Brotherhood (24/27)
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 Chapter17a-- 17b Chapter18 Chapter19a-- 19b Chapter20 Chapter21a-- 21b Chapter22a-- 22b Chapter23 Chapter24
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Nick
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25 June 2000; Level 25 Quarters, SGC; 2230 hrs
Once they got back to base and found out that the skull had supposedly transported Nick to see giant aliens speaking Mayan, Jack decided that there were two options: either Nick was crazier than they had thought, or Jack hadn't gotten the full transportation treatment.
Well, there was a third option--that he was dead and hanging around as a ghost--but that option was starting to look very unappealing, considering how boring things were. Death was usually pretty long-term.
Either way, the only thing to do was to leave Nick in a VIP room for the night while Teal'c had another meeting with the general to discuss the situation. Carter took off up the elevator and Daniel went to his room. How come they never listened to Jack when he told them to stop working, and the one night he wished they would pull an all-nighter, they were going to sleep?
He figured out why, though, when the first thing Daniel did was to slump to a seat on the floor against the nearest wall, looking completely wiped and not a little nauseous. Jack stood and watched unhappily as Daniel clunked his head back against the wall and took a few slow breaths.
"You should go to Fraiser if you still feel sick," Jack told him uselessly. "She's still awake--I just saw her downstairs."
When Daniel winced and stood, heading back out the door, Jack thought at first that he was going to do just that, but instead of moving toward the elevator, he walked down the hall.
"Daniel?" Jack said, following behind him. "Whatcha doing?"
"Airman," Daniel greeted the SF at Nick's door. "I need to talk to him."
The airman nodded, and Daniel knocked twice before pushing the door slowly open. "Dr. Ballard--uh, Nick? Do you have a minute?"
Nick was sitting on the bed, folding his suit jacket. "Yes, come in," he said. In the room together and alone for the first time, Nick narrowed his eyes and studied Daniel more closely. Jack took a careful look, too; he didn't think Daniel looked obviously like his mother and hoped Nick didn't think differently.
Daniel folded his arms, looking like he was forcibly restraining himself from nervous fidgeting. "I...wanted to ask if you need anything, sir."
"No, no," Nick said, tilting his head. "Do you know, before she died, my daughter worked for the military for almost a year. Perhaps somewhere like this, analyzing strange artifacts."
"Um. Yes," Daniel said. He cleared his throat. "Dr. Claire...Ballard, yes? I've read a lot of her work, too."
Nick chuckled. "If you have been reading my research and my daughter's, then perhaps you have been reading the wrong things, young man."
"Well, uh, who knows--maybe she was right," Daniel said. "Sir, you retracted a few of your papers, but I can tell you still believe what you saw. This could be very important to us. Are you sure there's nothing more you remember?"
"Yeah," Jack added to Nick, "come on--listen to him. If Daniel believes the stuff about the pyramid-building aliens, he'll believe you about the giant misty aliens."
Nick looked thoughtful, then said, "You've read those papers on the pyramid-building aliens?"
Wait. Wait a minute.
"Did you just...hear me?" Jack said, stalking around Daniel and toward Nick to wave a hand in front of the man's eyes. Nick turned his face away--craning around Jack's hand--"Holy crap! You can see me? Daniel, he can--Nick, what the hell?"
"Well, to be fair, 'aliens' were never actually mentioned in any of her publications," Daniel was saying, the overly-calm note in his voice saying that he was trying not to act annoyed, "or any of her husband's or associates'--"
"Nick, come on!" Jack yelled, stepping into the man's line of sight to make the man lean slightly to one side to see Daniel again. Then he remembered the way Daniel had once looked at them in Mental Health and asked if they were real--"Wait--you think I'm a hallucination. Listen--"
"I'm sorry--I suppose we've already asked a lot of you," Daniel said. "If you have the time, I'd really appreciate it if you could give me the chance to talk with you more about your...y-your work, but maybe I should leave you alone for now. Good night."
"Wait," Jack said desperately. "Nick, tell him...tell him Jack is in the room."
Nick was looking confused now but was still carefully not answering him, while Daniel started to edge to the door.
"Nick--he's from Abydos. Tell him that!"
To Jack's immense relief, when Daniel's hand was on the doorknob, Nick said, "Have you ever seen Abydos?"
Daniel stopped with the door already open a crack, and then he shut it quickly and turned back around. "I...I'm sorry? What did you say?"
"Look, look at his face--Abydos means something to him, I'm right, you know I am. Now, how could I be a figment of your imagination?" Jack said, waving a hand in front of Nick's face. "Tell him Jack O'Neill is right here in the room!"
"You, uh..." Daniel coughed. "No, I've, uh, n-never gone to any part of Egypt. Always wanted to, though. See the temples of Abydos, and all the pyramids, you know."
Nick frowned, looking between him and Daniel until the latter started looking nervous. "Do you know a man named Jack O'Neill?"
"Wha..." Daniel said, his eyebrows drawn low. "Um. I didn't realize someone had mentioned him to you."
"He is in this room with us," Nick declared, looking simultaneously relieved and excited.
Unfortunately, this didn't seem to do much in the way of convincing Daniel, who said, "Um."
"Tell him..." Jack started, wracking his brains for something only he and Daniel would know, "The first night he spent at my house, I showed him constellations on the roof."
Nick looked much more confident of himself now and said, "The first night you spent at his house, you looked at constellations on the roof."
Daniel was mostly frozen at the moment, so Jack added, "And he brought Shifu there once."
"And you brought Shifu there once."
"Naturu," Daniel said, paling and scanning the rest of the room as if Jack might be hiding in the corner. "Jack?"
"He is here," Nick said, pointing to Jack. "The skull's teleportation process must have been incomplete."
"Zat," Daniel said, switching from skeptical to full-on brainstorming mode. "There was an energy field, and Teal'c fired the zat'nik'tel and it stopped. Could that be it?"
"Ah, okay, we're moving into classified," Jack said, wincing. Nick gave him an interested look.
"He says 'yes,'" Nick said.
"Oy," Jack sighed.
XXXXX
25 June 2000; Briefing Room, SGC; 2330 hrs
"General, just let me explain, please; I'm not crazy," Daniel said as soon as he led Nick into the briefing room, startling General Hammond, Teal'c, and Fraiser into looking up. Jack thought the sentence might be more convincing if he weren't looking so manic at the moment.
"Mr. Jackson..." Hammond said.
"Sir, Jack! He's..." Daniel said in his articulate way. He flapped his hands in Nick's direction a few times and then turned to the general expectantly. Jack slapped a hand to his forehead.
"Daniel," Fraiser said slowly, "are you...feeling all right?"
"I'm--no, it's...Nick, is he here?" Daniel said, looking desperately at his grandfather.
"Nick, just repeat whatever I say," Jack said
"Jack O'Neill is here," Nick said, drawing himself up to full height. "He is standing beside me."
"That is Daniel Jackson," Teal'c said.
"No, on the other side," Daniel said, gesturing to Jack. Then he looked up, saw their faces, and seemed to deflate a little. "General, either Jack is here or Nick can read my mind." His expression became thoughtful. "Actually, I hadn't considered that--"
"Oh, for cryin' out loud," Jack snapped.
"Oh, for crying out loud," Nick said carefully in his Dutch accent. Four pairs of eyes pinned themselves on the old archaeologist, who looked extremely pleased with himself. "He told me to say that," Nick added smugly.
"Colonel O'Neill?" Hammond said tentatively.
Wondering which one it would be best to try to convince, Jack settled on Hammond. "General, your wife died of cancer six years ago. Your granddaughters are Kayla and Tessa."
Nick repeated the words. General Hammond turned to Daniel, caught between surprise and anger at the breach of privacy. "Is that correct?" Daniel said, holding his hands up. "I didn't know that; I could never have told him. I assume Jack knows, though."
Teal'c raised an eyebrow. "Dr. Ballard, if Colonel O'Neill has been present this entire time, why then did you wait until now before speaking?"
"That's what I'd like to know," Jack muttered.
"I thought I was hearing voices," Nick admitted. "It wouldn't have been for the first time."
Jack decided that malfunctions in the filter between the brain and mouth might be hereditary. Both Daniel's and Nick's seemed to be much too selective in places and too open in others.
"Forgive me," Dr. Fraiser said carefully, "but why are you the only person who can see him?"
"Perhaps because I went through the same experience," Nick said calmly.
"Or, at least, partially," Daniel said. "General, we think the skull has to be taken back to where we found it. When Teal'c fired the zat'nik'tel, the transportation must have been cut off suddenly. That's why Jack is..." He grimaced. "Uh...sort of here but...not."
"We must return through the Stargate to the planet of the giant aliens," Nick said.
General Hammond looked at Daniel. "I suppose Colonel O'Neill told him about that, too?"
"Uh...n-no, that was me," Daniel admitted. "But, sir, he's seen the planet before. We just need to get Jack back to..." He gestured at Jack. "...to normal. Sir. And Jack said that Nick has to go with us to finish the process, since his own experience was cut short last time, too."
"Wait, what?" Jack said, staring at Nick. "You... Did you tell him I said that?"
Nick nodded sagely. "Yes. He says it would be best for all of us to go." Jack tried to strangle the man. Nick smiled at him.
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26 June 2000; P7X-377; 0100 hrs
"Jack said that Daniel is from Abydos," Nick said as they began the walk toward the pyramid.
"That's right," Daniel said.
"But no one lives in Abydos."
"Indeed, there are several thousands of people who live there," Teal'c countered.
"Um..." Daniel said. He hesitated, then explained, "There's planet called Abydos, probably named after the Egyptian city."
"He also said my daughter's theories were correct," Nick said. "That's what she was doing for the military?"
Daniel looked into the space where Jack was walking. "Well...Claire Ballard-Jackson and Melburn Jackson, and Jack"--Jack shrugged as Nick turned to him--"were among the first explorers from Earth, that's true. They went to the planet Abydos years ago--it's all a secret to people on Earth, but to Abydons, your daughter was a hero."
Nick didn't answer for a while. "That is good to know," he finally said, then looked thoughtfully between Teal'c and Daniel. "Two-thirds of you are alien. I suppose the military has many workers who are not from our planet?"
"Our team is disproportionate, Nicolas Ballard," Teal'c said, "but there are a few working for Stargate Command."
"Sam," Daniel said anxiously, "does this mean Nick can... He'll get clearance, right?"
"I assume so," Carter said carefully, "at least for what you mean, but we should go through the proper channels. I'm sure we'll be able to explain much more to you, Nick, but there's a lot to tell. I'd rather finish up here as fast as we can and then take our time explaining when we're back on base. Some of it will come as a bit of a shock."
"Then I suppose we will simply have to wait," Nick said. "Jack said that I have a..." He chuckled. "An alien grandson, he said--" Nick stepped into the pyramid. As if he'd completely forgotten the conversation, he grinned widely while Daniel stood frozen until Teal'c pushed him in a little. "It's just as I remembered it! This must be where the giant aliens live."
Carter was looking at her meter. "Radiation seems stable, like last time," she said. "We should get this done as fast as we can." She stepped out onto the narrow land bridge first. Daniel glanced at the other two, then followed.
"After you, Nicolas Ballard," Teal'c said, nodding to the archaeologist and walking close enough to make sure he remained steady on the bridge. Jack followed and wondered briefly what would happen if he fell off the bridge in his current state but decided not to try it.
Daniel looked back over his shoulder at Nick. "You were asking about your daughter's son--"
"Later," Nick said, looking past Daniel and waving a hand. "I can find out about that later. We must first meet the giant aliens."
"Right," Daniel said, pausing for barely a second before continuing on. "So, uy ah ual ing ual ing wetail. The enemy of my enemy is my friend. I wonder what that means."
They stepped onto the central platform. "Well," Jack said, "looks like we're about to find out."
"I think we're about to find out," Carter said. Jack smirked proudly. His kids were the best. "Teal'c?"
Teal'c pulled the crystal skull from his pack and handed it over. Daniel looked like he was about to reach for it, then stood aside for Nick, outranked this time by the real archaeologist.
Once the skull was in place, Carter keyed her radio. "General, we're in position."
"Understood, Major," Hammond responded. "Proceed."
Jack looked around until he realized they were waiting for him to do the skull-staring thing again. Feeling like an idiot--although only Nick could see him, so that helped a little--he bent and looked into the eyes of the skull, deliberately, this time.
As before, he felt the air begin to prickle as sparks of color gathered somewhere within the crystal. "Radiation's climbing again," Carter warned from behind him.
"This is incredible," Nick breathed.
This thing sucks, Jack thought, frozen in position again as the air pulled at him, becoming tighter and tighter with each second...
...until the energy field collapsed back on itself.
"Jack!" Daniel called, racing up the steps with a grin. Jack tapped him on the forehead. This established that they were both in the same phase, nearly made Daniel topple back down the steps, and put an annoyed expression on his face.
"Good," Jack said, catching Carter's satisfied smile as well. "Back to normal, then."
Except it wasn't, because Teal'c looked around and called, "Major Carter! Daniel Jackson!"
"Sam?" Daniel said in alarm as Carter waved an arm through Teal'c's chest.
"Oh, boy," she said. "It looks like we're all in phase with Colonel O'Neill, but Teal'c isn't."
Now Daniel turned to Jack and said, "Why?"
"You're asking me?" Jack said.
Teal'c reached up to his radio, still scanning the interior of the pyramid. "General Hammond, I was not teleported with the others."
"Return to base immediately," the general's voice ordered. Teal'c took a final look at the skull, and then at the surroundings, then turned and left at a jog.
Jack turned to the rest of them, wondering if they should follow Teal'c now and pester people in psychiatric institutions until they could find another interpreter, because otherwise, they were pretty much stuck here. He looked at Nick expectantly as Teal'c stepped out of the pyramid, but the archaeologist only held up a hand and said, "They're coming now."
As the last trace of Teal'c disappeared from sight, a mist rose from the chasm around them, making them scramble back toward each other, until the mist resolved into--
Well, what do you know. A giant alien.
"Hello!" Jack yelled in the direction of the giant misty alien. "What's your name?"
"Quetzalcoatl," the giant alien said. "Uy ah ual ing ual ing wetail."
"The enemy of my enemy is my friend," Nick repeated. "But what does this mean?"
"Sir, the...being didn't appear until Teal'c left," Carter said. "And Teal'c wasn't transported into this phase at all. And he's carrying..."
"...a Goa'uld--these people must be enemies of..." Daniel said, then stepped forward, closer to the edge. "Quetzalcoatl, we are enemies of the Goa'uld! We came to...to share knowledge and...culture with you."
"Then you are welcome here," Quetzalcoatl told him. A giant finger pointed at Nick. "We accept your proposition. You may remain."
Nick looked star-struck. "Me?"
"This is not the first time you have journeyed here," Quetzalcoatl said.
"You remember?"
"Wait," Daniel said, looking worried, "I didn't mean...I mean, there are others who would gladly return here."
"I will stay," Nick said, not looking away from Quetzalcoatl. "This has been my life's work. I've been hoping for another chance for twenty-nine years." He turned to Jack. "Please."
"W--but," Daniel said, glancing back at Jack as well. "Jack. Nick? I thought--didn't you want...I-I have so much to ask you..."
"I'll be back again," Nick said. "And then you can tell me all about it." Daniel's mouth opened, then closed.
"Look again into the eyes of the skull," Quetzalcoatl said.
Jack looked up at Quetzalcoatl's face and back at the skull. They needed to get back to Earth, and Nick wanted to stay. Jack wondered if he was forever doomed to be leaving Daniel and his family behind on other planets to call home.
Hammond was going to kill him.
He gave Nick a nod. "Well, Nick...take notes," Jack said. Daniel's eyes bounced between both of them.
"I will," Nick said, waving to them.
"W-wait, Nick," Daniel said suddenly. "Are you...are you sure? There are things you don't know about...well, about so many things--"
"I'm sure," Nick said, not looking away from Quetzalcoatl. "Did you know my daughter? Perhaps you're too young--but ask anyone who knew her. She would understand." Daniel opened his mouth, but he didn't speak. After all, he understood. "Go--I'll be fine."
"Daniel," Jack said, turning him around to walk back to the skull.
"Jack..." Daniel said quietly.
"I know. It's what he wants."
Daniel took a breath and then bowed formally to his grandfather, who was speaking to Quetzalcoatl. "Let's go home," Jack said.
Carter didn't seem to be listening to him, either. She had decided to occupy herself by stomping a foot on the ground.
"You won't fall through," Jack told her.
"Why not?" she asked, bending to poke at it the stone under their feet. "Maybe there are certain materials that...hm. Or something to do with the way in which we're shifted--maybe parts of the environment get shifted with us, or some things exist in more than one plane. Or there's some intersection between what we can interact with in--"
"Carter!" he said exasperatedly. "Let's just...get back to our right plane." Daniel had stepped up next to them now. Gesturing toward the skull, Jack asked him, "You want to look this time?"
Then he felt like a moron for trying to make up for the grandfather-that-almost-was with a ride on the skullmobile. Still Daniel nodded, bent down before the skull and managed to say, "Wow--you can see the light ref--" before they were all engulfed in the energy field.
This time, when they looked back up, Nick was gone.
"Time to go home," Jack said.
He'd barely stepped onto the bridge back when he heard Carter say, "Daniel, come on. The radiation levels are still too high." Jack turned around to see Daniel still standing in front of the skull.
"We'll come back," Jack promised. "It's all right. Let's go."
XXXXX
26 June 2000; O'Neill/Jackson Residence, Earth; 1400 hrs
Jack tried starting a conversation in the car on the way home--about harmless topics--then gave up when he only received one-word answers. Daniel slouched his way to his room as soon as he'd kicked off his shoes, so Jack decided anything that needed saying could wait until they'd both had a good sleep.
Jack woke early the next day, not surprised to find Daniel was still asleep. When he stayed still asleep for the rest of the morning and well past noon, though, Jack knocked once on Daniel's closed bedroom door before slipping inside.
The blinds on the window were still closed, but the sun trickled through. Daniel was a lump under a blanket that looked a little too warm to be comfortable for the summer. He didn't seem to notice the light, but he stirred as Jack stepped in.
"Daniel," Jack said quietly, staying at the door. Daniel turned and squinted at him. "You okay?"
"Whatimzit," Daniel mumbled.
"Past two in the afternoon," Jack said. At that, Daniel groaned and rolled over onto his back. "If you're tired, it's okay--it's been a long couple of days. I'm just checking."
"No, m'getting up," he said, screwing up his face as he sat up. "Sorry. I didn't realize it was so late."
Jack frowned. "You look like crap," he said frankly. "Didn't sleep well?"
Daniel shrugged, sitting sideways on the bed. "I don't...feel very well," he admitted.
"You sick?" Jack said, moving instinctively to check his temperature.
"I don't know," Daniel said, though he wasn't trying very hard to get away from Jack's hand on his forehead, which was a statement on its own. It felt like he might be running a fever, but not so high it was really worrying by itself.
"What's wrong exactly?"
"Jack, it's okay. Maybe it's just...from the radiation and it'll go away."
Thinking that Daniel didn't seem realize that radiation wasn't something with which one fooled around, Jack said, "Humor me. What's wrong?"
"Um...it's, uh..." Daniel hedged, then finally said, "My stomach. But it's a lot better than yesterday."
Jack nodded slowly. "You know in our line of work, you can't mess around with your body. You don't make something sound like it's okay when it's not."
"I know, Jack." Daniel stood and hunted around for glasses and clothes. "If it's not better by the time we go to work tomorrow, I'll go to the infirmary."
"You do that," Jack said, still watching until Daniel picked up a pair of trousers and looked up expectantly. "Are you sure?"
The hesitation was short, but definitely there. After a moment, Daniel nodded. "Yeah. I think...it's probably just... It was a stressful mission, that's probably all."
"True. Okay," he said, backing out of the room. "Take it easy today."
Some time later, Daniel appeared around the kitchen doorway, clutching a book and still looking more rumpled than usual, even showered and dressed in BDUs.
"So, by my count," Jack started, "you've managed to miss two or three meals in a row by now..." Daniel paled and swallowed hard. "No?"
"Not hungry."
"That can happen when you don't eat for a long time," Jack said.
"Jack, please," Daniel said, plastering himself against the doorway. "Not now."
Jack waited for him to say something else--like 'go away and let me read'--but he seemed to be waiting for instruction instead. More worried now, Jack tried to decide whether he was coming down with something, which would mean bed, or upset about the mission, in which case being in bed all day wouldn't help. "Why don't you go sit down on the couch," Jack said, settling on something in between. "Try drinking something, at least."
In the end, Jack found a rarely-used thermometer to tell him that the fever wasn't high enough to be really worrying yet, and Daniel stared at a glass of water like it was going to jump on him and try to choke him. "Maybe I ate something--" Daniel started.
"You haven't eaten anything over the last couple of days aside from hospital food and a power bar you had on the way to Oregon," Jack pointed out.
"You're keeping track of my meals?"
"Hey," Jack said, settling into a chair opposite him, "you have no idea how boring it is when you're walking around and no one else can see you. I had to do something."
Daniel nodded, setting the glass down on the table very carefully. "Want to play?" he said, gesturing at the chess board, his book on Mesoamerica closed on the table next to it.
"You think you're up to it?" Jack said, taking in the somewhat unfocused gaze.
"You think I'll beat you too badly?" Daniel said, which was good enough of an answer.
As it turned out, there was no danger of being beaten, badly or otherwise. Daniel tended toward elaborate, sweeping plans that either worked wonderfully or failed utterly, though he had been learning to find a balance between that and a tight, safe game. Today, he couldn't seem to manage either of those--his complicated plots had holes in them and he overlooked the simplest moves. Once, he didn't even notice he was checkmated until Jack tipped his King over for him.
"Ugh," Daniel said the third time he lost, rubbing his eyes.
"You're a little off. We don't have to play right now," Jack said.
Not straightening from his slumped seat, Daniel said, "I haven't spent much time with you lately doing normal things. What with Abydos, and then Edora, and...and then I was mad about the NID operation, and it got busy... Gods, Jack, we just almost lost you again."
Jack shrugged uncomfortably. "I would've been haunting you. You just wouldn't've known."
Daniel didn't move. "Is that supposed to make me feel better?"
"Well, no rush," Jack said, decisively clearing the board. "No one's going anywhere." Daniel finally raised his head, then nodded thoughtfully. "You sure you don't need..." Jack trailed off as Daniel yawned. "Doctor? Bed? What do you think?"
"Maybe I'll sit and read for a while," Daniel decided, pulling his legs up onto the couch.
Jack watched him flip listlessly through the book, then said, "About Nick--your grandfather..." Daniel stopped, looking up. "You okay?"
Daniel raised his eyebrows. "It's clearly what he wanted."
"That's not what I asked."
"I didn't know him," Daniel said. "General Hammond says we can try to contact him again, too."
Jack suppressed a sigh. "Daniel--"
"I didn't lose anything, Jack," Daniel said, going back to his book. "And he's probably happier now than he was. If...if he's anything like my mother was, he'd rather stay there for the rest of his life, knowing he was right all along." He looked up. "I mean...do you think he's happy?"
"I think so," Jack said. "Okay."
He waited for a moment until Daniel caved and said, "What did you think of him? Nick."
Jack had to discard 'a little crazy' and 'a pain in the ass' and 'manipulative' and 'way too obsessed,' before settling on, "Reminded me of you." Daniel looked surprised and didn't seem to know how to take that. "Kind of. Why, you don't think so?"
"I didn't know him," Daniel repeated. "He wasn't really insane, right?"
It took a minute to find an answer, because the man had said himself that he heard voices and had been hearing voices since long before Jack had started pestering him. "Hey," Jack said, "who's not a little insane?" And then, because Daniel knew the inside of a room in one of those hospitals as well as Nick did, "That's not the part that's like you."
"Sure," Daniel said, shrugging lightly. "I know--although psychiatric health is supposed to have a genetic component."
"Obviously, he was...passionate about his work," Jack said uncomfortably, because he wouldn't be surprised if that had been what had led to a nervous breakdown, and, quite honestly, it was one of the things that did remind him of Daniel.
"Do you think he would have stayed if he'd known he had a grandson here?"
No, Jack thought, remembering the bright look in Nick's eyes when he'd seen Quetzalcoatl. "Maybe," he said.
"No, huh," Daniel said, turning back to his book. "Yeah, he didn't know me, either."
"You never told him," Jack said. "I thought you'd blurt it out right away whether Hammond liked it or not. Deal with the consequences later."
"I've found that's not always the responsible route, and I've gotten used to keeping secrets," Daniel said, which might be true, but it was a weak excuse.
"That's a weak excuse," Jack told him. "This is about Claire?"
Daniel shrugged again. "Nick said she didn't believe him, and obviously he didn't believe her...maybe she didn't want me to know if she didn't tell me about him. I don't want to know what he might have said to her. Or what she said to him. I don't need to know. I like my memories of her as they are."
"Ah," Jack said, because not wanting to know something was odd for Daniel, but if an exception was going to be made, his late mother was a good one. "Okay."
It would come up again later, whether it was in a week or a year from now; with Daniel, there wasn't a chance he'd forget about his grandfather on that planet. But they could put it aside until then.
...x...
26 June 2000; O'Neill/Jackson Residence, Earth; 1900 hrs
The rest of the team showed up in the evening with a closed cardboard box. "What's this?" Jack asked apprehensively.
Carter glanced at Teal'c. "It arrived on base. Nick didn't have an updated will..." she started.
"Whoa, hold it," Jack interrupted. "Carter, I don't know if this is a good idea."
She looked uncomfortable but shrugged. "Sir, can we talk about it inside?"
He looked once over his shoulder, then said, "Just keep it down. Daniel fell asleep on the couch."
Teal'c's eyebrow rose, but they both entered quietly without question, setting everything down on the kitchen table with only a peek into the living room. "As I said, sir," Carter started again, softly, "Nick Ballard's last will was dated 1980, just before he checked into that institution in Oregon. His daughter was his only living relative at the time, and she didn't have a will at all, but...next of kin... They sent over the few personal effects Nick Ballard had, since Cheyenne is the last known contact for Claire Jackson. We figure it sort of goes to Daniel now."
"The man's not dead," Jack pointed out, stopping short of lifting the lid of the box. Considering what they knew of Nick, Jack thought it was probably filled mostly with artifacts and research notes. "And Nick didn't even know Daniel was his grandson. You don't think it'd be weird?"
"It appears that there is no alternative course of action that is considered acceptable by your system of laws, O'Neill," Teal'c said. "It is also uncertain that he will return to this planet again. Even if we return to find him, it is possible that he will choose to remain there."
"Yeah," Jack conceded, because he now knew three generations of the Ballard line that had gone to live on a different planet. "I'll, uh..."
"Jack? What's wrong?" Daniel appeared behind them in the doorway, leaning against the wall and rubbing his eyes.
"Some of Nick's things," Jack said casually, patting the box as the other two turned around. "You can go through them if you want, or we can put them away for now."
"Hm," Daniel hummed, eyeing the box. "Um..."
"We'll put it aside for now," Jack suggested. "Let's hold onto it for him and deal with it later."
"Okay," Daniel agreed. Jack tried not to let his expression show his surprise and relief at how easy that had been. "Hi, Sam, Teal'c. What are you doing here?"
"Uh...we're the ones who brought Dr. Ballard's things," Carter said, pointing at the box and peering at Daniel's face. "Are you all right?"
"Are you ill, Daniel Jackson?" Teal'c said.
"Maybe a little," Daniel mumbled. Carter looked at Jack, who gave her a tiny shrug in return. "I saw that," Daniel told them.
"All right, why don't you sit down," Jack said.
"Okay," Daniel said, padding back to the living room.
Carter's eyebrows shot up when Daniel was out of sight. "Wow," she said in a low voice.
"If only he were that obedient most of the time, huh?" Jack quipped quietly, hunting through a poorly-stocked pantry for something Daniel might be able to keep down. "He thought it was something to do with the radiation, and I thought he was just upset about Nick. Now I think he's actually caught something."
"Our immune systems could be a little suppressed for a while," she mused. "I'm the only one who got a comparable dose of radiation, and I do feel a little tired, but..."
"I'll make him go see Fraiser tomorrow--wait here a second," Jack said, stepping past them into the living room, where Daniel was starting to curl back up on the couch. "Hold it, before you lie down--"
"Jack, no," Daniel said at the sight of crackers and water in Jack's hands.
"I know you know the effects of dehydration--"
"But...but...okay, I know." Daniel took the water and looked at it unhappily, then looked up at Jack. "Are you going to watch me?"
"Okay, leaving," Jack said, backing away to rejoin the rest of his team.
"There's a stomach bug going around base," Carter offered. "That could be it, if he hasn't shown any other symptoms. Do you...do you need help, sir?"
"I think we can handle it," he told her.
"Yes, sir," she said. "Well, we really just came to drop off Nick Ballard's things, so..."
"Yeah, thanks, guys," Jack said. "See you tomorrow."
The front door had just closed behind them when a sudden, violent rustling motion made Jack whirl around in time to see a bathroom door swing closed.
The door was still cracked open, and Jack found Daniel retching over the toilet. He stiffened when Jack touched a hand to his back, then took a slow breath and relaxed slightly. "Sorry," he whispered, not turning around.
"Doesn't look like you're having much fun, there," Jack said lightly, moving his other hand to gauge the fever again, then filled a cup with water from the sink. "You all right?"
Daniel rinsed halfheartedly, leaned forward to flush the toilet, closed the lid, and pillowed his head on the porcelain. "Um," he finally said. "Yeah."
"Gonna be sick again?" Jack asked.
"I dunno," Daniel said. "Probably not," he added after a moment's thought.
Jack studied him as he buried his face in his arm. "I can take you to the doctor now."
"I just want to go to sleep," Daniel mumbled. "I'll go tomorrow."
"You sure?"
Daniel raised his head, grimaced, and stood again on wobbly legs. He stood still for a moment, hunching forward slightly as he took a slow breath. "Yes. Um...yes."
"Come on, let's get you upstairs," Jack said. "You're seeing Fraiser in the morning, no complaints."
...x...
27 June 2000; O'Neill/Jackson Residence, Earth; 0200 hrs
A check before Jack went to bed himself showed that Daniel was either sleeping or pretending to sleep. He lingered indecisively for a moment--boundaries were, and always had been, hard to figure out between him and Daniel--then decided to wait until morning.
It was only hours after that, though, when Jack woke to the sound of someone sneaking clumsily through the halls. Confused and immediately alert, he sat up and heard a moan.
"Jack?" Daniel whispered.
Jack turned and saw his bedroom door crack open with a shadow hanging onto the doorframe. "Daniel? What's going on?"
"I--I don't know," Daniel said. "It hurts."
Jack was up and tripping over sheets in a second. By the time he'd managed to turn the light on, he could see Daniel biting his lip while sliding down the wall to the floor. "All right, easy," Jack said, easing him down to a seat and drawing a pained hiss. "Where's it hurt?" Daniel had his eyes squeezed tight and didn't answer. "Daniel, I need you to tell me where you're hurt."
"I didn't get h-hurt, Jack, I'm not--" Even as he said it, Daniel's arms curled loosely around himself and he hunched forward. "I don't know!"
"Your stomach?" Jack said.
"Yes--no. I don't know. Jack, something's wrong...naturu..."
"Can you stand up if I help you? I'll take you to the hospital--"
"No, wait, we should...go to the SGC," Daniel said, one hand clamping around his arm. "What if it's...from the mission?"
The hospital would be a lot faster without the security checks, but he was right, too, that there'd be too many questions and identity problems and the possibility of an alien contagion... "All right," Jack said. "Let me get my phone. I'll call base in the car to let them know we're on the way, speed things up a little."
Jack hurried back to his nightstand to fumble for his cell, and as he returned, a thought struck him. He crouched, saying, "Move your arm--I need to check to see if you're hurt."
Daniel didn't move for a minute, and then he pulled his arms away to give Jack access. "I'm not injured," he insisted again as Jack checked for himself that there was no wound he could see, and if there was some kind of internal injury, he wouldn't make it any better by poking at it. As he pulled the shirt back in place, Daniel made a strangled groan and pulled away. "J-jack, not there--"
"Sorry," Jack said helplessly, not knowing what he'd just done. "Can you stand? Or I can call the SGC and have a medical team here faster."
In answer, Daniel bit his lips and wrapped an arm around Jack's shoulder, gripping tight. Jack looped his arm carefully around Daniel's back, and they made it staggering to the car together.
"Here we go," Jack said, easing him sideways to lie down as well as possible on the back seat. He brushed sweat-soaked bangs from Daniel's forehead, then carefully closed the door.
"What's wrong with me?" Daniel said, his voice tight.
Jack slipped into the driver's seat and started the engine, pulling out his phone at the same time. "You're gonna be fine. Just hang in there, all right?" They pulled out, and Fraiser picked up almost immediately when he called the number reserved for emergencies. "Dr. Fraiser," Jack said, "It's Colonel O'Neill. I'm bringing Daniel in--"
"What's wrong, Colonel?" Fraiser said briskly.
"He was sick yesterday--fever, nausea...no visible external injuries, but now he's...he's in a lot of pain, Doc. I didn't want to bring him to the hospital in case it had to do with our last mission, but we might need someone to meet us and bring him in."
"Where's the pain?"
"His stomach, I think, around there."
"You're en route, sir?"
Daniel hissed as the car hit a bump in the road. Jack winced. "Yeah, we're on our way. ETA...ten minutes."
"A team will meet you on the surface, sir," Fraiser said. "I'll check to make sure Major Carter and Teal'c are all right, in case there were complications from your mission."
"Thanks, Janet," Jack said, then hung up. "Daniel, the doctor's waiting for us. You doing okay back there?"
"Yessir," Daniel said through clenched teeth. Jack couldn't even tell if it was meant to be flippant or sarcastic or just a dazed, automatic response.
...x...
27 June 2000; Infirmary, SGC; 0530 hrs
Jack walked back to where Carter and Teal'c were waiting anxiously. "Appendicitis," he said.
Carter's eyes shot up. "W--really?"
"Yeah. They did an ultrasound--they're prepping him for surgery now."
"What is appendicitis?" Teal'c asked. He'd been on base already when Daniel had been wheeled in, and he'd been alarmed at the unexpected commotion, to say the least.
"The appendix is an organ in the abdomen, attached to the digestive tract," Carter explained. "In humans, it can gets inflamed and even rupture and spread the infection to the rest of the...oh--" she said suddenly, turning to Jack.
"No rupture, they think," Jack said, knowing what she was thinking, "and they're removing it ASAP." Teal'c was still frowning at them, so Jack added, "Humans survive fine without it. As long as nothing goes wrong, Daniel should be...fine."
Carter rubbed her forehead. "I had mine out when I was a teenager. I know the signs--I should've realized something was wrong last night..."
"You do not get the blame for this, Major," Jack snapped, because she wasn't the one who'd told Daniel to go to bed, like it would all be better in the morning. God, what if Daniel hadn't gotten up and Jack had waited another few hours before bringing him to base? Why the hell hadn't Daniel said something sooner?
"He probably didn't think it was anything to worry about at first," Carter answered, making him realize he'd said the last part aloud. "Especially after everything we went through with the radiation...he could've been feeling the symptoms all day and not realized something was wrong until it got really bad."
Teal'c looked between the two of them. "Then this illness was not caused by your experiences during the recent mission to P7X-377?"
"Nope," Jack said, folding his arms and settling unhappily into a chair to wait.
"It could've been," Carter said. When Jack gave her a look, she said, "It might have exacerbated things, sir. The digestive tract is very vulnerable to damage from radiation, and, like I said, it could have masked some of his symptoms."
Teal'c seemed concerned about their lack of concern about cutting someone's abdomen open.
"It's a pretty routine procedure," Carter added for his benefit. "I'm sure he'll be fine."
"Yeah," Jack agreed, partly to convince himself he hadn't waited until it was too late. After everything, how ironic would it be to lose Daniel to his appendix? The thought teased at his memory of something he'd heard once--"Hey, you remember the alternate reality Daniel?"
"The one who..." Carter's brow furrowed. "Dr. Jackson was SG-1, too, and he'd just had appendicitis when he came through."
"And then his world got destroyed," Jack said.
After a pause, Carter told him, "It's not an omen, sir."
"I do not believe Daniel Jackson's internal organs have the ability to effect such destruction," Teal'c added seriously.
Jack snorted, shaking his head. "Right. Anyway, you two can go back to sleep if you want. Otherwise, we just sit tight and wait."
From the next chapter (" Left Behind"):
"What's going on?" Daniel had to ask when Janet walked in again. She turned to him and hesitated, her eyes shifting to one side as if trying to decide what to say, and naturu, what if someone was dead, what if what was why Sam hadn't come by? He bit his lip and forced himself to sit up. "Janet, tell me, please."
She made a movement as if to push him back down, but desperation gave him enough strength to push her hands away. "Colonel O'Neill was transported onto Thor's ship," she finally said.