CHAPTER 9

By the time anyone had been told that Daniel was missing, he had apparently returned to the infirmary on his own. When Dr. Lam questioned him on it, he stated merely that he needed to take a walk and clear his head. Mitchell was glad for that small favor, since neither Sam nor Teal'c had said much of anything to him when the archaeologist was no where to be found. He screwed up, big time, and he was well aware of it. Sam had made a valid point. He too knew what it was like to stare death in the face and he came out of the experience a different man. For Daniel, who had died more times that anyone at the SGC, it had to be more than a bit unsettling. Walking into the infirmary he fully expected to see both Sam and Teal'c sitting by Daniel's side and was surprised to see they were no where to be found. Instead Daniel was sitting by himself, reading a very large, very heavy looking book.

"Jackson?"

"Hey," Daniel said closing the book and placing it on the table besides him.

"So I hear you went on a little field trip?"

"Yeah, nothing major just needed to get some air."

"Don't lie," Mitchell said taking a seat beside Daniel. "You were trying to escape."

"There was that too."

"What changed your mind."

"I spoke with Vala again."

"Really?" Mitchell said trying to hold back his surprise. "What did she say? When did it happen?"

"I was in the locker room, all ready to leave, when I found myself having lunch with Vala. We started talking, mostly about things that have happened to her while in the Ori galaxy and about the pending crusade."

"And?"

"We have about three weeks."

"Three weeks?"

"By all estimations. She said that there are armies, on dozens of worlds filled with people willing to fight."

"Damn."

"Tell me about it. Teal'c went back to Dakara to check on the status of the Supergate while Sam is working on a way to try and dial into it before they can dial out."

"Um, hold on a second," Mitchell replied as Daniel's words finally hit him. "Why would we want to that?"

"We've done it several times with the Goa'uld. We dial in to a specific location so they can't dial out to this galaxy. Kind of like a way to prevent the invasion?"

"Yeah, but this gate is different than the ones that we're used to, are we sure it would even work?"

"Sam's making a simulation based on data that we collected from the original Supergate. Hopefully we can find out if such a thing is possible."

Mitchell could tell that there was something else on Daniel's mind. He wasn't sure exactly what it was but he had been around the man enough to know when he got what Sam called his 'bothered face' which meant he was upset about something and didn't feel like talking about it. Mitchell, on the other hand, had noticed that no one really got him to speak up on what was bothering him either. They had been around him long enough to know it made him uncomfortable and did their best not to pry. Although he never questioned it, to him, it just felt wrong somehow.

He wasn't sure if it was due to the situations that they saw on a regular basis or if all the other members of SG-1 were dealing with their own stuff to not want to deal with anyone else's, but Mitchell knew that when it came right down to it you don't keep stuff in. It would just come back and nip you in the ass when you weren't looking. He had tried to shut down after his accident but in the end, the courage that he saw in his father on a daily basis lead him to keep going – to keep fighting. It was also on this courage that he let his inner pain out for the world to see. It had been refreshing and ultimately the strength of his heart that kept him alive.

For Daniel, however, it seemed as if he had the weight of the universe on his shoulders. It's hard to believe that he wasn't always this way. To read back to the mission reports of the early days of SG-1 and to hear about the wide-eyed and curious guy that he was . . . it was almost unfathomable that the young man whom he read about and the man who lay in the bed before him were the same person. However, he had been a solider long enough to know what combat does to people. It made him kind of sad to know of the toll that almost a decade at the SGC had cost Dr. Daniel Jackson.

Even during their occasional basketball games or movie nights, the burden Daniel carried was still there. Maybe less prevalent that it was on a regular basis, but always there. There was only one time where Mitchell had noticed that the burden Daniel carried seemed to disappear, and the internal struggle he was dealing with took a back seat. And that was all thanks to Vala. She brought out a different side of Daniel, albeit it was thru a combination of utter annoyance and anger, but it was something that seemed to have been missing. All one had to do was look into the man's eyes when she was around and it was there. For as annoying a pain in the ass that Vala was, and for all the fighting, nit-picking and sexual innuendos, Daniel had somehow become more alive in her presence.

That spark had been noticeably absent since the day that Vala destroyed the Ori beachhead, her fate unknown. It was the uncertainty that he could tell was bothering Jackson the most. As it did when most people noticed that someone with whom they cared about was gone. It was the uncertainty that slowly killed most people and he knew that the same had held for Jackson. Going only on his instinct, Mitchell decided to broach the subject.

"What else did Vala tell you?"

Mitchell could see instantly of Daniel's discomfort and knew that the archaeologist was going to try and change the subject.

"Nothing important."

"Jackson," Mitchell said in a strong and commanding tone of voice. "I can tell there's something else. Now, it's not going to do you any good to keep it all up inside like that. You can tell me."

Daniel looked at Mitchell curiously, "Is this newfound interest in my well being legitimate or are you just trying to make it up to me for having me confined to the infirmary?"

Mitchell looked back at Daniel kind of offended.

"First off, I did not have you confined! I merely suggested that until we find out more about your condition we shouldn't have you traipsing about the galaxy. And secondly, I brought this up because I can tell by the way that you're acting that something else happened and I know that you need to talk about it. And I am not trying to make up any– "

"Vala's pregnant," Daniel mumbled halting Mitchell in his tracks.

"What?"