He is woken by his mobile barely four hours later. At first he can't place the sound. His head still entrenched in the dream. The ringing becomes recognisable, pulling him back. He rises groggily from Cassie's sofa, causing the shawl to fall to the ground; his memories of the dream with it. His hands fumble for his phone.

"Dr Jackson here." He mumbles his mouth feeling cumbersome.

"Daniel it's Jack." He is awake now.

"Jack."

"Lorne said that he's already informed you." It's not a question. He sounds so cold down the phone, separated from everything. But Daniel understands, he can relate.

"Yes, yes he has, I'm at Cassie's now, we told her last night." He can sense Jack nodding at his words.

"Right. I'm glad your with her. That's why I phoned really, checking your both alright and everything. So you are then?"

"Are what?" His brain only running at half speed.

"Alright! What I mean to say is your Ok. Right!?" His voice is starting to sound annoyed, the anger rising. Daniel, stares at the phone incredulously. If he was thinking clearly he would realise that Jack is not angry with him. Anger is easier for him than any other emotion, especially grief. Daniel will later blame this on exhaustion, and pain that can no longer be numbed by shock. but he can't stop retaliating.

"Alright? How can I ever be alright again? Sam's gone, and she's never coming back." He doesn't realise that he's shouting down the phone.

"Daniel, Daniel I know.." Jack's voice withers,

"You don't Jack." The pain suddenly explodes from the box he had try to hide it in his heart. "I loved her." The phone is silent in his hands. But he still doesn't stop.

"I had her in my arms, in my bed and she was safe. She was safe. But she chose to leave, to go. To go out there and fight those damn things, a million miles away, And it hurts so much. I didn't think I could hurt like that again."

"At least your heart's still beating." it's under his breath. Daniel isn't even listening. Continuing his tirade.

"I just want it to stop. I just want the pain to go away Jack. Last night I couldn't feel anything. I was ice. I was inanimate. And I didn't think it could get worse. And now I can move once more. And it does. Make me into stone again Jack? Please" The phone is silent. "Does locking your feelings away work? Is that how you live with yourself?" He's still shouting more to make a noise than anything else. Jack's voice is calm and quiet. So unlike him.

"Stop it. Just stop it." But he can't. The numbness is gone now; and all is left is pain. It's raw and bleeding and all he can do is scream at the darkness.

"It was love Jack. It was real. And now she's gone. But I still feel it. It's still there, and it makes me hurt more." Jack knows his friends in pain. The pain that Jack feels in his own chest. It has replaced his damaged heart. Jack shouldn't speak anymore. He shouldn't have even called him. But he has and he knows the real reason why.

"I know Daniel."

"You think you know how I feel? Is it because you think you loved her?" He spit's the words, as if he's venomous. "I saw the way you looked at her. Longing; wanting. But you couldn't offer her your soul, because it's not whole anymore. What I had with her is real. And whatever you think you feel will never come close."

"She told me."

"Told you? Told you what?"

"Sam told me about you and her. She told me how happy she was. How she was in love with you." He's still quiet, but his voice is no longer cold, it's almost pleading. "You'd already been going out nearly two years then."

"We didn't even get to celebrate it together. She was sent to midway. To monitor the flight of Atlantis. It was only supposed to take a few hours, Be home for dinner she said. Of course things are never that simple."

"I know she was there. I ordered her there." O'Neill could have sent any other scientist. He could never have foreseen that Sam would be so useful. He had done it out of pure jealousy. It is now Daniel's turn to be silent on the phone. "I put her foreword for Atlantis as well."

"Does this make you feel better? Does telling me your Dark secret, alleviate your heavy conscious? Did sending her to Atlantis solve everything for you Jack? Are you secretly pleased that she's gone? At least she's not with me hey?" Daniel knows he's not being fair. Jack couldn't foresee this anymore than Sam could. But shouting seems to help Daniel at this point. Jack is reeling as if he has received a physical blow. He deserved this. It's why he'd phoned. He needed someone to blame him. He'd hoped it would stop him hating himself.

"I'm sorry Daniel." He is tempted to end the phone call there. But he doesn't. Daniel is hurting, and Jack's the target. As he should be. "I'm heading back to the SGC soon. I thought I'd meet up with Teal'c, see how he's holding up. I think it's best if we all have a few days. Get our heads together." A few days, that might be enough for General Jack O'Neill, but Daniel needs a lot longer than that to get over this.

"You know your welcome, Cassie too, if you want to spend sometime with Teal'c and me." Daniel doesn't know if he can be in the same room as Jack right now. But it's what Cassie would want.

"Yeah."

"Daniel before you go, I thought that you should know. I'm stopping by Sam's brothers house first."

"Mark, he's called Mark." There is shuffling of paper.

"Yeah, Mark James Carter. It says he's a paediatrician at a hospital in Oregon. I've got his file here. Lorne gave it to me earlier. I said I'd go see him. The poor man has had enough bad news to give out lately." Daniel hadn't given Mark much thought. He'd only lost his father a few years ago. Daniel's met him a few times. Two Christmases and a slightly strained thanksgiving dinner. Mark had been welcoming enough. wanting to build bridges with his sister; especially after the death of their father. But the last dinner hadn't gone well. Sam had been paged, something at the SGC, another crisis that they needed Sam for. Mark couldn't understand what would warrant her to be at work on thanksgiving, when Sam did not answer he had made a cutting comment about how alike Sam and her father were. They hadn't spoken since. They never will now.

"What are you going to say to him?"

"I honestly don't know. There's not much that I can say."

"He'll never know how his sister died. How many people she saved." Daniel's voice is reflective, but Jack can here the bitterness. Jack doesn't say anything to that, knowing that arguing would be pointless. "I want to come with you."

"I thought you would. I'll come by and pick you and Cassie up on the way." There's silence for a few moments. Jack thinking of something to fill it "She's written Mark a letter too."

"Have you read yours." He knows what Daniel's asking.

"Yes. A letter meant to alleviate a few demons from an old General's conscious. A letter to let him live in delusion if he so chooses. You haven't read yours." Again it is not a question.

"I'm not ready to say goodbye to her just yet."

"It'll be there when you are. She'll wait." The phone clicks off, dead in Daniel's hand. He looks from it to the door, where Cassandra stands, her arms folded, eyes trained on Daniel. For the second time that evening he sees Janet Frasier staring back at him from Cassie's eyes. He's waiting for the loud bang. The sharp tongue. She's going to make him phone Jack back up. Tell him it's all fuelled by grief and that he's sorry. But she doesn't; choosing instead to walk up to him her arms quickly wrapping round. He's not stone anymore.