Aftermath
Aftermath
by Panther
TITLE: Aftermath
AUTHOR: Panther
EMAIL: seavan@mybc.com
CATEGORY: Challenge (1086 & 1076), Hurt/Comfort, Missing Scene/Epilogue
PAIRING: Daniel/Janet
SPOILERS: First Ones (minor for Movie)
SEASON / SEQUEL: 4
RATING: G
CONTENT WARNINGS: character death
SUMMARY: Epilogue to First Ones. Daniel deals with the loss of his friend.
STATUS: Complete
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: Just another story about everyone's favorite archeologist. Enjoy!
Daniel sat staring at the paperwork laid out on the table in front of him, not really seeing any of it, his mind drifting in and out of memories. With a heavy sigh he sat back in his chair, blinking himself back to the present and frowning at the translation he was sure he would have had at least half finished by then. Picking up his coffee mug, he took a swallow and grimaced as it went down. Cold coffee was not one of his favorite things. Daniel pushed himself out of his chair, abandoning the project and the cold coffee and wandered across the living room.
It had only been a day since his march across P3X888 at the hands of his Unas friend, but it seemed a lot longer than that. It felt like a lifetime had passed since he'd been contentedly digging in the dirt, unearthing fossilized goa'uld on what should have been a totally uneventful mission. Something akin to a vacation. A step back in time to the good old days when his biggest concerns had been avoiding heat stroke and whether or not he'd get the next paper published in time to pay next month's rent or whether anyone would believe his theories when he did. The stargate not even a possibility and Abydos nothing more than an ancient city in Egypt. Still, he'd had 3 weeks. 3 weeks of peace and quiet. 3 weeks of uninterrupted archeology with no colonel breathing down his neck with an urgent need to hurry things along so he could get back to doing something more interesting. Anything at all. No glowing eyed, goa'uld infested humans trying to take a chunk out of his hide for showing up in the wrong place at the wrong time. No headaches, no arguments, no stress. Looking back on it, Daniel realized he should have known better than to think things would have turned out any other way. Nearly a month on a planet teeming with goa'uld corpses and nothing crawling out of the woodwork at some point to remind them that there were more than a few still alive and well? It was, apparently, too much to ask.
He still had no idea what had led the Unas to pick him out of the crowd of men at the site. To single him out for the once in a lifetime chance to spend quality time with a member of his particular species. Nevertheless, Daniel had eventually staggered back through the gate to Earth in much better shape than anyone had imagined, himself included. Most of the SGC had expected to find him in several pieces, if not one big bleeding one when they'd learned exactly what had taken him hostage. Hell, there'd been moments when he'd been thinking the same thing. No one had come right out and admitted it, but he was sure that more than a few people had written him off for dead the minute the report had come in. Fortunately he'd gotten lucky this time. Being dragged across the planet by, what they had come to think of as a very deadly creature, swimming in a lake full of goa'uld larvae, the nearly fatal introduction to the rest of the clan and all he'd ended up with were a few scrapes and bruises and a little dehydration. Thankfully Jack, Sam and Teal'c had shown up when they had, otherwise he most likely would have ended up as the evening meal he had been fearing he was destined to become. The whole thing reminded him of something Jack had said back on Abydos the night they had hidden in the caves to escape Ra and his goons. A few quiet moments in the dark when everyone else had nodded off and it was just the two of them, staring into the dying embers of the fire. Jack had looked at him for a long moment, visions of his death at Ra's hand playing in his mind. Then with a yawn he had shrugged, shook his head and said "Of all the geeks on god's green earth I end up with the luckiest bastard to ever walk the planet who also just happens to have the world's worst Karma." At the time he hadn't found it so funny, but knowing Jack's sense of humor a lot better now than he had then, he found it amusing.
If luck was what had had his teammates showing up minutes before he would have been torn to shreds by the Unas clan leader, then apparently Jack's statement held more than a little truth. They had stood for a moment in silence, watching as the creature they had come to put out of its misery disappeared into the shadows, protected by Daniel's title of friend. A turn of events none of them had expected, but one they didn't exactly find surprising.
"Should we not return to the stargate?" Teal'c had asked, shaking them from their collective trance and bringing Jack suddenly back to life.
Turning on his heel and tucking his weapon safely out of the way, he had ushered Daniel back out of the Unas cave intending to put as much distance between themselves and the hostile creatures as possible. Jack had set out toward daylight at a fast walk muttering about Daniel having taken the befriending the natives thing a bit too far this time, planning to both lecture him and patch him up when they were safely out of harm's way. Daniel, more than a little eager to get back to the base and a hot shower himself, had followed, but the pace was a more than his body was able to take. Too long without enough food or water and nothing but a steady diet of adrenaline had left him unable to keep up with the colonel's hurried pace. Just as they reached the mouth of the cave, the adrenaline that had been keeping him going fading with each step, his legs crumpled underneath him in mid stride and suddenly he was face down in the dirt. Teal'c, who had been taking up a protective position behind him just in case the Unas had any ideas about coming after them, managed to pull him back to his feet but it was clear he wouldn't be vertical for long.
"Daniel?" Sam said, looking him over with no attempt to hide her concern.
"I'm OK." He insisted without bothering to fight Teal'c's solid grip on his arm, having no illusions about his ability to remain standing.
"Let's get him outside." Jack instructed, noting the slight shivering of his friend. "It's warmer."
The cave was an excellent protection from the elements, but there was a reason Daniel had worn his jacket a majority of the time. Slowing their pace to one Daniel could more easily manage, they had found a small clearing not too far from the cave and stopped to rest. Sam had handed him a full canteen which he took gratefully, twisting off the cap before pouring the water down his throat as fast as he could swallow.
"Take it easy, Daniel." Jack had advised when he choked on a mouthful and took the canteen away from him. "You chug it like that and you'll make yourself sick."
Daniel had reached for the canteen again, sure that he could drain the thing twice before he'd had enough, but Jack had held it out of reach.
"Give it a chance to work through your system." He advised. "You can have some more in a few minutes."
He'd considered protesting, but Sam had handed him a granola bar, effectively distracting him from the water. He'd never been so hungry in his life. The 3 protein bars he'd brought hadn't lasted long, one of them having been donated to his new friend, and the Unas' idea of food had left a lot to be desired. Swallowing the last of the granola bar that had disappeared down his throat in less than a minute, he'd taken the canteen Jack finally agreed to hand him and washed it down.
"Sip it, Daniel," he advised. "or that granola bar's gonna come right back up."
Taking smaller gulps, he'd proceeded to attempt to empty the canteen only to have Jack snatch it away again. Between he and Sam, they had fed him a steady stream of food and water until at last he was full, the better part of 3 MREs and a canteen and a half of water having been poured into him in an hour's time. He gladly would have cut that time at least in half, but Jack had insisted that filling him up slowly was the only way to do it. In between food and water they'd kept him distracted by making him tell them what had happened over the last 24 hours and how, exactly, he'd managed to make friends with an Unas. After letting him rest for several hours, they had again set off toward the gate at a much slower pace than the one his tour guide had used. As eager as he was to get home, Daniel was in no condition to do a 3 minute mile march back across the planet.
A medical team had been waiting at the end of the ramp when they'd appeared through the event horizon, complete with rubber gloves and a gurney. The team guarding the gate had sent word back that he'd been found very much alive and with hardly a scratch on him, but Janet Frasier hadn't been in the mood to take chances. She knew these military men quite well. Certainly well enough to know that to them things like deep, bleeding gashes and fingers hanging half off their hands came under the category of "hardly a scratch". She had been more than a little relieved to find that this time they'd actually been serious.
Daniel could remember sitting on the gurney in the infirmary, an IV pumping fluids into his left arm while he watched Janet treat the rope burns on his wrists, thanks to being dragged half way across the planet by his hands. She'd washed off the grit and sand that had helped to rub the skin from parts of his wrists while he'd begun to assemble a list in his head of things that needed be done now that he was back and the worst was over. There was the translation of a tablet brought back by SG-4 that he still needed to finish and he wanted to make a few notes on things he'd learned about the Unas before he forgot it, not that he imagined he would any time soon. He'd been watching with half interest as Janet, standing between his knees, had coated the raw places on his wrists with a layer of antibiotic ointment when Jack had strode into the room, hands stuffed in his pockets. He'd sounded cheerful enough, but with an statement that seemed to resemble guilt. Daniel looked over at him and caught the statement, but brushed it off seeing no reason why the guilt would be aimed at him, assuming that it most likely involved the petite doctor in front of him.
"How are the hands?" Jack asked with a nod toward Daniel's wrists, standing with his hip leaning against the bed.
"They look worse than they feel." He assured him, looking down at the angry, red patches of skin.
"9-lives Jackson strikes again." He commented with a smirk. "When Rothman came back through the gate...we were sure you'd had it this time."
"For a while I was pretty sure, myself." He admitted.
"Look....uh...speaking of Rothman." Jack began.
Daniel saw Janet cast him a glance before turning back to what she was doing. Whatever announcement was coming, she seemed to already know what it was.
"He's dead, Daniel." Jack blurted out.
Daniel looked over at him, blinking as the announcement echoed in his head. An odd feeling of dj vu crept over him and with it the half forgotten memory of the last time he'd been in the infirmary hearing a similar announcement in a tone that, to some, might have seemed cold and callous.
"I'm sorry." the colonel concluded, with heart felt sincerity.
"How?" Daniel whispered, swallowing the lump in his throat.
"We didn't know about the goa'uld in the lake until it was too late." He said by way of explanation. "Rothman got hold of Teal'c's staff and..." he shrugged. "We had no choice."
Daniel nodded, holding up a hand to ward off any details that might have been coming. He didn't want to know.
"Where is he?" he asked, staring at his hands as Janet silently wrapped his wrists in gauze.
"In the morgue." He replied.
Daniel nodded again, but didn't speak. What was there to say? The goa'uld had claimed the life of another of his rapidly shrinking family. At least this time they'd been able to put a stop to it before Robert had had to suffer years of being held prisoner in his own body. He didn't think he could take hunting all over the universe in the hopes of getting him back in one piece. Not again and especially not since this time he was to blame for getting him involved with the goa'uld in the first place. At the moment, however, all he felt was numb and for the time being that was just fine.
"Is that too tight?" Janet asked quietly, finishing with the bandaging and looking up at him, trying to gauge his emotional state without asking the question.
"It's fine." He replied with a twitch of a smile.
He knew what she wanted, but was too busy reeling from the news to even attempt to put his jumbled emotions into words.
"You'll need to change those every day." She instructed, resting a hand on his thigh. "And I've put you on 3 day medical leave so I don't want to see you back here until Monday."
He nodded, turning his hands over and inspecting the bandages, anything not to have to look at Jack who he knew was studying him intently from where he stood. Janet unhooked him from the IV with instructions to drink plenty of water over the next few days and make sure he ate regularly, knowing his eating habits when he was absorbed in a project. He nodded again and she stepped back as he hopped off the table.
"Thanks, Janet." He offered.
"Are you OK?" she asked quietly, not talking about his hands.
He nodded minutely.
"Let me know if you notice any change in those." She said, agreeing to give him time and giving his arm a reassuring squeeze, a silent conversation taking place between them underneath the normal doctor/patient exchange. "We'll need to keep an eye out for infection."
He nodded again before letting Jack lead him down to the morgue.
Standing in his living room hours later and staring out through a window at the street below, his eyes saw only Robert's body. A gray tinge to his skin from the lack of life beneath it, a shade that instantly brought back memories of Sha're. He'd stood over his friend staring down at the lifeless face while a thousand memories flooded through him. How many hours had they spent together huddled in the sand at at least a dozen digs? Shoulder to shoulder carefully unearthing bits of the past. The weeks spent digging up the ancient goa'uld fossils had been like stepping back in time. Back to a time when they'd had been like brothers. True, they hadn't always seen eye to eye and had eventually drifted apart as their careers took them in separate directions, but in the end that time spent apart hadn't mattered at all. He hadn't been able to spend much time with Rothman since Robert had joined the SGC. Not enough to have a real reunion. Not until P3X888. 3 weeks working side by side, just like the good old days had revived the bond between them and they were thick as thieves again. Daniel had smiled in spite of himself, even as a silent tear rolled down his face, landing on the sheet covering the body of his friend. His only consolation was that this had happened after they'd had a chance to spend some real time together knowing regret would have made it worse.
Daniel sighed heavily and dragged himself almost reluctantly back to the present. He didn't really want to spend the next 3 days torturing himself with memories of his fallen friend, but at the same time he seemed helpless to prevent it. Turning away from the window he walked over to the piano that took up a good portion of his living room and sat down in the chair in front of it. He'd been meaning to get a real piano bench for years, but didn't exactly have the time or the motivation to look for one. The old, dark stained instrument was one of the few things he had that held ties to his family. Most of the possessions that had been in the house when his parents died had been long since scattered to the wind, claimed by friends and neighbors who wanted momentos or donated to museums. He hadn't been left much, after all, what would an 8 year old in foster care do with it? The piano, however, hadn't been his parents'. It was Nick's. Something he'd given Daniel when he'd checked himself into the mental hospital. A going away present of sorts...or something. When he'd first gotten it Daniel had had no idea how to play, but being one who was always up for a challenge, he'd learned. As it had turned out, he had a knack for music. Just another foreign language his brain had set out to decipher. Modern day symbols on a page rather than ancient ones on a wall. Sitting with his hands resting on the ivory keys, he began playing bits and pieces of a song, not able to remember all of it, but also not interested enough to hunt for the sheet music. It had been a long time since he'd played. Who had the time? Which, he reminded himself, he didn't really have right then either.
Getting up from the piano, he went back to the table, grabbed his coffee mug and wandered into the kitchen to refill it with something a little warmer. A knock at the front door made him change his course. Checking his watch he sighed and carried his mug with him to the door. He'd been expecting the interruption some time that day knowing that he wouldn't be left on his own for very long before someone showed up to check on him. His friends were nothing if not predictable. Unlocking the deadbolt, he made a silent bet with himself about who he would find on the other side and pulled the door open.
"Hi." Janet said, smiling up at him.
"Hi." He replied, opening the door and stepping aside to let her into the apartment. "What are you doing here? I mean, I thought you had to work."
"Dr. Warren's covering for me." She explained.
Good thing he hadn't actually wagered any money on that one because he would have lost, having expected to find a still somewhat contrite Colonel in the hall instead. What he was looking so guilty for lately Daniel wasn't sure. He also wasn't sure he wanted to know.
"How are you?" Janet asked standing on tiptoes to give him a quick kiss on the mouth.
"Fine." He answered, closing the door. "At least nothing hurts this time."
It wasn't the answer she was after and he knew it, but he didn't think he was ready to talk about it yet.
"Good." She replied, letting it go for the moment. "Have you eaten?"
"No." he admitted.
It was well into the afternoon and he hadn't had anything but coffee. At least not since the toast he'd eaten for breakfast.
"Why don't I fix you something?" she asked, taking off her coat and draping it over the back of one of the dining room chairs.
Not waiting for his reply she made her way to the kitchen and pulled open the refrigerator to find it almost completely bare. The cupboards weren't much better. In fact, the only thing Daniel seemed to have an adequate supply of was coffee.
"You're food supply leaves a lot to be desired." She commented, sticking her head back out of the kitchen.
"I've been off world for 3 weeks." He shrugged.
"And it looks that way." She replied.
If it had been her, she would have made a stop at the store first on her list, but then she had a growing teenager to feed. Daniel just had his fish.
She hadn't needed the reminder that he'd been gone. She'd been well aware of his absence every minute of the 3 weeks and 2 days. Each day had lasted a week and every week even longer. She could still remember the all too brief moment in his arms as they'd said their good-byes in a quiet corner of the infirmary the day he'd left.
"I'll be back soon." He'd assured her, resting his chin on her head.
"In one piece?" she'd asked, making him laugh.
"I'll see what I can do." He'd replied, drinking in the scent of her, knowing it would have to last him a long time. "It's just a dig on an unpopulated planet. The worst thing I should come back with is dirt under my fingernails. OK, maybe a sunburn."
"But isn't it the original home world of the goa'uld?" she'd pointed out.
"One they left probably centuries ago. Besides SG-11 will be there to back us up in case anything happens." He replied, letting go to look her in the face. "Which it won't."
She'd looked into his blue eyes and let it reassure her, despite the fact that she knew that whether or not that promise was actually kept was completely out of his hands.
Janet could also still remember the day Rothman had come stumbling through the gate, gasping for air as he sucked on his inhaler, frantically recounting a horrific story of an attack on the camp. As if that weren't bad enough, it had included an unconscious Daniel being dragged off into the forest by a creature she'd often heard described as a self regenerating, tooth filled, claw bearing demon. Her heart had stopped cold in her chest, images of what had become of the missing archeologist being stubbornly silenced as she worked on the half panicked one in her infirmary. She'd spent a sleepless night and a very restless day on base trying not to let her imagination get the best of her as they all waited for word on his fate. Finally the news had come. He'd been found alive and well, but she'd still had to wait a full 12 hours before he'd finally rematerialized on the planet. Relief had washed over the SGC at the news as they let out a collective sigh of relief, though she'd refused to be put completely at ease until she'd seen him for herself.
Rothman. The thought of him brought an unconscious sigh to her lips. She hadn't known him very well, but she knew that he and Daniel had been close. How close, she wasn't exactly sure, but it was enough to know that they had a history that went back farther than anyone else in his life at the moment. Judging by the fact that Daniel was stubbornly holding her at arms length, still dealing with the loss told her all she needed to know about how deeply he was feeling it.
"What do you say you take a break and we go grocery shopping?" she stated cheerfully, coming out of the kitchen to find him at the table, huddled over an artifact and a pad of paper.
"I'm not really in the mood." He admitted with a sigh, turning his attention away from the translation. "Maybe later."
Janet nodded and stood watching him after he'd turned back to his work, gleaning information about his state of mind from his body language. He looked tired and, in a very rare occurrence, seemed to be having trouble focusing on the project in front of him. Silently she crossed the room and stood behind him, leaning down to wrap her arms around his neck and resting her chin on his shoulder.
"You look tired." She said softly.
"Maybe a little." He admitted, reaching up and giving her arms an affectionate squeeze.
"Why don't you take a break." She suggested.
Sighing, he leaned back in the chair, still in her embrace, and closed his eyes.
"I guess I could work on the notes from P3X888." He admitted.
"That's not exactly what I had in mind." She replied, running a hand through his short hair, the other arm still draped around his neck. "I was thinking more of you getting some rest."
"I could work on the couch...with my feet up on the coffee table." He suggested. "Does that count?"
"Not really." She informed him. "But I'll take what I can get. Why don't you go and lie down for a while and I'll make you something to eat. Assuming I can find anything to work with in that desert wasteland of a kitchen."
He agreed without argument, standing up when she'd let go of him. To be honest, he'd been looking for an excuse to stop. The work needed to be done, but at the moment he was in no mood to be translating goa'uld. Actually, he was in no mood to be looking at, thinking of or even in the same room with anything goa'uld, the all too familiar anger bubbling up inside of him. With a sigh of both anger and frustration, he dug his hand held tape recorder out of the pile of work he'd brought home and carried it and a pad of paper over to the couch. Feet up on the coffee table as promised, he burrowed into the cushions before beginning an inspection of the nearly full tape. Settling the pad of paper on his thigh, he pressed rewind. Was there anything worth listening to on the beginning? He couldn't be sure. He couldn't really remember very much of what he'd recorded during that nearly 24-hour adventure. Most of it was probably useless, but some of it might be worth transcribing. With a soft click the recorder informed him that he'd reached the beginning of the tape. Pressing play he turned up the volume and steeled himself to relive what had been some quite unpleasant scenes.
"SG-11 Archeological survey, P3X888 dig site 4..." began the narration in his own voice.
He'd almost forgotten he'd started the tape while they'd still been at the dig.
"5!" insisted a voice he knew instantly, freezing him in place, his hand solidly gripping the recorder.
"5." He'd amended. "Uh, subject queen primordial goa'uld, as evidenced by the enlarged pectoral musculature structure. This goa'uld ancestor appears to have been..." his own voice continued.
"Cleopatra." Rothman interrupted with a tone of proud amusement followed by a few seconds of silence. "Well I found her, I get to name her....no, Cleo." He amended making Daniel smile at the typically Rothman choice of name.
Cleo. Patsy. Brunhilda. Muffy. It was always easy to tell when Robert had been part of a dig.
"Cleo...as she has been so colorfully named by Robert Rothman...appears to have been a predator, not parasitical confirming my theory that the goa'uld evolved for millions of years in the oceans of this planet before ever taking hosts."
"Let's get a sedimentary time line before we jump to any conclusions here, please." Rothman insisted.
"Testing for naquada levels."
Then there had been a click signaling that the tape had been stopped. The next voice was again his own, quieter, more muffled, with much less humor.
"In case anyone finds this...this is Dr. Daniel Jackson. I've made a new friend and he's taking me on a long journey to see his planet..."
Daniel stopped the tape and rewound it while replaying the exchange with Robert in his head. His last conversation with Rothman and he'd managed to capture it on tape. Odd that their last words where the typical banter of a dig site. But then again, maybe not. Most of their relationship had been spent huddled in the dirt together. Jack had said that Rothman had been the one to make it back and get help and had even been part of the rescue mission. Rothman, the guy who'd had a severe allergy to, as he liked to call them, "military types". He'd never fired a weapon in his life and yet his hands gripping a staff were what had ended it. Taking off his glasses, Daniel rested his head on the back of the couch and stared up at the ceiling, his hand finding the play button when the tape had rewound.
Janet dug through Daniel's kitchen cabinets with little success. If she was going to feed him the food was obviously going to have to come from somewhere else. Stepping back out of the kitchen, she could hear the quiet sound of voices coming from across the room. She could see Daniel with his head leaned back against the back of the couch, eyes closed as the sound continued. Curiosity drawing her closer, she stopped when she recognized the voice. Rothman. Where on earth? It was then that she saw the small tape player in Daniel's hand, resting in his lap.
"Cleo..." the voice on the tape said with obvious amusement.
She watched as Daniel twitched a smile in response despite the tear that had escaped his closed eye and was slowly working its way across his cheek toward his ear. Without a word, she knelt beside him on the couch, leaning gently against him and looking down at his upturned face. With his eyes still closed, he wrapped his arm around her waist and held her to him, the rest of his body unmoved. Janet listened as the conversation continued, hearing Rothman's comments alternated with Daniel's before he turned it off with a click. The room was suddenly silent again and for a long time he didn't move. Hearing him sigh, a sound that seemed to work its way up from the depths of his soul, she put her arms around him, cradling his head, her cheek rested on his forehead willing to do nothing more until he let her know what he needed.
The conversation stopped and again Daniel turned off the recorder with a click. He felt the cushions move as Janet joined him on the couch, but didn't open his eyes. He could feel the warmth of her body close to him even before she touched him and wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her close as his mind drifted back to the first time he'd met Rothman. At the time Robert had been a senior in college, balancing a nearly overwhelming load of classes with a track schedule. He'd been quite the athlete back in those days. Head full of theories, but little actual experience, he'd been eager to set to work helping Daniel prepare for his dissertation. A brief introduction followed by an understanding that it was Robert and Daniel not Bob and Dan and they'd set to work.
The temptation to feel sorry for himself was almost more than Daniel could stand. Why? Why again? Why Robert? Why did it always seem to be him that paid the price for Earth's relationship with the goa'uld? With a heavy sigh he reminded himself that Teal'c had already paid a much higher price for that relationship than he ever would. True, he'd lost a wife, a friend, and a pound or two of flesh, but Teal'c had given up his friends, his family, his people to help them. In light of that, he really had very little to complain about. He felt Janet pull him closer, her arms around his neck and her head rested against his, a physical reminder that he wasn't alone and he certainly hadn't lost everyone he cared for. He still had her, a woman whose love had come as a surprise and whose continued devotion to him still left him wondering what he'd done to deserve it. And as if that weren't enough he had Jack and Sam and Teal'c.
"You OK?" Janet finally asked, her voice barely above a whisper.
"I will be." He replied, finally opening his eyes.
Janet let go of him so he could lift his head, his arm still around her waist.
"I think we're out of luck in the food department." She admitted, smiling into his blue eyes. "What do you say to ordering in?"
"That's fine." He agreed. "I guess that means I have to go shopping tonight."
"I think so." She nodded, running a hand through his short hair. "Do you want pizza or Chinese?" she asked, hoping he'd lean toward Chinese because she wasn't really in the mood for pizza.
"Whichever." He shrugged. "Anything that doesn't come in a little plastic pouch is fine with me at this point." He added, remembering the last month's worth of MREs.
"Then Chinese it is. You want the usual?"
"Sure."
He didn't, however, make any attempt to release her, still holding her close to him with one arm.
"Of course, that can wait, I suppose." She added with a smile.
He returned the smile and she watched as it slid quickly from his face leaving him with the same blank statement he'd had before.
"I'm sorry we haven't had any time together since I got back." He offered, remembering a few days before when all he'd wanted was to get home to her. "Things have been a little..."
"It's OK." She assured him. "The news about Rothman kind of put a damper on things."
He nodded agreement.
"You want to talk about it?" she asked.
"There's not much to talk about. He's...gone." He said with a sigh.
"What about how you feel about him being gone?" she replied.
Daniel looked over at her with a frown.
"I thought the Dr. in Dr. Frasier was medical not psychiatric."
"I'm a woman of many talents. What can I say?" she grinned briefly. "I just want you to know that I'm here if you want to talk about it."
He nodded, staring across the room before turning back to her.
"Did I ever tell you about the time Robert thought he'd found proof of vampires?" he asked.
"No. Don't think I've heard that one."
"Oh, well it was about 6 months after we'd met. I found a place for him on a dig I was working on, nothing big just some little project down in South America. Anyway, it was his first real site and some of the other assistants decided to initiate him." Daniel smiled at the memory, finally letting go of Janet.
She sank down beside him on the couch and sat facing him, watching his statement as he spoke. Amusement tempered with a hint of sadness. He'd be just fine, she decided. Like his still bandaged wrists, his heart would heal and he'd be alright.
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