My apologies for the delay, RL has been kicking me around a bit.

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"Have you gone completely insane?" It was hard to tell if Hammond's tone was pure anger or disbelief. "You mean to tell me you have another one of these things that you snuck into the SGC?"

Daniel cringed inwardly, outwardly he put on his best scientific demeanor and prepared for battle. "It's in my office, right now. I – actually I brought two back with me." He clamped his lips shut and nervously toyed with his ink pen behind his back.

"Are you certain this is, or was, the cause of the explosion?"

"Well, it's the same energy output, plus the fact that the one in question is missing seems to point to that," Daniel responded dubiously, "although I do wonder if there isn't something else down there that could cause this, something we've overlooked. . ."

"Meaning since you were the one that brought it back, you don't want to feel any remorse about what happened." Jack turned to the General. "Sir, we believe for whatever reason this object blew while in transport. Now a member of Stargate personnel was in that storage room approximately ten minutes before the explosion, and a box was signed out."

"Doctor Jackson, I assume you have no knowledge of this, or who would take it."

"Lt. Donna Mason signed for it, and she was in the elevator."

"Lt. Mason?" Hammond sighed. "You don't know why she signed it out?"

"Sam's calling the labs at CERL to see if anyone there has requested it."

Hammond wasn't happy. "Are there any more lurking around that I need to know about, I mean, other than the one you snuck into your office?"

"No, sir," Jack answered firmly while sending Daniel a pointed look, "he assured me when he told me, which, incidentally, was just before we came in here, that this is the last." He shook his head. "You know, and if I may, sir," Jack turned to Daniel, "I just don't get you sometimes. What the hell were you thinking, hiding this one from us?"

"Jack, not now. . ." Daniel gritted.

"Yes, now! I think the General would like an explanation as well!"

"At the time I didn't think it would. . ."

"At the time? Are you in a different zone, a 'Hi, I'm do-no-wrong Daniel, the sun shines out my ass so I'll do as I please' zone? It was a breach of trust and a breach of direct orders!"

"Jack, let's not go through this again. . ."

"Oh, I think we will! You think that because you aren't military personnel that the rules don't apply? You think that your academics overrule everything because you disapprove of military action?"

Daniel's face was tight with tension. "You know that's not true."

"The hell it isn't!"

"The hell it is!" Daniel flung his pen to the table; it bounced to the floor. "God, Jack, you would think that after all we've been through you'd know me better than that! After everything that has happened, after all the times I saved your ass! What about the number of times I fired that weapon in the name of what the military thought was right, even if I didn't? Don't you think I've grown a little beyond the innocent, naive archaeologist that first passed through that gate? After seven years don't you think I've grown up just a little? I kept that artifact, yes, and I went behind your back to do it, but only because I had no time to study it before you jumped to a conclusion and locked it away! You assumed it was the cause of my collapse when it wasn't, well, we know what caused it and what not to do. . ."

"It was dangerous, Daniel. . ."

"The majority of the SGC handles dangerous materials all the time, Jack! Myself included! What makes this so different?"

"You went behind my back! You jeopardized the safety and security of the base, not to mention the consequences in regards to national security!"

"Wh -this has nothing to do with national security!"

"This has everything to do with national security, Daniel! All it takes is one slip up, one little 'oh by the way I have another one of those' for someone to get wind of it and start trading it with god knows who for god knows what! Why did Lt Mason have it?"

"I don't know."

"What?"

"I said I don't know!"

"Exactly. And now we'll never know, will we? Because it blew up. It could have blown up in your fuckin' office, Daniel!"

He was shaking his head vigorously. "It needs the introduction of a certain chemical substance to stimulate. . ."

"Which either Lt. Mason had, or it doesn't need it after all, so what? Go out on a limb? Take a chance?"

"If you had let me study it under guarded conditions, I could have deciphered the writings and found out exactly what it was" he gave his head a shake, ". . .is. . ."

"It's a weapon Daniel, you know, the things that go boom that you hate? THAT'S what you're studying!"

"We don't know that!"

"What else could it be?"

"I don't know! You never gave me a chance to study it!" Daniel hesitated, then rounded on him in frustration. "Dammit, I this was close, but you wouldn't listen to me. You filed it away as some piece of crap because the military has no respect for my work. Do you have any idea how many times that happens to me, how-how often I come so close to finding the information I need only to be told that my time is up, or it doesn't matter? Well? Guess what? If it is a weapon, it's a weapon we can't use unless I can decipher what's written on the casing! And I can't do that unless I can see the damn object!"

Jack was silent for a moment, catching his breath, then responded in a quieter tone, "No wonder you never asked about it again. I expected you to tear the damn doors down trying to get back at it. I just assumed you agreed with me. Should've seen the signs."

"I'm glad you didn't." Daniel turned his back, then suddenly remembered who was in the room. He raised an angry yet cautious face to General Hammond.

"Now that that's over," Hammond said calmly, "would somebody like to give me a idea as to what we should do with this second object?"

"I'll take it back to the planet, sir," Daniel said quietly, glaring at Jack. "With your permission."

"I think that's exactly what you should do, Dr. Jackson. Immediately. Dismissed."

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He wasn't working. He wasn't even staring off into space. He was fuming, still, and couldn't seem to get the anger out of his system. He should resign. Go find that dream dig. The hell with all of this. Daniel growled at the book before him and forced himself to read the sentence he had been eyeing for the past fifteen minutes, a sentence that made no sense even to a linguist because he couldn't focus on it.

"Daniel?" Stan cautiously knocked on the half open door and waited for a greeting.

Daniel looked up, then peered over the rim of his large frames. A distraction. This could be good. "Stan? Come on in."

Stan smiled and walked in, looking around at the artifacts and books that sat wedged on the shelves. "You busy?"

"You serious?"

Stan laughed nervously. "That's right, I've heard about your habits."

Daniel swung around with a look of puzzlement. "What have you heard?"

"That you don't eat, don't sleep, walk around with your nose in a book, which I've witnessed myself, I might add. . ."

"I was preparing for the briefing. I had finally found notes on the Edurans of the Arcanic tribes and thought it relevant. . ."

"To risk your life by crossing the busiest junction of the SGC without raising your head. That's commitment, mate."

Daniel smirked. "Either way, the rumors are greatly exaggerated. I'm not as much of an enigma as people make me out to be."

"You were in school." Stan pulled up a chair. "No one could get near you."

"I was busy."

"If you want to call it that, sure. I call it being reclusive."

Daniel glanced at him, then turned his eye back to the annoying sentence. "You act like that offends you."

"Well it did. Then. Sort of. I mean, you were so damn smart, you know? The professors had nothing on you, you could lecture them right out of the hall."

"Which they appreciated, I'm sure," Daniel chuckled.

"No, no, you were impressive. I was envious."

"And now?"

"Now I wouldn't take on your workload for all the crumpets in England." Stan slapped a folder onto Daniel's desk. "Take a look. I found it in one of my boxes, I think it belongs to you."

"Sure." Daniel cocked his head to the side, eying the label. "Wonder how you got it?"

"Who knows. But. . . you may want to look at it." Daniel looked up at the sudden serious tone. Stan leaned his elbow on the desk, and waited.

Daniel pulled the folder to him opening it quickly. He pulled out several photos. "What is this? Okay, this is. . ." he frowned. "Wait. This is me."

"Yes."

"I mean, this is my house! And me leaving for work. . ."

"Yes."

"I don't understand." He looked up at Stan, then back at the pictures.

"I thought you might want to see them before I told the General."

"General? No!" The sudden negative took Stan by surprise, especially when Daniel started cramming the photos back into the folder. "No. It's just pictures."

"Daniel," Stan leaned in, "you're being followed."

"Just a prank. No need to get the whole SGC involved."

"Who said anything about the whole SGC?"

"Stan, look, I've got a lot going on, okay? The last thing I need is to show my face to the general right now." He sighed and tossed the folder back onto the desk.

"What's up?" Stan frowned and pulled up a chair.

Daniel measured him up, and gave in. "I had to return this artifact I was trying to study. Just. . . pissed me off."

"Wait, that one from PX4112? The one you've been sweating over?"

Daniel nodded, remembering his short conversations with Stan about the object when constant study left him nothing but frustrated. "Yeah. I still don't understand what it was. Guess I never will."

"You're interested because you think the one in storage caused the explosion."

Daniel turned. "Where did you hear that?"

"This place isn't exactly top secret within the walls, mate. People hear things."

"Oh, that's just wonderful." Daniel sighed and slumped.

Stan picked up a piece of paper and looked it over. "So, was this an artifact or a weapon?"

Daniel sighed. "Old weapons are artifacts, I mean, by the definition of the word, an artifact is something that. . ."

"Is representative of a past time and culture, yes, but what I'm asking is; what was its purpose?"

"I'm not convinced it was a weapon. I'd been trying to decipher the scrawls on the casing to see if there was a clue, some message or something to give me a clue as to what we were dealing with."

Stan grinned. "It came with instructions? 'Pull here and run like hell'?"

Daniel had to laugh as he punched the keypad. "It came with something. The scrawls were on the surrounding statues and temples. But I don't think it was instructions. For all I know it was a religious relic, a healing device or something. Very powerful." There was a knock on the door, and it opened slightly.

Jack stuck his head in. "Daniel?"

Oh, not now. Not Jack. His head dipped down to hide in his hands. "Yeah?"

"Can I talk with you out here please?"

"Jack, I really am. . ."

"It'll just take a moment."

He half expected Jack to make it a direct order, but the older man just stood patiently in the doorway. Daniel leaned in close to Stan, using his body to block his hiding the pictures underneath a file folder. "Look, don't say anything, let me deal with this, okay?"

"It might slip out."

"Well shove it back in."

"You sure?" Stan asked hesitantly.

"I'm sure." Daniel's reply was as decisive as his steps as he walked into the hall. He straightened and faced Jack. "What can I do for you, Jack?"

Jack pulled the door almost closed and leveled a stern look at the younger man. "I'm not going to pretend I'm not pissed off at you, 'cause I am, and I have every right to be. Let me finish. . ." he held up a finger as Daniel opened his mouth to speak, "that doesn't mean I can't be more. . .courteous. . .in the future, about what you want. But I want you to remember that you triggered that thing."

"Jack, my point was that once we knew what triggered it, it was avoidable. With the right precautions I could have studied it longer. . .why was it locked away? I mean if everyone thought it was so dangerous, then why was it kept here at the SGC?"

Jack opened his mouth, then shut it and frowned. "You know. . .I don't know."

"It could've been going back to the lab when it blew up."

"Maybe," Jack sighed. "All I'm saying is yes, you do get gypped, and I'll try and keep that from happening quite so much from now on, okay?" He ran his hand through his hair. "Look, let's get something to eat, grab a beer. Blow this joint."

"Jack, I still have a lot of – okay. But let's invite Stan, he doesn't get out much."

"And you do?"

"No choice." Daniel opened the door, hesitated, then quickly walked to the computer. "Stan, wh. . .what are you doing?"

Stan looked up from the information on the screen. "I'm sorry, the screen was up, I was just passing time, waiting for you. You were talking about the artifact, remember?"

"Crap." Daniel quickly leaned forward and cleared the screen. "I mean, there was nothing really important there. . .I probably was pulling that up, we were talking about it. . .no, don't worry about it. Nothing there you don't already know."

"Except for just how powerful that thing is." Stan shook his head and turned in the chair. "Why didn't it blow up the mountain?"

"Sam's asking the same question. Apparently it needs a different trigger to cause an explosion of that magnitude."

"Look, I'm sorry, I'm not one to pry. . ."

"No, forget it. Really. No big deal. Jack and I were going out, you want to come?"

"There a place around here with darts?"

Jack grinned evilly. "Oh, yeah!"