sg_betty

This story is dedicated to the anonymous giver of gifts. I hope this story gives you as much pleasure as your gift gives me.

Title: Daniel in Wonderland-Part 2
Author: SG_Betty
Word count: 11,782 (Parts 1 and 2)
Genre: Stargate SG-1, Gen (with allowances for humor)
Characters: Daniel Jackson, Samantha Carter, Jack O'Neill, Teal'c, Vala Mal Doran, Cam Mitchell
Rating: PG-16 (PG-13 isn't quite enough, R is massive overkill)
Spoilers: None
Disclaimer: While the situations and dialogue in this story are my own, all characters are wholly owned by Gekko Productions, Double Secret, and MGM.
Thanks: Thanks to Lokei, for a wonderful beta of the initial story that started the ball rolling, and for reassuring me as to it's amusement value. Thanks to Aurora Novarum for an equally wonderful beta of the behemoth that it became. Her help was invaluable in so many ways that they cannot all be listed here. Great thanks and appreciation to you both!






The world on the other side of the gate was fairly typical. Dense coniferous forest was interspersed with grassy areas like he’d seem on many worlds before. A stone path led to a building a few hundred yards away from the gate. It passed uncomfortably close to a pool of toxic looking green sludge. The sludge was something new.

There was still no sign of any Jaffa patrols, which Daniel found very odd—he would have expected Hathor to have had troops waiting to join her once she’d taken command of the base. It was always possible that she had no troops, and had come to Earth to create a new army, but it seemed odd. SG-7 must have been compromised, or she wouldn’t have the code, but why hadn’t she brought them back through with her? It would have allayed suspicion. Of course, she couldn’t have known that Daniel would be there. Still…

Jack looked around with a grimace. “Great! More trees. It’s always trees. Follow the yellow brick road, kids. ‘Daniel’, don’t go looking for any of your rocks, and don’t touch that green stuff.” He waved them toward the path.

Daniel raised an eyebrow. Why would Jack think— Oh… ‘Daniel’ had a hand out and was moving toward the pool, a glazed look on his face.

He reached out and grabbed the back of his counterpart’s TAC vest. “Bad idea.”

‘Daniel’ blinked his eyes and stopped. “Sorry. It was just so interesting…”

“Interesting… Huh. Okay, but don’t touch it.”

As they started up the path, the lieutenant moved up to walk beside Daniel.

“You don’t want me here, do you?” Her purple eyes glistened as she gazed at him soulfully.

“Uh… Well, I just don’t think this is the right place for kids.” If teenagers belonged on military units, they would have kept Jack’s clone around. That might have been useful—unbearable, but useful. He didn’t even want to think about how annoying they could have been if they teamed up.

“If you knew what I’ve been through, how I’ve suffered, you’d know how amazingly mature I am for my age.” She laid a hand on his arm.

Daniel tried not to flinch away from the hand. There was no obvious threat, but… He still didn’t believe she was human. She didn’t have pores. “It’s not a matter of maturity, it’s—”

She tightened her grip. “You don’t like me, do you? Everyone likes me.”

“It’s… not that I don’t like you. I—”

“We’re meant for each other, you and I… But I understand—really, truly, I do. I have to prove myself, and then you will see the truth. I know you, Daniel Jackson, in a way that no one else ever will.”

“I don’t see how that’s possible, given that I don’t know you at all.” He pried her hand off his arm. “And what are you—fifteen, sixteen? Seventeen at the most. That’s more than a little too young for someone in their forties, and I’m not just talking legality. That’s just wrong.”

She stood in front of him and raised a hand to stop him. No one seemed to notice her peculiar behavior. “Our souls are one… You doubt me now, but you only reject me because you know, in your heart of hearts, that I’m the only one you can love. I can heal your pain.” A perfect tear ran down her cheek. “You’ll see. Nothing can keep us apart. I’d die for you, Daniel.”

Oh, wow… Scary Barbie. “That’s not necessary. Really.” Daniel repressed a shudder and pulled ahead of Lieutenant Unvergleichlich. He didn’t actually like having her behind him—it made him nervous, but it was better than talking to her.

They reached the building and Daniel saw that the entrance door was covered with Linear B script—a mixture of syllabary and logograms.

“Well, this looks Goa’uldy. ‘Daniel’, Carter, check this out with Daniel and Lieutenant Unvergleichlich. Teal’c and I are going to take a walk around the building and see if we can find anything else.”

“Sure, Jack” ‘Daniel’ gave him an absent minded wave. He approached the door. “Linear B—it seems to be a warning. 'This is the domain of the great Hathor. Not any more, it isn’t… The enemies… of… of… uh, I can’t—” He frowned and rubbed his forehead.

His translation had been fluid and effortless, but as Lieutenant Unvergleichlich moved to stand beside him, ‘Daniel’ lost focus.

“Don’t worry, ‘Daniel’! I can do it.” Lieutenant Unvergleichlich continued the translation. “The enemies our god will be destroyed by their arrogance. They will burn in the fire of the god’s wrath.”

“That was great, Mary-Sue. I don’t know what we’d do without you.” ‘Daniel’ took her hand and smiled at her.

“Oh, gosh, ‘Daniel’, it was nothing. I’m just happy to help.”

Daniel narrowed his eyes and frowned. Something was off here, something besides the lieutenant’s general weirdness.

“I’m picking up energy readings from this section over here.” Sam ran her scanner across a section of wall to the right of the door.

“There’s a section of writing here that mentions fire.” Daniel pointed out the line of script on the wall near the location of the energy signature.

“Carter? You have a way in? This seems to be it—no other entrances.” Jack came around the side of the building with Teal’c at his side.

Sam examined the area, pulled her knife from its sheath, and pried along a line in the masonry. A thin section of stone fell away revealing a control panel. “Yes, sir. This shouldn’t take long. Teal’c, there’s some kind of booby-trap on this door, some kind of fire.”

“It is not uncommon for such a trap to be laid. The means to disable it will also be in the control panel.”

“Oh, let me help you!” Lieutenant Unvergleichlich stood beside Sam and peered at the panel.

Sam reached into the panel then frowned and dropped her hand. “I… I can’t remember…” She rubbed her forehead. “I knew what to do, but…”

Daniel grabbed the lieutenant by the arm and pulled her away from Sam. “Try it now.”

She looked at the panel again. “That’s odd. This is obvious. I don’t know what happened.” Sam reached into the panel, switched the position of two crystals, and removed a red one. “Almost there.”

“Daniel? What’s going on?” Jack raised his eyebrows.

“It’s your lieutenant, Jack. She’s affecting their minds. ‘Daniel’ forgot how to read simple script as soon as she approached him, and you saw what happened to Sam.”

“I think he’s right, Jack.” ‘Daniel’ was frowning at Lieutenant Unvergleichlich.

“That’s nuts!”

“Well, so’s the obsession with pie, but you guys eat a lot of pie, and not much else. Logic doesn’t seem to be an operative force around here.”

“There’s that. Okay, lieutenant, you step back a bit until we figure this out.” Jack waved her away from the door.

“But… You need me! I want to help!” She tossed back her long, blond hair and clasped her hands.

Daniel pulled her away from the entrance. “No. I don’t know what you are, but I’m pretty sure you’re dangerous.”

“Daniel! You can’t mean that! You must see how much I can help you. I speak forty-eight languages, I’m an expert at quantum physics, I can sing!”

She started singing—she sounded just like Celine Dion. Daniel didn’t think that was a good thing. He went forward to the entrance.

Lieutenant Unvergleichlich started to follow him, but ‘Daniel’ put out a hand to hold her back. “Sorry, Mary-Sue.”

Daniel identified the combination of logograms that he thought would open the door. “Ready, Sam?”

“Getting pushy, Daniel. Rushing Carter is my job.” Jack raised an eyebrow at him. “Carter?”

“Got it, sir.” Sam moved one more crystal and looked at Daniel. “Go ahead. It should be safe.”

“Okay, then…” Daniel pushed the carved symbols and the door slid to the side. He would have felt good about that, except that it revealed two Jaffa, both of whom swung their staff weapons toward him.

Lieutenant Unvergleichlich launched herself at them and took them apart like she was de-boning chicken. Tossing her hair to one side, she stepped over the bodies of the Jaffa and reached bloody hands toward Daniel.

He raised his Beretta.

“But I saved you, Daniel.” She raised the back of her hand to her forehead dramatically, leaving a smear, and reached for him again.

Really, really, scary Barbie… “Well, thanks. I appreciate that, but—”

There was the sound of a staff weapon firing and the lieutenant staggered forward before collapsing gracefully to the ground. A third Jaffa stood behind her—briefly—before SG-1 opened fire and killed him as efficiently as the lieutenant had killed the first two, if not as quite as gruesomely.

Daniel crouched down beside Lieutenant Unvergleichlich and felt for a pulse. Nothing, but he didn’t expect one. He felt the back of her neck. “Sometimes it’s really hard not to say ‘I told you so’. There’s a switch on the back of her neck, beneath the skin.” He stood and looked at Jack. “You might be able to repair the damage, but—”

Jack’s blurred and was gone.

“—I wouldn’t…” It was a moot point. The android was gone, too. Daniel heard a noise behind him and swung around. There was the new instance of SG-1, all dressed in black—Mitchell, Sam, Teal’c, and… himself. This one really looked like him, right down to the new glasses. No wonder they didn’t notice an android or two. It was hard enough just keeping track of who SG-1 was.

Sam attached a small amount of C-4 to a barred door, lit the fuse, and stepped back. There was a flash and a puff of smoke. ‘Daniel’ pulled the door open and SG-7 staggered out.

Mitchell grinned at them. “Hey, there! How you folks doing? All in one piece?”

The major who seemed to be the team leader—Daniel didn’t know him—nodded. “We’re good, a little foggy… That Goa’uld drugged us.” He rubbed a hand across his eyes. “We… We gave her the IDC code. God, Mitchell! Did she—”

“She’s dead—nobody got hurt. We know she used a drug, no one’s blaming you. Not much, anyway. C’mon, let’s get you back to the Gate.”

The team escorted the still shaky members of SG-7 back to the Gate. As the event horizon formed, they came under fire from the forest by a strange mixture of arrows, spears, and staff weapon blasts. They took cover as best they could behind the DHD and the platform on which the Gate stood.

“Go! We’ll cover you.” Mitchell waved SG-7 toward the gate and returned fire on their unknown attackers.

Daniel fired his P-90 toward the unseen force and looked at ‘Daniel’, who was doing the same. “Uh, does it seem like they’re aiming at us? I mean, you and I, in particular.”

“That happens quite a bit.” ‘Daniel’ answered him without looking away from the forest. “Sometimes it’s someone else on the team, but mostly, it’s me. I guess you just get to share the joy, since you’re here. If we’re captured, they also like to beat the crap out of me for no apparent reason. That might be a problem for you, too.”

“Ah... Well, something to look forward to, then…” He fired another burst toward the trees. SG-7 had made it through the gate. Unfortunately, the Gate had shut down while they were fighting—they’d have to dial out again.

‘Daniel’ hunched over the DHD and dialed the address for Earth. Nothing happened. “Sam, we have a problem.”

The barrage of fire from the forest stopped suddenly. The attackers had the advantage of cover while SG-1 was stuck in the open. So what were they doing? Daniel crouched low to the ground and moved away from the platform, in the direction of the trees.

“Jackson! Stick around here. They’re gone.”

Daniel turned to look at Mitchell, surprised that he wasn’t concerned. “But this doesn’t make sense. They must be—”

“Nope. They’re just gone. It happens.”

He frowned at Mitchell then went back to the DHD, glancing over his shoulder as he went. Sam and ‘Daniel’ were looking at him sympathetically.

“It’s best not to think about these things too much.” Sam bent down and opened the access panel at the base of the DHD.

‘Daniel’ nodded. “You just end up obsessing about the holes in the logic.”

“But… The Jaffa inside the building… The attack… None of it makes any sense.”

“True. The Jaffa should have been waiting by the Gate. Hathor should have had SG-7 with her. The attackers could have killed us easily.” ‘Daniel’ nodded again. “You don’t want to think about that. Really.”

Sam reached into the panel and pulled out two large objects. “Well, here’s the problem. Magnets.”

Daniel closed his eyes tightly then looked at them again. “Magnets? Logic issues are one thing but, magnets?”

“Be glad it’s magnets. The effect will dissipate by morning.” She put the objects in her pack.

“So how was SG-7 able to go through?” Daniel’s voice was muffled by the palm covering his face.

Sam shook her head. “You’re still thinking too much, Daniel. You’ll drive yourself crazy. In this case, there is an explanation, though. The force attacking us probably tried to disable the gate just before we arrived, and the effect wasn’t complete. The Gate still had enough power for one short connection.”

Daniel raised his face from his hands. “That’s not an explanation! Even I know that—”

“Ah!” ‘Daniel’ raised a finger. “Thinking—bad, remember?”

“If you folks are done chatting about the nature of our existence, maybe you could give us a hand.” Mitchell was taking equipment off a FRED that had appeared next to the MALP. Teal’c was already setting up a tent.

He really wanted to object to setting up camp right next to the Stargate, out in the open, but he didn’t. Daniel had a feeling that it wouldn’t do any good. Thinking—bad…

Before long, they had the tents set up and a fire built. They heated their MREs with the flameless heaters that came with them, but ‘Daniel’ was making coffee over the fire, and it seemed to be much better coffee than Daniel ever bought. He was looking forward to it, and actually enjoying his MRE. That was a bit unusual, but it had been a very long time since he had eaten anything besides pie.

They finished the MREs and ‘Daniel’ passed out cups of coffee. Daniel was intensely grateful for that.

As they relaxed around the fire, he couldn’t help but notice that his alternate self seemed a bit down. He couldn’t see a reason for that, they had been unbelievably lucky to have been left alone after the attack, the Gate had no permanent damage, and things were going much better than seemed even remotely plausible.

He leaned toward Sam, who was sitting next to him, and spoke softly. “What’s wrong with ‘Daniel’?”

“Oh, well, we pretend we don’t know, but… you know…” She kept her voice low.

“Know what?” He pulled off his glasses and rubbed at a smudge on one of the lenses.

Sam lifted her eyebrows and gave him a significant look. “You know… General O’Neill.”

“Jack? What about him?”

“He just misses him.”

Daniel smiled. “I was thinking earlier that I miss Jack being on the team, sometimes.”

Now she was looking at him like he wasn’t quite bright. “No, he misses him.”

He was missing something, too, but it wasn’t Jack. “Sorry, but I don’t understand.”

“Boy, you two are more different than you look.” She frowned at him for a moment. “They’re together.”

“Together… Uh… What do—Oh!” Daniel’s eyes widened. “Oh… I see, uh… Okay, well, I guess that’s… Uh…” He pressed the heels of his hands to his eyes. “Ugh!”

“You’re shocked.”

“In the sense of ‘surprised beyond all expectation or imagining’, yes—and I saw something in my mind just then that I really don’t feel all that positive about.” He lowered his hands and looked at her. “I’m okay now. Where am I sleeping? I think maybe I’ve had enough of lifestyles of alternate SG-1s for today.”

She pointed to one of the tents. “We gave you your own. We thought you might need some space. A lot of the alternate Daniels seem to get quite disturbed if they’re here very long. You’re sure you’re alright?”

“Yes... As long as I don’t picture... It’s not that—I mean I’m not… I don’t care if… It’s just that he’s—space is good.” There was nothing he could say that wouldn’t make this worse. He put his glasses back on. “Which watch do you want me to take?”

“None. We like to keep our usual routine. Thanks for the offer, though.”

“Okay, if you’re sure.” Daniel drained his mug, handed it to Sam, and went to his tent.

He sat on the sleeping bag, dropped his head to his knees and let out a long sigh. Who were these people? He thought about his SG-1. His friends and all the things he knew about them that just weren’t true here. Things he needed to be true. Things he depended on. He thought about the times that were good, and the times they fought. He thought about all the years, and the things that stayed the same when everything else changed—when things got really bad.

Tomorrow… Daniel pulled off his boots, climbed into his sleeping bag fully clothed, and thought about home.


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


He woke to the sound of yelling. That was never good. He shoved his feet into his boots and ran from the tent holding the zat.

There was a crowd of villagers; men, women and children. They were dragging ‘Daniel’ away from the fire—and beating the crap out of him, laughing and yelling like it was a party.

Mitchell came out of a tent with his P-90, but didn’t look like he felt great about firing on kids.

“Mitchell!” Daniel tossed him the zat and moved toward the mob.

Teal’c was throwing villagers aside without regard for age or sex. Sam looked like a combat training video—feet and fists were flying with deadly accuracy. She was ignoring the kids and taking out the adults.

Daniel pulled out his Beretta and fired it into the air a couple of times. “Enough!” There was a moment of silence as the tattered villagers looked at him. “What are you doing? And why? This is ridiculous!”

One of the women grinned. “It’s fun—and easy.”

“Of course it’s easy, you lunatic! There are over twenty of you! How could you possibly think this is fun? You’re hurting someone who has never done you any harm, another human being, for no reason! How is that fun?”

The woman looked confused. “It just is.” She grinned. “It’s a good thing. You will be able to hold his hand and give him comfort—if he doesn’t die. You will become closer than ever before.”

Daniel raised his hands. “That’s okay, you can let him go. I’m only here temporarily, so I don’t need to bond.”

“Yes, you do! Bonding is extremely important.” She illustrated her point by kicking ‘Daniel’ in the ribs—twice.

“Stop that! Do you really think bonding is about hand holding?” Daniel’s voice rose. This was simply unbelievable—even in relation to the other things he’d seen here.

The woman nodded. “Or you can hold him close to save him from freezing to death.”

“It’s quite warm, I don’t think freezing is an option.”

“We can take him somewhere colder.” She gave ‘Daniel’s’ arm a tug.

“No! That’s not the point!”

One of the children pointed at Daniel. “He looks like the one on the ground.”

A yell went up from the crowd and they swarmed over Daniel before he could fire a shot. The gun went flying—he could only hope that none of the villagers picked it up. They seemed fine with using their hands and feet, though. He was kicked and punched repeatedly. Little tiny hands tried to scratch out his eyes. There were too many of them… He did his best to curl up and shield the important parts, but he wasn’t completely successful, especially after the first few kicks.

When the blows stopped, Daniel didn’t feel a whole lot like moving, but when hands tried to roll him over, he roused himself to fight them off.

“It’s okay, Daniel! It’s Sam. Are you injured?”

“Define ‘injured’...”

“Is there significant damage to your person, Daniel Jackson?”

He heard Teal’c’s voice. Daniel hadn’t bothered to open his eyes much. They hurt. Children have nasty, sharp, little fingernails. He opened them now and saw Sam and Teal’c crouched next to him. “Significant, no. Painful, yes.” He closed his eyes again. How’s ‘Daniel’?”

“About the same as you. He’d be a lot worse off if you hadn’t distracted them.”

“And by ‘distracted them’, you mean ‘let them beat the crap out of me, too’.”

Teal’c nodded. “Indeed.”

Daniel pushed himself into a sitting position, ignoring the queasy feeling. There were villagers littering the ground, zatted, thrown, and kicked silly. He didn’t feel sorry for them at all.

With Sam’s help, he pushed himself up off the ground and got to his feet. He could have gotten up on his own, he wasn’t that beat up, but it would have hurt more. Daniel thought he’d avoid that.

“Can we leave now? I really want to go home.”

Sam smiled a little. “Teal’c and I will load the FRED. You take it easy.”

“Sure, okay… I’ll just kick back and relax.” Daniel limped over to ‘Daniel’ and Mitchell. He raised an eyebrow at his alternate inquiringly.

“I’m fine.”

“Really? I could have sworn that you got the crap beat out of you. I know I did.”

“It’s an expression.”

“Not for most people. It usually means that everything is good.”

“Everything is good. I’m not dead.”

“Low standards.”

“High resilience.” ‘Daniel’ grunted as Mitchell helped him off the ground.

Mitchell handed Daniel his zat and Beretta. “Help ‘Daniel’ over to the platform, okay?”

‘Daniel’ shook his head. “I can walk. I’m fine.” He looked at Daniel and raised an eyebrow. “Everything is good.”

They walked over to the Gate, sort of, and leaned on the platform. The camp was almost dismantled and packed away. None of the villagers were moving yet. Daniel hoped someone would. He wanted to zat one. “We didn’t get to have coffee. I was looking forward to it.”

“I made a pot, but they knocked it over. It was Kona.”

“It’s good. I usually just buy Nabob.”

‘Daniel’s’ eyebrows rose. “Nabob? You’re not me...”

‘Oh, that’s been established.’ Daniel watched Teal’c tying the load to the FRED and frowned “Can’t you do anything about these changes—the instances?”

“No so far. Everyone is working on it. Even if we could make sure that there is some kind of alternation between the instances that don’t accomplish anything, and the ones that do, it would be an improvement. At least then, so we could do more exploration and try to find a way to stop Adria and her army.” ‘Daniel’ turned to look at him. “When we get back, we’ll probably change right away. That’s usually what happens, so…” He stuck out his hand. “Thanks.”

Daniel shook his hand. “No problem. You’d have done the same.”

“True.” ‘Daniel’ smiled. “At least I’ll be healed after we change. You’re stuck with the bruises.” He reached into his pocket and took out his security card. “Here. You’ll get back to the mirror faster with this. Just leave it with the control device.”

“Won’t that cause you problems?

“Not really. Some of the instances lose a lot of these.”

Daniel nodded, thinking about the first Daniel he had met.

They moved up to the DHD to get out of the way of the FRED, and ‘Daniel’ punched in the glyphs for Earth. This time the Gate worked as it was supposed to, and after explaining their absence, the team—and Daniel—went through without any further problem.


---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


The FRED was barely off the base of the ramp when the team changed again. This was another team with Jack. ‘Daniel’ had short hair and a stack of books, but he wasn’t dropping them.

An SF came forward to take their weapons. Daniel left the zat in his pocket.

Sam looked at them all seriously. “Blue jello. Now.”

Teal’c smiled. “I believe that red jello would be the superior choice.”

“Fruit loops. That’s the way to go.” Jack headed for the door.

‘Daniel’ started to follow then turned back. “Daniel? Do you want something to eat before you go? Coffee?”

“No, but thanks… I really want to get home, and time is starting to be an issue. Take care of yourself, ‘Daniel’.”

“You, too.” He left the room balancing his books with the grace of an experienced waiter in a crowded restaurant.

Daniel didn’t just want to get home; he wanted to get home desperately. He was glad that the strange focus on food kept the team from paying much attention to him, now that the crisis was over. No more delays—he had the card, he had the device. This time nothing was going to stop him, nothing…

He ran to the elevator like he was being pursued. In a way, he was. The possibility of staying here another hour horrified him. Running hurt, but Daniel ignored that.

Time seemed to stand still as he waited for the elevator to arrive, tapping the card against his hand, and shifted his feet impatiently. Hurry… The doors opened and he flung himself inside. The keycard was a bit of a problem, because he found that his hand was shaking—just a little. The doors opened on level nineteen—oh, finally…

Daniel ran through the halls toward the small room housing the mirror. He rounded a corner and narrowly avoided running into Jack and Mitchell, who were talking in the center of the hall. “Oh, hi. Thanks for the… hospitality. I’m going back to my universe now.” Looked like the jello thing didn’t work out. That was a short instance…

Jack nodded. “Thanks for your help, Daniel.”

“Jackson. Good job out there.” Mitchell stuck out his hand.

As they shook hands, the now familiar blurring happened again. Now Jack and Mitchell were looking at him in a way he was a hundred percent certain he’d never seen before. It was very unsettling.

Mitchell was still holding onto his hand. Daniel pulled it away with effort. The two men stepped closer to him—much closer.

“Uh, guys? What’s going on?”

“Not enough, Jackson. There could be a whole lot more going on, if you want there to be.”

Mitchell grinned at him, and it was a grin that would have been familiar if it was on Vala’s face, instead of Mitchell’s. Daniel started to have a bad feeling about this—a very, very bad feeling. “No, no… Uh, nothing needs to go on, nothing at all... I’m good, seriously…”

Jack moved even closer. “Oh, I know you are, Daniel—seriously.”

“No! I didn’t mean— That’s not what I— Damn it! Hands off!”

Oh, crap, no! Daniel reached into his pocket for the zat and aimed it. “I try to be diplomatic—I do! The fact is, I’m really not that good at it. I’ve got a bit of a temper.”

Jack grinned at him. “Oh, c’mon, Danny, you wouldn’t shoot me. Mitchell, maybe—”

“Hey! What makes you think he’d shoot me?”

Daniel zatted Mitchell. “That, for one.”

“Danny—”

“And don’t call me ‘Danny’.” He zatted Jack.

He ran the rest of to the mirror room, flung the door open, and went in. Home, home, home…. Dorothy was right. There’s no place like it.

Daniel started flipping through realities looking for his own. The mirror showed the place they’d found the mirror, warehouses, Area 51, various places in the SGC where they hadn’t put it. At one point he saw another Daniel Jackson holding the control device with the same intensity that he was. They looked at each other with mutual understanding and commiseration then continued their individual searches.

He saw Jaffa, Ori soldiers, Priors, and replicators. He took heart from the fact that mostly he saw Air Force personnel, scientists, and storage facilities. Finally, he saw Sam fiddling with a control device and Mitchell looking… pissed off.

Mitchell saw him and yelled something. Sam grabbed a whiteboard and held it up for him to read. It had all their ranks and positions written on it, as well as the designation of the last four planets they’d visited, and what they’d had for lunch in the commissary just before he’d fallen into the mirror. She’d also included the remark he’d made about his chicken sandwich. Home. He put down the control device and touched the mirror.


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


“Welcome back, Jackson! How was the trip?” Mitchell had a big grin on his face. As Daniel started to move away from the mirror, he lifted a hand. “Wait! What did you find on P3C-772 last month—that artifact thingy you were so excited about?”

“Well, it was P3X-472; it was three weeks ago, it was an ushabti, and I had good reason to be excited about it. Given the lack of ritual mummification on Goa’uld worlds, the ushabti represented a—”

Mitchell turned to Sam and slapped her on the back. “It’s Jackson!”

Sam tightened her grip on the control device. “Watch it! We don’t want this getting dropped. I might not be able to fix it next time. Daniel, you look—”

“I figured something must have happened to it when I couldn’t see our reality from the other side. I borrowed their control device.”

Mitchell’s eyes narrowed—he looked skeptical. “That took this long?”

Uh, oh… What was he going to tell them? There was no way he wanted to… “It’s complicated. So, our device got broken? You fixed it?”

“Vala says you made her drop it. She and Teal’c are waiting in the hall—this room is pretty small, and we didn’t want to risk anyone else getting knocked into the mirror. I think it's fixed. I was just about to test it, but it seems to be functional now.”

“How was it complicated, Jackson?” Mitchell crossed his arms. “What happened? Are you okay? You look a little freaked out—and a lot beat up.”

Daniel rubbed his forehead. This was going to be a problem. “I’m fine, uh, okay… I’m really glad to be back. That reality was quite… different. I got into trouble with some villagers, but I’m fi—not too beat up. There were some issues with getting the control device, but eventually I got it, and I’m back. That’s the important part.”

“Yeah, but what happened?”

“I didn’t learn anything that can help us fight the Ori army or find anything useful. There weren’t any attacks that haven’t happened here. That’s all I’m going to say.”

“Jackson!”

Daniel closed his eyes, let his head drop then looked at Mitchell again. “Look, you know how Teal’c can’t tell us what happened when we were stuck in time?”

“Sure, but—”

“Well, it’s like that.”

“So, you’re protecting us—our reality? From becoming like the one you were in?”

“I’m protecting you from something… You don’t want to know what. I’m not sure that was really an alternate reality. It was too…” Daniel shook his head.

Sam looked intrigued. “What makes you think—”

“No.” Daniel held up a finger. “No, I’m not saying anything more. Trust me, Sam, you really don’t want to know—I wish I didn’t know, and I’m damn certain that Mitchell doesn’t want to know. You just have to trust me on this.”

“But—”

“I’m not saying another word about this. Ever… I am going to the infirmary, under my own power, and by myself. Then, coffee would be good, food would be good, but there will be absolutely no pie.” With that, he left the room.

“Pie?” Mitchell looked at Sam and frowned, then picked up the phone on the wall. He punched in a number. “Dr. Lam? Hi, it’s Mitchell… Yeah, we got Jackson back. He’s on his way now. Listen, he says he’s alright, but—well, I think maybe you’d better check for a concussion. He looks like he got knocked around pretty good, and I’m thinking he took a bump to the noggin. He’s acting weird… No, I’m sure it’s him. It’s probably nothing, but he’s not talking about it and… Okay, thanks, I appreciate that. Bye.” He hung up the phone and looked at Sam. “He’s never going to tell us, is he?”

“Probably not. When Daniel makes a decision about something, that’s pretty much it.”

“Man, that’s going to drive me crazy.”

“The not knowing, or Daniel and lines in the sand?”

“Both.”

“Daniel must have good reasons for not wanting us to know what happened in the alternate universe. He’s always got good reasons, even when he’s wrong—but that look on his face, when he was on the other side of the mirror? I think maybe he’s not wrong.”

“That ‘deer in the headlights’ look?”

Sam nodded. “I’ve never seen Daniel look like that.”

Mitchell looked at the mirror and thought about that for a moment. “I see your point. I guess maybe I don’t really want to know about something that scares Jackson that much. That’s not something you see everyday—or ever…”

“You know what Teal’c would say.”

“Ours is the only reality of consequence?” Mitchell gave her a grin. “I guess I can live with that.”


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Daniel in Wonderland-Part 1