"Dr Jackson?"

Daniel opened his eyes to see who this disembodied voice belonged to and was somewhat relieved to see that a reassuringly solid General Hammond stood beside him. "Were you talking to someone?" the General asked, looking at him with puzzled concern.

"Just imagining what Teal'c would say" Daniel admitted with a self-conscious smile.

"And?" Hammond encouraged gently.

"'Be patient' pretty much covers it" Daniel paraphrased.

'Impatient is good too.' Jack's voice butted in. 'What's keeping you?'

Daniel closed his eyes tightly for a moment and shook his head to try and clear his mind.

Hammond gave him a odd look "Dr Jackson, are you well enough to be out of the infirmary?"

"It's funny you should say that." Daniel replied with another half-smile, awkwardly straightening up as he realised that he was still leaning against the wall. "I was just thinking that perhaps I will go back now. Just for a bit."

"Good idea." The General replied. "Take it carefully."

"Yeah – thanks, I will."

General Hammond paused for a moment to watch Daniel as he walked slowly back towards the infirmary; with a worried expression on his face, he turned and headed back to his office.

Back in the infirmary, Janet was sat at a little table, busy with paper work. This was definitely her least favourite part of the job and it always seemed to take up so much time. Even admin jobs like stock-taking (which were not part of her remit) still required her to check and sign off the relevant forms. In addition there were patient notes to maintain, chronic illness management plans to update (the SGC had a surprising number of those given that, in theory at least, all personnel should be classified as A1 in terms of health and fitness), medical negligence insurance forms to fill out (so many possible things that could go wrong) and quarantine policies to write (ditto): The list was endless.

"Hi Janet."

She looked up in surprise as Daniel sank down in the chair opposite her.

"You're back early!" she exclaimed. She gazed at him suspiciously. "Are you ok?"

"Er, not sure." Daniel replied unhappily. He looked away, absently tensing his fist. "I.. um…I might be hearing things."

With a frown Janet immediately put down her pen leaned towards him. "Might be?" she repeated.

"Sort of am." Daniel amended reluctantly, adding "I think" a moment later. He rubbed his temples distractedly.

"What sort of things? Tinnitus?"

"No, more like… voices…Teal'c, Jack."

Janet frowned again and reached over and felt his forehead with the back of her hand. "You don't have a fever." She slid around the desk, took out her flashlight and shone it into his eyes. "Any odd visual effects?"

"You mean hallucinations? – No."

Involuntarily he flinched away from the light and Janet put her hand under his chin to keep his head still. "Headache?"

"Yeah." Daniel agreed, working hard to resist the temptation to shut his eyes against the harsh beam of light.

"For how long?"

"Not sure." It had come on gradually, and he hadn't really noticed it at first.

"Ok." Janet said at length, putting the torch back in her pocket and perching on the edge of the desk. She folded her arms, "How about you tell me exactly what you've been hearing."

Daniel pulled a face. "Uh… well… there isn't much to tell really." And there wasn't when he thought about it. The dreams didn't count – however vivid they were. All he really had was a couple of lines and a vague sense of unease. As he described it out loud he had a sudden feeling that he was making an issue out of nothing.

"It doesn't sound much" Janet agreed reassuringly when he had finished. "It is probably a combination of stress and the meds."

Daniel nodded gratefully.

"But," Janet continued, "Just in case, I want you back in here now where I can observe you."

Daniel sighed, although he had expected as much. "Ok. Thanks Janet." He moved to stand up and involuntarily clasped a hand to his stomach as the action pulled at his stitches. "Ow". Yup, still really painful. He kept still, waiting for the wave of nausea to pass, frustrated that he couldn't even stand up properly.

Janet looked at him sympathetically. Poor Daniel, he'd had a rough week. The experience of being trapped out of phase must have shaken him up more than he had been willing to admit and contact with Nick had stirred up old wounds. Before he had been able to process either, appendicitis had knocked him for six and less than a day later he was watching SG-1 battle an unknown enemy with the safety of Earth at stake. It was no wonder he looked done in.

"Why don't you go back for bed for a while?" She suggested.

"Maybe" Daniel mumbled.

The fact that he was even considering it demonstrated how exhausted he must be.

"Do it!" Janet repeated. "That's an order!" She could see him wavering. "Tell you what," she suggested with a sudden smile. "Have a couple of hours of rest now and then maybe later I can take you to dinner in the canteen this evening!"

Daniel looked over with a fleeting boyish grin. "With candles?"

"No promises!" Janet replied, laughing. "Do we have a date?"