Swept Away
Part 2
"With curt, jerking movements, Daniel lifted his heavy head from the stone, tilting it so he was looking upriver. Not that he was able to see anything, but at the moment that wasn't important. What he was interested in now was whether or not he had heard something. Or rather, someone.
He waited for the call to repeat, determined to hold his head up for as long as his tired muscles would cooperate.
Another bone-rattling shudder assailed him and it took all of his concentration to keep his head from smacking back down onto the rock.
Listening to the roar of the water rushing through the cavern below him, the crash's echo reverberating painfully against his ears, Daniel berated himself for imagining Jack had called his name. When would he learn Jack couldn't solve all of his problems?
Daniel wrapped his arms tighter around himself. At least that was what he'd intended. But not too long ago he'd discovered that his body wasn't following his commands very well. It seemed to take forever to achieve the simplest task.
His sense of touch was shot to hell, too, apparently. He didn't remember removing his river-soaked BDUs, but he could no longer feel the cold, damp material swathing his frame. Good news was he didn't feel that gash in his hip either.
Or maybe that gash had never existed. He didn't entirely trust his brain at the moment. Other than the fact that it was pounding in rhythm with his heartbeat — the brain wasn't supposed to do that, was it? — the damn thing seemed to have joined the rest of his anatomy on a little hiatus from normal activity.
Except the muscles and nerves that contributed to shivering. Those guys were working overtime. He reflexively pulled his legs closer to his chest as the quaking continued, and wondered idly if the way his knees were impacting his chest was impeding his breathing. The short, quick gulps of air he was managing apparently weren't pulling in enough oxygen. Not if his lightheadedness was any gauge.
Or maybe all he really needed was rest. If he remembered correctly, his head sometimes felt like this after days without adequate sleep during the times he was... well, he must have been doing something important if he gave up sleep to do it. The point was he felt better after a long nap.
Closing his eyes might also help alleviate some of his anxiety regarding his eyesight. He figured he'd been down here long enough that his eyes should have adjusted to the darkness. He should be able to make out even the faintest shadow, yet when he looked around, all he saw was blackness.
Okay, that was two votes in favor of sleep. Bet his trembling muscles could use the break, too. Maybe if he relaxed into sleep, they'd stop trying to shake him apart.
It was settled then; sleep seemed to be the best alternative. And it wasn't like he was doing anything else useful. Exhaling a stuttered sigh, he closed his eyes and molded his body to the form of the rock beneath him. Maybe things would be better when he woke up.
"...it's above freezing anyway. My breath is not condensing when I exhale." Jack followed the beam wavering in front of his face to the roof of the cavern. "Carter, if this river runs under the city, maybe there's another place downstream where we could get Daniel out more easily. Why don't you have Teal'c take a look?"
Eyes still scanning the ceiling high above, he released his radio and waited for her response. This was his second check in, which meant he had been traipsing along this path for half an hour and still had seen no sign of Daniel.
"Yes, sir," came Carter's slightly broken response. Thankfully, the radios were still transmitting, but Jack surmised it was only a matter of time before the signal deteriorated.
"I've been keeping a moderately fast pace for the last thirty minutes," Jack said, swinging his light back in the direction he had come. "Once I reach Daniel, think you can estimate the distance from my speed and the time?"
"Yes, sir. I think I can manage."
In spite of the fact that Daniel's life could depend on her ability to locate them quickly, Jack was sure she had infused a little cheek into her response. Probably something to do with her perception that he'd questioned her skills. Scientists.
"Good," he replied letting none of his irritation seep out. "Next check-in in fifteen. O'Neill out."
Moving as quickly as the narrow footpath would allow, the jarring motion of his trot bouncing the beam haphazardly over the trail, Jack doggedly returned to his quest for his missing archaeologist, while his mind replayed the events surrounding their last encounter.
// From the time Daniel confessed his 'feelings' to Jack, the younger man began to withdraw, the emotional distance between them growing to the point where Daniel apparently needed actual physical distance.
Jack wasn't really surprised when he received Daniel's written request to go off-world without his team. But he adamantly refused to sign off on the assignment until Daniel came clean, knowing intuitively that Daniel's droning insistence that the ruins were a major find was so much bullshit.
Confronted by the colonel in his office and backed into a corner — literally and figuratively — Daniel shot Jack a look that he usually reserved for Goa'uld and Senator Kinsey. Undeterred, Jack pushed for an explanation.
Swallowing convulsively, Daniel pushed by the older man and closed his door, turning slowly to face Jack.
"I need to get away. Clear my head," he said, drawing an irritated breath when the hard set of Jack's mouth told him it wasn't enough. "Ever since that morning..." Daniel knew he didn't need to clarify which morning he referred to. "I don't even know why I told you, except, I guess, misery really does love company." Daniel's small stressed laugh was met with an unemotional stare.
"This entire situation is impossible," he finally muttered to the floor he began agitatedly pacing. "I love my wife." Daniel's steps faltered as his journey carried him near Jack. Raising desolate eyes, his lips moved silently, mouthing what Jack read as, 'And I love you.'
He turned away abruptly and marched across the room. "Sha're is so far away and you..." Daniel stopped when he reached the opposite wall. Spinning, he fell backward against it.
"I need you, Jack, and, god help me, I want you. And I feel so damned guilty for blaming my kidnapped wife that I can't have you!"
Closing his eyes to draw a calming breath, twin drops of frustration spilled from his eyes. "I don't expect you to understand this. I sure as hell don't. All I know is you've suddenly become the physical manifestation of this terrible guilt I feel, and I can't even think clearly when you're around me. I need some distance."
So Jack had signed off on SG-6's use of his archaeologist and wished Daniel luck in getting his head on straight — no pun intended.//
Jack cursed as his boot found a previously undetected stone and skidded sideways, spilling him, knees-first, onto the ledge. The flashlight slipped out of his grasp, clanked against the stone and skittered away from him, rolling crazily, and finally coming to rest against the rock wall.
Squeezing his teeth tightly against the pain shooting through his left knee, Jack fell forward onto his palms and reached for his light. As his head came up his eyes followed the direction of the beam.
Just outside the area of illumination was a sizeable mass, another rock, one he'd have to climb over, or...did the damn thing just move?
"Daniel!"
His discomfort forgotten, Jack pushed himself upright, snagged his flashlight and hurried to the lump, more sure with every step that he had found his missing teammate.
Nearing the still figure, he called Daniel's name again. Having gotten no response, he pulled up short, worry deepening the lines in his forehead. He stooped before his friend's head, reaching a tentative hand towards his jaw line. The skin was cold, seemingly lifeless. Daniel offered no response to the touch.
He slid the fingers beneath the jaw, afraid of what he would find — or rather what he wouldn't find. On initial contact, his worse fear was confirmed; there was no detectable heartbeat. On the verge of panic, his training kicked in and he waited, breathlessly, recalling that the heartbeat of a hypothermic person may be weak and slow. He pushed his fingers more firmly against the chilled flesh.
"Come on, Daniel," he muttered softly.
He nearly gave a whoop of exhilaration when the pulse point beneath his fingertips stirred, evidence that Daniel's blood was still circulating. He kept his fingers in place until he felt a second beat. Weak and slow, but there.
Closing his eyes, both to control his emotions and to center his focus, Jack placed his fingertips before Daniel's lips, nodding in satisfaction when a feeble puff of air wafted from between them. Daniel shuddered again, and Jack surmised it was that movement that has first drawn his attention.
Pushing a relieved breath between his own lips, Jack squeezed his radio.
"Carter, I've found him."
"Sir, is he-"
"He's alive, Carter. Damn cold, but alive. Mark the time and figure the distance then let Teal'c know. That way he can concentrate his search for an alternate way down."
"Yes, sir. I'll be here to direct Janet to you."
Gazing down at the reason for Janet's impending arrival, he nodded. "Thanks. O'Neill out."
With Carter's and Teal'c's conversation as backdrop, Jack set himself to assessing their youngest team member's condition. Shining the flashlight fully on his upper body, he noted that Daniel lay on his side, chin tucked into his chest, his arms wrapped loosely around him. He winced at the small puddle of vomit, mostly water, congealing on the stone beside Daniel's head.
Swinging the light downward, over the knees pulled into Daniel's midsection, he caught the red glint of blood on the upper part of Daniel's leg. As the blood no longer appeared to be free flowing, he filed the information and moved on to more urgent needs.
Sweeping still damp locks from the pale forehead, noting the scrape just above Daniel's left eyebrow, Jack cupped Daniel's cheek and gently tipped the slack face towards him, scowling at Daniel's lack of responsiveness. As he scanned for injury, Jack's eyes fell to Daniel's lips, slightly parted in repose.
"You know," he whispered mockingly, "your blue eyes make my chest ache, they're so beautiful, but the blue lips are doing nothing for me." His own lips turned upward slightly at his lame joke but Daniel remained stoic.
Almost as soon as his lips reached smile status, they fell into a deep frown, information that had been hovering in the back of his mind suddenly coming to the fore.
"Weren't you just shivering?" Jack blurted, giving voice to his thoughts. Snaking a hand under the neck of Daniel's long sleeved tee shirt, Jack gasped at the unnatural feel of the cold, damp skin on his fingers, and, mentally counting to ten, he snatched his hand back.
"Not good," he muttered, having detected no tremors.
Detaching his backpack from his vest, he pulled it open and dug through the contents until he found one of the blankets Carter had packed. He unfolded it quickly and spread it out behind Daniel.
Shifting his position, he set his flashlight on the floor beside him, aiming the beam on his unconscious friend. He gently straightened Daniel's legs, resting one hand on the younger man's shoulder to keep him in place, and watched for signs of profuse bleeding on the injured hip.
Once Daniel's legs were extended, Jack stepped over and behind the younger man. Sliding his hand beneath Daniel's head where it rested on the stone, he grimaced as the cold, wet strands of long hair, quickly soaked his glove.
Knowing that any sudden movements could cause Daniel's heart to beat erratically, Jack grasped Daniel's vest and slowly slid Daniel's upper body onto the blanket, careful not to jar him. Shifting his hold to Daniel's belt, he brought Daniel's hip, then his legs over to the blanket.
Even in the dim light he had to work in, Jack immediately noticed the dark stain on his fingers when he slipped his hand from beneath Daniel's head. Moving his hand closer to the light, he cursed, and dug in his bag for the first aid kit, pulling out the largest bandage he had.
Knowing that his first priority was getting Daniel warm again, Jack folded the bandage and pressed it to the back of Daniel's head. Reaching behind him, he blindly dug in his backpack, locating by touch a towel and Daniel's parka. Wrapping the towel around Daniel's head, as much to absorb the moisture as to keep the bandage in place, he pulled the parka beneath Daniel's head and gently settled the younger man on the downy pillow, draping the coat around the top of his friend's head to try and keep some warmth in.
Snatching the wet gloves from his hands, Jack moved further down Daniel's body.
"Okay, buddy, let's get you out of these wet things," Jack muttered. He unclipped the holster from Daniel's leg — pausing half a second to marvel that the man had kept his sidearm — and unclasped the belt.
Grasping the zipper pull on Daniel's vest, he tugged firmly, but the vest refused to open. He shone the flashlight briefly on the zipper to determine the problem, unsheathed his knife, and proceeded to slice the vest up the side. He cut a notch in the bottom of Daniel's tee shirt and pulled the ends apart, ripping the fabric up the side. Cutting away the sleeve closest to him, he moved to the opposite side and quickly and efficiently removed both vest and shirt, tossing them against the wall.
Gently swiping the dampness from Daniel's gaunt chest and back with another of the towels from his backpack, Jack noted the barely visible stirring of muscle over ribcage that evidenced Daniel's sluggish breathing. His features bunched disconcertedly at the mottled aspect of Daniel's sternum, darker patches showing just beneath the white skin. He gingerly palpated for broken or cracked ribs, and nodded, reassured that the damage was all external. Daniel would be sore as hell when he woke up but at least they didn't have to worry about a punctured lung.
Quickly running the towel over slack limbs, he wrapped one of the blankets across Daniel's torso, concentrating on warming only his friend's core, and tucked both sides under him to keep out the cool air.
Jack wasted no time removing Daniel's boots, socks, BDU's and boxers, carefully drying every inch of his friend's colorless skin.
Jack pulled the blanket down over Daniel's bare legs and again pushed the ends under his frigid body as far as he could get them without shaking him, working his way back up Daniel's torso ensuring every inch of the cover was tucked beneath.
Unzipping the sleeping bag, he again slowly transferred Daniel onto the thicker padding. Pulling the sleeping bag away from the wall to slide Daniel further into its folds, he wrapped the covering firmly around his friend.
The groan that escaped Jack's lips when he pushed himself to his feet rivaled the roar of the river against the rocks. He moved his backpack and the first aid kit to the side, so they would be close at hand, unclipped his belt and quickly doffed his vest, jacket, boots and BDU's, piling his clothes against the wall.
Retrieving the last blanket from his backpack, Jack slipped into the sleeping bag next to his archaeologist, squirming against him to get as much body contact as possible with the colder man.
Snaking an arm beneath Daniel's head, he removed the parka and towel swath, and settled the still damp locks against his shoulder. He wound his other arm around Daniel's shoulders and gently pulled his unresisting friend into his arms until the frigid body was practically draped over his own.
Jack shuddered slightly. Even with the layers of cloth from Daniel's blanket and his tee shirt between them, the chill of Daniel's skin seeped into his own body. Plus Daniel's cold, damp locks crept across Jack's neck near where his head rested on Jack's right shoulder.
Hugging the limp body to him, Jack stiffened as a strange quivering sensation tickled his chest. He walked his fingers up to Daniel's neck and cursed, detecting an abnormal flutter beneath his fingertips.
"Please tell me that's just your heart palpitating with excitement at finally being in my arms," Jack whispered into Daniel's hair.
The heartbeat settled, seemingly at the sound of his voice, and Jack blew out a relieved whoosh, when his fingers once again detected a slow but steady rhythm.
Skimming his hands down the flaccid back muscles, Jack wrapped the additional blanket around his friend's icy form. Smoothing the blanket over Daniel's backside, purposefully ignoring the satisfying feel of the firm mounds under his fingers, he tucked the end tight under Daniel's left hip. Drawing the other end of the blanket towards him he settled it over their entwined bodies.
Snaking a hand from beneath the sleeping bag, Jack pulled the blanket that Daniel had been laying on, still damp from his clothing, over top of them. Shifting slightly to get a grip on the parka and towel, Jack grunted as Daniel's knee slipped between his legs, the thigh moving a little too snug against his crotch.
"Hey. Hey!" he groaned, wriggling his hips to push himself up and away from the stirring in his groin. "The idea is to warm you up, not make me hot." He reached down and adjusted Daniel's position until the pressure let up on his balls.
Rolling his eyes upward, he sighed with relief, allowing his body to fully relax. Inhaling deeply, he wrinkled his nose at the stale odor emanating from Daniel's hair.
"Just my luck," Jack mumbled idly. "The one time since the Space Monkey incident that I'm close enough to bury my nose in those long, velvety locks and you have to smell like a wet sewer rat."
Recalling another time he had held Daniel, he amended, "Well, there was the time I got to hold you during your sarcophagus withdrawal, but let's face it, you didn't smell any better then than you do now."
"I definitely prefer that citrusy smell after you shampoo," he concluded.
Twisting his arm to reach the towel lying at his shoulder, Jack gently rubbed the damp tresses, carefully avoiding the area where he'd seen blood earlier. Setting the towel aside, he snagged the flashlight and, tipping his head so that his gaze fell over the back of Daniel's skull, he brought the beam up to illuminate the light brown locks. Using less than nimble fingers, the chill making them stiff and ungainly, he parted Daniel's hair to locate the wound.
Daniel remained unresponsive as he probed but, Jack thought idly, he was doing enough wincing for the both of them. Locating a sizeable lump, he shifted the light enough to see that the injury, while still bleeding slightly, didn't appear life-threatening. Setting the flashlight on top of his backpack so that the light fell indirectly on his still immobile teammate, Jack pulled the parka to him, covered Daniel's head with the hood and spread the coat out over his back for additional layering.
Slipping his arms back under the sleeping back, Jack crossed them over Daniel's lower back and pulled the cold body tight against him, kissing the younger man's forehead just above the slight abrasion that marred its perfection.
"Hey," he sighed. "This is cozy, huh?" He shifted further into the bedding and closed his eyes, relishing the sensation of having Daniel in his embrace.
Jack startled suddenly. Realizing he must have dozed, his cheeks flushed warmly, as Teal'c's voice boomed again near his left ear. The radio had been silent for so long that Jack had almost forgotten that he and Daniel were not completely alone. Though there was a perfectly reasonable explanation for their cuddle, still Jack felt a momentary sense of guilt at the notion he had been caught enjoying it.
"Captain Carter, I am at the position you suggested," Teal'c's utterance was amazingly crisp. "I shall attempt to find a weakened point in the floor of one of these buildings through which we may reach O'Neill and Daniel Jackson."
Pushing aside his discomfort, Jack loosed his grasp on his archaeologist and keyed his radio.
"Teal'c, I'm reading you loud and clear. There's gotta be a hole somewhere that's letting the radio signal through."
"It is good to hear your voice, O'Neill," Teal'c rumbled, "What is the condition of Daniel Jackson?"
"He's cold, but alive. I'm doing my best to warm him up."
"I shall endeavor to locate you quickly," Teal'c assured.
"I have no doubt of it, big guy," Jack responded confidently. "Carter, you hear anything from Fraiser?"
"They're on their way here from the 'gate, sir. I estimate it'll be another forty-five minutes before we make Teal'c's position."
As Jack squeezed his radio to respond, a ripple ran through Daniel's body.
"Hold on," he told his 2IC, shifting his attention to the 170 pound weight on his chest.
Daniel shivered again.
"Roger that, Carter. Let her know I think Daniel's responding to my efforts to re-warm him."
"Sir?" Her tone begged additional information.
"He's still unconscious, but he's shivering again. He'd stopped doing that for a short while," Jack clarified.
"That's good to hear, sir. I'll pass it on." The radio clicked off briefly then flared to life again.
"Colonel, what about the blood?"
Jack closed his eyes, vividly recalling how his stomach had dropped when his fingers emerged from beneath that massive rock coated with a generous measure of Daniel's vital fluid.
He swallowed convulsively. "Ah. Well, he's got a pretty good bump on the head, but I think the blood came from his hip. He's got a serious cut, but it's stopped bleeding."
Jack visualized her blond head bobbing.
"I'll let Janet know. Car-"
Carter's final words were cut off as Jack convulsively squeezed the send button. He gasped into the radio and his hand shot downward, clasping the stray knee that had jerked into his privates.
"Gah, Daniel."
Having experienced hypothermia on his and Carter's unplanned trip through the Antarctic Stargate, Jack knew that Daniel's movements were most likely his body's response to the reawakening of cold-deadened tissues. Even with his mind off in la-la land, Daniel's muscles twitched with what Jack remembered felt like the equivalent of ten thousand volts of electricity running through them.
Breathing harshly, Jack tightly gripped his friend and held on, having no choice but to ride out the spasms that rocked the thin frame. Daniel's hips rubbed wildly against the colonel's, in spite of Jack's restraining hug. Abruptly, Daniel's upper body surged upward, throwing off the parka. As he came down his head impacted Jack's shoulder, and a harsh grunt issued from the slack lips.
After what seemed a lifetime of stuttered gasps and jarring movements, Daniel stilled.
"Damn," Jack coughed, "that was one hell of a tremor." Peering into the wan features, Jack saw Daniel's lips purse, once, twice, before his brows gathered over quivering eyelids.
His attention was drawn away briefly by the shout of his 2IC, who had obviously heard his breathless curse. He let go of Daniel's leg and keyed the radio.
"We're fine, Carter. I think he's waking up. He was jerkin' around here pretty good just a minute ago and his eyelids were fluttering."
"He's going to be disoriented when he comes to, sir," Carter said quietly, and Jack knew she was remembering their time in the frozen cave in Antarctica, when hypothermia had made him believe she was his former wife.
"Yeah. Thanks, Carter." Jack let go of the radio so that his grunt did not transmit. Daniel lurched again and pressed his hand against Jack's solar plexus, attempting to push away.
Moaning from the pressure on his gut, Jack resisted the urge to bring his knees upward, and gripped Daniel's shoulders. He pulled Daniel down onto his chest, holding the trembling man against him — his attempt to comfort ineffectual if Daniel's groans were any indication — until he stilled again. Splaying his fingers against the broad muscles of Daniel's back, Jack sensed the fine vibrations transmitting through his palms to the backs of his hands.
Turning his head, Jack smiled reflexively into the twin slivers of blue aimed in his direction.
"Hey."
The eyes widened a bit and focused on Jack's lips, but Daniel gave no other indication he had heard. His face maintained the dull aspect of his unconscious form, his jaw slack, his mouth agape.
The sleeping bag stirred, a small mound formed in the center, and moved with little disturbance to the surface, like a shark beneath the water heading for an unsuspecting swimmer, until Daniel's fingers emerged and clumsily gripped Jack's chin.
Daniel's eyes drifted downward then back to the lips.
Gently kneading the shoulder beneath his hand, Jack tipped his head forward, attempting to attract Daniel's eyes with his own.
"Hey, Daniel. You here with me?"
Daniel's eyes flickered closed briefly, and when they reopened, Jack was certain that his friend had returned from whatever limbo the cold had sent him to, the blue gaze that lifted to his seeming so familiar.
Jack's mouth tugged into a sappy grin, his dark eyes locked with the pale blue ones. It occurred to him that he should let Carter know, but the idea floated away on Daniel's soft sigh.
In less time than I took Jack to realize what was happening, Daniel twisted in his hold, and, digging frigid toes into Jack's calf, he pushed himself upward, pressing his cool, pale lips to Jack's warm, pink ones. Intuitively, Jack leaned into the kiss, his own lips parting in welcome.
Jack adjusted his grip on Daniel, cautiously encircling the injured man's back and pulling him in, an embrace to both support and bring him closer.
The kiss lasted only a few seconds before Daniel pulled away, exhausted, and collapsed panting against Jack's neck. His hand fell slack against Jack's collarbone.
Stirring faintly, Daniel breathed against Jack's skin, "Love you."
By the time the shock had worn off enough for Jack to contemplate a response, Daniel had relaxed into him, huffing another gentle sigh against his neck. Jack wrapped his arms around the younger man and closed his eyes, savoring the lingering sensation of Daniel's mouth on his, the steady puffs of air brushing his throat.
The radio crackled, but no voices followed.
Jack hugged Daniel closer. "Doc'll be here shortly, Daniel. Teal'c and Carter'll-"
'He's going to be disoriented when he comes to, sir.'
Carter's last words slammed him as hard as Daniel's poke to his midsection had. Suddenly, Daniel's reassuring expirations became accusatory whispers, condemning him for conduct unbecoming an officer. It wasn't that he had kissed another man that weighed so heavily on Jack's conscience, but that he had returned a kiss that he wasn't sure had been meant for him.
Snatching his hands from Daniel's waist, Jack pulled back, staring askance at the limp face nuzzled against his neck.
"You had no idea what you were doing, did you?" he moaned in self reproach. "God. Did you think I was your missing wife, just like I thought Carter was Sara?"
Daniel offered no explanation, no absolution, and Jack was left floundering alone in his guilt.
But abandoning the source of his guilt — as Jack had selfishly thought of Daniel's flight to this planet — was never a consideration. Daniel was still hypothermic; shudders periodically assailing the battered frame. So Jack returned his hands to his friend's back, offering comfort and warmth.
"What was I thinking? I should have known you weren't in your right mind. Not all that long ago you were completely unresponsive." Jack slammed his head back against the sleeping bag. "God. And I took advantage of you."
Even as he ruminated on how wrong his actions had been, somewhere in the core of his being, Jack couldn't bat down the utter feeling of rightness the moment had engendered — the slight weight of Daniel in his arms, the hesitant press of lips, growing, blossoming to near rapturous proportions, before they parted on Daniel's soft sigh of contentment. He longed to repeat it, even as he rued the initial event, and knew that pretending it had never happened would be one of the hardest things he would ever have to do.
But he knew he had to — for Daniel's sake.
Jack gazed again into the open, innocent face of his friend. "You're gonna let this tear you up, aren't you? Brand yourself as unfaithful, even though at the time, you thought you were kissing the right person."
Though he sought no comforting words for himself, he longed to offer solace to his friend. He rested his cheek companionably on the soft hair beneath it.
"Maybe you won't remember," he muttered into Daniel's temple, "I didn't. If Carter hadn't told me-"
"O'Neill."
"Damn it," Jack breathed. As much as he wanted Daniel out of this hole, he needed more time alone with him. Placing a soft kiss on Daniel's head, he whispered forcefully, "You just remember, none of this is your fault."
Pulling a deep breath, Jack let it out in a slow stream before he fingered his radio. "Go ahead, Teal'c."
"You were correct, O'Neill. I have found a break in the floor of a home nearby. I am shining my flashlight into it now."
Jack reached over and turned off his own flashlight. Waiting a minute for his eyes to adjust, he squinted into the darkness, scanning the ceiling for Teal'c's beam. Craning his neck backward, he spied it, a barely visible glow just over his right shoulder — and across the river.
"Teal'c, you're about ten meters upriver from us, but that hole's on the wrong side. If you come down there, you'll have to cross that torrent." Closing his eyes, Jack mentally placed himself at the gate and marked the mountains and the ruins from that point. Knowing that the river originated north of the mountain and ran under the ruins, he virtually tracked his and Daniel's trip to their current position. "You'll need to move northwest about twenty meters," he suggested.
"Understood, O'Neill. SG-7 has just arrived with rescue equipment. General Hammond has also sent a structural engineer to determine the safest place to come through."
No sooner had Teal'c's radio clicked off than another radio clicked on. "Colonel?"
That was no member of SG-7. Jack reached over and turned his flashlight back on.
"He's unconscious, Doc. He was awake briefly, but he went back under. He stopped shivering soon after I located him, but I wrapped him in blankets and climbed in the sleeping bag with him. Since then he's started shivering again. He's also been writhing and moaning, so I think he's experiencing the painful arousal in re-warming muscles."
Quirking his mouth in dismay at his inadvertent double entendre, even though no one but him would understand the slip, Jack tipped his head to look into Daniel's face.
Smiling at the color on the full lips, he announced, "He's not as blue anymore, either."
"I guess you'd know better than most what that means," Janet said quietly. Almost as an afterthought, she added, "You did good, sir."
Jack cringed at her praise. 'Yeah, if doing good means enjoying your friend's body while he's out of his mind from hypothermia.'
"What about his injuries?" Janet queried. "Captain Carter mentioned his hip."
Shaking himself from his self-recriminations, Jack concentrated on giving Daniel's doctor all pertinent information.
"Ah, he's got a knot on the back of his head and a laceration, about twenty centimeters long, on his left hip. It doesn't look too deep and it hasn't bled much since I found him." He released his radio for her response before he remembered, "Oh, and he's got some pretty nasty bruises just below his ribcage, but I didn't find any damage to the ribs themselves."
"That all sounds good, Colonel," Fraiser said reassuringly. "Is he breathing okay? What about his pulse?"
The soft gusts continued to fall against Jack's neck. "He's breathing fine, Doc. His heart rate did get a bit erratic when I first moved him, but it's since settled into a slow, steady rhythm."
"Okay. Hang tight, sir. They're getting ready to cut through the floor. Fraiser out."
"Hang tight, she says." Jack gently squeezed the man in his arms. "Not a problem, Doc. It's the letting go that's gonna be hard."
As though the tumult of his mind had been given voice, a distant roar split the air. Glancing over his shoulder, Jack caught a glimpse of sparks as the rescue team cut through the stone.
Knowing that their time was short, Jack again pressed his lips to Daniel's brow. "It won't be long now, buddy. Doc'll have you tucked up in one her warm infirmary beds before you know it."
Grasping the hand that rested limply against his collarbone, Jack kissed the fingertips and moved the appendage from its too-intimate position, weaving it back beneath the folds of the sleeping bag.
All too soon, the cavern was flooded with light and the tiny physician, followed closely by two medics, rappelled down into Jack and Daniel's seclusion.
Fraiser made quick work of checking Daniel over then she and the rescue team had him bundled in a hypothermia wrap and settled in a rescue litter. An oxygen mask, pumping heated air one of the medics said, was placed over his face.
While the rescue team had made sure Daniel was kept warm, no one gave a second thought to Jack's condition. When Daniel was lifted from him, Jack felt all the raw dampness of the cavern settle into his heart. Even with all of the rescue personnel surrounding them, at that moment, Jack had felt utterly alone, cold and bereft.
Just before they carried Daniel away, Major Cox promised Jack he'd return soon to get him. Jack watched Daniel until he disappeared through the hole in the ceiling, then he pushed himself up, cursing his stiff knees, and snagging his clothes from their resting place, he dressed mechanically. Though the material shielded his flesh from the chill, it did not begin to warm the cold place in his chest left by Daniel's absence.
"Colonel?"
Swinging his gaze to Cox, who waited beneath the gap, Jack turned back to the detritus of his time alone with Daniel. Snagging his flashlight and Daniel's handgun, he shoved them in one of the outside pockets of his backpack and trudged the short distance to the rope.
Glancing into the bright sunlight above, he pushed down the loss of what could be. Daniel was alive, but he had a long recovery ahead of him.
Stepping into the rescue harness, Jack gripped the cable as Cox attached it. He nodded sharply, a signal to the rescuer that he was secure. But also a signal to himself that he had to let go of his dream that there could be more than what he had had here.
As he ascended to the real world, Jack made a resolution. For Daniel he could do it, leave their one moment of intimacy here in the darkness, never to be spoken of again. Daniel had a wife and therefore had no need for anything more from Jack than friendship and support. Never mind that Jack longed to give him everything he had. That was his problem. For Daniel, he could parcel himself out.
"...It could have been a lot worse," Jack heard Daniel say as he neared the curtain- shielded bed. "If you hadn't badgered me to zip my vest, I'd likely have more than just this discomfort in my chest to complain about."
When no one responded after a few seconds, Jack wondered whether Daniel was practicing a conversation yet to take place. A visible stirring against the curtain dispelled that notion as did the second voice that finally sounded.
"Still, you could have been killed. I never should have left you there alone-"
"Don't," Daniel barked. "It wasn't your fault... well, not entirely, anyway. First of all, I talked you into letting me stay, and secondly, if I had come back when I said I would, instead of exploring the rest of the building, I wouldn't have fallen through the floor."
"Somehow I don't think Colonel O'Neill or General Hammond is going to see it that way," the glum voice that Jack finally recognized as Major Horne's said.
"I can't promise anything," Daniel responded encouragingly, "but Jack's had enough experience with my stubborn refusal to follow protocol that he's bound to admit that, short of throwing me over your shoulder and carrying me back to camp with you, there wasn't a whole lot you could have done to prevent this."
Jack's eyebrows rose at the major's knowing snort.
"So those stories are true, huh?" Horne chuckled. After a moment he sighed a more sober, "Thanks, Daniel."
Detecting the curtain's disturbance as Horne made his way from behind it; Jack scooted two beds down and waited for Horne to emerge. In spite of Daniel's insistence that his ordeal was his own fault, Jack had no intention of letting Horne off the hook too easily.
Horne came around the curtain with his head down, and as he closed in on Jack's location, the colonel stepped into his pathway so that the junior officer nearly ran headlong into him. Reaching out, Jack gripped strong shoulders and righted SG-6's 2IC.
"Major Horne."
"Colonel O'Neill. I, ah, I heard Dr. Jackson was allowed visitors..."
For the past three days Fraiser had limited Daniel's interactions to the medical staff, the general and Jack. Aside from the hypothermia, Daniel had also had to fight an infection in his hip wound from the dirty river. He had finally fully surfaced from the sickness and drug induced haze in the early hours that morning.
"Yeah, I was just..." Jack gestured at the curtain.
"Oh, by all means. I was leaving." Horne smiled awkwardly and shot a glance back towards the bed in which the SGC's premier archaeologist was ensconced. When he turned back Jack inwardly smiled at the unmistakable look of admiration in the light brown eyes.
"You know, he's okay," Horne confided.
"Yeah, I do know," Jack agreed, immediately rethinking his plan to punish Horne severely.
Nodding respectfully, the major headed for the infirmary exit.
'Ahh. Another convert.'
Jack knew just how he felt. He had underestimated Daniel's worth himself once. In that case it had taken Daniel's actual death for Jack to understand just how valuable Daniel Jackson was. 'Thank god that extreme wasn't necessary this time.'
Physically shaking the specter of morbid thoughts from his mind, Jack marched to Daniel's bed and slipped around the curtain.
Daniel had his journal open on the roll away table, his pen precariously balanced in the fingers of his right hand to avoid the still-painful areas that had been filleted when he pulled himself out of the river. He looked up as Jack appeared at his side.
"Hey." Jack flashed him a quick smile. "How you feeling?"
Daniel dropped the pen and leaned back into his pillows. All of the wires and tubes he had acquired over the last few days, save the ever-present IV, were gone.
"Tired. Now that Janet's letting me have visitors, the flow's been non-stop. Sam and Teal'c were here earlier. And just now-"
"Major Horne. I know. I, ah, I ran into him as I was coming in." Jack's lips quirked sideways, causing Daniel's brow to jerk upward. "I'm expecting him to request membership in the Daniel Jackson fan club, you know."
The corners of Daniel's lips followed his eyes in a downward shift. "It wasn't his fault, Jack."
"Okay." Jack conceded, allowing the subject of Major Horne to die. "See you got your glasses back."
Gripping the frames near his right temple, Daniel adjusted the lenses. "Yeah, thanks."
Jack nodded, and Daniel went back to examining the table top. He pressed his thumbs against the bottom edge of his journal, his fingers nervously caressing the leather cover.
"Thanks for the rescue, too, by the way," Daniel said to cover the silence. As the words left his lips he recalled how he had initially encouraged himself with the thought that Jack would come for him, only to castigate himself later for relying so heavily on the older man. Shifting his gaze to quickly rake Jack's seemingly ill-at-ease posture, he surmised he was not the only one who was conflicted.
"I thought at one point I heard you calling me down there in that cavern, but, honestly, I was so out of it, I probably imagined the whole thing." Daniel's embarrassed smile turned earnest. "I never doubted you'd be there for me though."
Not knowing what sort of response he was expecting, or even if he expected one at all, Daniel was nevertheless disappointed when Jack turned away from him.
Catching sight of Daniel's lunch tray on the bedside table, Jack lifted the protective cover from the plate. Little furrows lined the mashed potatoes, but the portion size didn't appear to have been reduced. A small mound of peas lay next to the untouched chicken.
"How long are we going to ignore it?"
"It?" Startling slightly, Jack practically dropped the cover over the plate.
"That honkin' big elephant leaning against the wall behind you."
Jack automatically turned in the direction Daniel indicated then snapped back, a chagrined smirk lifting the corners of his mouth.
Offering a small self-satisfied smile, Daniel gestured to the foot of his bed. "Open the curtain, would you. We need to talk but I think it would be safer to know if anyone else is within earshot."
Jack grasped the curtain and walked it around to the other side of Daniel's bed, fully exposing the occupant, and allowing them both to see the comings and going of the nurses.
Daniel gently cleared his throat. "I know what you did for me, Jack."
"Hey," Jack said dismissively, "you're a member of my team. You needed help. I helped."
Pulling his mouth tight, his grimace conveying his dissatisfaction with Jack's pat answer, Daniel glanced over the rims of his glasses.
"But it's not that simple is it? I'm not just a member of your team." Daniel cut off abruptly, pushing himself higher in the bed when a nurse approached. She went directly to Daniel's discarded lunch tray and lifted the lid.
"You didn't eat much." Her eyes showed none of the reprimand her voice conveyed.
Daniel shrugged. "I guess I was a little overconfident. After two days of nothing but liquids the chicken sounded good, but I don't think my stomach agreed with my dietary choice."
She smiled sympathetically. "I can get you some soup."
"Soup would be good, thanks."
Nodding amiably in the Colonel's direction, she lifted the tray and went to fill Daniel's order.
Once she was gone, Daniel glanced at Jack, who had turned and was nearly hiding his face behind the curtain. Deciding that the best tact was to continue as though they hadn't been interrupted, Daniel said quietly, "It can't have been easy for you. That up close and personal contact, intimate really, knowing... what we talked about a few weeks ago."
"I dealt with it, okay," Jack hissed through tightly clenched teeth.
Daniel turned inquiring eyes on Jack, studying him as closely as any of the various artifacts he has encountered over the years. "Why are you angry?"
Trying to make it seem he was doing anything but, Jack avoided Daniel's stare. "Why do we have to talk about it? I did what I had to do. It's over."
Daniel's face crumpled slightly. "Then you've changed your mind about..."
"God, Daniel, no." Jack's response to the grief in Daniel's voice was automatic, pushing his own despair into the background.
Taking a step towards the younger man, Jack paused, looking around to make sure they were unobserved. "When things are resolved with Sha're, I will be here, waiting." His eyes dropped to his hands kneading convulsively at chest level. "If you decide it's me you want."
Daniel opened his mouth to reassure Jack that his feelings hadn't changed, but his brain swerved mid-thought, its course redirected by the pain-filled cringe that bowed Jack's shoulders. With his usual extraordinary insight, Daniel understood.
Smiling softly, he closed his eyes returning to the damp, cold air of the underground cavern. The body beneath his infusing comfort as well as heat.
"I knew it was you, Jack." His eyelids twitched open, blue eyes seeking brown. "I think I meant it to be goodbye but... that kiss changed everything."
Daniel's gaze shifted over Jack's shoulder. "These last few weeks haven't been easy, you know that. Wanting so desperately what I can't have. In that cavern, I lay there listening to the river rush by and I thought what an absolutely perfect backdrop it was for the turbulent state of my soul." Ashamed to even voice the thought, he lowered his eyes and said softly, "And I wondered if I even wanted to go on — not that I wanted to die but... going back to the same situation I ran away from..."
"Daniel." Jack laid a comforting hand on Daniel's arm.
"I had pretty much made up my mind to tell you it was a mistake to confess my feelings like that." Unable to bear Jack's reaction at that pronouncement, Daniel kept his head down. "And when I woke up in your arms, your lips mere inches from mine, I thought..." Daniel grinned. "No, that's not right. There wasn't any thought involved. It was all instinctual — what better way to say goodbye than with a kiss?"
Irresistibly drawn to his center, Daniel's eyes again sought Jack's. A joyful smile lit his face. "And then you kissed me back and... suddenly saying goodbye seemed like a very bad decision."
Jack released a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding, the air whooshing from his lungs, taking all of his guilt and dread with it.
Daniel raised his arm, tugging slightly on the IV tubing, and moved it across his body, placing his hand on top of the hand Jack rested on his other arm. "My whole life's been unsettled since Sha're was taken... I was figuratively swept away in a raging river almost two years ago, just as surely as that underground river literally took me on a wild ride the other day."
'Kinda the way I've been swept away by my feelings for you,' he added silently.
Daniel shook his head and dragged his focus back to his main point. "There have been times when that river has tossed me around until I felt helpless, useless.
"But no matter how rough the current got, you were always there, the rock in the middle of the stream. The place where I sought shelter. My solid ground.
"You are not the problem. And pushing you away was not one of my brightest moves," he concluded, laughing softly.
"What I said..." Daniel sobered instantly, "I know it probably complicates things. But, I don't regret saying it, and I'm not gonna take it back.
"I don't expect you to respond in kind, in fact, I'm not sure I'd know what to do if you did respond in kind..." Daniel purposefully slowed his tongue which had unexpectedly taken his thoughts and run with them. "There's no resolution in sight," he said matter-of-factly, "We don't even know where Sha're is."
Jack, watching their entwined hands, nodded acknowledgment of that truth.
Daniel studied him, considering. Finally, he added, "As much as I hope to get back the Sha're Apophis took from me, I'm not sure I believe any more that that's possible." He sighed heavily. "But I'm not ready to give up on her, Jack." Daniel straightened in his pillows as Jack's eyes rose to meet his.
"I don't want you to give up," Jack replied, his earnest gaze warming Daniel's soul every bit as much as his body had warmed Daniel's hypothermia.
"But, I need you, too," Daniel asserted, "and I know it's incredibly selfish for me to ask-"
"So, don't ask." Jack squeezed Daniel's hand. "Just know that I'll be here. Whenever you need me."
Daniel's bottom lip quivered briefly. "I'm counting on that," he breathed.
Spying the nurse returning with Daniel's soup, Jack slid his hand from beneath Daniel's. "Why don't I let you finish your lunch? I need to get with Carter anyway about some doohickey she's wanting to study. I'll come back later."
Keenly aware that any outward sign of his delight at the prospect of Jack's return would be inappropriate in the presence of a third party, Daniel let his eyes convey his joy.
"I look forward to it." Daniel's smile broadened with the realization that he really did.
Nodding his farewell to the nurse who placed a bowl of soup on the table in front of Daniel, Jack patted the younger man's arm and left him to his lunch.
Pausing at the exit he turned back and watched his archaeologist inhale deeply of the aroma wafting from the bowl, a serene glow lighting his countenance.
"Lots to look forward to," he said decisively and went to find Carter.
The End
