Chapter Twenty-One

Buffy restlessly paced her tiny office. She now wished that she had talked to Hammond about going with SG-1 and the med team back to the planet. It was driving her nuts not knowing what was happening. Plus, they had no idea how long the process would take so each minute that passed seemed to last an hour.

"I don't think the General wants to put in a request for a new floor," came Dave's amused voice from the doorway.

"What?" Buffy asked, stopping and looking at him in confusion.

"You're wearing a groove in the floor," Dave said, leaning against the doorframe. "Why don't you go to the gym and work off some of this extra energy?"

She shook her head. "My office is closer to the gateroom," she said before resuming her pacing, only to stop when Dave stepped in front of her.

He placed his hands on her shoulders in effort to try and hold her in place. "Summers, this is probably going to take a few hours. They've only been gone for fifteen minutes. I don't think it'll hurt you to go to the gym for a while." He gave her a knowing look. "Besides, you've been sitting in that observation room for nearly two days, only breaking long enough to sleep, and barely that. I'm surprised you haven't crawled out of your skin yet with all that excess energy."

"It's not fair," she claimed, crossing her arms.

"What's not?" He asked.

"That you're being all smart and leader-y. And how would you know about any excess energy?" She asked petulantly.

Dave rolled his eyes. "Summers, you're always underestimating me. Just because I'm military doesn't mean I'm an idiot. I thought you had figured that out by now."

She frowned. "I don't think you're an idiot. Believe me, if I thought you were, I wouldn't follow."

"That's reassuring," he said with a grin.

"But how did you know?"

He stepped away and leaned against her desk. "You've always seemed to have more energy than the rest of us, especially if you haven't sparred with anyone for a while. Once you let us in on your little secret it became more obvious and why."

"Huh?"

"Summers, you're smarter than this," he chided.

"Seriously, Dave, I've got no idea what you're talking about."

"It's the slayer part of you. It craves or needs action. It gives you more energy to do what needs to be done. And when you've had some downtime it kind of builds and makes you jittery."

Buffy pursed her lips and cocked her head to the side to study him. "And you figured that all out by watching me over the past two and a half months?"

"Most of it."

"And the rest?" She asked, quirking an eyebrow.

"I may have asked Jack a question or two," he admitted.

"Why?"

He sighed. "Buffy, apparently it's hard for you to believe that we care about you. That means worrying about you and wanting to know what to do to keep you safe and happy."

Buffy blinked at him in surprise. He had never called her by her given name before. It must have been to make sure it drove home how serious he was about what he'd said.

"Dammit, Summers, don't cry on me," he growled, seeing the tears in her eyes.

"Sorry, Dave," she said, giving him a watery smile. "Hopefully it'll only take a few more of these speeches from you for it to really sink in."

"I hope not," he said with a groan. "I'm not that great at this touchy, feely, emotion stuff. Just ask Sharon."

She giggled. "I will, as soon as you introduce us."

"Lord help us all when I do," he said walking over to her. He slung an arm over her shoulder and began guiding her out of the room. "So how about the gym?"

XXXXXXXXX

Jack stepped lightly back through the gate. The harrowing ordeal of the past several days was now coming to an end. He could see Buffy through the observation window above the gateroom. A huge grin spread across his face and he could tell she read his message loud and clear as she visibly relaxed.

"I trust things went well, Colonel," Hammond's voice came over the speaker as the rest of the party began emerging through the event horizon.

"Nail in the head good," Jack casually replied, turning to see Daniel emerge supported by a medic.

"I'd like to get him straight to the infirmary," Janet said, bustling about.

"Of course. Good work," Hammond said, before clicking the mic off.

Jack held back as Janet and her crew took care of Daniel. Now that his friend was back to normal, he could rest easy. When he finally exited the room, he saw Buffy waiting in the hallway.

"It's just Daniel left in his head?" She asked.

"Just the copious amounts of information of dusty rocks and books," he assured her. His arms itched to hold her, but he knew it would be wiser not to on the base.

"But is all of Daniel still there? I mean, parts of him weren't removed and sent wherever?" She worriedly asked. She hated to think her friend might have come out of this less than what he was.

"Pretty sure, and all of those other people went into the whackjob."

Buffy frowned at him. "Pharrin was only doing what he thought he needed to do to save his people."

It was Jack's turn to frown. "He had no right to do that to Daniel."

"I never said he did, just that I understand his motivations. What wouldn't you do to save SG-1?"

He sighed. "I get your point. Let me get cleared so we can blow this popsicle stand."

"I need to take a shower, but I want to see Daniel first," she said as they headed to the infirmary.

For the first time Jack noticed the thin layer of sweat on her skin and her damp locks. "What have you been doing?"

Buffy rolled her eyes. "Dave seemed to think I needed to work off some excess energy and dragged me to the gym."

"Was he right?"

"It was better than pacing and worrying," she admitted.

They entered the infirmary to see Daniel already hooked up to several monitoring machines. Buffy went to stand by Daniel's bed while Jack went to another for his examination.

"How are you?" She softly asked, minding his headache.

"Tired and my head's a little sore. It feels strange to have this huge gap of missing days. The last thing I remembered was splitting up to search the ship," he said, frowning slightly.

"That's gotta suck," she said, taking his hand and squeezing it.

"Is everyone else okay? Did they…"

"No, just you."

"It figures," he muttered under his breath.

"Don't worry, I'm sure Janet will let you out of here soon," Buffy said reassuringly. "Do you need anything?"

"Nothing that Janet will let me have," he said with a slight pout.

"I'll sneak you in some coffee later," she whispered.

"That would be heavenly."

A nurse came over to check some of the readings. Buffy smiled and released his hand. "I'll let them do their thing and I'll be back in a little while."

"Thank you, Buffy."

XXXXXXXX

The broken body lay lifelessly in his arms. His grief poured out of him as Charlie's blood spread out around them. Nothing he did could stop it. The harsh truth stared up at him in Charlie's blank eyes – his son was dead and it was all his fault. The sole responsibility rested on his shoulders and nothing could change it. He was forced to live with that knowledge for the rest of his life.

Darkness swirled around him. Threatening to engulf him. It was what he deserved and he went to surrender himself to it.

"Jack," a soft voice filtered through like a shining beacon. "Jack, wake up."

He fought against it even though his heart reached out to the honey-sweet voice. Charlie was dead because of him.

A hand gently touched his leg and the voice returned. "Come on, Jack. Wake up," it quietly insisted.

His voice hoarse and thick with emotion uttered his son's name as his eyes flew open and he sat up, reaching for him.

Jack's eyes searched the dark room. Hands cupped his face and guided his gaze to their owner. Tears filled his eyes as he recognized Buffy looking at him in concern. "Oh god," he choked out.

Buffy pulled him into her arms. "Shh, it's okay."

He clutched at her like a lifeline. "That poor boy," he cried, his body shuddering as he tried to hold back the sobs.

"I know," she soothed, knowing that the boy he was referring to was not his son, but the boy who had been inserted into Daniel's consciousness.

"How could his father do that to him? His own son! I don't understand," he nearly snarled.

In her heart Buffy understood that in Pharrin's twisted, broken mind that he had to save his son and that was the only way he could see to achieve the objective. Her mind, on the other hand, railed against the inhuman treatment of the young child. She couldn't even begin to imagine the pain Jack was feeling knowing he had lost his own child in a violent manner.

It was rare that Jack ever got like this, but the lack of sleep for several days compounded with his worry for Daniel and the reminder of his own painful past needed an outlet.

Jack knew that if Buffy had been anyone else, hell, even if he were alone, he would have just bottled these emotions up and shoved them back into the darkest recesses of his mind. Buffy was different, nearly from the start. Something inside him responded to her on a level that had never happened with anyone else. He knew that she didn't see him as any less of a man for showing her what he clearly thought of as a weakness. Perhaps it was because she was willing to show him her own vulnerable side.

So he let the emotions he had kept tightly penned up for the past few days out. Buffy was his anchor during the whirlwind of emotions. She seemed to know that he didn't need platitudes, just an opportunity to speak his peace.

As he calmed down, his body sagged wearily against her. She gently guided him back to a prone position. Instead of curling up to him like usual, she reversed it so he was the one being held. Safe in her embrace, he drifted into a dreamless sleep.

XXXXXXXXX

"How's Jackson?" Dave asked as he waited for Buffy to finish taping up her hands.

"Good. Still a little weirded out by everything, but he seems to be intact," she said brightly.

"Boring Jack to tears then," Dave translated.

"Yup. 'Course Jack is waiting for his opportune moment to drop a bombshell."

He looked at her with curiosity. "Bombshell?"

She grinned mischievously at him. "One of the personalities was a girl."

Dave let out a low whistle. "When did Jack learn this kind of restraint? I'm surprised he didn't immediately tease Jackson about it."

"He claims dealing with Daniel all of these years and not being allowed to kill him has finally taken its toll," she said, stepping onto the mat. "I told him he was just getting slow in his old age."

"Playing a dangerous game there, aren't you?" He teased, joining her on the mat.

Buffy shrugged. "No more than you," she said sweetly.

"What do you mean?"

"Simon told me about your first night on that planet hunting the vamps."

Dave could feel his heart begin beating faster. He could have sworn that Wells was joking with him. "Did he?" He casually asked.

"Yup. Never been referred to as 'pint-sized package' before," she said, cocking her head slightly to the side as if she were deep in thought.

"You know that I was only teasing."

"Oh yeah," she said with a dismissive wave of her hand. "I was just thinking that I should let loose a little more during our sessions."

Dave swallowed nervously. "Really? I had thought of something else."

"What?"

"That it wouldn't hurt for you and Teal'c to start sparring some, that way you'd both have someone who could challenge your skills," he said.

"We've already set that up. We start next week." Her eyes got wide and innocent-like. "Besides, you're the one who wanted to know what my abilities were."

Sharon had always warned him that one day the things he said would come back to bite him in the ass. This was obviously his day of reckoning. He sighed and resigned himself to his fate. "Just don't break me."

She grinned at him. "I would never. Simon and Jeff would never forgive me."