Broken Trust

an epilogue to the episode “The Curse” – because it sorely needed one – by Setcheti

Disclaimer: I don’t own them, because if I did Daniel would still be there. ;) No infringement to the copyright holders of Stargate SG-1 and related characters intended, this story is for entertainment only and no money was made by the author.

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Jack O’Neill clipped down the long corridor to the briefing room in a bit of a huff. He and Teal’c had just gotten back from their fishing trip and hadn’t even had time to unpack or change clothes before they were informed by Hammond’s aide that they had to come to a briefing right now. It could only mean something had happened, something important, while he was ‘incommunicado’ in Minnesota. He reflected to himself briefly that ‘disabling’ the cell phone might not have been such a good idea in the long run…but they’d needed a break, dammit! And he’d told the general that before they left, and Hammond had agreed.

Besides, if it had been that bad someone would have come after them, right?

That thought was still nagging at him when he and Teal’c reached the briefing room and walked in. It looked like everyone was there which was a good thing, but…Jack blinked, his eyes not ready for the dim light in the usually bright room. “Hey, campers, I’ve heard of energy conservation but this is ridiculous! Tell you all what, I’ll chip in for the light bill this month, okay?” And then he reached out and flicked the dimmer switch all the way up.

Several things happened at once. Daniel let out an involuntary cry of pain and threw up one arm to cover his eyes, Janet jumped out of her seat to rush to his side and Sam pushed Jack out of the way none too gently so she could turn the lights back down. “Colonel O’Neill,” Hammond rumbled with tired irritation from his seat at the head of the table. “It is customary to ask before you change the conditions in a room to suit yourself. Dr. Jackson, are you all right? We can postpone…”

“It just…took me by surprise, General,” Daniel interrupted in a pained voice. “I’m okay.”

Hammond locked eyes with Janet, who frowned but nodded. “Well then, let’s get this meeting underway. O’Neill, since this is all mainly for yours and Teal’c’s benefit, if the two of you would please take your seats…”

The two men traded puzzled looks but did as they were told, and as soon as they had settled into their chairs the blue light of a projector cut across the table to light up a screen on the wall with a picture of an Egyptian-looking artifact. “This is one of the two supposed canopic jars of Isis and Osiris, the one which contained the dead Gou’ald which we assume to have been Isis,” Daniel said. “You can see that beside the hieroglyphs is a line of Gou’ald markings…”

Jack was trying not to yawn through the next six slides of artifacts and their accompanying descriptions, but he sat up a little straighter in his chair when the seventh slide filled the screen with a photograph of a pretty blonde woman. “That’s an archaeologist?”

“That is the current host of Osiris, formerly known as Dr. Sarah Baker,” Daniel told him but without looking in his direction; Jack suddenly noticed that Daniel was wearing a pair of dark glasses that reflected the light from the projector. “And yes, she was an archaeologist.”

The colonel frowned. “I don’t remember ever seeing her around here, when did she join the SGC?”

“She didn’t, Colonel,” Hammond answered. “Dr. Baker knew nothing about the SGC, thank God.”

“Because if she had, Osiris would know it now too,” Sam added. “And she wouldn’t have been trying to get the information out of Daniel.”

Teal’c sat up a little straighter. “Daniel Jackson, is this situation which caused you to call and ask for my assistance?”

Daniel didn’t look at him, either. “We…didn’t know how bad things were when I called you, Teal’c. And everything moved pretty quickly after that.”

“We did try to contact you,” Hammond added. “Your cell phone was out of service.” The look on his face said they’d be talking about that later and it might not be pleasant. “So when Dr. Raynor skipped the country for Egypt I sent Dr. Jackson, Major Carter and Dr. Frasier after him.” The general’s inclusion of Frasier had been a spur of the moment decision, based mainly on the fact that he’d been worried about Jackson but circumstances hadn’t given him opportunity to talk to the young scientist about everything that had been going on. And so much had gone on…too much for one man to handle alone. Hammond wasn’t happy at all that Daniel Jackson had been forced to try. Again. “Unfortunately, they didn’t get to him before Osiris did. Dr. Frasier, have we had any updates on Dr. Raynor’s condition?”

“I spoke to our liason in Cairo, Dr. Raynor is in stable condition and if they can keep him that way he could be shipped back home in a few weeks,” the doctor answered. “The word also is that he has apparently accepted the cover story Daniel concocted before we left and is now convinced that the things he ‘thought’ he saw were delusions caused by an incipient nervous breakdown.” A slight smile twitched her lips, but Hammond could tell it had very little amusement behind it. “He is also apparently blaming the whole thing on Daniel and his ‘crazy theories’.”

Jack snorted softly. “Nice friend you’ve got there, Daniel.”

The archaeologist’s near-humorless smile was a close cousin to Janet’s. “Someone who tries to get me accused of murder isn’t one of my friends.”

“Murder?” Teal’c rumbled. The Jaffa’s expression had gone from placid-unhappy to dangerous-unhappy. “This person attempted to have you incarcerated, Daniel Jackson?”

“Uh, yeah.” Daniel fidgeted with the papers in front of him. “But everything was fine once I convinced them to call General Hammond.” He glanced up briefly. “Did I remember to thank you for that, sir?”

Hammond bit back a chuckle in spite of the fact that the question worried him. “Several times, Dr. Jackson – and you’re welcome, again, but backing up one of my people is a part of my job I’m always happy to do.”

“So what happened to Osiris?” Jack wanted to know. “I’m guessing you didn’t get him…her…whatever.”

“There was a ship hidden under the sand near the pyramid,” Sam answered him. “She used transport rings to get away, but she said she’d be back.”

“Osiris is not too happy with us,” Daniel said with typical understatement. “We didn’t know that Sarah had been possessed by Osiris until we got to the pyramid, but before that in Chicago she’d tried to pressure me into telling her about what I’d been doing several times by harking back to our past relationship – first by apologizing and being sympathetic, then hinting around that there still might be something between us, and finally by employing recriminations and guilt. Osiris was very clever, I never suspected a thing.”

“But you didn’t tell her anything?” Jack asked disbelievingly. “You two had history, she knew all the right buttons to push, and you’re saying you didn’t spill even one little bean here?”

“The world isn’t ready to know what we know,” was his answer, but even the dim light and concealing dark glasses couldn’t hide the flash of hurt that crossed the archaeologist’s face. “I do understand the meaning of the word ‘classified’, Jack.”

“We know you do, son,” Hammond said. “Your commitment to the secrecy of this project was commendable, especially under the circumstances.” He shot a quick look at Frasier, who nodded almost imperceptibly and tapped her watch. “Well, I think that was enough of an update for O’Neill and Teal’c, and as for Osiris we’ll just have to keep our eyes open and be ready in case she returns. Dismissed, people.”

The meeting was over. Janet went back to Daniel’s side when he stood up and the archaeologist favored the small doctor with a tired smile. “You could just give me a white cane, you know?”

Janet smiled and patted his arm. “And if I did that, how long would it be before I found you someplace you weren’t supposed to be doing work you weren’t supposed to do? Nope, you can just indulge me by letting me lead you around.”

Daniel’s smile broadened a little. “Well, if I’m indulging you, I guess it’s all right.” He gathered up everything that was in front of him, plopping the slide cartridge on top of all, and then settled the pile in the crook of his left arm before offering his right to Janet. “But if you lead me into a wall, you have to pick up my slides.”

“I’ve picked up worse things,” the doctor quipped back, and the two of them began to move toward the door, Daniel shuffling a little as though unsure of his footing.

Sam turned the lights back up at a nod from Janet and Jack sucked in a startled breath; the glasses Daniel was wearing only partly concealed the painful red splash of a ribbon burn between his eyes, and there were bruises at his throat that could only have been made by someone’s fingers. O’Neill opened his mouth and took a step forward, but Hammond’s voice stopped him. “Colonel O’Neill, if you and Teal’c would resume your seats, I think we need to have a talk about being ‘incommunicado’…”

An hour later, Jack found himself standing just inside the partially open door of Daniel’s office, staring across the crowded space to the couch against the far wall where the archaeologist was sprawled in what looked like an uncomfortable position. Even asleep pain was evident in the drawn lines of his face and the dark circles under his eyes, and Jack’s guilt was deepening by the minute as the briefing/reprimand Hammond had just given he and Teal’c replayed itself in his mind. Two round trips to Chicago and one to Egypt, the funeral of his old mentor, the antagonism of his former colleagues…and the loss of someone who’d been more than that, capped off by interrogation via ribbon device and the promise of the Gou’ald to return someday for revenge. And where had his good buddy Jack been?

Jack had been sitting in a lawn chair in Minnesota, drinking beer and pretending to fish. And he had forced Teal’c to do the same. Teal’c had wanted to come back early, to help Daniel.

And Jack had hung up the phone and thrown the battery away, without even finding out what was going on. Daniel had reached out to them…and Jack had flippantly told him goodbye.

O’Neill was still lost in his musings when Janet startled him out of them by slipping past him into the room and going straight to the couch. He heard her murmuring softly to Daniel and saw her pull a syringe out of the pocket of her lab coat and inject its contents into the archaeologist’s arm. After a few moments she stood up and covered him with a blanket before heading back out of the room, grabbing Jack’s arm on the way and dragging him out with her and then shutting the door behind them. “Go away, Colonel. Daniel needs to rest,” she said firmly. “You can talk to him later - tomorrow, maybe.”

Jack looked at the closed door and then back at the doctor with a confused frown. “What did you just give him?”

“A sedative and a painkiller,” was the matter-of-fact reply. “He has to have a dose every three hours.”

“Why the hell isn’t he in the infirmary?”

Janet gave him a look that could have boiled water. “Because he feels better on the couch in his office,” she snapped. “If he said he’d feel better sitting on a swing in the park eating pistachio ice cream, I would drive him to Baskin Robbins. Right now whatever he wants he’s going to get, no matter what it is…because there is nothing else we can do for him.”

Jack winced. Hammond had already read him the riot act, and Teal’c had told him in his blunt way that he would never again go on vacation with him alone and had been seconded by the general. I realize you needed some time away, Colonel, Hammond had rumbled sternly. But you abused the trust that was given you – by myself and by the members of your team. Maybe you’ve forgotten, but you are an Air Force officer twenty four/seven, not just when you’re on duty. I should never have had to send Dr. Frasier out into the field to do your job for you, and if Dr. Jackson wasn’t one of the most tenacious men I’ve ever met we probably would have lost all three of them to Osiris.

Janet was talking again. “I’m sure the general has already torn strips off of you, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to rip a few myself.” The doctor still had Jack’s arm and was dragging him along with her as she marched back to the infirmary. Once they were within the privacy of her office she lit into him again. “I’m not sure how much General Hammond told you, but have you ever been to Egypt, Colonel? Do you know anything about it?”

O’Neill shrugged. “I know there are pyramids there and lots of sand and once there were Gou’ald all over the place. All I need to know.”

“And how much do you know about the aftereffects of a ribbon device?”

“I know it hurts,” was the flip answer; Jack was starting to feel defensive. “I know it pretty much lays out whoever’s on the receiving end.”

“Exactly.” Janet folded her arms across her chest and fixed him with a pointed look. “And Daniel was on the receiving end…but he didn’t have the luxury of being ‘laid out’, as you put it. Egyptian society can be a lot like the Middle East where women are concerned, so instead of giving in to his need to pass out Daniel was forced to keep himself conscious all the way back to Cairo for the sake of Sam and I and Dr. Raynor. Daniel had to drive the jeep because he was the only one who knew the desert, he was the one who had to translate for us to get Dr. Raynor into a hospital, and he was the one who had to get us back to the airstrip so we could come home.” She scowled. “Dr. Raynor, by the way – since I know you weren’t paying any attention during the briefing – found evidence that all of Daniel’s theories were correct, concealed what he knew and then stole one of the artifacts and snuck off to Egypt with it to try to claim the discovery for himself.”

Jack’s eyebrows climbed up into his hairline; he thought he’d been paying more attention than that. “He found evidence…”

“Carbon dating,” the doctor elaborated. “Incontrovertible proof that the Egyptian civilization was every bit as old as Daniel originally said it was. And not only did we go in and wipe out every trace of that proof in the interest of national security, Daniel had to make up the lies himself that will probably destroy what’s left of his reputation.” The colonel flinched, but Janet wasn’t about to cut him any slack. “I hope your ‘vacation’ was worth it, Colonel,” she said acidly, and then walked to her office door and pointedly held it open for him to leave. “Maybe in a few days when he’s feeling better, you can tell Daniel how much fun you had while you were gone.”

It was the sound of Janet’s door slamming behind him that shook Jack out of the fog of shock her words had enveloped him in and he didn’t lose any time leaving the infirmary and heading in the general direction of his own office. At the elevator he encountered Teal’c, and not much to his surprise was greeted with what he’d often referred to as the Jaffa’s ‘I should squash you like an insect’ look. “I’m guessing you’ve been talking to Carter, haven’t you?”

“Major Carter had much to say,” Teal’c rumbled. “She feels some sympathy for you; I, however, do not.”

Jack made a face. “Teal’c, you know that if I’d had any idea what was going on we would have been back here in a heartbeat, right? You know that.”

“I do.” There wasn’t any give in the deep voice, though. “However, had you only listened or allowed me to when Daniel Jackson called us, you would have known the situation.” Teal’c took a deep breath and drew himself up to his full height. “O’Neill, you acted with dishonor and shamed us both. You will not do it again.”

That was a clear threat, but Jack knew he’d earned it and so let it go. “No, I won’t,” he said seriously. “I made an error in judgment and Daniel paid the price, and unfortunately there’s nothing I can do to go back and change that. But I know I owe him and I won’t forget it.”

The dark eyes narrowed. “You had best not – because I will not forget either.” And without another word Teal’c stalked away down the corridor, leaving his team leader in his wake.

-30-