See part one for the disclaimer and story notes.
Author's Notes: Thanks for all the comments! The automatic alerts seem to be down this week so I'm sorry I wasn't able to respond individually.
Part Three
Daniel lifted his gaze and realized that the ceiling was covered with glowing symbols suspended in the air - the universal language. He was in Heliopolis, he had another chance to find out the secrets that had been recorded ten of thousands of years ago. For a second, he was overwhelmed.
Just as he was about to decipher the first of tantalizing bit of ancient knowledge, he heard the footsteps of an approaching person. He felt a flash of frustration.
"Jack, I can't go back. I have to find out what this means." He swerved to face the person, but he found himself face to face with Shyla, from the mining planet with the sarcophagus.
She was dressed in the same elaborate dress as when he had woken up from his first trip into her father's sarcophagus. The pale pink fabric with beads draped thickly around her collar was etched into his brain. She seemed so bright, her breath echoing in his ears.
"What are you doing here?"
She smiled and didn't reply. Instead, she grabbed his hand and pulled him from the room. Daniel found himself unable to make his muscles disagree. Instead, his body followed without his mind's instruction.
"I need to find out what that says." he told her. He reached up to touch his face and realized he wasn't wearing his glasses.
"I know." Her hair smelled like heavy flowers and her hands were clammy against his.
He found himself being led into the cavernous room which held the stargate and its broken DHD. Beside the DHD lay a golden sarcophagus, the lid sealed. To the side of the room was an inactive FRED.
Shyla leaned against his shoulder, and sighed with pleasure. She looked upwards, and Daniel followed her gaze. The entire area above them was flooded with ancient symbols in dozens of different languages. This was three lifetimes of work, at least. Just as he was going to start trying to read them, he heard the thudding sounds of the gate powering up.
"No…" Daniel's heart hammered at the thought of having to exist without knowing what this all meant.
The event horizon flushed outward and with seeming magic, the MALP came to life, moving and clicking. A radio buzzed and then he heard Jack's voice.
"Daniel. You've gotta come back."
Daniel fought the urge to take the biggest rock he could find and bash it into the MALP radio.
"I'm staying."
"Daniel, come and look at the video screen." Jack replied.
Reluctantly, Daniel made his way over to the MALP. He looked into the screen and saw a huge blurry image of Jack's face. "Jack, what the hell-"
Jack moved out of frame. And it was Sha're, in the gate room dressed in BDUs, smiling. Not Ammonet, but Sha're.
"Dani-el." She spoke. "Come, please. I need the sarcophagus. Please, help me."
He blinked rapidly. "Okay, okay. I will. Stay exactly where you are, don't go anywhere."
He moved towards the closed sarcophagus, still uncertain how he was going to get it back to Earth. But how was only an incidental question. He only knew that he had to do this. No other option was acceptable.
Shyla's hand clamped around his arm. "Daniel, where are you going?"
"Let go!" How was her grip so strong?
"Don't you love me?" Shyla's eyes filled with water.
"What?" He loved Sha're.
There was a quiet grinding noise as the doors to the sarcophagus slowly parted. The box itself emitted a dull light, and Daniel watched the silhouette of a woman step out.
He stepped as far towards her as he could, Shyla keeping a tight grip on his arm.
The woman stepped away from the sarcophagus and into the ambient light of the alien text suspended above. He recognized the gold hair and wide eyes immediately.
"Sam." he breathed with relief. She would help him get the sarcophagus to Sha're.
"I can give her back to you." Sam's voice resonated on deep octave and her eyes flashed.
"Jolinar? What about Sam?" Daniel asked, his stomach sinking.
"I'm not talking about Samantha, Daniel, I'm talking about Sha're. I know where she is."
He had heard this before, but he couldn't remember when. It didn't fit, it wasn't right.
"I already know where Sha're is! She's at the SGC, and I need to get back to her. I need to take the sarcophagus back to help her!"
"No! Stay with me! I love you Daniel." Shyla cried, and impossibly tightened her grip.
The alien in Sam's body walked slowly towards him, her eyes never leaving his. She stopped when there were only centimetres between their two bodies, and he could feel her breath on his neck. She took one arm and wrapped it behind the back of his head, threading her hand through his hair. His breath caught in his throat. She tilted her face and brought it forward and he was certain she was going to kiss him.
Instead, her cheek against his, she brought her lips to his ears and whispered in Sam's normal timbre, "I'm talking about Sha're. I know where she is."
Daniel's chest shook with the beating of his heart. He blinked and then realized with horror that he wasn't intimately close to Sam. The woman before him had cold eyes and straight fiery hair. Her eyes were framed in thick black strokes, they flashed gold, like Sam's but so much emptier.
"We have chosen you, Daniel Jackson."
Hathor.
"You will be our next Pharaoh." She smiled.
He couldn't move. He couldn't even think, but his mind was impossibly entangled. Daniel couldn't breathe.
In that instant, there was a simultaneous crash of thunder and flash of lightning. The building itself cracked apart, the screaming of rocks underscoring the echoing thunder. The gate was falling out from the floor that had collapsed in front of his eyes.
Hurricane winds soaked with icy water whipped his hair chaotically. Shyla and Sam and Hathor were all gone and somehow Daniel knew with certainty that Sha're was dead.
And then Daniel was flat on his back, his heart pushing on his chest, the howling wind pushing against the tent wall haphazardly. It was a dream. He closed his eyes - Sha're wasn't dead, he still had his chance. It wasn't over, Sha're wasn't dead.
Of course it had been a dream, he realized. It had been grotesquely random, and yet disturbingly vivid. But not real. It wasn't real.
He closed his eyes and took several deep breaths. Turning on his side, he opened his eyes again to see indistinct shadows making out the form sleeping figure of Sam. Her lax form was completely incongruous with terror – it was all in his head. For a brief moment he contemplated waking her, but he rejected that notion immediately. What, really, would he say?
He knew what he wanted to say. He wanted to make her understand that he needed to know about Sha're. All she wanted to do was try and pretend as though her possession had never happened.
He concentrated on breathing.
It had been more than six months since she had been taken as a host, and never once had she brought up the subject with him. He knew she remember at least some of the experience – several terse comments to Jack and General Hammond had led him to surmise as much. Did she remember what Jolinar knew concerning Sha're?
And initially, he was far too afraid to bring it up. She had seemed too fragile after Jolinar had died, not speaking or eating or even moving. Any misstep could have been destroyed her. For a sickening few days, the doctors weren't even sure if it was mental trauma or neurologic damage, or a mixture of both was causing her withdrawn behaviour.
He'd gone to visit her several times in that first week, flowers and books in hand. Sam had lain on her side, her eyes unfocused, despite any attempts to make her respond. Daniel remembered bringing flowers and trying to think of something to say, all while trying very hard not to think about how much she resembled a discarded puppet.
She had been a host for less than a week and even that short amount of time had left her dramatically damaged. Sha're had been captive for so much longer…he still hadn't been able to save her. He needed to know if there was even a Sha're left to save.
And then, some time shortly after Cassandra's visit, Sam was suddenly Sam again, as though nothing had happened.
At first, it didn't even occur to him to be curious about her experience. She was back and cured and the whole ordeal had been overcome. It was a relief to know that complete recovery was possible.
She never mentioned the event, and for the most part, seemed unaffected. Except for those stray moments that Daniel would catch in the corner of his eye. Sometimes, she would stand, looking completely lost, as though she was standing in the wrong story, or thinking thoughts that belonged in another character's head.
But the instant, she would be back to Captain-Doctor Samantha Carter, intergalactic explorer. Only a trained eye could have seen that most of that was an act – a very familiar act, but fundamentally no longer true.
Several weeks ago, standing amidst the phosphorescent vines on Kyra's prision world, he caught her gaze during one of these moments. There was a brief flash of panic in her eyes. Daniel knew that panic was reflected back in his own. Neither of them had ever mentioned it.
He really should ask her one day what it was like, how she was dealing with the whole thing. But he knew she didn't want to talk about it. And if he was perfectly honest, he was afraid to mention it.
He watched her slow breathing until he eventually fell into a light sleep.
Daniel woke with a start. Something wasn't quite right. What had woken him up?
Sam muttered quietly in her sleep, and something about that seemed wrong. She kept repeating a two syllable word. Her volume increased, and Daniel realized she was having a nightmare.
"Kelpak, kelpak"
Did he hear correctly?
"Kelpak, Lantash?"
Where are you, where are you Lantash...She was speaking in goa'uld. He was frozen in his sleeping bag, morbidly curious to hear more.
"Ne'nai." she groaned. No, stop.
"Kelpak Lantash." she repeated, tossing restlessly, her breathing ragged. Daniel knew he should wake her up. "Ne'nai...ne'nai..."
"KEEST'RA! LANTASH KEEST'RA!"
In less than a second Daniel had his upper body out of his sleeping bag, and his arms shaking Sam's shoulders. He was well aware that she would probably lash out at him before she realized where she was, but he couldn't think beyond waking her up. Hearing Sam scream like that was absolutely chilling.
"Wake up! Sam, you're dreaming. Wake up."
She struggled against him for a moment, and then became very stiff. Without thought, he pulled her into an embrace. Daniel could barely hear the sounds were the rain hitting the tent over both of their gasping breaths and the galloping of their hearts.
"Daniel..." Sam said quietly.
He loosened the embrace and settled back onto his own sleeping bag. Reaching to his side he pulled out a flashlight and turned it on.
Sam ran a trembling hand through her hair and shook her head. "God, I'm so sorry. I guess...a nightmare. I'm sorry Daniel. I didn't mean to scare you."
Her gaze flittered nervously across the shiny tent wall.
"You don't have to apologize, Sam. But that was some nightmare - it sounded like you were being murdered..." He noticed she became very still. "Was that what you dreamed about...?"
She shook her head. "I don't remember it."
"Who's Lantash?" He asked.
She whipped her head to look straight at him. Her eyebrows were furrowed and her expression confused. "Lantash...? I don't...I don't know. Why do you ask?"
Daniel studied her face. He didn't think she was lying. "You were talking in your sleep."
"Really?" She shook her head. "That's pretty strange. I don't usually do that. But then again, I don't – well, I don't usually do any of this at all."
"Yeah, but what's really strange was that you were speaking in goa'uld."
She paused for a moment. "No, that's impossible. I barely know two phrases in goa'uld. You know that - I'm terrible at learning languages." She slipped back into her sleeping bag and shut her eyes.
Daniel stared at her but didn't say anything.
The morning came slowly, the rain falling at the same steady tempo as the night before. The temperature however had dropped several degrees and was approaching freezing.
Sam's first move had been the look out down the valley to see if she could spot the gate. But the river was even more swollen than it had been the day before. Anger fluttered briefly in her chest. She wanted to see father.
Inside the tent Daniel had combed his untidy hair, and was sitting on his sleeping bag. He had the red crystal in his hands, his concentration focused. His glasses sat at the tip of his nose, and he seemed oblivious to how far they had slid down. Sam smiled involuntarily at how endearing he looked.
Without looking up, he asked, "So?"
"No luck." Sam unlaced her sopping combat boots, eager to change into dry socks.
"At the ship, what information did you see stored in the crystal?" Daniel asked.
"Everything. You don't know how important this will be – it's got information on all of Heru'ur's upcoming moves, what looks like a complete listing of his army, supplies and strengths, not to mention a ton of intel on all of Heru'ur's enemies."
"Like Apophis?"
Sam nodded. "Yup. Among others."
"Anything about…about Ammonet?"
Sam hadn't even thought of that. She felt a twinge of guilt.
"Maybe," she said slowly, "but I didn't see anything while we were in the ship."
Daniel nodded. He looked at the crystal, and back up at her, as though he was deducing some elaborate connection between the two. Sam had long ago resigned herself to the fact that she would never understand quite how Daniel Jackson's mind worked. But there was something about the way he was regarding this morning that made her feel uneasy. She pushed the notion aside.
The rain provided a kind of white noise after awhile.
Sam rewrapped the ace bandage on Daniel's ankle. She was pleased to see that it wasn't more swollen than the night before, and probably not broken. It still looked painful though.
"This'll be fun once the river recedes," she joked. Thank god it was only a sprain – she didn't know if she could set a teammate's bone ever again after Antarctica.
Daniel smiled a little, but said nothing.
They each kept to themselves for most of the morning. By noonish (stargate induced jetlag was a very complicated affair) Sam was going stir-crazy. There was nothing to do except wait, and think about the data crystal, and try not to picture her father's face when she didn't show up.
Daniel had spent several hours scribbling in his journal which was remarkably intact given the amount of rain they had encountered. For the last hour, however, he had been staring at the wall of the tent.
She found herself watching him, unsure why. Something felt different today. This morning, her perception of him seemed different. She was noticing things she hadn't really paid too much attention to – the arch of his neck, the gentle swell of muscles on his fore-arm that flexed slightly when he wrote in his journal.
She had always been drawn to more stereotypically dominant, physically assertive men. It was a pattern she'd notice fairly early in her life; though why that might be was something she'd rather not contemplate. Daniel was someone she had loved on a purely mental and spiritual level long before she had even met the man – all it had taken was reading the Abydos mission reports and hearing stories about how he solved the mystery of the gate. But physically, academic types had never really been the men she noticed.
And now she had woken up this morning with the overwhelming awareness of his physical presence.
The strangest part was that when he noticed her gaze and met her eyes, it seemed wrong. She was expecting someone else's face. Internally, she sighed. This was nonsense. It was the same Daniel as ever, if a little more withdrawn than usual. But who could blame him given recent events? She couldn't even imagine how difficult it must have been to have had Sha're right there within arm's reach, just to loose her again.
Ah yes, she reminded herself. He's married, too.
Sam wished she could distract herself in conversation but right now she couldn't think of a subject to bring up.
The crystal obviously was connected with Sha're in Daniel's mind. And she really didn't want to talk about herself right now – the only thing on her mind right now was the fact that her father was in Colorado Springs and she wasn't. Oh yes, and how her perception of Daniel had somehow shifted overnight for absolutely no discernable reason. Neither of which were on her list of things to discuss. Ever.
They could talk about the weather. Sam actually chuckled under her breath.
"What?" Daniel blinked owlishly, like he was waking up.
"Oh, nothing." He kept his inquisitive gaze. "Ok, well I was just thinking about how ironic it is that we'll talk right through the night when we should be sleeping, but when we have all day, we just sit around and say nothing. So how about this rain?"
He laughed, and Sam felt better.