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Stepping Stone

TITLE: Stepping Stones

AUTHOR: OXBastetXO

SPOILERS: Children of the Gods, Out of Mind, Into the Fire

SEQUEL/SEASON INFO: Epilog to Into the Fire

RATING: PG

SUMMARY: Daniel tries to cope with the events leading to and following their rescue from Hathor's strong-hold.

CATEGORY: Angst and Smarm

AUTHOR'S NOTES: Great big thank you to Dee for helping me get the dialog straight and Joyystr for this song to get the idea from in the first place. Thanks guys!!!!! This is also for Goa'uldGal...tis our song girl.

Showtime and MGM/UA owns Stargate: SG-1 and all there in. I'm just borrowing them for a bit, and I promise to give them right back when I'm done. Well, most of them, I might just keep Jack and Daniel for a bit longer.

Stepping Stone belongs to Larrie White, I'm just borrowing it for background music.

Stepping Stone

OXBastetXO

Daniel hobbled into the break room and let out a grateful sigh that the room was empty. He hadn't had a moment peace since they had got back from Hathor's planet. He tried to keep his precarious hold on his mug and notebook while maneuvering the crutches. He gave up and slipped both the crutches under his one arm and limped over to the coffee maker.

Daniel set the mug on the counter and grabbed the pot. The black liquid trembled in the pot as he tried to pour it out. He set the pot down and closed his eyes as the tremor passed through him. He swallowed and tried to get control of it. He hadn't had the shakes this bad since they first came through the gate home. Janet had said it was delayed shock. He has been running on adrenaline so long that when he finally had a chance to realize it was over, thing had time to catch up. Like the blood loss and pain from the gash in his leg, the shock from Sam ripping out the memory probe, and just the whole Hathor thing. This had definitely not been a good day, Daniel mused darkly. Weeks actually, his mind corrected. They had been prisoners of Hathor for three weeks, but only conscious off and on for a few days of it.

When the worst of the shaking was over, he picked up the pot again and poured the coffee into the mug. The rich aroma of the coffee was almost as soothing as the heat pouring off the outside of the mug as he cupped it in his hands. He couldn't seem to get warm. Sam and Jack both complained of the same thing. Daniel tried not to think about those first few minutes after the Goa'uld had thawed him out and told him everyone was dead. Dead, his hands started to shake again forcing him to put the mug down before he spilled it.

This was ridiculous. He had to get a handle on himself before he came apart. It wasn't like he was the one that... He stopped and closed his eyes.

Jack.

Jack was all right. The Goa'uld was dead. It had never fully melded with him. The Tok'ra spy had seen to that. It was gone. The MRIs proved it was gone. He was ok. He had to be. Daniel wasn't sure he could deal with losing anyone else right now. Not like that. Not like Skaara. Not...not like Sha're.

He sighed and rested his forehead against the cupboard above the counter. Slowly, something registered in the periphery of his mind and he cracked an eye open. The little radio that seemed to be as much as a fixture in the break room as the coffeepot was playing quietly beside him. He reached over the flicked up the volume letting the music drowned out his thoughts.

Here I am at another dead end,

Stopped in my tracks again.

Closer than I've ever been,

To where I want to be.

A broken heart standing in my way,

Big as life on a really bad day.

Making lemons into lemonade

Ain't nothing new to me.

"Which of you shall it be?" Hathor asked, she held out the Goa'uld. The vile creature squeaked and writhed in her hand. She walked past them to the top of the gate. "We ask you once more. Which one of you shall be host to our new friend here?" she repeated and started back down past them.

Jack leaned over to Sam. "He has her eyes."

"Silence!" Hathor snarled. Then her face softened as her gaze settled on Daniel and she glided over like a shark moving in on its kill. "Should it be our beloved? We could spend an eternity together. Do you not remember the joys we once shared in each other's arms?"

Daniel swallowed the bile that surged to his throat and looked at her and then quickly away. The Goa'uld in her hands writhed and hissed. "I really try not to," he said tightly.

Hathor smirked and turned to Sam. "Shall it be the female then? She who would challenge us." Her eyes traveled down the other woman's body. "You have since been possessed by a Goa'uld, we sense this. Perhaps once more?" her eyebrows arched in question. The Goa'uld in her hand wriggled and snapped in Sam's face.

Sam struggled not to flinch and glared back at Hathor. "I'm not afraid."

A cold smile curled the corners of Hathor's sensual lips. "You should be, my dear. For the pain that a symbion can inflict in its host is unimaginable!" She moved on to Jack.

The Goa'uld squealed and coiled around her wrist, lunging at Jack. "It seems as if our friend has chosen," she said.

Jack got a discussed look on his face as the creature snapped in his face. "Oh, the gray doesn't bother you?" He swallowed and took a deep breath. "Alright. Fine. Let's do it."

This ain't no stumbling block

It's just a stepping stone

Gonna climb right up on top and

Take a good look, at where I'm going

It ain't gonna slow me down,

Hold me back, or turn me around

This ain't no stumbling block

It ain't no stumbling block

This ain't no stumbling block

It's just a stepping stone

Daniel stood in the chamber, his arm wrapped tightly around himself. This couldn't be happening. It just couldn't be happening. Jack lay strapped down on the table and Hathor stood over him with the Goa'uld gripped tightly in her hand.

Sam stood beside him. Daniel knew that she knew first hand what was going to happen next. Hathor laid the Goa'uld on Jack chest and the older man swore as the creature dove for the back of his neck. Sam flinched and looked away, but Daniel couldn't not watch. Like a witness to a train wreck, he couldn't look away. For Jack sake, for his own, he watched. If this was how his friend was going to die, he would at least be here for him, if only by being at witness.

The Jaffa guarding them grabbed his shoulder pulling him around and pushing them out of the room. Daniel swore, 'this isn't going to end like this. If it's the last thing I do, it is not going to end like this.'

Looking back I realize,

How hard it is to recognize

Opportunity in disguise as

Some calamity.

So I ain't gonna cuss my luck,

Every time a door slams shut.

I know a window's gonna open up

Just as long as I believe.

Daniel knelt on his knees in front of the Stargate. He shifted his weight and daggers of pain shot up and down his injured leg. He glanced over at Makepeace beside him. The Marine knelt at parade rest. Daniel shook his head. Some rescue.

Behind him, he could hear Trofsty pacing. The Jaffa was ancy. He kept stalking back and forth.

"I know that you're still out there Captain Carter! I grow tired of this. Surrender now, or your friends will be killed one by one." He came to a stop behind Daniel. He could hear the unmistakable whine of a zat gun powering up.

"Sam, don't do it," Daniel shouted.

"Silence!" Trofsty snarled.

Daniel sighed at looked out at the horizon. He saw a white figure climbing down the ridge toward them. The figure blurred and he squinted. Who knew what they had done with his glasses? He tried to focus on the figure.

"Jaffa kree!" A familiar voice shouted. A cold lump settled into his stomach. No.

"Kel'mac, Goa'uld!" Trofsky answered.

There was a short pause. "You heard me, kree!"

Daniel blinked. A small flicker of hope shot through him. "Jack?"

"Hi, guys!" O'Neill waved walking toward them. "Makepeace," Jack said sarcastically, circling his thumb and finger to make a big ok. "*Great* rescue!" The Marine shrugged wryly.

"Silence!" Trofsky shouted.

"Alright! Listen up!" O'Neill said coming to a stop just short of the energy field. "Before you start shootin' and killin' and ruining what could be the start of a beautiful friendship." He took a deep breath and drew himself up. "Our 'beloved' Hathor is dead!"

"What you say is not possible!" Trofsky said with a snort. "Hathor is a Queen! More than that, she is a Goddess!"

"OK, ex-goddess maybe," he said with a bit of a confused sweep of his hands. "I killed her myself! Trust me on this! She's gone!" he said waving his hand in a gesture of finality. "She's no more! Let's face it, she's a former Queen!" He looked a the Jaffa. "So, why don't we put an end to this right now?"

Trofsky's face hardened. "We will end this with your surrender!" he said, bringing up his zat gun.

Suddenly, the gate started to whirl behind them. "Jaffa, kree Chaapa'ia." Daniel risked a glance behind him and saw the Jaffa moving into position around the gate.

Daniel turned back to look at Jack, just in time to see him dive out of the way as the energy field flare and disappeared. The Stargate rushed open and a ship exploded out of the wormhole sending them all scattering.