Friday, May 14
Reality L583

Jack was hard-pressed to contain his elation when Teal'c came down with a bad case of symbiote flu. It was in bad taste to be happy when a friend was sick, though he wasn't entirely sure he counted Junior among his friends. But Junior being sick made Teal'c sick, so that did affect one of his friends, so it was really not kind or remotely appropriate to be pleased by it.

Jack was still pretty happy, because it meant that Teal'c wouldn't be able to go to the other reality to fetch Daniel. This left one obvious candidate. He put on the appropriate expression of dismay as Fraiser explained the situation to him and General Hammond, but inside he was doing the cha cha. The mildly worried cha cha, since Teal'c's symbiote wasn't supposed to get sick, but Fraiser didn't seem overly concerned.

"Now, that does mean that Teal'c won't be going to the other reality to fetch Dr. Jackson," Fraiser said, and Jack hid his grin. "For one thing, he's not up to it, and for another, we certainly don't want to spread this to their Teal'c."

"Of course," General Hammond said. "But Teal'c will be fine?"

"He assures me that this is something that's not common, but not really worrisome. It happens from time to time and usually requires about twelve to sixteen hours recovery time." She glanced over at the bed where Teal'c was kelnoreeming. "So this leaves the question of who should be sent for Daniel," she said. Jack looked at her, eyes widening, but before he could speak she was continuing. "I thought, perhaps, that Major Feretti could –"

Strangled noises emerged from Jack's throat as he stared at her, appalled.

The general gave him an amused look. "I think that Colonel O'Neill will be able to manage this," he said. Fraiser looked dubious, but she relented. Jack managed to keep himself from letting off a cheer of relief. "Are you ready for Dr. Jackson's return, doctor?" Hammond asked.

"Sam is in the back room now, taping off the space she wants to return to," Fraiser said, starting to walk in that direction. "She says that she believes the device has a failsafe in it to avoid people coming into existence inside each other or solid objects, but she doesn't want to find out the hard way."

"I'm good with that," Jack said.

The hours until noon when they were due to return dragged. Jack went to pick up the Daniel who was going home at 11:30, and found the man still engaged in frenetic grooming. He'd started the process around nine, so Jack was a little surprised. When he heard the door, Daniel looked up. He turned around. "How do I look?" he asked breathlessly.

Jack blinked at him. He suddenly understood just why this Daniel had asked to speak to Carter alone the previous evening. At the time he'd assumed the archeologist had wanted to thank her for her efforts, but this had undoubtedly played some role in the conversation.

He was wearing a very tight t-shirt . . . extremely tight, the sleeves rolled up to reveal well toned muscles, and Jack could swear that he smelled some kind of cologne. He was wearing the usual uniform greens and boots, but his hair . . . Jack thought he must have had a haircut last night or this morning. It was lighter than it had been in spots, and the general style looked something like the one he'd worn when Jack had first met his own Daniel, over three years before.

"You look . . . good," Jack said. "What's that scent?"

Daniel walked over to the dresser and picked up a bottle. "Black, by Kenneth Cole. Sam, your Sam, sent someone out last night to get it for me. She said I needed a little something to bolster my nerves." He grinned nervously. "She was right."

Jack shook his head. "Really, Daniel, you look fine."

"It's been three months. He's not really . . . I mean, he could have . . ." Daniel got a grip on his tongue and forced himself to stop babbling. "Am I wearing too much? I mean, you noticed from across the room? Is it too heavy? Do I smell like I'm trying to cover something up or . . ."

"You smell fine, Daniel," Jack said, marking that down on his list of things never to say again. "So it was Carter's idea?"

"Yeah. I thanked her last night, I know she's got to have been pulling serious midnight oil to have solved this so quickly, and I know she was really doing it to get your Daniel back rather than to get me home, but still, I thought I should thank her. Um . . ." He blinked a couple of times. "Oh, her idea, right. She saw how nervous I was about going back after all this time and she offered to help me out. She got the barber to come by this morning, suggested the highlights . . . do they look okay?"

"They look fine," Jack said. "They look great. Kind of like you did . . ." He paused and shook his head. "Like he did after he came back from Abydos."

"Cool," Daniel said. "That was . . ." He shook his head. "Anyway, so she sent someone to get me some stuff . . . it's a whole line. She said I should take it with me."

"You ready to go?" Jack asked.

Daniel glanced around and started shoving things into a plastic bag marked Nordstrom's. He gave the room a final once over and said, "Sure. I'm ready."

Jack grinned. "I'm sure your Jack's a very lucky guy. So let's go get you back to him."

"Right." Daniel grinned but looked distinctly anxious under the grin.

They headed through the halls to Carter's lab. She looked up when they entered and said, "You look great, Daniel! Really super."

"That's what Jack said." Carter favored him with a look that was both pleased and surprised. He affected not to notice. What was there to be surprised about, though? "Thanks for all the help. You're great."

"No problem, Daniel, really."

"How did he look?" Daniel asked worriedly.

"Tired," Carter said. "Very tired. He was sitting up with our Daniel."

This Daniel bit his lip and started wringing his hands.

"Okay," Jack said. "Stop that. I'm sure his feelings haven't changed. There's nothing to worry about. You look great, you smell great, and he's going to be thrilled to see you." He caught Carter giving him a speculative look and wondered how he was going to dispel whatever insane notion she'd gotten into her head.

"Thanks, Jack," Daniel said.

The door opened and Hammond stuck his head in. "We've got five more minutes, people. Are we ready?"

"We are, sir," Carter said, and Jack nodded. Daniel just looked anxious.

"Then you're good to go as soon as noon rolls around. We'll give you an hour, and then I'll send someone after to find out what's up."

"That shouldn't be necessary," Daniel said. "Sir."

Hammond smiled and put a hand on Daniel's shoulder. "I'm sure it won't, son, but it's best to be cautious." He looked at Jack. "Fraiser's expecting you in the infirmary."

"We'll be there, sir."

Jack didn't know what to expect. He put one hand on Carter's shoulder and one on Daniel's and waited for the switch to happen. The world began to shake oddly and then it snapped into focus and they were elsewhere. There was a Hammond here, too, and a Carter. Daniel surged forward. "Sam!" he exclaimed.

"Daniel!?" She gave him a huge hug and then pulled back. "Is it really you this time?"

"It's really me!" He turned to Hammond. "Sir, I'm sorry it's taken so long."

Hammond was wearing an enormous grin. "Not your fault, son, I'm just glad to have you back." He looked up at Jack and Carter, then back at his Daniel. "Let's get you down to the infirmary. That's where Colonel O'Neill and the other Dr. Jackson are."

Daniel nodded eagerly, casting a nervous glance back at the Carter that was to Jack's left. Jack stepped forward. "Well, I guess I don't exactly have to introduce myself, but . . ."

"Not exactly," Hammond said. "Please, come with us."

The trip was strangely psychedelic. It was like walking through a funny house version of his own base. Things were right, but not completely so. He kept feeling as if he should be looking for threats, too, which made things seem even more bizarre. He was very glad when they reached the infirmary. Daniel walked in first, and he stopped in the doorway to the room as if frozen. Jack gave him a gentle push forward and then saw what had stopped him.

The local version of himself was staring up at Daniel with wide, disbelieving eyes. He rose from the chair beside the bed where Jack's own Daniel was laying still, eyes closed, breathing regularly. There was a moment of stunned immobility on the part of both the local men, then they came together in an embrace that could only be called passionate. It started as a hug, but quickly became something else. Jack shifted sideways and looked away from the intense kiss. It was incredibly disturbing to see himself kissing Daniel, which is what it looked like from his angle. He glanced back and saw the pair of Carters, easily discernable from each other by the expressions on their faces. The local girl looked like she was seeing something out of a sappy movie, his Carter looked frozen with shock. It wasn't as if she hadn't known it was a possibility, so it had to be the fact of seeing it in person that was freaking her out. Hammond, behind them, looked paternally pleased. It was creepy.

Jack turned his back on the joyous reunion and went over to the bed, giving his attention to his Daniel. His color was good, his pulse seemed even enough from the machines. He just wasn't moving. That was creepy, too. Daniel Jackson was a man in constant motion. To see him lying still was just wrong.

"He'll be fine," said a quiet, assured voice that was very familiar. Jack looked up to see a Janet Fraiser gazing up at him sympathetically. She glanced with clear enjoyment at where the other Jack and Daniel had broken apart and were now murmuring endearments.

"He will?" Jack asked.

"I assure you, I've seen this many times, even once before with your Daniel. He will be fine. Tomorrow he'll be shaky on his feet and a little woozy, but he'll be fine."

"Really fine, not Daniel-fine?"

"Colonel, I don't discuss things in terms of Daniel-fine," she said with an amused grin. "And I promise . . . no, I can't really promise . . ." At his raised eyebrow, she just shrugged. "For all I know he does want to shoot you, but if he does, it won't be because of withdrawals."

"Thanks," Jack said. Apparently the Janet Fraisers were all cut from the same cloth, too. "Our Fraiser has a bed waiting for him in this same room in our infirmary. We're supposed to appear in that corner." He pointed at a space that was occupied here with a monitor.

"I see." She wheeled the monitor out of the way, and his Carter came up beside him.

"See, sir, he's fine. He'll be himself in no time."

"I see that, Carter," he said. He turned to the locals. "So, we don't want to interrupt your reunion, and we have our own to plan, so if we can just be going . . ."

"Of course," Hammond said, coming forward. He reached out a hand. "Let me thank you for bringing our Daniel back."

"Thank you for getting our guy out of that mess sooner than we would have managed it." Jack didn't say 'even if you did get him killed' but he couldn't help thinking it. Those three days thinking Daniel was irretrievably dead had been bad. "I guess he really does have nine lives." He looked back down at Daniel. "Okay, so what's the best way for me to pick him up without causing problems?"

"Let me get the IVs ready," Fraiser said.

She started getting him prepped for departure, and the local Jack walked over, his arm around his Daniel's shoulder, and Daniel's arm around his waist. "Thank you both for all your efforts," he said. "Getting Danny here back in one piece means a lot to me. I just wish there hadn't been so much confusion about our pick up of your Daniel."

"Me too," Jack said. "But most of the efforts were Carter's."

"Daniel tells me that you held him together over the last few days," the other O'Neill said. Jack shrugged. "By the way, I'd recommend not calling your Daniel Danny for awhile. He freaked out the first and only time I called him that. Apparently the crazy Jack called him that when he got mixed up about who he was."

"I'll keep that in mind," Jack said. "Anything else?"

"Just be aware, all his emotions are really close to the surface, and he's likely to freak if your Hammond looks at him cross-eyed."

"We're going to work him through that," Jack said. "You two . . . take care of each other." Daniel grinned at him and nodded, cuddling closer to his . . . lover. Jack gulped and said, "So, we ready to go?"

"I think so, colonel."

Fraiser got Daniel and his accouterments all ready, then said, "Wait, do you have bad knees?"

"Not that again," Jack growled. "Look, I'm going to be walking a sum total of three feet in that direction and three feet back. That's assuming that my Dr. Fraiser doesn't have two strong young orderlies with good knees standing by to take him from me the minute I materialize." He shook his head. "You people!"

"Us people?" the local Sam repeated, sounding a little taken aback.

"Fraisers!" Jack growled.

"Oh, yeah," the local O'Neill muttered in agreement, earning a glare from his own diminutive doctor. He cleared his throat, ignoring the glare. "Oh, I promised to stay with him until he woke up, so . . ."

"Don't worry, I'll make your word good," Jack said.

They got Daniel loaded up on him with the satchel of medical supplies and his IVs and went to the appropriate spot in the corner. Carter said, "Thanks." Then she pressed the button and the world shook crazily again.

Reality L583

Everything snapped back into focus and Jack started forward immediately. He lowered Daniel carefully to the bed that was waiting for him. Fraiser went into action instantly, hooking up the monitors, getting the IV back in place on its stand, covering him up . . . it was surreal. The only things missing from this room were the spare Daniel, Jack and Carter. Hammond was here, Fraiser was here, the room was set up identically, including the monitor that Fraiser shoved back into that same spot over the top of the tape as soon as they'd cleared it. Apparently that was where it went.

As soon as Fraiser was done, Jack walked over and sat down on the chair next to the bed. He picked up the top one of the pile of reports he'd left sitting underneath the chair that morning. Hammond was looking askance at him. "The other Jack promised he'd stay beside him till he woke up. I'm going to keep that promise, since he can't."

Hammond nodded, and Sam smiled. "I'll be back by later," she said. "And I'll look in on Teal'c."

"Thanks." Jack got to work on the report, and the others left. He was alone with Daniel. His Daniel. All was on its way to being right with the world again.