Ahh…the last chapter and possibly the one I semi-like…because it's the end. It also has Walter in it, so…that's cool. But it's still plotless!!!

At the SGC, General Hammond was getting quite worried.

SG-1 was 12 days overdue. Their attempts to send a rescue mission to find them had been thwarted each time due to the enormous quantity of Jaffa at the Stargate. He would have just been sending a team to their deaths, and he wasn't about to do that at any cost.

Suddenly, the red lights started flashing, and he heard Sergeant Harriman's voice over the speaker.

"Unscheduled off-world activation."

The General quickly went down the steps to the observation room.

"What do we have, Sergeant?" he asked.

"It's the Tok'ra IDC, sir," he replied.

Hammond's heart sank. He had been hoping desperately that it would be SG-1.

Walter seemed to have noticed, and he said, "Sorry, sir."

"It's alright, Sergeant. Open the iris."

The iris clanged open, leaving the illusion of water to be seen. The guards in the gate room lowered their weapons once the iris was open.

Then, to everyone at the SGC's surprise, SG-1 came through the 'gate.

Major Carter came first, followed by Colonel O'Neill, then Teal'c came in carrying Daniel.

"We need a medical team, STAT!" Jack yelled.

"Done, Colonel," General Hammond answered, then he ran down the steps to meet a very dirty SG-1.

"Where have you been, Colonel? What happened?"

"It's a long story, sir. In short, we were captured by that darn snake-head, Anubis. He tortured Daniel pretty bad, killed him a few times, but the rest of us are okay...for the most part."

General Hammond gave them a wide-eyed stare. Dr. Jackson had been killed...again!?!

Just as he was about to ask more questions, Dr. Frasier came in with her medical team.

"All right, everyone, stand aside. Teal'c, put Daniel on the bed," she said. Needless to say, everyone did as she asked.

Teal'c marched over to put Daniel on the gurney. As soon as he was there, she checked his vitals.

"His breathing is quite slow and his heartbeat is irregular. Get me and oxygen tank and a defibrillator, just in case," she told her nurses as she wheeled Daniel off to the infirmary once again.

SG-1's gaze followed the doctor and her team nervously. The defibrillator was never a good sign. General Hammond noticed and told them, "Why don't you all go take a shower. We will debrief as soon as Dr. Jackson is better, or, if that is going to take awhile, tomorrow at 0800. You can visit him in the infirmary once your done cleaning up," he said.

"Yes, sir," Jack said. Carter and Teal'c followed him out of the gate room.

General Hammond looked up to see Walter. He looked very concerned and asked, "Sir, is Dr. Jackson alright?"

General Hammond didn't quite know how to reply, so he said, "Sergeant, why don't you go visit him in the infirmary and see for yourself. You can take some time off for now. I'll find someone else to man the 'gate."

Sergeant Harriman looked startled, but said, "Thank you very much, sir." And he then ran out of the observation room to check up on Daniel.

NEXT SCENE

Each member of SG-1 had finished their shower and were in the hallway in front of the entrance to the infirmary for their official check up in their pal. They all looked concerned for him, he had just been shot by a bullet and staff weapon. They hadn't even been sure if he was alive after the staff weapon blast. So, into the infirmary they went.

When they looked in, they saw Walter, who immediately stood at attention seeing superior officers enter the room. He was waiting in front of a curtain, which SG-1 assumed must be where Daniel was.

"At ease, Sergeant," Jack commanded.

"Yes, sir," Walter replied.

"What are you doing here, anyway, Walter?" Jack asked.

"Well, I was worried about Dr Jackson, sir. General Hammond told me I could check up on him if I wanted to. Needless to say, I did," he answered and half-smiled as the colonel's eyebrows went up in surprise.

"You and Danny-Boy are good friends, now, are ya?" he asked.

"Um, yes, sir," he said.

Jack nodded his head, eyebrows still raised, as he said, "Good."

Then, Dr. Frasier came out from behind the curtain, fully equipped with clipboard, stethoscope, and other Doctor stuff.

"What's the situation, Doctor?" Jack asked politely.

"Well, sir, let me first say that Daniel is a real trooper. He's lucky to be alive. That bullet nearly hit him in the heart, as did the staff weapon blast, which, I am assuming, came from the back. He lost a lot of blood from both wounds. Right now, we've got him on an IV to assist in retaining normal blood levels. He's also rather malnourished. He must have put up one heck of a fight to stay alive during his torture session with Anubis."

"Yeah, he did. He died a few times actually. They put him in a sarcophagus to revive him."

"Then that would explain the high levels of adrenaline," Dr. Fraiser added, "But it's not as bad as his previous experience, sir. He should be back to normal, in that aspect, in a few days."

"That's good. Can we see him?" Jack asked hopefully.

"Well, he isn't conscious at the moment, sir, but if you would like to just see him to check up on his condition...be my guest," she said with a small smile as she walked away.

SG-1, and Walter, walked back behind the curtain to see Daniel, their friend. He was, indeed unconscious, but at least he was alive this time.

"Well, he looks okay to me," Carter said. "If you don't mind, sir, I think I'm going to go take a well-deserved nap."

"Oh, no, Carter. I don't mind at all," Jack said.

She smiled and walked off. Then, General Hammond's voice came on the loud speaker, "Sergeant Harriman, please report to the observation room. We need your assistance."

Walter snapped his fingers in disappointment and gave Teal'c and Jack a small good-bye as he left, being sure to remind Jack to tell Daniel hi and get well soon for him.

Jack nodded as Walter left, then turned to Teal'c, "I had no idea Daniel and Walter were such good friends."

"Indeed," Teal'c agreed.

The two friends pulled up some chairs to sit on while they waited for Daniel to regain consciousness. However, when they sat down, Jack noticed Teal'c looked a little drowsy and said, "Hey, T, why don't you go get some rest. I'll stay with Daniel. Let's just say I take first watch."

Teal'c nodded his thanks and asked that Jack contact him as soon as possible after Daniel awoke. To this Jack agreed and Teal'c was off for some really, truthfully, well deserved rest.

So Jack was left alone in the infirmary with his best friend as a patient once more. How many times had Daniel been in here recovering? How many times had Daniel died? These were questions Jack didn't really want to know the answer to, but asked out of curiosity anyway.

Once again, Daniel had gotten hurt one-too-many times, and was hooked up to one-too-many machines to help sustain his life. Jack frowned. He hated seeing Daniel like this. But, over the years, he had kind of gotten used to it. Even so, it was still just as hard every time he got hurt. He was always left thinking, "this could be the last time Daniel gets really hurt before he dies", or "Daniel might want to resign after this one". But, it was like Janet said, "Daniel's a trooper".

He would always bounce back with whatever life handed his way. He was always so optimistic through whatever happened.

"Well, Daniel," Jack said, fully aware that Daniel was unconscious and couldn't hear him. He was actually kind of glad he was. He would never admit any of what he was about to say if Daniel could actually hear him. "I'm glad you're my best friend. I trust you. I'm sorry I'm not as good a friend as you are. You know, standing by and watching you get tortured by Anubis. I'm sorry."

But then, to his surprise, Daniel responded. "It's not your fault, Jack."

Jack sat straight up. Had Daniel just heard of what he had said?

"Um, Daniel, how much of what I said to you did you hear?" he asked, noticing now that Daniel's normally vibrant blue eyes were half-open.

"Oh, I don't know..." he said. "Everything."

Jack's eyes widened. How would he ever be able to live this down without Daniel bringing it up in their "illogical arguments"?

Daniel semi-smiled seeing Jack's face. He must have said some really nice stuff. Too bad he was only kidding about hearing everything. Basically, all he'd been awake for was the "I'm sorry". That would have been fun knowing what he had really said.

But now, Jack was so nervous he was strumming his fingers on Daniel's bed, which Daniel found quite annoying. Therefore, to spare both himself, and Jack, unwanted misery, he said, "I'm just kidding, Jack. I only heard 'I'm sorry'."

Jack looked at Daniel, eyes still wide, but this time filled with relief, rather than panic. "You...you made a joke?"

"Yeah, I think so," Daniel answered.

"Oh, good," Jack said.

After a few seconds of sustained silence, Daniel said, "I'll bet you said some nice things."

"I did not!" Jack argued.

"Did, too," Daniel argued right back.

"Didn't"

"Did"

"Didn't"

"Did"

Just as Jack was about to make his case again, he stopped himself. Daniel really wasn't in any position to be arguing right now. Then, he remembered the messages he was supposed to deliver to Daniel.

"Oh, Daniel, Walter says hi and get well soon."

"Really? How's he, anyway?"

"Oh, just peachy, Daniel. Teal'c also sends his regards. Speaking of which, I promised him I'd notify him when you woke up."

Just as Jack reached for the phone, Daniel stopped him.

"Jack, no. Don't bother him. I'm going to go back to sleep soon, anyway. I just wanted to say hi to you and let you know it wasn't your fault. It was no one's fault. Except Anubis. You're my best friend, too, Jack."

Jack started to nod, but then asked, "Daniel, how did you know I said you were my best friend?"

"I just had a feeling," Daniel said as he smiled and turned over to doze off once again.

Jack gulped. "Well...I...uh...didn't. Yeah, that's it. You're wrong."

But, alas. It was too late. Daniel had already fallen asleep, content in the fact that he had officially irritated Jack.

Jack sighed and got up to leave, but when he turned around, what he saw didn't make him feel much better. Dr. Frasier.

"Oh, shoot," he thought, "Now I'm in for it."

"Well, Colonel, I see you woke my patient with your talkativeness," she said.

It was a well-known fact that you should never make "the doctor" angry. She was, after all, the one in control of your shots, and all of the really cool, but occasionally dangerous, machinery. Jack was afraid he had done just that.

"I...well...uh..." he tried to say.

But, just as she was about to lash out her lecture, a small, quiet voice came from behind. "It's okay, Janet. He didn't wake me. I woke up on my own. It's not his fault,"

Both of the other occupants of the room turned to Daniel, surprised he was still awake. He smiled reassuringly at both of them. Janet's heart fluttered.

"Well, then, I'll be going to check on my other patients. You get some rest, Daniel, doctor's orders. Good night, Colonel," she said as she strode off for a busy night's work.

Jack looked over at Daniel and said, "Thank you,", but Daniel was really asleep this time. Good, thought Jack, you deserve it. Daniel's recovery wouldn't be easy, but at least he was home and safe. Jack decided that, as soon as Daniel was better, the whole team would go fishing, just to have some relaxing time together. He was certain they would all agree this time, for Daniel's sake.

Yes, it was sure wonderful having our Spacemonkey back home safe.

At long last...

THE END