Ah, Silence
by Jinx

Rating: PG

Warning: Death!

Notes: I know this reads kinda disjointed, but, it was actually meant to be that way. Death doesn't always make sense and the way things happen around you after someone dies can feel confusing.

The staff weapon blast hit him in the left side of his back. He could feel the pain explode throughout his body even as he began to fall. He landed on his hands and knees and watched as the last of his team managed to make it through the gate, grateful, as always, that his team was still all right. He glanced down at the metal that dangled from his neck and spared a second of wondering if the SGC would understand his message that popped into his head at that moment. He used the last of his reserves to rip the tags from around his neck and throw them into the wormhole before his strength gave out and he tumbled from the stairs. He fell ackwardly; head propped up on the backpack that had bunched up under him, one knee bent and resting against the side of the stairs, one arm on the second to the last step. The other two limbs were flung out in a starfish fashion on his other side, blood creating a small pond underneath him.

He looked up at the sky and stared at the three moons that were clustered together in the bright bluish-purple sky. He listened as the wormhole disengaged and prayed that his tags made it through. He laughed in his head. Funny he should hope that his tags made it. Well, not so funny really. After all, they were a representation of his person. He hoped they would understand. He was thankful, once again, that it was he that was left behind; he that should not return. The rest of his team were safe. That was all a commanding officer could hope for after a mission.

The brightness of the sky began to dim. He wondered, briefly, if it was already getting dark, but realization dawned that it was not so. The blood that pooled under him was taking away his very life, and with it, the brightness of the day. His mind was fascinated as the light sky slowly grew dimmer and dimmer; until, finally, it was completely black. He was curious as to when he allowed his eyes to shut. No matter. It was peaceful here. There was no pain. Only memories.

Memories filled his mind and he laughed as he watched the fantastical thoughts fleet across his mind's eye. Daniel's soft laughter. Their banter as they argued. Some heated moments, but, times he would not trade for anything. He allowed the memories to wash over him and lure him away from everything that was.

He was no longer there when a voice was heard to say, "This one's dead." There was no one there to feel the steel-toed boot kick into his wounded side, coating the boot in warm blood. There was no one there to see his chest rise and fall for the last time.

Daniel ran through the stargate and came to a stop a few steps down the ramp. He turned and waited for Jack, who had been only a few steps behind him, when a small projectile hurled out of the wormhole and smacked him in the chest, falling to his feet. He bent over to retrieve the object, and, when he stood back up, watched in horror as the wormhole disengaged.

"Wait! Jack..." And, it was then that he looked down at the object in his hand. Jack's dog tags were nestled in the palm of his hand. He stared at the tags as though they were an alien artifact. "He was right behind me. He..."

Sam, Teal'c and General Hammond came up beside Daniel and stared at the tags. Sam and Teal'c looked up at the gate as though it were going to open any moment and send the colonel through. Hammond could only close his eyes a moment and sigh. He knew what the colonel meant by sending the tags through.

He was not sure if he were ready to admit the loss of his best colonel and good friend. He also knew what Daniel was going to say before his could say it.

"We'll send a MALP through and see what happened before I'll allow a rescue team."

The MALP slowly made its way up the ramp and into the blue horizon of the wormhole. The members of SG-1 and several others were gathered around the console in the control room waiting for the first signs of transmission.

The video showed nothing in the immediate area. The general had the controller pan the camera around the area before moving on. It was at the bottom of the screen that Daniel noticed something. The camera was panned down and zoomed into the face of Colonel Jack O'Neill. He was lying at the bottom of the steps, face a picture of serenity. One arm lay across a step, one knee bent and resting against the side of the stairs, the other limbs splayed out on the other side of him. A red puddle had formed around him as he lay propped on his backpack, which had shifted under his head. His eyes staring sightlessly at an unknown picture above him.

The control room was silent. Not one word was uttered at the image before them. And, even as the picture broke off as a result of a staff weapon blast being shot at it, no one said a word. The wormhole disengaged, and the room was left not only silent, but dark as well. As though the SGC itself were mourning the loss of one of its own.

Personnel gathered in the gate room; a podium was set up in the back. People approached and walked away, though Daniel heard none of it. He was clutching a set of dog tags in his hand with his arms crossed in front of him, holding a red, white, and blue triangle over his chest. He watched as people moved about him; walking to the podium and moving away. He watched as General Hammond and Carter sent a wreath through the opened gate. He watched as people moved up to the podium and walked away. He watched as officers made their way to Major Carter and Teal'c and moved away. More people went to the podium and wandered away. But... No one came to him. No one moved towards him. No one walked to him. He stood against the wall and watched all this take place, but, he was not there. He was in his mind, playing with his memories. And one refusing to stop its endless cycle. It repeated itself over and over:

Whenever Jack was bored, he made it a point to visit Daniel in his office and bug. He would begin by standing next to the anthropologist and proceed to pick things up and put things down. He would then move on to another 'thing' and pick it up and put it down. It would escalate in this vain until Daniel could stand it no longer.

"Jack! I wish you would just go away... please?!"

"Ah, Danny-boy! You better be careful what you wish for. You just might get it," Jack would say with a grin. "And then where would you be?"

"Ah, silence," Daniel would retaliate, leaning back in his chair, folding his hands behind his head, and closing his eyes, putting on an air of satisfaction.

Jack would always laugh before ruffling Daniel's hair and jogging out of the office before he was hit.

Daniel would sigh and smile at his friend's antics before returning to his work.

Daniel came out of his memory, still standing at the back of the gate room, clutching the flag to his chest. The smile dropped quickly from his face and was quickly replaced by tears. Daniel slid to the floor and wept in the flag.

Be careful what you wish for...

Ah, silence.

Finis