"Mens Mentis"
A/N: I wanted to get this up before christmas, but i'm sure a lot of you won't get to this until after christmas, so, I would just like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays!
Also, something that isn't said enough, thank you to my wonderful beta Jedi, who without, this story would be full of horrid mistakes.
Finally, thank you to all of you for reading and for your wonderful reviews!
"Daniel!" Jack jumped as the archaeologist let out a yell of pain and stood up, his hands held tightly to his head.
Daniel squeezed his eyes shut, attempting to shut out the pain. He couldn't breathe, the pain was so intense. His whole body seemed to disappear, and all he could think about was the excruciating pain.
"Daniel?"
He felt a hand on his arm, and suddenly the pain had disappeared and he was breathing steadily again. He opened his eyes to find Sam's bright blue eyes staring down at him in concern.
"Are you ok?"
-Chapter 8-
Spoilers: "Divide and Conquer", "Grace"Daniel blinked, staring up at Sam for a moment, and then sat up, looking around. He was sitting in one of the Infirmary beds; Sam was the only other person in the room.
"Is this…" Daniel broke off, looking at Sam.
"…Real? No… what happened? You were shaking for a moment there."
"I think I just had a seizure."
Sam sat down in the chair beside the bed, obviously in deep thought. "I've been thinking about everything that you told me. I don't think that we're just going to magically get better over time. Honestly, that doesn't even make sense. Why would it just go away?"
"But what about the people who tested the device? They said that after a while, the effects began to fade away."
"Think about it though, the other people didn't want to be around them because they didn't want them listening in on their private thoughts."
"They lied." Daniel realized.
"Probably, so that they would be accepted again."
"But the people still shunned them because of what they already knew. So, we're stuck like this."
"Not necessarily," Sam said. "I'd have to know how the device works. It affected both of us, so a small energy field must be released for it to work. If so, then we could attempt to create another wave to reverse it… Dr Lee should be able to figure it out."
"I'll talk to Dr. Lee about it… Hammond wanted me to let you know that we'll figure it out, Sam, and we will, I promise."
Sam smiled. "I know. I wouldn't doubt it for a second. So, how are Teal'c and the Colonel?"
"Well, you know how Teal'c is. He'd take your place in a heart beat if it were possible. And Jack's barely left you side. He'd probably kill if it could help you."
The corner of Sam's lipped curved up in a small, sad smile, and suddenly they were no longer in the Infirmary, but one of the Isolation Rooms. Teal'c and Janet stood in the observation room. In the room itself besides Daniel and Sam, were Freya alongside a longer-haired Sam, and Jack who was strapped to a chair in front of them.
Daniel stepped closer to Freya, and waved his hands in front of her face. She simply looked straight past him at Jack.
"The Zatarc incident." He turned back and looked at Sam. "I never found out what exactly happened."
"I always thought that Teal'c had told you. You never asked."
"You couldn't save her." Anise asked of Jack sitting in the chair.
"No."
"But you still could have saved yourself."
"I guess."
Freya nodded. "What happened next?"
"I tried to break the shield with everything I had."
"What were you feeling?"
Jack continued to stare blankly at the Zatarc device in front of him. "Like… someone who was about to die."
Daniel could see the Zatarc screen swell pink, a sign that he wasn't telling the truth.
"Sir…" Sam looked Jack square in the eyes, willing him to tell the truth.
"I didn't leave…" Jack continued, "Because I'd have rather died myself… than lose Carter."
"Why?" Freya asked.
"Because I care about her… a lot more than I'm supposed to."
The screen returned to normal and Freya nodded. "You are not a Zatarc."
Daniel turned to face Sam again. "Wow…" he breathed. "I'd thought of a lot of different things, but that one didn't cross my mind. Have you guys ever talked about it since?"
The scene in front of them began to fast forward for a moment, and returned to normal speed as Jack walked up to Sam, and freed her from the chair.
"Carter…"
"Sir…" She stood up. "None of this has to leave this room."
"We're ok with that?" Jack asked, his face betraying his disappointment.
"Yes, Sir."
"That's it! You never talked of it again?" Daniel asked in exasperation. "That was over three years ago!"
Sam shook her head. "What's there to talk about? That was a long time ago, things are different now."
"I'm not so sure about that."
"Well, when the hyperdrive failed on the Prometheus' maiden voyage you were nearly stranded on P7X - 009 because they didn't know where the Stargate was."
Daniel and Sam were now standing at the back of the elevator, and standing in front of them was Jack and Daniel.
"Well unfortunately the Tok'ra are unable to send a ship at this time," continued Daniel, "They've promised to retrace the route of the Prometheus as soon as they can but visiting these planets is-"
"What? Is What?" Jack snapped, looking at a wide-eyed Daniel.
"Is something."
"Yeah."
The doors opened, and their was a brief moment where the two stared intently at each other before Jack stalked out, and a moment later Daniel followed, the doors sliding closed after him.
"That wasn't one of my memories," Sam spoke in confusion.
"I guess this thing works both ways."
"That was while I was stuck on Prometheus?"
Daniel nodded, "He was really worried about you, and he's not the only one who worries, is he?" He looked meaningfully at Sam who sighed.
"Daniel, I don't want to talk about it."
"Ok, I'm sorry." Daniel looked around. "So, what do you say we get out of this elevator?"
"He had some sort of seizure." Dr. Fraiser explained to the worried group. "Another brain scan shows signs of still increasing activity. His brain just can't handle it."
"What can we do?" Hammond asked in concern.
Janet shrugged. "I'm not really sure. Medically, there's nothing I can do to fix it. Somehow, we have to reverse the effects."
"Well, can't we just reverse engineer the doohickey?" Jack looked from Janet to Hammond.
"I can't say, you'll have to talk to Dr. Lee."
Jack turned with raised eyebrows to Hammond, who nodded. "Go ahead."
Jack and Teal'c left the room, heading to the science labs.
"What's going to happen to him if we can't reverse this?" The General asked.
"His organs will begin to shut down, ceasing to work anymore."
"How long does he have?"
"A few days… at the most."
"What about Major Carter?"
"She still has a high temperature, and to be honest, Sir, It looks like she's losing the battle. I'm hoping that if Dr. Lee can do what we want, it will work for Sam too."
Hammond nodded sadly. "Thank you, Doctor."
Janet wanted to give him reassurance that everything was going to be ok, that they'd figure everything out. But now she wasn't so sure if she could keep that promise. As every hour went on, a small flicker of hope disappeared, which made her angry. After so many years of facing death over and over again, how could one inanimate object be the death of two heroes?
Janet returned the General's nod without a word, and retreated back into her office.
A/N: Happy Holidays once again everyone! And look, as a little present I didn't leave a huge cliffhanger :-D