A/N: Okay, here is another chapter for this story. I am sorry it took so long, writer's block striked again, but I'm on a roll right now. I'm working on all of my stories, so there will be a new chapter on them to. I will warn you this chapter is not a happy one. I hope you like it anyway though.

The pain that he had first felt when he woke up in the church was now a distant memory. It couldn't compare to what he was feeling now. Never before had he experienced anything like this. His face and arms were screaming at him in pain.

For the first time in his life, Daniel wanted to die. The only thing that registered in his mind was if he died he wouldn't be in pain anymore, he would be with God and pain would be nothing but a memory. That idea was almost blissful. He could now understand why Wade had begged for more morphine, he had to have felt that death would be better than what he was experiencing.

Daniel's mind drifted between the pain and what had happened. They had taken him into another room and had him lay down on something similar to a table, and then it had started. They began with his arms. When the first piece of his dead skin had come off he had jerked his arm away. Olivia's calming voice couldn't calm him down anymore, it just hurt too much. Then after a few moments of trying to keep him still, they restrained him. He still struggled but there wasn't anything he could do. They continued to scrape his skin off his body and the pain continued. He also remembered that he heard screaming echoing throughout the room. It had taken him a few moments to realize that the screams were coming from his own mouth, and when he did he couldn't keep himself from doing it. Finally they had finished with his arms and stopped long enough to bandage them. He had prayed to God that they wouldn't start again, but deep inside of him he knew that some prayers were answered with a no, this was one of those times because there was still his face.

After they finished with his arms, they had restrained him again. Daniel could remember that Olivia had still been trying to get him to relax, but it wasn't working. There was no way he could relax after that. He had been in so much pain and he knew it was only going to be worse. Once again they started to scrape skin off of him, and he had been right, that was far worse. After a while the pain was so much that he had seemed to go numb. He still felt the pain, but he seemed numb to everything. Daniel had felt detached from his own body. Only now that it was over Daniel was back in his body. The pain was so overwhelming. It barely registered when he felt someone touch his hand, his shaking hand, gently.

"Daniel are you alright?" he heard Olivia ask.

"No, I feel like I'm dying, no I wish I was dying," he gasped out.

"It's going to be alright," she told him in that comforting voice, which had calmed him so well an hour ago, that now had little effect on him now.

"I hurt so much," Daniel told her. "I can't ever imagine it being alright again."

"It will I promise," she told him and then paused. "Is there anything I can do for you?"

"Morphine, can I have more morphine?" He knew what the answer would be but asked anyway.

"I'm sorry but I can't give anymore to you. If I did you would die."

"I don't care! It would be better than this!' he blurted out.

She embraced him, carefully avoiding his burns, and whispered softly in his ear. "Shush, it is going to be alright. You have so much to give yet. Don't give up now. It's going to be alright. The pain will eventually go away, you will be fine."

Whether it was because she was holding him, or whispering in his ear, or both he didn't know. What Daniel did know is he started to calm down. His body relaxed in her arms, and his breathing slowed down. Yes the pain was still there, but it seemed to not be as intense.

"How do you do that?" he asked Olivia.

"Do what?"

"Calm me down so well."

"It is a talent that comes with practice," she said. There was a strange sadness in her voice. It was almost like she sounded like she had the weight of the world on her shoulders. It was a tone that he had heard in Miller's voice often.

"How long have you done this?" he asked softly, almost not wanting to hear the answer.

"She sighed loudly and then said, "I started working in burn units since a month after Pearl Harbor."

Daniel didn't say anything because of his shock, but he didn't have to.

"It is a thankless job," she told him. Her voice had nothing to it now. There was no tone, no pitch, no feeling, and no emotion. It was empty, dead. It was a haunting sound that let him know she had seen, and heard too much, and while she was strong, it was eating at the inside of her soul and heart. He didn't even have to see her face to know this. Just those five words had told him all he needed to know. She too was a victim of this war that had gone on far too long. No she didn't have any scars or disfigurements that a person could see that would let them know she had been wounded, or at least Daniel didn't think she did. However, he could hear the scars and the pain in her voice. It made him want to reach out to her, to make it better, but how could he help her when he couldn't even help her.

"Why do you stay here if it hurts so much?" he asked her. Once again he had a general idea what she would say.

"While it is a thankless job, it still has to be done. Nurses don't stay in a burn unit for long of they can help it, most can't. However, if no one stays who is going to do the job? I stay because I have to, because I'm needed. At least I know I'm doing some good here, even if it is only to just make them comfortable," she finished. Her voice had to be the sadist thing he had ever heard in a very long time. She had comforted him this far and now he felt like he needed to comfort her.

He squeezed her hand gently and Daniel could imagine her smiling sadly.

"Thank you, for what you've done for me so far," he told her. "I probably wouldn't be able to make it through this if it wasn't for you. I would be ready to leave and go to God, but you keep bringing me back. I think he sent you to me."

When she was silent for a moment, Daniel was starting to think he had said something wrong. Then he felt her squeeze his hand again before she spoke. "I suppose God does work in different ways. If I'm meant to keep bringing since to you, I'll do it."

Her words puzzled him a little but he didn't say anything about it. Instead he decided to focus on his treatment. "How often am I gonna to have to go through that?" he asked her. Hearing her sigh was all Daniel needed to know that the answer wasn't going to be good.

"It's going to take a while for you to get new skin," she told him. "Until then we will have to do this every day. There is a good thing though. As long as we keep the bandages on your skin shouldn't dry out."

"What will happen if my skin dries out?" he asked her before he could stop himself.

"I really shouldn't tell you," she said after a moment. "I mean you shouldn't have to worry about it. I keep a good eye on my patients."

Instantly, Daniel knew that whatever she wasn't telling him was something he didn't want to happen to him. He also really wanted to know what it was now.

"Please ma'am…Olivia," he said. "I would really like to know what could happen."

He listened closely to the sigh that he knew was coming. When he heard it, he also felt her squeeze his hand gently. "I'll tell you, but remember this probably won't happen," she told him. "When the skin dries out on a burn patient it kind of shrinks up. It's highly painful and to loosen the skin up you have to cut it. However, that isn't going to happen with you. I don't let that happen to the people I treat if I can help it. I keep an eye on everyone here, and my nurses know what happens when they don't do their job."

"How often does it happen?" Daniel asked. He actually wasn't sure if he wanted to know the answer, but he needed to know.

"It usually happens when a patient is first brought in and they weren't taken care of when they were overseas. I don't let it happen when people are in my care. You were one of the ones that were treated very well when you arrived, so you shouldn't have to worry about it."

"You really have a lot on your hands here, don't you?" he asked her.

"I do, but don't worry. I've been doing this for a while, so I know what I'm doing," she told him.

Daniel was about to ask her something else but he never got the chance.

"Lieutenant," he heard a female voice say. It was easy to tell the woman was nervous.

"Yes, Michael's?" Olivia's voice was back to being completely professional now. Daniel wasn't sure how he was going to get used to that.

"They've brought in a new one," the woman said. "Here is his chart."

Olivia's weight was lifted up from his bed and he could hear papers being moved.

"Damn," he finally heard Olivia say. It socked him a little. "Alright, I'll be right there. Give him morphine and get him ready. He needs to be taken care of right away."

"Yes Lieutenant," the woman said and soon he heard her walking away.

"Get some rest Daniel," Olivia told him. "I will check on you later."

Before he could say anything, he heard her footsteps walking away from him as well. They were brisk and it sounded like she was in a hurry. Whatever was going on wasn't good. Daniel felt his heart go out to this person, and he was praying that God would watch over him. When he heard the screams Daniel sighed and shut his eyes harder. Even though God was watching, there wasn't anything he could do to keep them from feeling pain in this place.

A/N: This was a hard chapter for me to write, but it had to be done. I'm trying to show what it's like to go through something this horrific and I hope I'm pulling it off. It won't always be this gloomy, and in the next chapter I'm going to try to make things a little better. Also I know Daniel is a bit ooc right now, but you have to remember that he's going through something very horrific. Anyone would struggle if they went through something like this, but his faith is what is keeping him strong. The old Jackson will come through later on, I promise! I hope you liked it. Please review, I want to know your opinions.