She didn’t answer, couldn’t quite think around that slap in the face. Didn’t he know what those three months had been like for the rest of them, not even knowing whether he’d survived the fire rain? Not knowing whether all they’d bring home in the end was a body? She felt a swift flare of anger that she could barely control and dared not open her mouth to reply.
“God, Jack,” Daniel sighed from where he sat propped up against his pack.
No one spoke for a while. Sam, furious and hurt, moved to her pack and started shoving everything back inside. It didn’t take long and she was done before the colonel, which gave her a bleak moment of satisfaction. Still too angry to risk speaking, she silently began to help Daniel.
“We have one day,” the colonel ground out. “Twenty-four hours or we are so unbelievably screwed, you wouldn’t believe it.”
Daniel frowned in confusion and Sam shared it. What was he talking about? But then Daniel’s eyes widened in understanding. “Because of me, you mean?”
The colonel didn’t answer. “You’ve got five minutes,” he told them, hefting his pack over one shoulder and stalking out.
The tension eased once he was gone, but Sam searched Daniel’s face in concern. “What do you mean because of you?”
He closed his eyes for a moment, then looked at her and said, “I’m not doing so well, Sam. I need a doctor. Soon.”
“Okay,” she said, swallowing a sudden surge of fear. He didn’t need to deal with her worries on top of his own. “Okay, so we’ll get you home.”
“That’s the plan.”
Teal’c offered his hand to Daniel and between the two of them they got him onto his feet. Jaw set, he looked doubtfully at the pack on the floor.
“You cannot carry that, Daniel Jackson,” Teal’c said.
“No.”
Sam crouched and opened it up. “Tell me what’s important.”
“Ah, my notebooks, camera…”
“MREs, canteen, med-kit?” she suggested, pulling them all out. “Spare clothes. Teal’c, do you have room for his bedroll?”
It didn’t take long to redistribute most of Daniel’s belongings between the two of them and her pack only felt slightly heavier when she swung it onto her back.
“Okay,” Daniel said, grim but determined. “Let’s do this.” With obvious effort, he started walking toward the door and Sam exchanged a worried look with Teal’c as they followed.
Bending his head toward her, Teal’c said in a low voice, “Daniel Jackson is strong. He will endure this hardship.”
“I just wish he didn’t have to.”
Teal’c didn’t respond to that and she figured there was nothing he could say about her futile wishes. All that mattered now was getting Daniel home.
At least it wasn’t raining.
But it was cold, a dank kind of chill that crept into your bones. Crappy planet, Jack thought, squinting up at the white roof of cloud that served as the sky. Maybe the sun never shone here?
A few of Aedan’s people had gathered to see them off, Elspeth among them. An older woman stood talking to Daniel, who was resting on one of the rocks and catching his breath after the climb out of the caves. In the daylight he looked even worse, dark circles under his eyes and skin like dirty snow. God only knew how he was staying on his feet; Jack knew plenty of soldiers who’d have given up by now. The woman put her hand to his face, shaking her head in a manner that reminded him of Fraiser — he figured she was the doc, or medic, or whatever they called her. Shame she didn’t have more than a few herbs to work with.
“O’Neill.” Teal’c called his attention away from Daniel and toward the iron door to the caves. It stood open as Aedan Trask and a couple of his men emerged holding all their weapons. Thank God for small mercies. They lay them carefully on the ground and stepped back.
“Thank you,” Jack said, crouching down to examine their stuff. Their weapons looked untouched and he picked up one of the MP5s, turning it over in his hands.
“That’s mine, sir,” Carter said, holding out her hand for it. They all had their preferred weapons, the ones they’d check out of the armory first if they had the choice. His had a little nick on the forearm that was the result of a close encounter with the side of a cliff-face one dark night. Carter’s had a scratch along the pistol grip.
He handed over her weapon without comment and she took it without thanks. Better that way, he figured. He’d let things get too friendly the previous night, too normal, and it was time to cool off. But it had been hard to resist that unexpected moment of camaraderie between them all, lying in the dark and feeling more-or-less safe for the first time in days. Maybe he shouldn’t have let it happen, but he was getting so tired of the whole jackass routine and he missed his team, he missed the bond that had drawn them so close — especially now, when it felt like everything was going to hell. He wasn’t too proud to admit he needed them.