Title: Apocalypse

Author: Punkyrabbit

Rating: Teen for subject matter and one curse word.

Spoilers: Set during season 7. No spoils for specific episodes, but uses facts established in the first seven seasons.

Author's Notes: Thanks to my beta BrynnH. Also, Jack absolutely refused NOT to be silly in the first several scenes. The story is not like that all the way through. Keep reading.

Warnings: If I give warnings or comments about the story here, it will spoil the effect. If you really want to read the warning/author's notes, please see bottom of story.

Disclaimer: If I owned them, there would be a season 11, but alas, I don't!

Apocalypse

"Just tell me one thing, Daniel . . ." Colonel O'Neill requested.

"Yeah, what's that?" Daniel replied with a slight touch of sarcasm.

"Why is it that every time I eat fruit loops, you eat oatmeal, and every time I eat oatmeal, you eat fruit loops?" He asked, then gave his friend one of those innocent, "gotta love me" kind of looks.

Daniel, long since had gotten fed up with O'Neill's witty comments about their breakfast, and gave his leader one of those, "I'm gonna kill him" looks, and returned," You know, Jack . . . you are a real pain in the neck."

"Glad to know I'm doin' my job right."

"Oh, ha ha" the sarcastic remark was returned.

"Ooh, nice come back for a linguist, Daniel!" Upon seeing his friend's murderous look, he added," Go ahead, I'll let you finish your oatmeal; we need to get our gear together. We've got to leave for P3X-882 in an hour." Jack chuckled as Daniel shoved a bite of oatmeal in his mouth, started to say something, then looked back down at his bowl, and finished his breakfast in silence.

AAAAAAAA

An hour later, when SG-1 was geared up and ready to go, Walter dialed the gate, and the team went through without encountering any problems. Once on the other side, after Sam reminded them that the gate was higher above sea level than they were used to, the four walked silently for a while, until Jack couldn't stand it any longer, and had to break the silence somehow, "Hey, Daniel, did you know that if someone makes you laugh hard enough, blue jello flies out of your nose."

"Even if you happen to not actually be EATING blue jello at the time?"

"Yeah, sure, why not?"

"Well, I've never known blue jello to just randomly fly out of people's noses, so . . ."

While Sam tried her hardest to not bust up laughing at her fellow team mates' playful banter, and Teal'c silently raised one eyebrow, Jack continued," Oh, yes, haven't you heard, its the curse of the blue jello. If you look at it, blue jello flies out of your nose and out of noses near you."

Daniel laughed and replied," What on Earth does blue jello have to do with anything?"

"I don't know, it just seemed like a good topic, and . . . we're not on Earth."

"You're never gonna stop this, are you?"

"Nope. I'm gonna haunt you with it until you grandkid's kids have kids."

"And why'd you say that?"

"Cuz I can."

As Daniel opened his mouth to respond, Sam pointed to some writings on a wall next to a cave opening, "Daniel, over here." As the leader and the linguist approached the cave, Teal'c and Sam began searching the perimeter for the usual: any more writings, other openings, any sign of civilization. Teal'c started to the right side of the cave, while Sam went left. All they found were some bushes, vines and other plant life creeping up the sides of the rock structure. Since the cave was small, the survey of the area didn't take long.

The writing was on the wall outside the tiny cave, and inside was a rock door, with a bright red button next to it. As Daniel got out the camcorder and recorded the writings while trying to decipher it, Jack quickly got bored, and looked around the inside of the cave. As his hand extended toward the button, Daniel, without looking away said, "Don't touch that yet!" Jack immediately pulled his hand back, wandered back over to Daniel, and looked over his shoulder at the writing. Daniel looked back at him and gave him that look that let the colonel know he needed his space. As Jack meandered away again, Sam and Teal'c returned, so Jack ambled over to them, hoping that maybe they had found something of interest, for he had long since grown bored with nothing out of the ordinary happening, "Find anything exciting?"

"No, just normal plant life."

"Daniel's still working on translating the writing… Hey, how's it comin' Daniel?"

"Will ya give me a sec?" He continued standing there, staring at the thing through his camcorder, until he began to get dizzy, and stumbled over, bracing himself on the cave wall, until everything came back into focus.

Jack was immediately at Daniel's side, "Hey, buddy, you ok?"

As the feeling began to wear off, he said, "Yeah, it's probably just the high altitude, I'll be ok."

"Should we go back or is it safe to go in"

"Well I don't exactly know what the writings say, but I don't see any obvious warnings, so I'm guessing it's safe."

"Okey Dokey." He walked over to the bright red button, and pressed it. The stone door slid up into the ceiling like the blast doors of the SGC did, and once it stopped, the four proceeded into the room. It was completely empty. They were trying to find a secret compartment, alien devices, 'big honkin' space weapons or ANYTHING that might break them out of their current, 'finding nothing' pattern, when through the doorway of the cave, they saw an electromagnetic storm approaching quickly.

"Colonel, we need to get going before that storm hits." Carter was, as usual, looking at the readings on her handheld device. "According to this, this storm is of a magnitude that we haven't seen before. If we're here when this hits, we won't survive it."

"Okay, there's nothing here. Let's head back to the gate." Glancing at Daniel, and already knowing his fellow team member would protest at the order, he added, "Don't Start, Daniel. We can always come back later to explore more thoroughly." To his surprise, Daniel didn't argue. Just moments later, as they all followed their colonel toward the entrance of the cave; he stumbled dizzily and fell to the ground.

"Jack!"

"Colonel!"

"O'Neill."

The three of them called concurrently as they rushed over to him. Sam searched for a pulse, but there was nothing, she looked to see if he was breathing, again nothing. Daniel immediately started CPR, but after a minute or so, Sam said that they had to leave. The storm was almost on top of them. Daniel didn't want to stop his rescue efforts and Teal'c finally had to pull him away from Jack. Their great leader was dead and none of them knew how or why, they just knew that if they were still there when the storm hit, they'd join him. So, as Sam grabbed Daniel's arm and started running back to the gate, Teal'c scooped up their fallen leader and threw him over his shoulder. After about five minutes of steadily running, they reached the gate; Daniel dialed, Sam entered the code, and the three of them darted through.

Once they were back at the SGC, General Hammond, seeing the body slung over Teal'c's shoulder, immediately called for a medical team, then, entering the gate room, confronted SG1 "What happened?"

Sam spoke up, "We're not exactly sure, sir." She watched as the medical team arrived and her leader's body was placed on the gurney. "He just stumbled and collapsed. Daniel tried CPR at the scene, but we had to break it off after about a minute. There was a storm coming that we would not have survived."

The medical team hurried the gurney toward the infirmary; one member running along beside the gurney while bagging Jack to force air into his lungs. Another member of the medical team actually rode on the gurney astride Jack and administered chest compressions. No one was going to let Jack O'Neill go without a fight.

The rest of SG1 followed the gurney, but it felt more like a funeral procession than a trip to the infirmary. Daniel couldn't help but think that he could have brought Jack back, if he was just given more time. Sam seemed to be thinking the same thing, and felt guilty for insisting that they leave the planet before they could revive him. Teal'c showed no emotion, but, along with the other two, was in shock over losing O'Neill in this way.

Once they reached the infirmary, Janet took over the general care of Jack O'Neill, shooting rapid-fire questions while the two med techs continued CPR. When the rest of SG1 tried to follow, she shooed them away for their own exams, but that was the last time her attention left the fallen leader.

AAAAAAA

General Hammond immediately assumed that something on the planet had caused Jack's death. He didn't know much about the incident yet, but figured that if O'Neill was exposed on the planet, the rest of SG-1 probably was too, so, just to be on the safe side, he quarantined the remainder of the team until they knew more. SG-1 was escorted to the quarantine room by men in hazmat suits. Once they were there and the door was closed, General Hammond and Doctor Frasier appeared in the observation room to commence the briefing. Janet had already examined the body, run blood tests, looked for parasites, and generally just tried to find anything that could explain Jack's death. With no further ado, she told them her findings, "We tried CPR, of course, but there had been too much time elapsed between his collapse and our attempt. But, the weirdest thing about it is that there's absolutely nothing wrong with him, except for the fact that he's dead. There's nothing unusual in his bloodstream, nothing wrong with his heart, lungs, brain, or any other organ for that matter; I simply can't find anything wrong with him, but . . . he's still gone."

AAAAAAAA

Daniel felt helpless and knew that there was nothing he could do from where he was, and honestly didn't think that the quarantine would do anything, except possibly drive the three remaining members of SG-1 up the wall. "With all due respect, General, what good is keeping us holed up in here gonna do? Shouldn't we be out there researching, or something to help find some more details about this thing?"

"I'm sorry Daniel, but until we find some answers, I'm afraid you're going to have to stay in here." He paused then added, "We'll send a MALP through and collect samples, see if we can find something that can help us figure this out." General Hammond said.

AAAAAAAA

A few hours later, after General Hammond had come back and told them that the samples from the planet had turned up nothing, Doctor Frasier, still sitting in the observation room, looked around at the team members in the room in front of her. Teal'c was seated on the edge of one of the cabinets, staring blankly at the wall in front of him, Sam sat cross-legged on the floor, running formulas and data through her head, and Daniel had long since given up on trying to remember any of the text, to try and translate it, and had laid down on the table in the middle of the room and was counting the specks on the ceiling. "I just can't convince myself he's actually gone." Daniel broke the silence, startling everyone.

Sam repositioned herself to face Daniel before replying, "I know. I keep waiting for a miracle or something to revive him. I mean, you've died and come back just fine who knows how many times. I keep waiting for the same thing to happen to the colonel."

"Is that supposed to make me feel any better?"

"Yeah, it's not helping me either."

"Indeed." came the jaffa's response, as he turned his head back to the wall, and the three of them resumed their silence.

A few minutes later, the silence was again broken; this time by the PA, "Doctor Frasier to the infirmary, STAT." The three watched the Doctor spring out of her seat so fast, that it was sent flying backwards, and collided with the wall. She rushed out of the tiny room, then, once she was out of sight, SG-1 went back to their separate, ludicrous tasks.

AAAAAAAAA

General Hammond and Doctor Frasier re-entered the observation room, and Janet began explaining what had happened, "One of the med techs, who had helped in the CPR attempted, died from whatever killed Jack; no warnings, he just simply collapsed, no signs of anything out of the ordinary."

"So, if it's airborne and has already gotten outside SG-1, then, there's no point in keeping us quarantined, right?" Daniel was really hoping he was right, so they could finally get to their respective offices to do research and contribute in any way possible.

After exchanging glances with Doctor Frasier, General Hammond responded, "No, I guess not, but I'm quarantining this mountain. You're dismissed."

Sam and Daniel, both so happy to be dismissed to go do something constructive, sprung up from their positions so quickly that they each almost fell over. Teal'c stood up, raised an eyebrow at his colleagues' enthusiasm, and then walked out of the room heading in the general direction of Daniel's office, knowing that he would immediately be asked if he recognized any of the symbols.

Several hours later, after Daniel had been sitting there, going through the tape over and over, Sam came into his office, "Hey, how about we go get some lunch?"

"I gotta figure out if there's anything in the text . . ."

"Daniel you've been in here staring at that video nonstop for the past several hours; take a break and come eat."

"But . . ."

"Daniel, you're not gonna help anyone if you work yourself to death. Now, come eat."

AAAAAAA

They both sat in silence, Daniel absently stirring his coffee, and Sam twirling her fork in her salad, for close to a half an hour when Sam finally broke the silence, "You found anything yet?"

"Nope, you?"

"Nope. There doesn't seem to be any answers; all we CAN find is more questions." They returned to their silence, until Sam dizzily grabbed at the table for support, fell out of her chair and lay limp on the floor.

"Sam!?" Daniel screamed as he rushed to her side, knocking over his chair, "Somebody, get Doctor Frasier!"

AAAAAAAA

Janet arrived almost immediately, and took her place on the floor next to Sam, trying to resuscitate her; but after a while, without succeeding, she took the major's body back to the infirmary to run some tests, Daniel trailing right behind her. While Daniel sat on a stool in the corner, Doctor Frasier informed him that Sam was the 22nd person who had died on base since SG1 came back from the planet. Janet called Teal'c to the infirmary, and once he arrived, she ran several more tests on the two surviving members of the team that seemed to have come into contact with this first. The doctor made the obvious comment that Teal'c's apparent immunity was probably due to the symbiote, but that she couldn't figure out why Daniel was immune.

AAAAAAAA

After Janet had released the two of them, Daniel had returned to his office to go back into his books, and Teal'c, having nothing better to do sat on the edge of his bed, and flipped through the TV channels, until he found a repeat of Star Wars. Halfway through the movie, the broadcast was interrupted by a breaking story. Disturbed by the news, he went to General Hammond, who called Daniel to the briefing room. When all three were present, the general clicked on the TV and watched a rebroadcast of the breaking news Teal'c had seen.

"To repeat tonight's top story, a mysterious disease has claimed the lives of an alarming number of citizens of Colorado Springs. Doctors at the local hospital report that they can find nothing wrong with the victims…no detectable virus or bacteria, no organ damage…the victims simply drop dead. The latest death count reported to us was around 50, but the hospitals are dealing with more victims of this disease every hour.

Hammond turned the TV off with disgust and demanded to know how this bug escaped the mountain. "I want a list of everyone who left this mountain between the time you set foot back on Earth and the time the mountain was locked down. Daniel and Teal'c were dismissed and as they were leaving the room, they heard Hammond's voice over the PA, "Attention, all personnel, despite our best efforts to keep this virus, if that's what it is, inside the mountain, it has somehow escaped to the surrounding community. If you have ANY knowledge of someone who left the mountain since SG1 arrived through the gate at 1350 hours, please report to me, Dr. Jackson, or Teal'c. We're trying to track these people down so that…."

Daniel and Teal'c weren't far from the control room when their bald leader stopped mid-sentence, so they ducked back in the room only to find their general lying limp on the ground.

They immediately called the infirmary, and a med team arrived almost instantly. Knowing that they wouldn't be of any further help, Teal'c and Daniel left the control room; Teal'c bound for his quarters to kel'no'rem, and Daniel heading for his office to delve back into his books. Realizing that he hadn't found much of anything in the text, but knowing there had to be something there, he thought, "The answer just has to be there somewhere, because if it's not, I don't think we can stop this thing."

AAAAAAAAA

After eight more hours of exhausting work trying to contact people he had worked with in the past, that might know anything about any of the symbols, an SF entered the linguist's office and requested that he accompany him to the infirmary. When he got there, he saw Teal'c lying on a gurney, breathing heavily. Janet informed Daniel that there was nothing they could do for him; he had been infected by the virus.

"But that's not how this virus works! Shouldn't he have just dropped over dead like everyone else?" Daniel was terrified that the virus may have mutated. Having people drop over dead instantly from this virus was bad enough, but had it mutated to the point where now they had to suffer?

"Anyone else WOULD have dropped over…it's the same virus Daniel," she answered as if she sensed what the archeologist was thinking. "His symbiote is fighting it, but he still won't make it."

"So, no one, not even a Jaffa is immune to this." Daniel more stated than asked.

"Well, with the possible exception of you."

He didn't want to believe he was immune if he couldn't help the others anyway. "Just because I'm the last one of SG-1 still alive, doesn't mean I'm immune to it."

"Daniel, you should have been one of the first ones infected, and you probably already have been infected, just have some sort of immunity to it or something. I just haven't been able to find anything at all. Your blood sample is exactly the same as those who are already dead."

As Daniel sat beside Teal'c's bed in the infirmary, the TV on the other side of the room continued updating the death count.

"Numbers equaling well over half of the population here in Colorado Springs, as well as disturbingly large numbers of people in neighboring cities are dead because of this mystery disease." The news broadcasts only added to Daniel's frustration. It was bad enough to see people he knew and cared about drop dead before his eyes, but to know that he had been instrumental in killing this many innocent people was just too much to handle. Daniel looked over at Teal'c as he struggled for life in the nearby infirmary bed. He wanted to stay with his friend, but at the current point in time, wasn't at all sure he had the emotional strength to do so. However, the archeologist finally did remain at his friend's bedside. "After all," he thought, this is the last and only thing I can do for him."

AAAAAAAAA

An hour and a half later, Daniel was still by his ailing friend's side. His condition had severely worsened, his breathing was labored his heartbeat erratic. Daniel, disconcerted by the fact that his friends were dying, and there was nothing he could do about it, glanced uneasily around the tension-filled room; several orderlies, and SFs continued bringing in more dead, and putting them wherever they could find room. Dr. Frasier was bustling in and out of the infirmary still trying to find something that could help. The little TV set on the other side of the room continued keeping everyone updated on the progress of this ruthless virus.

"There seems to be no cure for this pandemic; various doctors and leading experts still can't find anything wrong with the victims, and they can't find any cure. Death tolls are now well into the hundreds of thousands as this mystery illness sweeps across the nation, and across international waters. This virus is now also devastating major countries around the world. We don't have details on numbers there, but we know that this disease is no respecter of national boundaries"

Teal'c started to convulse, and Daniel jumped out of the way, as Dr. Frasier and several orderlies rushed to the Jaffa's side to try to stabilize him. They knew it was an impossible task, but also knew they had to try. As Teal'c took his last breath and flat lined, Dr. Frasier immediately started CPR, but it was useless. He was gone. Daniel knew it was inevitable, but was still devastated when it finally happened. Janet tried to comfort him, as best she could, given the current circumstances. Knowing there was nothing else he could do there, Dr. Frasier told him that he should probably get some rest since she knew he hadn't slept since the breakout began. When he refused and said he needed to be doing something to help, she suggested that he go back to his books or go over the tape again. She would do anything to get him out of the infirmary, to give him ANYTHING else to do besides continuously mourning his friends.

AAAAAAAA

Several hours later, Daniel was still laboriously pouring over the reference books that he had sprawled out all over the floor. He was becoming overwhelmed by how many people were dying because of something that he and his team brought back from the planet. A small silver TV was sitting on the archeologist's desk, set to the news station, and was playing continuously in the background, while Daniel retraced his steps over the myriad of books and articles that he had already looked at numerous times.

"This mystery disease is continuing to take lives all over the world, over 3 billion people are dead because of . . ." Daniel looked up at the TV to see the crooked camera angle focused on the news reporter lying on the ground. The camera man had dropped the camera, and had rushed to her side. Daniel, completely distraught, growled at the TV as he threw a book at it at. "These are USELESS!" he shouted as he picked up several other nearby books and heaved them in the direction of the TV. "Why can't I figure this out? Why can't I save them!?" He demanded an answer from his TV set, then got up and punched the off button.

AAAAAAAAA

An hour after that, an SF entered the office with grave news. He saw Daniel once again sitting in the middle of a pile of books. "Dr. Jackson?" He hated to interrupt, but knew the archeologist would want to know this.

Daniel looked up with such exhaustion and exasperation in his eyes that the SF literally took a step back. He could see that the linguist was already distraught, and feared that the news he had for him would tip the balance. "Sir," He began again, then paused. He really did not want to tell him, but he knew he had to, so he continued, "They told me in the infirmary that you would want to know…Dr. Frasier just died. She…"

"No!!!" Daniel screamed, scaring the SF once again. As he yelled, the distraught archeologist threw the books he could reach and, rising, kicked the rest of the books on his way to the nearest shelf. He swept away all the contents of the first shelve, precious artifacts and useless junk alike smashing into a million tiny pieces. As he continued on to another shelf, the terrified SF retreated to the door as fast as he could and took off down the hall, leaving Dr. Jackson to his grief, in whatever way he wanted to express it.

"Dammit!" Daniel continued throwing anything in arm's reach. He kicked the books still sprawled on the floor, and knocked everything off his desk, finally coming to the TV. He picked it up, yanking the cord loose and threw it against the wall with a satisfying smash!

As he continued to destroy his office, Daniel ranted, "Everyone I cared about! Billions of innocents! Why didn't it affect me!? I don't want to survive this with so many dead! Why didn't it take me?"

Once everything had been thrust off the shelves, and everything on the floor was either kicked or smashed, Daniel leaned his back against the wall, and slid down to the floor. He sat with his knees to his chest, trying not to break down and cry, but ultimately knowing it was inevitable. There in the wreckage of his office, he finally allowed himself to grieve for his lost friends. He finally knew that nothing would stop this illness, and there was no longer any reason to try to be strong, to research…to do anything.

AAAAAAAAA

A week after that fateful mission, Daniel was alone in the SGC. They had long since lost TV broadcasts, and therefore connection with the outside world. Daniel had no idea if ANYONE was left in the entire country, or indeed, the entire world. The last accounting they HAD heard, before the last TV station went dead was pretty ominous. Most of the US, and a large percentage of countries on every other continent had been reported dead. As he remained holed up in his office, Daniel still had no clue why or even how he survived. As he sat there pondering that thought, a person walked into his office. As the figure approached, Daniel came to the only conclusion he could find, given the fact that he was all alone. "Okay, I must be going crazy, 'cuz there's no one left on this base other than me; I checked every corner HOURS ago, and hours before that and there's no one alive except me." But as the person approached, he saw Oma Desala, the ascended being who helped him ascend. He still thought he was hallucinating, but she just seemed real somehow. Deciding to go with the conclusion that she was real, Daniel asked "Why am I not dead? Why are you here? Is it too late for you to ascend all the people who died here?"

"I'm here to help, Daniel. This is a message to you, so that you can save your friends."

"What friends! They're all dead!"

"I wouldn't be so sure, Daniel. The text from the planet where all of this started, says, "Death will overcome the race that ventures inside the fortress."

"How is that supposed to help me now? Every one else in this country is dead! Quite possibly in the whole world!"

"But they're not."

"Ok, now I know I've gone nuts, because that's impossible. I watched many of them die. I brought this plague back to them and killed my entire planet! "

Oma brushed the side of Daniel's face with the back of her hand, and said indulgingly, "Just remember what it says, you'll know what to do with it later."

"What!? . . . Wait! . . . Where are you going!?" Everything around him started to fade away. He felt himself grow faint, and stagger. He opened eyes he hadn't even realized he had closed and saw…not his office…not the hallway of the SGC…not even the infirmary…but a rock wall…an opening to a cave. He was on a planet? He looked around…he was on P3X-882. "What the…," he started. He looked over at his hand on the cave wall, Jack, was by his side, and his leader immediately asked with concern, "Hey, buddy, you ok?"

"Jack! . . . You're alive!"

"Well, yeah! Are you sure you didn't bang your head or anything?"

"Pretty sure."

"Well, we're gonna crack this thing open now."

"NO!"

"What?"

"You can't, please Jack, don't open that thing."

"Why not? You're usually the first one to want to explore new places!"

"There's nothing in there except a plague that kills everyone… except me, for some reason." When all he got were blank stares and one raised eyebrow, he continued, "Look, Oma said . . ."

"Oma" Jack said, wanting to believe his friend but having a very difficult time with that task.

"The writings… those writings" he pointed to the text," say "Death will overcome the race that ventures inside the fortress.""

"Death, huh?"

"Please Jack, don't open that thing."

Jack still had trouble believing that Daniel had seen Oma. He hadn't left the planet, or even completely lost consciousness; but he could see how much Daniel believed it, and he believed in Daniel. If he said they shouldn't explore some place, then they wouldn't. "Ok, let's go home. We'll put up a note or something to warn others, then we'll lock this planet out of the computer."

"Thanks, Jack."

"Yeah, well, you kinda had me at the "death will overcome you" part. So how do you know that everyone but you dies?"

"Oma showed me, so I could keep it from happening."

"Oma, huh? She sure does seem to like us puny little Earthlings, doesn't she?"

"Yeah, I guess so. Wait . . . Earthlings. . ." As the word sunk in, Daniel stopped dead in his tracks… "what happens…"and he started rapidly spouting off the reason to his worried look, ". . . what happens to the people who can't read tau'ri? Putting up a note will only help those who can read it, and locking out the address will only help us."

As his fellow team member continued franticly rambling, Teal'c pointed his staff weapon at the button.

As soon as they saw the weapon extended, the three jumped back out of the way, and as Teal'c fired, Daniel shouted, "What if that opens . . .!?"

The three humans stared in suspense at the button as it shattered, hoping that Daniel's worry was unfounded, but not exactly sure it would be. As the charred pieces of the button fell to the ground and the smoke cleared, the door was still firmly shut. Sam and O'Neill let out a sigh of relief, Teal'c raised his eyebrow as if to say, " you were saying?", and Daniel remained staring at the door, his thoughts silently spiraling out of control, 'What would we have done if that had opened it? Why didn't it open it?'

Jack could see his friend's internal struggle, and knew he had to step in, so still staring at the fried button, he broke the silence, "Hey Daniel, did Teal'c die too?

Daniel was pulled out of his thought process, and stared at his leader, thinking that he had picked a pretty strange thing to say, and an even stranger time to say it. He finally responded, "What difference does it make? None of us are gonna die from that thing, now."

"I know. I'm just curious."

"Yes, Teal'c died too."

"Well, that's really disconcerting."

"Well, I personally found the whole thing to be very disconcerting."

"Hmmm, I'm sure you did. Hey, who died first?" Jack asked out of the blue.

"Sir," Sam, seeing Daniel's face at the question, tried to keep the colonel's joking to a minimum, given the current, tension filled situation. Daniel steadfastly refused to answer, and Jack finally left him to his own thoughts.

They continued half the way back to the gate, and their leader had just let go of his curiosity, when Daniel broke the silence, "Hey Jack, you died first." Daniel sounded sad, but had obviously decided this was something he needed to share with them, after all. Sam and Jack both stopped in their tracks, Sam because she was surprised he actually answered, and Jack because he was the first of millions of people to die, not that any of it mattered, but, in some small, odd way, to him it did matter.

Daniel had only wanted to unburden himself a little, and share some of this awful experience with the friends he thought he'd never see again, but saw that that single fact was gravely affecting his team. There was no reason to upset them. Thankfully, those dreadful events would never happen. Oma had saved his team, his friends at the SGC, and the entire planet. Time to get on with life. "Oh, and Jack," Daniel called back over his shoulder as he once again started toward the gate, "It was immediately after blue jello shot out of your nose, and the noses of those around you."

"Leave it to Daniel to lighten the mood," Jack thought but said aloud, "Yeah, I suppose I deserved that."

"Indeed." Teal'c nodded as he passed between Jack and Sam.

"Yep." Sam said, as she began walking again.

"Oh, Ha Ha. Hey, Jokeboy, wait up will ya?"

AAAAAAAAA

Warning: but really more of an anti-warning. Even though it looks like it will be a death story of the greatest magnitude, it's not! Keep reading! Trust me!