"Close the door Jack...while you're at it close your mouth." Daniel muttered softly, as pushing away from the wall, he flipped the switch, bathing the room in warm light. Gingerly he worked his way down the three steps to the living room and sank into the welcome softness of the couch. "Did a tornado touch down in here?"

Jack's bloodshot eyes bore into Daniel as if he wasn't quite sure the linguist wasn't merely an hallucination born of his guilty conscience. A ghost born of his sorrow over the loss of a friendship he valued. A friendship he needed. A friendship which helped Jack retain the human side of himself. One look at the blue eyes and he knew this was no ghost, no dream. Daniel was was here with him, wet and shivering.

Before he could ask any of the questions running through his mind, Jack automatically kicked into mother hen mode. The kid was soaked to the skin and starting to shiver violantly, his teeth chattering. Gently taking his arm, Jack helped Daniel to the spare bedroom. Ordering him out of the wet clothes the soldier tossed several thick towels onto the bed. When Jack returned several minutes later with pajamas and a fresh cup of hot coffee, Daniel's trembling fingers were still struggling with the buttons of his shirt.

Trading the beer for coffee, Jack settled into the chair to watch over the stubborn linguist. Daniel had fallen asleep almost before the colonel could tuck the covers around him. To say he'd been more than a little stunned to find the young scientist who'd been constantly on his mind, standing on his doorstep, resembling a drowned puppy much more than a multiple Phd would have been an understatement. Flabbergasted was more like it.

A hundred questions whirled through the colonel's mind. What had happened to bring Daniel running to him in the middle of the night was at the top of the list. Obviously something must be wrong but what? Did Daniel need help? If so, why would he come to the person who had been the instrument of his pain?

Jack instinctively lay a hand on Daniel's shoulder as he stirred restlessly, amazed when the young man snuggled into the blankets, relaxing, comforted by the familiar touch. He looked so damn vulnerable. He was vulnerable! How was it this man continued to enthusiastically rush headlong to meet life after being stepped on time and again?

'He will forgive you any transgression. You have only to ask.' How many times had he heard those words since returning from Apakia. No matter how he fought them, the memories thrust their way to the front of his mind, forcing him to remember and face what he had done. They refused to be locked away with the other nightmares of his soul. He hadn't been able to run from the memories, from himself and obviously he couldn't run from Daniel any longer but he couldn't and wouldn't expect his friend to forgive me this transgression.

Pouring himself another cup of coffee, O'Neill stared out the kitchen window. With the rising sun the rain had diminished to a steady drizzle. The ringing phone shattered the silence, breaking into his troubled thoughts. He could have sworn he had turned the ringer off when the answering machine tape filled to capacity. Jack snatched the receiver from it's cradle, not wanting it to disturb the sleeping archeologist.

"Colonel?" Sam, her voice anxious was talking before he could even say hello. "I just got a call from Janet. Daniel's missing sir."

"He's here Major."

"They're conducting a search of...excuse me?"

"He's here. He's asleep in the spare room. Tell Janet I'll bring him back when he wakes up." O'Neill replaced the reciever before she could argue.

"An Air Force colonel once told me it wasn't polite to stare." A impish grin playing about his mouth, Daniel's eyes fluttered open. "Stop staring...I'm fine."

"What are you doing here Daniel?" The question was asked in a flat emotionless voice that frightened Daniel.

"Well I was sleeping." Gritting his teeth against the dull ache of still sore muscles, Daniel sat up struggling to adjust the pillows behind his back. "Gonna offer me a cup of that mud you call coffee?"

"You know what I'm talking about." Jack passed him the cup. "You should be in the infirmary."

"I got lonely." A small smile tugged at his lips.

"Excuse me?" Jack knew when SGC's favorite archeologist was in the infirmary he had more visitors than he could count. People who knew him only in passing, stopped by to check on his condition, not to mention the nurses who tripped all over themselves to meet his every need.

"I miss my best friend. He hasn't been to see me in over a week." His chin quivering, anxious blue eyes peeking at Jack from under a curtain of sandy brown hair, Daniel couldn't have looked any more lost if he'd tried.