After I’d watched Shau’ri die in ‘Forever and a Day’ I had to write a
postscript to the episode…
Facing the Day.
By Sealie
‘Head
hurts.’
‘Blurry…’
He didn’t know where he was.
Disorientated, he twisted to the side, bringing his hand up to bat against the
cold metal bar hemming him in. Something pinched the back of his hand.
Squinting, he focussed on a tube emerging from underneath a ball of cotton wool
secured by a stretch of tape.
‘I.V.,’ he realised. ‘Infirmary.’
“Daniel?”
He recognised Dr Fraiser’s
distinctive voice. It was mellow and rounded, soothing. Her words washed over
him. He wasn’t really listening.
Her hand slipped between his
cheek and the pillow turning his head so that their eyes met.
“Daniel, do you know where
you are?”
‘Question? Not gonna answer.’ His gazed into
the peace of middle space. Already he could feel his eyes drooping,
sleep was casting its enveloping blanket over him.
“The ribbon device has given
him a serious concussion.”
“Yeah, but it he
going to be all right?”
Daniel recognised Jack’s
concerned tones.
“There are some small point
haemorrhages in the front of the cerebellum. We’re monitoring them; they should
be absorbed.”
“Yeah, but is he going to be
all right?”
Jack was like a bulldog with
a bone.
He missed Janet’s answer.
Tired, his eyes closed. Behind the masking cloud of serious painkillers he
could feel the heat of a migraine-biting headache. Sleep seemed like a much
better prospect than staying awake.
~*~
Teal’c stood guard over his
team member. The linguist muttered abstrusely as he dreamt. His rest was not
easy. But nothing seemed to be easy for DanielJackson Ph.D. His beloved Shau’ri
had been taken from his grasp. His wife had born another’s spawn and now he was
a widower.
And the name of the one who
had precipitated this grievous turn of events was Teal’c.
The
“Shau’ri?” Daniel called out
clearly. “Where are you?”
“Shhhh.” Dr Fraiser appeared at the ailing linguist’s
side. She gently stroked his forehead.
Daniel blinked sleepily at
the physician. “Where’s Shau’ri?”
“Daniel, look at me.”
Red-rimmed eyes peered up at
the doctor from under heavy brows. “Shau’ri?” he said hopefully.
Teal’c fixed his gaze firmly
ahead. He could not watch.
“Shau’ri is dead, Daniel,”
Fraiser said gently. “Ammonet tried to kill you and Shau’ri died when we saved
you. You passed out on P8A X73. We brought you back through the stargate.
You’re in the infirmary.”
“Shau’ri?” Daniel tried
again.
Compassion welled in her
brown eyes. “Shau’ri is dead, Daniel.”
A tear trickled down
Daniel’s temple to entwine in his hair. He cast his head to the side,
deliberately avoiding the doctor. Another tear joined the first.
“Please, bring her to me.
Can you? Please?”
“Once you’re well,” Janet
said placatingly.
“No?” He shifted uneasily on
the bed, scrunching up against the metal bar away from the medic. “Shau’ri,
please?”
“I’m sorry, Daniel. I want
you to calm down.”
“No!” Confused and
disorientated he sat up. He pushed away Dr Fraiser’s hands as she tried to
restrict his movements.
“Daniel, I need you to calm
down.”
“Teal’c.” He latched onto
the
“I cannot, Daniel. Shau’ri
is dead.”
“Nurse, get me 15 mg of
Diazepam.”
Fraiser’s nurse had already
anticipated her orders and handed across the fluid filled syringe.
“No drugs! Not again. I’m
not insane,” Daniel protested. He kicked off the covering blankets, yanked out
the I.V. and tried to get off the bed.
“Forgive me, DanielJackson.”
Teal’c intercepted Daniel
before he could clamber over the metal rail. The look of reproach in the
linguist’s eyes burned the
“No more drugs!”
“Hold him, Teal’c.”
“I am endeavouring to do so.
I do not wish to hurt him. He is upset.”
Fraiser lifted up Daniel’s
hospital tunic, baring his thigh, and jabbed the injection home. He flinched,
trying to move away.
“Leave me alone,” Daniel
muttered feebly.
Teal’c held him as he
succumbed to the sedative.
“Ssssh,” Fraiser soothed,
rubbing the injection bruise.
Teal’c continued to hold him
as the younger man lolled to the side. He cradled Daniel’s heavy head in the
crook of his arm. The relaxation was
false, forced upon the linguist by powerful drugs. Teal’c doubted his friend
would ever relax again.
“Lay him down, Teal’c,”
Fraiser directed.
The
Teal’c looked down at the
sleeping face. The ribbon burn on Daniel’s forehead mocked him. “Will
DanielJackson recover?”
“I’m going to take him for
another scan.” Fraiser did not answer the question. “I’m concerned about the
degree of disorientation.”
Teal’c watched mutely as
they transported him onto a gurney and wheeled him away.
~*~
Daniel furtively opened his
eyes. He was back in the infirmary. Was he really here or was it Shau’ri’s
dream? Remaining quiescent, curled up on his side in a loose ball, he listened.
The quiet drone of the nurses going about their business was reassuring. Nobody
had rushed over as soon as he opened his eyes, so he wasn’t under direct
observation.
He could just make out Jack
talking to Dr Fraiser. His own name came through
clearly. Jack was asking after him.
As the voices came closer he
closed his eyes and pretended to be asleep.
“He’s doing fine, Colonel.
He’s sleeping.”
“Teal’c said he was pretty
upset before.”
“He’s had a nasty shock and
he has a significant concussion.”
“Can I stay for a bit?”
“Don’t wake him. Let him
sleep.”
Silence. He suspected
that Jack was nodding.
A warm hand rested on his
shoulder. “Hey, Daniel, how are you doing?”
“Sssh! I told you not
to wake him,” Janet hissed.
The warmth moved. The
mattress dipped; Daniel guessed Jack was pushing down on the mattress as he
leaned over to better peer at his face.
“Nasty bruise,” Jack
whispered.
‘Bruise?’ Daniel wondered.
‘Oh, the ribbon thingy. From the first time…’
First time? How many times
had Ammonet burned him? It made no sense. He had already healed from the
torture. He had spent over a week in the SGC infirmary. But then he had dreamed
that Shau’ri lived, saved by the sarcophagus and the Tok’ra. But he had in
reality been held within the ribbon as Shau’ri told him of the Harcissus child
and hiding him at Kheb. What was the dream? Was he still dreaming? Or was this
reality?
If he asked, they would take
him back to the padded room. It was easier to keep his eyes closed and try to
figure out what was happening.
Was Shau’ri dead or alive?
He almost dreaded the answer to the question.
~*~
He opened his eyes again.
Jack had left. Only a few lights dotted the infirmary. Evidently it was late,
well into the
Cautiously, he lifted his
head. A single nurse was reading at the observation desk, peering at some novel
in the poor light. The other two beds in the small ward were filled. Daniel
recognised one patient as Lt Cook from SG-11, who had been severely burned on
an away mission to P3H 998. He didn’t recognise the other guest.
Cook moaned and the nurse
lifted her head. She set aside her book and crossed to her patient’s side.
“Are you in pain,
The burn victim simply
pointed at the morphine drip beside his bed. The nurse took pity on him
fiddling with the I.V..
“I’m going to check your
foley too.”
She pulled shut the curtains
around the bed, ensuring them privacy as she checked his catheter.
Daniel sat up. The world
dipped sideways and then settled. He bit his fingers to stop himself groaning;
the headache was terrible.
It would be easier to stay
in medicated nirvana, but he needed answers. Lifting his sheet he checked that
he too wasn’t hooked up to a foley bag. Luckily he wasn’t. He peeled off the band-aid securing the I.V.
on the back of his hand, wincing as it pulled on the fine hairs. By the simple
expedience of switching off the ECG before yanking off the sticky pads he
bypassed their monitoring.
The nurse was still concentrating
on Lt Cook as he crept out of the infirmary. He grabbed a robe as he escaped.
He bounced off the walls a
couple of times as he wandered down the corridor. Luckily it was late enough so
there was only a skeleton crew on duty. A young airman glanced at him curiously
but continued running down the corridor, intent on her mission.
Daniel made a mental note to
report her to her superior for allowing someone patently out of place to wander
around the SGC. Barefoot, he padded to his lab. He had journals and papers
there. He remembered reading about Kheb in Budge’s book. That would be his
first port of call.
Shau’ri hadn’t made an
appearance. Last time she had kept popping in, twisting reality around him as
she tried to impart her message.
Daniel closed the door
behind him.
“Shau’ri?” he hedged. He
wanted Shau’ri to be here. Maybe if he turned around she would be pawing
curiously through his library, impressed by the chicken scratches on the
papyrus – proud that he could read.
Heart in his mouth he looked.
He was alone; his office was empty.
Shau’ri was not here.
Inconsolable, he slipped down the door to settle on his heels. He wrapped his
arms around his chest.
Shau’ri was dead.
Or was she alive?
How could he ask? They would
make him talk to Mackenzie. There was no way on God’s earth he wanted to risk
returning to the psychiatrist’s tender care.
“Shau’ri?” He nibbled on his
bottom lip. “Please?”
His head throbbed with the
beating of his heart. If she lived this would be the best day of his life.
But in his heart of hearts
he doubted it.
He so wanted Shau’ri to be
alive.
“Please, God. Please,” he
prayed.
He hadn’t prayed for a long
time, even before he had found that the majority of Earth Gods were alien
parasites without a shred of compassion.
There was no answer. Daniel
remained slumped against the door. He curled in a ball. Hot tears dripped on
crossed arms.
A cold, hard hand
gripping his heart, squeezing the last gasp of hope from his soul. Shau’ri was
dead. He would never know the warmth of her embrace or bask in her loving
smile. They wouldn’t be able to walk hand in hand on the sands of
She lay at his side, the
last gasp of breath leaving her body.
“I love you, Dan-yel.”
“I love you, too, Shau’ri. Forever.”
He lost himself in mourning.
In a dark place where there was only pain.
~*~
“DANIEL!” A harsh hammering
interrupted his misery. “Open the *FUCKING* door!”
He jerked away from the door
as it vibrated on its hinges. It opened a hairsbreadth, slamming against his
side as Jack forced the door open. The colonel put his shoulder to the door and
pushed him along the floor.
Jack squeezed through the
opening. “Fraiser’s going crazy. Teal’c’s tearing up the base.
Daniel stared up at him
mutely.
They regarded each other.
Jack looked greyer than usual, wan and wrung out.
“Shau’ri’s dead, isn’t she?”
Daniel asked. This wasn’t a dream.
Jack nodded once.
Daniel felt the tears
welling up. His nose was clogged. He brushed futilely at his face with the cuff
of his robe.
“Oh, man.” Jack’s face
scrunched up.
Daniel allowed himself to be
pulled into his friend’s embrace. Jack tucked his head against the side of his
neck as his arms encircled his shoulders.
“Let it out, kid. Let it
out.”
Jack was stalwart; a true
friend as Daniel sobbed unrelentingly. The man kept up a litany of
reassurances, rubbing his back. Daniel cried himself out in the safe haven,
muffling his tears against Jack’s chest. Eventually he lifted his head.
“Sorry.”
“Nothing to be
sorry for. Of course, if you tell any one I’m good at hugging, I’ll deny it.”
Jack flashed his characteristic quirky grin. “We’d better get you back to the
infirmary.”
“No,” Daniel protested,
rubbing his head tiredly. “I need to do some research. I need to find out about
the Harcissus Child.”
“The what?”
Daniel allowed Jack to lever
him to his feet. “Yes, Shau’ri told me that Ammonet had hidden her son on
Kheb.”
The linguist tottered over
to his desk, barely aware of Jack at his elbow deftly guiding him to a chair.
“When?”
“As Ammonet was using the
ribbon device on me, Shau’ri communicated with me through it.” Daniel turned
haunted eyes towards his superior. “Sam thought maybe emotions could be
transmitted like on a carrier wave or something.”
“Shau’ri spoke to you
through the ribbon device?” Jack said carefully.
“Oh.” Daniel jerked away
from Jack’s touch. “I wasn’t going to tell you. I was going to tell you that
she told me before she…” he wiggled his fingers in the
air “… you know.”
Daniel lapsed into silence,
mentally kicking himself. Jack would never believe him now. He was so confused.
His head hurt. How could he convince his sceptical friend of the existence of
Shau’ri’s son? He cradled his head in his hands.
Shau’ri beloved
Shau’ri. He had promised to look after her son. He had promised to look after
his deceased wife’s illegitimate son. That was not fair. The child was an
innocent and his last link to his beloved. An orphaned
innocent.
He could relate. Poor child,
he did not even know the boy’s name.
Fraiser rushed in,
interrupting his thoughts. “Dr Jackson,” she remonstrated.
Daniel twisted away as she
flashed her penlight in his eyes.
“I’m okay. I just need…”
“To return to the
infirmary.” She gestured to an airman who propelled a wheelchair into the room.
Daniel protested
half-heartedly as Jack and the airman helped him into the chair. He raised his
arms, throwing off their concern. Janet caught his hands and held them on his
lap.
“Daniel, we’re going back to
the infirmary.”
He could see injections,
restraints and Mackenzie looming in his future. Nervous, he gnawed on his
bottom lip.
“Please, I need Budge.” He
pointed his chin at the wealth of books along the wall. “There’s something I
want to read.”
“Budge? Yeah.”
Jack was willing to placate him. The colonel stood in front of the shelves,
head cocked to the side, trying to find the book. He gave up almost
immediately. “Daniel?”
“Top shelf, third from the
left,” Daniel called out as the airman manoeuvred him out the door. Janet stalked
along at his side, her fingers monitoring his pulse, muttering to herself – it
was going to be a long visit in the infirmary.
~*~
Daniel curled around the
book in his arms. Once more he was wired to the ECG and there was an I.V.
feeding liquid into his veins. His head hurt too much to read. The words were
jumbled and made no sense.
He now had a guard. Teal’c
stood, hands clasped behind his back, at the bottom of his bed. The
Daniel could feel the tears
slowly soaking his pillow. He had no energy for soul-destroying sobs, only a
slow release of pain, inevitably sliding down his face. Fraiser’s sedative
brought no relief; only made the misery mind numbing.
“DanielJackson, you will
harm yourself if you continue in this manner.”
Over the curl of his
shoulder, Daniel peered blearily at the
Shau’ri wanted, no insisted,
that he forgive Teal’c.
‘Later,’ he decided. The
other side of the pillow was dry, so he rolled over.
Teal’c continued to stand
guard.
~*~
He awoke hours later to find
that his glasses had been removed and the book was sitting on the table over
his bed. The artificial lights were brighter; they had joined a new day. As he
shifted a voice spoke, “you are awake. I will inform Dr Fraiser.”
Teal’c still stood at the
bottom of his bed.
“Hello, Daniel. How are you
feeling?” Janet entered his field of vision.
He considered the question
for a heartbeat. “Much better, can I go home now?”
Daniel tried to categorise
her expression; it hovered somewhere between compassion and exasperation. Focussed on her medical duties, the
consummate professional, she wrapped her fingers around his wrist, even though
his pulse was displayed for all to see on the ECG.
“Follow my finger.”
He obediently tracked her
index finger, only losing it once as it passed his nose leaving a trail of
sparkles.
She injected something in
his I.V. before he could protest.
“What was that?”
“Something for
your headache. Would you like some breakfast?”
That was a trick question.
The wrong answer was ‘no’. If you said ‘no’ – you got to stay in the fish bowl
longer, being poked and prodded every half hour until you wanted to scream.
He didn’t think he could eat
anything.
“Yes.” He smiled displaying
even teeth.
“Excellent.” Janet patted
his shoulder his shoulder, evidently pleased by his behaviour. Daniel could
play the game; he had learned it in a bevy of foster homes. The trick was
simply not to get caught. At sixteen he had entered university and he had not
pretended to go along with mindless authority since. He had stood up for his
rights, expressed his own opinions and dealt with the results.
But Fraiser was watching him
with the weight of the psychiatrists of the SGC behind her formidable bearing.
Fraiser twiddled with some
knobs on the ECG and left him alone with an absent pat on his shoulder. Daniel
brushed his cheek against his pillow, it was dry and
smelled fresh. Someone had replaced the pillow and case. It was creepy to think
that someone could move his pillow when he was asleep. He didn’t like the
thought of someone touching him when he was unconscious.
He watched Teal’c out of the
corner of his eye.
The
“Hello, Dr
Under her watchful eye, he
took a mouthful of juice. She smiled maternally, then
she was back to her duties administering to Lt Cook and the other unknown
patient.
Daniel waited until she had
left the ward, busy with some task, then he kicked off
his blankets. Teal’c started. Daniel dared him with his eyes.
‘Go on betray me to her.’
He put his feet on the cold
floor. Teal’c was almost beside himself with consternation, even though he did
not flicker an eyelid. Holding onto the I.V. stand for support, Daniel wobbled
over to the sink. The lines tethering him to the ECG only just allowed him to
reach the sink. He dumped the toast and fruit with a ghastly grin and switched
on the garbage disposal. His breakfast disappeared with a satisfying crunch.
Teal’c gazed at him levelly
as he hoisted his weary bones back on to the bed. He sagged,
too tired to pull the blankets back over his legs.
The coffee smelled divine
but he didn’t have the energy to reach the cup.
What he wanted was
chocolate.
Teal’c was watching him, his
expression stoic with concealed pain.
“Don’t you want your coffee,
Dr Jackson?” The animated nurse was back to collect the tray.
Daniel cocked a sad smile at
her. “No thanks.”
The nurse looked at the full
cup of coffee then the linguist. There was a frankly incredulous expression on
her face. Her eyes darted back to the coffee cup. Daniel could practically read
her mind: Dr Daniel Jackson, coffee fiend, did not want coffee; some thing was
wrong. She was going to squeal on him to Janet.
‘Damn,
busted.’
“At least you ate your
toast.”
“DanielJackson did not eat
his breakfast,” Teal’c announced.
“GET OUT!” Daniel struggled
into a sitting position. “Go away.” Hot tears tracked down his cheeks.
“DanielJackson…”
“I’m trying.” He pointed at
the
“To save you.”
“Yeah…” He turned away from
the morally certain
“I’ll go speak to Dr
Fraiser.” Nurse Perky bounced away.
Daniel thumped his head down
on the pillow. Teal’c had not left his post. Ignoring the
“I don’t hate you, Teal’c.
But will you please go away.”
“I will stand guard
outside.”
‘With
friends like these, who needs enemies.’ The thought had a
macabre sort of humour.
~*~
“Hey, Daniel.” Hands in his
pockets, Jack sauntered into the infirmary.
Daniel put down the book
that he was failing to read. He wished that he had a television version of a
concussion: ten minutes of unconsciousness and then perfectly healthy by the
start of the commercial break. Everything was blurry; he couldn’t concentrate
and he was fighting a vile temper. Dr Fraiser had succinctly listed the typical
symptoms of a concussion before shooting him up with a suite of narcotics, which
at least killed the headache, but made reading kind of difficult.
“Brought you some
chocolate.” The colonel dumped a bar of imported Polish chocolate on top of the
blankets. He nodded at it. “I was saving it.”
“Thanks.” Daniel turned the
bar over in his long fingers.
“You wanna talk?” Jack paced
around the bed, his demeanour nonchalant. “Teal’c’s standing outside.”
“I know.”
“You gonna forgive him any
time this century?”
Daniel glared at the older
man. “I have. I just need to put things in perspective.”
“Perspective?”
“I hate it when you do
that,” Daniel said conversationally.
“Do what?”
Daniel pursed his lips
together in a travesty of a smile. “Repeat everything I say to make me
elaborate when I’m trying not to talk about stuff.”
“Does it work?” Jack raised
his eyebrows.
“I couldn’t save my wife.”
Daniel talked to his hands folded on his lap.
“It wasn’t for lack of
trying.”
“She must have had some
influence over Ammonet,” Daniel continued, “or the Goa’uld would have told
Apophis that Teal’c and I were on
“Eh?”
Daniel lifted his head, eyes
bright with unshed tears. Jack stood beside him; his customary façade of humour
had fractured.
“She couldn’t stop the
Goa’uld from doing evil. Ammonet sent Shau’ri’s son to Kheb. Why? Because Ammonet didn’t want Apophis to take a Harcissus as a host?
Or because Shau’ri made her hide him away?”
“Time out! You want to
explain what you just said?”
“Shau’ri had a baby boy. The son of two hosts. Teal’c – well, Shau’ri really – told
me the child of two hosts has the genetic memory of the Goa’uld. Ammonet took
slaves from
“You’re scaring me, Daniel.”
“I thought that if Shau’ri
had some small influence over the Goa’uld she must have died a little every
day, knowing that Ammonet was using her body for evil. Maybe she set it up so
that she killed herself – because she couldn’t face living in slavery any
longer. But *maybe* Ammonet wanted the Harcissus for herself. And the only way
Shau’ri could protect the child was to ensure that Ammonet never lived to take
him as a host. Oh God, what if Shau’ri sacrificed herself to save the boy? If
only she’d known that Ma’chello’s killing device could have liberated her or
even the Tok’ra.”
“Daniel, you’re babbling”
“She didn’t have to die,
Jack. We could have saved her.” Daniel screwed up his nose stopping another
flood of tears. “We could have saved her.”
Jack said quietly, “she was
very brave.”
“She was the bravest, most
compassionate person I’ve ever met. I fell in love the first time I saw her.”
“I know, I was
there.”
“You were, weren’t you.”
“Cluck, cluck.” Jack tucked in
his hands in his armpits and flapped his elbows.
Daniel snorted.
“So she liked geeks.”
“Please,” Daniel ducked his
head. “No jokes.”
“Okay, kid.” Jack rubbed
Daniel’s shoulder. “No jokes. It gets better. I know you don’t believe me, but
it gets better.”
“It’s been like she’s had a
terminal disease and if we were really really *really* lucky we’d find the
cure. I’ve lived with this every day and now… she’s dead… and there’s nothing… except….”
“Grief.” The colonel
shifted uneasily. “It’s a normal reaction.”
Daniel looked at his friend,
dismayed to see raw emotion on his face. The linguist mouthed a question,
“Charlie?”
Jack nodded once. “It hurts
for a long time, then you remember the good times.”
Daniel clamped his mouth
shut. Jack rarely talked about his dead son. He appreciated Jack trying help,
even when he felt guilty for the staccato, grief filled catch in the older
man’s voice.
He sought to avoid hurting
Jack further. “I promised I’d find the boy and look after him.”
“The harsissy
thingy?”
“Harcissus.”
“And this was when Shau’ri
was talking to you using the ribbon device.”
“I know you don’t believe
me.”
“Well, it’s kind of unbelievable.”
“It happened.” Daniel pursed
his lips and scowled.
“How’s about you do some
research. You know, do some reading and stuff and we’ll talk about it when
you’re better.”
Daniel shuffled down his bed
and pulled the blankets up to his chin. “You’re patronising me.”
“No…” Jack tucked in the
edge of the blanket, effectively pinning him to the bed. “I just think it’s
kind of weird. Write me a long-winded report, backed up with references and
whatzits and tell me all about the harsissy. Then Carter can bamboozle me with
technobabble about the ribbon device, and you can explain it to me in words of
less than one syllable.”
The first smile of the week
cracked Daniel’s face.
“You going
to be okay, Daniel?”
Daniel took stock – the
heartache was cutting him in two. “Yeah,” he said weakly. “I think I might.”
“Yeah.” Jack assessed
him with a sage stare. “Eventually.”
“Thanks, Jack. Really.”
“You going
to go to sleep, now?”
“Maybe. I want to do
some reading.” He nodded at the books nestled on his blankets.
“Okay, I’ll leave you in
peace. I’ll come back later with some more chocolate.”
With a final pat on his
blanket-covered leg, Jack turned to leave.
“Can you ask Teal’c to come
in, please?”
“Just this once,” Jack said
offhandedly and waved as he left the infirmary.
He didn’t know what he was
going to say to the
“DanielJackson, you wished
to see me?”
“Teal’c,” he blurted.
“Are you well,
DanielJackson?”
“Getting there. I’ve got a
headache.”
“I regret the pain that I
have caused you. I wish to ask for your forgiveness.” The
“Teal’c.” Daniel rolled his
head on the pillow, to get a better look at the mournful
Perplexed, the alien glanced
down at him. “It is not in my nature to forget and ‘move on’. Too much is
assumed on your world and I do not possess the cultural learning to effectively
read your body language to understand if I have made amends.”
“You were only trying to
save my life, Teal’c. You did the right thing.”
Teal’c’s stoic expression
flickered. “Thank you,” he bowed his head in a gesture of profound respect. He
turned to leave.
“Teal’c?”
The
“Can you help me?”
“Of course, I will.” His
brow furrowed, baffled. “In what way?”
“I keep trying to read Budge
– there’s something about the Harcissus Child – but the words just don’t make
any sense. They keep dancing… The concussion. Can you
help?”
“You wish me to read your
text books to you?”
“Essentially, yes.”
Teal’c nodded once, a short,
sharp nod. Abruptly he turned on his heel and with controlled movements he
brought a chair from the corner of the infirmary. Daniel watched quietly as the alien set the
chair precisely by his bedside. But the
Had he offended the
The nurse at the observation
desk shrugged and then returned to her reports, maintaining the semblance of
privacy. Daniel drummed his fingers against his mattress. A doze crept up on
him unawares. A clatter of a tray disturbed his nap.
“I have brought sustenance.”
Teal’c set the tray on the
table positioned over his bed.
“I see.” Daniel pushed
himself up on an elbow and poked the red jello with a fingertip. Steam wafted enticingly
from a cup of freshly perked coffee and there was also a bowl of chicken soup
and a buttered roll. Invalid food, courtesy of the
commissary.
“You shall eat and I shall
read to you.” The arrangement sounded as if it were written in stone.
Teal’c sat and picked up the
first book. He opened it to the first page and waited patiently.
“You’re not going to read
until I start eating, are you?”
“That is correct.” The
Daniel rode the bed, wide
eyed. “Soup?”
“It is easily digestible.
And chicken soup reputably has antibiotic properties.” Teal’c glanced pointedly
at the spoon beside the bowl. “Shall I begin?”
“Yeah.” Daniel picked up
the spoon.
But Teal’c didn’t start reading
until he had swallowed the first mouthful.
He let the stories of
Ancient Egypt wash over him. It was going to be hard; he had travelled the pain
filled road of bereavement as a child. But at least this time he had his
friends to help him and keep him fed.
Finis.