Sandra – Hmm,tak neviem ani za nic co si pomyslis o tejto kapitole,ale pls,maj na zreteli ze som to pisala okolo druhej v noci.:D A hlavne,ked sa ti nebude pacit tato,vedz ze uz je napisana dalsia a ta sa ti dufam bude pacit. Aspon koli jednemu detailu. :) Ale teraz, samozrejme, nasleduje tato.

All – Namaste! Finally, my finals are oficially over, and I passed my BA degree. Unfortunatelly, I had to sleep for a couple of days to be finally able to get myself do some SERIOUS work, like writing the new chapter. :) This one is rather short, but the explanation for this can be found at the end in AN. Hope you will like this one, although I have to admit, I have my doubts, especially about one issue, but hell, it just felt right while writing. :) Hope you will like it, or at least not find it out of place, as well.

Have a nice reading and please, as always, leave a review if you find the time to do so. All reviews are cheered. :)

ALL – Everybody, who likes great fanfiction, Vala and Adria – I highly recommend the fantastic story of Zeitoon - Many a Dream Extinguished – it is definitely worth to read – beautiful!

Leenie – Shukran, habibti! You are still the best! LOVED all the changes you made, you are a writters dream!

Hazmot – Thank you for your support, you are my bad conscience, but a very neccessary one. :)

PS – Man, I almost forgot, in this chapter, you FINALLY get to read the explanation of the whole mace issue, hope you wont be disappointed, but as written previously, the most reasonable explanations are mostly the easiest ones. :)

Where the truth lies

by- liz parker

Chapter 11 – Confessions and Guilt

Daniel was sitting in the briefing room and listening to what the councilors were saying but no matter how much he tried, he couldn't believe it. He wouldn't believe it. Because if he did, he would have to admit to himself that he had exhibited one of the biggest lapses of judgment in his life. He – Mr. Incredible, Mr. Know-it-all, Mr. I'm-never-wrong, the respected archeologist with the insuperable sense for justice and judgment, he, doctor Daniel Jackson, had committed a foolish mistake. He, probably for the first time in his life, had mistrusted his heart, and for no better reason than his shameful, pitiful fear of getting hurt. Instead, he had decided to trust some rather questionable evidence based on the testimony of strangers, rather than trust someone who had proven to be trustworthy on so many occasions. To make things worse, everyone else around him had chosen to trust their gut feeling and reject the possibility that one of their own would lie. Everyone except him, that is.

But no matter how much he wished all of this was just another troubling nightmare, he had finally come to the mortifying conclusion that this, indeed, was real

The mayor had, for a couple of minutes now, been reiterating how very sorry his people were for accusing Earth of stealing their mace. He hoped Earth was kind enough to understand the grief and anger caused by the sudden loss of his planet's most sacred object.

Nothing of this was, however, really reaching Daniel's ears. Vala was innocent after all and Daniel, the one person she had always desperately turned to with her trust issues, had let her down.

"...So by lying to you, Tabuti was trying to cover his father's theft and used the arrival of one of our SG teams as a perfect opportunity to shift the blame on us." Finished General Landry thoughtfully, then continued, maintaining a tone that indicated he wanted to clear things out once and for all.

"I still don't understand this man's motive. What did the boy's father presume to gain by stealing the mace?"

"Well, we are still not sure ourselves, but we think he reasoned that stealing the mace would bring chaos and instability to our system, since the mace is the very embodiment of the council's rule. He would then use the chaos to lure some other greedy administrators onto his side, hoping they could overthrow the council and claim rule for themselves," answered the mayor.

"He wouldn't have done it if you hadn't created such difficult and almost impossible qualifications to satisfy in order to become councilor," said Tabuti defensively, his voice shaking with fear but also with anger.

"Silence!" Shouted both councilors ruthlessly at Tabuti, making the boy shrink even more in his seat, if that were even possible.

The boy's eyes searched the room for sympathetic looks. The people around him were so nice when he had met them, maybe they could help, and maybe they would understand and forgive...

In his desperate search for support, Tabuti cast his gaze upon Daniel, who he remembered had been a kind, wise and reasonable man. He would surely understand his actions... and why he had been forced to lie.

"Please Sir..." He shot Daniel an honest, pleading look and took the man by surprise.

"I am really deeply sorry! I had never intended to hurt anybody." His voice was shaking, and he was close to tears.

"When I saw my father steal the mace, I was petrified of his deed myself. But I was even more petrified when I though about the punishment he would have faced if he had been caught! Please, believe me, I tried to convince him to return the mace the instant you left, but he wouldn't listen!" But no matter how honest or sorry the boy was, he found no mercy in Daniel's eyes this time.

"I trusted you," said Daniel, his voice hard and despising.

"I know and I am sorry..." The boy's eyes were pleading with honest regret, but none of this could reach Daniel's furious mind.

"...I even trusted your word over hers," continued Daniel mercilessly.

"I am sorry!" Cried the boy in despair.

"You are sorry? SORRY?' Daniel laughed bitterly.

"I don't care! Just to be sorry is never going to be enough!" Daniel raised his voice at the boy, whose body was now trembling with sobs. Daniel knew very well though, that the meaning of his words was not just directed at the boy, but a reflection of his own guilt concerning the damage his previous actions had caused.

"Please understand, he is my father!"

"I DON'T CARE! SHE IS OUR FRIEND!" Yelled Daniel, right into the boy's face.

"Doctor Jackson! I have to ask you to calm down!" Interrupted General Landry sharply.

"Don't worry about that," said the mayor, ignoring Daniel's rude behavior towards the boy. "We understand your indignation. Don't worry, the boy is going to be punished severely..." It was more his tone and HOW he said the words that sent a chill down Mitchell's spine.

"...And of course, we utterly regret falsely accusing miss Mal Doran..." This time, it was Sam who didn't believe any word the man was saying.

"...Therefore, we would like to apologize to her in person. Is there a way to arrange that?" The mayor finished by looking around the table, as if asking why Vala wasn't present yet.

"I am afraid not," replied the General politely, although he disliked the mayor and his entourage already. There was something snobbish and false about them.

"I hope miss Mal Doran isn't angry with us. She surely understands we had no other choice," said one of the councilors, displaying a toothy smile. To Teal'c, it was more of a smirk and even General Landry had to doubt the man's honesty. The General once again gave the three old men a scouring glance. They all looked extremely aged and conservative that it made him slightly understand why the boy's father wanted a change. However, his actions couldn't be justified by any noble or aspiring causes.

"There's been an accident. Miss Mal Doran was severely injured on a mission. She is staying in our infirmary at the moment."

"Oh Valor! We are so sorry to hear that," said the mayor contritely, but again, there was more drama to it than Daniel would have liked. Daniel's stomach turned when he heard the word 'sorry'again. How dare they come here and say they were 'sorry'?! What did they care about Vala? She meant nothing to them! So how dare they act regretful? Daniel was really sick. He had been suffering from a cold lump in his stomach ever since this damned meeting had started and now he could feel a strong pounding headache beginning to harass his neurons . His vision was blurring slightly from the sudden onset of the headache. He needed fresh air - NOW. All of a sudden, he felt that the rather large briefing room was too crowded.

"...However, I still hope we will be able to continue our cooperation and sign our treaty as originally planned." The mayor smiled sweetly, and both the councilors nodded in unison. The General turned to Daniel for an answer. After all, he had initiated the talks for cooperation in the first place. However, Daniel seemed stuck deep in his thoughts, unable to catch the content of the conversation.

"Doctor Jackson? Do you agree with continuing the negotiations?" Asked the General once again, this time more loudly. Daniel looked up, directing his gaze at the three old men. They all looked sheepish, almost eager, a greedy look dancing up on their faces. Daniel had the feeling he saw these man for the first time in his life. He couldn't understand why he didn't see it earlier. She didn't like them from the beginning.

"Doctor Jackson? What do you say?" The General pressed Daniel for an answer.

"I don't care unless it has to do anything with me," said Daniel coldly. "I personally don't want to see them again." He rose from his chair and walked out of the briefing room before the General even had the chance to call him back.

"General?" Mitchell asked, already half standing.

"Dismissed." General Landry nodded as he watched Cam's quick escape, still a bit shocked by Daniel's behavior.

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Cam only caught up with Daniel at the door of Daniel's office, which was instantly slammed before him and almost hit Cam's face. Although Cam knew the gesture to stay out was made pretty clear, he didn't wait for an invitation and took the risk of stepping inside. What he saw there was a very irritated and frustrated archeologist walking quick circles around the table standing in the center of the room. He waited for a few moments for Daniel to acknowledge him, but Daniel seemingly didn't intend to do so, so Cam jumped into his way to make Daniel face him.

"Whoa, whoa, WHOA!" Mitchell shouted putting his hands in the air in defense as he saw the menacing look on Daniel's face.

"You know, although this is probably not the right time to tell you, what you did in there was kinda rude, and the two of us gotta get our asses back in there and continue the meeting in a professional manner. Yes, regardless of how hard it is for all of us to deal with those false senile folks who kinda started this whole mess ending in Vala lying in the infirmary and who obviously don't give a damn. However, I think we don't have much of a choice here..."

"Ya think? Just watch me!" Responded Daniel stubbornly, pointedly bumping into his chair and giving Cam a mocking smile.

"Jackson, they are a diplomatic alien delegation! You can't do this. You will get yourself into serious trouble with insubordination!" Said Cam, knowing he was just trying to distract Daniel from the terrible state of mind Cam knew the archeologist was going through right now.

"You're now playing the military card? Sorry, won't work on a civilian. I don't want to ever see the "honorable" delegation again," said Daniel, his posture in the chair full of ridicule, however, his stare deadly serious.

He was strongly reminding Cam of somebody, but he didn't have the time to think about whom.

"Now get out and leave me alone Cam," said Daniel, barely mustering a calm voice.

"C'mon, stop that crap! I know you are feeling bad and guilty right now but we all are!" Said Mitchell, watching Daniel's face with concern as it turned grim and angry.

"LEAVE-ME-ALONE," said Daniel again, this time emphasizing each of his words solemnly.

"Stop being so stubborn Daniel! It is not your fault..."

"I don't want to talk about it!" Daniel shouted at Cam.

"Daniel, just be reasonable...," tried Cam, renewing the effort.

"I am warning you for the last time Mitchell, leave me alone!" Cried Daniel menacingly, clenching his fists.

"Oh c'mon, you can't be serious?!" Mitchell cried, a bit hysterically, as he watched Daniel's body tense up while his fists clenched together tightly once more.

"Just be reasonable..." Cam pleaded again oblivious of the fact that he had already voiced such a request earlier. "We don't have to return to the briefing room, okay, but we are gonna talk this over, deal?" Mitchell tried everything to calm Daniel down. Under no circumstances would he leave Jackson alone right now, he knew what guilt could do to a person firsthand.

"Out," Said Daniel quietly, but the more menacingly.

Suddenly, it came to Cam. Daniel reminded him of no other than Vala herself. "You are being childish, you know that?! Shutting other people out is not going to help, it will worsen things. You know, in terms of hiding your feelings, you are even worse than Vala!"

Yes, Mitchell knew he shouldn't have said that even before the words left his mouth, but it was already too late. However, unlike Mitchell thought possible, the strength and subsequent pain from Daniel's punch into his face made him see stars. He bent over with a loud but muffled "Ow!", quickly bringing both of his hands towards his face.

"Do 'ou 'eel 'etter now?!?" Asked Mitchell angrily, cursing loudly and holding his face in both of his hands, the sharp pain never leaving his nose and left cheekbone.

"NO!" Daniel yelled, surprisingly.

"WHY do you people never do as you are told and leave when asked?! WHY does everybody always wanna talk with poor little Danny when he screws up?! WHY do you think I can't handle things by myself? WHY can't you leave me alone?!"

"'Ecause we 'anna 'elp!" Replied Mitchell resolutely, still holding his nose, which he worried was broken.

"And that's where you are wrong! I don't need your help!" Said Daniel angrily, however, more calmly this time. He turned away from Mitchell, brought his hands onto his hips and breathed heavily. Then turned to Mitchell once again.

"Just please, leave me alone for some time!" He added, then grabbed his car keys and jacket. Before leaving his office, he turned to Cam once more.

"I am sorry I punched you, it was nothing personal. But as you surely can see, I am at the edge with my nerves right now and I really need to be alone to calm down and clear my head, ok?" Daniel said to Mitchell half apologetically, half explanatory.

"And let Carolyn check that out." He added finally and pointed to Cam's bleeding nose. Daniel then walked out of his office, leaving there a very confused, aching Mitchell.

TBC

AN – This one was originally though as just half of a chapter, but for the sake of keeping the plot as little confusing as possible, I decided to post this as a whole one. A possible advantage – hopefully more regular updates.:)