Brotherhood (16b/27)
Title: Brotherhood ( Table of Contents)
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: Nothing you recognize is mine. I gain nothing of material value from this.
Pairings: Gen
Chapter1 Chapter2a-- 2b Chapter3 Chapter4 Chapter5 Chapter6 Chapter7 Chapter8 Chapter9 Chapter10a-- 10b Chapter11 Chapter12 Chapter13a-- 13b Chapter14 Chapter15 Chapter16a-- 16b
"Spill, Daniel," Jack said shortly when Daniel only looked anxiously back toward the SGC dwelling long enough to see both Skaara and Kasuf settle on the floor. "What's this about Cimmeria and Thor's Hammer?"
"Is there question about the completeness of Klorel's extraction?" Teal'c asked quietly.
Surprised, Daniel quickly shook his head. "No, no. Nothing like that. I don't know if you heard, when we first met Skaara on Tollana, but he said then that Sha'uri had told him I was alive."
There was a pause. Then Teal'c filled in, "And yet, when we found Sha'uri on this planet last year, she still believed that you were dead, because Klorel had told her so."
Sam and Jack exchanged glances. "They had contact between then and now," Jack summarized. "Are you sure?"
Daniel nodded vigorously. "Skaara says Heru-ur wanted Amaunet and Klorel as bargaining chips to...well, the point is, she was still prisoner there, on Heru-ur's ship. She was physically weak, which made it easier for Sha'uri's mind to fight for control over Amaunet as they escaped--"
"She was the other prisoner Skaara mentioned on Tollana," Sam said. "The one who gave him the distraction to escape himself."
"Exactly. She told him to look for us, but also that she was going to the place where I found her last time. She either took a death glider or--or ringed to another ship, but either way, she would've wanted to get off at the closest planet possible. And then she would've used a Stargate, and there have been no activations here on Abydos, so she must have gone to--"
"Cimmeria," Jack filled in. "You think Amaunet would go to Cimmeria?"
"No, Jack," Daniel said; "I think Sha'uri would go to Cimmeria. Teal'c and I told her there was a Hammer there, while Amaunet was sleeping, so she knows about it and Amaunet doesn't know she knows, and the last time she was there, the Hammer was broken. So maybe she's just hoping we'll find her before Amaunet takes control back and leaves, or she's hoping the Hammer was rebuilt... The point is, she has every reason to go there."
"If," Jack pointed out, "she had a say in where she was going and found a way to trick Amaunet into it."
"She might have. I mean, there must be some separation between the minds for that Tollan device to have worked, right?"
Everyone turned to Sam, who looked startled and unsure in what capacity she was being consulted. "W-well, I couldn't seem to hide my thoughts from Jolinar, but I didn't have two and a half years, most of them in a jail cell, to figure things out. But it's true--I felt like I was closer to having control once I got tranqed or...was otherwise weaker than usual. I'd guess that the symbiote's energy gets diverted to healing the host as a survival mechanism."
"There would be no harm in going to Cimmeria to determine whether she did in fact go there," Teal'c said.
"No, I guess there wouldn't," Jack conceded, but he was still watching Daniel carefully. "I just want to make sure you're not getting your hopes up too high."
"There's nowhere else she could have meant," Daniel said, eager to leave.
"That's not what I'm saying. The best case scenario is that she took off from Heru-ur's mothership in a death glider with a couple more motherships in the area. Klorel tried that and got shot down."
A cold feeling washed over Daniel. Somehow, the thought that the escape attempt might not have been successful hadn't occurred to him. "But Klorel had to lure them into Tollan space," Daniel said. "Sha'uri went first, so she had surprise on her side, and she just had to get to any planet that had a Stargate. And then they were preoccupied chasing Klorel."
"True," Jack said, letting his tone say that he still held some reservations. "All right, go back and grab your stuff, and we'll go take a look around Cimmeria. But Daniel, don't get their hopes up."
"I know," Daniel said quietly. Apparently, some part of him must have realized it might not be that simple and had been unwilling to say it outright in front of her father and brother.
He ran back into the SGC house. "Forgive me," he said, bending to pick up the jacket he'd taken off. "My team needs to see to something, but we will return very soon--within hours."
He ducked back out before he had to screw up the courage either to answer any questions or lie to Skaara and Kasuf, and then nodded to SG-1 when he returned. "Okay. Let's go."
XXXXX
2 December 1999; Cimmeria; 0530 hrs
He wasn't sure if it was by instinct or by design, but both Sam and Jack had moved to surround Teal'c by the time they stepped out onto Cimmeria, where it was currently nighttime. When Daniel realized why, he looked up at the obelisk he remembered seeing before, the one that was supposed to beam any Goa'uld into Thor's Hammer. Last time, Heru-ur had already damaged it, but now...
The bright beam of light he associated with Asgard technology shot forth and scanned over all of them, and, despite Thor's promise that Teal'c would be welcome, Daniel inched a little closer, too. If one of them got transported into the Hammer, he'd rather they all be sent together. Besides, it would get them closer to Sha'uri if she really had come here.
But they didn't need to worry, because all of them passed the scan without incident. "Oh no," Daniel said as another thought struck him, and he turned urgently to Jack and Teal'c. "There was an Unas in the Hammer when you were there, right? You needed firearms to defeat it?"
"I doubt the Asgard put an Unas in there on purpose," Jack pointed out.
"It is more likely that the Unas came to this world and was transported inside," Teal'c added. "Although it could not escape, it survived by using the healing abilities of its symbiote and utilizing long periods of sleep."
"Oh," Daniel said, relieved that, if Sha'uri was here, she hadn't been left to her own devices to face a monster like that. "That makes sense. So...uh, where do we start looking?"
Hooves sounded near them. The other three raised their flashlights--Daniel searched an extra minute before deciding he didn't have his--and they saw a familiar figure appearing from the main road on horseback, lighting her way with a torch.
"Gairwyn," Jack greeted. "Hi. Sorry to bug you in the middle of the night..."
In reply, Gairwyn gave them all a bright smile and dismounted smoothly, keeping a hand on her horse. "I see our friends from Midgard have returned. You are always welcome here."
"Well, that's good to know," Jack said. "Gairwyn, we're actually looking for someone--a woman, a little younger than Major Carter"--he pointed to Sam--"who might've come through here a couple of days ago...uh, dark hair..."
"Ah, yes!" Gairwyn said, with such exuberance that Daniel started forward immediately, stopping when Jack's hand grabbed the back of his jacket. "The Ettin. We saw such a woman taken into Thor's Hammer two days ago."
"Where is she now?" Daniel said urgently.
"She has not yet emerged," Gairwyn said. "I am afraid only one person here would have known where Thor took her, but she died last year resisting the Ettin whom you came here to fight."
Daniel looked back up at the obelisk. There was another stone near the top, like the one they'd touched before to enter the Hall of Thor's Might, but it was far too high to reach from where they were and might just be the source of the beam, not a transportation trigger. "There must be another way into the Hall of Mjolnir," he said.
"We know where it is," Jack said. "The two of us were there. You remember the way, Teal'c?"
"Indeed," Teal'c said.
"Gairwyn, thanks for your help," Sam said politely. "It's all right if we look for the entrance?"
Gairwyn nodded slowly, then said, "Perhaps I should join you--when Kendra went through Thor's Hammer many seasons ago, it took days for hunters to stumble upon her when she left. Now I will know where we should meet the hostages of the Ettins so that we can care for them."
"All right," Jack agreed. "Let's go. Daniel, where's your flashlight?"
"Um, I'm not sure," Daniel said, starting off after Teal'c. When Jack turned to him with a look that he might have recognized as exasperated if he'd had a flashlight to see, he said defensively, "This is the fourth planet I've been on in as many hours. I think I forgot it on Abydos." Or Vorash or Tollana. Probably Abydos, during the rush to get to Cimmeria.
Jack shook his head and said, "Teal'c and I need to take the lead. Carter, keep an eye on our six."
The rest of the journey was a blur, as much from the dark as from the mixture of fatigue and adrenaline and shock that had shaded the last couple of days. Even so, Daniel could see that, while trees and brush that had been razed to the ground were still growing, the Goa'uld encampment they'd found a year ago was gone, replaced by houses and other structures that were being slowly erected.
Even knowing exactly where to go and hurrying as much as the rocky mountain paths would allow, it took them nearly an hour before Teal'c stopped at a rock face.
"We have arrived," Teal'c said, shining his light into a cave entrance. "This is where we were transported by Thor's Hammer. A symbiote is severely weakened by the Asgard beam, but I cannot say whether it is Amaunet or Sha'uri that you will find inside."
"Teal'c, maybe you should stay outside," Jack said. "If there's anything wrong with the Asgard recognition thing, you'd be trapped." Teal'c gave him a dark look but didn't protest the logic. The Asgard might be less happy with the Tau'ri if they destroyed Thor's Hammer every time they came here.
"Don't worry," Sam said to Teal'c, reaching the entrance as well and patting her gun. "It should be more or less safe this time around, and we know what we're dealing with."
"Why don't you and Gairwyn meet us back here outside the cave," Jack said.
"Go with Thor," Gairwyn added as Teal'c nodded to them and the two of them held their ground just outside the entrance.
"Daniel," Jack said as he led the way in, "your zat won't work in there--don't waste time trying. Anything comes at us, you find cover and go for your Beretta."
"This..." Sam said, looking up and at the walls. "This is the actual Thor's Hammer?"
"Yeah," Jack answered, gesturing around them. "Just beyond this chamber here. Red beam comes down and everything."
Daniel followed the beams of their flashlights, looking around doubtfully. "Um, Jack...this is a chamber. And, uh...that's the only door." He pointing back the way they'd come. "Isn't there supposed to be something that leads from the hall of Mjolnir to...well, here?"
Jack pursed his lips, twisting around to look at the walls. "It's right there," he said, pointing at a wall.
"That's a wall, Jack," Daniel said tensely.
"It was open before!" Jack insisted, looking at the wall in consternation. "That's the passageway from the Hammer to here--it's how we got out last time."
Sam moved forward to examine the stone. "It could easily be some kind of door. We just have to find the trigger."
Deciding that they were wasting time if Sha'uri wasn't even nearby, Daniel stepped up next to Sam at the wall and shouted, "Sha'uri!"
Sam jumped as Jack said, "Geez, Daniel..."
Daniel took another deep breath and yelled, "Sha'uri, tano'ta? Sha'uri!"
And on the other side, someone screamed, "Senamiu!"
"She's there, gods, she's calling for help," Daniel said, looking frantically at the wall for any clue. "Sha'uri!"
"Dammit," Jack said. He stepped up to the other side of Daniel. "Look at this, here, this indentation," he said, fitting his hand into a handprint carved into the wall. Daniel watched anxiously, hoping the trigger was as simple as that, but nothing happened.
"What if there's another riddle?" Sam said, still looking around for other possibilities. "Or some other stimulus as a trigger besides touch--in the Hall of Thor's Might, we touched a stone to activate the transportation technology, but the program responded to audio input, too."
"What, a password?" Jack said, his hand still pressed into the wall. "Daniel, anything?"
"There," Sam said suddenly, swinging her flashlight up higher, over Jack's head. "Look--what's that say? Read it!"
Daniel squinted up at where she was pointing to see four runes. Judging by the meanings, it spoke of something to do with the Ettin, and the Asgard, and a gift, and men, but, hoping the easiest way was the right one, he simply read them aloud: "Thurisaz! Ansuz! Gebo! Mannaz!"
The stone shifted. Jack reeled back, snatching his hand away, and they watched a slab of stone rotate on its axis. Daniel could feel himself literally hopping with impatience and didn't care--as soon as the doorway opened enough for him to fit, he slipped past Jack and squeezed through--
And in the next chamber was Sha'uri.
Daniel's feet ground to a halt as he stared at the woman lying on the ground, breathing hard and disheveled, her face worn and too thin and covered in sweat and dirt. He looked around, but there was nothing that looked like a threat--and he was standing only a few paces from her, inside Thor's Hammer itself.
It was so close--they had to make her pass through there, and it would all be over...
Just as Jack and Sam both reached him, Sha'uri looked up, and her eyes glowed.
"No," Amaunet rasped. "Stay back!"
"You make the wrong move, you die," Jack said as Daniel took a step forward, not sure if Amaunet would release the Goa'uld toxin to kill Sha'uri if they tried to force her. Did that happen only if the Goa'uld died? Could they do that at will? "Come with us and we'll tell you where your son is."
Suddenly, she was on her feet. "You lie," she breathed. "You still have my son?"
Daniel glanced back up at the symbol of Thor's Hammer over the doorway. He turned around to give Jack and Sam a look he really hoped they understood, then rushed toward his sister.
"Sha'uri, I know you can hear me," he said, pulling her into a tight grip but not dragging her toward the Hammer. Amaunet shrieked and started pushing him away. He tightened his arms in surprise, digging his feet into the ground and discovering just how strong a Goa'uld could be, even when weak and stripped of power and all weapons.
"Get away from her, Daniel!" Sam said. Jack's hands grabbed him by the arms, starting to pull him away, even as Sam appeared next to Sha'uri, a gun aimed in her direction. She took her attention off Sha'uri, meeting Daniel's eyes for a split second before finding her target again.
"Daniel," Jack growled next to his ear, hands clamping on his.
"Don't," Daniel said, struggling to maintain his grip and suddenly unsure all three of them were thinking the same thing. "Jack--"
"Release me now!" Amaunet growled. Daniel squeezed her tighter, and then he felt Jack brace his feet behind him and knew they were on the same page. "I can kill your sister if you--"
Sam abruptly swung her gun to the ground and opened fire. Amaunet flinched--
Both of them threw themselves to the side at once, Daniel's grip pulling Sha'uri and Jack's pulling him until all three of them were flung into the Hammer.
Jack and Daniel tumbled to the ground on the other side. A red beam shot down from the ceiling, trapping Sha'uri in the light. She froze, kneeling, stiff, as if held in place. Daniel watched warily, wondering if they'd been fast enough, if it would work, if, if--
Then Amaunet screamed, her back arching. Her eyes flashed bright and opened wide, cords standing out on her neck, and she inched away, out of the beam--
Sam grabbed her by the shoulders, pushing her back in, and Daniel lunged and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her to his chest and holding her in place. "Hear me," he said frantically into the top of her head. "It will be over soon, Sha'uri..."
Her hands convulsed on Daniel's arms as another choked cry was ripped from her throat. "Release...me," Amaunet hissed, still struggling to move away. "Hasshak! You...cannot--"
"You have to fight, Sha'uri," Daniel said over her screamed curses, holding on with all his might and pulling her further into the Hammer's beam. "Your son--his name is Sharemes, known as Shifu. I will tell you about him, Sha'uri, everyone is waiting for you--"
And then, Daniel felt Sha'uri's head pressing into his shoulder, not pulling away, and she was holding to him as much as he was holding to her. The Goa'uld yelling faded to human moans, until, without warning, she collapsed, and Daniel had to scramble to cushion her head before it hit the ground.
"No. No, no," he said, still wrapped around Sha'uri and trying to untangle himself without hurting her and find a pulse and... "Jack--Sam!"
"All right, we got her," Jack said, pulling him back as Sam eased Sha'uri the rest of the way to the ground.
"I think she's just passed out," Sam said. "Her breathing's strong--" Sha'uri stirred. "Easy," Sam said soothingly. "Are you okay?"
Daniel held his breath, and even Jack stilled behind him. Slowly, Sha'uri blinked her eyes open. "Tano'ai?" she said.
"You did it," Daniel said, crawling the few feet that separated them until he was kneeling over her. "It is done--the demon is gone, Sha'uri."
"Dan'yel," she said, sitting up weakly with Sam's help. One hand trembled as it braced her against the ground, and the other reached for him. He was peripherally aware of Sam moving discreetly away as he pulled her toward him, more gently this time. "I knew you would come," she said, her voice whispering across his neck as she rested her head on his shoulder, and he pressed his face against her hair. "Shh, do not cry, my little Dan'yel," she added. Only then did Daniel realized he'd been crying at all, and that there was something wet leaking onto his shoulder as well.
"You are safe," he said, both to reassure her and to hear the words for himself. "Are you hurt?"
"No. Not badly," Sha'uri said, pulling back enough to smile and wipe a palm across her face. He studied her more carefully now--he could feel her ribs too clearly under his fingers, and there were shadows under her eyes, but there was no injury he could see that rest would not cure. "Gods, I am tired. What of Skaara?"
"He is safe, waiting for you with Kasuf," Daniel promised. He wiped his own face and said to the others, "She's okay. We should get her home to rest."
He'd expected Jack to answer, but it was Sam who dropped to a crouch next to them. "Hello. I'm Sam," she said. "We met very briefly on Cimmeria before; I've heard a lot about you."
Sha'uri studied Sam's face, then touched a tentative hand to her shoulder. "You were a Goa'uld once," she said curiously. "But no more?"
Instead of the uncomfortable shrugs and stiffened shoulders Daniel had come to expect from Sam upon mention of Jolinar, she nodded, so readily that he realized this was exactly why Sam had come forward. "Yup, I was," Sam said, smiling. "Like you. Which is why I know you're gonna be fine. Can you make it back, do you think, if we help you?"
Daniel couldn't quite stop himself from fidgeting restlessly as he stood by and watched Sam help his sister to wobbly feet. "This way," Jack said, gesturing them toward the path outside. "I see Teal'c and Gairwyn waiting for us."
As they stepped out, Gairwyn's face lit up in warm welcome. "You are freed!" she said. "Thanks be to Thor." Teal'c stood his ground at her side, watching them approach.
"You want to get back home on your own feet, I'll bet," Sam said calmly, ducking a little for Sha'uri's arm to loop more comfortably around her shoulders as she steadied herself. "But it's a kind of long way to the Stargate here, and then from there to your village on Abydos. How about letting Teal'c help you, and then you can walk through to Abydos on your own?"
Teal'c came forward now, arms spread slightly and bowing his head. "It would be no trouble."
Sha'uri lifted one hand toward Teal'c's lowered forehead, but she had already trusted him once before, despite--or perhaps because of--his past allegiance. She let her hand rest on his cheek and said, "I thank you, Teal'c." The Jaffa glanced up sharply, looking surprised, then bowed once more.
As Teal'c lifted her carefully into his arms, Jack quietly thanked Gairwyn for her help, then said, "Everyone ready?" Daniel tucked a stray strand of black hair behind Sha'uri's ear and nodded.
"You will come home, too, Dan'yel?" Sha'uri asked, her head resting against Teal'c's shoulder.
Daniel hesitated. He looked up hopefully at Jack, who was watching the two of them. Jack gave him a half-smile and said too lightly, "Yeah. He's going home."
XXXXX
4 December 1999; Archaeology Office, SGC; 0900 hrs
"But you're coming back," Robert said when the news had been broken, everyone was settling in back on Abydos, and Daniel was finishing his final preparations to leave. "Right?"
Daniel looked up from his bag where he'd been packing away his belongings. "It's not...I mean, the Stargate's open, so I'm not stuck there or anything. But I joined the SGC to find my brother and sister, and now I have. It's been...a long time."
"But that's not the only reason you joined us," Robert said, his eyes wide behind his glasses.
Daniel paused, feeling like he was being ungrateful, betraying one family for another. Robert was right, of course--exploration and knowledge aside, he'd joined for his family and to help fight the Goa'uld, but somehow, even the larger war couldn't seem quite as important with Skaara and Sha'uri both at home. No one would speak against him if he chose to stay there, and it would be so much easier...
"I should be there," Daniel said finally, focusing intently on the surprisingly few belongings that actually belonged to him among the mess on his desk. "I need to be there. For them. And for me. At least right now... I don't know what'll happen afterward."
"Well...do me a favor," Robert said.
"Anything," he said immediately.
"You're specifically trained for initial assessment of a planet, and you know Abydos better than anyone. Look around, okay? If there's anything the SGC might be interested in, or if you can find an excuse for a research mission on Abydos..."
"Yeah, of course; I'll report back and let you know," Daniel promised. He looked around. "I don't know what I'm expected to take. I have my notebooks, but it's not like my laptop would work for long on Abydos. And the reference books are the department's..."
"You can leave stuff here if you want," Robert said.
Daniel tapped his desk wryly. "Maybe, but whoever gets this desk isn't going to be happy with all the clutter."
"Well, it's not like anyone needs that desk now. I could just use it for extra bench space for myself--this was originally my office, remember?"
Nodding, he hefted the pack experimentally and said, "I feel bad. Not that I'm saying you'll be drowning in work just because I'm not here, but..." Robert didn't answer, so he scratched his head and said, "Thank you, Robert."
"Yeah," Robert said. "Come visit a lot. Or something."
Daniel had dreamed of this moment for years, and he'd expected it to be an easy choice--he would miss everyone at the SGC, of course, and he'd known that he would, but there shouldn't have been any question about which path he would take. This should have felt like a conclusion to a part of his life--a horrifying, wondrous, and amazing part of his life, but an end of one thing and the beginning of another. Instead... "I feel like...like it's not done. Does that make sense?"
"You're sixteen," Jack's voice said from the doorway as he walked in. "Of course you're not done. That makes more sense than most of the stuff you say."
Daniel rolled his eyes. "That's not what I mean, Jack."
"Come on, you're going home," Jack said, animated and cheerful in a way that Daniel was, too, somewhere under the oddness that he couldn't seem to shake. "Where's the excitement?"
"You're excited enough for us both," Daniel observed, amused. Jack faltered slightly, but he returned soon enough to his previous, not-quite-smirking expression. Daniel appreciated the effort. "Did I leave anything in your house?"
"Probably," Jack said, shrugging. "You leave your pens lying around everywhere. Nothing big, though. You need help with anything in your room on base?"
Daniel heard Robert going deliberately back to work behind him and told Jack, "Actually, yeah, could you, uh, come with me and see what I need to clear out?"
"Sure," Jack said. Daniel grabbed his pack and followed Jack to his quarters.
Once they were inside with the door closed behind them, Jack let him put the pack down and said, "What's wrong?"
"Why would something be--"
"Daniel," Jack said again, "what's wrong?"
He plucked halfheartedly at one of his books. "Nothing," he insisted. "I just...can't believe it. I keep thinking I'll wake up and..." He thought of the way Sha'uri had fallen asleep in Teal'c's arms but had insisted on walking through to Abydos on her own, the expression on Skaara and Kasuf's faces when they'd brought her back to the SGC house...
Jack was staring at him.
"What?" he said, self-conscious.
"Goofy little smile on your face," Jack said.
Daniel shrugged again and grinned wider, not caring if he looked silly, because otherwise he was going to start crying again. "Can you believe it?"
"Believe it," Jack said. "So, do you have idea what you're doing after this 'indefinite leave of absence' business? I mean, sure, get everyone settled back in at home, but afterward?"
"What, are you Dr. Mackenzie, now?"
"What, did he ask you that?"
Daniel's grin faded a little as he realized that Mackenzie had, in fact, asked him that very question, and that he didn't know the answer now any more than he'd known it two months ago. What now? The war hadn't ended just because two minor Goa'uld had been defeated. There were still goals to be met and places to explore. Where was his role, and when was it done?
"Hey, look," Jack said quickly, noticing the change in mood, "not like there's any rush. You take all the time you want. Besides, unless you really want to be done with everything, you've still got a check-in in a week. Abydos-Earth relations and all."
"Right," Daniel said. "Of course. I won't forget."
There was a pause, just too long to be anything but awkward, and then Jack said, "I'm going to assume you got the 'call if you need anything' talk from Hammond already. Check in every two weeks for an update if there aren't any teams actively there, until you make a decision about what you're gonna do--"
"Yes. I know." Daniel plucked at his jacket sleeve that proclaimed who his team was. "It's, uh...it's funny. I just got this patch. Finally. It certainly took enough trouble, and now I'm leaving." He gave a half-smile. "Somehow, it never seems to work. Maybe it's a sign."
"Stop picking at it," Jack said, slapping his hand away. "When you come back, the place is still yours."
"When I come back?" Daniel repeated. "What happened to 'when you make a decision about what you're going to do'?"
Jack raised his eyebrows. "Ah, you and I both know you can't stay away from all this. A month, a year, two years...you'd miss me." Daniel huffed. "And Sam and Teal'c," Jack amended. "You'd get bored."
"Maybe I'll make a place for myself there," Daniel said defensively, despite the part of him that thought Jack was right. "Jack, no, about SG-1, I appreciate it, but find a fourth man. Or woman. Don't go off-world shorthanded because you're waiting for me."
"Yeah, and who made you SG-1 leader?"
"Jack--"
"That's General Hammond's place to say, Daniel," Jack reminded him. "Not yours."
"Then do it for me," he said, not afraid to guilt Jack into this. "I'll feel better knowing you have more people watching your back."
Jack looked like he was going to argue for a moment, then said, "We'll see. Now. You don't have all that much stuff around here. Anything you're not bringing with you to Abydos I can throw into a couple of boxes and keep at my place."
Daniel bit his lip. "You really...you don't have to--"
"Who else do you think is going to be using that room in my house while you're gone?" Jack asked rhetorically. "It'll be waiting for you when you get back. I mean, you'll visit. Right?"
"Yeah." Impulsively, Daniel took a breath, straightened, and raised his hand in Tau'ri salute, the way Skaara had earlier. "Colonel O'Neill."
Jack gave him an odd smile, then saluted back and pulled him into a tight embrace. "Mr. Jackson. Don't be a stranger, all right?" He was released, then nudged toward the dresser. "Get what you want, and then go say your goodbyes to people."
"Thank you, Jack," Daniel said helplessly. He dragged his feet and turned back. "I don't even know how to tell you--"
"I know," Jack interrupted. "Ah, come on, it's not like this is the last time we're gonna see each other. There's that new naquadah deposit outside Nagada that everyone got so excited about a couple of weeks back, if nothing else."
Daniel returned the wry smile. "If nothing else. Jack, be careful, all of you."
"I'm always careful," Jack replied.
"I'm serious."
"You're always serious. For cryin' out loud, Daniel, I've been doing this longer than you've been alive. Teal'c's been doing this longer than I've been alive. And Carter's smarter than half the people here combined. We'll be fine."
"Good. Okay, then." Daniel turned back to the bag he'd put down and began to pack.
From the next chapter (" Need"):
Skaara did not seem to have this problem at all, and he seemed just as much at ease in his usual shendyt and robe as Tobay and the other two men on shift with them. Still, Daniel watched him tap the DHD and stalk around the room--there was a wariness to the way he moved, every gesture just a little smaller and tighter, and there was a sharper edge in his voice when he spoke. The others were giving him a wide berth, too, looking confused.