Location: P3R-527

  POV: Daniel Jackson

  Daniel’s scream mingled with Rina’s, horrified obscenities sounding from Jack and Sam, while Teal’c exuded shocked silence.

  He was gone. In the blink of an eye, the man was gone. It felt unreal.

  But it was real.

  Daniel stumbled back, colliding with the lonely pine. He sank down, head ringing as though he’d been struck. Through his peripheral vision, he saw Jack make his way to the edge and look down, though he could only stomach the sight for a second.

  “Oh, shit,” he hissed, sounding sickened as he stepped quickly back from the drop-off.

  “We—we should go down there,” Carter stammered, “If there’s a chance he’s still alive—”

  “Carter.” Jack cut her off. “You know no one could’ve survived that fall. He’s gone.”

  The ringing in Daniel’s head grew louder.

  “Oh my god…”

  Rina’s voice sounded a thousand miles away, drowned out by the voice in Daniel’s mind.

  “Every night she poisoned me with her touch.”

  He closed his eyes, images flooding through his consciousness.

  A woman, with shoulder-length red hair and blue eyes, her mouth tilted up in a smirk that made Daniel’s skin crawl.

  Hathor.

  He could still feel her fingers gliding over his neck, see her leaning in. Through the haze she had created in his mind, some part of him had fought its way back to the surface, kicking him into defense mode. His hand clamped onto her arm. Still, she pressed closer, breathing more pheromones into his lungs, tightening her hold on him. Daniel felt himself slipping, even as his mind unconsciously screamed at him to do something. He remembered Hathor’s hands caressing a path from his chest down to his belt and—

  “Daniel! Come on! Snap out of it!”

  Daniel jerked back to the present, eyes fixing on Jack.

  “It’s not your fault,” Jack told him, his voice somehow firm yet gentle at once, “You did what you could. Now, what did he tell you?”

  Daniel pulled off his glasses, realizing for the first time how violently his hands were shaking. He placed them in his lap, willing them to still. They didn’t.

  “He was raped.”

  Someone gasped, though whether it was Carter or Rina, Daniel couldn’t tell.

  “Good god,” Jack swore.

  “More than once,” Daniel added, his voice quavering.

  Jack shook his head, his face twisted in disgust.

  After a painful silence, he said, “We need to report this to General Hammond.”

  “We need to tell the tribe what happened,” Rina corrected sharply, “One of them is dead!”

  “I know!” Jack snapped, his voice softening as he added, “We will. But General Hammond needs to know first.”

  Rina scoffed, though it sounded more like a whimper toward the end. Jack started off toward the stargate, pausing to give Sam a comforting pat on the shoulder before continuing into the trees, Teal’c wordlessly accompanying him.

  “I’m going down there,” Carter insisted, heading back toward the cliffside path, “We can’t just leave his body there like that.”

  “Wait.” Daniel forced his feet under him again. “I’m coming with you.”

  Rina started to follow Sam’s lead, then hesitated, her face contorting into a picture of stressful indecision.

  “It’s okay,” Daniel told her quietly as he approached, “You don’t have to force yourself.”

  She hesitated again, eyes brimming with tears, then nodded, stepping back. Daniel followed Carter down the cliffside, though when they reached the body, Carter jerked back in horror, swearing and gagging. The man’s head had been smashed against the rocks at the foot of the cliff, limbs splayed at unnatural angles, clouded eyes staring lifelessly upward.

  All Daniel felt was sheer numbness.

  “I—” Carter gasped, “I’m sorry, I can’t do this.”

  “It’s okay,” Daniel told her, hardly recognizing his own voice, “I’ll stay with the body.”

  Sam scrunched her eyes shut, nodding briefly in thanks before retreating. Peeling off his jacket, Daniel laid it over the man’s face, shielding his vacant eyes from view. Then he sat down beside him, knees tucked close to his chest, gaze fixed on the field of grass outstretched before him.

  The man lying dead at his back had suffered the same devastating violation that Daniel had, only unlike Daniel, it had driven him to his death. Jackson wondered how narrowly he had avoided that same fate.

  Hathor wanted to make me her pharoah. If she’d succeeded…

  He wouldn’t have even had the capacity to choose the same out the man behind him had.

  Daniel ran a shaky hand across his face.

  After the nightmare with Hathor had ended, he’d acted like what she’d done had registered no effect on him. Eventually, he’d begun to believe that it hadn’t, that he wasn’t forever changed, that he could just continue on the way he had before.

  Now he was looking the consequence of that lie dead in the eye. And he couldn’t pretend. Not anymore.

  The sound of approaching footsteps caught his ear and he turned his face away, wishing to keep his thoughts to himself.

  “Sam, really, it’s fine,” he insisted, a bit more sharply than he’d intended, “You don’t have to stay here.”

  The footsteps halted, a moment of quiet following.

  “I get it.” It was Rina’s voice. “You want to be alone. I just thought…never mind.”

  “No, wait,” Daniel said, turning to face her, “It’s fine.” He sighed. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to snap at you.”

  Rina’s gaze was fixed on the ground.

  “I don’t blame you,” she murmured, taking a seat next to Daniel.

  POV: Marina Karssen

  She hardly knew what to say. She was too shaken to get a handle on her own emotions, let alone try to comfort someone else.

  I just thought…when Samantha came back up…that Daniel shouldn’t be alone down here…

  She chewed the inside of her cheek, one hand flexing in agitation. Certain habits had been lost to her in the three months she’d been away from the SGC, but now the temptation to renew them arose. Her fingers ached to slip inside her opposite sleeve and sink their nails into her skin, but instead she directed her frustration elsewhere, as she had countless times before in training, twisting the heel of her boot into the rocky soil beneath her feet. Back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, until she’d made a sizeable dent in the turf. It wasn’t enough, but it helped take the edge off.

  Tangling her discontented fingers in her hair, Rina gazed out at the expanse of grass before them, not saying a word. Her thoughts clung to the corpse of the man just behind them, of the desperate look in his eyes before he had jumped.

  “I can’t imagine,” she breathed, “...what he felt.”

  She didn’t look at Daniel. She felt rather as though she were talking into a void, unable to control the words that came from her mouth.

  “Trapped. Alone.”

  A flash of the inside of Apophis’ prison jolted through her mind. She shut her eyes, trying to block it out.

  “His body…not his. His life…not his.”

  Memories of the Jaffa forcing food down her throat, the sharp sting of Apophis’ blade.

  “Willing to do anything just to make it stop.”

  Lying on the floor of her cell, weak from hunger, reaching for death’s embrace.

  Marina swallowed hard, eyes snapping open.

  “Well…” Her voice trembled. “Maybe I can imagine.”

  There was another stretch of silence. Then Daniel spoke.

  “I know what he felt.”

  Rina turned quickly to face him, shock coursing through her.

  “You mean…you were…”

  Daniel’s eyes met hers, and the pain she saw there said it all.

  He lost his parents, but he put a brave face on it. He lost his wife, and he put a brave face on that too.

  But he couldn’t put a brave face on this.

  “Do the others know?” Marina asked quietly.

  “Not everything,” Daniel admitted, turning away again.

  Rina tentatively reached out a hand, longing to show him he wasn’t alone. Her hand stopped, half outstretched. Something about it didn’t feel quite right. She wet her lips.

  “Can I…can I give you a hug?”

  Daniel partly turned back, unwilling to look her in the face, but he nodded regardless, uttering a soft, “Yeah.”

  Rina shifted closer, entwining her arms around him, head leaning against him. She thought of the hug he had given her months ago, after she’d learned that contact had been made with her parents.

  It was about time she returned that kindness.

  Daniel slipped one arm around her in return, resting his own head atop hers.

  Perhaps it was selfish, but Rina realized she’d needed this just as much as he had.

  They stayed that way for a while, until the sound of approaching footsteps caused them to reluctantly disentangle themselves.

  Jack, Teal’c, and Samantha soon appeared, Jack promptly informing them, “I told Hammond we’re heading back to the village to break the news. If anyone wants to stay behind…I get it.”

  “I’ll stay,” Daniel said, his voice quiet but without hesitation.

  Jack seemed to consider him for a moment, then turned his attention to Rina.

  “Karssen?”

  Rina hardly knew how to answer. The idea of facing Saanvi as she received the most unimaginably horrible news—that one among the tribe she so deeply cared for was dead—was too much to bear. But to hide away while Saanvi was confronted by such cruel reality didn’t feel any better.

  “You should go,” Daniel said suddenly.

  “I—” Rina’s gaze bounced between Daniel and Jack. “I can’t—”

  “It’ll be better if you’re there,” Daniel insisted, locking eyes with Rina, “Better for Saanvi. Trust me.”

  Rina hesitated, feeling somewhat stricken at the fact Daniel had seemingly read her mind, then she nodded in relent, slowly getting to her feet.

  “You shouldn’t be alone,” she told Jackson, feeling torn.

  “She’s right,” Carter said, stepping forward to address Daniel, “I’m okay now. I’ll stay.”

  Daniel seemed like he was about to protest but ultimately said nothing, allowing Carter to sit next to him.

  “Okay,” Jack said, notably lacking any gusto, “Let’s go.”

  They started back toward the village, Rina casting one final look over her shoulder at Daniel, her feet unconsciously dragging.

  I hope he’ll be okay…

  POV: Daniel Jackson

  “Are you okay?”

  Daniel met Carter’s worried gaze, his thoughts pulling him back to the wake of Hathor’s inflicted mayhem, an image of a similarly worried Carter fixing before his mind’s eye.

  “What Hathor did to you—it’s not okay,” the memory told him, “And if you need to talk about it…I’m here for you. I just wanted you to know that.”

  “Thanks, Sam. I’m fine,” he’d answered dismissively.

  No, I’m not.

  Daniel took a deep breath. Now was the time to say the things he should’ve back then, every shameful truth he’d tried to bury and ignore. He owed Sam that much.

  “You remember when Hathor tried to take over the base?” he began quietly, struggling to maintain eye contact.

  “Of course. It was hard to forget,” Carter admitted.

  “You remember…what happened?”

  Carter didn’t answer this time, though the concern in her eyes deepened.

  She already knows where this is going.

  Daniel dropped his gaze to his hands.

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  “After it was all over, you remember what you told me?”

  Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Sam nod solemnly.

  “Well…I lied.”

  Daniel forced his eyes to meet Samantha’s again, seeing for the first time the tears brimming there.

  “Daniel.”

  Her voice choked with those unshed tears, Sam leaned forward, throwing her arms around Daniel. He reciprocated, hugging her fiercely. He needed this, needed a friend to just be there for him.

  He wished he could have recognized it before.

  “I’m so sorry,” Sam breathed.

  “No, I—I shouldn’t have shut you out. I’m sorry.”

  “No.” Sam pulled away, looking him straight in the eyes. “Don’t apologize. I understand why you did it. I’m just glad I can help now.”

  “No, no, just—let’s be honest, Sam,” Daniel insisted hurriedly, his hands wringing, “I’ve owed you an apology for a long time now, and for more than this.”

  Sam’s brows furrowed in confusion.

  “Do you remember when we met the Untouched? That’s what they called themselves. It was one of the first missions we ever went on. Their people were affected by a disease that—”

  “—that reduced them to their most primal selves,” Carter finished, “Yeah, they thought it was a curse. And when we brought it back through the gate with us, it was your allergy medication that helped us find a cure. But why bring this up—”

  She cut herself short, realization dawning in her eyes. A sickening sense of guilt bloomed in Daniel’s gut. He looked away.

  “There was a woman…”

  He couldn’t keep his voice steady. With shaky hands, he pulled off his glasses, dragging the edge of his sleeve over his eyes.

  “Melocia.”

  Guilt twisted deeper into him as Sam supplied the name, his nausea compounding. He’d forgotten the name.

  How had he forgotten her name?

  “Yeah.” Once more, he forced his eyes to meet Samantha’s, though he couldn’t maintain the contact for long when he saw the measured coolness in her gaze. “When we found her, she was—”

  He cut short. He knew well enough that Sam remembered just fine without him painstakingly recounting how they’d discovered the frightened Melocia surrounded by Touched, how one of them had grabbed at her, trying to pin her down even as she cried and struggled. The memory set Daniel’s stomach churning violently. He leaned forward, convinced he might vomit.

  “You wanted to help her,” he continued weakly, eyes closed, breath shallow, “And I just sat there…and rationalized it. Because I didn’t care.” Tears burned just behind his eyes. “I didn’t care…until it happened to me. And even then, I—”

  The words died in his throat. It didn’t matter. Sam knew the rest.

  Silence crushed down on Daniel, making his next words hardly more than a whisper.

  “I’m sorry.”

  Still, the silence stretched on painfully. Daniel knew he deserved it, though that didn’t stop him from wishing Carter would say something, anything.

  “Daniel. Look at me.”

  There was still a strain of coolness in Sam’s tone. Daniel took a deep breath, opened his eyes, put his glasses back on, and turned his head to face her. Her eyes bored into his.

  “You know I’m not the one you should be apologizing to.”

  Daniel released a quavering breath.

  “I know.”

  And if I ever get the chance, I’ll make sure I tell the right person.

  Melocia. He let the name burn into his mind. He wouldn’t forget it again.

  “I should’ve helped back then,” he said again, pausing as he stared off at nothing, “I won’t make that mistake again.”

  Carter glanced at the lifeless form resting behind them, concern and confusion mingling in her gaze as she turned back.

  “Daniel,” she said, her voice turning gentle again, “There’s nothing more we can do for him.”

  Daniel said nothing.

  POV: Marina Karssen

  Rina kept her gaze fixed on the ground passing beneath her feet as they reentered the village. Anxious energy funneled into her fingers, causing them to curl and uncurl in seemingly endless repetition.

  “Are you all right, Miss Karssen?” Teal’c’s quiet voice sounded beside her.

  Rina glanced up at him. First had come his unsubtle comment about her training and now this?

  “Look, you don’t need to check up on me,” she told him, turning her focus back to the turf, “And the answer is no, I’m not all right.”

  “Is there nothing I can do?”

  Rina’s pace slowed.

  Well…that’s the question, isn’t it?

  It’d been running through her mind since they’d left the cliffside, and so far she’d invariably come up blank. After all, what could you do for someone who’d already been pushed past the brink? How could you comfort someone you’d only just met yesterday?

  A raised voice caught her ear, snapping her out of her thoughts. She raised her head, searching for the source. Something about it sounded hauntingly familiar. The voice sounded again, and a sudden chill ran through Marina.

  It can’t be…

  But it sounded exactly like the man who had jumped to his death.

  The uncanny sound had clearly caught Jack and Teal’c’s attention as well, their heads turning in unison toward it. Rina hurriedly bypassed them, her eyes locking onto the source, her face pale.

  To her surprise, she was met with the sight of Aisha engaged in conversation with a man she didn’t recognize. The man snapped again at the matriarch, waving his arms sharply. Clearly, he didn’t care about the attention he was drawing. Aisha didn’t look terribly happy either, though she seemed to be trying to calm him. It didn’t work. After a final half-shout, the man stormed off, disappearing from view among the surrounding homes. Rina stared after him.

  Could he be a relative of…?

  The thought trailed off. She hoped for his sake that she guessed wrong, that she simply misheard. Aisha, glancing at the surrounding onlookers, quickly caught sight of the outsiders. After taking a brief moment to compose herself, she approached.

  “You’ve returned,” she remarked flatly.

  “Yeah,” Jack replied grimly, “We’ve got some news.”

  “What might that be?” Aisha said, her practiced smile lagging a little.

  Jack’s eyes scanned over the watching villagers.

  “It might be better if we talked privately,” he suggested, “And…I think the other two might want to hear this.”

  Aisha considered him for a moment, her smile slipping.

  “I will find Saanvi and Indira,” she said finally, “We shall discuss this ‘news’ in my home. I trust you remember where it is?”

  The smile Saanvi gave Rina upon her arrival sent a dull ache pulsing through her chest. She looked away, unable to bear the eye contact.

  “Aisha said you had ‘news’,” Indira stated, getting straight to the point, “What is this about?”

  Jack hesitated. Rina dared to lift her gaze for a moment, just long enough to glimpse Saanvi’s face. The matriarch’s now absent smile deepened the ache in Marina’s chest.

  “I’m not sure how to say this…” Jack admitted, pausing before pressing on, “We ran into one of your people on our way back to the stargate.” He hesitated again, shifting uncomfortably, his voice quieting as he finished. “The truth is…he killed himself.”

  A stunned quiet followed. Marina risked another glance, though the pained and bewildered expression in Saanvi’s eyes quickly proved too much to bear.

  “I’m sorry,” Jack said.

  Indira shakily rattled off a series of unrecognizable words, her voice strained.

  “How did this happen?” Aisha asked sharply.

  “We found him standing on the edge of the cliff when we got there,” O’Niell explained, “We tried talking him down but…he jumped.”

  “I’m sorry,” Rina murmured, keeping her eyes fixed on the floor.

  There was another stretch of silence.

  “Take us to him,” Saanvi said, sounding surprisingly composed, though a slight tremor could still be heard in her voice.

  Jack nodded, leading the way. Rina reluctantly fell in beside him and Teal’c, feet dragging the whole way. She could feel the eyes of the villagers clinging to them as they passed by, though the only pair of eyes that mattered were those she swore she felt boring a hole into her back as she walked. She wished she could trail unnoticed to the back of the group, where she might hopefully attain some level of invisibility, but the likelihood of that was pretty much nil. She shoved her hands into her pockets, clenching her fists tightly. The short hike seemed to last an hour, though Rina felt no relief when it finally came to its end.

  “He’s over there,” she heard Jack say, her stomach twisting in response.

  I want to escape, her mind screamed, I don’t want to be here for this. I can’t.

  But she could only watch as her legs mechanically carried her forward. The next moment, they were at the cliff base, Daniel and Carter rising to greet them.

  “He’s in…um, he’s in pretty bad shape,” Samantha warned the matriarchs.

  Once again, Indira replied in her native tongue, leaving Daniel to translate.

  “She said they need to see his face,” he explained softly.

  Sam swallowed and nodded, kneeling to peel back the jacket from the dead man’s face. Rina looked away, listening to the gasps, sobs, and retching that followed. Her head spun, her breath stuttering. A tremor spread from her hands into her arms and then her legs.

  I don’t want to be here. I don’t want to be here.

  “Miss Karssen?”

  Teal’c’s voice sounded a thousand miles away.

  I can’t handle this. It’s too much.

  “Hey. Hey!” Jack’s face cut into her focus, his voice sharpening in her senses. “Look at me. Breathe. You’re okay, got it? Just breathe.”

  Rina did, keeping her gaze tethered to Jack’s as she forced the air channeling through her lungs to slow. As her racing thoughts quieted and her senses calmed, shame started to spill through her. What fucking right did she have to wallow in self-pity? She wasn’t the one who’d truly lost something.

  Muttering a hasty “I’m fine” to Jack, she turned toward the matriarchs. Aisha was bent over, looking like she was fighting back her gag reflex, while Indira and Saanvi attempted to soothe her, despite both of them clearly feeling utterly lost in that moment. Rina locked eyes with Saanvi, wordlessly trying to communicate some level of comfort. Saanvi only gazed back mournfully.

  “Did you know him?” Carter asked the matriarchs softly.

  “We were all acquainted with him,” Saanvi answered shakily, “Aisha most of all. He served her very faithfully for some years.”

  Rina stepped forward, swallowing heavily.

  “Does he have family?” she asked quietly.

  Saanvi nodded sadly.

  “He has a brother.”

  Grief roiled in Marina’s stomach. So she’d been right. Someone had lost their family today.

  Aisha straightened, her eyes looking wild. Indira stroked her back comfortingly, then turned her focus to SG-1.

  “We must prepare our tribe for mourning. And Elil—” She gestured to the body. “—must be returned home.”

  Teal’c stepped forward.

  “I will carry him, if you wish,” he offered solemnly.

  Indira considered him a moment, then nodded her consent. As Teal’c stepped forward to gather up the lifeless form, Jack nodded to Carter.

  “Go with him,” he ordered.

  Carter nodded back, though Rina hardly noticed her moving to Teal’c’s side. Her eyes were still on Saanvi. Taking a slow step forward, then another, and another, she drew gradually closer to the matriarch, though Saanvi was consumed in watching Teal’c carefully gather up her dead tribesman, only turning her head once Rina reached her side. For a moment, they simply stared at each other, both seemingly at a loss for words. Rina had to force her voice into compliance.

  “I’m so sorry.”

  It was all she could think to say. Saanvi glanced back toward Elil’s vacant body, then again to Rina.

  “I…I am sorry also,” was all she said.

  Then, at a light touch from Indira, Saanvi strode away, the three matriarchs gathering themselves around Teal’c, Aisha standing at his right, Saanvi on his left, and Indira only a step behind him. And just like so, they proceeded, Samantha trailing a little ways behind them. Rina watched them go, feeling hollow.

  “You okay?” Jack asked her.

  Rina tore her gaze away from the retreating figures, turning reluctantly to face O’Niell.

  “Yeah,” she lied.

  Jack nodded somewhat absentmindedly.

  “Well, once Carter and Teal’c get back, we can head back to base,” he said, “And that’ll be the end of it.”

  Rina felt like he’d just punched her in the gut.

  “What? That’s it?”

  “Karssen, there’s nothing we can do for these people,” he insisted, clearly upset.

  “Oh, please, don’t act like you care about them!” Rina shouted, fury exploding through her veins, “This isn’t about what we can do for them, it’s about what they can’t do for you!”

  “What?” Jack demanded sharply, looking bewildered.

  “I heard that conversation last night! You’re here for fucking tech! You couldn’t care less about the actual people!”

  Jack moved toward her, his voice rising to meet her pitch.

  “I watched a man jump to his death!” he yelled, “You think that doesn’t affect me?! If we stay, we’ll just be making it worse—for them!”

  He waved a hand in the direction of the village.

  “No,” Rina snapped raggedly, her mind racing.

  This isn’t over. Not yet. There’s still one way we can help—that we NEED to help.

  “Someone did this to him—to Elil. Someone pushed him to this!” Rina stabbed a finger toward the village. “There’s a rapist hiding under these people’s noses, and we need to find them, and rain hell on them!”

  “Karssen, think! These people don’t know us! We show up out of nowhere and suddenly one of them is dead?! You know how it’d look if we started pointing fingers at them?”

  “I don’t give a shit about how it looks!” Rina screeched reflexively.

  “Well, you should!” Jack barked.

  He pulled back, catching his breath. All Marina saw was red.

  “As soon as Carter and Teal’c get back, we’re done here,” Jack repeated firmly.

  Rina opened her mouth to issue a heated response when Daniel’s quiet voice cut in.

  “I’m not going.”

  POV: Daniel Jackson

  Both pairs of eyes turned toward him.

  “Daniel—” Jack began.

  “No, no,” Daniel intercepted his protests, his voice rising to a shout, “I can’t ignore this!”

  There was silence.

  Then, without turning back to Rina, Jack asked, “Karssen, could you give us a minute?”

  Rina made a scornful noise, pointedly remaining where she was. She turned to Daniel, her gaze expectant. He gave her a subtle nod, letting her know it was okay. Regardless, Rina took her time in stepping away, continuously casting glances over her shoulder. When she was finally out of earshot, Jack got straight to the point.

  “You want to tell me what this is about? ‘Cause I have a feeling there’s more to it than what we saw today.”

  Daniel shook his head.

  “Isn’t that enough?” he muttered.

  “Yeah, it is,” Jack answered quietly, “But I know you, Daniel. Something else is wrong. And I can understand if you don’t want to talk to me about it. But we’re in a bad spot here. And I need to understand.”

  Daniel rubbed his sweaty palms against the material of his cargo pants. Jack was the last person he wanted to tell, but he knew now that Jack wouldn’t let it go until he knew exactly what was going on.

  “It happened to me.” When Jack didn’t say anything, Daniel prompted him further. “With Hathor.”

  Realization dawned in Jack’s eyes. He shifted uncomfortably, swearing softly under his breath.

  “Didn’t think it hit you that bad,” Jack admitted.

  Daniel released a sharp breath.

  “Yeah, well, neither did I. Truth is, I didn’t want to.”

  Somehow, that fact felt strange to him now. After all, how could he make sense of feeling so ashamed over something so completely out of his control? How could he explain the invisible pressure he’d felt demanding that he hold himself together, at all costs?

  “So…I get it,” he continued, “I get why you wouldn’t think about it. I just—”

  He hesitated, unsure whether it was even worth speaking his piece.

  At the end of the day, Jack was…well, Jack. Retreating behind humor. Not always thinking before he spoke.

  But Daniel couldn’t deny the feeling stirring inside him. He couldn’t deny his resentment.

  “Do you remember what you said?” he asked quietly, “When Fraiser wanted to run tests on the symbiotes Hathor left behind and I told her exactly whose DNA she’d find? It was just one word. Do you remember?”

  Something like apprehension stole across Jack’s face.

  “No,” he answered softly.

  Daniel’s uncertainty was gone now, replaced by a growing anger.

  “You said 'ew’. As if—as if I didn’t feel disgusting enough.”

  Again, Jack shifted his feet awkwardly in response, his gaze flitting over the surrounding scenery. It just made Daniel more angry.

  “I was raped, Jack, and you said ‘ew’! Who does that?!”

  Abruptly, O’Niell’s gaze locked onto Daniel’s, his face unreadable.

  “You’re right,” he said, catching Daniel off-guard, “I did that. And I know this isn’t going to make it better…but I’m sorry. When you said it…I knew what it meant. I just didn’t know how to handle it. It’s not because I didn’t care.”

  As Jack spoke, the tension in Daniel’s body slipped away, his anger dissipating till not even its shadow remained.

  “I know,” he acknowledged softly.

  “But it doesn’t change the fact that I could’ve—I should have done better.”

  Daniel swallowed thickly past the lump in his throat. He couldn’t speak. So he just nodded.

  A long silence followed.

  “Look,” Jack said finally, “I’d rather not get in the way of whatever it is you need to do. These people have to be told the truth—I don’t disagree there. But they’re processing a hell of a lot already. Now’s not the best time…for them or for us.” He paused, adding, “Let’s at least report to Hammond, see what he decides.”

  He paused, waiting for Daniel’s answer.

  Daniel sighed. “Okay.”

  Jack nodded, seeming to relax a little.

  Then, after a pause, he asked in his most characteristic tone, “So, that means you’re going to help me convince Karssen, right?”

  Hey, folks! Here's a surprise update! And I say "surprise" because I was genuinely expecting it'd be a lot more than approximately a month and a half before I uploaded again, but with how long this chapter is turning out, I made the decision to split it up into more than just two parts. Though I expect Part Three will take longer for me to finish.

  Anyway, I'd love to hear y'all's thoughts so let me know in the comments below what you think so far! Thanks for reading! (Seriously, I'm well aware how intense this chapter is so I appreciate everyone who's sticking with it, and I'm planning on sharing my inspiration for this chapter once it's complete.)