Spirit Of Dreams
by elfin 

Characters beloved creations and copyright of Jonathan Glassner and Brad Wright.
With thanks as always to Tomy
Halloween 2001

Settling further down in the chair, Jack cradled Daniel’s limp hand in his own.

Tiny pads had been attached to the unconscious man’s forehead, chest and arms, connected by thin wires to the monitors around the bedside.  All his vitals were being measured and they were all too low – from his blood pressure to any brain activity.  Way too low.

Reaching up, Jack pushed a stray lock of hair away from the pads on Daniel’s forehead.  Despite the warmth and the blankets, his skin was cold.

He wasn’t going to make it this time, they all knew it.  The alien fever, virus, whatever it was that had taken a hold of Daniel was incurable with their medicines.  They’d tried everything.  There was nothing left.

They’d made him as comfortable as they could, even piping his favourite music through into the infirmary.  Jack hadn’t been home in a week, ever since they’d stepped back through the Stargate from P3F-396 and Daniel had simply collapsed onto the hard metal of the ramp.

Taking him back to the planet hadn’t worked.  Taking samples from the vegetation and animal life there hadn’t yielded any hope.

“Danny….”  Jack had run out of stories, both real and made up.  Now he could only be here.  He wanted to be here when… he didn’t want Daniel to die alone.

Sighing softly, he settled his chin on to the back of Daniel’s hand and closed his eyes.

Around him, the late-night sounds of the SGC hummed quietly.  It was peaceful in an odd way.  The anger would take a hold once he’d gone, but until then….

He drifted slowly into a light sleep, images and thoughts coming to the forefront of his mind.  One of them was of Daniel, and he unconsciously squeezed his friend’s hand, linking their fingers, feeling a sudden need to be closer.

His breathing evened out, slowed a little, and his mind flowed from thoughts and memories into dreams.
 

The dark surrounded him.  He shivered as cold air touched him through his uniform.  Strange that, being as he was wearing civvies.

“Jack….”  A whisper, and something brushed against him.  He shivered once more, but the presence wasn’t a cold one.

Far from it.

Just that one touch had made him desire more.

Reaching out, he turned slowly, blinded by the darkness, until his hand contacted… material.  “Who… what are you?”  He stepped forward, drawn by the warmth of the presence.

The sensation of fingertips brushing his arm, then his neck and face, sent smaller shudders through him.  These touched his groin as they brought him out in goose-pimples over the surface of his skin.

The presence came closer, and Jack’s breath caught as he felt himself surrounded and enveloped by it.

Closing his eyes, Jack smiled to himself, finally recognising what was so close to him now.  “Daniel….”

He felt the other’s smile.  “It’s me, Jack.”

Jack reached out to embrace his friend, but he found himself unable to lift his arms.

“You can’t, Jack.  I’m not… really here.”

“Danny….  I….”

“I know, my friend.”

Here, free from all life’s constraints, Jack finally found the voice to put forth his deepest, hidden needs.  “I want… to touch you.”

He felt… breath on his face, and slowly Daniel came into view in front of him, that beautiful smile an inch from his own.  There was no discernible source of illumination, as if… Daniel was glowing with a light all his own.

Jack reached up again, and finding himself able to move, he threaded his fingers into Daniel’s thick hair.

“I know I’m just dreaming this,” he murmured, feeling the ripples of his friend’s touch over his skin.

“Why now?” Daniel asked him in a whisper.

“Because you’re….”  Jack realised he couldn’t force the words from his lips.  “I’m going to lose you,” he managed eventually.

Daniel’s smile didn’t fade, nor did he move away.  “Why would you want to keep me?”

Swallowing, Jack let his hand slide around to cup the back of the warm neck.  “What kind of question is that, Danny?” he murmured softly.

“A fairly important one, Jack.”

Daniel’s expression hadn’t changed, nor had the quality of his presence around Jack.  But there was something… Jack knew he had to find it within himself to tell his friend the truth he’d kept buried in his heart for so long.  Daniel was dying, slipping away from him further every hour.  Here, in his own mind, Jack needed to say to his friend that which he hadn’t been able to put into words despite the danger they’d faced side by side.

“You’re my friend, Daniel.”  Fingers ghosted through his hair.  “So much more than that….”

“Why?”

“Why….  Do you know… you were the first person to set foot in my house other than me since my wife left?  You wangled your way into my life, through every defence I’d built….  Not only into my life, Danny…” he stroked his thumb down the line of the other man’s neck, amazed at the warmth he could feel, “into my heart.”

Daniel’s smile might have lit the room for all Jack knew.  His friend had his full and undivided attention as he leaned forward.

He wasn’t sure if he imagined the touch to his lips, the soft kiss pressed there, until it was gone.  And then, more than anything in the galaxy, he wanted it back.

Instead, Daniel’s lips brushed the lobe of his ear.  “It’s yours, Jack,” he whispered.

“…what is?”

But there was no answer.  The dark drew closer, and Daniel began to vanish slowly from Jack’s vision.

“Danny… don’t go….”

“…yours.”
 

Jack started, sitting up suddenly, realising where he was.  The quiet bleeps of the machines keeping a check on Daniel’s state blended with the hum of the air conditioning and the background noise of the huge generators that powered the site.

Blinking surprising tears from his eyes, Jack gave Daniel’s hand a gentle squeeze.  “Dreaming about you now, Danny,” he whispered painfully.  “I guess I really must love you, ay?”

Held in his fingers, Daniel’s hand suddenly stiffened, and stretched.

Jack’s eyes widened, and he stood, glancing at the monitors, despite that he’d never been able to make any sense of the readings, before he looked at Daniel.

“Danny….  Come on, come back to me.”

Eyelids flickered, lips moved, and Jack turned to the door of the infirmary office.  “Doc!”

“Jack….”  The whisper pulled him back to the bed, a smile cutting his face in half.

“Daniel….  You’re… you’re awake.”

“Still stating the obvious, Jack….”  His rough voice dispersed into a painful cough.  Quickly, Jack grabbed a glass from the bedside cupboard and half-filled it with water, tipping it to Daniel’s lips.

“Whoa….”  Janet grabbed Jack’s arm, and stopped.  “Daniel!”
 

Over the next hour, Janet and her team subjected a groggy Dr Jackson to every test they could come up with.

Hammond, Teal’c and Sam had arrived and were waiting in the wings.  Jack had refused to move from his archaeologist’s side and the doctors were having to work around him.

It was gone two am when it all went quiet again.  Jack sat with Daniel’s hand in his own, stroking his friend’s hair soothingly, easing him back into a healing sleep.

“Whatever miracle brought you back to me,” he whispered, not wanting to disturb his ward, “I can’t believe how lucky am I.”

“All Hallow’s Eve.”  The murmur passed Daniel’s lips almost unheard.  But Jack was paying attention.

“Danny?”

But he was sleeping, breath even and shallow, heart rate, blood pressure and brain activity all back to normal, give or take.

Tomorrow, Jack would make sure that Daniel knew exactly how he felt.  No more hiding.  For tonight, he watched his miracle sleep.
 
 

fin
elfin