One More Try by Betty Bokor
Sam/Daniel. Daniel has a heartbreaking secret and needs to share it with Sam.
Spoilers: All seasons, including 9 and 10.
Disclaimer: The Stargate original characters belong to MGM/Showtime, Double Secret Productions, and Gekko Film Corp. This was written strictly for the purpose of entertainment. No attempt at copyright infringement has been made.

One More Try

Chapter 11

A.N. This story was posted, complete with the same ending that you will see soon, a long time ago, probably December of 2005, in this website. A short while ago, I received a message that said that there were similarities between this story and another one written by an author of this same site. I just want to reply to that pointing to the fact that this story has been here much longer than the other one, complete before the other one was even written, therefore it cannot have "taken" ideas from the other. It was also posted before December in three other websites and it has been there all along. Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoy!

The next morning, Sam woke up feeling cold. Daniel was spooned behind her and his left arm was on her waist. She raised her hand to touch him and he felt cold. She jumped off the bed and leaned over Daniel. She was freaking out. He could not be dead. He just could not, she kept repeating herself. She pushed him back and checked his pulse. There it was, very faint, but a pulse nonetheless. She grabbed the phone and called Carolyn. Very soon they were both at the SGC Infirmary. After a long wait, Dr. Lam finally came out to the waiting area were Sam was with Jack, Teal'c, and Cam.

"He's in a coma. There's no reactivity or perceptivity at all. We've tried several methods to arouse him to consciousness, but to no avail. He's in a deep stage of coma and I'm afraid it was self-induced."

"What do you mean?" Jack interrupted.

"We found a small device in his hand. There were some traces of a liquid surrounding it and we analyzed them. It's not like anything we've ever seen before. It's a very potent sedative that has put him almost in a vegetative state. His body is functioning at the lowest level possible, almost as when an animal enters a period of deep hibernation. We know that scientists in Washington have induced a hibernation-like state in mice by injecting them with hydrogen sulfide, but this is completely different."

"Why would he do that?" Sam asked even if she did not expect an answer. She did not think any of them would know why.

"What can be done?" Jack asked, as always looking at the practical angle.

"We don't know yet. There are characteristics of his state that have us perplexed."

"Such as…" Jack encouraged her.

"As I said, nearly all his body activities are reduced to a minimum; he has slowed his metabolism and his breathing rate to very low levels. His temperature has dropped drastically." Sam shivered remembering his cold hands. Dr. Lam kept on going. "He'll continue digesting and eliminating foods, if we feed him. If we don't, he'll have to use the fat reserves of his body and, as most of you who train with him must be aware, there's not much of that."

Jack rubbed his forehead with his hand and sat down, feeling overwhelmed. Sam and Teal'c did not move. Cam, consumed by guilt over having given him the little sun, asked, "Do you think there's anything positive to this?"

"Yes, I do. I trust that Daniel had a very good reason for doing this and that he knew exactly what he was doing. Besides that, there's the fact that his brain activity is proportionally inverse to that of the rest of his body."

"His brain activity is increasing at the same time that the rest of his body's is decreasing." Teal'c stated from his corner.

"More or less that. It shouldn't be possible, but that's what's going on. It defies everything I have learned," Carolyn said softly. "His brain activity has some common patterns with what we saw in Khalek's case."

"Do you think he's preparing to ascend?" Jack broke in with a glint of hope.

"No," Sam said sadly. "We talked about it. He said he wouldn't do it again, that he was tired of dying…" She could not continue talking and had to cover her eyes, as she was not able to stop her tears. In an uncharacteristic move, Teal'c approached her and turned her so that she would lean on his chest while she cried. Nobody said a word.

"We'll have to wait and see," Dr. Lam finally said. "We have placed a feeding catheter and hooked him to other equipment that we believe would help him, even though at this time he's still doing fine by himself."

She went back inside his room and slowly all of his friends followed.

Ten days later, General Landry called everybody in the briefing room to silence and asked Dr. Lam to start.

"These are the results of the SPECTs," she explained as she began passing around a series of prints. When she noticed the questioning looks of some of the people sitting at the table, she clarified, "It's a type of tomography, a three-dimensional image of the active regions of the brain. It's more detailed and has a higher degree of resolution than other tomographies. It shows deeper structures."

"And?" Jack cut in.

"It tells us the same as the other tests. We've tried everything we have: EEG, MRI, Cat Scans, PET Scans, and even MRS." Nobody even blinked; she thought they just looked lost. "What I mean is that, short of a biopsy, we have tested him in any way known to us, and every time the results are the same."

"They are…" Jack pushed again feeling more and more frustrated.

"His brain has a level of activity that's completely incompatible with the functioning level of the rest of his body. There's an unprecedented increase in the number of synaptic connections and consequently a rapid rise in glucose uptake." She started speaking fast until the others' faces slowed her down. "It signifies that his brain is working overtime while his body has completely slowed down."

"We knew that already," Jack interrupted one more time and this time Landry gave him an impatient look.

"I know. It has even increased since I told you. What I haven't told you yet is that while we were studying the patterns of electrical activity of his brain we made more extraordinary findings. This area in pale blue here," she said while pointing at a colorful image, "is the tumor. It was growing rapidly, very aggressively, before the coma, but it has almost stopped its growth in the last ten days. Fortunately, it hasn't invaded other tissues. In this MRI you can distinguish the tumor from the edema it's causing by the use of oxygen-" she stopped for a second and sat back. "There are changes in the anatomy and the chemical characteristics of the tumor. I think Daniel's body is fighting it."

"Do you believe that's the reason why Dr. Jackson put himself in a coma?" General Hammond asked. Even though he had retired, Daniel's situation had brought him back to the SGC.

"Yes, I do believe it. There's no other explanation," Carolyn conceded. "We still don't know how he's doing it, but it's happening before our eyes."

"Do the drugs that were in the device have anything to do with it?" Cam wanted to know.

"No. Those drugs just induced the coma. They haven't shown any other capabilities. The rest is all of Daniel's making."

"What will happen if he wins the battle with the tumor?" Jack inquired.

"We don't know. Most of his symptoms are caused by the sheer size of the tumor and the space that it occupies. If that goes away… His blindness, for example, is a product of the pressure that the tumor is exerting on the Optic Nerve. It's been the case before, in other subjects, that, when the pressure was relieved, there was a dramatic return of vision, but all cases vary."

"Is this ability that DanielJackson has developed in any way similar to Khalek's healing ability?" Teal'c asked. "He has most clearly shown some of his advanced brain function."

"We don't have enough data to compare them. Though Khalek was a genetic hybrid, he was significantly more evolved than we are. Probably he was supposed to become an Ancient, a created one, but an Ancient nonetheless, with all the capabilities that it implies. We know Daniel has ascended twice and that he has retained his own memories, at least, the second time around. Maybe more. If he can tap into any of his memories from when he was an ascended being, then, perhaps, this is all a result of that knowledge. Still, there's no way to prove it," Carolyn finished.

"Anything else you can tell us?" General Landry asked his daughter.

"Well, we know for certain that the destruction of even small areas of the brain can have devastating consequences. As you know, the idea that we use only a part of our brains is a myth. Many experiments have shown how almost every area shows activity while performing diverse tasks. Not all at the same time, but different ones per task. The point is that the edema, the swelling, in Daniel's brain is killing cells, every minute. Before the coma started we noticed that the function of the most affected brain areas was being taken over by the surrounding tissue, to compensate for the loss. It showed the amazing capacity of the human brain to rewire and reorganize itself." She stopped, not sure of how to continue.

"But…" Jack said while gesturing with his hand for her to continue. "I can hear a but coming."

"But after the coma started, we believe, even though we're not completely certain-"

"For cryin' out loud! What?" He screamed.

"When nervous tissue dies," she said calmly, defiantly, "it doesn't grow back; the damage is permanent, irreversible, but Daniel's brain cells appear to be reproducing in order to attain the original amount."

"That's not possible," Sam spoke for the first time.

"I know."

They all sat back and considered what had been discussed for a moment. Then, General Landry dismissed the meeting and everybody left the room.

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