Stargate SG1: Cocidian (7/11)

[brihana25]

All disclaimers, notes, warnings and summary are in the Master post: Cocidian


Chapter Seven

"You were unconscious?" Hammond could barely conceal his mounting concern.

"Yes, sir," Jack replied. "For quite a while, apparently. When we woke up, the sun was already going down, and we were nowhere near the village ..."

Jack groaned as he opened his eyes. He found himself staring up at a canopy of trees that he didn't remember, and turned his head slightly to the right. Sam was starting to stir beside him, her own moans and groans signaling her return to wakefulness. Teal'c sat just beyond her, already upright but still a bit unsteady.

"Teal'c? You okay?"

"I am recovering well, O'Neill."

Another low moan from his left caused Jack to turn his head more quickly than he probably should have. He blinked against the pain that erupted in the back of his head, forcing his eyes to focus on the body that lay beside him.

"Crap," he breathed. "Daniel!"

Jack ignored the pain and lurched to his knees at Daniel's side. Daniel's shirt and jacket had been returned to him, both stained with blood and both filthy. Jack placed a hand against the darkening bruise that spread across Daniel's face from temple to cheek, hoping that the damage was only skin deep. "Come on, Daniel. Show me those baby blues."

Daniel moaned in response and turned his head slightly.

Jack glanced frantically at Teal'c and Sam, and was relieved to see them both upright and much steadier than before. "Carter?"

"I'm fine, sir," Sam answered as she shook her head to clear the last of the fuzziness from her mind.

Jack nodded and turned his attention back to Daniel, who still hadn't opened his eyes. "Come on, Daniel, wake up."

"Sir!" Carter called out. "They left us one pack."

Jack closed his eyes and offered a silent thank you to whom or whatever it was that happened to be looking out for them. Without opening them again, he asked of Carter, "Is it yours? Please, Carter, please tell me it's yours."

A few seconds passed as Sam dug through the contents of the pack. When she looked up, she had a smile on her face and a medical kit in her hand. "It is."

"Yes!" Jack said, repeating the silent thanks once again. "Bring it over here. Let's get him patched up. Teal'c, you watch the perimeter."

Teal'c pushed himself to his feet and began his patrol, choosing a circuit that took him no further than ten feet from the rest of his team at any point.

Sam settled down opposite Jack's position and reached out to check the bruise for herself. As she pressed against the swelling, feeling for any bones that seemed out of place, Daniel moaned again.

Jack looked up at Carter anxiously. She smiled back at him weakly. "I don't feel any fractures, Colonel, but unless they were really obvious, I probably wouldn't. We definitely can't rule out a concussion, either."

"Damn it," Jack swore softly. "How long was he standing there like this?"

"About two hours."

Sam and Jack looked down quickly. Daniel's eyes were still closed, but his face had tensed slightly.

"Daniel?" Jack asked hesitantly. "You awake?"

"No, Jack," Daniel answered, still without opening his eyes. "I'm talking in my sleep."

Jack smiled in spite of himself. "Guess they didn't knock your sense of humor out of you, huh?"

"It's not for lack of trying," Daniel answered tiredly. He opened his eyes and looked up at Jack, but wasn't able to keep them open. He blinked rapidly before settling for squinting up. "Ow," he said slowly. "Wow. That really hurts."

Sam leaned forward and started dabbing at the gash above his left eye with a sterile wipe. Daniel jumped and cried out. "Not as much as that does!"

"Sorry, Daniel," Sam offered. "I'm really sorry."

"Just hang in there, okay, Daniel? Let Carter get you put back together so we can head back to the gate, all right?"

Daniel let his eyes fall closed again, and nodded slightly. "Yeah, I think that's a really good idea. I don't think I want to stay here any more."

"Good boy," Jack said with a smile. He glanced across at Carter, and saw her looking intently at something. She caught the question in his eyes and nodded her head in the direction of Daniel's right wrist. Jack looked down, and his eyes widened at the sight. Daniel's wrists were smeared with dried blood, and circled with rope burns that seemed far too deep to have been the result of his being tied to the pole.

"Daniel?"

"Yeah?"

"You wanna ...?" Jack took a deep breath and focused on asking the specific question he wanted an answer to. "Look, Daniel, these are deep. These are way too deep. How'd you get them?"

"Get what?" Daniel asked in confusion, opening his eyes halfway.

Jack lifted Daniel's arm gently, holding it up where he could see it. "Those."

"Oh, those." Daniel closed his eyes once more. "Those came from the fight."

"Oh, the fight." Jack tried to keep the open hostility out of his voice. "That would be that fair fight you were talking about last night, right? The one you thought you could win?"

Daniel snorted and squinted up at Jack again. "Yeah, turns out I was wrong about that."

"Not very fair after all, huh?" Jack looked up at Teal'c, who had moved his patrol closer after seeing the extent of Daniel's injuries, and then across at Carter, who was busily bandaging Daniel's left wrist.

"Not unless you consider ten really big guys against one sort of average one to be fair."

Jack nodded his head in perfect understanding. "And if that sorta average guy just happens to have his hands tied behind his back ..."

"Walk in the park," Daniel said.

Jack turned his head and swore softly.

"Hey, I got in a few good shots."

"Really?"

"Yeah. One of them didn't get back up."

"That's my boy," Jack said with no small amount of admiration in his voice. "How'd you do it?"

"You remember that move you and Teal'c taught me? What to do when someone grabs your arms from behind and someone else is coming at you from the front?"

"Yeah."

"Yes indeed, Daniel Jackson."

"Well, I remembered it, too. Both feet. Right between the eyes."

Jack and Teal'c shared a smile and a nod as Sam moved around to bandage Daniel's right wrist as she had his left. "After that?"

Daniel let his eyes fall closed once more. "After that, it hurt. A lot."

"After we got Daniel patched up, I decided that it would be best to just go to ground, boots on, no fire. Daniel looked like he needed the rest, and the only real alternative was to go trekking off through an unfamiliar forest, at night, with no weapons save our knives. And since Tuathal had said the hunt would start at dawn, we felt fairly certain that we were in no danger of being attacked."

"And this was when Dr. Jackson started showing symptoms of his illness?"

Jack nodded slowly. "We didn't know it then, but yeah, that was it. We all thought it was just the aftereffects of his little 'scuffle' with the locals and stiff muscles from that awkward position he'd been in when we found him. So when he started saying his back and shoulders were sore, none of us really thought much about it ..."

Jack glanced up and saw Daniel shuffling toward him. He seemed to be favoring his right leg slightly. Daniel settled himself carefully to the ground beside Jack, exhaling slowly as he did so. He stretched his arms out above his head and leaned back over the fallen tree behind him.

"Hey," Jack called out to him. "You okay?"

"What? Oh, yeah. Yeah, I'm fine. It's just... my back's a little stiff. I think maybe I pulled a muscle or something."

"You want some Tylenol? Carter's always got some with her."

"No, it's not that bad really," Daniel answered. He grasped his wrists behind his head and arched his back. The slight gasp that escaped him made Jack lean toward forward.

"Are you sure that's all it is? You haven't got any injuries we haven't seen, do you?"

"Huh? Oh, no. No internal bleeding or anything like that. It doesn't really hurt all that much." Daniel's eyebrows lowered in concentration, as if trying to find the exact description for what he felt. "It's just a stiff back and some sore shoulders. It's more annoying than anything."

Jack nodded slowly and looked up at Carter and Teal'c, who were just returning from another survey of the perimeter. "Okay, well, take it easy, all right? Don't push yourself too hard. You've been through more than enough on this mission."

"What's going on, Colonel?" Sam asked.

"Nothing," Daniel answered quickly.

"Daniel's back hurts," Jack countered with a glance at the younger man.

"Are you badly injured, Daniel Jackson?"

"Do you want some painkillers?"

Daniel let out an exaggerated sigh. "I'm fine, guys. It's just a pulled muscle. I mean, between taking on ten guys by myself and being tied to that post for two hours, I'm bound to be sore, don't you think?" Daniel smiled. "No pun intended, of course."

"All right, Daniel," Jack replied with a smile. "But no staying up all night, okay? I want you to get some sleep tonight."

"Okay, Jack. Look, if I promise I'll sleep, can we talk about something else?"

"Sure." Jack smiled across at Sam and Teal'c. "So, what do you want to talk about?"

Daniel lowered his head and stared at the ground for a few seconds. He reached down and started pushing leaves around with his fingers. He caught a glimpse of the bandage around his wrist and he stopped. He frowned and pulled the sleeve of his jacket down to cover the offending sight.

"Daniel?" Sam scooted around until she was seated just a few feet from him, on his left. She pulled her knees up and wrapped her arms around them, leaning forward and putting herself directly in Daniel's line of vision. "Daniel? You okay?"

Daniel nodded slowly. "Yeah, I'm just... Look, guys, I'm really sorry."

Jack snorted. "For what?"

"For getting you into this mess," Daniel answered softly.

"I do not believe you are in any way responsible for our current situation, Daniel Jackson," Teal'c said.

"Yeah," Jack agreed. "Teal'c's right. I mean, yeah, maybe you should have told us just what the whole purification ritual actually involved, but hey, I can understand why you didn't. We weren't exactly the best audience in the world at the time, being drugged to the gills and all."

Daniel closed his eyes and shook his head slowly. "See, that's the thing though. If it weren't for me, you wouldn't have been drugged in the first place. If it weren't for me, this would have been a routine meet-and-greet, and we'd be their allies instead of their prey. If it weren't for me ..."

"If it weren't for you, we'd be making nice with people who think half of our planet deserves to die, Daniel."

"No," Daniel said softly. "Just me. And after everything that's happened these past two days, I'm beginning to think they just might be right about that."

"No way, Daniel," Jack answered quickly. "Don't you even start thinking like that. I told you back at the village ..."

Daniel shrugged. "We're still here because of me, aren't we? You challenged the Rule because of me. You're all out here being hunted because of me."

"No, I challenged the Rule because it's wrong. And as I remember, you told me not to. I didn't listen; I challenged the stupid thing. And I'd have done it for Carter or Teal'c, too."

"Yeah, but it wasn't them, was it? It was me. It's always going to be me." Daniel lifted his head and looked Jack directly in the eye. "They're right about me, Jack. I am a liability."

"Daniel, you took on ten guys last night ..."

"And look at me!"

"... with your hands tied behind your back," Jack continued as calmly as he could manage. "I couldn't have done that. Teal'c, could you have done that?"

"I could not."

"Carter?"

"No, sir," Sam answered with a shake of her head.

"It was a set-up from the word go, Daniel. You couldn't have won no matter what you did. Come on, even you have to admit that the odds were stacked just a little against you." Jack waited until Daniel reluctantly nodded in agreement before going on. "And despite those odds, you got one of them to stay down, right?"

Daniel chuckled in spite of himself and glanced at Jack. "Knocked him out cold."

"And out of all those guys, is he the only one you managed to get a shot in on?"

Daniel shook his head no. "Quite a few of them had bloody noses, actually."

"So through it all, you still fought back, right? You didn't exactly just stand there and let them beat you to a pulp, did you?"

Daniel shook his head again, but didn't speak.

"And why do you think they tied your hands in the first place, Daniel? You thought you had a chance in a fair fight, right?"

"Yeah."

"Well, I agree with you. You would have had a chance in a fair fight. And I think they knew it, too. That's why the fight wasn't fair, Daniel. Because if it had been, you could have won. You probably would've won."

"They couldn't let you win, Daniel," Sam put in. "From the moment they saw you, they knew they'd have to make it so you couldn't. Their way of life, everything they believe, depended on whether or not you could stand up against them."

"How could they know that?" Daniel almost demanded. "I mean, it couldn't have been two or three minutes before they picked me out as being different. Why is that? I mean, it has to be obvious that I'm weaker than you guys are, right?"

Jack shook his head slowly. "No, it's not obvious. At least, not unless the three of us show it. Which we did."

"What?"

"Remember when they started pushing forward, Daniel? Right before you figured out what they were saying?" Daniel nodded. "What did we do when they started separating us from you?"

Daniel thought back on the first meeting for a moment and then shook his head. "I don't really remember. I wasn't really paying much attention to you guys."

"Teal'c, do you remember what we did?"

"I do, O'Neill."

"Carter?"

"Yes, sir."

Jack nodded and turned back to Daniel. "We did the same thing we always do, Daniel. The natives got a bit too close for comfort, and we formed up around you. We moved closer. We protected you."

Daniel looked at his teammates in confusion.

"They saw us protecting you, Daniel," Sam explained. "We had our weapons at the ready; you weren't even touching yours. Our weapons are bigger than yours to begin with. You were talking; we were watching."

"It's our fault they picked you out, Daniel," Jack added. "Not yours."

"Your words last night are truth, Daniel Jackson," Teal'c added. "You are everything they do not believe should exist. Your life invalidates everything that they believe."

"And we made it worse," Jack put in. "Because instead of ignoring you, or leaving you out on your own, the way they think we should have, we protected you."

"They perceived our protection as a sign of your weakness, Daniel Jackson. They did not see it as ours."

Daniel didn't respond immediately; he continued to stare at his feet and pick at the leaves on the ground.

"Your weakness infects even the strongest amongst your people," Daniel whispered. "For if these fall tomorrow, the fault shall be yours, and no other's."

"What?"

Daniel looked up at Jack with a tired smile. "Something Tuathal said." Daniel shrugged slightly. "Maybe he's right. I mean, you wouldn't protect me if you didn't think you had to, would you?"

"Nah," Jack answered with a shake of his head. "We all protect each other. It's what we do."

"If something happens to us tomorrow, Daniel," Sam added, "it's not your fault."

"Should we be captured by Tuathal and his men, the fault will be ours."

"Ours, or the big, ugly, smelly guy's," Jack said. "Point is, Daniel, it's not yours. You didn't do anything wrong."

"In a way, Daniel," Sam said softly, "you were more of a threat to them than any of us were. I don't think they were going to let us go because we're stronger than you. I think they were going to let us go because they weren't afraid of us."

Daniel jerked his head up and flinched as a wave of pain shot up his back. "Oh, and they are afraid of me?"

"Of course they are!" Jack declared. "Just look at you! You're the scariest guy I've ever met."

"Me?" Daniel asked, his eyebrows raised in skepticism. "I'm scary?"

"You scare the hell out of me on a daily basis," Jack returned lightly. "Take for example where we found you this morning ..."

Daniel rolled his eyes. "You know, I'm really tired. I think I'll turn in early ..."