against her shoulder as another shiver passed through his body. "I... I hadn't been there long," he said, his voice so quiet that if he hadn't been talking so close to her ear, she probably wouldn't have heard him. "The... they... would do things... horrible, painful things... over and over, they never stopped." He paused as he shuddered again, but soon continued. "I was out of it most of the time. The device in my head... they could do things... make things foggy, make things hurt... take my sight away." He wrapped an arm around her waist then, and held her tightly as if for protection. "If I tried to escape, the pain would be so intense I couldn't breathe. Then everything would go dark. So dark..."
Janet kissed the top of his head as he shuddered again. She could feel tears running down her face, but inside she was feeling more and more numb with every word he spoke.
"I remember... needles," he continued. "Needles that burned. They left marks. Hurt for hours... bubbled up like boils and then faded to red. I couldn't understand why. I couldn't think anyway. But then it got worse."
He was silent for a few moments, so Janet kissed his hair again and gently prodded, "What happened?"
"I... I was so scared," he whispered. "I wanted to go home. I tried... I tried to escape, but the pain held me back. Then the blindness... I was stuck. They were angry. I could tell. They grabbed me and tied me down. Left me there. I was so out of it, I didn't even care anymore. Until... until they came back." He swallowed convulsively as though trying not to gag. "I... I felt them... touch me... I couldn't take it anymore. I screamed... I screamed so loud, hoping I would burst their eardrums or make them so angry that they'd just leave me the hell alone!" His voice grew louder with each word until it finally broke and left him silently panting for breath for a few moments.
Janet felt sick to her stomach at the picture Daniel was painting. He didn't need to go into more detail than he already had for her to know what he was talking about. They'd violated him. The sick bastards hadn't felt that physical torture was enough, so they'd inflicted sexual torture on him, too? If she ever got her hands on one of those monsters...
"That's when they put the device in my arm," Daniel said, interrupting her turbulent thoughts. His voice was quieter now, almost calm. "When I tried to scream again... the pain was... God, I was going out of my mind. I couldn't see, couldn't move, couldn't speak... I could only lay there while they grabbed me and... God..." He raised a hand to press against his temple. "I guess they wanted a sperm sample, huh?" he said with an almost crazed-sounding laugh.
Janet clung to him even tighter, burying her face in his hair. "Don't think about it, Daniel," she said, her voice so choked up that she could barely speak at all. "It's all over now. You're home."
"Yes," Daniel said, snaking his arm back around her waist. "I'm home. But they're still out there."
Janet winced and squeezed her eyes shut tight. She didn't even want to think about that.