Crossover: HL/SG-1 (roughly series 6 SG-1!verse, end series 3 HL!verse)

Characters: SG-1, Methos, Janet Fraser

For prompt: 084 Dry

Summary: Methos is reunited with Elana and Jack gets to the bottom of things.

A/N: Third in yet another series of ficlets – and yet again I have no firm plans…

A/N 2: I know the proper spelling is Goa’uld, but they never say it like that so you’ve got my attempt at phonetic spelling.

Unlike most of the other rooms this small annexe of the tomb had barely been disturbed; Methos silently thanked Daniel for that much. Thousands of years of dust and sand muffled their footsteps on the stone floor and already Methos could feel the small clouds they raised with their passing clinging to the back of his throat every time he breathed in, making him swallow convulsively.

He could see her sarcophagus now, stood upright against the far wall with the other key members of the household. He knew that to most people the pictures on the front of sarcophagi all looked the same, the same stylised Egyptian forms and faces, but even then he could tell which was hers. He made it to her, felt his throat tighten and could go no further. No matter how much he felt he owed it to her to see her one last time, he couldn’t open the casket, couldn’t see that desiccated husk that was once his wife.

A hand came into his field of vision, and he looked up to see Daniel offering him a thin book, worn and cracked with age. Just looking down at the cover brought back memories he had thought were gone forever. Taking it he opened it to a random page, scanning the scrawled entries of his daily life over four and a half thousand years ago…

“It hardly seems like me does it?” He asked his old student wonderingly.

“It has been a while,” Daniel said, a slow grin spreading across his face.

“See that’s the thing,” Daniel and Methos jumped as Jack appeared from around the corner, “It has been a long time. In fact the carbon dating on that journal came in today at close to four thousand six hundred years, so I’m standing here wondering how you could have wrote it.”

“Jack…” Daniel began.

“Ah-bup-bup!” O’Neill interrupted, gesturing with a finger. “I’ll deal with you in a minute.”

“But Jack it’s not what you’re thinking!”

“And what am I thinking?”

“He’s not a Guuld.”

O’Neill looked sceptical. “And I should believe you because? You’re the one that brought in this guy!”

Daniel rolled his eyes. “Give me a break Jack. You know I’m not a Guuld; we get tested every time we go off world, every time we’re around Guuld artefacts. Hell, I’ve been tested three times since being here after what happened with Sarah and Osiris.”

O’Neill shrugged. “Yeah there’s that and you refused to tell this guy anything classified even though you trust him.”

Daniel frowned, looking puzzled. “You were listening…”

O’Neill put up his hands in defence. “Hey I was just coming to say hi, it’s not my fault you were on the phone.”

“You didn’t have to stay and listen!”

O’Neill tried to pretend innocence. “But then I wouldn’t have heard about all this.”

Daniel sighed explosively, turning away, so Jack addressed Methos.

“You been briefed yet?”

“No, but please continue it’s all very interesting.”

Daniel looked at his teacher with irritation. “You’re the last person I would have thought would find this amusing.” Methos shrugged and Daniel turned to Jack. “What do you mean has he been briefed?”

“Dr Adam Pierson has been granted full clearance.”

“You got him that?”

Jack grinned. “Least I could do for an old friend of Danny’s…” The smile turned to a frown. “Very old apparently, which is where I’m still unclear…”

Daniel and Methos shared a glance.

“You’re not getting out of here without an answer,” Jack offered.

Methos shrugged and Daniel sighed. “Jack, shoot Adam.”

“What!”

“Shoot me.” Methos said, spreading his arms wide. “Just not the head if you don’t mind, it makes me feel strange for hours.”

Jack actually backed off a step. “I’m not going to shoot you!”

“Oh I’m tired of this already!” In one fluid movement Methos had taken O’Neill’s gun and shot…at Daniel.

“Daniel!” Jack cried out, “Sam! Teal’c! Get Fraser and get in here!”

“What’s going on?” A blond head appeared taking in Daniel’s still form on the floor and the gun in a stranger’s hand in one glance. “Medic!”

“Oh please, just give him a few minutes; he always has been a slow one for coming round. Here,” Methos calmly handed the gun back to O’Neill as a large black man appeared, pinning his arms behind his back as soon as O’Neill had the gun.

Methos could here running footsteps in the next room, and suddenly a short brunette had joined the scene carrying a doctor bag, rushing to Daniel’s side.

“How long ago?”

“A couple of minutes ago.” Methos replied. “He’ll be awake in a minute, don’t worry.”

“Don’t worry! He’s been shot in the heart!” The blond exclaimed.

The doctor was looking at him strangely, making no move to help the man on the floor. “You’re like him?” She asked quietly.

Methos just smiled in recognition, but she backed away.

The blond woman gazed at her friend disbelievingly. “Janet? What are you doing?”

“Trust me Sam.”

Almost before she could finish there was a gasp from the no longer prone form on the floor and Daniel Jackson sat up, clutching at his chest.

“Did you have to shoot to kill? A shot in the leg would have been just as effective a demonstration and I hate dying.”

Adam tried to shrug and found that the hold on his arms had gone lax and shook himself free of the burly man supposedly restraining him.

“You’ll get over it.” He held out a hand for his friend, ignoring the stunned looks of the air force personnel and pulling Daniel to his feet.

Daniel winced, straightening only slowly, and gradually deepening his breathing.

“…You’re alive…” Jack said after a while.

Daniel coughed. “Yes Jack, I’m alive. I’m Immortal.”

Sam’s eyes were red as she looked at Janet. “You knew…?”

Daniel cut in before she could answer. “She found out and I explained why she had to keep it a secret…”

Methos looked at him sternly. “She knows about the Game?”

This Janet managed to answer for herself, meeting Adam’s eyes confidently. “Everything.”

Methos smiled knowingly. “Never everything.”

Sam still looked hurt. “But you died…You were gone for over a year…”

Daniel rubbed the back of his neck nervously. “The radiation took longer than I’ve ever known to heal from. I wasn’t even sure I would survive, but by the time I would have woken up my coffin had been sent through the gate and I was trapped in between dead and alive. Oma was just as surprised as I was when someone finally found the coffin and I suddenly woke up in my body. That long away…it took me a little while to remember who and what I was…”

Daniel took a moment to appreciate the confusion on Methos’ face; it wasn’t often he got to see the old man flustered.

“I didn’t understand a word of that. So…since we’ve cleared up what we are, someone mentioned a briefing?” At some point in the excitement Methos had dropped his ancient journal. “Danny, pass my journal would you?”

Daniel bent down to pick up the book near his foot and passed it over.

“Your journal?” Sam asked in awe. “The carbon dating on that said it was over four thousand six hundred years old!”

Methos sighed. “So we’re back to that are we? Yes this is my journal that I wrote four thousand, six hundred and thirty odd years ago. That,” he said pointing viciously as the sarcophagus against the wall, “is the remains of my wife, Elana, which is why Danny called me here.” Pain, and the dust of centuries clogged his throat until his final words came out a croak. “Now that we’ve had such a lovely time getting reacquainted could we please get out of here? I’m parched…”