A/N: This chapter took me a long time to perfect. The emotional impact of Jack's actions are now crashing down on both of them…

Jack let himself into Daniel's apartment-unsurprised that the door was unlocked. He found his way into the bathroom... where it looked like a fabric store had exploded.

An older woman sat crossed-legged on the floor next to his archeologist, who was lying limply on his side, cradled snugly in a nest of multicolored blankets.

A pale blue towel was tucked under his head, carefully positioned to catch anything he managed to upchuck, but based on his lethargic squirming, he was seriously dehydrated and down to the dregs of his gut.

Gripping the counter for support, Jack quickly got down on the floor next to Daniel, kneeling to see his face.

He was far more pale than usual, covered in a thick layer of sweat, with bright red fever spots high on his cheeks. His mouth was dangling open, a thin trail of drool seeping from the corner of his mouth. His eyes were glazed over, flicking nervously around the room, seeing things that seemed to fascinate him.

Jack turned to the woman.

"Name's Jack. I assume you're Anne?"

"Yes. Do you want to take him to the emergency room?"

"Yes, well, not exactly. Daniel's a civilian contractor at NORAD. We have our own doctors over there."

"In NORAD?"

"Yes, see there are a lot of-"

"Oh, don't worry. I know you military types. I won't ask questions."

Jack's mouth closed with a snap.

Anne smiled.

"My oldest son was in the Marine Corps. Don't worry about me."

Jack gave her a tight smile, which quickly dropped as Daniel groped at his thigh, curling his fingers into the denim of Jack's jeans.

"Hey there, buddy. How's a trip to Janet sound?"

Daniel whined, hands scrabbling at the floor as he tried to scrunch up tighter.

"I know. Anne says you've been sick for a while now. I think you're going to need a little help kicking this bug, maybe one or two of Doc's happy juice IVs."

Daniel whimpered, his face pinching into an expression of intense concentration mixed with fear.

"Hey, hey. What's going on?" Jack asked, gently turning Daniel's face to look at him. "You hurting?"

Daniel opened his eyes slowly and looked at Jack with a dazed expression. Jack recognized it as the patented Daniel Jackson Blank Stare.

"Hi, you wanna tell me what's going on?"

Daniel moaned quietly, turning into the blanket near his head and spitting out a mouthful of saliva.

"You're okay, buddy. Do you think you can sit up with my help?"

That seemed to rouse Daniel slightly, and he opened his eyes wider, looking at Jack in alarm.

"D-Dunno," he said quietly, blinking at him with the same glazed expression.

"Let's try, okay?"

Jack knelt and scooped an arm around his shoulders, supporting him as he sat him up.

Daniel's head lolled between his shoulders, and Jack cradled it with his other hand.

He turned to Anne.

"Can you grab the bag right by the front door? It's kinda reddish." He tossed her his car keys. "Black truck!" He shouted after her.

Turning his attention back to the swaying archeologist, Jack guided him slowly to his feet, then onto the bed before slipping a loose pair of sweatpants and shoes on him.

"We're gonna walk real slow out to my truck, okay? Try to give me a warning if you're gonna black out on me." Daniel nodded, snaking a hand around Jack's waist.

They shuffled slowly down and out of the building. Daniel stopped to dry heave twice, once in the elevator- clinging frantically to Jack- the next time over some mulch next to the street. Jack supported him while he shivered and panted in the cool night air before crawling into the passenger seat. Mrs. Markle brought a clean blanket and a trash can to the truck.

Anne watched with a worried frown as the two of them drove off into the night. Years of experience taught her that there was definitely something brewing between the two men.

She sighed, and went back to Daniel's apartment to fold the laundry.

o-O-o-O-o

Jack parked the truck as close as he could to the SGC elevator bank. Wrapping Daniel in the blanket, he made the executive decision to leave the trash behind. He'd deal with any mess later, he needed both of his hands now.

"Ya with me buddy?" He asked gently, feeling Daniel's forehead.

The miserable man nodded, and leaned into his cool touch. Jack smiled and started walking them towards the end of the parking lot. Halfway to the elevators, Daniel suddenly stopped.

"Jack, are we still friends?" He said quietly, looking down at the ground.

Jack was taken aback.

"Sure we are, Danny," He said gently. His fever was pretty high, after all.

"Why do you ask?"

Daniel sniffed quietly. "C-Cause y-you s-said w-we w-weren't," He said shakily.

"When?" Jack probed.

"A-At y-your h-house," He said.

It hit Jack upside the head.

"Oh, Daniel. Do you remember why I said those things?"

Daniel nodded.

"B-But y-you s-said it was o-over," He cried, looking up at Jack for the first time.

Jack's heart clenched. Daniel's face was streaked with tears, his expression filled with raw pain.

Jack sighed. The fever had obviously broken down Daniel's normally tight constraint on his emotions.

"I know, I know. I'm sorry, Daniel. We can talk about this when you're feeling-"

"No!" Daniel cried, pushing away from Jack.

"You left me!" He cried out, backing away from Jack.

"I-I d-don't know why e-everybody l-leaves m-me, but t-they always d-do. J-Just go Jack."

His voice dropped to a whisper, so low Jack almost missed it. "D-Don't t-try to pretend you c-care about m-me."

Jack froze. Breathed in. And out. This was obviously a deeper problem than he'd assumed.

"I do care about you, Daniel. That's why I'm here. You're sick, buddy. We need to go see Janet so you can feel better."

Daniel swayed backwards, and Jack almost crossed the ten feet between them, but Daniel corrected and managed to stay upright.

"I-I'm f-fine," He whimpered- trying to convince himself.

He wrapped his arms tightly around his stomach- trying to hug himself.

He began to pant, staring at a point far beyond Jack.

Trying to keep from flying into a million pieces.

"Yes, you're going to be fine. Right now you're sick, Daniel. Stomach sick and heart sick. Let me help your stomach feel better and then we'll talk about our friendship."

"N-No!" Daniel cried, turning away from Jack and staggering towards the truck.

Jack started towards him.

"S-stay the hell a-away from m-me!" Daniel screamed, tears streaming down his face.

Jack watched as he staggered forwards, his whole body trembling violently.

Daniel made it to the truck, and pulled at the driver's door handle. Thankfully, Jack had remembered to lock it. Daniel yanked frantically at the latch, before giving the tire a swift kick.

He pulled away from the truck before Jack could reach him, and stumbled towards the elevator bank. Halfway there, he swerved off towards the concrete wall and wedged himself into a corner.

The archeologist swayed on his feet, reaching a tentative hand out to touch the cool concrete before doubling over with a low moan. Daniel shot a panicked, desperate glance at Jack just before he lost the battle with his nausea, a horrible strangled sound escaping him between heaves.

Jack winced at violence of his stomach's rebellion. Call it intuition or something deeper, Jack knew that Daniel was absolutely terrified.

He carefully approached him from the side, making a point not to corner him anymore than he already was. Daniel stayed folded over, breathing way too fast, tears dripping onto the ground.

"I'm right here, Daniel. Right here. Let me help ya."

Daniel slowly raised his head.

"J-Jack?" He whimpered, dragging a hand across his face.

"I'm right here," He repeated soothingly.

"Y-You're n-not l-leaving?"

He shook his head. "Nope. No matter what you say or do. I'm right here."

Jack slowly approached, and Daniel let him. Jack bent slightly to gather the feverish man into a gentle, supportive hug. He started to stroke Daniel's hair, one hand on his nape, the other round his waist.

"I gotcha buddy. I'm not gonna leave."

Somewhere deep inside Daniel, a dam broke. He pushed himself out of the corner, wrapped his arms tightly around Jack's chest, and wept.

A/N: Please let me know how this turned out. :D Thanks for reading!