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Running.
Daniel fled through the alien woodland, pounding feet crunching softly on accumulating powdery snow, darting glances behind his shoulder toward the soldiers chasing him. Fatigued leg muscles begged for rest. The tattered remains of a tight, abrasive cord gnawed at his wrist atop dried blood from his efforts to remove it. His chest heaved with panting breaths that sent plumes of steam swirling in front of his face.
Shouts from behind called out. They had seen him! Daniel put on as much speed as he could manage without losing his balance on the uneven ground. A river loomed straight ahead with steep banks and swift-flowing water swirling around intermittent rocks jutting out above the surface. Daniel screeched to a halt, ragged breaths tearing from laboring lungs, sweat trickling down his back despite the cold air, and peered over the riverbank at the burbling water. He shivered, knowing the water would be ice cold.
“There he is!” cried a soldier. Daniel whirled, overcome with indecision, finding a group of soldiers with guns drawing closer. One of them raised his weapon.
Daniel made a snap decision. With as much strength as he could muster, he leapt off the bank and into the river at the same time an explosive blast issued from behind. A thud of impact slammed into his right shoulder. An instant later his body hit the frigid water. Breath stolen by the chill, he gasped sharply and his already tired muscles seized. He began to slip beneath the surface, dragged down by the powerful current.
This awoke his survival instinct in full force. Legs kicked. Arms flailed in a poor approximation of swimming. Something was wrong with the right one – it wouldn’t move properly, and pain lurked beneath the surface, nipping at him like a hungry animal. Numb, Daniel awkwardly swam one-armed, fighting the current, fighting the cold, thinking only to keep his head above water, knowing he was alone and no one would come to save him.
Two Hours Earlier
“Fall back, fall back!”
Jack’s urgent shout filled the air. Gunfire peppered the area. From his position near the Stargate, Jack opened fire on the attackers, weaving and dodging and rolling as they fired back from positions surrounding his team. Damned aliens had hid all along the rocky, hilly landscape until SG-1 emerged from the Stargate, then launched their attack.
Opposite his position, Teal’c ducked behind a boulder and fired his staff weapon, making a couple of lucky shots and splitting up a knot of soldiers. Carter and the Jaffa were closest to the DHD; with some careful maneuvering, one or both could probably reach it and dial them the hell out of here.
Jack’s radio crackled. “Sir, they’re trying to flank you from the west,” warned Carter.
“Copy that!”
Jack saw with dismay that the majority of the fire was being directed toward Daniel and himself. Jack was proud to see Daniel giving them hell with his Beretta. Who would have expected that after only three years of training. Despite his relative lack of experience, the guy had a knack for surprising you and a determination that would rival the most hardened soldier, especially when it came to defending his friends.
Thoughts of his recent undercover operation with the Tollan and the Asgard came sharply to mind as he stood there on that alien world, fighting to protect his team. The things he’d had to do, the things he’d had to say, especially to Daniel, the friend who had few other friends in his life, cycled through his mind. Once the operation was over, Daniel had seemed to forgive him, to recognize that his comments about the foundation upon which their friendship was built remained sturdy and strong. Yet Jack sensed a distance between them, and he sensed that Daniel was avoiding him. It felt similar to how Daniel behaved after the incident with Ma’chello’s Goa’uld killers. Jack shook his head to dispel these thoughts, taking another shot, hoping he could make the time to talk to Daniel after they were safely back at the SGC to make sure everything was good between them and to rectify anything that was not.
A bullet streaked toward Jack, much too close, bringing him back to the present moment. He realized he still had no idea what the people of this world wanted or why they were attacking, though to be fair he wasn’t really paying much attention to their speech while his team were being shot at.
“Hey Daniel, what the hell’s goin’ on?” he called to his archeologist, who usually paid more attention to words than bullets, often to his detriment.
“They say we defiled their Sacred Ring,” Daniel shouted over the noise of battle. “I think the Stargate might be a shrine where they worship their ‘gods most high’.”
“For cryin’ out loud.” Jack sincerely hoped those gods were not Goa’uld. “They seem to especially love you and me,” he said sarcastically.
“Maybe because we came through the ‘gate first?” Daniel offered.
Jack grimaced while he took another shot. Damn, this was supposed to be a simple recon mission, but the locals had hopelessly complicated the matter.
While he was pondering this, Carter had nearly reached the DHD. She was about to dial when she looked up and saw, as Jack did, something like a small arrow or dart hit Daniel squarely in the shoulder. He let out a surprised gasp, then dropped his gun and crumpled like a sack of bricks.
“Daniel!” shouted Carter as Daniel was immediately seized by a group of men dressed differently from the soldiers who had come into view, and Jack understood that these had shot Daniel with the dart. They rapidly bound and dragged him away while more of them fired darts at SG-1 and the gun-wielding soldiers.
Well, wasn’t this a nice big mess. Everybody was shooting at one another and SG-1 was overwhelmed.
“Carter! Dial us out,” shouted Jack, firing on the nearest groups of soldiers and dart-wielders and moving in the direction of the Stargate.
“But sir—”
“That’s an order! We’ll come back for him with reinforcements. We’re not gonna leave him behind!”
“Yes, sir.” Carter dialed, hands slapping the glyphs with lightning speed, and dashed toward the newly-formed wormhole while Teal’c ran beside her, laying down staff fire.
Something whizzed by Jack’s arm. He looked down to find a thin line of blood from a hairline scratch on the back of his hand. He raised his head and spotted a man dressed in the tan-colored robes of the dart-wielders holding something like a miniature crossbow from which he must have been shooting those darts from.
A vague, dizzy-lightheaded feeling washed over Jack and he suddenly felt very sleepy. The darts were obviously tipped with some kind of night-night juice. A full dose had not entered his bloodstream, which meant Jack was able to get off a succession of shots that took out the bowman, and he was able to crawl into a shallow hidden trench in the land behind a formation of boulders before he passed out.
Present Time
Daniel finally washed up on the opposite shore of the river, body numb from the cold, right arm dangling uselessly at his side. It was much less steep here than on the other side, for which Daniel thanked the universe. Crawling got him out of the water and somehow he managed to stand. Uneven staggering steps brought him away from the riverbank onto dry land.
Silence reigned. There was no sign of his pursuers, and Daniel let out his breath in a whoosh of relief. But soon the adrenaline began to fade and the trembling set in. A couple inches of snow had fallen, turning the world white. Daniel looked down. Frigid, bloody water dripped from sopping clothes. A deep and terrible aching pain exploded in his right shoulder and back, causing him to bite back a cry of agony. Shot… he’d been shot… with a gun. That was much worse than the dart. His legs liquefied and he collapsed and curled into the smallest ball his six-foot frame could manage.
Glacial air raked at his wet body, increasing the icy cold enveloping him. He quickly lapsed into convulsive shivers, teeth chattering, limbs shaking so badly he couldn’t move them voluntarily. The snow beneath him turned slushy red as the blood leaked from the bullet wound.
There was no one to help him. Jack wasn’t coming; their friendship meant nothing. Frost worked its way into his mind, until his very thoughts stalled, frozen in place within his synapses. Only one thought made it through the subzero cold of his brain, oozing like sluggish drips of molasses.
I’m sorry.
Two Hours Earlier
Consciousness seeped gradually into Jack’s lethargic brain. The awareness of light bled into closed eyelids, and with it came the realization that it was very quiet – no sounds of fighting could be heard at all. A feeling of wrongness lurked in the corners of his thoughts, the knowledge that something bad had happened.
Memory crashed down: Daniel shot with a tranquilizer dart and taken somewhere, his own hand grazed by the same thing. His eyes fluttered open to find himself lying in a little depression in the land hidden by rocks and scrubby bushes.
A cold breeze whispered across his face. A glance around showed that he still had all of his weapons and gear nearby, so he brushed dirt and debris off the daypack and donned it, then picked up his MP5 and checked the magazine. Finding it empty, Jack ejected the spent clip and loaded a new one into place.
He plucked the radio from his vest and tried to contact his team, but there was no answer. Judging by the time, he estimated he hadn’t been unconscious for more than ten or fifteen minutes, which meant a search party had not likely been mobilized yet. He put the radio away and sighted through his binoculars, spying a lone soldier standing up on a ridge speaking into some kind of communicator. Five more patrolled the clearing around the Stargate. He saw none of the men with the darts.
Jack stowed the binoculars, still crouching unseen in the concealing underbrush, and thought. Either he could wait by the ‘gate for Carter and Teal’c and whomever Hammond decided to send across, or he could try to find Daniel himself. Time was of the essence, so he made his choice and began to make his way in the direction the locals had taken his archeologist.
Present Time
Alone.
Always alone.
Bitter images lay claim to Daniel’s frozen mind. His thoughts crept toward dark places.
Not much of a foundation, huh? You couldn’t relate to me any more than I could relate to you. The words of an undercover agent, or something more?
Shivers tapered off. Sleep crept in, dousing Daniel’s brain with shut-down signals, and suddenly, nothing mattered anymore. He sank gradually deeper and deeper into stupor, not caring that he was slipping away. The temptation to rest, to lay down his burdens and never have to worry again beckoned to him, calling for him to just let go. Jack was gone; their friendship meant nothing.
Daniel was on the verge of surrender when a voice suddenly cut through the haze of slumber – a familiar, insistent voice laced with worry, accompanied by a string of exclaimed curses. Warmth and crushing pressure was applied to the back of his shoulder by hands so hot they blazed like fire.
Lightheaded and dizzy, Daniel moaned in pain. His eyes fluttered open. He was surprised by who he saw through the blurry haze of myopic eyes robbed of their frames. “J-J-J-Jack,” he managed to say, his jaw vibrating with renewed shivers.
“Geez Daniel… you’re in big trouble, you know that?”
“I-I’m s-s-s-sorry. D-didn’t think y-you cared.”
“Daniel, what the hell are you talking about? Of course I care. What on earth would make you say a thing like that?”
“C-c-cold… d-don’t f-feel s-so good,” Daniel stuttered.
“Yeah, you’re not lookin’ too hot either,” came Jack’s reply. His palm pressed against Daniel’s cheek, the heat of it like a brand against frigid skin. “In fact, you’re freezin’ cold and soaking wet.”
Daniel said nothing, too weak and confused from exposure and blood loss. Jack’s great strong arms wrapped around him, lifting him gently to settle around his shoulders. He hung limply, unable to offer assistance, shivering vigorously against Jack’s warm back. He bit back a moan as his injury was shifted.
Floating through a haze of extreme cold and pain, Daniel vaguely felt it when Jack set him down on something hard and severed the cord binding his wrists. He soon felt Jack tugging off his sodden shirt beneath the thermal blankets draped around his shoulders. “Next time you decide to take a dip, try to do it in the pool when it’s summertime, not in an icy river, yeah?” he quipped, pulling one of his own spare shirts over Daniel’s head.
“I’ll tttrrryyy,” Daniel stuttered thickly, his words slurring into one another and losing their crisply-defined edges.
Next came his pants and underwear beneath another blanket that covered his lower half. The fact that he was naked from the waist down in front of Jack flitted through his brain, but the thought soon fizzled away with the twin prospects of being warm and not being alone.
Jack was here… he’d come back, and was apparently taking care of him. Did that mean he wanted to be friends again? Could Daniel trust that he wouldn’t change his mind and leave him here?
One Hour Later
"J-Jack… I'mmm sssstill cccold."
Lying on the floor of the sheltered cave and wrapped in thermal blankets, Daniel shivered and shook. Jack drew over from the entrance where he’d been keeping watch and knelt beside him.
"I know. I talked to Carter. She and Teal’c will be here as soon as they can with a med team.”
“Wh-what happened?”
Jack sighed as Daniel’s short-term memory loss manifested. “You were captured by a bunch of guys with darts. I dunno how, but you got away, and jumped in an ice-cold river. You lost a lot of blood. You got shot, you know. Gotta stop doing that."
“M-my shoulder hurts.”
“Yeah, because you got shot, dumbass. Looks like the bullet’s still lodged in there. Don’t worry, Fraiser’ll get it out.”
Daniel squinted at him, then reached a tremulous, shaking hand toward Jack’s face, stopping just short of touching the stubble-lined cheek. “You’re… you’re really here, right? I’m not hallucinating?”
“Yep. Wish I weren’t, though.”
“Because our friendship was a lie?”
Jack sat down beside Daniel with bent legs and hands clasped together loosely in front of him. “Aw hell, Daniel. I had to let you think it was, remember? I had to say those things because my house was bugged and I couldn’t tell you what was going on. I don’t want to be here because it’s dark and cold and I can barely feel my ass, not because I’m here with you. Believe it or not, I actually like spending time with you.”
A skeptical eyebrow arched.
"It's true. C'mon, when we get back, I'll take ya fishing, promise."
Blue eyes searched brown, looking for any hint of subterfuge, looking for a confirmation of truth in Jack’s words. Those piercing blue eyes searched long and deep, staring into Jack’s soul with a brief moment of clarity. The jerky bob of Daniel’s head was a seal of acceptance: he’d passed the test, Daniel believed him. A smile worked its way onto the linguist’s face despite the situation. Then he grimaced.
“Ccooold.” The ragged utterance was barely recognizable as a word. Harsh breaths borne of pain tore from his lungs.
“C’mere.” Jack drew Daniel in close. His protective arms encircled the frozen archeologist. Daniel’s body lurched in the throes of convulsive shivers. His thready pulse jumped erratically beneath Jack’s fingers.
“I’ve got you. You’re gonna be fine.”
“Gggotta gggo bbback,” Daniel slurred, his words spoken into the fabric of Jack’s jacket and difficult to understand.
“Hold still. You’re not going anywhere.”
“Mmmy jjjjjournal. Llllost it in the wwwater.”
“I’m afraid that’s where it’s gonna stay.”
“Nnnneed it to gggget out of hhhhere.”
Daniel wasn’t thinking clearly. Confusion shrouded his mind like a suffocating fog. He was delirious from the cold and blood loss and goodness knows what other injuries.
“No, you don’t need your journal, big guy. We’ll get outta here just fine without it. We’ve got to wait until Carter and Teal’c arrive with the cavalry.”
“Tired,” he slurred. “Ggggonna sssssleep.” Daniel’s eyes drifted closed.
“Oh no you don’t.” Jack slapped his pale, ice-cold cheeks repeatedly until Daniel’s eyes slitted open. “Come on, buddy, you’ve gotta stay awake,” he urged.
Daniel’s lashes fluttered, his lids fell closed, and he continued to shiver with extreme violence. The blankets weren’t cutting it. Daniel was dangerously chilled and in shock, and with with more snow falling outside, it would only get colder despite the shelter the cave offered. It was too bad they couldn’t make a fire.
He felt it the moment Daniel’s shivering abruptly stopped. The injured man was simply too chilled, his body too weak from all that he’d been through. “No. No no… dammit, Daniel, don’t fall asleep! You’ve gotta stay awake, you hear me?”
Daniel went lax in Jack’s arms. Jack hugged him closer, remembering from somewhere that it was really bad to shake a hypothermic person. He rubbed frantically up and down Daniel’s arms to generate warmth from friction. “Goddammit, wake up! Don’t you do this to me!”
Daniel did not respond. Jack blinked away tears while outside the snow continued to fall. How could this happen? Daniel couldn’t die, he couldn’t! Jack wouldn’t let him – he’d march right into heaven and drag him back down to Earth.
Jack yanked his pack closer and ripped the sleeping bag from it. He maneuvered Daniel into it, moving as fast as he could while being careful not to jostle him, then climbed in beside him. He entwined his arms around him as tightly as he dared, not caring at all that he was crammed inside a sleeping bag with another man, barely registering that Daniel had regained consciousness momentarily before losing it again.
Daniel’s body felt like a block of ice. His limbs were even colder. “I’ll keep you warm… I promise.” Jack wrapped the sleeping bag tighter around them along with the thermal blanket and rubbed Daniel’s arms again. “Come on, start shivering.”
No shivering. Just as Jack was contemplating additional ways to make Daniel warmer, the sound of footsteps crunching on the snow made Jack’s head snap upward to peer out of the cave entrance. Relief flooded out of him in a sighing breath.
Teal’c, Carter and the medics had arrived.
“Set him up in iso room 2.”
“Heated fluids—”
“I need another heating pad, here.”
“Severe hypothermia—”
“Prepare to intubate.”
The words were thrown around a gurney moving at lightning speed down the SGC corridors. Blankets and heat packs surrounded Daniel. An oxygen mask covered his face. Jack, Teal’c and Carter walked briskly beside the medics until they reached the infirmary, and were denied access.
”Internal temp’s at 80.6 degrees.”
“Pulse is very weak.”
“Watch that shoulder. Tell Doctor Warner to prep the OR.”
“Hang in there, Daniel, don’t you quit on us now…”
<…now… …now… …now…>
* * *
Sunk deep in unconsciousness, frozen, numb and injured, a part of Daniel’s mind somehow registered the attempts to save him. It was as if he were floating above his own body and able to watch the swarm of medics surrounding him and the equipment keeping him alive.
Hours passed. Hours that felt like days, especially to those who waited outside the infirmary. Then slowly, gradually, warmth began to creep back into his core, spreading outward toward his limbs, thawing the numbness that reigned.
Eyelids peeled back slowly to reveal a blurry room and a blurry blob seated next to him. He tried to move and was admonished by pain in his shoulder.
“Aht, Daniel, stay still, will ya?”
Daniel licked dry lips. “What…?” His croaking voice could barely get the word out. A scoop of ice chips materialized, which he eagerly took a mouthful of.
“You got shot and nearly froze to death. You’re lucky I’m good at tracking people through snowy wildernesses.”
Daniel blinked sluggishly though he stayed wisely still. His memory slowly dredged up the events that had transpired. He recalled being shot with some sort of tranquilizer dart and escaping captivity only to continue being hunted. He remembered swimming through freezing water, and being so alone… until Jack came. He peered at Jack, expecting to see him bundled up in winter clothing and was surprised when this was not the case.
“Why… dressed like that?”
Jack’s eyebrows shot upward. “Like what?” He looked down at himself. “You mean the summer clothes? I dunno how to tell you this buddy, but it’s like a sauna in here. It’s to keep you warm. You did a pretty good impression of a popsicle out there.”
“I’m still a little cold,” said Daniel, even though he was buried in blankets.
“Well, that I can help you with.” Jack pulled the blanket off the adjoining bed and arranged it over his friend.
“Listen, Jack… while I was hypothermic on P1L-118, I uhh… I might have said some things that…” he trailed off awkwardly, suddenly finding his IV line extremely interesting.
“Oh, I know.”
“You do?"
"Oh yeah."
"That’s good.”
“It is.”
As he watched Jack fiddle with a cup on the rollaway cart, Daniel’s memory began to supply him with more images: Jack cuddling him against his chest; Jack’s body pressed against his own inside a sleeping bag, arms wrapped tight around him, lending him comfort and warmth.
“Uhh… Jack?”
“Yeah?” Jack’s eyes flickered briefly toward Daniel as if he knew what the other man was thinking. The memory hung between them, an unspoken connection that neither was willing to acknowledge aloud, but had irrevocably changed them both.
“Never mind.”
Jack put down the cup and stood with another flicker of knowing brown eyes toward tired blue ones as Doctor Fraiser appeared to check on him. “Why don’t you go back to sleep. Gotta be all rested up for our fishing trip.”
Daniel offered Jack a genuine smile, settling further into the warmth of the pillows and covers. The foundation had suffered cracks, but now they were mended and it was strong - a solid platform upon which anything could be built. “I will. Thanks.”
While Fraiser took his temperature and puttered around checking his other vitals, Daniel kept his gaze on Jack’s retreating back, and spoke in a low voice too quiet to be made out.
“Thanks for keeping me warm.”