Author Notes: Yay! I'm back. Thank you to all my reviewers, I love reading what you have to say. Special thanks to Chemical Nova, who is now going to continually remind me to update. This chapter is written in celebration of season 8 of Stargate coming to channel 4 :)

Chapter 13: Daniel

Thud. After two and a half minutes, well under Jonas' predicted time, Jack crashed to the floor and surrendered. His sparring matches with Teal'c were become the highlight of the SCG's entertainment and, as such, he was humiliated once more in front of half of the SG teams.

"I give up, T, you win. Go fight Daniel or something, I gotta shower."

"I doubt Daniel Jackson would wish to spar with me O'Neill."

Daniel pondered this for a second. Originally he had been planning on challenging Jack, but if he fought Teal'c, it would be a lot more interesting. Mind made up, he spoke out, "Yeah, alright Teal'c, I'll fight you."

Everyone in the gym froze and stared at Daniel. Jack stood, unashamedly gaping at his best friend, "Say what?"

"Are you certain Daniel Jackson? I could badly injure you."

"Yeah, but not the Earth style of fighting, I'm rubbish at that. Let's spar in the Jaffa discipline."

Teal'c raised an eyebrow, and then inclined his head. He went to the store room off the gym and returned with two wooden replicas of a Jaffa staff weapon. Still, no one moved, too far into a state of shock. One person, however, who would later be identified as Major Ferritti, snuck out to notify as many people as he could, including General Hammond.

Taking off his jacket, Daniel took one of the staffs from Teal'c. Standing about one and a half metres apart, both men began circling. Jack snapped out of his stupor and yelled to Daniel, "Stop!" Too late.

Daniel leapt at Teal'c, and the staffs clashed. A flurry of offences and defences followed, some too quick to follow. On the first few blows, Teal'c had been holding back, but now he attacked his friend full force. He was momentarily surprised at how adept and focused Daniel was, but soon he too was lost in the fight.

General Hammond entered the room to see Daniel leap deftly over Teal'c and strike a blow to the back of his knees, making them buckle. Teal'c hit the floor, only to sweep around and take Daniel's legs from under him. Both men flipped back to their feet at the same time and, once more, began their circling. The fight had been going on for eight minutes, well over Jack's record.

General Hammond went over to the remainder of SG-1, "What on earth is going on?"

"Daniel and Teal'c are, well, fighting, sir." Jack informed him, not taking his eyes off the pair.

"I gathered that Colonel, but why?"

Jack shrugged, Jonas frowned, "Maybe Daniel's been practicing." Both General Hammond and Jack looked at Jonas sceptically, "Just a thought."

Meanwhile, Sam was watching the fight. A horrible, sick feeling of foreboding was gathering in the pit of her stomach. Since the first blow had fallen, both combatants had been getting faster, and more forceful, as if they were forgetting who they were fighting. She doubted whether Teal'c had fought like this since the incident with Imhotep. As for Daniel, his eyes were growing cold, and faraway. Unbidden, a conversation she and Daniel had with her when they were children echoed in her head:

"Um, Daniel? Have you ever killed someone before?"

"Yes."

Crap.

So much blood, and screaming, it just won't stop. Whoever I am fighting is tough, tougher than most of them. It's like he's predicting my next move. If I wasn't concentrating so much on preventing my head from getting kicked in, I would look at his tattoo, the one that says what 'god' they serve.

Ouch. Well that hurt. What was that? My vision's going weird; it's getting darker. Doesn't matter though, he's on the ground, soon to be dead. I raise my staff – where did I get that? Maybe I took it off another Jaffa – what the..? Gold? Since when do the Jaffa have gold tattoos? They haven't done that for centuries. And a serpent brand? Oh shit.

The world snapped back into technicolour and for a second, Daniel froze, looming over Teal'c. The tables soon turned, however, as Teal'c managed to get back up again, knocking Daniel down in the process. Unlike Daniel, he had not lost his focus, and Daniel had a horrible feeling that, like he had, Teal'c had forgotten who he was fighting.

Teal'c slammed his staff down to where Daniel's head lay. Daniel only just managed to roll out of the way before the staff splintered on the mat. Flipping to his feet, and then leaping over Teal'c so that he was a good distance away, Daniel threw his staff to Teal'c's feet. With baited breath, Daniel waited for Teal'c to mimic him, to register that both had equal skills. Thankfully, he did, and the two wooden staffs hit each other with a resounding clunk.

Two seconds passed, before the onlookers roared in approval. Teal'c slowly bowed to Daniel. He attempted to bow in return, but the adrenaline was ebbing and he found himself on his knees, shaking, dots dancing through his vision. Concernedly, Teal'c went over to Daniel, worried that he was very badly injured from the fight that got out of control. The cheering died slightly, but Daniel managed to make his voice carry, as strong as he could make it, "I'm fine, just lost my footing."

Daniel's claim seemed to satisfy the crowd, who dispersed and returned to their duties, leaving only SG-1, General Hammond, and a very pissed looking Doctor Fraiser, who had apparently joined the crowd later in the fight. "I've only just released Sam, and now you two beat the crap out of each other!" She frowned, realising how strange the statement was. Both Daniel and Teal'c were as beat up as each other, Daniel was only looking worse because he obviously had less stamina as Teal'c; or was worse at hiding his fatigue.

"Daniel, how did you do it?" Jack asked.

"Indeed, Daniel Jackson, you could have beaten me on the battlefield. I have not fought like that in many a year and I was unprepared for your skill."

Daniel didn't answer, but swayed slightly. Jack only just caught him before he slipped sideways, unconscious.

"Perhaps we should wait," General Hammond commented, smiling slightly at the two exhausted men, and the unconscious one, "Doctor?"

Janet sighed, "I'll sort it out sir."

"So how d'ya think he did it?" A distant voice filtered through into Daniel's sleepy mind.

"I cannot say, O'Neill, but he fought very similarly to when he did when you and I were attempting to restrain him as a child, and when he overcame the orderlies."

"Wonderful. We've only just sorted out Carter's little problem, and now Daniel's. Jonas, I swear, you'd better give us at least a month's break.

"Hey! Don't look at me!"

"What do you mean my 'little problem', sir?"

Groggily, Daniel felt that he should break up the small 'discussion', "Well, you were very short Sam."

He blearily opened his eyes to see his team mates all looking at him, one glaring, "If you weren't in that bed, I would hit you."

"Where's Janet? I wanna go home." Daniel whined.

"House arrest, remember? So it wouldn't matter if she did release you. Not that she would, that needle hoarding, power obsessed – hey Doc!"

"Colonel." Janet was glaring daggers at him, apparently having heard most of his comments. Luckily for Jack, though, she overlooked it, "I want to keep you over night for observation Daniel."

"What! Why? I'm fine, and you're not keeping Teal'c back."

"Teal'c didn't black out. It's just a precaution. Anyway, you lot, out. Daniel needs rest."

"Don't." Daniel muttered sulkily.

Janet threw him an exasperated look as she ushered the others out, who quickly said their goodbyes.

Daniel laid his head back down and, despite his claims to Janet, fell directly back to sleep.

Unfortunately, in dreams, sometimes our mind can show us what we do not want to see; especially for Daniel.

To Be Continued…

Author Notes: Please review, and I might update a bit quicker, you never know! I need feedback already!