He rapped on the door jamb of Mitchell's office. Cam was looking intently at the screen of his laptop. He didn't look up, but said, "Hey, Jackson. How are your accommodations at the base working?"
Daniel shrugged. He'd been given one of the guest quarters temporarily. His home was too hard to defend during the media siege. "I don't care much where I sleep. It's okay."
Cam turned the laptop toward Daniel and scrolled through a series of screen captures. They couldn't get to the Internet from inside the Mountain because they were a classified installation. Someone else had done that work on the outside and sent it to Mitchell. "Some other groups who don't care one way or the other about aliens, but believe the government is one huge conspiracy and watch this or that for their hobby have teamed up with your fans. They're pointing out the inordinate number of times Kinsey came here compared to any other military base and the frequent visits by other highly placed government officials and high ranking foreign military officers."
"So, it's not just me any more?"
"Oh, no. Somehow, they've come up with the fact that people go into the Mountain and don't come out for really long time periods. There is the high death rate for personnel stationed on a base in the United States. Several ex-spouses of SG team members-- did you know that there seems to be an unusually high divorce rate for people in the SGC, or rather the Ra Project under its code name? – have commented on how their exes would come home from what was supposedly a day inside a mountain with sunburns, cuts and bruises, and other odd physical conditions. Some talked in their sleep about really weird stuff. There's more. Lots of little details that don't mean much alone, but as it's all getting pieced together, do sound very suspicious."
"Maybe now's the time this all goes public," Daniel said. He hoped so. It had bothered him for some time that the government was hiding something like this from the people who were paying for it.
"Landry's gone to DC. The President's called a meeting to discuss it." Cam closed the laptop most of the way. "That's not why you're here though, right?"
"I was actually serious when I suggested a couple of days ago that I be allowed to go to P4G67 and do some work on those ruins."
"Daniel, your girl friend, who is very publicly your girl friend at this point, is there. You know the rules," Cam responded. He wasn't unsympathetic, but there was no getting around the regulations for something like this.
Daniel leaned back and rubbed his face. "I know. I guess that was pretty lame, but I really want to see her."
"Would it help if you went somewhere else for a couple of days, somewhere Sam wasn't?"
"You're too damn astute about people Mitchell," Daniel said ruefully. He came forward in his chair and leaned one elbow on Cam's desk. "At this point, I'd welcome some of Jack's obliviousness."
"It doesn't take a whole lot of astuteness," Cam said. "Thank God Jack is oblivious about some things. When we were at dinner, I couldn't help but notice the sidelong looks Sam was giving you. You do a bit better."
Daniel picked at a little tear on Cam's desk calendar. Cam moved it out of reach and handed him a Koosh ball. "Let's not dismantle my office," Cam said, laughing a little.
Daniel grimaced and started working the ball. "I've had years of practice hiding how I feel about some things." He looked up at Cam. "I've got a reputation for wearing my feelings on my sleeve, but there are some really deep hurts that I learned to protect a long time ago. That doesn't mean I don't understand them or acknowledge them to myself. One of the things that I love about Rain is that she knows herself so well. She knows what she's feeling, faces up to it, and tells you exactly where you stand. Sam, well, Sam's a mess in that regard. I don't have any patience with it any more."
"Tell me about it," Cam said. Without anything being said, Daniel knew Cam was referring to his problematic relationship with the conflicted Dr. Carolyn Lam.
Daniel considered the offer to go offworld and said, "I think that's actually a good idea. Is SG-20 still not expected back until next Wednesday?"
Cam nodded. "I checked for you this morning. Any ideas about a useful short term assignment?"
Daniel thought about it a moment. "I've consulted with Dr. Mumbaba a couple of times already about what he's doing on P3G789. He sent a question back for me this morning. I could go in person."
Cam said, "I'll grease the skids for you. Why don't you plan on going through at 1100 hours and staying a couple of days unless you hear differently from me?"
"I'm glad you're both here," Sam said, startling them both slightly.
Daniel started to get up. "I was just leaving actually."
"Please wait a minute. You need to hear this." Cam indicated his other visitor's chair, but she remained standing, twisting her hands but not saying anything.
Finally Cam said gently, "We need to hear?"
"Right. I finally got a hold of my brother, Mark. His wife is a real piece of work. Sometimes I think it would be easier getting through to the president." She closed her eyes for a moment. "I owe Rain an apology. Mark confirmed that she's his daughter. Julie, my sister in law, made such a stink about her when he found out her mother was in prison and Rain was in foster care that he caved in to Julie's demands that Rain not live with them. He's tortured about it. He said he's been trying to contact Rain for years. She returns letters unopened and always has an unlisted phone number. He even came to see her once and she politely told him to go away and shut the door in his face." She hesitated. "You might as well know, Daniel. He saw the news clip about the convenience store and is upset about Rain being involved with you. He thinks you are too old for her."
"After dumping her in a boarding school, he's all protective? Talk about a piece of work!" Daniel said. "You can hardly blame Rain for wanting nothing to do with him." He didn't feel friendly to Sam right now or sympathetic to her distress.
"I can understand why she wouldn't want contact with Mark. I hope she'll give me a second chance though. Let me get to know her." Sam looked imploringly at Daniel. "Will you talk to her?"
Daniel sighed. "Sam, I'm not making any promises. She's been hurt enough and I'm not going to try to talk her into anything." He stood. "If you'll excuse me, I need to get ready for the mission."
SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
Hunkered shoulder deep at the bottom of a shallow excavation pit, Daniel was into the second day of working with John Mumbaba on a very intriguing find. Mumbaba looked like the classic stereotype of an archeologist, like Daniel himself might have looked if there had been no SGC. He was haphazardly dressed in clothes that hung loosely on his wiry frame, his wire rimmed glasses perched at the end of a nose that, like everything else on his leathery face, was eclipsed by his huge bushy beard. The pavement that was painstakingly being uncovered had already been shown to have a small, incised design very close to one of the mammoth designs carved into the Chilean coastal desert. It appeared now that it might contain a second.
A second archeologist, Dr. Lorraine Clark, was working farther along the pit with a soldier. Daniel had no creditability with her at all. She had taken one look at his trendy haircut and buff physical condition and decided he was all flash. "What real scientist had time to look that good?" was her question, voiced in a stage whisper to Mumbaba. The frumpy, dumpy Dr. Clark certainly hadn't expended any energy in that direction. She had commented about how someone "had neglected to put the right set of clothes on the Ken doll archeologist before they sent him through" and expressed surprise that Daniel had been willing to get his hands dirty by actually assisting with working the site.
Daniel sighed thinking that Sam thought he was a sexless academic who couldn't be taken seriously romantically and Dr. Clark thought he was a pretty boy who couldn't be taken seriously as a scientist. The tabloid's latest nickname for him was "Ninja Archeologist" based on the widely circulated still from the video of him with his leg in the follow through of the kick that disarmed the robber and his right arm beginning its swing to knock the fellow out. That wasn't helping his scientific creditability either. He couldn't win for losing.
He heard distant shouts and gunfire. It was an empty world as far as sentient life was concerned and they had seen little in the way of animals larger than a rabbit. Security had loosened up and there wasn't even a guard standing sentry near the pit. The soldier had his P-90 and a side arm and Daniel, in yet another damning detail from the point of view of Dr. Clark, also wore a side arm through force of habit. Daniel stood to try to determine what was happening at the camp located near the Stargate and almost a mile from them.
His com and Sergeant Juarez's clicked on. They both heard, "We got some huge creatures coming at us. They're sort of like sabertooths if sabertooths were plated with armor like armadillos. Maybe 8 or 9. They're very fast. They seem to survive a hit and keep coming. It's hard to penetrate the armor. We got no idea if they're coming your way, but you'd better get a perimeter set up stat."
They all got out of the pit quickly and Juarez indicated with a quick gesture that Daniel and Mumbaba should join him and Dr. Clark. "I figure we get up there," Juarez said pointing to a pile of large stones and other rubble from the ruined structure that had once stood here. It was about 10 feet high less than 100 yards away. "It should be easier to defend."
They ran in that direction hampered by the slower pace that Clark and Mumbaba could maintain. Juarez and Daniel divided the environs and kept it scanned. Juarez asked Daniel to go up first and help pull the scientists up while he pushed from below. Clark was safe on top and Mumbaba on his way up when Daniel saw 5 of the things heading toward them at a hard to believe rate of speed. Then Mumbaba slipped. They lost their margin of safety, starting over with him. The cats were closing as Juarez started up. Daniel began firing. He hit the lead cat multiple times and it kept coming. It was literally three feet from Juarez when it staggered and fell. The other cats had now caught up, but the sergeant was out of immediate danger, squatting next to Daniel. Juarez had the P-90 but Clark screamed and clutched at him when a cat scrambled part way up and knocked it out of his hands. It skittered down the mound. Daniel and Juarez were now reduced to side arms only. They held the animals at bay and two more eventually dropped. The cats became more and more manic and began to leap against the rubble and stones, despite the repeated hits from the sidearms. One in an incredible dying leap scrambled part way up and lashed out with a wicked claw. Daniel shoved Clark behind him as Juarez shot it point blank between the eyes. As it fell, it raked Daniel's arm as he shielded the woman.
Only two cats were left and they fled when SG-17, coming to their rescue, got within firing range. Dr. Clark was blubbering in Daniel's arms and thanking him incoherently for saving her life. Daniel's arm was bleeding profusely, but she seemed to be oblivious to the fact that she was throwing her considerable weight against a wounded man's arm. Juarez none too gently pulled her away and helped her descend to one of the new arrivals. Daniel needed help getting down, his arm throbbing with excruciating pain. The claws had literally cut to the bone in one place although no muscles appeared to be severed. The amount of blood loss was making him light headed and strong hands immediately put something over the wound and applied pressure as soon as he was down from the rock.
When they came back through the gate, they were met by Landry, Dr. Carolyn Lam and a team with a gurney for Daniel, and the rest of SG-1. Daniel wanted to be macho and insist that he could walk to the infirmary, but his legs were like rubber and it was simply beyond him. Sam walked along beside the gurney and took his good hand. He didn't want her to, but he didn't have the energy to stop her. "I'm so sorry," she blurted out.
"Unless you're a cross between an armadillo and a tiger in another identity, you've got nothing to be sorry about," he said in a weak attempt at humor.
There were unshed tears in her big blue eyes. "We both know why you decided you had to go off world. Just accept my apology. Okay?"
He nodded. They'd reached the infirmary and she released his hand. Carolyn insisted that he stay there overnight and had given him something for pain that made him drowsy. He was drifting close to sleep, when there was approaching activity outside his curtained bed. Someone was badly hurt and was being rushed in for treatment. Some sixth sense made him struggle to alertness and woozily get to his feet. Teal'c immediately shot out of the chair where he was sitting in vigil and put his arm around his waist. There were people milling around in the corridor outside and Teal'c helped him stagger to the door. His instincts were, damn them, right on. One of the men was the CO of SG-20.
The man saw Daniel, sagging against Teal'c, and swiftly went to his side. "You don't look like you should be out of bed," he said.
"It's Rain, isn't it?"
Her CO sighed. "Yes and Kovak. We don't know for sure what happened, but we think someone put some sort of poison in something they were given to eat or drink. There are some bitter factions on that world and not everyone likes our decision as to whom we are going to work with."
"I've got to see her," Daniel said.
"None of us can now man. They're working on them. Both of them are in critical condition. We just have to wait. Seriously, I think you should wait in your bed."
Daniel quit fighting him and went back to bed, but not back to sleep. The throbbing in his arm was hardly noticeable, he was so frantic in his worry about Rain. It was hours later and he was about to get up again, when an exhausted Carolyn Lam slit the curtains, confirmed that he was awake, and pulled them back. "She'll live Daniel. It was touch and go, but we beat it." Mitchell came to stand beside her, evidently having relieved Teal'c in the morning.
"There's still something wrong," Daniel said. The look on her face didn't seem like total satisfaction.
"We lost Kovak. It was really a close thing, Daniel. She was barely conscious but I saw her lips moving and I think she was praying. Maybe that made the difference. Who knows. I'm not sure that this hasn't damaged her system in some way. I've ordered a full round of tests."
"Can I see her? I'm really much stronger."
"Sure. How about you use a wheelchair though. Just to make me happy."
A short time later, Sam appeared. She said, "Mitchell called me. She's going to be fine, right?"
Daniel said, "Carolyn's running tests just to make sure that there hasn't been any kind of systemic damage."
Daniel sat next to Rain for slow hours, with Sam coming in frequently to check on them. She told Daniel that she was uncertain as to how Rain would feel if the first thing she saw when she woke up was the face of someone she disliked. At last Rain stirred and called out his name. "I'm here, honey," he said.
"Don't leave," she said.
"I won't." He hit the call button to let the nursing staff know that Rain was conscious. He got out of the wheelchair, feeling only a little dizzy and weak, and got out of the path of the medical staff who had things to do.
The day wore on and Rain didn't rally. The poison had ravaged her and Carolyn became increasingly anxious to pin point the cause for the symptoms she was seeing. Daniel never left except when the nursing staff insisted on treating him like a patient and checking him. He was recovering rapidly and his problems were now localized in a sore and nonfunctional arm. Carolyn told him he was discharged which had no practical effect on his presence in the infirmary.
Sam left only a couple of times to attend to pressing business but stayed most of the day, out of Rain's sight. He didn't mind her presence. She was united with him in concern for Rain. He spent time with her while Rain slept.
Toward the end of the day, Rain said, "Colonel Carter's here, isn't she? I heard her voice."
"Yes."
"Because she's worried about you?"
"She knows that you are really her niece. She's very upset that she hurt you and wants a second chance. She'd be here as my friend even if that wasn't true, but she's devastated for you too. Do you mind?"
"I don't want a family thing with her, but I'm bad off." Daniel shook his head, started to interrupt her. "I know I am. I'll take all the support I can get and prayers and I want you to have all the support you need. Look at your arm." She stopped to gather her energy. "Let's quit playing games."
Daniel went and beckoned to Sam who looked into Rain's face with a tremulous smile on her own. "I'm so sorry for the way I acted. Ever since dad died, I'm very protective of family. I'm glad you'll let me support you here."
As the crisis went into its second twenty-four hours, Daniel and Sam dozed on either side of Rain's bed. Everything they had worried about before seemed secondary to simple survival for the woman in the bed between them.