DISCLAIMER: All characters and property of Stargate SG-1 belong to MGM/UA, World Gekko Corp. and Double Secret Productions. This fan fiction was created solely for entertainment and no money was made from it. Also, no copyright or trademark infringement was intended. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author. Any other characters, the storyline and the actual story are the property of the author.
Teal'c watched his friends closely. They had gathered together in the control room to await the message that he and Daniel were certain would come this day. That had been nine hours ago. Teal'c had watched their mood go from anticipatory to concerned, and had begun to observe the shadows of defeat in the eyes of Daniel Jackson. Not long ago it would have taken much more than this to put those shadows there. Teal'c was sure that Major Carter and O'Neill had noticed this as well, and shared his grief at the changes that had come over the younger man.
Daniel Jackson was sitting apart from them, his eyes staring blankly through the observation window, lost in thoughts that they could only begin to guess at. Teal'c feared that if this message did not arrive, Daniel Jackson would slip further away from them, down the long path of self-doubt and self-recrimination that had so recently begun to plague him. Teal'c privately felt that this new aspect of their usually, and sometimes nearly fatally, optimistic friend was a direct result of his failure to rescue his wife.
For all his own assumed guilt over the events surrounding Sha'uri's death, Teal'c was certain that Daniel Jackson's perceptions were as much or more clouded by his own failure than the fact that Teal'c had killed her...
Sam tried to carry on as if this were a normal day, as if they were waiting for UAV or MALP results and not waiting to see if the fate of Earth itself would hang in the balance by day's end, but it was getting more difficult with each passing moment....
The colonel was ostensibly oblivious to all the tension in the room, but Sam knew better. The small hand movements and the not-so-subtle glances at Daniel told her that. Teal'c was also studying the young scientist with an intensity that gave Sam a very good clue as to where the Jaffa's thoughts were travelling. And Daniel...was worried. Sam could see the white knuckles as Daniel's hands clenched again and again as his head rested on his crossed arms. Daniel was right, they all knew it. It seemed like the only one who doubted it, or doubted himself, was Daniel.
Sam had a bitter flashback to the events surrounding Apophis' attempted attack on Earth; none of them had truly believed Daniel then when he'd tried to convince them that an attack was coming. In the end it had been Daniel's own conviction and persuasiveness that had gotten them to go through that gate. Sam wondered to herself why they hadn't learned their lesson then when it came to believing in Daniel. But it had taken Machello's machines to finally teach them that, and they had resolved as a group to never allow that sort of thing to happen again...and then came the thing about the child...the Harseisis. Sam was inclined to believe it; she'd recognized the word from Jolinar's memories as soon as he'd spoken it. How else could Daniel have known about the things the Harseisis might know? But the colonel...well, they still had a long way to go.
For all that might come as a result, Sam wished the message would come through...and soon.
Jack knew what Daniel was thinking. He knew the doubt, the frustration, the need...that drove Daniel on the best of days. And lately Daniel hadn't been having very many of his best days. Daniel was a thinker...pure and simple...and beyond that particular talent and all it encompassed, he was a very insecure young man. For all they'd been through together, for all the many ways that Daniel had repeatedly proven himself...that was Jack's bottom-line analysis of his best friend.
For now, Daniel was back in shutout mode...and Jack hated seeing the younger man torture himself that way. He believed Daniel, more importantly...he believed in Daniel. Sam, Teal'c, even Hammond believed Daniel. Why couldn't Daniel...? Even as he thought it, Jack knew the answer, and berated himself once again for being the cause of it. It had been such a little thing at the time, Daniel had finally told them about Sha'uri's message...Jack had wanted to believe it, tried to believe it, but his doubting nature had gotten the better of him and he'd let that disbelief show....
Jack just wanted to get to the part of this that would let them take action, waiting was a long way from being his strong suit. Whatever was going to happen...he wanted it to be now, if only to take that frown off Daniel's face....
As Jack watched, he saw Daniel's eyes close. Jack knew that, despite orders, Daniel hadn't gotten more than a few hours of troubled sleep in nearly a week. His friend was exhausted; mentally, physically and emotionally...and when this all came to a head, that was not the condition he wanted his team scientist to be in....
The incoming wormhole alert sounded then and Daniel's head snapped up, his eyes blinking blearily at Sergeant Harriman, the technician on duty at the central computer. Harriman looked over at Daniel directly. "Incoming wormhole...." The pause seemed to linger endlessly. "Unknown origin. Transmission coming through...."
As all the others gathered around Harriman, Jack was the only one to see the pained relief on Daniel's face and to hear the immense sigh he released before going to join the rest of them.