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The Way Things Work…
by Bethany
“So,” Jacob Carter asked, as he sat next to his daughter around the SGC Briefing Room table, “how did Doctor Gardiner’s operation go?”
“Well,” Doctor Frasier replied. “The way the nano technology works is that the pellets house the nano-technology, and the nanites are borne forth from it… Disperse, literally, and leave behind the immunity…” She paused. “Since the pellets have now been removed, Doctor Gardiner’s natural immune system, has, as we suspected it was, proven itself ready to take over…”
“Good…” Selmak stated. “And the nanites which were created to repair the cell damage to her brain, from the hasty exit of Osiris, these have also done their job?”
“Doctor Gardiner is recovering nicely… We were all just very lucky that the damage Osiris inflicted on her mind was not so irreversibly ingrained… If it had been much worse, the nano-technology would have been useless… Unfortunately, it has not yet earned the title of Miracle Cure.” Frasier spoke professionally, but with a tinge of regret colouring her words. “In Teal’c’s case, and in the case of other Jaffa, they still will have no immune system, without either a Goa’uld Larva, or the Immunity Pellets… The nanite technology within Teal’c has been designed and programmed for a much more long term plan…”
“And this is continuing as it should?” Selmak asked.
“Currently…” She replied.
“In Bret’ac as well?” Jacob furthered.
“He is well…” Teal’c told him.
“Hey, you…” Daniel saw her open her eyes.
She just about found the energy to smile sleepily at him.
“It all went well, Sarah… You’ve just got to manage a few more days in this place first,” He said, looking around the Infirmary, “then, you can decide what you want to do with the rest of your life…” He held her hand. “I know it’s all been a bit claustrophobic for you just lately.”
“Mmm…” She mumbled, as a sign of agreement. “But not as claustrophobic as spending another second trapped with that… that…” She couldn’t think of the word.
“Jack calls them snakes..!” Daniel said, helpfully.
“My life just lately hasn’t been so bad…” She tried reaching up the hand closest to where he stood, at her bedside. She wanted to touch his face, tell him, somehow, how much he meant to her. She couldn’t quite reach up to him, but was glad when he simply took her hand, and kissed it warmly, gratefully. She smiled again at him.
“See ya soon, Dad…” Sam Carter kissed her father goodbye.
“Hopefully!” He said, with a smile. “Send my well wishes to Doctor Gardiner…” He turned to Daniel, and requested.
“I will…” Daniel said, smiling wearily.
“And remember, Jack began “no more fishin’ for Goa’ulds..! Next time you guys think that’s a good idea, you have my permission to strike me off the invite list!!!”
“I’ll remember that, Jack..!” Jacob replied, his eyes sparkling.
“Have a safe journey, Jacob!” George Hammond shook his old friend’s hand gladly.
“Hope to see you next time, General Carter, sir…” Jonas stated, genuinely.
“Farewell…” Teal’c nodded.
Jacob Carter smiled. Then, walked up the ramp, and, as usual, turned at the top of it to wave to them all, before heading through…
“How is she?” Daniel asked Doctor Frasier, as he looked to Sarah’s bed across the Infirmary.
“Still sleeping…” Janet replied warmly.
“That’s fine, isn’t it?” Daniel asked. “That’s what she should be doing???”
Janet Frasier took her friend’s hands in her own. “Daniel, she’s doing well…” She assured him kindly.
Daniel looked down at his hands held in Janet’s. He grinned, sleepy himself. “Thank you…” He smiled, squeezing her hands. “I think I’ll go see what the others are up to!” He said, trying to be light-hearted.
“They’ve missed you..!” Janet Frasier smiled, letting his hands go, and watching him walk away,
“Heeeyyy!!!” Jack exaggerated. “Danny boy!” He grinned from ear to ear. “Have a muffin!” He held out the plate of them that stood on the coffee table in the rec-room where he and the other members of SG1 sat comfortably. “They’re chocolate chip!”
Daniel looked at the muffins. He was hungry, but he didn’t want to test his stomach too much. He took one of the muffins, and broke it in half cautiously. He sat down, and slowly began to eat it. “What’s on TV tonight?”
“Firehouse…” Sam replied. “And there’s this guy in it, he looks just like Colonel O’Neill..!”
“So that’s why you never miss an episode!” Jack teased her.
She reached for one of her magazines, and whacked him on the arm with it, hard.
“Or there’s McGuyver on the other channel…” Jonas added.
“And a film on about Vampyrs…” Teal’c paused.
They all loved the way he said that word, and could never quite mimic it…
“But we will let you choose tonight…” He told Daniel.
Daniel reached for the remote control. “We should ask the General to get us the National Geographic channel…” Daniel mused. “There was a really cool live documentary from Giza, with Doctor Zahi Hawass, the other week..!”
“That’s a harder name to pronounce than He-ru-Ur…” Jack thought aloud.
“He’s a great man!” Daniel enthused., then as an after thought, he confirmed “Hawass…”
Jonas sat on the edge of his seat, eagerly awaiting the story.
“I told you, Jack… I spoke to him a couple of months back…” Daniel furthered.
“Ya got one of those Orthodox Egyptologists to speak with ya?” Jack asked. “I thought you were the Archaeological World’s number one Outlaw???”
“Uhu…” Daniel replied, finishing a mouthful of muffin. “He doesn’t realise who I am…” Daniel admitted, a little sadly.
“Never mind, Danny boy..!” Jack patted him on the arm. “You’re the most important thing in all our worlds!” Jack said, sarcastically.
Daniel laughed out loud. “Yeah, right!!!”
“Ya not all that bad..!” Jack grinned.
“Well, thank you, Colonel O’Neill..!” Daniel replied, in his own cheeky style.
Jack clapped him on the back, and saluted at him the way he sometimes did, playing about… “You get some sleep tonight, kid, ok?”
“Maybe…” Daniel smiled.
Sam hugged him “That’s an order!” She told him, also messing around, but still quite commanding.
“Sleep well, Daniel Jackson…” Teal’c stated sagely.
Jonas stepped forward “If you can’t sleep, you should go and ask General Hammond about his special warm milk recipe!”
Everyone looked at Jonas.
“You ask him..!” He pointed a finger at Daniel, issuing an order of his own.
“Good job you’re not on duty tomorrow, eh, Danny boy?” Jack beamed.
“Sounds like it..!” Daniel replied.
Each member of the team made a move towards their beds, it being too late to travel home, if there was such a place to go to.
Daniel was the only one left standing in the middle of the corridor outside the rec-room. He looked around, lost… Then, he retraced his well trodden path to the Infirmary. It seemed to take forever to get there, as if time had been so inconsiderate as to slow down. Daniel felt like an observer, almost like he had Ascended again… He turned a corner, and bumped into Sha’re…
“Hello, my Daniel…” She said sweetly.
He held her hands joyously. “What are you doing here?”
“I am meeting with you, as I promised…” She replied kindly. “You need to talk with me?”
Daniel’s mind was racing, and not getting anywhere fast. He felt drowsy, in a way that he welcomed… “I don’t know…” He replied honestly.
“You do…” She reiterated, patiently and with great affection. She brushed her ethereal hand over the sweet, soft skin of his cheekbone.
He caught her hand, and kissed its heal. “I still love you…” He simply admitted.
“I am aware, my Daniel…” She assured him.
He swallowed the tears threatening to cry.
“My sweet Daniel!” She said, joyously. “Our bond of love will always exist…” She paused. “Always…” She stood closer to him. “You can never break it.”
“I know.” He replied.
“Daniel,” She began. “Nothing you will ever do will diminish it…” She stepped forward, and kissed him.
He wished he had not closed his eyes, that glorious split second, for it could no longer be everlasting, even if it were eternally binding. She had gone. He stood before the spot where she had been, rooted, not wanting to leave. “What do I do?” He whispered, gouging tears from his eyes with a stubborn heal of his hand.
“Doctor Jackson?” General Hammond saw his young charge standing in the hallway alone.
Daniel turned. His face as pale and tired as George Hammond had ever seen it…
“What is it, son?” He asked, concerned, placing a hand on Daniel’s shoulder.
“In all I’ve done this past year, “ Daniel began. “In all I’ve seen, and been witness to… I even went back to see Nick, y’know…” He stated.
George Hammond nodded. “Your grandfather…”
“I know what I have to do, General… I know what is being asked of me…” Daniel confided.
“By whom?” Hammond asked, continuing his concern.
“By all the pieces of this puzzle I still don’t understand…” Daniel admitted.
“You mean life?” George hazarded a guess.
“Or whatever determines it…” Daniel mused.
“But it refuses to get any easier or clearer, doesn’t it?” George chuckled wisely.
“You’re not wrong there..!” Daniel tried to smile. “So many times I’ve thought I might just be a little bit closer to the answer, and y’know what I think???” Daniel asked good-naturedly.
“What?” Hammond was kindly patient, and interested.
“Every time it detects you getting that little bit closer, it shifts…” Daniel laughed quietly.
“And all we must do is live our lives…” The General commented.
“How do you do that, sir?” Daniel enquired. “I mean… How do you know what it is that life wants you to do with it, or that you want to do with life???”
“God knows…” George replied thoughtfully.
“I wish He’d just tell me then!!!” Daniel was frustrated, but he hadn’t lost his humour.
“Don’t we all..!” Hammond laughed. Then, as if he knew what this conversation had been about all along, George Hammond said “Look where your life has taken you, Daniel… Is your home here?”
“It’s my heart I’m trying to retrieve…” Daniel admitted.
“You know what they say…” George Hammond began. “That when you’re looking for that all important something, the next day, you’ll find it… Usually on that top shelf that’s always been there…”
“Is that what you’ve found, General?” Daniel asked.
“What I’ve learned, son…” He paused. “Is to do my best not to label things and put them in any place specific… Quite an achievement for a military man… That way, you never know exactly what it is that you’re looking for, and where to find it, but your heart is always open without your mind being too aware of it…”
“Thank you, General…” Daniel said gratefully.
“That’s what I’m here for, Doctor Jackson…” Hammond replied warmly.
Daniel walked towards the Infirmary. He stood at its Entrance, but did not walk through it. His form, leaning against the door frame, was half lit by the corridor leading to it, and the artificial lighting by which Doctor Frasier was still working…
Janet noticed him, and smiled, watching him looking over at Sarah as she slept.
He smiled at Doctor Frasier, sensing that she knew he would return, and would return still. He saw her watching him patiently and benignly. He smiled at her again, turned, and walked away…
In the morning, Daniel went to see Sarah. She was awake, and sitting up in her Infirmary bed.
He kissed her forehead silently.
“Morning, kind sir..!” She giggled at the gesture.
He smiled at her. “How are you this morning?”
“Ready to begin the rest of my life..!” She smiled lightly, but was quite serious.
He sat down in the chair that Doctor Frasier, knowing he would turn up early that day, had put next to his favourite patient’s bedside for him. “You given that any thought?” He asked, casually and gently.
“I don’t want to be on my own in this world, if that’s what you’re asking..?” She smiled.
“To the point, as ever..!” He answered affectionately.
“I’ll be staying here, if the General will let me…” She stated.
“The General should be a push over!” Daniel grinned. “Me, on the other hand..?!”
“I know my way around you!!!” She replied, laughing playfully.
“Point conceded!” Daniel grinned happily.
THE END…