It took four sets of three knocks each before Daniel decided that no, Teal'c really wasn't going to answer the door, and not because he just plain didn't want to (like Jack would) but because he wasn't actually there. Disappointed, he resettled the stack of file folders he held and headed back for the elevators.

"Daniel."

The archaeologist slowed at his friend's voice to let Jack catch up. "Morning," he greeted.

"Stayed here last night?" the colonel asked. "I thought you just got a fancy apartment." He eyed the stack of files in Daniel's arms but didn't offer to help carry them. Jack, he'd noticed, drew a very solid line between 'my job' and 'not my job.'

"No, I was just trying to track down Teal'c," he explained, shuffling the weight of the paper as they walked. "I've got more translation stuff for him from Giza."

"Ah." Was it his imagination, or did Jack start walking a little faster?

"I mean, I know that stuff is thousands of years old, but it's the same Goa'ulds still around, right? So any information we can get could be useful."

Yeah, he was definitely walking faster, leaving Daniel struggling to keep up as they neared the corner. The archaeologist was well aware that his friend didn't really want to hear it – didn't care – but it was damned important. "It could have tactical value, Jack. I mean it! Seriously, this is the kind of stuff that can tell us what's out-"

A body barreled around the corner at almost a run, catching his shoulder and sending the files flying. Daniel, too, lost his balance, and only Jack's hand on his arm kept him upright.

The body didn't stop, tearing down the corridor past two sergeants and an SF before disappearing around the corner. The archaeologist could only stare after the small hurricane, dumbstruck. "Was that...?"

"Carter," Jack said dryly.

"Huh. Was she...?"

"Yup."

Daniel wasn't convinced that she'd been all-out crying, but she'd been pretty close. Either way, that sort of one-upped his translations. The sergeants had already begun restacking his papers, and he gathered them quickly into a stack. He could reorganize later. Tucking the stack beneath one arm, he pointed down the corridor from which she'd come and asked, "What's down there?"

"The gym," Sergeant Hawes answered.

Jack's expression said pretty clearly that he didn't really want to get involved – or at least that he was pretty uncomfortable with crying women – but Daniel stared him down. She was their teammate, and they had a responsibility to her, no matter what. Finally, with a sigh, the colonel tilted his head toward the gym and started that way.

Daniel had never been in the base gym – it was smaller than he expected, but packed with people. Most were young and enlisted, he noticed, but not all; several officers from SG-2 and SG-3 were there. Ferretti seemed to be the highest-ranking man there, leaning against a weight rack.

He couldn't help but notice that there were only men there.

In the center of the group stood Teal'c on a mat, squaring off against Johnson of SG-3. Whether it was a challenge for Johnson's transgressions during the briefing about the Touched or some weird sort of macho-man apology for it, Daniel couldn't tell.

"Colonel!" a young man exclaimed, and the entire motley crew spun to look at the two intruders. They looked... guilty. Obscenely so. Except for Teal'c, who looked the same way he always did.

"All right," Jack growled, "somebody spill it."

Ferretti pushed off the weight rack and crossed his arms. "Just doin' some training, sir. Teal'c was showing us his Jaffa takedown techniques."

The look Jack gave him pretty clearly said that the man was a fool if he thought that had been the question. "Was Carter in here?"

More than a dozen sets of eyes abruptly hit the floor.

"Indeed," Teal'c volunteered.

Jack scrubbed a hand through the hair at the back of his neck for a moment. "Everybody out," he announced finally. "Except Teal'c and Ferretti."

Daniel had never seen a room clear so fast, and he suspected they were running from impending doom in the form of one Colonel Jack O'Neill. "Seriously," the older man announced once the room was empty, "why was Carter upset?"

"I didn't do it," Ferretti claimed immediately, pointing at Teal'c with both hands.

The Jaffa just looked confused. "I did not injure her."

"Okay," Daniel put in. "Umm... just tell us what happened."

"Lieutenant Weiss requested a sparring session with me. When he could take no more, Sergeant Beckett took his place. I defeated many of your men, O'Neill," Teal'c said, his disappointment clear.

"And Carter?" Jack asked. "You beat her, too?"

"I did not."

Daniel blinked, taken aback. "You let her win?"

"No. I did not fight Doctor Carter," he explained.

The other two members of SG-1 exchanged a confused look before Jack turned on Ferretti. "'Splain, Lucy."

"She asked for a turn," he shrugged, "and Teal'c here told her no."

"Uh... why?" Daniel asked.

"All female Jaffa are trained to fight in order to defend their homes in the event of an attack," Teal'c explained. "However, their training is conducted privately. No Jaffa would strike a woman except in battle."

The archaeologist pinched his nose. "And you told her that? In front of everyone?" No wonder she was so upset.

"Indeed."

With a sigh, Daniel turned to Jack. "You wanna take this, or should I?"

It was a long time before the older man said, "Teal'c. Buddy. Let's get some breakfast, huh? You and I need to have a little chat."