Title: Evil Twin

Fandom: Stargate SG-1

Characters i Pairing: Dr. Daniel Jackson & Col. Jack O'Neill

Table: Astrological

Prompt: Gemini

Word Count: 888

Rating: T or PG for language

Summary: Post- Absolute Power (417?) Jack asks why, Daniel tells why.

Author's Notes: I'm bored.

ooOooOoo

Daniel drank the beer.

Daniel ate the pizza.

Daniel didn't complain about the game.

Daniel had been acting very unlike himself ever since that kid gave him that goddamned 'teaching dream' & scared the life out of not only Jack, but also out of a good deal of the rest of the SGC. He just seemed to be going through the motions of being Daniel Jackson and not actually living. And Daniel didn't know it, but Jack knew about the more frequent trips to the shooting range, the additional workouts with the Marines, and the daily kel'no'reems with Teal'c. He also knew that today was the first day Daniel had left the base in a little more than a week.

Daniel was getting 'looks' from Fraiser & the rest of the medical staff, he was making his own staff nervous with his more frequent all-nighters and blowups over anything from horrendous mistakes to the type of water they used to make coffee. Even Carter was saying that he was working too hard, which from Jack's point of view was usually pot-kettle-ish, but right now it was just another sign of trouble.

Now he was ready to poke the sleeping tiger, the ticking bomb, the soon to be very angry man that he called his best friend. Jack shook his head, he was probably both the stupidest s.o.b and the luckiest (provided he survived another one of Daniel's blowups.)

"So, Carter's complainin' that you're working more than she is."

"Okay." Okay, that was too subtle.

"And Fraiser's threatening to drug your ass and tie you in a bed." Daniel did a double take and actually had a reaction that was slightly human.

"Uh, I'm not that kinky. And I think I'm going to avoid her even more now."

"Damnit Daniel, we're all worried about you. Ever since that kid, you've been out of it or so strung out that even the SF's are walking on eggshells 'round you." Daniel's eyes narrowed.

"Great. I think I'm going now."

"To home or back to the base? Because if you say work, I'm gonna get your ass banned & you won't be back until you talk."

"Talk? You want me to talk?" Daniel sputtered, "You, you... forget it." Daniel deflated and sank back unto the couch. Jack watched as the man took a long pull of his beer and closed down again.

"Daniel."

"No."

"If you don't tell me, or hell, anyone what's going on, why you're courting the wrath of the whole med. staff, I'm gonna have to side with Fraiser and put you on medical stand-down." Jack said and Daniel looked at him blankly.

"Really? How nice."

"Goddamnit, it's not nice!" Jack yelled and instantly regretted, he always hated yelling at Daniel, even if it was earned or needed.

"You want to know?"

"Yes."

"Fine."

"Good."

"Yeah."

"So?"

"What?"

"You know."

"Okay, I can't sleep. When I sleep I dream, those dreams usually turn into nightmares that have me jerking awake in a cold sweat. So, as a result I work, hell, I do anything I can to push myself to the very edge so I can sleep without dreams, and nothing works." Daniel looked like he was about to cry and if it were anyone else Jack would think he was going to cry, but with Daniel, this meant he was about to blow his top. Jack wondered, briefly, if his living room would survive. But just as quickly the thoughts are dismissed and he focused on Daniel.

"What are the dreams?"

"Flashbacks to the dream Shifu gave me." The tone is even, and Jack knew he needed to press the issue.

"So?"

"You don't get it. I'm seeing through the eyes of what would seem like my evil twin, but it's not my twin, it's me. That dream was the darkest part of me, brought forth and given freedom to do whatever the hell I wanted. I killed Teal'c, I imprisoned Sam, I made you powerless to do anything but watch as I started to slaughter the world. I killed millions knowingly. I became a monster and all I could think of was why it was for the best, that it was right!

"God help me, but I loved it. I loved the killing, I loved planning the betrayals, I loved the blood on my hands. I knew it was right!" Daniel was up and pacing the room, hands in the air doing as much speaking as the voice was, "Jack, that rightness was caused by me having the goa'uld genetic memories. I felt like I was doing good things!"

"But it wasn't real."

"It was real enough!" Daniel shouted, then his voice turned into a whisper, "It was fucking real enough to give me nightmares that I can't banish by my usual means. It was real enough to make me have to examine every action, every word, to be sure I'm not turning into what I now fear more than becoming a host." Daniel grabbed his beer and finished it in one last long pull, then he flung the bottle at the wall.

"Daniel." Daniel turned to him with eyes full of chaotic emotions.

"I don't ever want to take that path, not again."