Saturday May 15
Reality L583

Daniel blinked, feeling distinctly woozy. His eyes felt kind of gummy, and his mouth tasted sour. He shifted and took in a deep breath. Letting it out in a sigh, he tried to puzzle out how he felt. He'd expected pain, but there wasn't any, and the sort of muzzy he felt didn't feel like analgesics . . . more like some sort of sedation. He actually felt a lot like he had when he had woken up after he died . . .

With that thought, he sat up sharply. His head spun, but he pulled his hospital gown open and looked down at his completely unmarked chest. No stitches, no tape, not the slightest sign that he'd been cut into, but he remembered waking up from the surgery. He remembered pain in the skin of his chest. Shaking his head, baffled, he looked up and around the room. What he saw made him blink in astonishment.

Sam was sitting on a straightback chair, her arms crossed and her head resting against the wall behind her, clearly asleep. It was odd, it was the first time he'd actually seen the Sam from this reality. She was always working in a lab somewhere, according to Jack. Teal'c sat on the floor beside her, deep in kelnoreem.

What were they doing in here? It wasn't as if there'd been any chance of his dying, and he wasn't even their Daniel. Why all the concern?

There was another chair pulled up close to the bed on the other side, but it was empty at the moment. Daniel assumed that it was for Jack. He appeared to be in the small room at the back of the infirmary, and to his relief, he was only hooked up to an IV and a couple of monitors.

He heard the sound of a toilet flushing and a moment later, the door to the bathroom opened and Jack emerged. Daniel opened his mouth to ask what was going on, but Jack's eyes widened. "Daniel!" he exclaimed. "You're awake!" This being self-evident, Daniel started to speak, but Jack turned toward the other end of the infirmary. "Fraiser, Daniel's awake!" he called.

Daniel was still blinking in consternation at this unexpected and bizarre behavior on Jack's part when Sam and Teal'c suddenly appeared on his other side. Teal'c was beaming, and Sam started babbling. Daniel couldn't take her words in. For one thing, Jack was talking too, which made understanding either of them difficult. They were all so excited . . . gradually it dawned on Daniel . . .

Janet came around the corner with a great big grin on her face. "Welcome home, Daniel," she said.

It was the first comprehensible thing anybody had said, and Daniel leaned forward, waving the others silent. "I'm home?" he asked. "Really home?"

"Indeed you are, DanielJackson," Teal'c said, looking pleased.

"How?" Daniel asked helplessly. The last he remembered was waking up . . . which Jack had that been? Or had it been a dream? Daniel shook his head. "When? What happened?" He looked down at his bared chest and closed the gown self-consciously. "I did have surgery, didn't I?"

Janet pushed past Sam and Teal'c, who gave way reluctantly. "So we were told," she said, bending down and touching his forehead. "I x-rayed you and found no signs of shrapnel."

Standing behind Janet, Sam winced at the word. So did Daniel. He noticed that he had his hand resting on his chest above his heart and dropped it into his lap. Jack put a hand on his shoulder, and Daniel looked up at him, feeling a bit overwhelmed. "You are home, Daniel," he said earnestly. "We made contact with the reality . . . the gay Daniel's reality . . . while you were unconscious. I guess there was some problem with the surgery . . ." He shrugged. "But we brought you home."

"How . . ." Daniel started. "Why . . ." He grimaced and shook his head. "Explanations can wait. I just . . . I am home, right?" He looked around at all of them, and then up at Jack again. "Really home?"

Jack squeezed his shoulder. "Yes, Daniel. You're home. I swear to you, you are home."

"Just tell me then," Daniel said. "Tell me you don't want to kiss me, okay?" Daniel was only half-kidding, and he waited for the answer, gazing up at the man who looked like . . . who might just be . . . his closest friend.

Jack's eyebrows raised. "Definitely not. No. Ick."

Daniel felt his shoulders relax. "I'm glad to hear that."

"Why?" Jack asked. Daniel's jaw dropped, and Jack seemed to realize he'd said something odd, because he went on hastily. "I mean, not why are you glad, but why do you ask?"

He took in a deep breath. "That was practically the first thing the other Jack did," Daniel said. "It was the first evidence I had that I was in the wrong place. I mean, he's talking to me, telling me how glad he is I'm back, how much he missed me, what a wreck he was . . ." Daniel shrugged. "I thought that was odd, why would you be a wreck? But I didn't worry too much, I was home. Then he planted one on me." They all stared at him for a moment in silence.

"I'll kill him!" Jack burst out, his voice a growl of fury. "He didn't say anything!"

Daniel flinched back at the sudden intense anger. "It was nothing, Jack," he said softly, trying to soothe him. "He thought I was his Daniel." Jack's eyes widened, and Daniel was made a little uneasy by the dismay he saw there. "It was nothing."

Jack shook his head. "Still, he told us what happened when you woke up, and he didn't say one word about kissing you."

Daniel flushed. "Should he have?" he asked soberly. "It's not like it hurt me or anything. I'm sure he was even more embarrassed than I was. I wonder if he's going to tell his Daniel."

"I wouldn't," Jack said.

"I would," Carter said, and they all looked at her. "I mean, why hide it? It's not like he was deliberately unfaithful. Did anyone else know about it?" Daniel nodded. "See, if he learned about it from someone else, it would be worse."

"I don't know, I still don't think I'd want to talk about it."

"I agree with Captain Carter," Teal'c said abruptly. "There is no need for secrecy since no harm was intended."

"Well, it doesn't matter," Daniel said. "It happened, it wasn't the end of the world, and it's not going to happen again." He looked up at Jack. "Or at least it had better not."

"No! Nope, nuh uh, not happening, nothing doing. No way."

"I'm glad to hear it," Daniel replied with a grin. Jack grinned back at him, and Daniel felt suddenly warm all the way through. He was home. He was really home.

Fraiser took over then and started putting him through the whole medical drill. His half-hearted protests that the sarcophagus would have taken care of anything were ignored as he'd expected they would be. As she took him deep into the bowels of the infirmary for some of the more fun tests, Jack called, "We'll be here when she lets you out."

Towards the end of the tests, she pulled out a bunch of syringes which he eyed dubiously. "What's that for?"

"Inoculations. Apparently one of the things they've learned in that other reality from using the sarcophagus repeatedly is that it strips the body of its acquired immunities." He raised his eyebrows in surprise. "In a Goa'uld or a Jaffa, that doesn't really matter, because the symbiote supplies the immunities for the most part, but in an ordinary human, it could pose a whole host of possible problems. So, I'm going to give you all the relevant inoculations."

"Why didn't the Dr. Fraiser there do it?" Daniel asked.

"Apparently she did the first time, when they still thought you belonged to them. But she does it after the withdrawals are over, and she thought it wiser to let me give them to you to maximize the chance that they would be effective in our reality."

"Goody," he said dryly and she gave him a look that was half sympathetic and half amused. Awhile later, he emerged from this with pajamas and a bruised arm. Jack, Sam and Teal'c were waiting in the back room of the infirmary. He sighed and gave the doctor a mild glare. "She won't release me," he said. "But I got these snazzy jammies."

"I don't know how the sedatives are going to affect you over the next few hours," she said. "Are you still feeling woozy at all?"

Daniel groaned. "I'm fine, Janet. I feel perfectly normal."

"I just want to keep you here for observation."

"For how long, doc?" Jack asked.

"Another twenty-four hours," she said. "After that, we'll see how he is." Daniel shrugged and gave in to the inevitable, hitching himself back up on the bed and pulling the head end up so he could sit up comfortably. Fraiser smiled. "Glad to have you back," she said, then returned to the main infirmary.

Daniel leaned back and looked at his teammates. "So, how are you guys?" Sam looked like she'd been pulling all night lab stints again, Teal'c looked abnormally pale and Jack . . . well, Jack just looked like Jack.

"Well, Carter's been working her tail off to get you home and not sleeping enough."

Daniel grinned at her. "Thanks."

"I had help," she said.

"We're getting to that," Jack said. "Teal'c is just getting over a case of symbiote flu."

"The proper term is malik shar," Teal'c said, and Daniel raised an eyebrow.

"Isn't that . . . didn't you tell me about that once?" Teal'c nodded. "It sounded nasty," Daniel commented.

"It was not pleasant," Teal'c replied. "But it has largely passed. I must undergo kelnoreem more frequently than usual for the next several days, but that is all."

"You okay right now?" Daniel asked.

"I am fine," Teal'c said with one of his elegant nods.

Sam hooked her chair over and sat down again. "And the colonel –" Jack cleared his throat and she broke off, looking curiously at him.

"Yes, Jack?" Daniel asked.

"You're not allowed to die on me any more, okay? It's a new rule that can join all the others."

Daniel snorted. "I thought that was rule number two. Just after 'don't make promises you can't keep to men who carry guns.'"

Jack glared at him. "Well, they've switched," he announced. "Rule one, don't die. Rule two, don't make promises you can't keep to men who carry guns. Rule three, don't wander off without an escort. Rule four –"

"I think I've got them written down in my office, Jack," Daniel said. "I'll make sure to switch numbers one and two to accommodate the change."

Jack nodded sharply, then, to Daniel's surprise, gave him a huge hug. Daniel returned it with interest, very glad to be home. After a moment, Jack pulled away. "So, remember that," he said. "No dying. It's not allowed."

"It wasn't my idea," Daniel said, his pleasure dampened by the memory. "And I didn't do anything to cause it this time. For once."

"It must have been awful," Sam said.

"It was." Daniel took a deep breath. "The three of you were there, or I thought it was you, and I asked about the bomb . . . then I felt this strange sort of whump in my chest and then . . . nothing. But I knew what it had to be, so I died knowing Hammond had killed me and that there was no way I could be resuscitated."

"God, Daniel," Jack said, his voice breaking. Sam clapped a hand to her mouth, eyes wide with horror. Teal'c . . . Daniel had never seen Teal'c quite so taken aback.

"Sorry," he said, feeling guilty for freaking them all out. "I guess I – I shouldn't –"

"No," Jack said. "No, tell us what happened. Don't try to soften it for us. We need to know."

"And you need to talk about it," Sam said. Teal'c nodded gravely.

Daniel shrugged. "It's . . . I don't really . . ." He looked away from their worried faces and saw Hammond standing in the doorway. The bottom of his gut dropped out and he felt his whole body stiffen.

Sam leaned forward. "Daniel, all the color just drained out of you. Are you in pain or something?"

Following Daniel's gaze, Jack turned to see what it was. Hammond looked stunned and Daniel struggled to regain control of himself because it was ridiculous. His Hammond had never been anything but fatherly towards him, and he wasn't the insanely greedy man the other one was.

But the unexpected sight of the man still struck him dumb and terrified.

Hammond grimaced. "I'm sorry, son, I'll come back later."

As he started to back out of the room, Daniel grabbed Jack's arm. Jack turned back to look at him and said, "Sir, I think he wants you to stay."

Hammond turned back and Teal'c got him a chair, pulled up close to the bed beside Jack. Daniel took deep breaths and finally got his emotions back under control. "I'm sorry, general," he said. "I just wasn't expecting to see you at that moment, and . . . I think the other guy liked surprising me."

"I should have announced myself," Hammond said. "I'm sorry I startled you like that."

Daniel abruptly realized that he still had a solid grip on Jack's arm and let go. He let out a shuddering breath. "I think it . . . it may take some time for me to get back to normal," he said.

"Do I freak you out?" Jack asked.

"No," Daniel said. "But . . ." His mind kicked into overdrive. Back there. Back in that other reality. What had happened? How was Jack? How was Samantha? Did they have a new Daniel? What were they doing? He had to go back. But he couldn't . . . he didn't . . .

His racing thoughts were interrupted by Jack's voice and his hand gently shaking him. "Daniel? Hey, space monkey, where'd you go?"

"Sorry, we've . . . I've . . . something's got to be done. By now Hammond . . . the other Hammond . . . he almost has to have found a way to get someone to get a new Daniel, and it can't be allowed to go on. There has to be a way to stop him. He has to be stopped. You have no idea . . . no idea at all what he's like! He's . . ."

"Easy, son," Hammond said gently, reaching forward and putting a hand on Daniel's. "Their version of me is dead. He died almost the same moment . . ." He paused and exchanged a glance with Jack. "Well, just after you left."

Daniel stared at the general, not really seeing him, trying to take in his words. "He's dead? How?"

No one spoke for a moment, then Hammond said, "Their O'Neill killed him." Daniel focused back on the man in front of him in shock. "I gather that he and Lt. Carter had been called into the office for some reason. Then the other Hammond was made aware of the rescue party and . . ."

"And I died," Daniel said, his mouth dry with the memory.

"And the other O'Neill killed his General Hammond," Jack finished. "Not a moment too soon, I might add."

Daniel nodded, feeling numb. He was dead. The mad, greedy bastard was dead. "Are you saying he killed him because he'd killed me?"

"Yes," Sam said. Daniel turned to her. "Samantha came here. After Makepeace took command, she started trying to get all the Daniels back to where they belonged. We thought you were dead still, at that point, but there was a reality they couldn't communicate with because the mirror had been destroyed, and the Daniel that belonged there needed somewhere to go when . . ." She shook her head. "The multitudes of Daniels are hard to find words to talk about."

Daniel shook his head, unable to take it all in. "Samantha was here?" he asked. "You've all met Samantha?"

Sam nodded. "She helped us find you. The Daniel who belonged with the people who tried to rescue you –"

"The gay Daniel," Jack put in by way of identification. Daniel nodded and Sam glowered.

"Yes, him," she said, looking irritated. "He told her and us that they had a sarcophagus and that they would bring you back as soon as they got home."

"So how long did you think I was dead?"

They all looked like they were calculating. All but Jack, who answered immediately. "Not quite three days," he said.

Daniel blinked. "So you found out I was alive at about the same time I did," he said.

"We found out you might be alive," Jack corrected.

"How was Samantha the last time you saw her?" he asked.

"Very glad to know you were still alive," Sam said, smiling. "Without her and the Sam from the reality where . . . um . . . the Daniel who was dumped here was from . . . I couldn't have done it. We would have gotten you back, but it would have taken a lot longer."

"It took three Sams working together to get me home?" Daniel asked incredulously. "Wow."

"It was frightening," Jack said confidentially. "They'd start talking and I'd understand one word in three."

Sam glared at him, but then Teal'c nodded and said, "Indeed."

Daniel laughed. "Just imagine the jokes they'd be making if it had been three Daniels." She nodded and leaned back in her chair, arms crossed, looking like she was plotting revenge. Daniel was ready to crow with relief. He was home. Really, really home. "You know, I still haven't met any other Daniels?"

"Maybe you'll get the opportunity later," Sam said. "We're keeping contact with some of the alternate realities we encountered."

"I doubt it," Jack replied, and Daniel looked at him curiously. "I doubt any of them are going to let their Daniels leave their own realities in the foreseeable future. I know I'm not."

Daniel grinned. He was about to ask another question when Janet came in in full Napoleonic mode. "Okay, I think my patient needs rest and several of the rest of you haven't been getting adequate rest either. Sam, there's a bed waiting for you in the barracks. Take it."

Looking distinctly cowed by Janet's commanding air, Sam stood up, gave him a hug and said, "I'll be back later, I promise." Then she left.

Janet turned to her next victim. "Teal'c, you told me you'd spend fifteen minutes with Daniel, then get back to bed. It's been more than a half hour."

"I am fine," Teal'c said, but Daniel could see he wasn't.

"You may be fine," Jack replied, "but Junior has the sniffles." Teal'c looked affronted by this less than respectful way of describing the ailment. "Go sort it out."

"Very well," Teal'c said. He looked at Daniel. "It is indeed good to have you back, DanielJackson."

"It's good to be back," Daniel said. Teal'c nodded at him and left.

Hammond had already risen. "I think I'll avoid discovering just what she's going to accuse me of," he said with a trace of amusement. He reached out and squeezed Daniel's hand. "I'll be by later, son. I'm very glad you're home and in one piece."

Daniel nodded. "I'm glad to be home, sir," he said, squeezing back. Hammond nodded at Janet and left.

"Colonel O'Neill, you also have a bed waiting for you in the barracks."

"What?" Jack exclaimed and Daniel bit his lip. Were they going to leave him alone? He . . . he was only just realizing how little he wanted that. But what could he say that wouldn't make him sound like some kind of twit?

"You haven't been getting good rest of late either," she said. "You know he's safe, you know where he is. Go get some rest."

Jack glanced to Daniel's left. "That's a bed right there," he said.

Janet nodded with exaggerated patience. "Yes, Colonel O'Neill, very good, but that's a bed for sick people."

"Doc, I happen to know that you have one patient other than Daniel, and that you'll use that bed only as a last resort because Daniel's in here." Janet stood looking at him with her arm crossed, not budging. Jack let out a patently fake sounding cough. "Besides . . ." He fake-coughed again. "I feel a cough coming on."

"If you're coughing, you'll keep Daniel awake," she said, glancing over. Daniel had no idea what she saw in his expression, but her eyes widened. "So quit the fake coughing and remember to take your boots off before you lie down."

"Yes ma'am," he said, and he remained standing until she left. Then he sat down again and pulled his chair closer to Daniel. "Do you want to sleep?" he asked.

"Not really," Daniel said. "I mean, I'm a little tired, but I don't particularly want to go back to sleep again." He'd had a few too many unexpected things happen to him when he was sleeping lately. This most recent one was a nice surprise, but . . . he didn't want to wake up and find out it was a dream.

Jack seemed to see right through to the heart of the difficulty. "You will be here when you wake up and so will I," he said. "And the only thing that will have changed is that you'll be less sleepy."

"Right."

"And you'll probably have to pee," Jack added. "And you'll start asking for coffee."

"Thank you, Jack, that's very reassuring," Daniel said.

"I'm glad to hear it, but Fraiser's right. You do need rest."

Daniel was suddenly having trouble keeping his eyes open. "I want to go home," he said.

"You are home."

"No, Jack, not home, my reality; home, my apartment."

"Oh, that kind of home."

Daniel nodded sleepily. "Fraiser has it her way tonight, but I want to go home tomorrow night. I want to go outside and see the sky and flowers and trees and dogs and birds and people not wearing uniforms." He blinked up at Jack. "Do I have any ordinary clothes on base? I should, I guess, I changed when I got here all those weeks ago."

"You want me to make sure they're handy when the doc releases you?" Jack asked.

"I'd really appreciate it," Daniel replied. "I haven't worn anything but fatigues or pajamas in weeks, and I'm sick of green and black."

"I'll send someone to get them."

"Jack, don't leave me alone, okay?" Daniel said. "I . . . I won't believe I'm home if I'm alone when I wake up."

"You won't be alone, Daniel," Jack said. "Now go to sleep."

Obediently, he lowered the head of the bed and closed his eyes.

Jack watched Daniel go to sleep, frankly worried. He was back, he was safe, he was in good health as far as Fraiser could tell, but emotionally it was harder to judge. His reaction to Hammond wasn't unexpected, but it had clearly upset both men. It seemed to have dampened somewhat the longer they were in the same room together, but who knew what would happen the next time Hammond got mad at Daniel?

He shook his head. The way he'd instantly started trying to soothe Jack out of his anger had also been a bit alarming. Daniel had always been defensive of others, and he usually tried to make Jack calm down, but he'd gone white around the lips and been very tense until Jack's tone had moderated.

When it looked like the archeologist was actually asleep and not just lying there with his eyes closed, Jack got up from his chair, kicked off his boots and lay down on the second bed.

He'd just have to keep any eye on things, like always.