"Dr. Jackson," Hammond greeted as he entered his room in the infirmary. Beyond him Daniel could see two uniformed men saluting before the door closed.
"General Hammond," Daniel answered, finding a bookmark for his book.
"So the Colonel finally left you alone for a moment?" the general asked, noting a rare absence of Jack.
"He said something about needing to catch up on some work," Daniel answered, grinning, "But considering he's been doing most of his paperwork in here, I think he's been doing some investigating with Teal'c."
"He told you?" Hammond asked, surprised. He didn't think Jack would want Daniel worrying about threats on his life. They already knew that Daniel remembered nothing of the accident. Nor did he remember anything of his first awakening when he sent Teal'c to save Jack.
"Tell me what?" Daniel asked, innocently.
"About his investigation," Hammond answered cautiously, no longer certain what they were talking about. This often happened when he listened to Dr. Jackson, but usually that pertained to archeology, not to conspiracies.
"Jack told me nothing," Daniel finally admitted, knowing better than to play games with the general, even if the general did like him, "Teal'c told me. At least he seemed to think I should know when someone was trying to kill me."
"What about Captain Carter?" Hammond asked. Daniel's expression faltered, and Hammond frowned.
"Is something the matter, son?" he asked, "Hasn't Captain Carter been to see you?"
"She has," Daniel answered cautiously, "It's just that…she seems mad at me."
"Has she said something to you? Done something?" Hammond asked frowning.
"No, no," Daniel said quickly, suddenly worried that he would get Sam in trouble with the general, "I mean, she's just…different."
"Well, we were worried about you," Hammond said, thinking he had figured it out, "People react in different ways. Maybe you should talk to her about it."
"M…maybe," Daniel stammered, not quite looking the general in the eye.
"Don't worry about it," Hammond said, patting Daniel on the shoulder, "You'll work it out. Well, I just wanted to welcome you back to the SGC. I'm glad to see you awake; you were beginning to worry us, son."
"Thanks for stopping by," Daniel answered, watching him open the door, only to nearly run into the very person they had been talking about.
"Captain Carter," Hammond said, "At ease." He turned his head and raised an eyebrow, as though to say 'see, everything's fine'. Daniel didn't quite meet his eye again, but the general didn't seem to notice.
"Sorry, sir," Sam said, standing down from her salute, "Guess I was in a hurry to see Daniel. Hey Daniel, I brought you cookies!" Hammond smiled, glad to see his team seemed to be back on track, and left.
Leaving the infirmary, he decided to check up on Jack and Teal'c as well and to rein them in case they were planning Kinsey's or Makepeace's deaths again. Jack seemed firmly convinced that their attacker came from one of them, though Teal'c appeared less certain. He found them in, of all places, the archeology department. Apparently Jack was making threats against Daniel's staff should they ever again try to sneak work in to Daniel, no matter how sad Daniel looked when he asked them. Teal'c stood impassively at his side.
Deciding there were worse things they could be doing than trying to keep Daniel relaxing, he left them to it. Shortly after the general had left, Jack and Teal'c left as well, having dumped off the latest projects they had found hidden in Daniel's room and frightened Daniel's staff. Meeting up in Jack's office, their conversation returned to the familiar topic of who would want to hurt Daniel, or use Daniel to hurt Jack.
Jack leaned back in his chair, thankful that he had finally caught up on his paperwork. This was in part due to needing something to do while he watched Daniel sleep and in part to their lack of missions in the last month as they were on stand down until the Earth threat against a member of SG1 could be eliminated. Teal'c sat down as well, though not nearly as relaxed as Jack. Jack was in a great mood now that Daniel was awake for long periods of time and apparently on the mend.
"I have been evaluating what we know of Daniel Jackson's attacker, O'Neill," Teal'c announced. That was one topic that could destroy Jack's good mood in a heart beat. Fear for Daniel, fury at anyone who would dare to harm him, and his own complete inability to figure out who it was and kill them all made for a rather wretched mood.
"And?" Jack prompted when Teal'c did not continue.
"We believe it must be someone in the SGC, who would have access and the ability to sabotage alien technology in Samantha Carter's lab. This person would also need to have access to Daniel Jackson's records, and an intimate knowledge of his personal life and apartment. This person would also need the ability to sabotage Daniel Jackson's ladder and his balcony railing, without being seen."
"Well that's not hard, we aren't home a lot, T," Jack pointed out.
"On the contrary, O'Neill," Teal'c responded, "Gaining access to all these quarters would require the stealth to evade not only security systems but recognition by people. No one in Daniel's apartment complex or within the hospital noticed any person out of place. Either this person is extremely formidable in stealth, or they are a person people are very familiar with and would not find suspicious."
"You mean like a friend?" Jack asked, frowning, already evaluating SGC personnel in his head.
"Having done a search through all possible candidates, only one person fits all these categories," Teal'c announced.
"Oh?" Jack asked, "Who?"
"Samantha Carter."