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TV Shows » Stargate: SG-1 » Hell Hath No Fury
Celtic Knot
Author of 72 Stories
Rated: T - English - Angst/Drama - D. Jackson - Reviews: 1 - Published: 05-22-04 - Complete - id:1873262

Hell Hath No Fury...

General George Hammond addressed the four members of SG-1. "As of today, I am assigning a new member to your team." Before Colonel Jack O'Neill could protest, Hammond continued, "This is not meant as a slight against any of you. Dr. Gahlin is a trained diplomat, with multiple PhDs, including law and psychology."

"With all due respect, General, I'll tell him where he can stick his PhDs," O'Neill said, less than respectfully. "We're dealing with aliens here. Alien laws, alien psychology. Not to mention the last thing we need is another civilian!" He glanced at Doctor Daniel Jackson's slightly wounded expression. "No offense, Daniel. I'm thinkin' strategically here."

Hammond glared at him. "She is a very qualified, very accomplished woman. I expect you to make her feel welcome."

Gahlin, Jackson thought. Where have I heard that name before...?

The door to the briefing room opened and a tall, attractive woman of about Daniel's age entered. Hammond stood to introduce her. "SG-1, I would like you to meet–"

Doctors Jackson and Gahlin spoke simultaneously.

"Isis Gahlin!" Daniel exclaimed incredulously.

"Daniel Jackson!" Isis cried in surprise. She grinned. "It's been a while, hasn't it?"

"We were juniors in high school... 1981... God, it's been eighteen years!" Daniel shook his head. "Great. Now I feel old."

"Old?" O'Neill butted in. "You're thirty-four. If you're old, what does that make me?" Nobody answered.

Hammond looked from Jackson to Gahlin and back to Jackson. "You two know each other?"

Daniel nodded. "We met in high school. We were... close friends." Isis grinned at him as if sharing an inside joke.

"It's a small world," O'Neill muttered.

When Hammond finally dismissed the five members of SG-1, Isis threw her arms around Daniel in a friendly embrace. "My God, Daniel, it's been so long!" As they walked together toward the Central Research office, she chattered on like the teenage girl she'd been when Jackson had last seen her. "This is amazing! When you moved away, I thought I'd never see you again. I've never forgotten you, y'know. When I started seeing your papers in scientific journals, and heard what people said about them, I defended you; I've always believed you. And when you were reported to be dead! I cried, Daniel, I cried for what we could have had, for a genius like you lost, for your having died before you could convince those blockheads out there that you were right..." She paused to catch her breath. "I'm sorry. I usually don't talk this much. It's just that I'm so excited..."

Grinning, Daniel said, "You haven't changed a bit."

They entered Central Research, and Isis surveyed the clutter with a twinkle in her dark eyes. "Neither have you."

The laughter left Daniel's face and voice as he said softly, "You'd be surprised."

Isis cast her eyes downward, and her gaze lit on the one object that stood out among the chaos of the desk. She picked up the picture frame. "Who's this?"

Jackson looked at the photograph in her hand, and there was pain in his eyes. "That's my wife, Sha'uri," he said. "She... she died about two months ago."

Isis opened her mouth to express condolences, but what came out instead was, "You were married? How could you do that to me?"

Daniel looked stricken. Overcome with guilt, Isis fled the office.

Major Samantha Carter was about to leave the commissary with her coffee when her eyes fell on SG-1's newest member, sitting at a table by herself and looking very alone. Deciding her research could wait a few minutes, Sam sat down beside her. "Are you all right, Dr. Gahlin?"

"Isis, please," she said. "And I don't know. I said something really stupid and selfish just now, something I think hurt Daniel terribly. It was as if something just snapped, when I found out he was married. I can't even face him again long enough to apologize."

Sam winced. "Um, yeah, Sha'uri's kind of a sore subject with him. She was captured by the Goa'uld, and he went through a lot searching for her. When he finally did find her, she died in his arms. It messed him up pretty bad." At the look on the other woman's face, she said, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you feel worse than you already do. I just thought-"

"You just wanted to explain. It's okay. Now I know." She stood abruptly. "You care about him. That's to be expected; he's your friend. But you hardly know me, so I can go to hell." She stormed out, leaving an astonished Sam behind her.

"What? What did I say? Isis, wait...!" But she was gone.

There are advantages to working with the military, Isis thought as she toyed with one of the pieces of equipment she'd been issued upon joining SG-1. When you need a last resort, you have one.

The new and improved SG-1 lined up across the base of the ramp as the Stargate dialed, keeping a safe distance from the surge of energy that spewed forth. Daniel noticed Isis's hand hovering nervously near her pistol. He knew what was going through her mind: they could find anything on the other side. Just because the M.A.L.P. hadn't seen it didn't mean it wasn't there.

This was, however, a routine mission to a planet known to be friendly to Earth. He placed a hand on her shoulder and was about to try to reassure her when she suddenly turned on him with the gun in her hand. "Whoa!" Daniel yelped. He jumped back and brought his hands up. "It's just me!" He knew what it was like to be a little jumpy right before a mission, but this was ridiculous.

But then he saw the peculiar gleam in her eye, and realized she wasn't exactly compos mentis.

Jack and Teal'C stepped forward to restrain her. "Stop," Isis said, the tone of her voice halting them in their tracks. "Come any closer and I'll shoot." She giggled. "It's funny how such a little gun gives you so much power. The power to do whatever you have to."

"Isis-"

"Shut up, Daniel. I don't want to hear it."

"Look, Isis, whatever happened, I'm sure we can work it out," Sam said. "You don't have to do this."

"No, we can't, so yes, I do."

Jack saw her finger tighten on the trigger, and time seemed to slow down. With a lunge that drew on all his skill acquired from eight years of high school and college football, he tackled her, knocking her to the ground. The sound of a gunshot at close range hurt his ears, nearly drowning out Daniel's cry of pain a split second later.

Daniel awoke in the infirmary to find Jack standing over him. "I'm told you got lucky," the colonel said. "Janet says that bullet missed your heart by less than an inch. But I personally thought you were a goner."

"Well, as they say, 'Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.' Besides, it's not like I haven't come back from the dead before." He grinned weakly.

"That's not funny, Daniel."

Jackson closed his eyes. "No. I suppose not." He looked at O'Neill again. "What happened to Isis?"

"She was arrested for attempted murder. I wanted to see her thrown in jail for the rest of her life, but she was put in the loony bin instead."

"A mental hospital? Good. She needs help."

O'Neill stared at him in astonishment. "Needs help? What she needs is to be locked up!"

"She's sick, Jack. Insane," Daniel said. "And I think she can be cured." He closed his eyes again and drifted off to sleep.

Jack shook his head and turned to leave. When he reached the doorway, he looked back at Daniel and whispered, "Leave it to you, Daniel. Leave it to you to show compassion for the woman who tried to kill you. It's your nature, isn't it?"

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