3. Tree of Oak

Jack sat stiffly in the hard chair of a waiting room, staring absently at the blood on his hands. Daniel's blood was drowning him, a river too fathomless for him to swim. He floundered in that river, trying to divine how he had gotten there, how things had gotten so wrong without him seeing. He should have been there sooner, he should have seen how lost Daniel was, and now they were both falling. He was out of his sight now, pulled into another room while the doctors tried to stop the red tide and pull him back to life. Jack had nothing left of him but blood, he floundered in it, until a solid, dark hand appeared to pull him out.

"Teal'c?" Jack asked, and he turned his head to see his teammate towering over him, an immobile force within a flurry of SGC personnel scattered around him. Jack observed, without really seeing, as Janet started to hound the nurses for information, flanked by a couple of officers apparently sent by Hammond in the wake of the 'attack'. Carter was there too, standing beside Teal'c, looking flustered when she saw the blood staining Jack's shirt and coating his hands.

"You will come with me, O'Neill," Teal'c announced, his low voice cutting through the meaningless words flying about the room, the first sound that had truly gotten through to Jack since Daniel had been wheeled from his sight. Silently, he was led by Teal'c away from the room into a small bathroom. When Jack only stared blankly at the sink Teal'c led him to, the Jaffa started the water and pushed his hands beneath it.

The sudden sensation of hot water against his hands jolted through his system. He watched as bits of Daniel washed down the drain with detached interest. All at once, everything was catching up to him, and he spun quickly, rushing for a toilet. Teal'c was there when he finished, offering him a small plastic cup of tap water. It was warm but Jack gulped it down anyway.

"You must remove your shirt," Teal'c instructed, holding one up for Jack to change in to. Jack nodded, suddenly repulsed by the blood coating him. He felt like he had butchered Daniel, when all he had done was try to stop the blood. He changed at Teal'c instruction, then returned to the sink, this time scrubbing his hands with soap, removing the last of it. When Teal'c started to lead him to the door to leave, he began to shake.

"Crap, T," he said, "That was Daniel I washed away. I washed him away."

"You have saved his life, O'Neill," Teal'c answered. His voice was solid, but gentle with contained passion, and Jack clung to it like a branch in a storm.

"You don't know that," he whispered, "They said we'll have to wait and see."

"Daniel Jackson will survive," Teal'c answered, "He has much to live for."

"Then why'd he friggin' try and take it!" Jack demanded, "He cut his arms to ribbons, Teal'c! If…if…why!" Jack lashed out, aiming for a tiled wall, but Teal'c caught his fist and refused to let go. Though this was the first time he had heard the details surrounding Daniel's 'attack', and the truth hit him like a blow, Teal'c did nothing more than bow his head, offering his strength to his friend.

Jack still struggled to be free, wanting to break under the pain, until finally the storm was released in gasping sobs. He weathered the storm huddled on a bathroom floor beneath the solid presence of Teal'c, riding upon wave after wave of agony until he rode it out and fell into himself again.