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CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

The results of the blood tests taken the next morning showed that Daniel's brain chemistry was definitely going back to normal, though his serotonin levels were still on the low side.

He was moved out of the isolation room and to a private room.  He'd have preferred to be out of the infirmary completely, but he didn't complain.  He knew that he still had a little way to go.  He also feared that he'd have a relapse.

A play area had been set up for Danny in the room, which pleased him.  Any time someone even hinted that he leave Daniel's company, he resisted, which worried the archeologist.  Until this thing happened, Danny had gotten over the need to be near Daniel, and he now feared that some of the progress Danny had made had been reversed.

Janet agreed to allow Daniel to do some work, so his computer and some files had been brought in.  He was in the midst of a translation when they got an unexpected visit from Meredith.

"Hello, you two," she greeted with a smile.  "Daniel, it's good to see you looking so well.  How are you feeling?"

"A lot better."

"That's great."  Janet had filled Meredith in on Daniel's condition, so she knew that he was much improved, though still not one hundred percent.  "And how about you, Danny?"

"I'm okay."

"Any new nightmares?"

"No, not now."

"But you were having some before?"

The child nodded.

"When was that?"

"When Daniel was kidnapped, and when he was sick and nobody would let me be with him."

The second part of that sentence was news to Daniel.  No one had told him that Danny had nightmares on the nights he was kept away from Daniel.

"Yes, I bet you were really worried about him," Meredith said.  "I understand that, when the men who had Daniel hurt him, you could sense it.  That must have been frightening."

Danny's gaze fell to the floor.  "I thought he was going to die."

"But he didn't, did he.  They did hurt him, and he did get very sick afterwards, but he didn't die."  Meredith sat on a chair beside the boy.  "I was told that you've been spending most of your time here with him, that you don't want to leave.  Is that right?"

Danny nodded, not looking at her.

"Can you tell me why?"

"Because I'm afraid something will happen to him," Danny whispered.

"You're afraid that, if you leave him, something will happen while you're gone?"

The child nodded again.

Meredith looked at Daniel, seeing the sadness on his face.  She turned back to Danny.

"I do understand why you feel that way, Danny.  Daniel went away, and he got kidnapped and hurt, then, after he came back, he got sick, and you weren't allowed to be with him.  But, Danny, nothing bad will happen to Daniel just because you're not with him.  Life doesn't work that way.  If you left this room, he would still be all right.  I know that you've left for a short while a few times.  He was fine when you came back, wasn't he?"

"Yeah, but it wasn't a long time."

Meredith studied the boy for a moment.  She made a decision that she knew was going to be hard on the child, but it was something that needed to be done sooner or later.  Yes, this fear of leaving Daniel for any length of time would fade in time, but, for the sake of Danny – and Daniel – it would be far better to help speed up the process.

"Okay, Danny.  I know you're not going to like this, but I'm going to ask you to leave this room for the rest of the day."

Danny's face filled with fear.  "No!  I don't want to!"

"I'm sorry, Danny, but I need to insist."

The boy's eyes went to Daniel.  "Please don't make me leave, Daniel.  Please."

The torment was clear on the archeologist's face.  He didn't want to upset the boy, but if this was what Meredith thought Danny needed, he had to go along with it.

"Danny, I'll be all right.  I won't be leaving this room, so I won't get hurt, and I won't get sick again.  It'll be okay."

"Danny, what I'll let you do is call Daniel on the phone every two hours to check up on him," Meredith said.  "Tonight, you can come back and sleep in here.  It's afternoon now, so we're only talking about a few hours.  That's all."

Tears were pooling in the child's eyes. "I don't want to go," he whispered.

"I'm sorry, Danny, but I need to show you that something bad won't happen to Daniel just because you're gone."

"You can stay with Jack, Sam or Teal'c, Danny," Daniel said, feeling awful.

A couple of calls were made.  Jack came a short while later.  Danny was still crying, and, when Jack attempted to take his hand, the boy ran to Daniel and threw himself into the man's arms.  Daniel held him tight.

"Shh.  Danny, it's all right," Daniel murmured soothingly.  "It's going to be fine.  I'll be waiting for your call in two hours."

Jack came forward.  He met Daniel's eyes for a long moment, seeing how much this was hurting the younger man.

"Come on, Danny.  Let's go," the colonel said to the boy.  "It's a nice day outside, so I thought we'd play a little catch on the mountaintop."

Now very subdued, the boy released Daniel and went with Jack.

"I'm sorry, Daniel," Meredith said after the door closed behind the pair.  "I know this was hard on both of you, but I think it's for the best.  Danny will be scared for a while, but I think after the second or third call, he'll calm down.  We could have waited a few days to do this, but I think a more aggressive approach is better this time.  Danny's a lot stronger psychologically than he used to be.  He can handle this."

Daniel just nodded, still upset.  Meredith moved the chair over to his bed and sat back down.  She knew that, because of the lingering problems with his brain chemistry, Daniel's emotional state was more fragile than normal, and she had to wonder if this was a good time to talk with him about his ordeal.  On the other hand, perhaps he'd be more likely to open up about it now than he would in a few days.  She knew Daniel well enough to suspect that, once he was completely well, he'd begin to build walls around the hurt inside and would convince himself that he was fine.  This might be the best chance she'd have to get her foot in the door and begin helping him deal with what happened rather than just locking it up inside.

"Do you feel up to talking?" she asked gently.  "I know what you've gone through over the past week.  I can only imagine how hard it's been.  If you feel like you could talk about it, I'd like to listen.  No pressure.  If you really don't want to talk now, that's all right.  I'll understand."

Daniel was silent for a long time, long enough that Meredith thought he wasn't going to say anything.

"I don't remember most of the time I was sick," he said in a low voice.  "From what I understand, I guess that's a good thing.  I apparently had a lot of flashbacks and nightmares about Honduras and . . . some other things.  You probably already know that."

Meredith nodded.  "Yes, I do.  I also know the details of what happened in Honduras.  I'm so sorry that happened to you, Daniel.  I can't say that I understand how you feel since I've never been through anything like that, but I can imagine how difficult it must have been."

"It's not the first time I've been tortured.  It's just that this was . . . different."

"In what way?"

"The other time it happened was on an off-world mission.  It really wasn't so bad.  The way they harmed Sam and Jack bothered me more than what they did to me.  I knew I couldn't tell the Bedrosians what they wanted to know.  Teal'c's life depended on it.  Just that knowledge made it easier to take.  As long as Teal'c stayed safe, it would be okay if they shocked me with that thing a dozen times.  They ended up only doing it twice."

"And this time?"

Daniel didn't reply for several seconds.  "I knew that it could be dangerous for Rafael and the others to know what the device was, though I didn't really think they'd try to turn it on.  There was also the matter of national security and the secrecy of the program."

"But the life of someone you cared about did not hinge on you remaining silent," Meredith said, understanding the difference.

"Yeah.  In fact, I knew that, if I didn't talk, they'd start torturing Bill, so not talking meant that someone else was going to get hurt."

"That must have been hard on you, knowing that.  It must have made it harder to keep silent."

"There was a moment after I'd been shocked maybe five or six times when I wondered if it would be so bad to tell them what the device was.  I wouldn't have to say everything, just that it was possibly the source of the Fountain of Youth myth.  I could have lied, said that in order to turn it on, a key was needed, and that I was still looking for it.  Something like that."

"But you didn't talk."

"No."

"Why?"

"Because I knew that I couldn't.  If I was wrong, if Rafael turned the device on or, worse, if he sold it to someone who turned it on in a populated area, it would be my fault.  It could have harmed a lot of people, turned them into what I saw Rafael and his men become, what I became when I was addicted to the sarcophagus.  I couldn't let that happen.  I couldn't let innocent people go through what I did.  And if that meant not talking, then I wouldn't talk, no matter what."

Meredith nodded.  Of course it was the thought of the harm that could come to others rather than any thoughts of the program's secrecy or national security that gave Daniel the strength to withstand the torture.  He was not a soldier, but he was a man who always put the welfare of others above his own.

"But then, Doctor Lee talked," she said.

Daniel's gaze fell to his hands.

"Did that anger you?  You endured all that suffering to prevent something from happening only to have Doctor Lee tell them what you went through hell to hide."

"Bill hasn't gone through the things I have.  He hasn't been . . . toughened up.  I don't blame him for not being able to withstand what they did to him.  Before I joined the program, I might not have either."

"Yes, but not blaming him for lacking the strength to bear it is one thing, being angry because your suffering ended up being for nothing is something else.  On top of that, because Doctor Lee did talk, you were exposed to that device and have had to endure going through another withdrawal."

Daniel fell silent again.  "I guess . . . I guess I was a little angry," he admitted very quietly.

Meredith searched his face.  "You're ashamed that you felt that way."  Daniel didn't reply, but it was pretty obvious she was right.  "Daniel, feeling a certain amount of anger toward Bill is perfectly natural.  I do, however, know that you will never hold this against him.  Am I right?"

"How can I hold it against him that he saved himself from going through what I did?  I wouldn't have wanted him to go through that.  If he hadn't talked, they'd have kept using the battery on him.  So, maybe it was better that he did talk.  It made things easier on him."

"Better that you be the one who suffers than someone else."

Daniel merely shrugged, his eyes still not meeting hers.

Meredith gazed at him.  "Do you feel good that you didn't talk?"

That made Daniel look at her.  "What do you mean?"

"It would seem to me that knowing they couldn't break you would make you feel pretty good about yourself."

"Um . . . no, not really."

"Why is that?"

"I don't know.  I just don't see it like that."

"Yet you have every reason to feel that way.  You were faced with a tremendous challenge to your strength and willpower, and you won."

Daniel gave a small, humorless laugh.  "I don't really feel like I won anything."

"No, but it was a victory, Daniel.  Most people go through their whole lives never knowing how much they could truly endure, how strong they really are.  Your strength has been tested many times during these years you've been in the program, and I'm betting that you always passed the test.  Now, you've been tested again, and you yet again made it through.  You have every right to feel good about that.  You deserve to feel good about it."

Daniel thought about what she was saying.  "I guess you're right.  I just don't look at it that way.  I just did what I knew I had to."

Meredith nodded again.  Daniel was a brilliant, talented, handsome man who had every reason to possess a healthy ego and self-image, yet it was pretty clear that he didn't.  His years in the foster care system could be partly to blame for that.  It could be that, during those years, he was never given the ego boosts he needed to build self-esteem and self-confidence.  He had no loving parents to tell him how proud they were of him, to be there cheering during his triumphs and encouraging him after his failures.  It was a sad fact for many foster children.

Meredith saw the tiredness in Daniel's eyes.  Though there was much more that needed to be talked about, now was not the time.

"I should let you get some rest.  I'm glad that you felt you could talk to me about this, Daniel.  Perhaps we could talk some more after you're completely over the withdrawal."

"What about Danny?  I'm really worried about him.  This whole thing has been almost as hard on him as it has been on me."

"Yes, it has, but I think, in time, he'll get past it, especially after we've overcome this first big hurdle.  Once he loses his fear of leaving your presence, it'll all be downhill from there.  Tomorrow, it would be best if Danny remains away from you for at least half the day with just one phone call.  Once you return home, don't let him sleep with you.  He needs to sleep in his own bed.  After a couple of days, perhaps you can arrange for him to spend the night with someone else."

"All right.  I just hate seeing him so upset."

"I know, Daniel, but, in the end, this will be the best thing for him.  If you intend to enroll him in school, he needs to be comfortable about being away from you for the day."

"Yeah, school.  I'm afraid that I haven't done much in that regard.  I wanted to wait until after I saw how he did in his therapy before making any decisions.  Then all this happened and. . . ."  Daniel sighed.  "Public school starts in only two weeks, and I know that some private schools have already started."

"What were your thoughts about his schooling?"

"Well, considering his level of intelligence, he'd probably be better off in a private school that has a program for gifted children.  I did do some research a while back, and there's one in Colorado Springs that sounds good.  I would need to take Danny there so that he can be interviewed and tested.  Whether or not he could get in at such short notice is something I don't know."

"Considering how bright Danny is, I don't think there would be a big problem.  Have you talked to Danny about this?"

"No.  I'm pretty sure he's not going to be thrilled about going to school.  He'd much prefer having me and Sam tutor him.  Then he could spend his days here.  Obviously, that's not an option.  Neither one of us could devote the time to his education that he deserves."

Meredith got to her feet.  "I should let you get some rest.  Once you're out of the infirmary and feel up to it, I'll come back and talk with Danny about everything that's happened."

"Okay.  Um, Meredith?  Thank you for understanding.  You, uh . . . won't tell anyone what we talked about, will you?  I'd rather that the others didn't know what I said."

"No, Daniel, I won't tell anyone.  This is between you and me."

"Thanks."

"And, Daniel?  Call me any time you'd like to talk.  I mean that."

Once Meredith was gone, Daniel put aside his work and lowered the bed to a horizontal position.  He attempted to get some sleep, but, after lying there for twenty minutes without any luck, he gave up and sat back up.  He hadn't told anyone that he'd had a nightmare last night about the events in Honduras, letting everyone believe that he'd slept peacefully through the night, although "peacefully" was a relative term.  Though the bruises were no longer a problem, the burns and gunshot wound sometimes made getting to sleep and staying that way a challenge.  The nightmares made it all the harder.  Now, though he was definitely tired, he couldn't relax because he was afraid that he'd have another nightmare, and he didn't want anyone to know that he was still having a problem with them.

Daniel got back to work, pushing through his tiredness.  The call from Danny came exactly when he was expecting it.

"Hey, Danny.  Did you have fun playing catch with Jack?"

"Kind of.  I wish you were with us."

"Well, after I'm all better, perhaps we can all go to the park or something.  That would be nice.  I'll sure be ready for some fresh air after being cooped up in the mountain so long."

"Can I come back now?"

Daniel was really tempted to give in and say yes, but he didn't.  "No, Danny, not yet, not until it's bedtime.  I'm going to be fine.  I'm just sitting here, working.  You go and have more fun with Jack.  I love you."

"I love you, too."

Daniel said goodbye and hung up.  Sam came to visit a few minutes later.

She gave Daniel a bright smile.  "Hey, are you feeling better?"  She came forward and gave him a kiss, studying his face.  She'd come to visit him this morning and noticed that he was still a little down in the dumps, though he'd tried to hide it.

"Yeah, a bit."

"Janet says that your brain chemistry is looking good.  She thinks that she might be able to release you tomorrow, although she wants you to stay on base for at least one more day, just to be in the safe side."

"That's good.  I hate being cooped up in the infirmary.  I'd be going nuts, if Janet hadn't allowed me to get some work done."

Sam sat on the edge of the bed.  "I understand that Meredith was here earlier."

"Yes.  She's trying to get Danny over his need to stay near me.  That's why he's not here now.  Meredith wants him to stay away until tonight."

Sam nodded.  "Did . . . she talk to you about . . . you know?"

"Uh, yeah, a little."

"That's good."  Sam did not push Daniel for any details.  Just knowing that he had talked to someone about his ordeal was enough.  Janet had advised that they tread carefully about what happened to him, especially while he was still recovering from the withdrawal.

Sam took his hand.  "I've been missing you.  It's lonely sleeping alone."

"I miss you, too."

Sam touched his right thigh.  "How's your leg doing?"

"Good.  Still hurts a bit.  I'll be glad when I don't need those crutches anymore."

"Just don't push yourself too hard, Daniel."

"I won't."

Sam checked her watch.  "I wish I could stay longer, but I'm way behind on several projects.  I was thinking that we could have dinner together."

Daniel smiled.  "Sure, that would be great."

Sam gave him another kiss, then got up.  "I'll see you later."  She started for the door, then turned around, smiling.  "Oh, and, by the way, I love you."

Daniel's smile grew.  "Well, that's a coincidence.  I love you, too."

"Really?  Fancy that."  With a wave, Sam left the room.

Feeling a bit better, Daniel returned his attention to work.

By the time Danny made his third phone call to Daniel, he seemed to be doing a lot better.  When Jack brought him back to the room at a little before nine, the boy gave Daniel a hug, but didn't cling to him or appear to be upset.

"So, did you enjoy your afternoon and evening with Jack?" Daniel asked him.

"Oh, I wasn't with Jack the whole time.  I was with Grandpa George for a while and with Teal'c and Sergeant Harriman, too."

"As much as I would have liked to goof off with Danny the whole time, I had to get at least some work done and earn the money the U.S. military pays me," Jack explained.

"Ah."  Daniel returned his gaze to Danny.  "Well, we'll have to see who can spend some time with you tomorrow."

The boy frowned.  "I can't stay with you?"

"You can later in the afternoon, but Meredith wants you to spend half the day away from me."

"But I get to call every two hours, right?"

"Um, no, just one call."

Danny's frown deepened.  "How come?"

"She thinks it's for the best, Danny."

"But what if something happens?"

Daniel cupped the boy's cheek.  "Nothing's going to happen, Danny.  I'm hoping that I'll be let out of the infirmary tomorrow.  If I am, I'll probably be in my office most of the day."

A touch of fear glimmered in the child's eyes.  "But it was in your office that you got sick."

"It was there that I passed out, but I was sick before then, Danny.  I just didn't realize it."

"But what if you get sick again?  If I'm not there, nobody will know."

"How about if Sam calls me every now and then to make sure I'm okay?  Would that be all right?"

Danny thought about that for a while.  "I guess so, but she has to promise to call you."

Jack ruffled the boy's hair.  "How about if I make it an order, kiddo?  Then she has to call or she'll be disobeying orders."

"Okay."

Daniel smiled.  "It's settled, then.  Jack can come pick you up for breakfast."  He looked up at the colonel.  "Would that be all right?"

"Sure.  I'll make arrangements for babysitting duty.  It shouldn't be a problem.  I think Sergeant Gonzalez is off-duty tomorrow.  If she doesn't have other plans, she'd probably love to take Danny to the park or something."


Daniel had another nightmare that night, which brought him violently out of sleep.  In the dream, Rafael was resurrected and came toward Daniel, machete in hand, again saying that he was going to skin Daniel alive.  Jack tried to protect Daniel, but Chalo showed up and killed him.

Daniel lay still as his racing heart gradually slowed.  He looked over at Danny, who lay sprawled beside him, sound asleep, then threw back the covers and got up, having no desire at the moment to go back to sleep.  Not wanting to alert anyone to the fact that he was awake, he did not turn on a light.  He used the bathroom, then got his laptop and settled in one of the chairs.

Daniel worked for the next three hours, until tiredness began dragging him down.  He then shut off the computer and crawled back under the covers, finding it necessary to move Danny first, because the boy had taken over the entire mattress.  After a few minutes, sleep returned.

Thankfully, Daniel did not have another nightmare.  When Jack came to get Danny for breakfast, the archeologist pretending that everything was fine.

It turned out that Marie Gonzalez loved the idea of taking Danny out for the morning and eagerly volunteered to be his babysitter.  Daniel talked with her on the phone, explaining Danny's concern about him.  The sergeant said she understood and would do her best to distract the boy and would let him make a call to Daniel at eleven o'clock.

After Danny left with Marie, Janet drew some blood from Daniel, examining his injuries as they waited for the test results.  Some blood was drawn.

"The burns are healing very well," the doctor said.  "Of course, it helps that you got that big jump-start on the process."

"All things considered, I'd have preferred taking longer to heal."

Janet looked at him sympathetically.  "Yes, I imagine you would."  She examined his bullet wound.  "This looked good, too.  If your tests come back normal, I'm going to have you begin doing some exercises with this leg tomorrow.  Nothing strenuous at first, though.  And I think you can trade in the crutches for a cane.  That should make it easier for you to get around."  She studied his face.  "How are you sleeping?"

"So so," Daniel replied, giving nothing away.  "It's sometimes tough to get comfortable."

"Do you need some help?  I can give you a different pain medication, one that will help you sleep."

"I'd rather not.  I usually end up feeling dopey all morning."

"Well, let me know if you change your mind.  I'll go get that cane for you."  Janet walked off for a minute and came back with the cane.  "There you go."

"Thanks.  This will definitely be better."

After seeing that Daniel's test results were normal  Janet released him from the infirmary and cleared him for light duty.

Happy to get out of the infirmary, Daniel gathered up his and Danny's things, with some help from an airman, and went to his office.  He tried to get some work done, but a thought kept nagging at him.  Finally, he called Sam.

"Hey there," she said.  "Aren't I supposed to be calling you?"

"Yeah, but, uh . . . there's something we need to talk about.  Could you and Jack come to my office?"

"Sure.  Is something wrong, Daniel?"

"I'll explain when you get here."

Jack and Sam arrived a few minutes later.  Daniel asked them to sit down.

"What's up?" Jack asked.

"I know that you know about what happened to me when I was a kid, the, um . . . abuse."

Jack and Sam shared a glance.

"We weren't going to say anything about it, Daniel," Sam said.

"I know.  I just . . . I just wanted you to know that it wasn't as bad as you may be thinking.  He knocked me around a bit, gave me a few bruises."

"Gave you a concussion," Jack added in a taunt voice.

Daniel saw the anger glittering in Jack's dark eyes.  "That was the worst time, the only time he hit me that hard.  He'd just lost his job, and—"

"Don't you dare make excuses for him," Jack snapped.  "There is no excuse, no excuse for abusing a child.  I don't care how tough life is.  You don't hit your wife, and you don't hit your children, even if they aren't really yours."

Daniel's gaze fell to his lap.  "I know that, Jack.  I wasn't making excuses."

"Who was he?"

Daniel lifted his gaze back to Jack.

"You spoke the name Schubert."

"Why do you want to know, Jack?  Are you going to go track him down and beat him up?"

"No, I'm not going to beat him up," Jack replied, "but I want to know where he is, if he hit any other kids after what he did to you."

"They wouldn't have let him and his wife foster any more kids, Jack.  They knew what he'd done.  He was arrested for it."

"And what about his own kids?"

"Mrs. Schubert couldn't have children.  That's one of the reasons why they became foster parents, that and the money it brought in."

The two men stared at each other for a tense moment.

"I can find out on my own, you know," Jack finally said.

Daniel sighed explosively.  "Fine!  His first name was Harold.  His wife's name was Nancy.  I can't tell you the address where we lived.  I don't remember.  It was in Manhattan, that's all I know."  Daniel's voice began rising in anger and pain.  "You want me to draw a picture of him, Jack?  I still remember what his face looked like as he was looming over me.  Would you like a description of the ring that cut my cheek once?  How about the belt with the fancy silver buckle that he tied me to my bed with after I interrupted him and his wife—"

Daniel's voice broke off.  He abruptly struggled to his feet, grabbed his cane, and left the room.

"Daniel!" Sam called out, jumping to her feet.

Too late, Jack realized that he'd made a mistake.  Dammit.  Janet had told them not to make a big deal out of this, and here he goes pushing Daniel for the man's identity.

"Sir. . . ." Sam began.  He looked at her and saw in her eyes that she was blaming him for what just happened.

"Don't say it, Carter.  I already know.  This is my fault, and I'll fix it."

Jack went in search of Daniel.  You wouldn't think that a guy with a bad leg could move so fast, but, apparently, Daniel had been very motived to get away as fast as possible.

Jack tracked the archeologist to the top of the mountain.  He was sitting on a log, rubbing his injured leg, which was extended out straight.  Great.  On top of everything else, Jack had made Daniel put a strain on his leg.  If Janet found out, she would not be amused by Jack's idiocy.  In fact, he'd be lucky if he emerged from the infirmary with his skin still intact.

Daniel stilled as he became aware of Jack's present.  The colonel sat on the log beside him.

"I'm sorry," Jack said after a pause.  "I shouldn't have pushed, and I'm . . . I'm sorry."

"I hadn't thought about him in years," Daniel murmured, staring at the ground.  "I convinced myself that what he did to me didn't matter.  It didn't affect who I was.  He was just . . . just an angry drunk who took his anger out on me and probably the foster kids that came before me."

Jack rested his hand on Daniel's shoulder.  "You're wrong, Daniel.  It did matter.  It still does."

Daniel's voice wavered slightly.  "I-I could never hit Danny.  I don't think that I could even spank him.  Just thinking about it would make me remember what it felt like to. . . ."

Jack's hand tightened on Daniel's shoulder.  "I know, Daniel."

Jack gazed at his best friend for a long moment, seeing the hunched posture, the lowered gaze.  And then he did something that he had not done in many years.  He pulled Daniel into an embrace and just held him.  Daniel resisted at first, then relaxed, closing his eyes.

The hug lasted several seconds.  When the two men parted, they avoided looking directly into each other's eyes.

"Come on.  We need to get you back inside and that leg elevated or something," Jack said, standing up.  "If you made it worse with your mad dash up here and Fraiser finds out, it's not gonna be pretty."

"She'll kill me."

"No, she'll kill me.  You she'll just scold out."

Daniel thought about it, then nodded.  "You're right.  You're the one she'll go after."

"Gee, thanks for the support, Daniel."  Jack's manner changed.  "Daniel, there's just one thing I need to know, and I swear that I'll never ask anything else about what that guy did to you."  He met his best friend's eyes.  "When he tied you to the bed, did he. . . ."  Jack found that he couldn't say the words out loud.

"No, he never touched me like that," Daniel replied, filling Jack with immense relief.  "He didn't even hit me that time.  He just tied me to the headboard, then went back to his wife.  After he was asleep, she came and untied me and told me to be extra careful the next time I got out of bed during the night."

Jack nodded.  "Okay."

The colonel helped the archeologist to his feet, and the two friends headed back down to the base entrance.

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