I really have no excuse for how long this has taken me, other than the fact that I had very little motivation to write. I'm sorry and I hope it won't happen again, but there's no guarantee. I'm really sorry.

Previously:

"Daniel Jackson! Daniel Jackson! You must wake up! We have arrived."

Daniel jerked awake from his vivid dream and for a moment had no idea where he was. He looked up at Teal'C blearily and asked, "Arrived? Arrived where?"

"Daniel Jackson," said Teal'C, "we are going home."

Daniel gazed at his watch. "But…but we can't be; the ship can't have arrived already."

Daniel was really confused. He remembered sneaking away when no one was looking as he felt another attack come on. What worried him about that was that the attack had come at a very unpredictable time and much sooner than it was supposed to. The fit had been horrible as usual, though, it had seemed more painful than normal, but it was what had happened afterwards that scared Daniel the most.

The attack had left him utterly exhausted just like the other two times and he hadn't even had the energy to move, let alone stay awake for five minutes. But when he had fallen asleep the drug in his system had induced a terrible dream. It was already bad enough that every time he moved he felt like crying with the searing pain that came from his heavily bruised torso. It was bad enough that he was having these attacks that he could slowly feel breaking his mind. And it was bad enough that he had been drugged with something that made him feel feverish and caused nightmares every time he closed his eyes, but now this drug had gone and done the last thing that he had wanted. It had given him a perfectly reconstructed memory of being tortured.

Unlike the other memories, it hadn't been twisted or changed in anyway. But the drug had made it so vivid that Daniel had felt like he was actually there. It had been hard to go through the torture once, going through it again after everything that had happened felt like more than Daniel could handle. It had felt like he was actually there and the pain had felt so real.

But he was just glad now that Teal'C had woken him up.

"Daniel Jackson, do you not recall that I estimated nineteen hours until we arrived back at the SGC? We are landing the ship on the nearest safe and uninhabited planet with a stargate and from there the Tok'ra will take Jacob Carter to their planet and tend to him there and come back for their ship later. We will journey through the stargate to the SGC. This method is much faster than going all the way by ship and then having to return it to the Tok'ra," Teal'c explained.

Daniel vaguely remembered Teal'C saying something about nineteen hours, but only now did he realize that it had taken them several days to get to Netu, so it should have taken just as long to return home. But Daniel supposed that it made sense to save time and go by stargate.

He looked up at Teal'C finally understanding and coming out of the daze his nightmare had induced. Teal'C looked very concerned—which was saying something because even when he was worried he hardly showed it—but Daniel thought it was deserved, he probably looked like hell. Then again, they all did after practically just being there.

"And now we're on…on the planet?" he asked, his brain still a bit sluggish.

"Yes, we are leaving the ship to go through the Stargate," Teal'C answered. In an uncharacteristic moment of consideration he held out his hand to Daniel and, after a brief second where his pain-filled mind tried to comprehend the gesture, he accepted it. Teal'C pulled him to his feet and he had to try hard to keep himself from wincing or showing the pain his ribs were giving him some other way. He was a little unsteady on his feet and his brain was still foggy and the nightmare was still fresh to the point that he felt sick from it. But he had to hide it before someone noticed.

Daniel tried to shake it off and followed Teal'C to the ring-room where everyone was gathering their things into the circle on the floor that marked where the rings would be. Jack was leaning against one of the black chests in the room so that he wouldn't have to put any weight on his bad leg and when he spotted Daniel he called out to him.

"Hey! You ready to go home?" he asked.

As Daniel thought over everything that had happened in the past few days—all the pain he had gone through, all the fear and hate and torture—he came to one definite conclusion. "Yes," he said, "yes I am."

Daniel felt some joy and relief enter his heart as he watched the swirling blue and silver event horizon burst into life when the seventh chevron activated. It was a familiar sight that held a lot of mixed emotions and memories for him. There was the memory of when he had first seen it all those years ago—he had been in awe, totally enraptured by the fantastic and alien sight—and memories of its transportation providing escape from some danger, memories of despair when it didn't work the way it was supposed to, and many, many more. But the two most common emotions he felt when looking into that void was either excitement of something new or relief after a long day and of finally being done. So when he saw it now those were the two biggest emotions he felt, and they were welcome.

In fact, as a whole he was a bit happier since waking up from this most recent nightmare because things seemed to be going slightly right.

Finally allowing himself to relax some, Daniel took a deep breath and strode forward into the void.

And as the four members of SG1 stepped through the event horizon and into the SGC, Daniel felt the full weight of everything that his body and mind had had to endure and, just like that, his legs buckled underneath him and he knew no more.

"Whoa!" Sam exclaimed as Daniel collapsed and she had to lunge quickly to catch him. As it was, she just barely managed to keep his head from hitting the harsh metal grating of the stargate ramp.

"Get a medical team down there now!" General Hammond ordered sharply to someone next to him and then spoke over the departure room speakers. "SG1, what happened?"

"I don't know, sir," Sam answered without looking up since she was still preoccupied with Daniel. Sam was really the only one qualified at the moment to answer because Jack was still straining to check on Daniel and Teal'C was busy attempting to keep him from injuring his leg any further. "Daniel was fine on the cargo ship," she continued, "I can't think of anything that could be wrong with him."

Just then a medical team arrived and both Daniel and Jack were loaded onto gurneys, despite Jack's protests, and were swiftly carted off to the infirmary with the rest of SG1 following closely behind.

Two hours later Daniel woke up feeling far more comfortable than he could remember being in several long and exhausting days. He was clean, cool, and his head was propped up on a couple of hospital pillows. In fact, his only discomfort was a dry throat and a few stiff limbs.

Daniel looked around him. He was clearly in the SGC infirmary, but he didn't remember how he had gotten here. The last thing he did remember was stepping through the stargate and arriving in the place that was now his home. Obviously, he must have passed out and naturally been brought here. But as Daniel remembered the passing out and what had caused it an all too familiar sensation crept back into his body. Slowly, the stabbing, throbbing, and burning pain returned to his tired body and Daniel sighed. For a few blessed moments he had been without pain, but apparently it had been too much to hope that it would last forever.

Daniel shifted uncomfortably. The pain was gradually increasing and he found himself wishing that he could slip back into the sweet unconsciousness that had been his refuge on many occasions.

Suddenly Daniel heard someone coming. Apparently a combination of his waking up and the pain must have raised his heart rate just enough to alert someone. Just moments before whoever it was appeared around the corner, Daniel felt one of his legs twitch violently and he struggled to regain control of the uncooperative and suffering muscle.

"So, how are you feeling, Doctor Jackson?" Janet Fraiser asked as she came into view holding a clipboard in one hand.

Daniel slowly sat up, which was far more difficult than it should've been, and answered. "Tired, uh, a little groggy, and more than ready to go home." He gave her a pleading look, even though he knew it wasn't going to work. She had that look in her eyes, the look that he had been dreading and hoping to avoid.

"Come now, Daniel," Janet said, shaking her head, "you know as well as I do that you shouldn't be going anywhere for a little while. You have heavy bruising covering your entire torso and sprinkled over the rest of you, as well. Your ribs are in bad shape and really shouldn't be moved more than necessary right now." She drew a little closer in a friendly way; Janet always did have a comforting presence. "Do you want to tell me how you got all those bruises, Daniel?"

Daniel's mind flashed back to the severe beating he had taken and he winced slightly, though part of that was from the pain his muscles were currently undergoing. "You don't want to know," he replied.

"Maybe," she said and some of the professionalism returned as she realized that he wasn't in a mood to talk right now. "But you're going to have to tell General Hammond what happened anyway, no doubt I hear about it soon. Besides, I think I can guess."

Daniel wouldn't be surprised if she could. Janet was an extremely talented Doctor and she could probably tell just by looking what had made all sorts of wounds. Most likely she had already pieced together what had happened. Daniel just hoped that she didn't know what he had been truly hiding.

The archeologist still wasn't entirely sure why he was hiding the fact that his body was being attacked and tormented by an alien energy of some sort, but somehow he didn't think that everyone finding out would do him any good. Most likely it would only cause him trouble.

"So," Janet continued as she gazed at her clipboard, "are you in any pain or is there anything you need? You're going to be here for a little while."

Daniel shook his head. "Just some water."

Janet nodded and left, only to return a few moments later with a small paper cup of water. She handed it to Daniel and he gulped it down quickly, and then promptly gave it back.

Just as Doctor Fraiser was about to leave; however, Daniel felt all of his muscles go into spasm and he knew that he had seconds, maybe a minute before he lost it.

"Uh, actually, I need to go to the bathroom," Daniel said, trying to keep the pain and panic out of his voice. He practically jumped out of the hospital bed and Janet helped him disconnect from the IV. She helped him to the bathroom, looking very concerned the whole time, and then left him alone.

As soon as Daniel firmly shut and locked the door behind him he collapsed to the floor and surrendered himself to the unbearable pain.

"So, how is he?" Jack asked impatiently as Janet appeared in sight. He had wanted to know what was wrong with Daniel since the moment the archeologist had passed out in the gateroom. Unfortunately, he himself was injured and Doctor Fraiser had refused to let him go and see Daniel or even to tell him of his progress until he calmed down and his leg was taken care of. Two hours' worth of surgery, painkillers, and far too many needles for his liking poked into his body later and he was lying on a bed of his own and waiting impatiently for news about his friend.

Janet sighed. "He's fine," she answered as she checked his IV.

"Come on, Doc, don't give me that crap!" Jack said angrily. Normally he liked Janet, who didn't? But when it came to his troublesome friend who was never fine when he claimed to be, Jack just didn't have the energy to be nice to anyone.

They were all trouble magnets on SG1; all the weirdest stuff happened to them. On average they visited the infirmary more than any other SG team, but for Daniel this place was like his second home. These days the geek got himself in trouble every time he stepped through the gate. Not a day went by when he wasn't possessed by something or addicted to something or hurt by someone. Jack had come to learn that with Daniel he was rarely ever 'fine'.

Janet sighed. "I'm sorry, let me rephrase. What I meant to say was that he was going to be fine. He's in no danger and he's healing nicely."

Oh. "Uh, I'm sorry," Jack apologized. "But what did cause his collapse in the first place?"

"I'd imagine that it was a combination of things," Janet said, ignoring the fact that he had snapped at her. She understood, they all were worried about Daniel on a daily basis, and none more so than Jack.

"Like what, doctor?"

Jack's head swiveled around sharply at the words and he watched General Hammond enter the infirmary. Samantha Carter was behind him, looking clean and refreshed, something Jack wished he himself could be at this moment. "Are you here to debrief, sir?" Jack asked, trying to rise from his bed, but Doctor Fraiser quickly pushed him back down again.

The general nodded. "I am. Teal'C has already briefed me on what he knows, so we can begin."

"Hey, where is the big guy, anyway?" Jack asked as both General Hammond and Sam pulled up plastic chairs and sat down. It was strange that he wasn't here, normally the Jaffa was very protective when even one member of their team was injured, let alone two.

"He's okay, Colonel, he told me that he hadn't preformed Kel'no'reem properly in several days and he said that his body was liable to sickening if he didn't do so soon. He said he will join us as soon as he is done."

"Yeah, sounds like him," Jack muttered. He turned to the general. "So what do you want to know? What hasn't Teal'C told you yet?"

"Shouldn't we wait for Daniel?" Sam asked, looking concerned.

"He's in the bathroom at the moment, we can start without him. Besides, I'm not sure he's in any state to tell us much," Doctor Fraiser answered.

"What is his condition?" General Hammond asked once more.

Jack sat up further in bed and paid close attention.

"Well, like the Colonel and Samantha, he has a particularly nasty drug in his system. As far as I can tell it is some sort of a hallucinogen, and a powerful one at that."

"That's correct, sir," Sam said, "Apophis drugged us in order to get information. But don't worry; none of us gave anything away."

"I don't' doubt it," the general said with that proud tone in his voice.

"However, the levels of the drug seem to be higher than that of either Sam's or the colonel's. But I doubt it'll cause any damage other than a few ruined dreams. Aside from that," Janet continued, flipping through pages on a clipboard, "he has heavy bruising covering his torso." There were a few gasps. "In fact, it's so bad that I'm surprised all of his ribs are still intact. It's obvious that the bruises were caused deliberately by some sort of beating. To be honest I think that if it had been any worse a lot of bones would now be broken." She paused for a moment and Jack saw the professional detachment waver for a second. It was obvious that it was making her ill, too.

"As far as I can tell there's not much more than that. All three of you have burns here and there, no doubt from the heat of the planet, but it's nothing serious. He's dehydrated and needs a lot more food and rest and I'd be surprised if his stomach will be up for much more than broth for the next couple of days. He has a few odd burns on the back of his neck that seem rather painful, but again, nothing to be concerned about. At this point I'm just worried about his torso. He's not in any danger, but I can't imagine how painful it must be. Other than that, sir, I don't believe that there's anything to worry about," she finished.

Jack looked down at his hands, trying to reign in his anger. He had thought more than once that there might be something wrong with Daniel, but he had shrugged it off. He had thought that after all this time that Daniel would tell him if there was something wrong. Obviously not. Just hearing Janet talk about his injuries was enough to make him see red. Daniel was the one person who had always been there for him, the one person who seemed to properly understand him. He never expected too much, and yet never expected so little that it was condescending or insulting. Daniel always seemed to know just what to say to either make him feel better or to appeal to his more merciful side. Despite outward appearances Daniel was the person he respected on a personal level the most in the whole SGC, and that kind of respect had to be carefully earned.

But now Jack had learned that his friend had been in pain the entire journey home and had kept it to himself. To say that he was angry would be an understatement. Jack heard a noise and looked over to see Teal'C coming to stand next to his bed. He turned back to Janet. "So what caused him to pass out?" he asked, trying to say it as nicely as possible.

Janet sighed. "Probably the exhaustion and strain his body was under after the beating he went through." Jack saw Teal'C's jaw tense up at those words. "Truthfully, I'm surprised he lasted as long as he did what with all the pain."

Jack looked over at the Jaffa again and he noticed how the man's jaw tightened and his posture stiffened. Teal'C rarely ever showed any emotion, but when he did it usually concerned one of the members of SG1. Those small signs that Jack had seen told him that the Jaffa was angry that someone he cared about and had chosen to protect had been hurt. Jack just hoped that he was never on the receiving end of Teal'C's anger.

"I haven't had much of an opportunity to talk with Daniel yet, but you said that Apophis interrogated all of you? Well, I think it's safe to assume that the beating Daniel received was a part of that," Janet stated. They all read between the lines. Daniel had been tortured.

Jack felt his blood boil and out of the corner of his eye he could see Teal'C hands clenching in anger. Even the General's eyes had hardened and he asked stiffly. "Is that all?"

"I think so, sir," Janet answered and then looked back down at her clipboard. "Oh, and one other thing. We've discovered a strange energy signature inside Doctor Jackson's body. It's faint and as far as we can tell it's harmless. It's similar to the energy signature that I sometimes find in Daniel's body after being severely attacked by the hand-device the Goa'ulds always wear, but it's not the same. It's probably from being relatively near some other Goa'uld technology. I doubt it's anything to worry about, sir."

"Thank you, doctor," General Hammond said, "how soon will he recover?"

"He shouldn't have to stay in the infirmary more than one or two nights, sir, and though the bruising is bad it's not life-threatening at all if it is properly tended to. No doubt in a week or so the bruises will already have healed significantly," Janet answered.

"And how is Colonel O'Neill?" the general asked, turning his gaze to the testy soldier.

"Other than the odd bruise and burn here and there that are nothing to be worried about, and of course, the drug, he has a staff weapon blast to his leg." Doctor Fraiser gave Jack a smile. "But it is already healing nicely and if he cooperates and completes the short bout of physical therapy it should be as good as new in no time. I'm not worried, sir." She also gave a glance to the scientist and the Jaffa. "And as you may already know Sam and Teal'C are perfectly fine. Sam will need some rest and some time for the drug to circulate out of her system, but that's all."

"That's good to hear," Hammond said.

Just then they heard a door open and close and the five of them turned to see Daniel come out of the bathroom and plod over in what looked like a delirious haze to his bed. Slowly he climbed in and curled in on himself.

"Daniel!" Jack called and tried to get up, but a firm hand placed on his chest from Teal'C kept him from moving more than a few inches in any direction. Janet rushed over to the almost-apathetic archeologist.

"Daniel, are you all right?" Janet asked gently as she put a light hand on his forehead. He was burning up.

"Janet…I don't feel well," Daniel murmured. She leaned in closer to hear him better, but that had been all he was able to get out before his eyes drifted shut and his breathing began to even. He was asleep.

"Doctor?" General Hammond asked as he came up beside her.

"He's developed a fever, but it's probably only because of the strain his body has been under. Even so, I'll keep a closer watch on him," she answered.

"He doesn't look good," Samantha commented quietly as she came up beside Janet.

"No," Doctor Fraiser said, "no he doesn't."

There it is. I hope that even after all this time you'll still review.