Part Six.
It had been the longest three days of his life, but now at long last he was given the all clear. Various tests done on his back had confirmed there was no long-term damage to his spine, say for the bruising, but hell, if one falls off a cliff, one can expect a certain amount of that.
Jack O'Neill was now mobile! Well, sort of. So far because of the size of the cast and the other injuries - though not as severe - he had, a wheel chair was the only way he could get around for the time being. Which was fine, those crutches were hard work. So he had free run - well wheel - of the base. He had called in on George and Carter a few times, usually when he was bored and good-ol Doc Frasier was climbing the walls.
Well, it was about time she got to know him.
Teal'c was a star, in Teal'cs own room he had cable. Something Jack made sure the poor guy had since the Jafa was never allowed off the base. So there was CNN, and the sports channels available to keep Jack occupied when things got to boring. Teal'c also accompanied him on his more adventurous runs of the base and they even spared in the Gym, though Jack got the impression the guy was going easy on him, till he whacked him with his plastered leg and made a screeching escape before the enraged Jafa could get a hold of him. Jack really hadn't meant to catch him...there at all. It wasn't like he could lift the damn limb any higher to avoid that, sensitive place.
No amount of apologising right now got through to Teal'c however and Jack made a metal note to buy him some peanut butter. The guy went crazy for the crunchy stuff.
So who hadn't he annoyed today? Jack thought as he tilted the wheel chair onto the two back wheels and started to push circles around the ward.
"Colonel!" A familiar - very familiar - screech came tumbling out of the office that adjoined the ward and Jack quickly put the chair down, though kept the circles going. If he got up enough speed it would be like a Ferris-wheel.
He could go see Carter, but no, she was off-world helping SG-2 with...something utterly scientific and boring.
Teal'c? No, not till he had the peanut-butter.
Daniel?
He glanced over at the guy in question and quickly decided against it. Jack couldn't remember everything about what happened back on that planet, but the parts he could, he knew Daniel had literally been to hell and back. Sure, it wasn't exactly a picnic for him either but falling off cliffs and living to tell the tale? Well, he was sure that was in the damned contract he's signed with Special-ops.
Cake, really.
"Don't you dare wake him up again," Janet warned as she crossed the room.
"I wasn't gonna!" He protested and continued wheeling his merry dance across the ward. "Besides, I already have his lap-top."
"What did you want it for anyway, sir?"
"Tetris, down-loaded it."
"So why don't you play it now?" Janet rolled her eyes as she narrowly avoided being hit in the shins by the damn chair he insisted on riding around in.
"Bored of it."
"Down-load another game?"
"I--"
"B..better.." Both Jack and Janet looked over at where the weak and raspy voice had come from, obviously Daniel since so far he was the only one here who sounded as bad as that, more so when he was coughing, like now.
Jack winced as Daniel lost control of the fit and the sound that was beat out of him reminded Jack of a time when Charlie had been sick as a young toddler. The cough then sounded painful, like it might force the body to eject vital organs, and it was no different here. He kept his distance, giving Janet the room she needed to help Daniel calm down and assume control again.
By the time she was done, Daniel was breathing through a mask and was wiped out, his eyes closed, his breathing - finally- returning to normal and a fine sheen of sweat covering his brow.
Jack thought for a second he had drifted back off, but again Daniel's eyes cracked open. His friends left eye was still very red but according to Janet was batter than it had been. Jack was out of it pretty much when Daniel had been wheeled in that day, so he hadn't seen just how bad he had been, but if this was better than that? Jack was kinda glad he hadn't seen him then or he might have just been worried out of his skull.
"...not." The single word, breathed out softly more than spoken, had the two confused. "Better, not." Daniel said again.
"Better not, what?" Jack asked, only to get a scowl back from Janet.
"Daniel, don't try to talk now, you're no where near strong enough."
"With all due respect, Doc. Daniel has to be one of the strongest people I know. You didn't see him fighting off a crazed lunatic." He grinned proudly at his friend who he could see smiling behind the mask.
"N..neither did you..."
"Well, admittedly it was at a bad angle for me but, Mitchel would have tore out my innards if you hadn't stopped him."
It was at this point Daniel's brows furrowed and two very bright and very bleary eyes fixed Jack with a very confused stare.
"What? Don't remember?" A small shake of the head and the brows continued to join together, though this time his friend seemed to be in a little pain. "Danny..?"
"No, that's enough," Janet stated in her best official doctor tone. "Daniel, listen to me. You probably can't remember right now because it was probably the shock of dealing with that kind of situation. Being sick won't help. This is your minds way of dealing with the Pneumonia first, before anything else. It's prioritising." A small nod but Daniel still looked to be in shock and Jack mentally kicked himself for having mentioned anything, and if Janet's look could kick, he would be taking one to the groin right about now.
---
"Ah, Jack. Glad you're here." George Hammond got up from his seat and crossed the room to quickly help the struggling Colonel through the door. "What happened to the chair?" He asked, noting that his second in command now had two crutches and was obviously annoyed with them.
"My ass kept falling asleep, sir."
Hammond tried to hide the grin, not exactly doing a great job since Jack had noticed.
"Besides, all that jelo I'm starting to develop a bit of a gut," he continued as he hobbled over to the waiting chair, falling into it, plastered leg left to one side while he flung the crutches behind him. "Least...this way I get a work out."
"Well I certainly hope you're not over-doing it, Jack. I want you and SG-1 back out there as soon as you're all able."
"I want us out there as soon as we're all able, anything to get away from, her." George sat and stayed silent, inviting Jack to divulge more. "Frasier, have you met that woman?" Jack said in a quieter voice. "Terrible, mean to the patients and between you and me, I think she likes a bit of the..."
"A bit of what, Colonel?"
Jack froze while the General smiled at the person who had just come through his, still open door. He turned, quickly painting a smile on his face.
"Hey Doc, fancy seeing you here." He quickly turned back to George when see seemed unimpressed. "Could have told me she was behind me." He muttered to which George simply laughed.
"Don't take it to personally, Jack. I'm sure you'll get used to not having your own way with the medical staff soon enough." His jaw hung open for a second before he snapped it shut as Frasier handed the General a file of some sort.
"Major Mitchel's autopsy report came back, heart attack, like I suspected." Frasier pushed her hands into her pockets as the General read on.
"What caused it?"
"As yet, unknown, sir."
"Could it have been, Daniel?" Jack asked, after all the last thing he remembered was the two fighting.
"I don't know, I've done every test I can think of. No blunt trauma to the head, no internal injuries, even the arteries are clear and tox-screening shows no evidence of drugs or foreign substances of any kind." She took a breath. "No history of heart-disease, no previous complaints and no complications of sickness which can lead to heart-disease. This man was fighting fit."
"And crazy." Added Jack. "Since I don't think I owed him money, can't think of any other reason why he wanted to kill me."
"Are you sure about that?" Janet said with a sarcastic lift of her brow. Yeah, she was definitely still mad at him about the whole, taking her for a ride, thing. It was probably the reason the wheel-chair had been given to someone else.
Mental note. Frasier is not a big fan of chat-up-lines.
"Sir, is Daniel in some trouble over this? I mean, I saw them fight, I've put that in my statement to and now Mitchel's dead..." The General had obviously considered this, it was clear by the look on the guys face as he readied his answer.
"There will be a full investigation, Jack, but since the Major died after a struggle with Dr. Jackson, who only intervened to save his Commanding Officer. Well, there's not a jury in the world who would send him down for that."
"And I'm not entirely convinced the heart-attack was the result of the fight." Frasier added. "And I'll make sure my report is very clear on that, sir."
Okay, Jack thought as he smiled. Maybe she wasn't that bad.
---
Dooley paced his room just thinking. He hadn't seen any of the guys apart from James since their last meeting. It was decided best that they avoid their little gathering while the investigation was taking place.
The first few days the base as a buzz of chatter and here-say about the attempt on O'Neill's life. He had heard all sorts of rumours. About how the General was doing back ground checks on everyone who had ever worked with or spoke to O'Neill. It was the guys on the security teams which were under the most scrutiny and Dooley prayed Jason and Tony would keep their mouths shut.
Then, everything went quiet. No one talked about it, seemed it was yesterday's news. Dooley couldn't figure out if this was worse, not knowing what was going, not knowing the way the investigation was going. By the third day he had decided the groups silence was only causing him to worry more and he called them all in for a meeting that night.
They were all due to start meeting up in twenty minutes but, James as always was early.
"Yo, Dooley." Came the familiar announcement and Cameron Dooley answered quickly, grateful to see the face of his friend.
"Hey, James." He moved aside, briefly noticing an unfamiliar face passing by to the room next door. "Oh hey, that guy's not in!" Which was good, since Dooley's meetings only ever occurred here when he was sure his neighbours were out. Being in the room on the very end of the hall made that a little easier. "Think he's off-world or something." The guy looked back over a book he was reading, pretty regular looking guy, short blond hair, brown eyes built well and on the tall side.
"This is my room." The guy confirmed. "Just got pulled in yesterday."
"R..really? Well, what happened to the other guy?"
"Shipped out I guess. I didn't ask."
"Right." This presented something of a problem and Dooley had to act fast, it would look way to suspicious if all the guys were seen coming to his room only for him to turn them away. "Listen, I hope you don't mind but, I arranged this...thing. Got a couple of the guys coming around for a drink, a birthday. If I'd had known the room was gonna be occupied I would have-"
"Oh don't mind me. Go ahead with the drink, just keep it down when it gets late. I got early rotation up-top."
"Sure! You sure?"
"Sure." A nod. "Maybe when I pull the late shift I can join in next time."
"It's a deal. Thanks." Dooley stood, watching as the guy went in before disappearing into his own room once more. James was stood smirking, arms folded and lent against the dresser.
"Smooth."
"Oh piss-off, James"
"You need to calm down, so far everyone but you has kept a cool head over this."
"Yeah well, I'm the one who started this whole thing, I'm the one who's gonna feel it when O'Neill shits on me from a great height."
"What the hell do you mean, Dooley? How many time's we gotta say this, no one here done anything!"
"Will you keep your voice down!" He snapped when James' voice carried, hopefully not beyond the walls. "How do we know that guy hasn't been moved in to spy on us?"
James just stared.
"Don't look at me like that."
"You're loosing it! Come on man, your my buddy I don't wanna see you crash like this." James hands found his shoulders and he shook gently, as if trying to shake some sense into his comrade. "What we done was harmless, got a few laughs that's all! I bet O'Neill would even see the funny side, the guy's not that much of an Ogre."
"I know but, you can't look me in the eyes now and tell me it's all coincidence. We joked about him being mowed down by a car when he had Nigel's ride towed. We thought it would be right funny if his own weapon back-fired when he had Pete, patrol the gate-room with a mop. Harmless fun or not, it's coming back to bite us in the arse. Someone in here is putting these ideas into practise, and we have to find out who."
"How?"
"We have to come clean, we gotta tell Hammond."