Stargate SG1: Heir to the Ennead (2/5)

[brihana25]

All disclaimers, notes, warnings and summary are in the Master post: Heir to the Ennead



Chapter Three

"I wonder how many times Hammond's opened that gate in the past three days."

"Probably just twice," Sam answered. "Once to try to raise us on the comm, and again to send a MALP and see what's going on. I'm sure they figured out what happened after that."

Jack and Sam were sitting in the small courtyard in front of Saq'ar and Dashu's home, which had been their base of operations for the past several days. Dashu and Saq'ar's three children ran around them, laughing and playing, and the scent of Dashu's cooking wafted out the front door, filling the air around them with the aroma of the fish that Jack had come to enjoy tremendously.

"Do you think they think we drowned?"

Sam smiled. "I hope not. I'd like to go home once the water recedes."

Jack called it a base of operations, but in reality, it was really just the house they were staying in, because there wasn't much operating going on.

For the rest of the day after they'd first discovered the flood, they'd maintained mission protocols and tried to stay calm. They'd returned to the village after it became obvious that standing on the side of the dune staring at the water wasn't doing them any good, they'd watched the strange parade from the temple to the pyramid, and they'd even taken part in some of the festivities that took place later in the day.

When their scheduled contact with the SGC came and went without so much as a burst of static on the radio, they'd decided that the water had either washed the MALP away completely or shorted out its transmitter.

The next day, they'd learned that the flood and the festival to celebrate it - the Akhet - would be over in a little over a week, and they'd started to settle in. They'd spent more time out among the villagers, and Jack was actually starting to relax and enjoy the fact that they'd managed to get themselves stranded offworld during a week-long party. The villagers were all friendly, Dashu and Saq'ar were excellent hosts, and even Niuserre seemed to be backing away from the creepy priest thing, at least a little bit. The village itself was comfortable, the weather was fantastic, and the scenery was incredible.

There were worse places to be stuck for a week.

Jack had even relaxed the regulations on the gear he expected SG1 to have with them when they left the house. He still expected them to carry their sidearms, and Teal'c always carried his staff weapon, but the MP5s were almost always left secured in their rooms when they left for the day. Their BDUs were the only clothes that most of them had, so they were still worn, but Jack didn't mind if they walked around in their pants and t-shirts only. And Teal'c was spending so much time with the other Jaffa that he'd started wearing Saq'ar's clothes instead of his uniform.

The only part of the forced extra-long mission that wasn't working out better than Jack had hoped was the situation with Daniel.

He'd become obsessed with the temple almost immediately after the first time he and Jack had gone there, and he'd been spending almost every waking moment in it. He'd abandoned his search for a device like the one Ernest Littlefield as soon as he saw that the construction of the temple and the writing within it were all Goa'uld, but he was still studying the writing on the walls. He said that the information the temple contained could be invaluable to them, and Jack was inclined to believe him. Jack usually went with him when he worked, but after three days, the alternating silence and snarkiness had gotten to be too much, and he'd sent Teal'c instead.

Jack was at a loss to explain why Daniel was having so much trouble dealing with his teammates, or why that problem seemed to come and go. Their first night had gone well, but since that time, things had been going steadily downhill. Jack had tried his best not to push, to give Daniel the time and space he needed to figure out whatever was bothering him and come to Jack with it, just like he'd always done. But it was beginning to look like that wasn't going to be happening any time soon, if ever.

He looked toward the temple and sighed.

"I'm sure he'll come around soon, sir," Sam said beside him, and he didn't need to ask her to clarify who she was talking about.

"Has he talked to you at all?" Jack asked.

"Not really," she answered. "Just what he tells us all at dinner every night. He doesn't talk to me about..." She took an audibly deep breath. "Yeah, he hasn't talked to me. To be honest, sir, I don't think he even likes being around me."

Jack rubbed his forehead with his fingers. "Yeah, me either," he admitted.

"I hate to say it, but do you think he... what if he isn't really...?"

"He's fine, Carter!" He really didn't mean to snap at her like that, and it definitely came out harsher than he intended. He took a deep breath and got himself back under control. "He's fine," he repeated, much more gently. "He's just got a lot to think about, that's all."

"You're right, sir. Of course," Sam said, nodding her head slowly. "It's been a hard few weeks, and he'll come back to us when he's ready."

A sound from in front of them made Jack look up, and then sit up straighter in his chair.

The woman from that first morning, the one in the purple cape, was standing across the courtyard wall from them, on the other side of the street. She wore the same expression on her face as she had that morning, and she neither spoke nor made any movement toward them. She just stood there staring directly at Jack.

Jack pushed himself to his feet and stepped toward her, but just as she had done the first time, she turned and walked away, disappearing quickly into the side streets.

"Who the hell is that?" he asked.

"Are you speaking of Seshat?"

Jack spun back around; he hadn't been expecting an answer. He wasn't surprised to see Dashu standing in the door behind them.

"Sesh... what?" He gestured toward where she'd been standing. "You know her?"

"Of course I do," Dashu said. "How could I live my whole life on Iunu and not know the Violet Mother?"

"Violet Mother." Jack ran the words around in his head, trying to remember where he'd heard them before. "That sounds familiar."

"Niuserre mentioned her," Sam supplied. "He said she's the reason they speak English."

"Oh, yes," Dashu said with a nod. "It is Seshat who teaches us all we know. It was she who taught me healing, and she now teaches my children the same."

"What's her story?" Jack asked, taking a step back toward the house. "Because that's the second time I've seen her, and all she's done so far is stare at me."

Dashu smiled softly. "Seshat is among our oldest citizens. None alive can remember a time without her presence among us, not even the most wizened of the elders."

"How old is the oldest elder?" Sam asked.

"I believe he nears the age of five generations," Dashu said. "And he has spoken of hearing the same stories from his elders as we hear from him. Seshat has never not been among us. Some believe she is the last remaining originator."

Jack and Sam exchanged a worried glance. The woman had been on the planet for at least a hundred and twenty-five years, and if the stories the old man was telling Dashu were true, a lot longer than that. They only knew of one thing that could extend a human lifespan that far.

"Funny," Jack said under his breath. "She doesn't look a day over twenty-five."

"What have you learned of our history today, Daniel Jackson?"

Teal'c and Daniel had returned from the temple only a few minutes before, just as Dashu was putting dinner on the table. Daniel had walked past Jack without so much as a glance, which was becoming commonplace enough that Jack didn't even think twice about it. The look that Teal'c gave him, though, the one that said they needed to talk when Daniel wasn't around to hear, caught his attention. He'd motioned Sam to walk in front of him, and he'd followed them in. Now they were seated around the table in the center of the large main room, with Saq'ar at one end and Dashu at the other.

It was Saq'ar who had spoken.

"Quite a lot, actually," Daniel answered softly. "Yesterday I read all about the fight between Seth and Osiris for control of the Ennead, which isn't a part of the stories on our world. I spent the night wondering why you would have part of our history here that we seem to have lost, but what I read today makes me think that it wasn't forgotten so much as intentionally omitted."

"What is that?" Saq'ar asked.

Jack, Sam, and Teal'c kept exchanging glances with each other as they ate. It should have been them asking Daniel what he'd learned that day, what new and vital secrets of the Goa'uld he'd pulled out of the paintings and writing at the temple, but they also knew it was better if Saq'ar did it instead. They'd figured it out on the second night after the flood - if they asked him, he wouldn't answer them with more than two or three words. But if Saq'ar or Dashu did, he'd talk for hours.

"Well, we do have stories about a fight between Seth and Osiris, and about Seth actually killing him. Then Isis and Nephthys joining together to bring him back to life. That's what I was explaining yesterday, about her being involved in building the first sarcophagus on Earth. In our stories, they succeeded, Osiris maintained his power, and Seth lost most of his. The Ennead, the ruling family of the gods, was composed almost entirely of members of the Court of Osiris."

"Yes," Saq'ar said. "It was at this time that Lady Nephthys and the originators were sent here."

Daniel pointed at Saq'ar with his index finger. "And that's exactly what I read about today. Nephthys didn't come here because she wanted to; she was banished here. Now, according to the writings, Seth was going to kill her for what she did, but something stopped him, and he banished her instead, sent her here with a handful of Jaffa and loyal servants. Those would be your originators."

Saq'ar and Dashu both smiled.

"I haven't figured out yet exactly why he did that, though, or where he got the address to this Stargate, because according to what we know, he shouldn't have had it."

Saq'ar nodded his head slowly.

"I do not believe it is written upon the temple walls, for Lady Nephthys guarded his name fiercely, but what stopped Lord Seth would be the young prince, Anubis."

Daniel tilted his head slightly, Sam and Teal'c turned toward Saq'ar in curiosity, and even Jack's ear perked up at the mention of Anubis. It had only been a few weeks since Jacob had shown them the pyramid hierarchy of the Goa'uld that the Tok'ra maintained, and they all remembered Anubis' symbol being among them.

Saq'ar continued the story as Dashu stood and started clearing the empty plates.

"Lord Seth was terrifically angry with Lady Nephthys for betraying him and resurrecting his enemy," he explained. "That is exactly as you stated. He was prepared to execute her for her offense against him. However, immediately before the execution was to take place, young Prince Anubis - long though dead by both of his parents - returned to them. He pleaded with his father to spare his mother's life, swore that he would stand by his father's side so long as he continued to live, and gave him the sacred symbols needed to activate Iunu's Chappa'ai."

"And Seth accepted his offer?" Daniel asked.

"Yes, without hesitation. Lord Seth had long sought to exert control over his son, because Osiris had no sons of his own, and had named Anubis his only existing heir. To Lord Seth, this meant that with Prince Anubis under his command, he might one day be able to claim control of the Ennead for himself. However, Prince Anubis had loathed his father almost from the day of his birth, and had chosen the company and counsel of his mother instead."

"Nephthys," Sam breathed.

Saq'ar nodded again. "The Lady Nephthys gave her life to her son. Her love for Prince Anubis was said to be boundless, infinite, that there was no matter in which she would not indulge him. So when he came to her and pleaded with her to follow Lord Seth's order and be sent away from his presence, of course she said yes."

"In so doing, she doomed herself to never see her son again," Teal'c pointed out.

Jack leaned back in his chair and watched the fascination on the faces of his team. He almost let himself smile, but was afraid that if he showed too much enthusiasm, the moment would be ruined. It was worth it, though, and he knew that as soon as he looked at Daniel, at the expression of concentration he wore as he absorbed what Saq'ar was saying, compared it with what he'd been taught, and mentally marked all the points of intersection.

"She did," Saq'ar said. "When she left your world and came to ours, she brought with her only ten of her most loyal Jaffa, a dozen handmaidens, and a promise."

"A promise?" Daniel asked. "What promise?"

"That upon the day of his father's death, Prince Anubis would return to Iunu to rejoin his mother, to return her to her place on the Ennead and the world of her birth."

Jack couldn't help the snort that escaped him. When the heads at the table swiveled toward him, he smiled.

"Well, that's a promise that he's probably not planning to keep," he said.

Saq'ar looked back at him in curiosity. "It is only a legend, O'Neill, words and pictures on the wall of an ancient temple. It is no more an accurate history than it is a valid prophecy."

Daniel shook his head. "No, it's probably an accurate history," he said. "At least, it's a lot closer to what really happened than the stories we have about it on our world. Because Seth couldn't control what Nephthys told the people to write on her temple here like he could on Earth."

"But if Anubis was really planning to come back for her," Jack said, "He'd have been here by now. Seth's been dead for two months."

Saq'ar jumped slightly in his chair, and Dashu gasped in surprise as she sat back down in hers.

"Lord Seth is... was real?" Dashu asked breathlessly.

Sam nodded. "He was as real as any of the Goa'uld are. As real as Nephthys was."

"How did he perish?" Saq'ar asked.

Jack saw the blood drain from Sam's face. He knew she was still having trouble dealing with the Seth situation. He didn't think it bothered her that she had killed him, but she didn't much like admitting how. He leaned forward in his chair and rested his elbows against the table.

"I killed him," he said. He caught both the look of confusion from Daniel and the look of gratitude from Sam, and he smiled. "Didn't like the guy much."

"That is impossible."

Jack rolled his eyes as he turned toward the front door and the man who had just spoken. Of all the conversations for Niuserre to barge into...

"It is written that only a god of the Ennead can kill another. It is impossible for you to have killed Lord Seth as you claim."

Dashu jumped to her feet quickly and rushed toward him. "Wer-Meu," she greeted softly. "It is an honor to have you at our door."

"You are allowing blasphemous words to be thrown at your table, Jaffa," Niuserre said to Saq'ar, ignoring Dashu entirely. "You should mind your place within our society. If the divine Nephthys were to learn of this betrayal, you should hope to only be stripped of your rank."

Saq'ar lowered his head. "My deepest and most sincere apologies for my misstep, Wer-Meu."

"You are fortunate that it was I who passed along the road just now and heard the conversation. Had it been someone less forgiving, the consequences for you would certainly have been more dire."

He strolled into the house without an invitation, and Jack glared at him from across the table. He came to a stop just behind Teal'c, directly across from Daniel, and smiled.

"However, I can look past the deceitful words and be grateful to you for the message underneath. It is the truth you speak? Lord Seth is dead?"

"As dead as a dead snake can be."

Jack ignored the elbow Daniel jabbed into his ribs.

But Niuserre didn't give Jack the disdainful glare he'd become accustomed to receiving. Instead, he smiled at him with almost open admiration.

"You did not kill him," Niuserre said. He looked back and forth between Jack and Daniel as he spoke, giving them both the same smile. "You speak in order to protect the one who did, the one whose heart pumps with the blood of the Ennead. You act to maintain a sacred silence surrounding this person's true identity."

Jack swallowed hard and tried to hide it. How the hell did Niuserre know that?

"You do yourself and your charge a credit and a service," the priest said. "You have truly earned your right to hold your position, and shall it never be challenged again. Your reward for your words and actions shall be great. I leave with you my blessing, protector."

The good part was that Niuserre wasn't looking at Daniel in that way-too-familiar and fond way anymore. The bad part was that he was suddenly looking at Jack that way instead.

"I bid you a peaceful and beautiful evening."

Niuserre walked out the door and was gone as quickly as he'd appeared.

Jack took a few seconds to work it all around in his head, raising his eyebrows and working his jaw up and down before he finally found his voice.

"What the hell was that?"

Saq'ar and Dashu both turned toward SG1 in awe.

"You have received the highest honor that can be given on Iunu," Saq'ar said slowly. "You have been blessed by the Wer-Meu."

Jack glanced from Sam to Teal'c before finally turning to Daniel, who was looking back at him with nothing but confusion.

"And here I thought he hated me."

It was an hour later, after both Sam and Daniel had headed up for bed, that Teal'c followed Jack out into the courtyard to have the conversation that his eyes had promised when he and Daniel had returned from the temple.

Jack gave him a few minutes to start, but it looked like he was suddenly reluctant to do it. He was looking out across the village, toward the temple, with his hands behind his back. He hadn't so much as looked in Jack's direction since they'd walked out the door.

"All right, T," Jack finally said. "Enough with the stalling. What's up?"

Teal'c took a deep breath, but didn't turn toward Jack. "I have always seen it as my duty as a member of SG1 to inform you, as the commander, of any behavior or event that I feel might be a threat."

Jack rolled his eyes up in confusion. "Okay. That's good. I guess. But what does that have to do with..."

"Likewise, I have always seen it as my duty to protect the confidences of my friends and teammates."

Jack sighed deeply and his shoulders sank in understanding. "Daniel told you something, didn't he?" Jack asked. "And now you don't know if you should tell me about it or not."

Teal'c nodded in reply.

"Let me make this easy for you, Teal'c. Is what he told you an actual secret, or just something he doesn't want me to know?"

"It is not something he told me," Teal'c answered. "It is something he asked me that implied that there might be a... problem."

Jack stepped across in front of Teal'c and forced the Jaffa to look at him. "A problem like a hangnail, or a problem like Ma'chello?"

Teal'c lowered his head for the briefest moment, but when he lifted it again, he looked Jack directly in the eye.

"I believe it may imply a situation on the same level as the Ma'chello incident."

Jack shook his head. "You gotta tell me, Teal'c. I can understand that you don't want him to think you're talking about him behind his back, but if there's something seriously wrong, then we're talking about his health here, and we can't mess around with that."

A few seconds of heavy silence passed before Teal'c spoke again.

"Daniel Jackson believes that he is beginning to hear voices that do not exist."

Jack's heart nearly stopped in his chest, his breath froze in his lungs, and his head fell forward.

Shit.

Chapter Four

Jack had an easier time waking up in the morning than he'd had since they'd been on Iunu. Of course, the fact that he hadn't slept at all the night before probably had something to do with that.

He was sitting on the edge of his bed, watching Daniel moving around their room, getting ready for the day, and he knew that if he didn't say something soon he'd lose his chance to say anything at all. He looked up and across the room as Daniel picked his t-shirt up from the table and put his arms in the sleeves.

"What you doing today?" he asked.

"Going to the temple," Daniel answered, as though it should be obvious. Which, Jack had to admit, it was. "Why?"

Jack pushed himself up from the bed and stood. "I've got nothing else to do today. What say I go with you?"

Daniel flipped the shirt over his head and slid it down. "What, again?" He tugged the hem of his shirt down, looking at it instead of Jack. "I don't need a babysitter, Jack."

"I know," Jack answered, shrugging as non-nonchalantly as he could manage. "It's just, that's a big place, Daniel. And you never know..."

"When I might lose it again?"

Jack froze. He looked up slowly at Daniel standing across the room, his pack dangling from the strap in his hand, looking back at him with an expression on his face that Jack couldn't decipher. Anger? Frustration? Hatred?

"Are you waiting for me to snap, Jack, is that it? Want to make sure you're there when I do?"

"What? No!"

Daniel sighed and shook his head sadly. "Teal'c told you about the voices, didn't he?"

Jack nodded slowly. "I just don't think that it's a good idea for you to..."

"Go anywhere alone. I know. I mean, I'm hallucinating, right? And I don't think Ma'chello's around here anywhere, so that means it has to be real."

"I didn't say that," Jack protested.

"You didn't have to." Daniel tossed his pack across his shoulder and walked toward the door. "I can see it in your eyes."

Daniel's hand was already on the door, ready to push it open and walk out. And if he went, the conversation went with him, over and done with.

"Daniel."

He stopped and looked back at Jack over his shoulder.

"I'm trying here, buddy. I'm really trying."

Daniel nodded and gave a small, sad smile. "I know. That's the problem."

Jack tilted his head in confusion.

"You, of all people, shouldn't have to try."

Jack watched him leave, heard him call out to Dashu that he was going to the temple, and then there was silence. Jack flopped back down on his bed and leaned forward so he could massage his temples with his fingers. That had not gone well. It hadn't gone anywhere close to the way Jack had wanted it to go. But he had to admit, even grudgingly, that Daniel was right.

Jack was the last person who should have had to work at relating to Daniel, because he hadn't had to in over four years. They just understood each other, and they never had to try. Neither of them had to think about it; it just happened. Of course thinking that Jack suddenly saw their friendship as something that required effort would upset Daniel. How could it not? But as bad as that was, it wasn't the worst testament to just how much they'd lost.

Daniel having tears in his eyes when he looked at him, and Jack knowing he'd put them there, was a thousand times worse.

Jack gave him four hours before he followed him to the temple, and even that much of a delay required effort. He spent most of the morning walking around the village, thinking about what Daniel had said and trying to figure out a way to fix it. The only answer he'd been able to come up with was that he needed to do what Daniel said, just stop trying and treat Daniel the way he always had.

But nothing was ever that easy. Something had changed between them since Daniel's return from Mental Health - more specifically, since the end of his violent detox from the meds he'd been given while he was there. Jack didn't know if he'd changed or if Daniel had, but things weren't normal between them, and acting like they were, pretending Daniel hadn't been put through hell or ignoring the fact that he himself had played a huge part in it happening, didn't feel right.

No, something was broken, and there had to be a way to fix it. He just had to figure out what that was.

He'd stopped back by the house to see Sam and Teal'c, but they hadn't been there. Dashu said they'd gone off with Saq'ar to help with the preparations for the tournament. He'd had a short conversation with Dashu, just small talk really, about the kids and the weather and the apex festival the next day. After a few minutes of passing the time, he'd realized that he just couldn't wait any longer, and said his goodbyes. As he was leaving, she'd handed him a plate full of food.

"Important conversations are easier on a full stomach," she'd said with a knowing smile.

So he was walking through the temple with a plate of fish, bread, and dates, which smelled wonderful. His plan was to ply Daniel with food and hopefully get him to open up a bit, even though he knew he wasn't exactly the best person to do the whole "talk about your feelings" thing.

And if he managed to get Daniel to eat more than the few bites here and there that he'd been existing on since he'd gotten out of Mental Health, then all the better.

He heard Daniel before he saw him, muttering to himself loudly enough that it echoed down the empty corridor. He didn't want to let it bother him, because he'd heard Daniel talk to himself while he was working a thousand times before. But part of him was instantly alert, worried that something else was going on. What if Daniel was doing more than hearing disembodied voices in this temple? What if he was starting to answer them?

He stepped into the room Daniel was working in, one of the large rooms that Jack had dubbed the story rooms, and most of his worries were immediately put to rest.

Daniel was alone, and he was just working.

He was studying one of the walls intently, and the muttering Jack had heard was him reading the words out loud as he transferred them to his notebook. He watched for a few moments, not wanting to interrupt what was obviously a fascinating transcription, but it didn't take long for him to start feeling like he was spying without permission. Jack didn't know if Daniel was aware of his presence or not, so he decided to announce himself.

"Hey, Daniel."

"Yeah?" Daniel's voice was distracted but not surprised, so he had known Jack was there. He just hadn't acknowledged him. He also didn't bother to look at him.

"Brought you lunch," Jack said with a false cheerfulness. "Dashu made that fish of hers. Thought you might want some."

"I'm busy."

"You can take a break, Daniel. It's not like the walls are going anywhere."

Daniel sighed and looked down at his notebook. "Then I'm not hungry."

Jack stepped forward, holding the plate out in front of him. "I don't remember asking."

"Then we're even," Daniel said hotly. "Because I don't remember you asking, either."

Jack could feel his anger rising, and he did his best to hold it down. He hadn't gone there to fight with Daniel; he'd gone to apologize for the last fight they'd had and try to make it so they didn't have any more. But it looked like they were on their way right back into another argument anyway.

"Look, it's really simple, Daniel. It's lunch time. I brought you lunch. Now you need to stop what you're doing and..."

"Enough, Jack!" Daniel threw his notebook down on the ground and spun to face him. Jack had known he was mad, but the sheer amount of fury in Daniel's eyes surprised him. "Enough."

For the first time in almost a month, Jack reacted the way he normally did, and he met Daniel's anger with his own.

"Yeah, Daniel, enough."

"What?" Daniel blinked his eyes, as though he either didn't understand or couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"You heard me."

Jack was done with it, and he couldn't keep his anger at bay any longer. He'd been biting his tongue for weeks, treating Daniel as carefully as he could all that time, and it was pointless. He'd watched out for him, put himself between Daniel and everyone else, made sure that they all gave him the space he needed to work things out on his own, and it wasn't doing any good. If anything, Daniel's attitude had been getting worse, not better. Daniel wanted Jack to treat him the way he always had, right? At that moment, Jack was angry enough to do just that.

He was done.

"Enough," he repeated. "You haven't talked to me about... well, about anything, in damn near two weeks. When you are forced to speak in my general direction, you make it clear that you don't want to. If I'm lucky enough to get more than two or three words out of you, they're either nasty and sarcastic or bitter and childish. And you're not much better with Sam and Teal'c. You're great with the villagers, sure, but when it comes to your own damn team, it's like you can't stand to even look at us! You'd rather hide here by yourself than be forced to spend even ten minutes with the rest of us, and if you are with us, you're either doing everything you can to get away or going out of your way to ignore us."

Jack hadn't meant to say quite so much, but once he'd started, he couldn't stop himself. Everything he'd felt, everything he'd wanted to say to Daniel for the past four days, had finally reached the boiling point. And if he didn't release the pressure soon, he was going to explode.

"You're moody, and cranky, and rude, and I've had enough. You're throwing a temper tantrum, and you need to knock it off!"

Daniel blinked a few times, shock and confusion and hurt fighting for control of his expression. "A temper... you think that's what this is? That I'm throwing a temper tantrum?" he asked slowly.

"Yes," Jack answered. "And it needs to stop now." He stepped forward and shoved the plate into Daniel's open hands. "Now eat."

Jack turned his back to walk away, but the sound of the plate shattering against the wall behind him stopped him in his tracks. He turned back around slowly, fighting down the urge to grab Daniel and slap some sense into him.

As soon as he actually saw his face, all of Jack's anger flowed away.

Daniel was standing there, right where he had been, with the remains of one of Dashu's plates and what had been a delicious smelling meal on the floor at his feet. But that wasn't what had Jack so worried.

"I don't want to."

Daniel's teeth were clenched together, his hands were fisted at his sides, and he was shaking. He was white as a sheet, his eyes were circled with dark smudges that spoke of multiple sleepless nights, and his cheeks were flushed with what looked like a fever.

Jack took a step forward, suddenly worried that Daniel was sick. Had he come down with something, been exposed to something on the planet that he was allergic to? How had Jack not noticed him sliding downhill when it was so obvious that he had been for days, possibly the whole time they'd been on Iunu?

"You think this is a tantrum, Jack? Like I'm a little kid throwing a fit because someone told me 'no'?"

"Daniel..."

"The problem is that I am an adult! I'm thirty-three years old, and I've got a right to make decisions and do things for myself, without you or Sam or Teal'c following me everywhere. 'No, you can't go to the temple by yourself, Daniel.' 'Eat your dinner, Daniel.' 'Tell us what you're feeling, Daniel.' 'It's time to take your meds, Daniel.'"

The conversation, and apparently Daniel's mind, had just taken a sharp turn in an entirely new direction, one that Jack wasn't at all comfortable with. It wasn't about Dashu's fish anymore, and Jack didn't think it ever had been.

"If I don't want to eat, then I don't have to. And if I don't want to talk, then I don't have to. And if I don't want to swallow pills, then I don't have to. And no one has the right to force me to, Jack, not even you!"

"I didn't do that, Daniel," Jack said softly, shaking his head in denial. "That wasn't me."

"You stood there and watched," Daniel accused. "You didn't try to stop them. You didn't even move!"

And there it was.

He'd been waiting for weeks for Daniel to start talking about it, to open up about what had happened and get it out of his system. But now that he was doing it, Jack wasn't so sure that he was ready to hear it.

"And don't think I haven't noticed what you're doing, following me around like you do, having Teal'c do it if you're not feeling up to it. I don't understand why you think protecting me now is such a big deal, because God knows when I really needed you, you didn't do a damn thing to help me!"

Jack stepped back from that. Daniel's words stung like an actual physical blow - probably worse. He wanted to defend himself, but how could he? He'd wanted to see those four days through Daniel's eyes, to understand why he'd come back from them so different, and now he was starting to. He'd just never imagined that in Daniel's mind, he was one of the bad guys.

"What was I supposed to do?" Jack asked.

"What would you normally do if someone pinned me to the floor and shoved a needle in my arm?" Daniel demanded. "How could you just stand there like that and let them?"

Jack didn't have an answer for that, not really. "I thought they were... I thought you were sick, Daniel. I thought they were helping you."

"I had bruises on my arms and shoulders for more than a week!" Daniel spat. "How is that helping me?"

Jack shook his head slowly and turned away. "I didn't know what else to do," he said plaintively.

Daniel stared back at him in silence, with those damn tears in his eyes again, and Jack dropped his head. He heard the rustle of Daniel's clothes against the wall as he pressed his back against it and slid down until he was sitting on the floor. Jack moved a few feet away and did the same.

"I'd never let anyone hurt you if I could stop them," he said softly. "You know that. But they told me you were sick, that if I didn't let them help you, you were going to kill your..." He couldn't even finish that sentence, and he swallowed hard. "I was wrong, and I know that, and God damn it, I'm sorry, but I did the best I could, Daniel, because I didn't know what else to do."

The silence that followed was both heavy and deafening, and Jack had no idea how to fill it. Daniel saved him the trouble.

"Why are we here, Jack?"

The question seemed to have come from nowhere, but Jack knew that it hadn't. It wasn't just a random question asked to fill the empty air between them or an effort to change the subject. It was a question that Daniel had been wanting - needing - to ask since before they'd even left Earth. Their being there made no sense and, especially when seen through the lens of his recent past, Daniel really needed to understand exactly what was going on.

And despite knowing all of that, despite the importance of the conversation they were having, Jack couldn't answer him. He wasn't sure if he didn't know how, or if he just didn't want to.

After a few seconds, Daniel dropped his eyes to the floor, sighed, leaned back against the wall and whispered, "Never mind."

That response was so far from good that it made Jack's heart jump into his throat. He pulled away from the wall, leaned his elbows on his knees, and cleared his throat to get Daniel's attention. "Daniel?"

"Why won't you answer me?" came the equally quiet response. "Do you have so little faith in me now that you can't even tell me why we're here?"

"I haven't lost any faith in you," Jack said, surprised that Daniel would even think he had.

"Then why won't you answer me?" Daniel asked again. "What are you trying to protect me from this time?"

That was another question Jack didn't have an answer for. What exactly was he protecting Daniel from? From finding out that Hammond thought Daniel wasn't ready to handle an actual mission yet? From finding out that Janet hadn't so much cleared him for duty as passed the decision off to Jack? From finding out that the whole Ma'chello mess had been Jack's fault from the very beginning and that he was doing everything he could to repair all the damage he'd done to a man who, after four years of growing in both strength and spirit, seemed as vulnerable now as he had on the day they met?

Jack had made a lot of mistakes in his life, and he'd be the first to admit to them. He was far, far from perfect, after all. But the mistakes he'd made in recent weeks, believing the doctors when they told him that Daniel was insane and ignoring Daniel himself when he told him that he wasn't, had done so much damage to the man in front of him that Jack doubted he'd ever be able to fix it all.

You just don't let people lock your friends in a padded room, drug them into oblivion, and throw away the key. You just don't do it.

But Jack had done it, and he'd done it to Daniel.

And now he was trying trying to fix the damage that had been done without telling Daniel he was doing it, trying to find some way to go back to normal without it looking like he was actually making an effort, and trying to keep Daniel from finding out that any of this had been going on. But Daniel had seen the way Jack was acting, from volunteering to go to the temple with him to following him around the village whenever he could, and he was starting to draw his own conclusions. Of course, the conclusions Daniel was coming to were wrong, but only because Jack hadn't seen fit to tell him the truth.

Daniel thought Jack was doing all of these things, going all these places with him, because he didn't have faith in him anymore, because he didn't trust him to do anything by himself, or maybe because he expected Daniel to go crazy again. The truth was that Jack just wanted to make it up to him, protect him, possibly erase the pain he'd suffered by doing his damnedest to make absolutely certain that nothing got close enough to hurt him again.

Of course, Jack had failed in that - again. He hadn't protected Daniel. He hadn't saved him any pain or prevented any suffering. In fact, if the look on Daniel's face was anything to go by, he'd only added to it.

So, he did the only thing he could do. He finally decided to tell Daniel the truth. Jack shrugged, half-smiled, and said, "We thought you'd like it here."

Daniel didn't raise his head, didn't look at Jack as he asked, "Who is 'we'?"

"Me and General Hammond," Jack answered. "We were the ones who decided..."

"Did Sam and Teal'c know about it?"

"Know about what?" Jack didn't like the fact that Daniel still hadn't looked at him. He didn't like anything about the conversation they were having, but he couldn't back out. He was the one that started the whole honesty thing, and he had to follow through with it.

"That this entire mission was designed just to humor me?" Daniel said. "That the original plan was to spend four days indulging and babysitting me?" Now Daniel raised his head, now he looked at Jack. But the look in his eyes - pain, betrayal, fear - made Jack wish that he hadn't. "Did they agree with it? Did one of them come up with it? Or was that all you? Was it their idea, General Hammond's, or yours?"

Jack shook his head vehemently. No, that wasn't good. That wasn't good at all. "No, Daniel, it's not like that. It wasn't about that."

"Really? Tell me, Jack. When was the last time we went on a purely cultural mission?"

Jack opened his mouth to answer, but found that he couldn't. In truth, he had no idea when their last strictly cultural mission was, if they'd ever had one like that.

"It was Argos," Daniel supplied for him. "Argos. Two years ago."

Jack closed his eyes - he couldn't believe that neither he nor General Hammond had bothered to check on that little fact before they put this plan in motion. Of course Daniel would notice something odd about a mission with a strictly cultural purpose, especially if they hadn't been on one in two years. And of course, Daniel being Daniel, he'd immediately assume that to mean that his team and his superiors had lost faith in him.

"You don't need to coddle me!" Daniel declared suddenly. "What happened happened; I can't change it. But it wasn't my fault. I told you from the beginning that I wasn't sick, I wasn't crazy, and you wouldn't listen to me!"

"Hey!" Jack didn't know why he cried out in protest. Daniel hadn't said anything wrong. He hadn't said anything that wasn't completely true. He hadn't said anything that Jack himself hadn't been thinking only moments before. And even though it was obvious that Daniel needed to do this, needed him to hear this, Jack wasn't all that sure that he was ready to listen.

"No, you wouldn't. So they put me in that place, and they told me I was crazy, and they pumped me full of drugs. But I wasn't crazy, and I proved it, didn't I? You got me out of there, and the drugs are gone. It's over, and it's never going to happen again, and you really need to stop treating me like you expect me to snap, or start talking to myself, or start seeing things that aren't there, or break my glasses and kill myself."

"Daniel..." No, Jack wasn't ready to hear these things yet. He couldn't even deal with the fact that the doctors had considered Daniel a danger to himself in the first place; he really didn't need to hear Daniel saying that he probably had been.

"It's over, Jack! Those voices Teal'c told you I've been hearing? It's the wind whistling through the empty rooms. I've been hearing it since as long as I can remember, in every temple I've ever been in, and it always surprises me. But that's all it is. I'm not hallucinating, I'm not crazy, and you need to stop treating me like I'm going to break and let it go." Daniel looked at him again, looked him right in the eye, and Jack saw that despite the vehemence of his words, Daniel was suddenly calm. He'd said all he needed to say, he'd gotten it out in the open, and he not only meant every word he said, he believed them.

"It's over," Daniel repeated softly.

Jack nodded his head. "I know it is."

"It wasn't real in the first place."

"I know that, too."

After a few moments of silence, Jack looked back across to find Daniel studying him, reading his face for proof that he actually believed him.

"You're not crazy, Daniel," Jack said, unsure of why he was saying it but strangely certain that for all of his words, Daniel really needed to hear it. "You never were."

Daniel smiled.

"So when do you start treating me like a grown man again?"

Jack nodded; he deserved that. His every thought, word and action during their stay on Iunu had spoken to him thinking Daniel was damaged, fragile, and breakable. Everything had been about protecting him - keep the crazy lady in purple away from him, keep the way too touchy-feely priest away from him, follow him around the temple all day, don't let him go out into the village alone. Every moment had been dominated by Jack doing what he thought was best for Daniel, but never once had he stopped to ask Daniel what he thought that was.

No wonder Daniel thought Jack didn't trust him anymore.

"How's right now work for you?"

Daniel nodded and smiled softly. "I think it's as good a time as any."

"Good," Jack said with a quick nod. "I think I'll start by telling Dashu that you're the one who broke her plate and threw her fish on the floor."

Daniel leaned his head back against the wall and brought his arms up to rest against his knees. "I guess that was a little stupid," he said. "Because I actually am hungry, and that smelled wonderful."

Jack pushed himself to his feet, then turned and held his hand out to Daniel. "So, are we good?"

Daniel looked up at Jack's hand for a few seconds before reaching up to grasp it. Jack pulled him to his feet smoothly.

"We're better," Daniel conceded. "Good's going to take a little longer."

Jack picked Daniel's notebook up from the floor and handed it back to him.

"Dashu's going to have supper ready early tonight," he said. "Because of the festival tomorrow. She wants to get the kids to bed early, so..." Jack took a deep breath and let it out, then forced himself to turn away. "Don't stay here too late, okay?"

Daniel tilted his head slightly. "You're leaving?"

"Yeah." Jack forced the lightness into his voice, and hoped to hell that Daniel didn't notice how hard it was for him to do. "That was my lunch, too, ya know. I'll see you back at the house."

He made himself walk away, made himself keep looking ahead and not back at Daniel. That was what adults did, after all. The decision to stay or go was Daniel's, and Jack wasn't going to force him to make the one he wanted him to.

After all that had happened, it was the least he could do.

But that didn't mean that he didn't breathe a silent sigh of relief when he heard Daniel's footsteps crossing the floor behind him, jogging to catch up with him.

"I guess I could just go now," Daniel said. "It's not like the walls are going anywhere."

He didn't even let himself smile at that, despite the fact that he was mentally pumping his fists in the air in victory.

Part Three