I'd like to make it clear that although this story involves incidents in Iraq, I have no affiliations with any political group or any other concerned in that country whatsoever and anything contained in these pages is purely fictional, coming entirely from my imagination. I mean no disrespect to any organisation or people herein.
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Title: Unity.
Author: LetitiaRichards.
Previously:
"I said, I was trying to subdue her!" Jack replied in a fierce whisper, but Daniel picked up on it straight away.
"What's that? Seduce her?" Daniel gasped in mock horror.
Jack glared across the table at him with narrowed eyes and pursed lips.
"Don't give me that crap Daniel. You have excellent hearing so you heard what I said," he sighed, knowing Daniel wouldn't let it rest there.
"Really? A...a woman did that to you?" he squeaked incredulously, his eyes alight with gentle teasing.
Chapter 8
Jack stared down at his plate, instead of meeting Daniel's laughing eyes, it was as bad as he imagined. He massaged his brow carefully against the throbbing of his headache; a product of being hit in the face.
"Okay, Okay. There's no need to make a meal of it Daniel," Jack snapped glaring back up at his friend, though he could hardly blame Daniel for mocking him. "She had a sudden flashback; thought I was the enemy and lashed out. I know, I know," he sighed heavily, "I should have known better, and it won't happen again. The young SF that was standing guard was hospitalised," Jack explained morosely.
"Is he okay? Are you okay?" Daniel asked, his earlier amusement dissipating under real concern. It must have been a bad experience for her, and he knew that Jack must have had half his mind on reliving his own nightmares to be taken completely off guard like that. Jack was never usually so careless; his reflexes were normally so sharp. Now he looked closer, he could see the lines on his face were cut deeper; the shadows beneath his eyes, darker. Restless nights and nightmares adding to his worn appearance. They'd only been here a week and already it was taking its toll on his friend.
"Yeah. I'm fine," he sighed wearily. He scrubbed a hand, which Daniel noted was a little shaky, through his hair; his mental exhaustion showing through. "Ashley, the young airman, will be okay though. She cracked a couple of his ribs with a vicious kick. After she'd screamed during her attack on me, he charged in to see what was going on and ran straight into her boot, and then she laid into him. I had to drag her off. Man, she was strong. Big girl too; she'd make two of Carter. Hasn't stopped eating since she got back. She tends to get a little violent when they stop her too. Think Carter 'and' Fraiser with PMS only a hundred times worse and you got it." Jack paused and his eyes glazed over as he fought an internal battle somewhere in his memory. Daniel waited for more, but Jack didn't continue.
Daniel wondered if he was really as alright as he made out.
"Jack."
"Hmm?" Jack replied absently.
"This has all got to have some bearing on you. Doesn't it...kinda...bring everything back? I mean, you had flashbacks too, didn't you? At first."
Jack was about to tell Daniel where to get off, but instead, one look at the earnestness in Daniel's expression had him sighing deeply. After all this was why Daniel had joined him here wasn't it? To help him through this ordeal.
"Yeah. Some real doozies," he replied softly feeling oddly embarrassed.
Jack's attention drifted off again, and Daniel hesitated to add any more to the stresses Jack was obviously working under. He changed the subject, trying to draw Jack out from himself.
"Hey, General Kelly called me in to see him this afternoon, Jack. Said he needed an interpreter to help him interrogate a couple of prisoners."
"You don't have to do this Daniel, you don't work under his command. You're not in the Air Force..."
"It's okay Jack. It sort of gives me an 'official' reason for being here."
"Make sure you're not left alone with the bastard Daniel. You can't trust these people. Voice of experience talking here."
"Jack..."
"Daniel. As your CO, I could say no!"
"You won't though."
"Why won't I?"
"Because they need this information Jack. Information that could lead us to rescue more of these hostage victims."
Jack shrugged, not at all happy that they were using Daniel.
"How do they know that?" Jack asked, still trying to come up with an excuse to keep his friend away from the enemy. He didn't trust any of them. It could just as well be a trap.
"They don't, but we won't know the answer to that unless we ask the questions," Daniel explained.
Jack shrugged.
"I guess," he said, not at all happy with the situation.
OoOoOoOoO
Two weeks. How the hell had he made it this far? How he had sat there listening to the gut-wrenching tales day after interminable day for two weeks was beyond him. It was taking a heavy toll on him though, gradually breaking him down. He needed to go home; wanted desperately to get away from here and all its associated memories of horror. For the last week he'd been reliving his experiences through yet more nightmares, waking up in the night in a cold sweat.
He hoped he hadn't disturbed Daniel, but if he had the younger man had heard him, he'd said nothing and kept his peace; allowing him to work them out of his system. Not that he had. If anything they were getting worse the more he had to listen to the traumatic sufferings of his 'patients'; if he could indeed call them that.
Last night was yet another example of how wearing it was on both of them. He'd had a nightmare so real, he actually gotten to the door, trying to escape before Daniel pulled him from the tangible dream. He'd snapped then, yelling at Daniel to back off and leave him the hell alone. Daniel of course, being Daniel, hadn't listened to a word and persisted in his belief that it was time to go home. All day they had avoided each other, and Jack wasn't sure how to mend the broken fence between them. It didn't help him in the fact that he knew Daniel was right.
OoOoOoOoO
"NOOOOO!"
The agonised shout woke Daniel from his sleep and he turned to see Jack thrashing about, struggling with yet another realistic nightmare. Enough was enough, he sighed in despair for his friend. He flipped on the lamp and ever mindful of keeping away from Jack's flying fists, he kept his distance just calling out to him.
"JACK! C'mon. Wake up. It's okay. It's just a nightmare. It's not real!"
It took several tries on Daniel's part, but eventually Jack woke up.
Sweating, disoriented and breathing heavily, he shot upright, untangling the bed clothes from his legs and swung them over the side of the bed to rest his feet on the cool stone floor; elbows propped onto his knees, leaning forward. He buried his sweaty face in shaky hands, scrubbing it hard, trying to come to terms with a dream so realistic he could still almost feel the bruises he'd incurred in his nightmare.
Daniel got out of bed and sat next to his friend, his hand automatically finding its way to his shoulder, grounding him.
"Sorry!" Jack mumbled, slightly embarrassed, but not moving his hands away from his face. He then swept them upwards to card through his sweat drenched hair, before dropping them and sitting upright, stretching his back muscles but unable to look at Daniel yet. He knew what he should do but was loath to admit the truth even to himself.
"You okay now?" Daniel asked concerned. This was the second nightmare Jack had suffered since they'd turned in that evening. He looked at his watch, noting that it was still early, but knew that neither Jack nor he would get any more sleep this night.
"Yeah. Thanks."
"Another doozy?"
"Huh!" Jack snorted. "Ya think?"
Before Daniel could answer, Jack shrugged his hand off his shoulder as he stood, gathering up his towels and wash bag. He stood facing the door, unable to face Daniel's wide blue eyed gaze just yet.
"I'm gonna take a shower. Go back to sleep Daniel. Sorry I woke you."
With those terse words, Jack was gone, leaving Daniel staring at the closed door, wondering if he could ever fully understand the man; or if he ever did. Not everything about their friendship prior to his ascension was clear yet; there were still a few holes to fill in.
Weak daylight now crept in between the cracks in the shutters, so Daniel switched off the lamp and opened them, welcoming in the warmth of the early morning sun, hoping to dispel the sudden chill in the air.
Another day, another round of reliving the torture for his friend. Daniel wondered just how long Jack could last until the strain caused more permanent damage. Until it broke him altogether? He was so close to the edge now that Daniel could actually feel it tearing his friend apart. Jack would deny it of course, but then Jack never admitted to anything that involved his feelings. His way of dealing with things was shutting them away in a corner of his mind and trying to forget they were there. It just didn't work like that though. This time, Daniel knew that that method wasn't going to work. Two weeks worth of listening to the horrific accounts and Jack's psyche was taking a heavy battering.
He was still sitting thinking over things when Jack re-entered the room twenty minutes later. Jack shot him a surprised look when he saw him still sitting there in the same spot but didn't pass comment. Instead he silently dressed but Daniel couldn't leave it at that.
"Jack..." he began, only to be cut off abruptly.
"Daniel don't!" Jack snapped. "I don't want to talk about it."
"You have to Jack. This is eating you alive. Please. Let me help. Isn't that why I'm here? To help you through this? Don't shut me out like you did Sara!"
Jack gasped softly, stung by the reminder of why his marriage had started to crumble. Charlie's death had been the last straw. He sighed, slumping heavily to sit on the edge of the bed beside his friend, knowing he was right on the button as usual, and buried his head in his hands.
"You're right Daniel. I'm sorry, but... Hell, I'm no good at this emotional stuff. God, I can't deal with this," he huffed sadly in frustration.
"Then maybe you ought to tell them you've done enough and they can get someone else to do this before it breaks you Jack. Maybe it's time we went home. Got the hell out of Dodge before it's too late."
Jack sat in silence for a moment, churning Daniel's words over in his mind. Perhaps Daniel was right. He had, had enough. If he had to listen to any more of this emotional crap, he was really gonna go crazy.
"I'll let General Kelly know this morning, an' I'll call General Hammond to see if he can arrange a flight home for us tomorrow. Okay?" Jack sighed with resignation.
Daniel grinned with relief, offering a silent 'thank god' to heaven.
"Yeah Jack. Why don't we go fishing. I'm sure General Hammond would allow us a decent break after this."
Jack grinned right back, thinking how good that sounded. Yeah, maybe he could invite the rest of the team up there to the wilds of Minnesota too. It was just what he needed. A real break, surrounded by good friends; his team; his family.
It was the first time that Daniel has seen anything other than misery, anger and distress cross Jack's face since they'd gotten here.
"How's the interrogation going?" Jack asked suddenly.
Daniel shrugged.
"Okay. I think one of them is about ready to reveal a few secrets. He definitely knows where those poor souls are being held. Maybe we'll know by tonight."
"Good. That's good. Look I'm gonna go call General Hammond. Get things organised. See you in the commissary for breakfast?" Jack said, standing up, seeing Daniel nod in agreement. He paused in his movements, turning to look down at his friend. "Oh, and Daniel."
"Yes Jack?"
"Thanks," he muttered self-consciously.
"You're welcome Jack. What else are friends for?"
Jack looked as if he wanted to say something about that but evidently thought better of it, so Daniel continued.
"Coffee and waffles? I'll be right there in, say, 20 minutes Jack. I'm gonna go shower. See you later."
Jack's slow crooked smile appeared again, feeling a lot happier that he was back on track with his friend. He would tell Hammond that he'd had enough of this assignment and that these people could find another person to carry out this daunting task, especially id the General wanted him back in one piece. If they refused his request, then they could accept his resignation. Retirement or vacation, they had a choice.
As far as he was concerned, all these poor souls needed now was the loving care which only their families could provide, although he had met one or two hard-headed cases that really should be treated with kid gloves in a professional setting. He wasn't one to admit defeat but even he couldn't get through to them. He wasn't a shrink; that wasn't his job, he could only give a recommendation.
He cursed himself for letting this assignment get to him, so much so that it had almost driven a wedge between Daniel and himself. He could see that now and it was time to call a halt. His friendship with the young man and his sanity wasn't worth losing over this.
TBC
