Tag #7 – Readjusting
Daniel stared muzzily at the swirling, dark brown coffee in his cup. He hadn't had coffee in almost a year, and it had been one of the few things he'd missed, but it held no pleasure for him now. He barely noticed how cold it was as he swallowed mechanically, only caring for the caffeine to keep the dreams at bay.
Exhausted as he was, he hardly noticed when Captain Carter joined him in the elevator. "Hi," she greeted him warmly.
He blinked, and raised his gaze to meet hers. "Hi," he mumbled automatically, sipping at his stone-cold coffee again.
Daniel could almost feel the concern radiating from her. "Hey, you okay?" she asked, touching his arm lightly.
"Yeah, just…exhausted," he admitted, taking off his glasses and rubbing at his eyes. "Heading down to the bunkroom."
Sam nodded as the doors opened, and they moved out into the corridor. Daniel replaced his glasses as she continued to speak. "I'm gonna drop by the control room. By the silence around here, it seems as if the Goa'ulds have finally given up." She glanced over at him. "When was the last time you slept?"
Daniel shook his head blearily. "I don't know," he whispered, feeling almost as though he couldn't even muster the energy to speak. It was before the Chulak mission, he knew that much.
"Doesn't help when the whole base goes on alert every two hours," Sam agreed.
Daniel slowed down, trudging to a stop in front of some double-doors. "No, it's not that," he clarified, although he had to admit it was rather nerve-wracking whenever those alarms went off. If he didn't know any better, he'd think he was feeling everyone else's fear as well. "My mind…races, and I can't stop thinking about Sha're," he tried to explain, fumbling with the words that usually came so easily. "Where she is, what she's become…"
Sam's eyes softened in sympathy. "I know. But you can't stay awake forever."
Oh, I wish. "I can try," he attempted to joke, lifting his nearly-empty coffee cup. The joke fell flat, and he blinked in exhaustion. "You're right; I'll see you at the next briefing."
She nodded and patted him on the shoulder as she walked past, heading for the control room. Daniel walked the other way, heading almost mindlessly towards his temporarily-assigned bunk. When he got there, he didn't even bother to turn on the light, just stumbled towards the bed with every intention of crawling onto its hard surface and sleeping around the clock.
The instant his butt hit the thin mattress, something was dislodged from the top bunk, and Daniel found himself staring at a very dead-looking hand. A thrill of horror surged through him, waking him up instantly as he scrambled for the light switch, already instinctively knowing what he would find. There was someone in the room, and they didn't feel alive in the slightest.
All traces of his exhaustion fled at the sight of the murdered doctor.