Seething, Jack rounded on the only other person left in the room. Janet. "You just let that bastard take him like that!"

"McKenzie's a good doctor, Jack. He might be able to help Daniel." She tried to help him to no avail.

"How?! By treating him like some lab rat?! He thinks Daniel's off the deep end from gate travel. It's exactly what he's been waiting for." Jack knew he was shouting, not caring that he drew the attention of anyone within hearing. "McKenzie isn't going to try and cure him! He's going to hold him up as Exhibit A and, damnit, you know that!"

"Look Jack, I don't like this any more than you do! I don't like McKenzie but I have to work him and right now I do believe he's the only chance Daniel has of ever leading any kind of normal life." Her own eyes were shining with unshed tears. "You think I like seeing a patient of mine, a friend, manhandled in my infirmary. Dragged away in a strait jacket! If you do, you're sadly mistaken." Spinning on her heel, she stormed from the room, leaving Jack alone with his misery and his guilt.

He had promised Daniel he wouldn't let anyone hurt him again and yet he stood by while McKenzie's goons wrestled him to the floor, forcing his arms into a contraption that restained movement. He let them drag him kicking and screaming away from the people who cared about him the most.

With a muttered curse, Jack slammed his fist into the wall.

*****

"Colonel?"

Rubbing bruised knuckles Jack didn't turn as Carter rushed to catch up with him.

"Colonel, I just stopped by the infirmary to check on Daniel but he's not there. What's going on?"

"That quack McKenzie transfered him to Mental."

"No!" The color washed from her face with the protest. "You can't be serious!"

"I was there Captain." He nodded, as she followed him into his office. "I don't know what's going on. Daniel's...Danny's the sanest person I've ever met. Something's wrong...." O'Neill sank wearily into the desk chair. "He wouldn't just slip off the deep end like this for no reason. We would have seen something....some...warning signs....something....Wouldn't we?" Worried brown eyes turned to her, seeking answers.

"I'm sure you're right, sir. There would have been some signs but...I didn't see anything," she admitted. "One minute he was Daniel, helpful and always underfoot and the next he's screaming about seeing dead Goa'uld and Stargates in his closet."

"Could it be stress?" Jack, like Daniel was grabbing at straws. "With everything that's happened...That shit Hathor played on us and....everything else. Could that be the cause?"

"I suppose so, but shouldn't Janet have checked on that, sir? I mean she's a medical doctor and if there was some change in him, she would have caught it."

"That's what I don't understand, Carter. How could this happen so quickly? I thought schizophrenia took a while...Those dope-whatever levels she was talking about....shouldn't it take awhile for them to alter?"

Carter shook her head in defeat. "I don't know, sir. There's no text book references for people going through the Stargate, time and time again. Really, we're the guinea pigs..."

"Sweet!...So if Daniel's condition is caused by gate travel, I can look forward to flipping my lid as well?" He shuddered at the thought, suddenly feeling very selfish for thinking of himself. "McKenzie can book us adjoining suites. I know that Jolinar thing protects you and...and Teal'c has junior..."

"If this is caused by gate travel, sir, then all the Stargate teams could be affected as well." Carter pointed out.

"Great! We'll have our own wing at Mental. That oughta make McKenzie's millinieum." He gave her a thin smile. "Not an honor I'm looking forward to, I assure you, Major."

"Can we go see Daniel?"

"McKenzie said we're to stay the hell away from Daniel. He says we're feeding his delusions."

A sly smile passed fleetingly across Sam's face. "And when have you ever listened to that old vulture?"