Only Misplaced - Part 1
ONLY MISPLACED
SG-1 Early Years
Mostly Daniel and Teal'c
Gen
Lots of Talking
"Are we lost?"
Teal'c paused, then stopped that ground-covering stride of his and glanced back, and Daniel almost wished he hadn't said anything. He'd told himself he wouldn't start asking questions, but he couldn't avoid that one. Now he had Teal'c staring at him, his expression empty but dark eyes wary, as if Daniel was the one to watch out for here.
"Why do you ask, Daniel Jackson?"
"It's just...haven't we seen that particular rock formation-the one that kind of looks like a...a...." He waved at the scenery because the analogy in his head wasn't scientific and was too much about what he thinking about. And-no, just no. He wasn't going to bring that up.
Teal'c's eyes narrowed a fraction. At last, he shifted his stare from Daniel to the mountains. He looked back and said, "Like a woman asleep on her side."
Daniel flashed a smile. It couldn't last, tinged as it was with everything he was trying to keep covered and keep handled, because if he didn't he'd fly apart from all of it. But the words, in a deep voice that resonated, startled the expression out of him; it was, after all, what he'd been trying to avoid saying. And this wasn't anything he expected from someone who defined himself with weaponry and armor and a gold tattoo dedicated to a god who shouldn't exist.
God, right now, he'd settle for getting over being so off-balance around the man.
Somehow they had to learn how to work together, and all they seemed to have in common was that they both weren't mentioning recent-and even more recent-disasters between them. They'd also been stuck into matching khaki uniforms and put onto the same team.
Oh, and now they were lost on P3575.
Teal'c, however, didn't look lost.
He pointed ahead, gestured the six feet of his staff weapon toward the wide, dirt trail that wound between tall trees with thick, twisted trunks of very old pines. Bristlecone maybe.
"We have not crossed our tracks."
Glancing past Teal'c's shoulders and pack, Daniel had to nod and agree. Then he looked behind them and his mouth dried-oh, god, here we go. He wet his lips and kept the words slow and hoped they didn't sound too much like controlled panic. "Well, that could be because we're not leaving any?"
He swapped another look with Teal'c, who had turned to glance back up the trail. Daniel got a lifted eyebrow for an answer, but that minimalist expression could mean just about anything, so Daniel thumbed on his radio. "Hey, Jack?"
"Yeah, Daniel?"
"Uh, got a little bit of a problem here."
"Oh?" The word came over the radio tinny, but still managed to hold a hefty chunk of irritation. Daniel leaned back to squint up at the sun and tried to ignore that part. He'd learned very quickly on Abydos just how little Jack liked mixing the word 'problem' into anything, so he rushed into the rest. "Uhm, yeah, I think we're lost."
"We are not."
At that flat denial, Daniel glanced at Teal'c again. He opened his mouth to argue the point, but Teal'c carried that really big stick. And he had an alien symbiote in a pouch where his belly should be, which left him able to have Daniel on the ground in about ten seconds. Remembering that, Daniel eyed that staff. He still had the bruises from what Jack had called training-and what Daniel had labeled in his head cross-cultural bonding experiment thirty-two. Since he was a tad shy about getting any more of those kinds of hands-on experiences right now...time for a new approach.
He flicked on the radio again. "Actually, Jack, Teal'c knows where he is, but I'm not sure we can get back to you."
Tilting his head, Teal'c gave a small nod, and Daniel was willing to take that as a concession to his compromise. He flashed another smile that wasn't real enough to linger and turned in a slow circle to try and align landmarks.
It all looked just too familiar and too similar. God, how many times had they been past this spot or one just like it? He'd been thinking about way too many other things-okay, he'd been beating himself to death for his mistakes lately-and hadn't noticed. Time to fix that at lest. Stepping forward, he reached out for the trunk of a tree to pick off some bark and leave a sign they'd passed this way.
His hand just kept going.
Mouth falling open and his hand stalled in mid-air with his fingers closing on nothing, he stepped back, then muttered a soft, "Uh oh."
He didn't realize he'd left his thumb on the radio call button until he let go and heard back one sharp word. "Daniel!"
The sound startled him, but it really was Jack requesting information more than it was Jack not liking the words 'uh oh' either. Daniel waved his hand through the tree again-and he wondered how he could put this so it didn't sound as bad as the pulse beating quick in his throat told him it was.
"Jack, you know that outside we stepped into? Well, it seems to be a three-dimensional projection." He leaned back and stared at the unchanging weak shade of blue that wasn't sky. "My bet is we actually haven't left the structure, but we've been wandering around what is essentially a...uhm, an inside made to look like, well, maybe like what this planet actually does look like."
There was a long pause, and Daniel waited, staring at a reality that was impressive since none of it was here. Yeah, Jack wasn't going to like this. Daniel wasn't sure he was too fond of it, either.
A swoosh of air had him turning, and he watched Teal'c swing his staff weapon through a couple of trees. The image of the trees shivered and settled. Amazing that this world was as solid as mist and they'd been in it for a couple of hours and hadn't realized.
"Does it say something about us that we didn't notice this-or something about this world?" he asked. Teal'c glanced at him, his mouth pulled low enough that Daniel couldn't stop the quick rush of adrenaline, couldn't keep his hands still and couldn't keep the rest of the words from tumbling. "There are belief systems that hold that the world we see is just our own self-delusion-it's our failure to interpret the truth of reality. It's Maya. Which kind of describes this...in a manner of...?"
Of something that Teal'c wasn't looking all that interested in. Daniel let the words fade. Teal'c kept staring, his mouth dragged even lower and the rest of his expression unreadable. And why would Teal'c-who didn't know anything about Earth's cultures-know any of this? Or care.
Daniel knew he was rambling. He had no idea what else to do. So far, he'd kept hold of the edges of everything, but he was fraying, pulled by not enough sleep, too much caffeine, and a biological clock that kept insisting thirty-six hour days were right, with just under a third of that spent dreaming. Except he couldn't bear more than a couple hours with his eyes shut because of what he kept seeing-he didn't have dreams anymore. Just nightmares. If he let go...
Ah, hell, this metaphor was too apt-the illusion of control, of some say in your fate, of being able to hang onto anything. Ironic to have it shoved in his face. Now all he could do was not give into the twitch in his hands to strike at these trees. If he set them shimmering, would it loosen the coil of something wound tight at the base of his spine? He doubted it. So he held himself stiff and still and kept back the words that wanted to escape-hateful words that weren't justified since he owed Teal'c his life. Which meant all he could do was let anything else out instead.
He'd have to keep up the illusion, too.
Faking another stiff, small smile, he didn't manage to hang onto that expression either.
Teal'c turned away. "This is advanced technology used to create a trap."
Glancing around, Daniel nodded. Of course Teal'c, given his background, would see this in those kind of terms. Actually, it was probably pretty accurate, and so much for philosophical discussions before lunch. He was also going to hazard a guess that Teal'c didn't much care for 'uh ohs' in general, either.
Jack saved them any more awkwardness when his voice came back on the radio with even more irritation, "What?"
Pulling in a breath, Daniel wondered if he'd left the radio on again. He knew the whole push the button to talk, let go to listen routine, but he wasn't used to it and tended to forget. Now he wasn't looking forward to having to explain everything again. He'd started ransacking his brain for a useful analogy when Captain Carter came into it. "Daniel, is everything around you a holographic projection?" She stressed the word everything, and it seemed like it, so Daniel glanced at Teal'c, got a confirming eyebrow cocked as if that was also his perception. Daniel nodded back.
Jack's chimed in, his voice distant since it was being picked up by the captain's radio, and Daniel caught a reference to a hollow deck. Wondering if that was some military term, he glanced at Teal'c his own eyebrows lifted with the question since non-verbal communication seemed to be Teal'c's preference. He only got back a blank stare this time. He was starting to wonder why Teal'c was leaving all the talking up to him. He wasn't sure he appreciated that.
He scrubbed his boot toe in what should have been dirt and that didn't leave a mark, so he had to squat down to touch it. His fingers did not brush hard-packed soil. Closing his eyes-too much of the human brain was mapped into making visual evidence the primary source of information-he touched the ground again. This time he'd swear it had the unyielding, smooth surface of metal. So, yep-not dirt.
"Daniel!"
Standing, he opened his eyes and stared at his fingers, then keyed on his radio. "Just checking, Jack-and yes, everything seems pretty much unreal. Or should that be surreal?"
He heard Jack swearing in the background as the captain asked, "Can you follow our radio transmissions back to the Stargate?"
It seemed to be becoming a habit, but he turned again to Teal'c-for agreement, or just the assurance that he wasn't stuck out here alone. Standard recon-yeah, sure. So far three trips through the 'gate hadn't given anyone enough data to set up a standard for anything. But he'd gotten lost on Abydos his first day there, so maybe this was what happened to everyone who walked through a metal ring to get to another world. Teal'c only cocked his other eyebrow, and Daniel decided to take that, and the lack of a yes, as a no about following anything.
Since Teal'c didn't look flustered, Daniel decided he didn't have to start worrying, either. Yet.
"Uhm, I suppose we could-if we had something to follow radio signals with." And he'd bet Sam-god, he really should keep thinking of her as captain or doctor, give her the due of her rank or the credit of her degree or both of them-she'd have some gadget in her pack like that.
They'd been given some discretion in what they carried, and Daniel was already starting to rethink the idea of needing a few reference books, just in case. Of course, if he didn't have to carry the damn decontamination mask, and the extra food, and spare socks of all things, that would have helped make room for the books.
He was also trying to talk everyone out of these helmets. Jack hadn't worn one today, and Daniel had his clipped onto his pack now because it was too hot to wear. Sam had kept hers on her head, but Teal'c had carried his through the 'gate and then propped it on the MALP-Daniel could foresee a lot of helmets getting left there. He wished he'd thought of that first because the damn thing kept banging into his thigh. Besides, he'd yet to find one that fit.
And what the hell was going on that it was taking so long to get an answer back?
"Jack? Carter?"
He stumbled over her name. He might think of her as Sam, but Jack called her Carter, so it seemed to Daniel that maybe he should, too. But it felt odd to use only her surname. Even if that stood out as the military way, it put a distance between them that didn't feel right. And Jack's addressing her that way emphasized her subordinate position, so the implication-even if the others hadn't noticed-in Daniel calling her Carter left him squirming. However, he didn't know her well enough to use her first name on a mission like this-and he'd already been told by others that he was supposed to call Jack colonel, so he was trying to remember that, too. But wasn't it even more demeaning to call her Sam, as if she hadn't worked her ass off for her rank and doctorate?
And maybe he was over-thinking all of this so he didn't have to think about other things. Like about never finding a way back to the Stargate. He glanced at Teal'c and found an odd measure of reassurance.
Teal'c had his boots braced wide and the butt of his staff planted between them, and he looked solid-like someone who wouldn't mind if you had to lean on him. Not that Daniel wanted to test that theory right now. But Teal'c was glancing around as if this kind of thing happened on a regular basis, and the swell of emotion-choking and bitter-rose in the back of Daniel's throat, sudden as it was sharp, shocking him.
Swallowing, Daniel looked away before anything showed.
This wasn't the place-hell, there wasn't any place to deal with that. It didn't matter that Teal'c was walking around free while Sha're-no, he wasn't wading into that morass again. He'd done that, and if he kept digging at it…
Besides, Jack wanted Teal'c on the team and Jack knew something about what he was doing. Teal'c had also proven himself, not only on Chulak, but in dealing with Kawalsky's de...
Letting out a huffed breath, Daniel shut down that memory.
It'd been a week since they'd buried the man. A busy week, most of it taken up with training, which had given Daniel an awareness of muscles he hadn't known existed. God, he'd thought Abydos had left him fit, but Jack's idea of running and sparing, and then that thing with Teal'c...
Ah, yes, yet one more thing to file away in the not-thinking-about-can't-deal-with-right-now category. Not when he was stuck out here with Teal'c.
So...oh, hell, it'd been made more than clear that Daniel was on probation at Stargate Command himself. They'd let him stay since they couldn't do much else with a man they'd declared dead-and he was doing his damnest to make sure they needed to keep him alive and around. But he'd caught the underlying sentiment that a lot of people didn't think much of his willingness to stay on other planets. He could kind of see their point. These were people who'd taken an oath to defend the place he'd turned his back on.
They had similar reservations about Teal'c-hell, Daniel had those, too. But at least Teal'c had saved lives. The only trouble was, did that count for enough when the cost at the end of everything had been Sha're?
That didn't have anything to do with being lost on P3575, however.
Or maybe it did-would he even be here if Jack hadn't sent them out together? And where the hell was Jack?
"Jack?" he made the name into a sharp question with the radio open and let some of his own temper out. What were they doing, anyway, calling back home to get a search team?
"Daniel, hang tight, we're coming to get you."
He couldn't help it. He swapped a glance with Teal'c, saw the same uneasy surprise mirrored in Teal'c's eyes that was crawling along his skin. So he thumbed on the radio again. "Excuse me, but if you come here, won't that make four of us-out here." He swapped the word 'lost' at the last second, then swapped another sideways glance with Teal'c. No way was he antagonizing anyone that large right now-not that Teal'c seemed all that thin-skinned. But he did have that very big stick.
Sam answered, sounding practical and patient and wonderfully not worried, "Daniel, I'm going to leave the MALP broadcasting on a low-range frequency. Keep your radios open and on this channel. We'll be able to track your RF output, then recalibrate and follow the MALP's signal back to the Stargate."
He couldn't keep back the smile-he'd known Sam would have some sort of tracking device with her. Then Jack came back on the radio, "Stay put and don't get into any more trouble."
"Yeah, right, no trouble-sure," Daniel muttered. He glanced at Teal'c. "So...don't suppose you have a deck of cards?" That one eyebrow arched high again-skeptical this time, faintly condescending-and Daniel did his own recalibration. "Or even know what cards are for that matter. Uh...what do you usually do in situations like this anyway-I mean, if you were here with other Jaffa and had to wait?"
"I would wait."
"Ah-right. Yes. Of course." Daniel offered another token smile. He glanced at the trees that weren't there, at a sky that was a ceiling of some kind, and at least there were ambient sounds and a breeze, even if they were artificial, too. "Wait," he muttered again, still staring at a whole lot of nothing. Yeah, this was probably going take a lot longer than it should.
SG-1 Early Years
Mostly Daniel and Teal'c
Gen
Lots of Talking
"Are we lost?"
Teal'c paused, then stopped that ground-covering stride of his and glanced back, and Daniel almost wished he hadn't said anything. He'd told himself he wouldn't start asking questions, but he couldn't avoid that one. Now he had Teal'c staring at him, his expression empty but dark eyes wary, as if Daniel was the one to watch out for here.
"Why do you ask, Daniel Jackson?"
"It's just...haven't we seen that particular rock formation-the one that kind of looks like a...a...." He waved at the scenery because the analogy in his head wasn't scientific and was too much about what he thinking about. And-no, just no. He wasn't going to bring that up.
Teal'c's eyes narrowed a fraction. At last, he shifted his stare from Daniel to the mountains. He looked back and said, "Like a woman asleep on her side."
Daniel flashed a smile. It couldn't last, tinged as it was with everything he was trying to keep covered and keep handled, because if he didn't he'd fly apart from all of it. But the words, in a deep voice that resonated, startled the expression out of him; it was, after all, what he'd been trying to avoid saying. And this wasn't anything he expected from someone who defined himself with weaponry and armor and a gold tattoo dedicated to a god who shouldn't exist.
God, right now, he'd settle for getting over being so off-balance around the man.
Somehow they had to learn how to work together, and all they seemed to have in common was that they both weren't mentioning recent-and even more recent-disasters between them. They'd also been stuck into matching khaki uniforms and put onto the same team.
Oh, and now they were lost on P3575.
Teal'c, however, didn't look lost.
He pointed ahead, gestured the six feet of his staff weapon toward the wide, dirt trail that wound between tall trees with thick, twisted trunks of very old pines. Bristlecone maybe.
"We have not crossed our tracks."
Glancing past Teal'c's shoulders and pack, Daniel had to nod and agree. Then he looked behind them and his mouth dried-oh, god, here we go. He wet his lips and kept the words slow and hoped they didn't sound too much like controlled panic. "Well, that could be because we're not leaving any?"
He swapped another look with Teal'c, who had turned to glance back up the trail. Daniel got a lifted eyebrow for an answer, but that minimalist expression could mean just about anything, so Daniel thumbed on his radio. "Hey, Jack?"
"Yeah, Daniel?"
"Uh, got a little bit of a problem here."
"Oh?" The word came over the radio tinny, but still managed to hold a hefty chunk of irritation. Daniel leaned back to squint up at the sun and tried to ignore that part. He'd learned very quickly on Abydos just how little Jack liked mixing the word 'problem' into anything, so he rushed into the rest. "Uhm, yeah, I think we're lost."
"We are not."
At that flat denial, Daniel glanced at Teal'c again. He opened his mouth to argue the point, but Teal'c carried that really big stick. And he had an alien symbiote in a pouch where his belly should be, which left him able to have Daniel on the ground in about ten seconds. Remembering that, Daniel eyed that staff. He still had the bruises from what Jack had called training-and what Daniel had labeled in his head cross-cultural bonding experiment thirty-two. Since he was a tad shy about getting any more of those kinds of hands-on experiences right now...time for a new approach.
He flicked on the radio again. "Actually, Jack, Teal'c knows where he is, but I'm not sure we can get back to you."
Tilting his head, Teal'c gave a small nod, and Daniel was willing to take that as a concession to his compromise. He flashed another smile that wasn't real enough to linger and turned in a slow circle to try and align landmarks.
It all looked just too familiar and too similar. God, how many times had they been past this spot or one just like it? He'd been thinking about way too many other things-okay, he'd been beating himself to death for his mistakes lately-and hadn't noticed. Time to fix that at lest. Stepping forward, he reached out for the trunk of a tree to pick off some bark and leave a sign they'd passed this way.
His hand just kept going.
Mouth falling open and his hand stalled in mid-air with his fingers closing on nothing, he stepped back, then muttered a soft, "Uh oh."
He didn't realize he'd left his thumb on the radio call button until he let go and heard back one sharp word. "Daniel!"
The sound startled him, but it really was Jack requesting information more than it was Jack not liking the words 'uh oh' either. Daniel waved his hand through the tree again-and he wondered how he could put this so it didn't sound as bad as the pulse beating quick in his throat told him it was.
"Jack, you know that outside we stepped into? Well, it seems to be a three-dimensional projection." He leaned back and stared at the unchanging weak shade of blue that wasn't sky. "My bet is we actually haven't left the structure, but we've been wandering around what is essentially a...uhm, an inside made to look like, well, maybe like what this planet actually does look like."
There was a long pause, and Daniel waited, staring at a reality that was impressive since none of it was here. Yeah, Jack wasn't going to like this. Daniel wasn't sure he was too fond of it, either.
A swoosh of air had him turning, and he watched Teal'c swing his staff weapon through a couple of trees. The image of the trees shivered and settled. Amazing that this world was as solid as mist and they'd been in it for a couple of hours and hadn't realized.
"Does it say something about us that we didn't notice this-or something about this world?" he asked. Teal'c glanced at him, his mouth pulled low enough that Daniel couldn't stop the quick rush of adrenaline, couldn't keep his hands still and couldn't keep the rest of the words from tumbling. "There are belief systems that hold that the world we see is just our own self-delusion-it's our failure to interpret the truth of reality. It's Maya. Which kind of describes this...in a manner of...?"
Of something that Teal'c wasn't looking all that interested in. Daniel let the words fade. Teal'c kept staring, his mouth dragged even lower and the rest of his expression unreadable. And why would Teal'c-who didn't know anything about Earth's cultures-know any of this? Or care.
Daniel knew he was rambling. He had no idea what else to do. So far, he'd kept hold of the edges of everything, but he was fraying, pulled by not enough sleep, too much caffeine, and a biological clock that kept insisting thirty-six hour days were right, with just under a third of that spent dreaming. Except he couldn't bear more than a couple hours with his eyes shut because of what he kept seeing-he didn't have dreams anymore. Just nightmares. If he let go...
Ah, hell, this metaphor was too apt-the illusion of control, of some say in your fate, of being able to hang onto anything. Ironic to have it shoved in his face. Now all he could do was not give into the twitch in his hands to strike at these trees. If he set them shimmering, would it loosen the coil of something wound tight at the base of his spine? He doubted it. So he held himself stiff and still and kept back the words that wanted to escape-hateful words that weren't justified since he owed Teal'c his life. Which meant all he could do was let anything else out instead.
He'd have to keep up the illusion, too.
Faking another stiff, small smile, he didn't manage to hang onto that expression either.
Teal'c turned away. "This is advanced technology used to create a trap."
Glancing around, Daniel nodded. Of course Teal'c, given his background, would see this in those kind of terms. Actually, it was probably pretty accurate, and so much for philosophical discussions before lunch. He was also going to hazard a guess that Teal'c didn't much care for 'uh ohs' in general, either.
Jack saved them any more awkwardness when his voice came back on the radio with even more irritation, "What?"
Pulling in a breath, Daniel wondered if he'd left the radio on again. He knew the whole push the button to talk, let go to listen routine, but he wasn't used to it and tended to forget. Now he wasn't looking forward to having to explain everything again. He'd started ransacking his brain for a useful analogy when Captain Carter came into it. "Daniel, is everything around you a holographic projection?" She stressed the word everything, and it seemed like it, so Daniel glanced at Teal'c, got a confirming eyebrow cocked as if that was also his perception. Daniel nodded back.
Jack's chimed in, his voice distant since it was being picked up by the captain's radio, and Daniel caught a reference to a hollow deck. Wondering if that was some military term, he glanced at Teal'c his own eyebrows lifted with the question since non-verbal communication seemed to be Teal'c's preference. He only got back a blank stare this time. He was starting to wonder why Teal'c was leaving all the talking up to him. He wasn't sure he appreciated that.
He scrubbed his boot toe in what should have been dirt and that didn't leave a mark, so he had to squat down to touch it. His fingers did not brush hard-packed soil. Closing his eyes-too much of the human brain was mapped into making visual evidence the primary source of information-he touched the ground again. This time he'd swear it had the unyielding, smooth surface of metal. So, yep-not dirt.
"Daniel!"
Standing, he opened his eyes and stared at his fingers, then keyed on his radio. "Just checking, Jack-and yes, everything seems pretty much unreal. Or should that be surreal?"
He heard Jack swearing in the background as the captain asked, "Can you follow our radio transmissions back to the Stargate?"
It seemed to be becoming a habit, but he turned again to Teal'c-for agreement, or just the assurance that he wasn't stuck out here alone. Standard recon-yeah, sure. So far three trips through the 'gate hadn't given anyone enough data to set up a standard for anything. But he'd gotten lost on Abydos his first day there, so maybe this was what happened to everyone who walked through a metal ring to get to another world. Teal'c only cocked his other eyebrow, and Daniel decided to take that, and the lack of a yes, as a no about following anything.
Since Teal'c didn't look flustered, Daniel decided he didn't have to start worrying, either. Yet.
"Uhm, I suppose we could-if we had something to follow radio signals with." And he'd bet Sam-god, he really should keep thinking of her as captain or doctor, give her the due of her rank or the credit of her degree or both of them-she'd have some gadget in her pack like that.
They'd been given some discretion in what they carried, and Daniel was already starting to rethink the idea of needing a few reference books, just in case. Of course, if he didn't have to carry the damn decontamination mask, and the extra food, and spare socks of all things, that would have helped make room for the books.
He was also trying to talk everyone out of these helmets. Jack hadn't worn one today, and Daniel had his clipped onto his pack now because it was too hot to wear. Sam had kept hers on her head, but Teal'c had carried his through the 'gate and then propped it on the MALP-Daniel could foresee a lot of helmets getting left there. He wished he'd thought of that first because the damn thing kept banging into his thigh. Besides, he'd yet to find one that fit.
And what the hell was going on that it was taking so long to get an answer back?
"Jack? Carter?"
He stumbled over her name. He might think of her as Sam, but Jack called her Carter, so it seemed to Daniel that maybe he should, too. But it felt odd to use only her surname. Even if that stood out as the military way, it put a distance between them that didn't feel right. And Jack's addressing her that way emphasized her subordinate position, so the implication-even if the others hadn't noticed-in Daniel calling her Carter left him squirming. However, he didn't know her well enough to use her first name on a mission like this-and he'd already been told by others that he was supposed to call Jack colonel, so he was trying to remember that, too. But wasn't it even more demeaning to call her Sam, as if she hadn't worked her ass off for her rank and doctorate?
And maybe he was over-thinking all of this so he didn't have to think about other things. Like about never finding a way back to the Stargate. He glanced at Teal'c and found an odd measure of reassurance.
Teal'c had his boots braced wide and the butt of his staff planted between them, and he looked solid-like someone who wouldn't mind if you had to lean on him. Not that Daniel wanted to test that theory right now. But Teal'c was glancing around as if this kind of thing happened on a regular basis, and the swell of emotion-choking and bitter-rose in the back of Daniel's throat, sudden as it was sharp, shocking him.
Swallowing, Daniel looked away before anything showed.
This wasn't the place-hell, there wasn't any place to deal with that. It didn't matter that Teal'c was walking around free while Sha're-no, he wasn't wading into that morass again. He'd done that, and if he kept digging at it…
Besides, Jack wanted Teal'c on the team and Jack knew something about what he was doing. Teal'c had also proven himself, not only on Chulak, but in dealing with Kawalsky's de...
Letting out a huffed breath, Daniel shut down that memory.
It'd been a week since they'd buried the man. A busy week, most of it taken up with training, which had given Daniel an awareness of muscles he hadn't known existed. God, he'd thought Abydos had left him fit, but Jack's idea of running and sparing, and then that thing with Teal'c...
Ah, yes, yet one more thing to file away in the not-thinking-about-can't-deal-with-right-now category. Not when he was stuck out here with Teal'c.
So...oh, hell, it'd been made more than clear that Daniel was on probation at Stargate Command himself. They'd let him stay since they couldn't do much else with a man they'd declared dead-and he was doing his damnest to make sure they needed to keep him alive and around. But he'd caught the underlying sentiment that a lot of people didn't think much of his willingness to stay on other planets. He could kind of see their point. These were people who'd taken an oath to defend the place he'd turned his back on.
They had similar reservations about Teal'c-hell, Daniel had those, too. But at least Teal'c had saved lives. The only trouble was, did that count for enough when the cost at the end of everything had been Sha're?
That didn't have anything to do with being lost on P3575, however.
Or maybe it did-would he even be here if Jack hadn't sent them out together? And where the hell was Jack?
"Jack?" he made the name into a sharp question with the radio open and let some of his own temper out. What were they doing, anyway, calling back home to get a search team?
"Daniel, hang tight, we're coming to get you."
He couldn't help it. He swapped a glance with Teal'c, saw the same uneasy surprise mirrored in Teal'c's eyes that was crawling along his skin. So he thumbed on the radio again. "Excuse me, but if you come here, won't that make four of us-out here." He swapped the word 'lost' at the last second, then swapped another sideways glance with Teal'c. No way was he antagonizing anyone that large right now-not that Teal'c seemed all that thin-skinned. But he did have that very big stick.
Sam answered, sounding practical and patient and wonderfully not worried, "Daniel, I'm going to leave the MALP broadcasting on a low-range frequency. Keep your radios open and on this channel. We'll be able to track your RF output, then recalibrate and follow the MALP's signal back to the Stargate."
He couldn't keep back the smile-he'd known Sam would have some sort of tracking device with her. Then Jack came back on the radio, "Stay put and don't get into any more trouble."
"Yeah, right, no trouble-sure," Daniel muttered. He glanced at Teal'c. "So...don't suppose you have a deck of cards?" That one eyebrow arched high again-skeptical this time, faintly condescending-and Daniel did his own recalibration. "Or even know what cards are for that matter. Uh...what do you usually do in situations like this anyway-I mean, if you were here with other Jaffa and had to wait?"
"I would wait."
"Ah-right. Yes. Of course." Daniel offered another token smile. He glanced at the trees that weren't there, at a sky that was a ceiling of some kind, and at least there were ambient sounds and a breeze, even if they were artificial, too. "Wait," he muttered again, still staring at a whole lot of nothing. Yeah, this was probably going take a lot longer than it should.