Sorry this ones been so long!! Hope you enjoy and Happy Holidays folks, all be it belatedly. hugsx
Daniel sat on his bed at home, at Jack's place. It certainly felt more like home than anywhere else he'd lived for a very long time now.
He sighed deeply, the team had experienced an intense few months with the missions that they'd been on. Not only had an Alien morphed into another Jack and then the man's dead son, but not a week later, Jack had been infected with nan-ites that made him age. Daniel had thought he'd lose the older man forever. It had been one of the hardest things in the world to leave his make shift father on that planet, thinking he'd die there, alone. It made Daniel realise how much he needed Jack.
When he'd come back and he'd slowly de-aged, SG1 had been able to take some down time and the opportunity to do some much needed bonding. Amongst other things, Jack had taken Daniel to see his first ever live hockey match. Sam had opted not to come and Teal'c had sensed that this was some what of a special event for his two teammates and had tactfully made his excuses.
They'd had a wonderful time. Jack ensured his friend had every experience, from the numerous hot dogs and popcorn to buying him a t-shirt with the Avalanche team logo on it.
And then they were back to normal, another planet and another disaster as far as Daniel was concerned. Less than a week before, he'd been forced to destroy one of the only technologies to date that looked like it had any chance of saving his lost wife and Ska'ara. Not only that, it was at his own hands and he was ordered to do it by Jack.
Jack, for his part had become a lot more overbearing since the latest set of events, especially seeing a copy of his real son being dangled under his nose and knowing it wasn't him hadn't helped. It cranked Jack's fatherly instincts up to a near deadly level.
Hence Daniel's current predicament. He'd been back from the last mission for a little over a day and they'd only just got out of the mountain. Jack had given him all manner of hard stares, avoided him, shouted occasionally or just plain given him the silent treatment in that time.
Yeah, he'd been kind of relieved it had all turned out okay initially and even agreed for Daniel to try and go back to the planet at some point, but the longer Jack had had to think about the whole disastrous episode at the end, the more his annoyance with Daniel had increased and Daniel knew it.
Daniel looked at the walls that now held some of his beloved pictures of his first home, Egypt. His artefacts now dotted around the furniture and some special books lived on the shelves that he'd chosen for this room. Other things that he loved were now placed occasionally around Jack's house too. Here and there, in the places Jack tolerated anyway. Jack never interfered in Daniel's room, this was his place. It housed his furniture, was decorated the way he liked it and Daniel could shut himself away here when he needed to be alone.
The issue he had at the minute though was that Jack could shut him away here when he needed to as well and these times sucked, big time. Daniel threw himself backwards heavily onto the double bed and cursed himself.
God he was stupid sometimes, he knew damn well he was pushing it, but he and Jack hadn't had a real run in for months now, not since his last outburst and he really didn't want to think back to that, not right now, it made him wince and twitch.
He thought back over the eventful mission, he remembered he must have started to get on Jack's nerves from the outset; he certainly had General Hammond's…
Daniel had found footage of the old tests for the gate in 1945, Jack had obviously seen them and as usual questioned Daniel's never ending enthusiasm of anything old, but when the vintage film had revealed a man going through an open wormhole in an old fashioned diving suit, both parties had awed in amazement. The scientists had succeeded in manually opening the gate to another planet all those years ago and nobody, until now, even realized.
The next morning, Daniel had managed to leave the house without Jack, claiming he had some errands to carry out and he'd meet the older man at the mountain. Jack had no reason to question that, Daniel had his own life after all, that's just how Jack wanted to keep it, with Daniel actually having a life!
But instead of the jobs he'd professed to need to carry out, Daniel had made his way to Catherine Langford's house. She was the only person that Daniel knew of that would know more about the Stargate and its history since it was dug up in Giza than anyone else he could think of. She even had the amulet that was found near the dig site, 'The Eye of Ra' that he'd first taken to Abydos with him.
He'd nervously waited in the kitchen, adrenaline pumping through him. Things like this never failed to enthuse him to the point of making him nearly drunk with anticipation.
He had to admit that Catherine was a little taken aback to see him, she was one of the few that knew the truth of him living on Abydos, but would never have known he'd returned. Daniel wasn't allowed to go and speak to her, it had been classified information and could only serve to get them both into trouble, (Jack had been very adamant about this on his return). As far as everyone else was concerned, he was dead with the rest of the Abydonian's.
After some minor scolding from Catherine regarding Daniel's suspected secondment into the military, Daniel had managed to get onto the subject of the experiments that had been carried out in the war, feeling convinced that she'd know that they had actually managed to dial another planet and hoping she could answer the question as to why they stopped so abruptly when they did.
Catherine did know of the testing, but only via a third party that happened to be her then fiancé. She herself was only twenty-one at the time and although her father was also working on the project, she was never allowed to have any part in the top secret work. Earnest had, by all accounts, discussed some parts his work with her, but that was as far as it had gone.
Daniel was puzzled that she hadn't pursued finding the detailed footage of the experiments after they stopped, but she was unaware of their existence and so it seemed was everyone else who'd been involved with the Stargate project to date. What was even more shocking was that she didn't know that the gate had actually been activated at that point in time too.
Daniel on hearing this confession had gnawed fleetingly at the inside of his mouth, knowing that he was going to be breaking some major rules now, but he felt it was justified and he'd just have to make Jack and the general understand that after.
"Then there is something more you should see," Daniel had offered, trying to answer Catherine's now very confused look. He reached into his jacket and removed the forbidden and up until days ago, highly classified, tape from his jacket slipping it into Catherine's VCR.
"Here, watch this," eyes going wide as he indicated as the television flickering into life and revealing the footage of a figure stepping through the open wormhole.
"Oh God," Catherine gasped, unable to comprehend what she was seeing.
Daniel was surprised by her reaction, but knew he needed to ask her if it was who he thought it was.
"So the man who went through the gate was...Ernest?"
"Yes. My father must have lied to me. He said Ernest died in an accident an explosion…"
"Why would he do that?"
"He probably thought he was protecting me."
"From what?"
"From knowing that the man I was supposed to marry chose to risk his life and go through the Stargate without even talking to me about it. He chose his idea, his work over me."
"I'm sure that he believed that he would come back."
"He was so young, so full of passion, like you. You reminded me of him when I first saw you. That's why I knew you would solve the mysteries of the `gate."
"Catherine, I wasn't supposed to show you this. Actually I wasn't supposed to show you any of this but now..." Daniel pulled out the pictures, unable to stop himself any further. He knew he'd be in deep trouble, but this was important. Catherine needed to know.
"Computer enhancements - from the film footage, I was able to isolate the chevrons that were locked in before Ernest went through."
"Not Abydos?" Catherine looked puzzled. She had no idea that the military along with Daniel's help and discovered how the `gate could dial to other planets.
"No; another planet, with similar co-ordinates. And we can go there."
oOo
Catherine and Daniel were standing in the briefing room when General Hammond stormed into the room, flushed with anger and a deep frown marring his face.
"Have you completely lost your mind?! Who authorized you to reveal classified information to a civilian?" he demanded.
"If you will just let me explain…"
Daniel didn't get far in his explanation when the General suddenly cut in, still in a deep state of rage. "This is a serious breach of protocol. These rules exist for a reason, Doctor. Do you think that you are above them?" The commanding officer's eye's glistened with annoyance and promised retribution as Daniel spluttered his reply.
"No, no, I…"
Just then, Jack and Teal'c walked in.
"Catherine!" Jack greeted her with a warm smile.
"Hello, Jack."
"It's good to see you again. I trust the General's making you feel right at home." Jack continued, grinning from ear to ear. General Hammond, for his part, looked like he was about to bite someone's head off and then spit it out in tiny, little pieces.
"So far he sounds worse than General West." Catherine added.
"Ah, he's a teddy bear," Jack quipped.
"Colonel O'Neill, did you authorize Dr. Daniel Jackson to reveal classified information to this civilian?" The General asked sharply, not the least bit amused with their bantering.
"Absolutely not, Sir," Jack turned a pointed look in Daniel's direction. Daniel squirmed unconsciously under the hard stare. "In fact I advised him NOT to say anything to her." Jack continued to glare at him meaningfully. Daniel squirmed a little more.
'Boy, he was in for it this time.' Daniel thought to himself. But Jack's next words kind of eased his worries a little, "despite the fact that she used to run the entire program, and is responsible for most of our current knowledge about the `gate."
Maybe Jack didn't completely disapprove of what he'd done? Hopefully he wouldn't be so mad and chew him a new one later. He really couldn't keep this from her. If Ernest was still alive and stranded somewhere out there and there was even the slightest chance they could rescue him, then she had a right to know.
"I am aware of who she is, Colonel." Hammond's angry retort broke into Daniel's musings. Nervous, he looked around, "Catherine, this is Teal'c. Teal'c, this is Catherine." Daniel introduced, in an attempt to lighten the tense atmosphere.
"Daniel has told me all about you, such a pleasure." They shook hands and Teal'c bowed his head in respect.
"Colonel, are you aware of the request Dr. Jackson has currently tangled?" Daniel winced. Oops, the distraction hadn't quite worked.
He chanced a glance at Jack. "You've got to go that one step further, don't you?" Jack warned pointedly, with a forced grin on his face.
Daniel squirmed nervously in place before quickly averting his gaze from Jack's penetrating stare and turned to the General instead. "The man who entered the Gate in 1945 was Catherine's fiancé. Now I have the address of the planet he went to and we can go there."
"And I'm coming with you." Catherine added.
"General, we know where Ernest Littlefield went. He could still be alive. A man who had the vision to see the Stargate for what it really was a half a century before anyone else," Daniel added.
Jack's lips curved ever so slightly, "He sounds like a bonafide' American hero, Sir."
Just then, Sam walked in. "Sir, there may be another reason to go to this planet."
"Samantha!" Catherine beamed.
"Catherine!" Sam beamed back and the both wrapped in a tight hug.
"Captain Carter." General Hammond prompted.
"Yes sir. It seems the planet in question is close to Abydos, so it uses many of the same points in space locators, which explains why the team in `45 could conceivably dial in with out compensating for planetary shift. But, Sir, the planet in question is not on the cartouche we found on Abydos."
Catherine was puzzled. "What's the significance in that?"
"The Goa'uld hasn't charted it. They may not even have been there." Sam explained.
"If the Goa'uld hasn't been to this plant, and there is obviously a gate there, then we would have unquestionable proof that they didn't build the Stargate's," Daniel added hastily, wanting to convince the General of the value of this mission at all costs.
"The Goa'uld are scavengers. Since they have not travelled to this planet, we could find technologies to use against them," Teal'c pointed out.
Catherine smiled, "You speak?"
"When it is appropriate," Teal'c turned to her, the slightest hint of a smile coloring his features. Catherine's smile broadened.
"Thank you. Thank all off you for your very thorough analysis of the situation, but I was already convinced by Dr. Jackson's initial argument. Ernest Littlefield could still be alive, and we should try to find him." The General addressed everyone, with sheer determination showing in his voice.
Daniel sagged with relief at hearing the General's words. The man deserved better for his efforts than to just be forgotten and left to die in some distant planet with no means of ever coming back home. It was bad enough Ernest had probably been stranded there for the last fifty years, if he wasn't dead already. Daniel certainly hoped not, for Catherine's sake, as much as for Dr. Littlefied's own.
But things, as usual, didn't go completely as planned. They managed to dial the planet and could indeed find Earnest, in the deserted, long abandoned planet, sheltered in a derelict, run down building that looked as though it had seen better days. The man had apparently been on his own for the last fifty years. Completely alone, with only his thoughts and memories to keep him company.
The building turned out to be one of their major problems in the end, it seemed it had started to collapse long before they got there and the whole thing was falling apart alarmingly quickly now.
To top it all off, the structure stood right at the edge of a cliff, below which raged a very impressive ocean. And to make things even more appealing, the planet was hit by very potent storms every year and that building was just in no shape to withstand such extreme weather conditions any longer so they would have to make a hasty retreat before the whole thing fell down. Of course that shouldn't have been a problem as they hadn't been planning on staying there long. They would simply retrieve Dr. Littlefield and then be on their way. Or at least, that had been the initial idea.
Jack of course had wanted to leave the place as soon as possible until the storm had passed and everyone else had agreed. Everyone, except Daniel. "We have only begun to explore this place. Figure out what it is, what it used to be." Daniel had argued.
"We launched a survey balloon. Now let's take the professor and Catherine home, we'll leave the probe here, let it monitor the situation, until the storm blows over, then we'll come back. Alright?" Jack had explained.
Ernest had looked at them confused, "I tried for years to make it work."
Daniel had turned to him with a puzzled look of his own. "You never tried to entering different glyphs in this thing?" Daniel had got up and gone to the DHD. "We call this the Dial-Home-Device. Basically you enter the correct address and..."
"Daniel," Jack had cut in, "why don't we just show him." All of SG-1 had walked up to the DHD. A look of shock then had come across their faces as they'd looked at it. The DHD had been smashed to pieces. The thing had been completely destroyed so they had no way of going back home, unless they figured out how to make it work again, or came up with an alternative way to power up the gate. Whichever came first.
"My, God." Sam had gasped at the sight. The Red ball in the middle had been shattered.
"What the hell?" Jack had stared at it with an equally as stricken look on his face. "I thought the probe was supposed to detect stuff like this?"
Sam had turned to him, a dumbfounded look of astonishment, confusion and shock all mixed together still marring her features. "We got visual confirmation of its presence, but the damage was obviously concealed." Sam then had tried to enter in glyphs, but nothing had happened. The thing was dead. "It's not working."
"It was like that when I got here." Ernest had added.
Catherine had turned to him at that, a look of sorrow coming over her face.
"That's why you never came back."
Ernest had just nodded wordlessly; then turned back to the rest of the team. "Does this mean were not going home?" A look of fear had come instantly over everyone's faces, but SG-1 had got down to work, trying to figure out how to get the gate to work again. Daniel and Jack had been looking around while Sam and Teal'c were working on the DHD. Catherine and Ernest were reading the journal when suddenly Earnest spoke. "Well, since we're going to be here a while," he got up and walked over to Daniel. "I would like you to see something."
"What?" Daniel asked, puzzled.
"Come on, it's the safest room there is, you know, especially in a storm." Daniel had followed him with Jack and Catherine walking right behind them. That's when things started to get a little bit more complicated.
They walked into a dark, dusty old room with a covered pedestal in the middle. Ernest took the cover off, revealing what looked like a miniature DHD but without the glyphs. With a touch, writing appeared on the walls. It appeared to be four different languages from what Daniel could make out.
Jack looked around slightly intrigued. "What is this place?"
Ernest opened his journal and handed it to Daniel. He started to read. "I believe this room is some sort of meeting place, where four alien races denoted by the symbols and distinctive writing on the walls gathered, possibly to share knowledge, or discuss relations, like a United Nations of the Stars… Catherine agrees." Earnest trailed off.
Daniel then lifted his gaze from the journal.
"You're right. I would have." Catherine nodded, smiling.
Jack stared at the pedestal, screwing up his face in thought, "This looks familiar."
"Touch it." Ernest urged. Jack put his hand on the red ball. A bright yellow light then suddenly shot up to the ceiling and a bunch of different light balls floated around the room above their heads.
Everyone was more than a little awe-struck. The sight was just simply beautiful and truly amazing.
"Daniel, does this mean anything?" Jack asked.
"Well, if this was a Mecca of sorts, an alien 'United Nations', this has to mean something."
Jack pointed up at one of the glowing balls hanging overhead. "I know this."
"Of course, high school chemistry," Catherine pointed out.
Daniel took a closer look and finished their thoughts for them. "One proton, one electron, Hydrogen," and with that, they started enumerating each of the elements represented by the glowing balls in the ceiling and the wheels started turning madly in Daniel's head.
"These images are graphical representation of the basic elements: electrons revolving around a proton. The number of electrons indicate the element," he blurted, babbling as the words spilled from his mouth faster than his brain seemed to be able to compute.
As the rest of them continued on with the conversation, Daniel's head continued putting the piece's together as he strived to figure this latest riddle out. "The basic elements are what make up the universe; they are the basic building blocks..." His eyes grew impossibly larger as realization suddenly sunk in, his heart starting to beat faster and faster with the euphoria of this new discovery. "Of course! How do you ensure universal communication? You reduce the method of communication to the most basic element; common to everyone and everything that exists in the universe! Jack, this is a true universal language!"
Daniel turned his wide, blue eyes full of fascination, bewilderment and passion, a zest to know more, learn what hidden secrets and mysteries this new finding may hold.
Jack stared at him and taking a look into his eyes, Jack knew, they were in trouble.
"Turn the page." Ernest voice intruded into Daniel's ecstasy.
"Turn the page," He repeats in a louder voice laden with exasperation. Daniel then went up to the pedestal and put his hand on the red ball. Another yellow light shot up and the image changed, a new set of brightly colored spheres materialized over their heads.
Daniel's eyes grew even larger as he turned his attention back to Earnest. "Are you saying, that this, that this is like a book?"
Ernest nodded. "I tried to read it. I tried to understand it."
Daniel gaped in wonderment at the hovering balls in the ceiling. "A hundred and forty six elements, letters, or symbols, if they're letters, if they're pictographic, I mean this could take a life time."
Earnest smiled sadly. "More."
Daniel kicked himself. "Oh, sorry," Sometimes Daniel wished he could just keep his mouth shut.
"Daniel, before you head explodes, may I remind you that we have more important thing to deal with right now?" Jack interrupted looking truly exasperated.
Aghast, Daniel turned to Jack. "How can you say that, don't you know what this could mean?"
"Actually, no," Jack interjected in a more annoyed tone.
Now it was Daniel's turn to be exasperated. "This could be the key to understanding our existence, everyone, everything's existence."
"The collaboration of these four alien species," Earnest added with a tiny smile.
"None of which would mean squat, if we don't get out of here." Jack snapped, returning Daniel's hard glare head on. Now it's when things were going to get interesting, Jack guessed, the moment he'd seen Daniel's face light up with fascination and then the state of over-hyperness set in his young brilliant archaeologist. He'd known he would have to drag Daniel kicking and screaming out of this place and if it came down to it, that was exactly what he would do, Jack vowed to himself.
~o0o~
Some time after the realization that things weren't going as planned at the `gate, Sam, Jack, Teal'c and Catherine came back into the map room. Daniel was trying desperately to video as much as he could of this amazing store of knowledge.
"This is useless, it's not allowing for any relative perspective. I don't understand, how did you incorporate the three dimensional nature of the information?" Daniel screwed his features up as he tried to further decipher the information before him.
"Look down." Earnest offered.
"Of course! You measured the elements from a central point, degrees from zero around in a circle, and height above the floor." Daniel looked on in ore before noticing his colleagues walk into the room, a look of concern maring their features.
"What's up guys?"
"Step away from the pedestal Daniel." Jack stated flatly.
"What? Why?"
Sam stepped in, attempting to defend her Co's actions, "The dial home device just fell through the floor into the ocean."
Daniel blinked, looking confused, "So what are we going to do?"
"That thing may have a power source in it that we can use to get the gate working." Jack offered, pointing at the pedestal
As realization of what Jack had said sunk in, Daniel looked horrified, "Ah...No! You don't understand, this book could contain knowledge of the universe. I mean this is meaning of life stuff...I have to get more of it down on paper before we leave, there must be something more you can use. What about using energy from Teal'c's staff?"
"It's not powerful enough," Sam stated with regret.
"Please, there's not much time, we have to get inside that thing." Catherine interjected, trying to redirect their main concern to getting home.
"This whole place could join the DHD at the bottom of the ocean any minute, so, please." Jack's concerns and annoyance joined Catherine's worried tone.
"Great, shoot it!" Daniel exclaimed, walking away.
As Teal'c raised his Staff weapon and shot at the pedestal, nothing happened.
"Now what?" Daniel asked, looking slightly relieved.
Concerned that they may never get off this God forsaken rock, Jack made a suggestion sure to clue his teammates in on his on going 'dumb act'.
"I'm obviously no scientist but, uh...couldn't we use that Ben Franklin thing?"
On Jack's suggestion, Sam's brain started to turn…They could rig something and direct the power of the lightening to the Stargate. And that is exactly what they did, while Earnest and Daniel were left to look for a while longer at the map room.
~o0o~
When everything was rigged up and things were starting to look extremely dodgy as far as any of them making it back from this planet due to the building falling apart. Jack got Catherine to go and round up Daniel and Earnest. He suspected that she may have more luck in that direction than he would after his earlier attempts to prize the kid away from the pedestal thing.
~o0o~
Catherine returned back from trying to convince Daniel to come up, ready to leave and found Earnest.
"Daniel won't come up; he's obsessed with that thing. So much like you used to be," she stated sadly.
"Umm, 'The Torment of Tantalus'." Earnest nodded.
"What?"
"Tantalus was a king in Greek Mythology, banished to Hades, forced to stand in water that receded when he tried to drink."
"Everlasting, unending temptation," Catherine considered thoughtfully.
"He was reaching for something that was… um, out of reach."
"That sounds familiar. Some might say that, that's what makes a man great. If we all accepted what was with in our grasp." Catherine was trying to understand her fiancée's drive and Daniel's apparent obsession too.
"Sometimes what we have is of more value. It takes a great man to recognize that. I didn't. I was a fool." Earnest offered as if trying to convince his long lost love that his obsession was over.
"Ernest, you have suffered enough. No more wasting time in the past, right?" Earnest nodded, giving a small smile and lifted his diving helmet from the floor, offering it to Catherine.
"Ah, look, for the peak of the roof, it will attract the lightning."
"You get Daniel." She smiled as they headed in opposite directions. Earnest had confirmed his long lasting love for Catherine with those few words.
~o0o~
As Earnest entered the room, he can see Daniel standing before the pedestal, completely absorbed in the information before him.
"You have to come, now," the older man tried to encourage hastily.
Daniel looked up, "Not Yet. Come and get me when they've got the gate running."
"There's not enough time." The older Doctor pleaded.
"I have to finish this.".
"It's not worth it."
"This is."
"Nothing is!" the older man nearly shouted with exasperation. He'd been trapped here for a life time and knew nothing was worth that.
"Well our history as a people would be very different if everyone felt that way," Daniel retorted, trying to defend his decision.
Earnest collected himself, knowing he had to get Daniel to come with them. "No prize is worth attaining if you can never share it, there would be no point. Believe me, I know."
"What you did was courageous!"
"What I did was stupid." Earnest stated with surety.
At that point, Jack came storming in, glancing between the two men and states the obvious. "Come on boys we got to go, now!"
"I'm staying." Daniel says flatly.
Jack's brow furrowed in reply to his friends statement, "What?"
"Look I will be fine down here."
Jack looked questioningly at Earnest before waving him away. He was only one that could sort this out now.
"Go on, go on," Ernest ran on the stairs, he'd done all that he could.
Jack turned his attention back to his friend turned son. "Daniel, we can come back." He couldn't risk losing him, not like this.
"No, what if the castle crumbles around the gate, I mean, this, this could all be lost. If I stay, I could unbury the gate again."
"What if it falls into the ocean?"
Daniel looked on, not willing to bargain with his friend. "I'm willing to take that risk."
With that self destructive statement, Jack's patience for the situation had ended, he didn't have time to convince his young friend and so decided to take things into his own hands.
"I'm not! Let's go!" he shouted. Enough was enough after all. The colonel grabbed Daniel, pushing him towards the stairs.
"Jack!" Daniel pleaded, trying to pull away before they stopped at the foot of the stairs. "Please."
Jack unbelieving of the situation he found himself in, let go, fear visible in his eyes as Daniel returned to the pedestal.
But against all the odds, the younger man looked up at the elements, grabbed the journal, and then ran up the stairs after Jack.
~o0o~
Approaching the room with the gate in it, Daniel could see Sam still waiting and Jack telling her to go. Jack turned, spotting Daniel coming, but not before the ceiling has started to fall in, nearly crushing them with debris. Terrified, Jack grabbed Daniel and they finally made it back through the Stargate.
~o0o~
The ride home had been a silent affair and when they finally got back, Daniel seemed to sense something, for he quickly excused himself and made for the stairs. Jack wouldn't let him get away that easily. Not this time. "Where do you think you're going, Daniel?"
Daniel stopped dead in his tracks. "Umm… to bed?"
"Not, yet." Jack pointed at the couch next to him. "Sit. We need to talk."
Daniel opened his mouth to argue, but one look at Jack's face convinced him otherwise. Reluctantly he moved away from the landing and did as told, head slightly bowed, obviously suspecting this was a chat he wouldn't particularly enjoy.
The two of them sat in uncomfortable silence for a moment, Daniel squirming under the Colonel's intense gaze before Jack finally broke the silence. "Do you realize we could've all died today?"
Daniel squirmed some more, "I didn't ask you to stay, Jack." Daniel winced as soon as the words left his mouth, knowing that hadn't been the wise thing to say. He risked a fleeting glance Jack's way and sure enough, those hadn't exactly been the right words. If looks could kill, then he'd be off rotting somewhere at the moment and the deceivingly calm voice that followed soon afterwards did nothing to appease his nerves. That's it. He'd done it. He'd managed to piss Jack even more than he already was. Well done Jackson.
"Do you really think we - that I would've left you in a crumbling building with no way of ever coming back home, maybe to die alone on that Godforsaken rock for whatever crap you could learn from that dusty old pedestal thing?" Jack's voice rose incrementally with each word until he was practically shouting.
Daniel didn't even get to so much open his mouth to reply before Jack was bellowing into his face, "Well I wouldn't! None of us would! Because no one gets left behind, Daniel and you know that! We are a team, which means we stick together."
"I—I just. I thought…"
"No, you didn't think. That's the problem! You just decided you'd do what you wanted completely disregarding orders. You put what you could learn before your own life as you always do and it has to stop, Daniel!" Jack was mere inches from his face now. "Not only did you put your life in danger, but the rest of us as well with your little stunt today!"
Daniel's chin dropped to his chest at the truth behind Jack's words. "I'm sorry. I didn't want to endanger anyone."
Jack stared holes into Daniel. "Anyone other than you, you mean."
Daniel shrugged, "I was willing to take the risk, Jack. It was important." Daniel was adamant, getting all worked up and hyper again.
Jack glared at him icily, "More important than your life?"
"Maybe," Daniel nodded his head stubbornly. "That book could've contained the knowledge of the universe. It could've held the answers we've been looking for, maybe a key to how to finally defeat the Goa'uld, Jack. Don't you understand? That pedestal was far more valuable than my life."
"There's where you're wrong, Daniel." Jack spoke in a barely audible whisper. "I really don't give squat for what you could've possibly learned from that thing, Daniel. You are by far more valuable to the SGC, to me, than whatever knowledge you could've gained from that thing. We need you alive, not some dusty old alien book that may or may not help us uncover the riddles of the universe. You get that?"
Daniel stared, wide-eyed and dumbfounded at Jack, barely trusting his voice to speak, he merely nodded his head in the end.
"I think I've told you already, I won't have you risking your life and disregarding orders whenever you want, especially off world when all our lives are at stake and disobeying an order can very well mean our deaths." Jack levelled a hard glare on his wayward archaeologist. "You know the rules, Daniel."
Daniel immediately averted his gaze, "I know." Daniel said meekly.
"Go to your room now, Daniel." Daniel got swiftly to his feet, wanting nothing more than to escape the deadly glare and put some distance between himself and obviously irate Colonel at the moment, but he didn't get far before the words he most dreaded made him wince slightly. "I'll be up there shortly to finish our discussion."
Daniel swallowed hard at the implication behind Jack's softly spoken words, halting on the landing briefly and subconsciously covering his butt, before quickly resuming his way up the steps.
And that's how he'd ended up where he was now, laying on the bed considering his complete stupidity, all be it for the good of human kind, but he knew damn well that argument wouldn't wash with Jack. It never had so why would it start now?
The soft creaking of the door handle proceeded Jack's dreaded entrance and suddenly Daniel was filled with regret and forboding….life sucked sometimes…
~Fin~