A/N: My sincerest thanks for your reviews. They make me feel all warm and happy inside; I'm sure you can empathize. As for this chapter: If, like Daniel, you thought things couldn't get worse, you were wrong. –your humble author

Hello, Goodbye

"So, do you come around here often?" Jack asked their captors as they walked along. "It's really a nice planet you've got here. It's very…green."

Unlike Jack, Daniel was silent. He looked scared but fascinated, eyeing the guards' actions, their clothes, headgear, weapons, and manner of interaction. He was so fascinated that he failed to watch his step and tripped over a tree root. It sent him tumbling forward into two guards and down the hill they were on. When he finally came to a stop at the foot of the mound, he was surrounded by guards, their weapons aimed right at his head.

"Sorry," he mumbled. "I tripped. It happens a lot."

He didn't have time to explain anything else because one of the men grabbed him and pulled him roughly to his feet. Daniel was shoved against a stone wall and the barrel, so to speak, of the weapon shoved against his stomach. He stood face to face with a very dangerous man. "I'm sorry," he whispered. "I'm sorry; I'm sorry; please don't kill me. I'm so sorry."

The man just growled, then pushed something on the wall and a door opened. The soldier threw Daniel in and Jack followed right after. The door closed behind them and another opened before the two.

"Who's there?" a familiar voice demanded from the next room.

"Carter?"

"Colonel?"

Jack and Daniel ran forward to reunite with their team. They looked each other over for signs of injury and were able to settle down when everyone appeared intact.

"How did you find us? How do we get out?"

Jack put up a hand to silence the Captain. "Things didn't go quite as I'd planned. We actually got a very friendly escort here."

"Yeah, real friendly," Daniel muttered, fingering the bruise that was already forming where the guard had grabbed him. "I don't know what kind of weapon he had, but I thought he was gonna kill me."

"It looked kinda like a staff weapon," Sam observed, glancing at Teal'C for confirmation.

"Indeed. It vaguely resembles an older model, but none that I have ever seen personally. It may be a variation if the people on this planet have ever encountered the Goa'uld."

"What's a staff weapon?"

The other three members of SG1 turned to Daniel. "What do you mean?" Sam asked. "You know what a staff weapon is. You've been killed by them twice."

Jack held up a hand to stop the new information, but it was too late. "There was a little confusion after you two were captured. Danny forgot the past seven years."

"Seven years? So, you don't know who we are?"

"Well—uh—Jack's been telling me stuff about you. Although he failed to mention the part where I died. Twice."

Jack shrugged. "Long story short—you have a nasty habit of getting mortally wounded. And you've died three times, not two."

The Colonel explained everything that had happened and listened while Carter and Teal'C recounted their time in the cell. Daniel sat listening but didn't participate. For the first time in a number of hours, he had an opportunity to think about the situation. It was going from unbelievable to nightmarishly insane.

He figured that his earlier self—the one who knew Jack, Sam, and Teal'C—must have noticed the familiar writing on the stone or else he would not have got so worked up. And it wasn't as though Danny were in some sort of new situation. He had been in prison before. And captured by angry natives. The Middle East hardly made for easy working conditions, especially with his propensity for getting in trouble. But this was different, of course, and Daniel felt the growing tightness of anxiety in his chest.

His mind kept turning to the same thing—the madness of the situation. Only yesterday he was classifying artifacts, grading term papers, teaching his intro to hieroglyphics, and researching for his dissertation. In retrospect, it was an awful lot to be plugging in to each day; no wonder he passed out. Still, all of that hardly stood in comparison to his present situation. Was he going to die (apparently for a fourth time)? So much information. His mind whirled.

"Well," Jack began once they were done updating one another, "the only thing we don't know is what's gonna happen. Any ideas, Danny? Danny?"

Daniel was shaking. No more than a person who hadn't eaten in a while, but it was enough to cause concern with his suddenly white face and huge, worrisome eyes. He didn't appear to have heard Jack (who wondered if the young man even knew there were other people in the room). Sam moved and took hold of Daniel's hand; it was cold and clammy—a sure sign of shock.

"He's not doing very well, sir."

"Daniel? Daniel, can you hear me? I want you to look at me, Danny; tell me what's wrong. Are you hurt?" When the archeologist didn't answer, Jack moved to replace Sam and grabbed Daniel by his shoulders. "Talk. To. Me."

"I—I don't wanna die."

"You're not gonna die! I won't let that happen."

Danny managed to look both terrified and incredulous. "What do you mean you won't let that happen? It's already happened! Three times!"

"Those were…different. I don't know! Look, we don't even know what's going on right now, but they obviously want us alive. Could this panic attack possibly wait until after they decide to kill us?"

"Colonel!"

"I'm sorry!" Jack ran a hand through his hair and sighed. What he wouldn't give to be fishing right now. "Daniel, we are a team. You saw what we went through to get Carter and Teal'C; I'm not gonna fight any less to save you. We will get out of this alive—just like we did on all the other missions. Even the ones where we died," he added. There's something I never thought I'd say. "Just pretend you're a Kurdish hostage. I'm not a hundred anymore, but I'll do my best."

"You're not a hundred 'anymore?'"

"Long story."

"Are there any short ones?"

Jack's mouth twitched in a smile, pleased to see Daniel calming down. "Not really. But I'll tell you each one as soon as we get back to Earth. Which we will, Danny. You gotta believe me."

Daniel took a deep breath and nodded. "I know; I shouldn't be scared."

"No. You should be scared. There's nothing wrong with a nice, healthy fear in a situation like this. Let's try for scared, but hopeful, though."

Sam chuckled softly. "'Scared but hopeful.' That sounds like it could be SG1's motto. Or, at least, 'scared but perseverant.'"

"So, what do we do?"

Jack sat back and closed his eyes, seemingly at ease with their circumstances, despite his lecture and the fact that he was anything but at ease. "We wait."

They waited hours; Sam and Jack were resting their eyes (or lightly sleeping) and Teal'C sat in quiet meditation. Daniel was also sitting, but he nervously drew pictographs on the dirt. How could the others be so relaxed? Didn't they realize the danger? The young man stopped suddenly, struck by a thought. Had this team actually been through so many life-threatening situations that it just didn't care? The hieroglyph doodles weren't helpful; Danny was losing confidence by the minute. Finally he got up to confront Jack's nonchalance when the door to the cell opened.

Four Jaffa entered, their antique staff weapons pointed at the team. The leader stopped in front of Daniel and his pictures. He growled something unintelligible and shoved the archaeologist away. Daniel stumbled into Jack, who took the opportunity to put himself between his friend and the danger.

"D'you understand what he said?"

"It sounds familiar; some sort of deviation on ancient Sumerian, but—"

"So, you don't know."

"Well, one of the words sounded like the Sumerian for picture, but otherwise…no."

The Jaffa ran his foot over Daniel's drawings, then faced the team and barked his original statement. When all he received were blank stares, he gestured for them to exit, following and followed from behind.

They walked close together, only a couple meters ahead of the guards, so Jack lowered his voice to a conspiratorial level. "I wasn't sure if they understood English or had the room bugged before, but I think it's time everyone knew I have a pistol strapped to my calf. I'm gonna trip, you three back away, and then I can take out the guards when they come to see what's wrong. We'll head for the river; we're at its bank here, so there's no need to jump off a cliff. Let the current move you to the Stargate. Has everyone got it?"

"Sir, that's gotta be the oldest trick in the book."

"Captain, I'm not gonna sit on my ass and wait to get killed. Now, we're gonna shoot and run, okay?"

Everyone nodded, which sent the chain of events into motion. Jack fell on one knee, crying out in pain, while the other team member jumped back. With a clear path, the Jaffa ran straight for Jack who was already pulling back the safety on his pistol and turning to fire. Three shots, three dead guards, and all four were running for the water.

Unfortunately (and didn't it seem that word was coming up an awful lot?), the shots carried to other close-by Jaffa, who came running with their staff weapons and started shooting. Shots whizzed by their heads, burning into trees and ground. All they needed was to reach the river and make it to the Stargate; they'd be safe.

It was a few hundred meters' run, but Carter made it to the water first, diving in and letting the fast current carry her on. Teal'C was next and, despite his size, the river moved him quickly out of harm's way.

Jack followed them, with Daniel right behind. Only Daniel didn't make it to the water. One of the blasts hit him squarely in the back and Jack had to watch his friend's charred body hit the ground, while he was swept away in the river.

"Danny! Danny!"

But it was too late. Jack couldn't possibly fight the tide and the staff weapon wound left no doubt that Daniel was dead.

PLEASE REVIEW