The Amadeus Effect

~~~~~
At some point during the night Janet took pity on the colonel and had a second cot brought up to the isolation room so he could stretch out and get a proper night’s sleep. Janet, taking a dose of her own medicine, decided it was finally time for her to go home and get some sleep herself. She’d been pushing herself too hard on this one and she knew she’d be of little use to anyone in her current state. Drawing on her last reserves of energy, Janet left explicit instructions with her staff and a detailed report on General Hammond’s desk and made her escape from the mountain.

The only person who hadn’t been informed of Daniel’s situation—the one person it affected the most—was Daniel himself.

It was a little after five in the morning when Daniel woke up feeling restless and invigorated. The pain was nothing more than a dreaded memory, and if it hadn’t been so vivid, he might have believed he’d dreamt it. As he stretched out on the cot he caught a whiff of his own acrid body odour and coughed at the pungency—if that wasn’t proof enough of what he’d been through, nothing was. He was in dire need of a hot shower…and a huge meal, if the loud rumbling in his stomach was anything to go by.

A soft snore grabbed his attention and Daniel rolled onto his side to see Jack asleep in a bed next to his. He smiled, touched that his CO had stayed with him the whole night. He knew it went above and beyond the call of duty, and was once again grateful that he was part of such a close-knit team. Daniel contemplated waking Jack up to let him know he was heading for the showers, but he looked like he was dead to the world…and besides, Daniel felt great. He figured he’d be able to make it to the showers and back before anyone could miss him.

Sure, Janet would probably have his head for this, he thought, but he reeked and he felt grimy, and he wasn’t about to wait around until someone decided to give him a sponge bath. Decision made, Daniel slid out of bed and crept past the sleeping colonel to sneak out of the isolation room.

The mountain complex was quiet at this time of the morning, and Daniel made it to the showers without being spotted—a good thing, too, considering he was dressed only in his hospital scrubs.

As he peeled off the soiled infirmary-wear, Daniel had to admit that he hadn’t really thought this through. He only had his street clothes in his locker, and the thought of changing back into his dirty scrubs made his skin crawl. And who was he kidding? Not only would Janet have his head, but Jack would also be furious with him for taking off the way he had. But he was here now, and he could almost hear the showers calling his name.

The first hot spray of water through his hair felt like Heaven. He felt the warm tendrils of water envelop his torso and sluice down his back and he sighed at the deliciousness of it. The shampoo and soap felt even better, the fragrant lather replacing the sour tang of sweat, making him feel human again.

The last of the soapy water was puddling at the drain when the pain hit. It shot through him like a flash fire, rocketing from a zero to off the charts in a matter of seconds. It came on so fast that his bellow of pain had no time to escape his throat, and his mouth froze open in a silent cry as his body crumpled in on itself. Curled up in a ball on the floor of the showers, the cooling water pelting his back, Daniel wrapped himself in a tight hug and prayed that someone would find him. Soon.

~~~~~

Jack awoke to the sound of a woman gasping—and not in a good way. Instantly on guard, he threw back his covers and sat up. The newest member of Janet’s nursing staff—Evie…or was it Elizabeth?—was staring at Daniel’s empty bed in horror. Misplacing a patient, let alone the facility’s chief civilian consultant, was not going to look good on her record. But somehow Jack couldn’t find it in him to take pity on the girl—she’d lost Daniel!

“How long’s he been gone?” Jack barked at the stunned young nurse, already out of bed and slipping on his shoes.

“I check in on him every half an hour,” she replied numbly, her large hazel eyes blinking rapidly as if to fend off the colonel’s scolding tone.

Jack brusquely pushed past her and slapped the alarm on his way out the door. He was met almost instantly by a pair of alert SFs who came barrelling around the corner in his direction.

“Doctor Jackson got out of the isolation room. He needs medical attention. Find him!” Jack snapped out his orders and half-ran to the elevator, trusting the SFs to do their jobs.

His first thought was that Daniel had gone to his lab, so that’s where he headed, despite the fact that there was no logical reason for Daniel to be there. When he got there and found the lab empty he regretted his knee-jerk reaction and composed himself to think it through more carefully.

He reasoned that if he’d been in Daniel’s place, waking up after a long night’s sleep, the first thing he’d do is head for the bathroom. With a silent curse, Jack retraced his steps. He was about to bust into the men’s room nearest the isolation room they’d shared when one of the SFs called out to him.

“He’s not in there, sir,” he said. “We’ve done a sweep of this level—no sign of him.”

“Lock down the mountain—he may not be thinking straight and we can’t have him wandering away right now,” Jack ordered.

“Already done, sir. We’ve got men searching every level—we’ll find him, sir,” the SF answered smartly.

As the SF went off to continue his search, Jack took a moment to think. He knew Daniel wouldn’t try to leave the base under normal circumstances, but who knew what kind of mental state he was in? The good news was that he hadn’t made it out of the mountain before it was locked down, and there were really only two more logical places to look: the commissary and the locker room.

Knowing the lockers were closer, Jack figured he’d check there first before heading down to the commissary. As he pushed open the locker room door a plume of steam billowed out at him. He saw the discarded hospital scrubs about the same time his brain registered the hiss of the shower and a low, steady groaning sound.

“Jesus, Daniel!” Jack exclaimed as he rounded the corner into the shower room. Daniel, naked and balled up on the tile floor, looked like he wanted nothing more than to crawl out of his own skin. Jack crossed the room in three long strides and quickly turned off the water before gathering his friend into his arms.

Daniel let out a heavy sob and turned into Jack’s grasp, clutching at his t-shirt as the pain drained away. “Jack? I don’t think I can take any more of this,” he said miserably, burying his face against Jack’s chest.

Jack sat on the sopping wet tiles, rocking his best friend, just like he used to rock Charlie when he was sick or scared…just like he’d rocked Daniel not that long ago when he was coming down off his sarcophagus addiction. Brushing Daniel’s wet hair out of his eyes and feeling him relax into his arms, Jack felt a wrenching in his heart. It was like a piece of his heart that had been missing since his son died had suddenly reappeared and was trying to fit back into place. Only, it didn’t quite fit the same way anymore, and he couldn’t figure out why. Maybe it was just that it had been so long since he’d had to be there for someone in this way, he told himself. And was it wrong that he got a little guilty pleasure from it?

“Shh, Daniel,” he hummed in the other man’s ear. “Are you feeling any better yet?”

Daniel nodded his head against Jack’s chest, not wanting to break contact just yet. He was relieved when Jack didn’t pull away—he may not be in pain anymore, but he still felt as if a strong wind would knock him over.

They stayed huddled on the shower floor together for a few minutes, but eventually Jack had to get up or risk suffering days of joint pain. He pulled Daniel to his feet with him, holding him as he got his shaky legs under control.

“Thanks, Jack,” Daniel mumbled, unable to look his CO in the eye. It was as if he was only now becoming aware of the fact that he was wet and naked.

“Hey, what are friends for?” Jack said, giving Daniel an overly-macho punch on the arm in an attempt to alleviate his embarrassment. Unfortunately, Daniel wasn’t ready for it, and in his weakened state he nearly fell over. Jack grabbed hold of him and held him steady, giving him a ‘well, I tried’ smile. “Come on; let’s get you back to the infirmary.”

Daniel nodded, flashing Jack a grateful smile before averting his eyes once more. He felt exposed in so many ways right now, and he was unbelievably thankful that it had been Jack who’d found him. He couldn’t think of a single person in his life that made him feel as safe and accepted as Jack did. It only made sense; you didn’t face the sort of things they’d faced together on a daily basis and not grow close. Still, Daniel drew the line at full-frontal nudity, and quickly headed for his locker before Jack noticed the burning blush he was sporting.

Jack, too, had to change into dry clothes, and they got dressed in companionable, if somewhat strained, silence. Once dressed, Jack called up the infirmary and let them know he’d found their patient. The alarms ceased at last, making the silence between them even more conspicuous.

As they made their way back to the infirmary, Daniel finally spoke. “Janet’s going to kill me, isn’t she?” he asked, choosing a nice, safe topic of discussion.

“Damn straight,” Jack replied. “That was a stupid thing to do, Daniel.” The words ‘and you scared me half to death’ were never said aloud, but Daniel heard them, nonetheless.

“I know, Jack. I’m sorry,” he said, and he truly was.

Jack grunted and gave him a pat on the shoulder by way of forgiveness. “Just don’t go wandering away from me again, alright?”

Daniel frowned at the oddly possessive-sounding statement but said nothing. He didn’t want to get into another argument over his ability to look after himself…especially since his position wasn’t looking very defensible at the moment.

A harried-looking young nurse, whom Daniel recognised as Janet’s newest recruit, Amy, was waiting anxiously for them in the infirmary. She started fussing over Daniel the instant he stepped into the room. Daniel’s blood pressure, temperature and heart rate were dutifully noted on his chart and he was given strict orders to lie down and stay put until Dr. Fraiser arrived.

Once they were alone together again, Daniel looked over at Jack, who was occupying himself with an IV bag. He looked restless and bored.

“You don’t have to stick around, you know,” Daniel said. “You should probably go home—you haven’t been off base since you got back from the planet.”

Jack frowned at Daniel as if he was deliberately pulling his chain, and then he remembered that Daniel hadn’t been awake when Janet had explained the close proximity thing to him. “I’m afraid I go wherever you go,” he said.

It was Daniel’s turn to frown. “Uh, why?”

“Well, Fraiser would probably give you some long-winded medical explanation, but what it boils down to is: I was right. I do have a magical healing presence. As long as you stick close to me, you’ll be fine.” There was more than a hint of smugness in Jack’s voice, and Daniel wasn’t sure if he should believe him or not.

“Seriously?” asked Daniel, his voice shooting up an octave.

“I kid you not,” Jack replied with obvious satisfaction.

“Huh,” Daniel muttered as he began mulling it over in his head. “I guess that explains why the pain became so much worse when you were off-world.”

Jack thrust his arms out in a gesture that cried ‘I told ya so’, and plopped down at the end of Daniel’s bed.

“Great,” Daniel grumbled sarcastically and draped an arm over his eyes with an exaggerated moan.

~~~~~

Daniel was well aware that his eyes were his greatest weapon and he shamelessly used them against Dr. Fraiser to persuade her to let him out of the infirmary. With some well thought out arguments and some cleverly-timed eyelash batting, he’d managed to convince the good doctor that he was in no danger as long as he stayed with Jack. She grudgingly agreed, and let them leave the infirmary under strict orders to stay on base and to return to her immediately if there was any change in his condition. It was a small victory, granted, but Daniel wasn’t about to complain. At least he wouldn’t be staring at the same four walls all day.

Hammond had requested a debriefing at 09:00, leaving them with just over an hour to grab some breakfast in the commissary. Daniel’s appetite was back with a vengeance, and he piled his tray high with bacon, eggs, toast and two fruit cups. Jack eyed him as he sat down across the table from him with his meagre selection of cereal and juice.

“Hungry, are we?” asked Jack.

“Famished,” Daniel answered, ignoring the jibe—he felt like a teenager going through a growth spurt, shovelling bacon and toast into his mouth as though Jack might steal it off his plate. Actually, with Jack that was a distinct possibility, he mused with a smile.

He’d made a sizable dent in his meal when Teal’c arrived and joined them at the table.

“I am pleased to see you are feeling well, Daniel Jackson,” he said with a bow of the head.

“He’s not out of the woods yet,” said Jack. “Janet’s giving him a long leash, so long as we stick close together and don’t leave the mountain.”

“Then she has determined the cause of his illness?” asked Teal’c.

“Not exactly, no,” said Jack. “But she knows that it gets worse the further away from me he gets.”

Teal’c ‘hmmed’ mysteriously, his expressive brows knitting themselves into the slightest of frowns.

“What?” asked Jack.

“Perhaps it is nothing,” Teal’c answered. Jack frowned at the big Jaffa’s enigmatic reply but decided to let it go.

Daniel listened silently, his mind wandering. Normally he would have taken offence at being talked about in the third person when he was sitting right there, but at the moment, he had bigger concerns. He pushed the remains of his breakfast around on his plate, his appetite lost. That odd tingling sensation was coming back—it wasn’t painful yet, but he knew it would be very soon. And if being in Jack’s presence was supposed to be the cure, then why was the pain coming back, he wondered fretfully. It was a moment before he realised that Teal’c and Jack had stopped talking and were watching him.

“Uh…sorry, what?” he asked, flicking his gaze between his two friends, struggling to keep his face from revealing his anxiety and the pain that was ruthlessly reasserting its claim on him.

“You are not well, Daniel Jackson,” Teal’c stated.

“I’m fine,” Daniel lied, his smile making it no further than his lips before dying.

Jack’s narrowed eyes delved past the lie and headed straight for the truth with practiced ease. “It’s coming back again, isn’t it?”

Daniel briefly contemplated lying again, but quickly dismissed the idea as futile. “It’s not bad—just a niggling, annoying, kind of…buzzing… Yeah, it’s coming back,” he finally admitted.

“That’s what I thought,” Jack said with an unspoken ‘you can’t fool me’. “Give me your hand,” he said, laying his own hand palm up on the table between them.

Eyebrows bunched uncertainly, Daniel did as Jack requested and placed his hand palm down on top of Jack’s. His eyes immediately slid shut with the flood of relief he felt.

“Better, right?” asked Jack unnecessarily as he unconsciously rubbed the back of Daniel’s hand with his thumb.

Daniel nodded, a tiny moan escaping from his lips at the electric thrill Jack’s touch was giving him.

Jack scanned the commissary, glaring threateningly at a pair of Marines who were staring at them with open disgust. Jack’s glare did the trick for the moment, but he released Daniel’s hand nonetheless. Jack memorized the faces of the two Marines, intent on having a little chat with them later on minding their own business.

Daniel looked up in time to witness the scarcely veiled threats bandying about between Jack and the Marines sitting at the corner table and he knew things could get pretty ugly if they weren’t careful. He pulled his hand away the same time as Jack and kept his eyes on his abandoned breakfast until the Marines got up and left the commissary.

“Do you think we should tell Janet?” asked Daniel, his eyes sliding to the side to note Teal’c’s pensive demeanour.

“Tell her what?” asked Jack.

“Um, that it’s getting worse?” Daniel answered, looking at Jack like he’d heard smarter questions from his potted plants.

“We don’t know that for sure,” Jack argued. “Besides, Carter’s been going over that junk from 260—maybe she’s found something useful.” Daniel glowered at him, so Jack tried again. “Look—I promise to take you to the infirmary if you collapse. How’s that?”

“Oh well! That makes me feel so much better,” Daniel snarked. He might have pushed the matter further, but he’d seen enough of the infirmary over the last couple of days to last a lifetime. For now, he decided to play along with Jack and hope for the best.

~~~~~

A bedraggled-looking Captain Carter greeted the rest of her team from behind a table piled high with alien artefacts. She’d been up most of the night going through the loot they’d dragged back from PIX 260, trying to discern which items might potentially have been responsible for Daniel’s condition. Everything in the collection had passed radiation and bio-hazard testing, and as far as she could tell, there was nothing obviously harmful about any of the items. That meant narrowing it down to items that may have once posed a threat, and after a full night’s sorting, Carter was disappointed to find that she hadn’t narrowed it down by much.

As Daniel and the colonel took their seats on the opposite side of the table, she noticed that Teal’c seemed to show more interest in her selection of artefacts than the other two, even though he had less at stake in the outcome of her findings. He went from item to item, scrutinizing everything with a keen eye, before sitting next to Carter, his expression maddeningly blank.

“Okay people, let’s get started,” said General Hammond as he entered the briefing room. He’d received news of Dr. Jackson’s collapse in the showers and was determined to find a solution ASAP. His front-line team was effectively out of commission so long as Dr. Jackson’s well-being hinged on his proximity to the colonel.

“Sir, if I may?” asked Carter, receiving a brisk nod from the general. “I’ve been going through the artefacts recovered from PIX 260, and I found several that could have been responsible for Daniel’s condition. All of these artefacts exhibited trace energy readings—nothing harmful now, but it’s possible that Daniel depleted the energy source when he came into contact with it.”

“I see,” said Hammond, narrowed eyes sweeping over the wide array of items on the table before him. “I don’t suppose you were able to narrow it down any further?”

“No, sir. Whatever threat the artefact may have posed, it appears to be perfectly safe now—there’s no way of determining which item may have caused this,” said Carter with a tiny cringe. “I was hoping Daniel might recognize one of the artefacts…maybe something that seemed unusual, or that he spent a lot of time studying?”

Without hesitation, Daniel, Jack and Teal’c all pointed to the strange, gold-speckled bust at the far end of the table.

“Okay…I guess we’ve got ourselves a suspect,” said Carter with a huffed chuckle.

“I found Daniel staring at that statue thingy when he first discovered the storage chamber,” Jack explained to Carter and Hammond. “At the time, I thought he was just, you know, being Daniel.” That got him a pair of raised eyebrows from Daniel, which he blatantly ignored. “I guess he was acting a bit more flaky than usual.”

“Uh…yeeaaah,” Daniel said, drumming his pen briefly on the tabletop to reign in the acerbic comeback that sprang to mind. “I suppose I did spend an unusual amount of time…studying the statue.” Daniel admitted, his tongue darting out to wet his lips as he gauged Hammond’s reaction.

“Well, that explains why the two of you picked that statue out of the pile, but what about you, Teal’c?” asked Hammond.

“It is as I feared when I heard that Daniel Jackson must remain in close proximity to O’Neill,” said Teal’c grimly.

“Why do I get the feeling I’m not gonna like this?” asked Jack.

“I do not know, O’Neill.”

“It was a rhetorical question, Teal’c,” said Jack. “So…spill—what’s the story with the sparkly bust?”

“It was rumoured that Hathor once used the device as an implement of torture, punishing those slaves who displeased her,” Teal’c informed them matter-of-factly.

“Damn it!” Jack grumbled. “I knew I wasn’t gonna like it!”