Coming Home

Daniel Jackson sat holding a beer he didn't want, in the living room of a man he wasn't sure he liked all that much, on a planet a billion miles away from where he wanted to be.

With Stargate Command filled with refugees after the disastrous attempt to rescue Sha're and Skaara from the alien, Apophis, Daniel had found himself regarded as a low priority case and was largely ignored as SGC dealt with the sudden influx of aliens. Jack O'Neill had taken pity on him and brought him here, an impulse the man must surely be regretting. As Daniel spoke of his wife, knowing it was expected of him, he realized he wasn't ready for this, wasn't ready to bare his soul. To lose Sha're to the alien race, the Goa'uld, was bad enough; knowing her body was being used as a host while her mind was -

Did she know what was happening to her? Was she unaware - oh, please let her be unaware.

It was too much, too soon, and he didn't want to prod at the wound any longer; he needed to escape. He couldn't sit here and reminisce about a happier time as though she was already a past memory, already dead.

Something of the host must remain. Yet perhaps it might be better if -

He couldn't do this.

His beautiful Sha're had overcome years of societal dictates, of being dutiful, of always being respectful to men. She had gone from shy and biddable to the point where she felt free and secure enough in their love to laugh when her husband, the so-hailed hero of Abydos, had tried to grind flour. They had both ended up covered in flour that day and no bread had been baked. Now she was gone because of him and his damned curiosity. He should have left the barrier up. He should have buried the stargate permanently.

He should have -

Sha're had stepped in front of Apophis to protect the Goa'uld from her own husband.

Daniel latched onto the first excuse he could think of, to escape, to hide away his grief.

"This beer is going straight to my head. I must have gate lag or something. What time is it anyway?" Let me go lick my wounds, Jack.

"Daniel, for cryin' out loud you've had one beer. You're a cheaper date than my wife was."

No easy escape then but a change of topic, away from Sha're, away from his pain. He asked the other man when he would meet his wife, not really caring, not wanting to meet someone else's wife when his own -

"Oh, probably never."

It took a second or two for the words to penetrate through the fog of his misery. For a moment Daniel thought he was being snubbed.

Then O’Neill continued: "When I got back from Abydos she was ... already left. I guess she could forgive me for what happened to our kid. She just couldn't forget."

There was pain in O'Neill's eyes and Daniel was caught by it, drawn to it, finding such a thing in this man fascinating, even while he berated himself for finding something interesting about another's suffering.

Oh, Jack. Cynical, abrupt, abrasive and still in mourning; not only for a dead son but also a wife he had lost. Incredible, but it appeared that he and Jack had something in common after all - other than a complete inability to fathom each other.

Sensing the other man needed to talk and finding it much easier than dealing with his own raw emotions, Daniel chose his words carefully before asking, "And what about you?" How do you cope, Jack? How do you carry on when in your heart you know you're to blame?

"I'm the opposite. I can never forgive myself. But sometimes I can forget. Sometimes."

Daniel glanced down at his hands, giving the other man a chance to slip his usual mask into place if he so desired. When O'Neill remained silent, Daniel looked up to find the colonel watching him. Ashamed for wanting to ease his own pain by immersing himself in another's, it suddenly occurred to him that O'Neill had allowed him to do so. The colonel really had changed a lot in a year. For a start he was a lot more human, for want of a better word. Curious about this new Jack O'Neill, Daniel found himself asking, "How exactly did your son die?"

O'Neill blinked at that - then there was a fire in his eyes so scorching that Daniel jerked back in his seat, instinctively reacting to the threat, eyes wide, the breath locked in his throat.

"What is it with you scientist types? Hearing it once isn't enough, you gotta go picking over the damn bones, hear all the details -"

Realizing O'Neill's misapprehension, Daniel broke in gently, "Jack, you never told me."

O'Neill stared at the scientist, clearly taken aback.

"I know you had a son. I know he died and that you blame yourself." Daniel dangled the beer bottle between his knees, swirling the dregs around as he searched for the right words. "If you'd rather not talk about it, that's okay."

He could feel O'Neill staring at him but chose to keep his eyes lowered. It was several long seconds later before he heard O'Neill's voice, rougher than usual as if it had been scraped raw and every word was causing him pain. Looking up, Daniel found O'Neill's gaze so filled with pain he almost couldn't meet it.

"Charlie shot himself accidentally. With my gun. My gun, Daniel. The damn thing was locked away, I swear it." His eyes were pleading as though Daniel could give him absolution. "The ammo was kept separate, secured some place else - " His head dropped and he continued in a softer voice, "It made no difference. He found it. I guess he was curious. After all, his old man was always using the damn things, right? Keeping the world safe ... Christ. I couldn't even keep my own kid safe. He looked up to me. He thought I was a hero!"

Daniel's voice was infinitely gentle as he broke in, "You are. You saved the people on Abydos and there are a lot of people who'd have died on Chulak if it wasn't for you. You're a soldier, Jack, and you're good at your job."

O'Neill's smile was bitter, more of a grimace. "Yeah. Peachy. A good soldier. Even if I did make a lousy father."

Daniel got to his feet and went over to O'Neill, settling into the corner of the couch. His head propped on one hand, his gaze was measuring, examining the colonel from the ruffled hair to the bare feet that were propped on the coffee table, until O'Neill began to twitch self-consciously. "I've known a lot of people who shouldn't be left in charge of fish, let alone children. I had a lot of people calling themselves my foster parents whose only interest in me was the money they received each month. Then there were the good ones. The great ones. Trust me, Jack. You'd make a great dad."

O'Neill ducked his head, staring down at the empty bottle he held in his lap. For a while he was silent, as though digesting Daniel's words. When he did look across at the other man there was a suspicious brightness in his eyes though his expression was wry. "I'm not going to adopt you Daniel, so you can quit with the puppy dog eyes."

Daniel gave a snort of amusement, a smile lighting up his face. For a moment there were no shadows in his eyes. "I'm a lot too old and you're a little young for that, Jack."

"I'm forty years old and I feel about a hundred." O'Neill gazed at Daniel, eyes slightly narrowed, then asked teasingly, "You are old enough to be drinking alcohol, right?"

Daniel, who had been finishing off his beer, choked and snorted inelegantly. "I'm thirty-two. Definitely old enough."

"No shit. Thirty-two, huh? You look like a damn sophomore."

"Please tell me you're exaggerating."

"A little," O'Neill admitted with a grin, looking pleased with himself.

"Put it down to clean living and a pure heart," Daniel declared with a rueful smile.

"Yeah, right. I saw that kiss Sha're planted on - " O'Neill broke off, lips parted, eyes flashing to the man at his side.

The shadows were back in Daniel's eyes and his smile had faded though it lingered a little at some memory. "She only had to look at me and I'd feel weak at the knees," he said softly, his voice barely a whisper of sound. Leaning across to place the empty beer bottle on the table, Daniel got to his feet, his eyes partly obscured by the sweep of hair falling across his brow.

Time to escape now.

"I'm really tired, Jack. You said something about a spare room?"

O'Neill suddenly looked as weary as Daniel claimed to be. "Sure, Daniel. Follow me."

***

Alone in the spare bedroom, Daniel lay on the bed in borrowed sweatpants, making no attempt to sleep. It would have been a wasted effort, his thoughts too busy whirling around inside his head for him to rest. His body was stiff with tension and every muscle seemed to ache; he felt desperately tired yet his mind continued to race, and the bed was too soft. He considered sleeping on the floor but there was no telling how long it would be before he was back on Abydos so he might as well get used to bedsprings.

Other differences were more difficult to accept. There was no sound of other sleepers nearby, mere feet away on some occasions, separated from Sha're and Daniel by a single suspended blanket; no muffled sounds of lovemaking, no mournful cries of mastadges calling to each other in their pens. Nothing to indicate there was anything alive out there except for himself with his shallow breaths and wildly beating heart. The silence served only to remind him that he was absolutely alone.

A detached part of him noted his panic attack and sneered.

He gulped air, trying not to feel trapped in the small room. Not claustrophobia - he'd spent half his life crawling through enclosed spaces, searching through catacombs in search of hidden truths and history.

He couldn't breathe.

Forcing himself to move, he staggered over to the window, hauling it open and gulping in air. He tugged at the borrowed t-shirt that was clinging to his body, feeling constricted, until he had to haul it off him, feeling a little better as the light night breeze cooled his flushed face and sweat-damp body, making him shiver.

As soon as his heart had slowed to its regular beat and his breathing was under control he pushed away from the open window and sat back on the bed. The faint noise of traffic reached him but it wasn't enough. Not enough life. Bedsprings creaked as he got off the bed and moved to the door, jerking it open. The low hum of the refrigerator, the steady whir of the air conditioning reached his ears. He leaned against the doorframe, eyes closed as he searched for another sound, something more vital. There. There it was: the sound of Jack O'Neill sleeping close by. If Daniel listened closely he could hear the regular breaths and didn't feel quite so alone.

Calmer now, Daniel went back to bed, wrapping the covers around him tightly so that the heat generated could almost be that of a body curled next to him. Despite the too-soft bed and painful memories, Daniel drifted off to sleep.

***

His head jerking up as he awoke for the third time from a light doze, O'Neill heard the sound of slow, deep breathing coming from the guest room next door and knew Daniel had finally fallen asleep. Relaxing now that his unexpected guest seemed settled for the night, he continued to sit on the floor by his open bedroom door, his head propped against the doorframe, arms draped over bent knees, still listening. After a while he became aware of how hard the floor was. Sighing, he got to his feet, his muscles sluggish and slow to respond. He left the door wide open and hauled himself into bed. His eyes closed, but sleep proved elusive, his mind too busily engaged to be switched off, his senses too attuned to the man sleeping in the next room.

Admitting defeat, he put his hands behind his head and stared up at the ceiling, though there was little to be seen in the darkness. There was no need for light, his memories bright and all too vivid. Again, he saw Skaara raise his hand and blast him, Skaara who wasn't Skaara, the boy who, along with a certain archaeologist who lay sleeping not twenty feet away, had reanimated the walking corpse that had been Jack O'Neill after his son had died. And what of Sha're who had been through so much, who had died once and been brought back to life only to end up a host for some parasite? Daniel had seemed so happy with her - the hero had captured the beautiful damsel's heart and helped slay a false god. Wasn't there some unwritten law that said they were supposed to have a happy ending?

Damn it. He'd made a promise to himself and to Daniel that they would get Skaara and Sha're back. But he couldn't help wondering what would be left of them if they were ever freed from their parasites. And what effect would it have on the gentle man who had saved Jack's life and sanity, had saved a planet, only to lose the thing he loved above all else?

***

It was around 0200 that the nightmares started.

Jack sat upright with a start, sweat beading down his face and throat, soaking the bedclothes until they were a tangle mess around his legs and torso. Bare chest heaving as he drew in panting breaths, he blinked both to banish the images of Skaara with a snake drilling it's way into his head and to adjust to the dim light. He rapidly assessed the situation to determine what exactly had woken him up. The house was silent. Rubbing at the patch of wet hair plastered against his chest, he was conscious of his heart pounding against his ribs. Just a nightmare come to break his sleep. Not even as bad as the reality, really. He lay back, reassured that there was no danger in the vicinity and nothing outside of the horrifying images in his mind had awakened him; then he heard sounds from the bedroom occupied by Daniel: harsh breaths intermixed with broken pleas.

Jack tugged at the bedclothes wrapped around him, growling under his breath as they didn't untangle quick enough for his liking. A sharp cry from the next room made his movements more rapid, impatience and concern almost causing him to topple out of the bed in his haste. Dropping the sweat-soaked mass onto the floor as the bedclothes finally released him, he headed for the spare room, already fully alert.

The cool almost cold air hit him as soon as he entered the room. At some point Daniel had opened the window. He had also kicked off the bedclothes and as a consequence he was shivering, though still trapped in what was undoubtedly a nightmare about Sha're and Skaara. Jack walked over to the bed, almost tripping over a pillow, and snapped on the lamp on the nightstand. The soft lamplight helped banish the lingering remnants of Jack's nightmare and he pushed aside concerns for Skaara to deal with the man curled up on the large bed with his white-knuckled fists gripping the one remaining pillow. The lean body was drenched with sweat, despite the cool air that was causing the fine tremors shaking Daniel's body, borrowed sweatpants clinging damply to buttocks and the long legs that were drawn up toward Daniel's chest. Jack was suddenly conscious of how sweat-slick his own body felt. If Daniel's dreams were anything like his of...what the hell was he thinking? Sha're and Skaara had been Daniel's family for over a year. He loved them. Daniel needed to wake up *now*. Jack lightly gripped the nearest shoulder and shook gently.

"N'ugh…Sha're…oh, god..." The words rode on a groan of despair.

Voice gentle, Jack called, "Daniel. Come on, Daniel. Wake up."

"Please. No." Daniel began sobbing noisily, his shivering growing more violent. He pulled himself in so tightly, gripping the pillow so convulsively that it made Jack's muscles ache just looking at him. Face buried in the arms wrapped around his knees, his voice was muffled until he suddenly screamed out, "No! Sha're!"

"Daniel!" Jack pulled back sharply as Daniel unfurled his body and tried to leap to his feet, clearly still trapped in his nightmare. Daniel stumbled upright on to the bed, head missing the lampshade by inches, swaying unsteadily. Jack threw an arm around Daniel's hips and pulled him down towards him, other arm sweeping up to capture one hand as it lashed out, wincing as Daniel's free hand smacked into Jack's cheek. Regretting the necessity, he yanked Daniel's legs until the younger man dropped to his knees on the bed and collapsed against Jack.

Daniel lay, dazed, panting against his captor, cold skin leeching heat from Jack's warmer body. Daniel pulled back his head and gazed muzzily into the concerned face of Jack.

"Wha-?"

Daniel looked so lost it made Jack's heart ache to look at him. "Hey." Jack's voice was at its softest, matching the warm concern in his eyes. "Back with me now?"

"I saw…" Daniel looked bewildered and hurt, still not quite fully awake.

"I know. You opened the window."

"I had to breathe. It was too quiet. Don't close it!"

"OK, we'll keep the window open but let's get those covers back over you, OK? You're frozen. Lie back."

Daniel was still befuddled enough to respond automatically to Jack's gentle directives, letting himself be eased back onto the bed. As Jack moved away, Daniel blurted out, "Where are you going?"

Jack paused, gazing down at the young man who, damn it, was looking ridiculously young and vulnerable. He knew no way in hell was Daniel the teenage kid he looked right now with his tousled bangs clinging damply to a face far too smooth and boyish for a grown man. He should go back to his room. If Daniel was serious about wanting in on SG-1 then he had to learn to deal with things like this. He couldn't coddle the kid - man - and things were going to be tough out there. There were freakin' aliens putting snakes in people's heads. Daniel would have to toughen up or break.

"Jack?"

"I'm not going anywhere," Jack heard himself say then, damn, if his hand didn't just lift up the bedcovers all by itself and his body just slide in next to Daniel. "I had a nightmare, too," Jack confessed and was strangely comforted when Daniel slid a little closer.

"Skaara?"

Jack nodded. Daniel was gazing at him with sympathy and understanding and the look in those eyes was just a little too much to cope with. Jack reached out and snapped off the lamp.

The darkness was welcoming. A head crept closer across a crumpled pillow and the feel of it as it tentatively rested against his shoulder was comforting.

Now maybe they could both get some sleep.

***

It had been, for the most part, a silent journey to the Stargate Command base that morning. Apart from saying good morning, yes to coffee, and thank you for the loan of some clothing, Daniel had said little. Occupied with his own thoughts, Jack was glad of the silence. Once he had Daniel settled in for a talk with General Hammond, he went to get himself sorted, try and settle into his office and do the meet and greet. After he finally got his office how he liked it and got to know his assistant - who he was relieved to see was middle-aged, male and married and not some sweet young thing likely to get a crush on her boss - he went to see how Teal'c was doing.

He found the Jaffa in the infirmary, complete with armed escort of two. Teal'c had evidently just completed what was undoubtedly the first of many examinations and was awaiting the return of the physician. As the man - alien - pulled on a borrowed flight suit, Jack couldn't help sliding a look at the cross marring the dark skinned warrior's flat belly.

Teal'c was aware of that curious regard. "You wish to ask a question, O'Neill?"

"Does it hurt?" Jack blurted out before he could stop himself. "It's not natural, right?"

"It is not if you mean did I carry my womb at birth. I did not. It was created when I was considered old enough to bear a prim'tah."

"And a prim'tah is.?"

"A goa'uld symbiote. A Jaffa must carry the creature within him until it is fully mature. When it is ready to take a host, it is removed and another symbiote implanted."

"The snake. Gotcha. And you'll die without it."

Teal'c inclined his head.

"Look, I'm sorry about all these tests and stuff."

"You are not responsible. They are necessary if I am to become a part of your world's defence?"

"Yeah, that's about it."

"Then I will cooperate with your scientists. I wish to speak to your Daniel Jackson."

"Daniel. Yeah. Can it wait?"

"I have something I must tell him. I must also inform you of something I have done, something that may change your perception of me."

"Is this about Skaara?"

"The boy who was chosen. The one you care for. He had spirit."

"That's Skaara. I know you chose him on Abydos. He told me. He also told me you stopped him attacking the guards when they took Sha're away. I figured you couldn't be all bad. I was right."

"I also chose Sha're."

Jack slowly closed his eyes, breath leaving him in an abrupt sigh. "You know, I wish you hadn't said that."

"You knew."

"I just had a bad feeling." He scrunched his eyes shut then swept his hand across them, as though he could sweep away the unbidden images of Skaara and Sha're as Goa'ulds. "You think we could keep it between ourselves for now?"

"Daniel Jackson should know that I selected his wife. I am responsible for her fate."

"No, you're not." Jack said with sudden force. "Apophis is responsible."

"I chose her for her beauty. I knew she would please Apophis and his queen, Amaunet. If Daniel Jackson and I are to stand side by side in battle then he should know. It is for him to decide my fate."

"Daniel." Jack paused, carefully choosing his words. "Daniel seems like a nice guy. You know, the 'adopts abandoned kittens, turn the other cheek' type. Or maybe you don’t know. Daniel’s not a soldier. He studies the past and can speak a bunch of languages, he’s not trained to fight. He saved my life on Abydos, died doing that in fact, and I still don't know enough about him to say how he's going to react with this one. He wants to be in on my team, hell I want him on it, he's a useful guy to have around and at least I can keep him out of trouble, and I want you there too. But if you lay this on him... Well, I really wish you wouldn't do this, Teal'c. Not right now."

"I must."

At that moment the physician who had examined Teal'c returned. Jack turned to address her, taking in the slight form with a skeptical look. "Doctor Fraiser, right?"

The doctor paused what she was doing and looked up, meeting the colonel look for look. Apparently she sensed Jack wasn't overly impressed: her chin tilted up a fraction and a steely glint entered her eyes.

OK, so maybe she would do fine.

"Doctor Jackson was supposed to come down for an examination. Is he…?"

"He's next door with Doctor Warner and Doctor Fischer."

***

"We won't keep you much longer."

Wrapped up though he was in his misery, Daniel heard the insincerity in the medic's voice but he pushed it aside as an irrelevance. Sha're was gone. What did it matter if the man drawing his blood and asking him questions had a lousy bedside manner? He was feeling so numb now he couldn't even remember the guy's name.

When he'd first arrived back on Earth, minutes after discovering Sha're had been abducted, he'd been caught between the heat of his fierce determination to get her back and the cold knowledge that he had lost his wife and might never get her back. His first words to the man now in charge of the Stargate project had been a request to be on the team that went in pursuit of the alien threat.

General Hammond had turned him down flat. Already vulnerable, the general's manner had left him feeling sick and shaken. Jackson had taken a step closer to the cold hard truth, away from hope. In some ways it was more comforting to wrap himself in his misery. Nothing else could touch him, nothing else mattered, and while he thought about Sha're at least wallowing in his pain gave him a role - the grief-stricken husband. He could do that much for her at least. He was powerless to do anything else. Hammond had let him join the team for that one mission but the last thing the military would want in a field unit was an archaeologist with his own agenda.

The comfort he'd gained from being at Jack's place had receded the moment they had arrived at the SGC and Jack had been called away to do 'colonel things'. Now he found himself sinking deeper into his misery. There were so many addresses to try, so many places she could be, and they weren't even going to let him go through the damn gate to begin with. The medic asked him a question. Allergies? Yes, of course he had allergies. Surely with all of these computers – NORAD was upstairs for god's sake! - surely they still had his medical file somewhere?

He was sick of questions, wanting only to be left alone with his grief. He had little idea of how long he had been questioned since this morning when he had arrived with Jack. He suspected it was several hours. His ... interrogators had clearly believed he knew more about the aliens than he was telling them. Damn it, he hadn't even seen them! Hadn't been there when they took his wife. If he had been then he would probably be dead – he wouldn't have let them take Sha're while he still had breath left in his body.

Disappointed by his lack of knowledge, an irony that might have amused him at another time, they had handed him over to medical personnel. And here he was.

Where he faced more questions.

He answered automatically, doing as he was told - raise your chin, look to the side, roll up your sleeve...

Cluck like a chicken.

Not only had he lost Sha're he had lost Abydos, a world he had come to think of as home. Sometimes he had missed Earth and it made him feel disloyal and ungrateful. After all, on Abydos he had found challenges that were his and his alone, archaeological finds, ancient writings that only he could decipher, no peers to sneer at his theories, accountable in his beliefs only to himself since he alone on Abydos held the key to unlocking their secrets. Gradually Abydos had become home.

Sha're gone. Abydos lost to him. The high regard of the people who lived there also lost. And then of course there was Skaara. Jack had looked as devastated as Daniel felt.

Daniel undressed as requested, shivering in the cool recycled air.

Skaara. Sha're's brother. A boy who was so nearly a man who had claimed a role in Jackson's life that was in some ways as important as that of Sha're. An only child, orphaned at an early age, Daniel had no real concept of a family until he arrived in Abydos. Skaara had become both an adept pupil and a younger brother, or at least Daniel's idea of what a younger brother would be.

They had to be alive. There had to be some part of them left that the parasite couldn't touch.

Daniel tried to focus on what the medics were asking him. Comprehension sent a tiny flare of anger through him, making some small impact on his

inner ice.

For god's sake of course he and Sha're hadn't used prophylactics during sexual intercourse! It wasn't like Abydos had a condom vending machine at every oasis and the local version, consisting as it did of mastadge bladder, was hardly conducive to comfortable sex. Sha're had wanted children. Daniel wanted whatever Sha're wanted, whatever would make her smile, would make her so happy it seemed like she was lit from within.

When their son was still-born, the whole tribe had wept with them. They had named him Asghaar, little one, and he had seemed so slight in his arms that he barely weighed more than the feather used to weigh his heart.

Daniel made no verbal reply to the repeated question, contenting himself with a meaning look, too tired for anything more.

Sha're. His remarkable wife, a woman who had tried so hard to shed the binds of her upbringing, conditioned as she was to believe women should be submissive and inferior to their men. A woman who had rejected then come to embrace the concept of equality with her husband. Perhaps in time she would have made a difference in the way her society treated its women - she had certainly made a difference in the life of a lonely, misfit Egyptologist. Each day he had caught glimpses of the woman she seemed destined to become, confident and strong, perhaps one day becoming a leader and role model to her people if only Kasuf could be persuaded to see things a little differently.

The physical examination suddenly became more intimate. Flinching away from latex-covered hands, Daniel fought the misery that was making his normally sharp mind sluggish.

It was when fingers where threatening to go where no man had gone before that the expressions of the medics registered, as did the questions he had been asked and the thoroughness of his examination.

Daniel Jackson had been living on another planet. His wife was indigenous to Abydos. Therefore, Daniel Jackson for the past year had been having sex with an alien.

The force of his sudden rush of anger almost blinded him. His relationship with Sha're was being reduced to an interesting sexual deviance.

The sudden heat of anger rapidly melted the ice from his veins. He opened his mouth to tell the physician exactly what he could do with his latex-covered fingers.

"Try it and you'll be shitting teeth for a week."

Daniel's head snapped to the left, mouth still open to speak words that hadn't had a chance to leave his lips.

"Colonel O'Neill, I must insist you leave immediately. I am trying to conduct a private examination."

"Any more private and you'd have to get a room. The examination is over." Jack stepped closer, eyes locked on the physician closest to Daniel.

As Jack stepped closer still, Daniel suddenly realized just how tall Jack was - and just how damn scary he could look when he chose to. At that moment it was very easy to believe that this man was trained to kill and had worked special ops. Even Daniel was feeling intimidated and he wasn't the focus of that leashed anger.

"Colonel."

"Tell it to the general." The voice softened a fraction as Jack flicked a glance at the still figure of Daniel sat, half naked on the bed. "Daniel, get dressed. We're leaving."

The physician began to splutter. "This is -"

"This is over. Which part of that sentence don't you get?" Jack ignored the doctor as he headed out of the room, no doubt ready to tell Hammond about the colonel's behavior. Jack scratched at his chin and watched Daniel fastening his pants then get to his feet. "Daniel. Shoes."

"Oh." Daniel obediently fetched his shoes, tying his laces under Jack's watchful eye.

"Come on. We're out of here."

"There were questions…?"

"They can wait and you can rest assured they’ll be asked by someone else with a lot more respect. I have a doctor in mind."

The relief that flooded through Daniel took him by surprise and he had to duck his head and blink rapidly, trying to control his reaction.

"I've got some of your books and stuff in the attic." Jack smiled then, a sudden smile that warmed his face, his eyes, and it was as if Daniel had been bathed in sunlight. It comforted him.

"Come on, I'm taking you home."

It didn't occur to Daniel to point out that home was several million light years away.