"Dr. Jackson, I'm not sure that'd be such a good idea," General Hammond replied after Daniel made his case.
"Sir, I can't save him. And, with all due respect, I'm not just going to stand by and watch helplessly while he dies." Daniel wasn't going to give up without a fight.
General Hammond reconsidered. "Alright, but he doesn't go anywhere with a level five security clearance and higher. Do you understand?"
"What about the Gate room?"
"He stays on base, but yes, he may see the Stargate. You can tell him first thing tomorrow, but for now I want you to go to your quarters and get some sleep."
"Yes sir. Thank you sir." Daniel was too happy to protest the part about going to sleep, so he went to his room on base and slept.
The next morning, Daniel woke up, got dressed and, instead of eating a real breakfast, he just grabbed a chocolate bar and a cup of coffee. "This is what I call a breakfast." He thought.
After he finished the chocolate, he went to Jack's office to have a chat. When he got there, the room was vacant of any people. He turned around to look for Jack and found him walking up the corridor towards him.
" 'morning sir." Daniel greeted his superior.
" 'morning Daniel, what's up?"
"General Hammond gave me permission to show Nick around the base, want to come?" Daniel invited.
"Sure, why not?" Jack accepted. "Are Teal'c and Carter sill on P3X-269?"
"Yeah, they're coming back sometime tomorrow, depending on how things go."
"Daniel, they're mapping the land and taking rock samples. What could go wrong?" Jack asked.
"Well, you remember what happened last timeā¦" Daniel pointed out. They both half laughed at that, remembering the little predicament they got themselves into.
"Hm, it's 10:30; think we should start the tour?" Jack suggested.
"Yeah."
They started walking down to the infirmary when Jack pointed out, "Um, Daniel? You might want to get rid of that coffee you have. Janet wouldn't be too happy if she caught you with that."
Daniel rolled his eyes when he recalled the lecture she had given him when, for six days, he had put himself on a coffee only diet while he was examining artifacts SG-5 brought back. Daniel would have gone longer if he could, but malnutrition took its toll and he ended up in the infirmary. Now Janet makes sure he knows that she disapproves of his habit of drinking coffee whenever she can. Therefore, he drank the last of the dark liquid and disposed of the foam cup in the nearest trashcan.
They caught Janet while she was coming out of the infirmary.
"Good morning Janet." Jack greeted.
"Good morning Colonel. Good morning Daniel." Janet greeted in return.
"Dr. Frasier." Daniel acknowledged in return, nodding his head a bit.
"The General told me about the tour. Nick should be fine to go, but if he shows any symptoms at all, I want him right back in that bed." Janet explained.
"Sounds like a plan to me." Jack agreed.
The teammates went in to get Nick who was overjoyed to hear the news and even more exited about getting out of that bed.
"We could start the tour here and explain every single detail we can about this room," Jack joked, "But I can tell you want to go, so let's move on, shall we?"
"Yes, let's." Nick agreed.
And so the tour began. They went from the infirmary, to the mess hall, through several empty meeting rooms, and the General even let them come through his office. The look on Nick's face the entire time was pure excitement. He'd never seen anything like that place in his life! After visiting the General's office, they also went to Daniel's lab and Jack's office.
When the two men finally stopped beating around the bush, they finally took Nick to the door that led into the Gate room.
"Last stop." Jack announced as Daniel gave his ID card to the guard who was standing next to the door and swiped the card to open it.
"Welcome to the Gate room!" Daniel announced as they stepped inside.
The blue plasma in the Stargate was active, making it look like a huge pool turned on its side. "Whoa." Nick couldn't believe his eyes. Pure amazement absolutely covered his face. After the initial shock wore off, Nick turned around to face Daniel and Jack and began asking the three billion questions that flooded into his mind. "What is that? How does it work? What does it do? What do the symbols on the sides mean? Where is it from?..."
"Whoa, calm down kiddo. I think Dannyboy should be the one to explain it to you. After all, he was the one who figured out how to make it work. Anyways, I have to go. See you later!" Jack left the room.
Along the side wall, Daniel and Nick found some seats to sit on.
"So, let me guess. You work on top secret missions for the government?"
"Something like that." Daniel admitted.
Nick was in awe. "So, what is it?" he asked talking about the Stargate.
They spent two hours talking about the Stargate. As usual, Daniel avoided anything that gave him too much credit.
Near the end of the two hours, Nick was starting to pale again. Even though this would have seemed minor, Daniel knew it wasn't and despite protests, he immediately took Nick back to Dr. Frasier.
I've had nothing else to do but write. :) (fun fun fun till my daddy took the t-bird away) :) School starts the 16th, so i can't promise new chapters soon, but I'll work hard to get them aout before it starts. I love reviews... so please review! (please?)
