Author's Notes: Sequel to "A Singular Friendship" and part 2/8 of a Daniel/Janet friendship series, tracing their relationship through the first few seasons. This one is an episode tag to "Serpent's Song." The order of the stories is as follows: "A Singular Friendship," "The Price of Compassion," "Legacy of Trust," "Crossing the Line," "Gaining in Inches," "Smaller Victories," "Not Too Late," and "After All."

Dedication: To the fantastic folks on the danandjan list, whose feedback and encouragement keeps me writing!

Janet slumped against the wall of elevator as she waited for the door to close and the car to ascend to the surface. Her head was spinning with a whirlwind of conflicting thoughts and emotions. Suddenly, she heard a shout of "Hold the elevator," and a hand interposed itself between the sliding door and the wall. A moment later, Daniel Jackson followed the hand into the elevator.

"Hey," she said, her weariness and frustration taking most of the enthusiasm out of her voice.

"Hi," he answered, also unenthusiastic. "Heading home?"

"Yeah. I need some distance before I can concentrate on writing my report."

Daniel nodded in understanding but didn't say anything. Janet studied his weary profile for a few minutes as he stared into space in front of him. He looked as tired and stressed as she felt, if not more so. She wasn't surprised; as difficult as it was for her to have Apophis as a patient, she had little personal connection to the Goa'uld. She could only guess how Daniel must feel. She was regularly astonished by her friend's amazing depth of compassion, but watching him comfort Apophis's dying host today had brought tears to her eyes and had heightened her already healthy regard for this man. She didn't need quite that much regard for a married man, she reminded herself ruefully.

As they came out into the parking lot, Daniel turned to her. "You want to go get a drink or something?" Her surprise must have shown on her face because he quickly continued. "I mean, you don't have to. I know you're tired, and Cassie probably..."

"Actually, I'd love to," she interrupted. "Cassie's at rehearsal for the school play; I have two hours to kill before I pick her up anyway. And I could definitely use a drink and some conversation." She smiled reassuringly, and he returned the smile.

"Um, do you want me to follow you to that place on Mountain Rd.?"

"Sounds fine," she answered, unlocking her car.

Daniel wasn't quite sure what had possessed him to invite Janet out for a drink, but he was certainly glad he had. Jack was his best friend, but sometimes communicating with the military man who had been trained for years to keep his emotions under wraps was more effort than Daniel wanted to undertake. With Janet, however, he always found that talking was easy and soothing. Perhaps part of what made her such a good doctor, he reasoned, was her ability to be such a healing friend. A tiny part of his brain, however, warned him of the potential danger of getting too close to any woman. He watched her take a sip of her vodka tonic and then lick her lips lightly. Especially this woman.

"So Cassie's in the school play?" he asked, trying to distract himself.

"Yeah. Just a small part, but she's so excited. She keeps asking me if you all will be able to make it. I'm trying to decide whether it would be out of line for me to ask the general to keep you all on-world for at least one of the dates."

"Oh, the general is usually pretty understanding about things like that."

"I know. I think after today, though, I need to wait a few days before talking to him about anything," she admitted, opening up the door for the discussion they both knew was inevitable. They wouldn't be sitting here together if not for a desire to talk through the situation with Apophis.

Daniel took a deep breath. "You have every right to be angry, Janet. Jack and General Hammond put you in a really difficult position."

"Oh, I don't know that I have any particular *right* to be angry. Remember, Daniel, I've been trained to salute and say 'yes, sir' just as much as they have. But when my military training and my medical training contradict one another, it puts me in such a difficult situation. But ultimately, my duty has to be to my patient."

"Even when your patient is so despicable," agreed Daniel with resignation. Janet met his eyes with understanding sympathy.

"That was the hardest part," Janet admitted softly. "Part of my gut reaction was to agree with O'Neill and Teal'c; part of me actually wanted him to suffer for what he had done. That I have that impulse inside me terrifies me." She gripped her glass tightly.

"I know," Daniel answered after a moment. His voice shook slightly, and he had to pause to gain control of it. "I wanted to kill him with my bare hands. I told him I would kill him if he didn't tell me where Sha're is. I thought I meant it, that I was angry enough to do it. But he said I didn't have it in me, and he was right. The impulse was there, but I couldn't act on it."

"You sound like you regret it."

Daniel looked at her with surprise. Did he regret not killing Apophis himself? "I think in some way," he began hesitantly, "maybe I do regret it. Maybe we would still be in this position, having learned and accomplished nothing, with that poor host revived back into his nightmare, but at least for a moment, I would have acted."

"And you would be wracked with guilt about it afterwards," suggested Janet.

"But I would have accomplished something for Sha're!" returned Daniel passionately. "Vengeance is a proof of love." His shaking hands caused a little of his coke to slosh onto the table. He set down the glass and clenched his fists, trying to still them. Janet reached across the table and took his hands in hers.

"My God, Daniel, do you feel like you need to prove your love for Sha're?" He continued to stare at the table and didn't answer. "Daniel," Janet began again, her voice soft and soothing, "you love your wife more than any other man I have ever seen. No one who has ever heard you talk about her can doubt that for a minute. What has been done to her is unthinkably horrible, and you are absolutely allowed to feel furious, hurt, and vengeful. But you do *not* have to prove your love to anyone."

After a long moment, Daniel slowly lifted his head and met her eyes, his own glistening with unshed tears. "I'm trying to prove it to myself," he whispered.

"What?" Janet answered, her voice and arching eyebrows conveying her astonishment.

"What if I don't really love her as much as I think I do?" he continued, still in the desperate whisper. He reached up to grasp her hands, which still rested on top of his. "Back on Abydos, I let her leave with Apophis. We had time; I'm sure Teal'c could have figured something out, that we could have brought her back if I'd only tried harder. And I just left her son with Kasuf. I mean, if I really loved her, shouldn't I have been the one to take him? What's wrong with me? Sometimes entire days go by and I don't really even think about her, don't miss her. What kind of a horrible husband does that make me? And..." Suddenly he broke off abruptly and released her hands, slumping back in his seat and looking miserable.

Janet was at a complete loss for words; she watched him intensely, hoping her eyes managed to convey the depth of compassion and care she felt.

"Don't say it will be okay," Daniel muttered.

"You know I won't. But Daniel, even someone who feels things as strongly as you do cannot sustain emotional intensity all the time. If nothing else, from a physiological point of view, your sympathetic nervous system needs a break from time to time. But just because you don't feel the emotion doesn't mean it isn't there." Daniel looked up at her again, nodding slightly. "And you're not alone, Daniel. We'll all help you through this as much as we can."

"Thanks," he answered. "Sometimes it helps to have someone with whom to be brutally honest."

"I'm always here," Janet responded without hesitation. Something in his eyes, though, suggested that he might not have told her everything, and she wondered whether he would open up in this way again. The much-repressed part of her brain which hinted that friendly care was not all she felt for Daniel decided that it was just as well not to tread into potentially dangerous territory.

The silence between them was awkward for a few minutes, and Daniel glanced at his watch. "Oh, didn't you need to get Cassie soon?"

"Wow, I didn't realize it was so late," she replied, almost grateful for an out. "Yes, I should get going."

They paid for their drinks and walked out to the parking lot together. Before Janet climbed into her car, she felt Daniel's hand on her shoulder. "Thank you, Janet," he said again, before leaning over to kiss her briefly on the cheek. It seemed to be a friendly kiss, nothing unusual, but Janet was stunned by the complex emotions of it.

"Uh, I'll see you tomorrow, I guess," she said, forcing a friendly smile and reaching for her car door while inwardly yelling at herself to get the hell away from him before any more barriers came tumbling down.

"Yeah, goodnight," answered Daniel, also attempting to sound lighthearted while emotionally back-pedaling as quickly as he could. "Say hi to Cass for me." Walk away, walk away! yelled his brain. She nodded and smiled again quickly. He watched her crank her car and drive out of the parking lot.