Darkest Memories
Darkest Memories
by Debbie Louise Gough
Darkest Memories
AUTHOR: Debbie Louise Gough
EMAIL: littlemissarty@hotmail.com
CATEGORY: Action/Adventure, Angst, Drama, Hurt/Comfort, Series, Smarm
PAIRING: Daniel/Sam
SPOILERS: anything up to season three
SEASON / SEQUEL: 3; Prequel to Innocent Dreams
RATING: PG-13
CONTENT WARNINGS: adult themes, angst, language, sexual situations, violence
SUMMARY: A familiar face from Daniel's past turns up exact revenge on Daniel and the SGC for the failed NID operation.
STATUS: Unfinished
ARCHIVE: Heliopolis
DISCLAIMER: Stargate SG-1 and its characters are the property of Showtime/Viacom, MGM/UA, Double Secret Productions, and Gekko Productions. We have written this story for entertainment purposes only and no money whatsoever has exchanged hands. No copyright infringement is intended. The original characters, situations, and story are the property of the authors. Not to be archived without permission of the authors.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: This is a sequel to Innocent Dreams, and you'll need to read that to make any sense of this story. This is the first part, and with my evil, sick and twisted mind I'll try and cram as much Danny whumping and angst as humanly possible :) enjoy!
" God is a man!
"It's alright, everything is fine
You live the perfect life- never wanted more
Or thought inside your mind
What they say, does it make you feel ashamed?
Isn't everyone the same? Doesn't matter that it wasn't your idea...
God is a man! You know for sure
That the knowledge of this itself is more than we deser-"
Doctor Daniel Jackson angrily bought his fist down on top of his alarm/radio clock, and stared miserably at his bedroom wall, scrubbing a hand through his short brown hair.
Across his bedroom, his reflection stared despondently back; his sapphire blue eyes rimmed red, glazed, haunted bags hanging beneath them, his clothes swamping him. SG-1 had been given a fortnight's downtime to recover from NID's latest attempt to kidnap him on PJX-759, and it was now nearing the end of the short, disastrous holiday. Daniel wasn't quite sure if he was glad or horrified at the prospect of going back to work. On the one hand, he could bury himself under mounds and mounds of paperwork and artefacts. On the other, he would be the victim of sympathetic half-smiles, Doctor Mackenzie's incessant probing and SG-1's mother-henning.
But then again, I might get lucky. It isn't as if they've visited me during downtime...
If anything, they had done the exact opposite; they had avoided him like the plague. Jack had refused to speak to him, and hadn't answered his telephone or his panicked messages left on the answering machine. Sam, when he had bashfully gone to visit her, was never in, and Teal'C was back on Base- a place Daniel had tried desperately to avoid, at least for his two weeks;
After one horrific nightmare after the other, Daniel decided it was time to take some action. Shivering, he replaced the cream telephone in the telephone box, and pulled on a dirty old raincoat from his old days as a failed lecturer.
" C'mon Jack, where are you?" he muttered bitterly as the glass door swung shut, leaving him in the icy rain. Briefly, he wondered if Jack had returned to the base without telling him, and then quickly shook the thought away. Jack would have told him; he wouldn't just leave Daniel alone with his nightmares- not if he valued their friendship.
He had decided to escape his apartment, finding it too oppressive, finding that it bought back too many unpleasant memories that he had managed to bury the first time round, only for them to be bought bubbling to the surface.
Unfortunately, with two broken ribs, he wasn't cleared to drive, and had had to call a taxi.
His driver shot him a strange look as he clambered back in, still shivering, and only nodded darkly as Daniel listlessly recited Jack's address.
Please be there Jack , Daniel silently pleaded as the world rushed by in a silent blur, please. I can't handle this on my own any longer...
The journey was short, and sweetly silent, and the driver warily smiled as Daniel pressed a wad of bills into his callused hand. As the taxi skidded away, Daniel sharply inhaled, wincing when it caused his tightly bandaged ribs to ground unpleasantly against his skin and stared up at the white two-storey house
" Jac-" Daniel's voice halted, as his fist made contact with the door, and it swung open with a hollow screech. Frowning, he moved, his arm curled protectively around his chest, into the hallway, gently pushing the door shut.
He could hear three voices floating from the living room, and his frown deepened as he identified them as Sam, Jack, and Teal'C. What was Teal'C doing off the base?
" e's something wrong with Daniel. He was pretty reclusive when we left Base- was silent the whole journey-" That was Jack.
God, does he think I'm being a recluse? I swear I'm not.
" That's to be expected sir. He's just had to relive some of his most traumatic memories."
" You can call me Jack off base, y'know."
Daniel edged forward, closer to the door, a faint, unconscious whimper rising from his throat.
" Indeed O'Neill, Daniel Jackson has been acting strangely. But so have we al-"
Teal'c's voice was abruptly drowned out by the living room door swinging open- Daniel had decided that he no longer wanted to listen to his team mates talk about him behind his back. Three pairs of eyes- two as black, warm and rich as coal, one a light sparkling blue, like the Stargate's event horizon, swivelled in unison to stare at him. Daniel felt his jaw drop, as he stared back, his face ashen.
Sam was wearing a pair of checked pyjama's, her light blonde hair ruffled by sleep. Teal'C was wearing the disgusting green issue fatigues, and Jack a pair of boxers. For a moment, Daniel blinked in surprise, millions of thoughts rushing madly throughout his mind. Jack only had one bedroom- he had moved house after his divorce with Sara, and a sprinkling of armchairs. The man himself was standing stiffly, scrubbing his grey hair, sipping from a glass of ale.
" Daniel," Sam finally said in surprise, pulling her robe tightly around her pyjamas unintentionally. "Wha...what are you doing here?" Her voice was tinged with guilt, her laugh forced. Daniel simply stared at them, unable to speak.
" We were just talking about you Danny." Jack offered, moving his arm out to guide Daniel to a seat. Daniel side-stepped away from his open arm, and snarled defensively, " Don't touch me!"
Arching an eyebrow, Jack stood back, and placed his palms in the air in a reassuring gesture. There was a tense silence as Daniel wheezed painfully, clutching his chest, waving off all attempts to move near him. Finally, he straightened, and coldly said, " I can see you were talking about me Jack. I came to see you because you weren't answering your phone, Sam wasn't in, and Teal'C was supposedly on Base, and I couldn't sleep." His eyes strayed back to Sam, and he swallowed, blinking away a few stray tears. "But I can see you're busy now. I'll see you on Base after downtime I guess."
Jack softly groaned in frustration, and started towards him. "Daniel, you've got the wrong impression..."
Daniel tightened his jacket, and flung Jack and Sam and Teal'c a look of utter contempt.
" I'll see you back on Base."
Daniel sighed again, and dropped his head to his bent knees. With his taxi gone, and no other way home, he had had to walk to rest of the five miles back home, his skin icy and hair plastered to his face by the time he had arrived back home. He had taken the plug of the telephone out of the socket after he had been plagued with constant telephone calls of apologies. The thing was, he didn't want their guilty apologies. He just wanted everything to be the same as it had been before he had turned himself into a child. At least then, as dull as his life was, he had not been plagued by nightmares of his former foster father leering at him and his parents and Share's deaths.
A sharp knock at the door startled him, and cautiously, vaguely aware that he was a wreck and smelt terrible, he moved out of his bedroom, to his front door, and peered suspiciously through the spy-hole. Cassandra Fraisier's young, smiling face greeted him, with an apologetic Doctor Fraisier.
Sighing, he pulled back the door.
" Janet, Cassie, what can I do for you?" he asked, as he waved them in. Janet shot him an apologetic smile.
" I'm sorry about this Daniel...the new SG-7 have run into a few problems and I'm needed back on base, and Sam, Colonel 'O Neill and Teal'c weren't to be seen, and you weren't answering your phone...could you look after Cassie?" Janet hesitated, and bit her lip pleadingly, joining in with Cassandra's own, pleading gaze.
The ghost of a small smile touched Daniel's lips.
" Sure. I don't have anything else to do anyway. We can go the cinema or something."
Janet let out a relieved sigh. "Thank you so much Daniel. I owe you one. I'll be back either tonight or tomorrow night- I'll let you know if I can't make it. Cass, be a good girl okay?"
Cassandra rolled her eyes.
" Mom, I'm thirteen."
" Exactly. Be good." Janet bent to the ground, and quickly embraced the slim teenager. Impishly, Cassandra smiled at Daniel from Janet's back and mouthed ' Are all Mom's so embarrassing?'
Releasing the girl from her hold, Janet brushed her navy blue trousers, and shot Daniel a grim smile. "I've got to go now. Thanks again Daniel."
Despite his haunted memories, Daniel wryly watched with faint amusement as the petite Doctor left, gently closing his front door, and then suddenly uncomfortably aware that there was a thirteen year old girl staring at awkwardly at the floor, he added, " I'll just get washed and dressed. The television's by the couch, and if you're lucky you might find something that isn't as old and mouldy as a corpse in my fridge."
Cassandra beamed back at him.
The man, tall, and cloaked by the shadows of the building, watched silently as the small woman named Janet Fraisier, left the block of apartments, and clambered into her navy blue car. It meant there would be one too many people to kidnap, but that wasn't so much of a problem...
Oh, how I love family re-unions.
Patiently, he waited until the car had skidded out of view, and then silently moved into the warm, rich golden hall, smiling coldly at the doorman as he tipped his hat at him.
" Garbage removal for a friend," he answered the silent question, moving away from the doorman, silently gliding up the stairs. As he reached the third floor, he grinned wickedly.
" It's about time you spoke to your old man, boy," he whispered softly to the empty hall. Glancing down at the slip of paper clutched tightly in his hand, he smiled icily. Jackson's apartment was only two doors away.
Carefully, he reached into the back of his pocket, and drew out a long, slim gun, loaded with tranquilliser darts. Technically, he should have bought some back up to help in the removal of the archaeologist.
But then that would spoil the surprise, wouldn't it?
His shower, cold and pitiful (his heating had died out on him the week before), was interrupted by an incessant knocking at the door, and towelling his short brown hair dry, and slipping on a dusty grey polo, and a pair of baggy jeans, Daniel gratefully left the bathroom, shrugging at Cassie's questioning nod as he moved over to the door.
Without much thought, he swung open the door, automatically starting, "Yes, can I help yo-" He broke off as his haunted blue eyes locked with the cold, hard slate grey eyes, so familiar, that haunted his dreams. Perhaps if the past few weeks had never happened, he would not have recognised the figure standing, ramming a gun into his chest. But as it was, they had, and he did.
Faintly, he took a step backwards, the world blurring slightly as his heart pounded erratically with fear.
" Hello Danny-boy." The man from his nightmares grinned, and loosely shut the door with a gentle kick. Daniel swallowed hard, and stared down at the gun he was holding. Aside from the obvious, something was very wrong with the scenario. His pale, blanched face twisted into a frown, and he glanced up, startled.
" Hey, that's a tran-"
He never had a chance to finish his sentence; there was a faint hiss, and two black projectiles shot out from the gun and imbedded themselves into his chest. A numb, icy cold feeling washed over him and the world dimmed at the edges, as his eyes rolled back into his head, and he crumpled to the ground, unconscious.
Cassandra, who had stood, half-paralysed with fear, stared at Daniel, then at the man. Then opening her mouth, she shrieked loudly, " Help! He-"
Another hiss and a single black dart shot out from the gun, ending her scream, and her eyes accusing, she stared at the dart buried in her shoulder, her legs folding beneath her.
The man frowned; the girl could have broken what he had worked so hard for, then and there, and vowed that next time, he would be a little more careful.
He moved over to the little girl first, and lifted her up from the floor, silently gliding back out into the corridor. In the corner, was a thick, metal, escape door, leading to a fragile metal staircase. Smirking, he twisted the handle, pushing it open, and deposited her on the top step, turning on his heel, to return to Daniel's apartment.
" Should have waited until you lost some more weight," he wheezed as he wrapped a beefy arm around Daniel's fragile chest, proceeding to drag to his limp body back out into the hall, and to the staircase. He gave a sigh of triumphant relief as the metal door swung shut behind him, and dropped Daniel's body onto the floor, kicking it sharply.
His foot caught Daniel's waist, and the younger man was flipped violently onto his back, the momentum of the sudden, swift kick carrying him over the next step. With cold amusement, the man from Daniel's nightmares, watched as Daniel rolled, thudded and crashed down all three flights of the metal steps, landing in a bloody, crumpled, drugged heap by the Garbage bins at the bottom. With a shrug, he turned to the girl, lifting her from the metal step, descending slowly down the steps himself.
As he shoved the limp, crumpled bodies into the back of the sleek black Jeep, he paused, and smiled down at Daniel's slackened face.
" I'd say it's about time for a family re-union Jackson."
" So, what's the problem?" Janet asked with a sigh, as she stormed into the Infirmary of the SGC. Roberts looked up weakly from his bed- he had woken from his coma shortly after Daniel had returned, and was still waiting to be discharged- and shot her a worried frown.
" Davison is missing." He sombrely replied.
" I'm sorry?" Janet, taken aback, said, and laid her plastic surgeon's gloves onto a nearby gurney. "Missing. Shouldn't the General be dealing with that, rather than me?"
" Normally, Doctor Fraisier, I'd agree with you...however, under the circumstances, your medical opinion is needed." A weary, grim voice interrupted her from behind, and in surprise, she whirled around. It was General Hammond. A slightly more weary, worse for wear, General Hammond than she was used to.
" Circumstances, sir?" she queried, faintly annoyed that she had been left in the dark.
The General nodded, and straightened, and pulled out a long thin projectile from his front pocket.
" Davison failed to turn up for his debriefing this morning. When Sergeant Lambeth went to discover the reason for this, he found that Davison's house had been broken into, and Davison himself was missing. This was found on the floor."
Janet stared at it with increasing horror.
" Is that what I think that is, Sir?"
The General nodded, his eyes now dark and stormy as he bitterly continued.
" If you mean a tranquilliser dart, then I'm afraid so. And that isn't all. Major Wilson of SG-3, and Captain Johnson of SG-9 have also disappeared recently. I've sent some men to search their homes."
Janet closed her eyes bitterly. She would have to ring Daniel later on to let him know she wouldn't be able to leave the Base for a couple of days.
" I'm guessing you want me to run some DNA tests on the dart to prove it's Davison's." she sighed. The General shot her a weary, thankful smile.
" I only wish I didn't have reason to believe it is." He turned on his heel, and paused in the Infirmary entrance, " I've recalled Colonel O'Neill and Major Carter back to duty. I have tried to contact Doctor Jackson, but he doesn't seem to be answering his phone."
Janet looked up, and genuinely smiled.
" He's depressed sir. I've got him to baby-sit Cassandra- hopefully, she'll help cheer him up." She looked down at the projectile in her fingers and sighed. "I'm going to be locked in the Lab for a while with this. Could I arrange for someone to go over and let him know that it'll be a while before I can collect Cass?"
The General, his face exhausted, belying his cheery tone, calmly said, " I'll have Major Carter do it- I believe she still hasn't left her apartment yet."
The world seemed to be moving beneath him, and confused, dizzy, and nauseous, Daniel slowly forced one eye open, and then wished he hadn't, as a wave of bile rose up in his throat.
" Throw up in this van, and I'll personally make sure you clean it with your tongue." A cold voice interrupted his attempts to stagger to his feet, and the world looping crazily around him, Daniel glanced up. His body ached, and glancing at his arms, he was surprised to see bruises and long, bloody gashes.
" Cat got your tongue?" the man laughed as Daniel tried to swear at him through the thick gag he wore.
Doesn't matter if it wasn't here...I'm too dizzy to speak anyway...
His eyes flitting cautiously to the corner, Daniel caught his breath, and let out a stream of muffled curses at the man, switching to their alternatives in other languages when he ran out. Cassandra, sat, with her arms wrapped around her legs, staring wide-eyed at him. She looked petrified.
" Don't worry, we haven't touched her Daniel. We would not dare touch alien filth like her. You on the other hand..." The man strode across the room, and gently cupped Daniel's chin. Cassandra looked away, and Daniel wrenched his head backwards, away from the man's hand. The man-what was his name??- scowled, and slammed the heel of his hand against Daniel's cheekbone, smashing his head against the wall.
" We'll be joining the others soon. I suggest you rest. You won't be getting much else when we get there." He spat bitterly, and opened a thick, heavy metal door, slamming it viciously.
Across the room, Cassandra looked up, tears glistening in her eyes. Her body was trembling like a leaf, and shakily, she crawled over to where Daniel half-knelt, half-lay. Deftly, she slipped her fingers behind the back of his head, and quickly, minute tremors running through her fingers, loosened, and then undid the knot holding the gag in his mouth.
Then she burst into tears; stuffing a fist into her mouth to stifle her sobs.
" Thanks Cass," Daniel whispered hoarsely. His tongue felt thick, heavy and useless, and he groaned in frustration as he instinctively glanced down at his wrist. He had left his watch on his bedside cabinet, just before he had taken his shower.
Well that's it then. I'm stuck with the man from my nightmares, doped up, and locked in a van with Cassandra. I might as well sign my death sentence now.
" You've been asleep for s-six hours," Cassandra stammered suddenly. Her long mousy brown hair was mussed, her blue-grey eyes wide and over-bright. She looked as if she was fighting an inner battle with herself to be brave and slowly, very slowly, winning. Daniel shot her a watery smile.
" Bet I snored."
Cassandra giggled; a hysterical, frightened giggle, and cautiously, inched towards Daniel, before flinging herself forward, wrapping her arms around his neck, and sobbing openly against his shoulder.
" I-I t-t-thought you...would...die!" She managed to whimper into his ear. "That...man...said you would die!"
Daniel stiffened angrily.
" He's a very bad man Cass, but you mustn't be afraid of him; that's what he wants. And he lied earlier on. You are definitely not alien filth. If anything, he is." He hesitated, silently wondering what else he should tell her. "His name is Steven Strattenburg- he used to be a soldier in the US marines, until he was put on court martial."
His stomach lurched in fear as he remembered why Steven had been put up for Court Martial, and a tear silently slid down his cheek, splashing onto Cassandra's pale blue sweater.
" Uncle Daniel, he doesn't like you very much."
Cassandra's racking sobs had dried into hysterical hiccups, and she clung viciously to Daniel, as if afraid that should she let him go, he would die then and there in front of her eyes.
Daniel chuckled hollowly.
" No, I'd imagine, right now, he'd want me dead. I was the reason that his superiors put him up on court martial. I pretty much ended his social life, career, and his respect. He has, what we would call a vendetta, against me."
Wonder what he plans to do with me. And why did he take Cass? For Christ's sake, she's just a little girl!
" Is he going to hurt you?" Cassandra asked tentatively, her voice tinged with childish fear and odd courage at the same time. Her jaw was set stubbornly, and she shot a very dark, dirty look, towards the door that Steven had exited from, as if her gaze would pierce the metal and penetrate the soldier's heart.
Again, Daniel hesitated. He could only tell Cassandra so much. He didn't want to make empty promises, but he also didn't want to give her reason to panic. Finally, he dropped his head, and told the truth.
" If he can, he will. But he won't hurt you. I'll make sure of that."
As the van glided smoothly across the mysterious land, Daniel slumped against the wall, and hugged Cassandra close to him. If anyone-anyone!- dared to take her from him, he would be able to provide some, if meagre, protection for the girl.
And I'm pretty sure- though I hope she doesn't- she'll do the same thing for me.
They sat like that, huddled, scared, (battered in Daniel's case), and cold, until the meagre strips of light filtering through the barred window faded away, and the cornflower blue sky transformed into a velvety, oppressive black, littered with stars.
Colonel Jack O'Neill, was not a happy camper. He was anything but a happy camper. He had taken some meagre pleasure from his downtime, and had tried his best to relax.
I think you're over-exaggerating on that issue, fly-boy. You hated that holiday. You hated it because you knew the reason Daniel locked himself away inside his apartment was because of you. You hated the fact that he was loaded- as sweet as she is- with Cassandra, because you, Carter and Teal'c decided to rendezvous and chat about Daniel. Admit it. You screwed up.
Bitterly, he ground the heel of his palm against his tired eyes, and stared at the General through crooked fingers.
" I'm sorry to interrupt you sir, but could you explain to me exactly why these good, damn fine soldiers were taken again?" He sarcastically mumbled against his skin. The General, Janet, and the members of SG-3, 9 and 7 glared darkly at him. Jack was pretty certain Teal'C was doing the same, but at that moment in time, all he had managed to look was very constipated and mildly annoyed.
" We're not quite sure yet, Colonel. Wilson, Davison, and Johnson were damn fine officers with a good history in this Command. It could be a personal vendetta of the NID- I'm pretty sure we pissed them off royally when they failed to take Doctor Jackson. It could be anything!"
Oh why aren't I surprised? NID again.
" Well in that case sir, what can we do to help you?"
This earned him a venomous look from Hammond, as if he thought that Jack was trying to be funny.
" Colonel, I have put up with your insubordination and have defended you from the beginning! But this situation is not one to be joked about! I suggest you return to your office until you feel ready to behave as a Colonel should!" The General snapped, his eyes dark, his lips drawn into a thin narrow line, his face flushed.
Jack lowered his head in ashamed apology, and abruptly stood up, storming from the room. As his boots clicked against the metal floor in the corridor, he rubbed the bridge of his nose. He felt stupid, and incredibly guilty. SG-3, 7 and 9 were only looking out for their missing team members, and Janet was only doing her job. He was taking out his anger and guilt on his detachment from Daniel, and as the General had pointed out, needed to pull himself together to act like a Colonel.
What he desperately needed was a stiff drink.
No! No, you won't go down that road again! It only makes things worse, remember? Or did you forget that your drink problem was one of the reasons Charlie shot himself, and Sara divorced you?
A tear rolled down his cheek, and furiously, he swiped it away. He was a full-grown man, for crying out loud!
" There's an earth rule that says it's okay for boys to cry y'know. In fact, there is a list of reasons why it is okay for boys to cry. I think Mom telling you she's leaving comes as number six."
Jack bitterly scrubbed his eyes with the back of his hand, and pushed open his office door wearily. Why had Daniel had to look so much Charlie? He remembered briefly, as Skye, Jades, and Gamlin had talked of their race's history, how Daniel's screams, so childlike had grown deeper, more like those of an adult. He would never forget the look on Sam's face when they had;
Sam looked half-triumphant, and half-horrified. The very fact that Daniel's screams had deepened suggested he was now an adult. But now, instead of hearing a child scream in pain for his parents, they had to listen to a team-mate and a close friend scream in pain for them.
Would Charlie scream like that for me if he had grown up? Jack wondered, half-horrified at the very prospect.
Skye lowered her eyes, and continued, " We are the last of our kind. Many of our children, brothers, sisters, parents and husbands and wives left through the Ring to start again. They left us here, entrusting our horrible history to us, to help those who came in search of peace."
" And we found it," Jack replied shortly, darkly looking over to the temple. Skye lifted her eyes, now rimmed with tears.
" Yes you did." She quietly answered.
As he had promised the General, when they had arrived back through the Stargate, it was a very long debriefing. Longer than even he had expected. After they had got rid of Maybourne, and Daniel's broken ribs had been bandaged, they had sat around that metal table, staring at one another in silence, unsure of where to begin. Daniel, embarrassed and flustered, still had a few pale tear tracks running down his cheeks, and had spent the majority of the meeting staring pointedly at the table. His only input to the meeting had been to say, " I was a kid. They tortured me to try to find out why. Now I'm an adult again. Big deal, we can smooth it all over, and those men can go back to their jobs, because if we did arrest them, we would have to admit to hiding important technology."
And unfortunately, Daniel had made, if not bitter, a very valid and honest point. The majority of the soldiers had had to be let free- because if they had been arrested, there would have to be a reason why.
The four men who had tried to kidnap Daniel on Base had been set free, as they had been let in- some had even worked for the Base. Those who had, had lost their jobs of course. The only men to have been punished were Morely and the man who had helped him, because they had forced their way into the house, and attacked Sam.
Not because of what they had done to Danny, Jack bitterly noted as he sunk onto a nearby bed, but because they had shot an adult.
As Teal'c had later commented in his living room a few hours after Daniel had burst in and left, their justice system was very, very flawed.
Scrubbing his hair, he stared bleakly at a wall.
And don't they know it.
Samantha Carter stood, smoothing her ruffled, wind-swept short blonde hair, and clutching a paper bag of walnut cookies and a plastic cup of cappuccino outside of Daniel's apartment door.
" Daniel?" she called softly, as she knocked gently against the wooden panel, " It's me, Sam. Janet sent me over. Let me in, will you?"
There was only deafening silence, and biting her lip, she added, " I'm sorry that you thought me and the Colonel...well...were sleeping together. We weren't. He let me stay in his bedroom, whilst he slept on the couch, whilst we waited for the lock on my apartment door to be mended." It was a lie, and a very poor one at that. The reason she had been sleeping in Sara's old pyjama's, at the Colonel's house, was that he had called her, whilst he was drunk, and had began sobbing into the telephone about Charlie and Daniel, slurring his words until they were incomprehensible. She had been worried he might do something incredibly stupid, like calling Daniel, or hurting himself, so had done him a favour and stayed the night.
Now, as she stood outside Daniel's door, she wished she hadn't.
" C'mon Daniel, let me in!" she cried, a little harsher than what was necessary, pounding her fist against the door. To her surprise, it swung open underneath the pressure. Her mouth dropped, and gaping she let herself in, her eyes widening in horror.
His apartment looked liked it had been hit by a bomb. Quietly, she slipped from the living room, to his bedroom, blushing lightly as she stepped over a pair of dirty boxers and his pyjama's strewn across the floor. His journal was on his bedside cabinet, along with his watch. Puzzled, she moved back into the living room, and cautiously opened his bathroom door.
Remember, you're only doing this because you're his friend...
" What the hell?" she blurted. Hot water dripped from the showerhead, and numerous towels were strewn across the floor, the radio softly chattering to itself in the corner. Like in his bedroom, Daniel was suspiciously absent from the scene, as was Cassandra.
Anxious and annoyed, she backed out into the living room, and froze in mid-step. The television was on, the balcony door open. Daniel, never, ever, left the balcony door open or his television on. She had learnt that from his mumbled complaints at how cold his apartment grew if the door was left open, and it was just common sense not to leave the television on.
Her worried gaze sweeping the floor, she stiffened, and swore loudly.
" Shit!"
For there, lying, strewn under books and newspapers, were three tranquilliser darts.
Daniel sat, slumped against the metal wall, shivering violently. Cassandra had drifted into an uneasy sleep in his arms a couple of hours earlier, leaving him alone to his dark, bitter thoughts. The room spun gently, and woozily, he shook his head to clear his fogged mind. Evidently, the drugs were still in effect.
Oh the joy of drugs. Just love them.
As he tightened his comforting, almost fatherly, hug around Cassie, he frowned. Cassandra seemed to be quite warm- normal body temperature. But Daniel was sure that the room was the same temperature as his fridge-freezer. The world blurred around the edges again, and angrily, he pinched the bridge of his nose.
Did he have to give me so many? Jeez, one dart would have sufficed. And why the fuck am I so bruised?
Of course, Daniel knew the answer to his first question; Strattenburg had given him two darts so that he could make the most of Daniel's impending torture.
Like taxes and taxmen. If NID are nearby, so is torture.
Jack would have been proud.
The lulling, smooth movement halted suddenly, and violently, and before he knew what had happened, Daniel had rolled clumsily, to the other side, and had caught his head on the corner of a small metal bench.
Cassandra, now on the other side, sleepily stirred, then bolted upright, her eyes wide, as she frantically squinted through the darkness, for Daniel.
" It's alright Cass, I'm over here..." Daniel whispered quickly, and then broke off as the back door to the van, one he hadn't so much as noticed, but assumed was there, swung open, and a flock of icy-faced soldiers, wearing Biohazard suits stood to attention, their rifles pointed at the two captors. Daniel felt like yelling, " What the hell?" but doubted it would do him much good. Instead, he remained bitterly silent as he was hauled to his feet, and pushed violently to ground, dropping to his knees as the world looped again.
" Get up!" A voice snarled from the corner of his elbow, and helped by a trembling Cassandra, Daniel weakly scrambled to his feet, swaying dizzily. Blankly, he stared at the soldiers. They stared back.
" Doctor Jackson?" a hoarse, surprised voice hissed from behind the row of identical soldiers, " What the fuck are you doing here?"
Daniel shifted his gaze, and felt his eyes widen, and his eyebrows fly into his hairline. Barely visible, their hands and feet manacled together, over more Biohazard suits, were Davison- a former member of SG-6 who had transferred to SG-7 after hearing that his best friend had been beaten up by the traitors of the SGC- Major Wilson, a respectable soldier, who Daniel got on well with, who often listened to his half-babbled theories, and Captain Johnson, a tall black man who had once taken him hostage when his team had disappeared under Hansen's command. All three looked horrified to see him, and Cassandra standing there.
" Probably the same reason as you guys." He hissed back, and then abruptly quieted as a gun was thrust in between his shoulder blades, nudging a large, painful black bruise.
" We have Jackson," Strattenburg called smugly over the rows of soldiers, to an unseen foe. "And a girl. But we can dispose of her later."
Cassandra stiffened and whimpered next to Daniel, and comfortingly, he patted her hand.
There, there, you're only going to be killed...way to go Jackson, have a bit of sympathy why don't you? She's just a child, and is petrified! Like you were a few weeks ago.
" Has he been...?" a voice asked cryptically, and Daniel had a strong suspicion that the voice had left his question hanging in the air to scare him.
Have to do better than that boys...
" Yes," Strattenburg lazily replied, " He has indeed. We will begin experimenting on him and the others for the cure, so that we can sway the President to our viewpoint. However, after that, they can die. No need for them to live . Especially Jackson."
Experiments? No! Not again! Please God not again...
The row of soldiers parted, and Daniel was roughly prodded forward, towards his new 'home'. As he glanced up to squint at in the night sky he scowled, swore and gasped all at once.
It was Area 51, and standing smugly in a Biohazard suit, was the man behind the cryptic voice.
Senator Kinsey.
End Of Part One
If you enjoyed this story, please send feedback to Debbie Louise Gough
Heliopolis Main Archive
A Stargate: SG-1 Fanfiction Site
Darkest Memories, Part 1
by Debbie Louise GoughSite Navigation
Support Heliopolis