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The Amadeus Effect	By : NeenaVarscona Category: Stargate: SG-1 > General Views: 6242 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Stargate: SG1, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 17
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- 19
~~~~~

Leaving Casey and Pierce at base camp, SG-1 along with Ferretti and Griff made the day-long hike to the Goa�uld trading post. Unlike the last time they�d made the trip, there was no small talk, and everyone could feel the tension growing as the day wore on.

Jack noticed the way Ferretti kept throwing questioning glances his way, but Jack kept his mouth shut. If Daniel wanted to handle this his way, then he�d keep out of it as promised. Even though it was slowly killing him to see Daniel so out of sorts.

That didn�t mean he wasn�t going to keep an eye on Daniel, just that he was going to have to do it in such a way that Daniel wouldn�t notice. He knew the archaeologist�s uncharacteristic silence was what had Ferretti on edge, and if he were to pry into the matter and mess up Daniel�s plans, then what was Jack to do? He was tempted to subtly prod Ferretti into doing just that, but one look at Griff, smugly plodding along in the belief that he�d cowed the meek little civilian�Jack smiled dangerously�the man didn�t stand a chance against Daniel. Griff would be torn to shreds with words alone, and if it came to a physical confrontation, he�d be in for a real surprise. Daniel may look scrawny, but under those baggy BDUs and floppy hair was a burgeoning soldier. He may not be as strong as Griff, but he was a hell of a lot smarter, and in a fight, brains often won out over brawn. Jack only hoped he�d have a front row seat for the action when the time came.

They reached the temple a good hour before dusk and quickly set up camp. Daniel was pacing around, casting longing looks at the temple, looking for all the world like a puppy begging to go for a walk. Jack decided to throw him a bone.

�Daniel, would you settle down? You�ll have a chance to go back in there first thing in the morning.�

�Jack��

�Not a chance, Daniel. We�ve been hiking for eight hours straight. I plan on pulling up a log, sitting by the fire with a delicious MRE, and then collapsing in exhaustion until the sun comes up.�

�You don�t have to come with me,� Daniel argued, and yes, there was definitely a hint of whine there. �It�s been cleared; you know it�s safe.�

Jack could tell this was a performance that wasn�t intended for him, and he decided to play along and see where it was going. �Well you�re not going in there alone�you know the rules. And I�m not going anywhere tonight.�

�Fine,� said Daniel, a fiery spark glinting behind his round lenses. �If you won�t go, maybe Ferretti or Griff will go.�

Jack caught Griff straightening up at the mention of his name, and it was like watching a shark scenting blood in the water. The soldier got to his feet and approached.

�I�ll go with Dr. Jackson,� he volunteered. The look on his face was all innocence, and it made Jack want to pound his nose flat. But this was Daniel�s show, he reminded himself.

�Thank-you,� Daniel replied graciously and then turned expectantly to Jack.

Jack sighed theatrically. �Fine�but I want you back here in two hours, no later. And so help me, if you make me come in there after you, I�ll send Carter in there tomorrow and you can stay out here and help guard the tents. Got it?� Daniel did a good job of moping, but Jack could see the playfulness in his eyes when he looked at him.

�Two hours. Promise,� said Daniel. He picked up his flashlight and headed for the temple entrance with Griff following close behind. As Jack watched them fade into the deep shadows, his mind obligingly pictured the many ways Daniel could end up getting hurt in there. But he wasn�t getting involved. Nope. He�d made a promise.

***

To Daniel�s surprise, Griff stayed silent until they reached the small antechamber the Goa�uld had used to store their most valued goods. Daniel had peeked inside, lighting his work lantern, and was relieved to see that everything was pretty much as he�d left it. He�d feared the hazmat team would trash the place looking for the cause of his mysterious ailment.

Griff knocked past him and entered the room, grabbing up a crystal globe and tossing it between his hands like a baseball. �So�this is where you tell me that I�m wrong about you and you ask if we can be friends. Right?� The crystal tossing was becoming more pronounced, as if Griff thought it made him look more menacing. Daniel had to fight to keep a straight face. He was so transparent.

�No,� Daniel answered, evenly. �This is where I tell you that if you know what�s good for you you�ll keep out of my business. I can pretty much guarantee that we�ll never be friends, but that doesn�t mean we have to be enemies.�

Griff snorted. �You think I don�t know what you are? You�re a cancer, eating away at the SGC. You�ve been warned; get out now before we make an example of you.�

Daniel couldn�t hold back his laugh this time. �Please�if anything happened to me do you really think you�d get away with it? I don�t know what you �think� you know about me, but there�s a mountain full of people who know a lot more about me than you do. They know that I was the one who opened the Stargate. They know that I put my life on the line over and over again for my team and for Earth, and they know that I do it all because my wife is out there, somewhere, and I won�t rest until I get her back. So whatever tawdry scenario you�ve cooked up in that rigid, extremist military brain of yours had better be put to rest before it blows up in your face.�

Griff�s face grew stormy and he threw himself at Daniel without warning, arms outstretched like he was going to strangle him. Daniel dodged at the last second, and got an elbow in the eye as the soldier stumbled past. With a furious grunt, Griff spun around and tackled Daniel to the floor. They rolled together, banging hard up against the metal legs of the shelving units, both of them scrambling to get the upper hand. Daniel knew better than to allow himself to get pinned underneath his opponent, and Jack had shown him a trick or two�things that Daniel had bemoaned as underhanded at the time, but was now more than happy to put to use. A well-timed knee to Griff�s groin followed by a sharp elbow jab to the kidney bought him enough time to struggle free and make a break for the corridor.

He was one step over the threshold when Griff grabbed a handful of his hair and yanked his head back. Harsh, panting breaths steamed the back of his neck and Daniel felt a cold, metal blade poke him just below the ear. Daniel froze, his hands splayed out on either side of the entryway to hold him steady. Griff was obviously more unstable than he�d thought, and any sudden move now could end disastrously.

�This is not a joke, Doctor. There are those of us at the SGC who would rather go to jail than see the likes of you corrupting the military. Now come away from the door,� Griff huffed in his ear, digging the knife into Daniel�s flesh with enough pressure to draw out a thick drop of blood, which rolled heavily down his neck to pool at his collar.

Daniel knew what Griff was trying to do. A slit throat was pretty hard to pass off as an accident, and despite his bluster, he doubted Griff was truly willing to sacrifice his career, let alone face jail time, for committing murder. Daniel�s hands grasped the edges of the doorway more firmly, feeling along with his fingers for better places to grip onto. As his fingers roamed the carved glyphs along the rim of the entrance, he came across what he thought was a loose piece of stone. It rolled beneath his right index finger for a second before clicking into place in a hidden groove.

There was an intense rumbling that reverberated up from the floor and pulsed through Daniel�s bones. A hoarse shout, muffled by the deafening roar of grinding stone, came from behind him, and suddenly Griff was gone. Daniel twisted around to find that the floor on the other side of the entrance had retracted, leaving a gaping hole into which Griff had fallen.

Daniel couldn�t see the man in the dark pit, but he could hear his harsh breathing, and knew he was in pain. He fumbled for his flashlight and clicked it on, shining it into the five foot square hole in the floor. Griff was about ten feet down, surrounded by the bones of past victims the ancient security device had trapped down there. Daniel scanned the man carefully, trying to see what had Griff wheezing in pain, and it didn�t take long to find the jagged piece of bone protruding from the other man�s hip. Daniel didn�t know a lot about biology, but he knew there were some pretty major arteries down there, and he didn�t want Griff bleeding out, despite what he�d tried to do to him.

�Don�t move,� Daniel called down to him. He was about to leave and bring back the others to help get Griff out, but as soon as he moved his finger from the trapdoor trigger, the floor started sliding back into place. He could see the raw panic in Griff�s eyes, begging him not to leave him like that, alone in a dark sealed pit with the bones of the long-dead. Daniel sized up the situation, and he knew that Griff had done so already. If Daniel were to leave, the floor would slide back into place, effectively burying Griff alive. Daniel doubted anyone would be able to hear the man�s screams for help, and it would be frighteningly easy to simply claim that Griff had mysteriously disappeared. The search teams would find him eventually, but unless Daniel pointed them in the right direction, chances are he�d be long dead before they figured out how to open the trapdoor. For a moment Daniel actually toyed with the idea, until it slammed home that it was a human life he was dealing with, no matter how repugnant he found the other man.

�Throw me your knife,� Daniel said, getting a worried look in response. Daniel sighed. �If I was going to kill you, I wouldn�t need the knife to do it. Now toss it up.�

Griff patted the ground around him until he found the hilt of the knife that had fallen out of his hand when he�d landed in the pit. From his awkward position, lying on the dirt floor, Griff careful took aim and lofted the weapon towards Daniel.

Daniel picked up the knife with a deep frown, his lips pursing at the thought that he was about to save Griff�s life with the very weapon he�d just tried to kill him with. It was a short blade with a lightweight hilt, perfect for close-range combat, and perfect for what Daniel had in mind as well. The tip was thin enough to wedge in-between the trigger stone and the groove it was nestled in. With the knife keeping the stone in place, Daniel was able to take his finger away, freeing up both hands to do what he had to do next.

He tapped his radio urgently. �Jack! We could use some help down here. There�s been an accident,� he said into the radio. He ignored Jack�s �Damn it Daniel, I told you not to touch anything� rant and carefully lowered himself over the lip of the pit. Hanging by his fingertips, he allowed himself to fall the last few feet, landing with the grace of a cat onto the dirt floor below.

Griff blinked up at him like he�d gone insane, and maybe he was right�jumping into a pit that could seal itself shut at any moment with a man who�d nearly murdered him, probably wasn�t the sanest thing he�d ever done. But Griff was bleeding badly, and he wasn�t about to just stand there and let him die when there was something he could do to save him.

�Hold this,� he said, pulling his flashlight out of his pocket where he�d put it for safe keeping. �Point it at your wound and hold it there.� He kept his voice commanding, if not comforting, and the soldier seemed to respond, doing as he was told without comment.

Cursing himself for not thinking to take along a med kit, Daniel removed his shirt. He set about tearing it into long, thin strips. It might not be overly hygienic, but right now it was better than nothing, and they needed a quick fix to stop the bleeding. As he was binding the wound with the makeshift bandages, Griff broke the uneasy silence that had descended between them.

�Why are you doing this?� he asked, his voice hitching in discomfort as Daniel lifted his leg to wrap the linen strips around his injury. �You could have left me here to die. Why didn�t you.�

Shaking his head sadly, Daniel answered. �See, if you knew me, you�d know that I could never do that. Whatever else has happened here, you�re not the enemy. Not really. There are things in this galaxy that are truly evil�creatures that treat others with no regard for the value of a life. The way I see it, every time we turn against each other, we become no better than them. And if we�re no better than them, what are we fighting to protect?�

Daniel continued working in silence, Griff having fallen into a deep contemplation that Daniel almost felt as a physical presence in the pit with them. The young marine had a lot to think about, and Daniel could only hope that he�d take some of what he�d said to heart.

The bandage was in place and Daniel was just about to try and get Griff onto his feet when the cavalry arrived in the form of Colonel O�Neill, Teal�c and Ferretti. Daniel heard their approach and warned them to watch their step before they all stumbled into the pit with them.

It took only a few minutes to haul the injured marine out of the pit and even less time to get Daniel out. Daniel could feel Jack�s eyes carefully checking him over for injuries, and upon finding none, he ruffled Daniel�s hair with an impish smile.

�You nearly gave me a heart attack, Daniel,� said Jack as they hefted Griff to his feet. �Next time you�re not going anywhere near this place without me, you hear?�

Daniel half-snorted in reply. �If you haven�t noticed, I�m not the wounded party here,� he said, returning Jack�s impish smile.

�Yeah�about that,� Jack said. �What the hell happened?�

Griff glanced at Daniel in alarm as Teal�c and Ferretti took their places on either side of him to help him walk. Daniel kept his expression neutral and calmly stated, �We were on our way out of the antechamber and I tripped, accidentally triggering the booby trap in the floor. It was just a freak accident.�

Daniel could tell that Jack wanted to hear the whole story, but for now, it seemed to be enough for him to know that Daniel had come out the clear victor, and he let the matter drop. Griff, too, seemed relieved, and judging by the occasional, grateful glance in his direction, Daniel guessed that he wouldn�t be having any more problems with the marines once they got home.
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The Amadeus Effect