AN- The beginning of this chapter is for "iamari", who suggested that I should give Teal'c more of a role in my work. Truthfully, I never really got the point of having Teal'c around for the first few seasons; all he ever did was stand quietly and look intimidating. I'm glad they've given him more of a personality in the last few seasons. Anyway, On With the Story! BTW, I have no idea if the medical stuff at the end of the chapter is true or not; it just sounded good and it's needed for the story to work.

Disclaimer- If I owned SG-1, do think for a second that I would be sitting around writing fan fiction when I'm not working? Do you think I would need to work? Ha! The extents of my possessions are a beanbag chair and a Taekwon-do uniform. So there!

Chapter 6

Time Limit

O'Neill, Carter and Teal'c returned to camp later that night, expecting to see Daniel awake.

This, unfortunately, was not the case.

"Hey, T'?" O'Neill called over to the towering Jaffa.

"Yes, O'Neill?" Teal'c asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Go see if Space Monkey's awake, would ya?"

Carter turned and stifled a giggle at O'Neill's nickname for Daniel as Teal'c did as the colonel asked. He emerged a moment later from Daniel's tent. "I believe that Daniel Jackson is still not 'among the land of the living' as you like to put it, O'Neill." He said.

O'Neill rolled his eyes in a gesture that was becoming all too common for his liking. "Geez, what's got him so wiped out?" He asked no one in particular.

"Who knows, sir?" Carter said from where she was kneeling on the ground making a campfire, "Maybe he spent the other night partying too hard."

O'Neill looked at his second in command incredulously. "Daniel? Party? Ha! Good one, Carter."

Teal'c raised an eyebrow. "Do you not believe that Daniel Jackson has a social life, O'Neill?"

"No, I don't believe it for a second."

Carter finally succeeded in creating a somewhat pitiful spark in the wood, and was now working on making it big enough to be useful. "You never know, sir," she said.

"Whatever," O'Neill stifled a yawn. "Well, goodnight campers! I'm gonna turn in."

"Let me get this straight, Kate," Daniel said, "You were thrown out of the bus and into the water, but your father found you, unconscious, washed up onto the shore of the Nile about half a mile downstream. You aren't human, and your father took you back here, where he says you belong?" They were walking between buildings, now, and darting between the beings of all shapes and sizes while the two of them made their way to another building.

She sighed. "Yeah, that about sums it up. He was furious when he found out that I was engaged, and he forbade me to ever contact you until about a year and a half ago. By then, you had been working for the SGC for about three years, and it was extremely difficult to find you. Father would only let me stay on earth for two weeks to see if I could find you, and when I couldn't, he brought me home again. Only recently, when you had gone far enough from Earth, and close enough to my home planet, could I sense through Shenol that you were even still alive." She paused long enough to dodge a rather rushed-looking creature with scaly skin and large white eyes that was elbowing its way through the crowd, and then she continued. "It was then that I tried to contact you, but your experience in the SGC gave you strong mental shields. It was only in your sleep that I could enter your mind, and when you were on earth, I could only keep you there for about five or ten minutes. Then you went to Krift: It was far enough from Earth, and close enough to me, that I could keep you in the dream a little longer. We talked, but for some reason, I just couldn't work up the courage to appear to you."

"Why not?" Daniel asked, following her inside the building where they had just arrived.

"I..." She trailed off, and seemed to truly consider the question. "I guess I just didn't want to risk losing you again." He must have looked as confused as he felt, because she immediately tried to elaborate. "I mean, I wasn't sure if you'd believe that it was me. Or that, if you did, you would never trust me again."

How could she say that? Thought Daniel, She means so much to me. I will always trust her. I love her.

Kate blushed. "Really?" she asked.

"Huh?" Daniel didn't know what she was talking about.

She smiled that electric smile that still managed to send shivers down his spine. "I can still hear your thoughts Daniel. Do you really love me after all this time?"

Daniel looked as if she had smacked him. "How can you ask that?" he grabbed her shoulder, forcing her to face him, which she had been reluctant to do on her own. "I do now, and I always will, love you. Nothing has changed. If you can read my thoughts, you should know that already." He wiped away a single tear that was running down her cheek, and pulled her into a hug. It felt good to have her in his embrace after all these years.

"Thank you," she said, as they pulled away from each other. "I guess I just needed to hear you say it out loud."

He smiled. "Just read my thoughts if you want to hear it again."

"I know that bugs you...I'll try not do it if you want."

"Thanks,"

They were heading to a hanger-most likely a sort of hovercar parking lot-when Daniel spoke again. "You never told me what, exactly, you are. You said you weren't human, but you never elaborated." He said.

"Well..." She drew out the syllable, making as long as she could without sounding like she was avoiding the question. "The best way to describe it to you is that I'm an Ancient."

Daniel almost tripped on a stair. "A...A...Ancient?"

"Sir, He's still not awake." Carter emerged from Daniel's tent the next morning.

"Still?!" O'Neill could not keep the frustration out of his voice. "Go wake him up!"

Carter looked a little concerned. "I tried, sir. Nothing I do will wake him."

"Alright, alright..." Mumbled O'Neill. "...need anything done around here, you gotta do it yourself." He got up off of the log he had been sitting on, stretched, and sauntered over to Daniel's tent. Peering inside, he could he Daniel contentedly snoring away. He went to the younger mans side, waved a hand in front of Daniel's face, and, unsatisfied, gave him a kick to the ribs.

Daniel never even flinched.

"Hmmm..." O'Neill doubted that this was a good thing. The archeologist was usually a very light sleeper. "Carter," He called his second in command as he stepped into the glaring sun. "How long can the human body survive without water?"

She looked him with even more concern than before. "Only about five days, sir. After two days or so, the body starts to lose mass to conserve energy to survive." She hesitated. "Why do you ask?"

O'Neill pointed his thumb over his shoulder in Daniel's direction. "Because Danny Boy's been asleep for thirty-six hours, and hasn't moved a muscle. Something must be wrong. Hey, Teal'c!" He called over to his friend.

"Yes, O'Neill?" Teal'c jogged over to where the Colonel was standing.

"Grab Daniel; we're taking him back to base."

Teal'c went inside the tent, emerging a minute later with a still-snoozing Daniel slung across his shoulders. Together, they headed for the 'Gate.

Dr. Frasier straightened from her previous hunched over position, and pulled the stethoscope from her ears. "Well, sirs," She said with a sigh. "Whatever knocked him out is doing a good job. I can't do anything to wake him up."

"What can you do, Doctor?" This from General Hammond.

"Aside from a hydration drip and keeping track of his vital signs? Not much."

"What's the bad news?" O'Neill asked from where he was leaning on the doorjamb.

"Sir, he's in a deep state of REM sleep. If he stays like this to long, his brain could simply shut down from lack of outside stimulus."

"What's REM sleep?" O'Neill asked of the unfamiliar term.

Frasier looked up from the needle she was attaching to Daniel's arm. "REM sleep is 'Rapid Eye Movement', sir. It's the deepest state of unconsciousness a human can healthily obtain. He's dreaming, sir, and if he doesn't wake up soon...he could die."