Perchance to Dream - Part 4
by Bryn



E-MAIL: buddygirl19@yahoo.com
STATUS: Work-in-Progress, Part 4
RATING: PG-13
SEASON: end of 5, into 6
SPOILERS: Meridian
CATEGORY:
SUMMARY: Daniel ascends leaving Janet behind with only dreams.
DISCLAIMER: They're not mine, I just play with them. The song is Bring Me To Life by Evanescence (not mine either).
AUTHOR'S NOTES: If there's anyone out there actually reading this fic, I apologize for the long dry spell, I went on holiday and then had parents visiting, but finally I'm back at the computer... now I just need to find my muse so I can write again!!
FEEDBACK: Seriously makes my life worth living.


Part Four: Bring Me To Life


It was late and after a long day of work, Janet was exhausted. Her body was yelling at her to go to sleep, but her mind would not, or could not, rest, so she just sat there in the sole chair in her quarters, staring at the bed. It had only been nine hours before that she’d lain unconscious in the cave, dreaming of him.

Logic told her it wasn’t really Daniel. She had watched him die in her infirmary. She had gone to his funeral. She had been mourning for him for two months. He was gone, as much as she didn’t want to believe it.

But her heart told her, without a doubt, that that had been him. Same blue eyes, same soft voice, same touch. After so long a time of only guilt and anguish, her heart was overjoyed. It ached for him now, longing to see him again, just for a minute.

He said he could speak to her in her dreams, and part of her yearned to close her eyes and wait for him. That part was at war with the sensible part of her though, which told her it had only been a figment of her wistful and deluded imagination. So half of her dreaded sleep, fearing it would be empty and disappointing: that afterwards she’d be back at the beginning, shattered by losing him again. She didn’t think she could survive it a second time. Finally, the decision was made for her, as sleep overtook her without her consent.

* How can you see into my eyes like open doors
Leading you down into my core
Where I’ve become so numb without a soul *


Janet was surrounded by a dense mist, so thick she felt like she was standing in the middle of a cloud. She felt the moisture on her skin, but she wasn’t cold. Instead, she felt warm and safe. She wondered if she was back in the caves again, but try as she might, she couldn’t discern any walls. All that she could see was the fog: white and glowing unnaturally.

“I’m here,” his voice called from behind her.

She turned around and there he was, just like she remembered him. He wore normal clothes: a light blue button up shirt and dark slacks, and he wore his glasses. He was walking toward her out of the fog… just like a dream.

“I don’t understand this, Daniel,” she whispered. “How is this possible?”

“I’m not dead, Janet. Like Jack told you, I ascended. I still exist,” he explained, with a wave of his hands to emphasize, “just differently.”

* My spirit sleeping somewhere cold
Until you find it there and lead it back home *


“This isn’t just a dream, then?”

He stopped before her, looking down into her eyes. “Oh, this is a dream.” He reached his hand up to touch her face. “But I’m not a figment of your imagination. I’m real.”

His touch was exquisite. She closed her eyes and leaned into his hand, never wanting the feeling to end. She could smell him, the same aftershave he’d always worn, mixed with his own natural scent. How could this not be real?

Reluctantly she opened her eyes again, but he was still there, smiling at her. Again the pain of the last eight weeks overwhelmed her and her eyes began to sting. “I’ve missed you, Daniel,” she whispered. She seemed unable to speak louder, still scared that this would all disappear. “More than you could ever know.”

“I know now,” he assured her. “I can see things now I couldn’t before. I can see you now.” He studied her as she continued to stare at him, her eyes wide with shock and brimming with tears. “Why do you look so sad?”

“The last time I saw you, you were dying and I couldn’t do a damned thing about it,” Janet admitted weakly. “I failed you.”

*Wake me up inside
Call my name and save me from the dark*


“Janet, don’t say that,” he insisted softly. He stepped even closer and took her face in both his hands, using his thumbs to wipe away the tears that were escaping down her cheeks. “You did everything you could - more than anyone could have expected - but there was no way anyone could have helped me. I don’t want you to feel guilty, you have no reason to.”

She covered his hands with hers, taking them down from her face to study them. “I still can’t believe you’re here. That I can see you and feel you.”

“Believe it,” he said with a smile. “I’m here.”

Something clicked in her mind and she looked around again, though not letting go of his hands. “Where *is* here, anyway?” she asked.

“A safe place, in here,” he said, taping her temple lightly with his finger. “No one can find us and no one can disturb us.”

* Breathe into me and make me real
Bring me to life*


“You said you weren’t supposed to be here,” Janet reminded, seeking an explanation.

“No,” Daniel agreed. “I’m not supposed to interfere.”

“Then why? Why are you here?”

“I think you know why.”

*Frozen inside without your touch, without your love
Darling only you are the life among the dead*


She looked down at their joined hands, unable to meet his eyes. It was something she’d been unable and unwilling to admit to him when he lived, but now was her second chance, her only chance. She couldn’t be afraid now: she couldn’t lose him again because she was. “Because… I love you.”

He nodded, a smile that made him look younger and more carefree than Janet had ever seen him playing on his lips and warming his eyes. “You should have told me,” he reproached gently.

“How could I? I was a doctor to you, maybe a friend, nothing else.”

* All this time I can’t believe I couldn’t see
Kept in the dark but you were there in front of me*


“That’s not true, Janet. Maybe I didn’t say anything, maybe I didn’t even realize it, but you were so much more than that to me.” Still clasping her hand in his, he ran his index finger down her cheek. “But I realize it now. I’m sorry it took me so long; I’m sorry I was so blind. You were there in front of me all the time and I was a fool.”

“What are you saying, Daniel?” She looked into his eyes, searching them for any hint that what she hoped for was real.

He smiled at her genuinely. “That I love you, too, Janet.”

Janet wanted to laugh and smile all at the same time. They were the words she’d longed to hear for so long, but…“Why are you telling me this now?” She closed her eyes, as much to keep the tears in as to close out his confused expression. “Why couldn’t you have told me before? When we could have done something about it? How am I supposed to get over you now? How am I supposed to go back to living my life everyday, without you?” Her hands unconsciously tightened around his and her anger at the unfairness was evident in her voice.

* Now that I know what I’m without
You can’t just leave me*


“Do you want to get over me?” he asked softly, wearily.

“No, no…” She shook her head, her eyes still tightly closed.

“Then don’t,” he begged, almost desperately. “I tried to be without you, Janet, and I couldn’t. I can’t. I want you, I *need* you. I may not be able to come to you during your waking hours, but I can come to you at night, here. If you want me, I’ll never leave.”

She opened her eyes and looked straight into his. “I want you,” she said without hesitation. “Don’t leave me.”

Daniel took her hands and wrapped them around his neck before letting them go. His own arms he wrapped around her slender waist, pulling her close to him. He leaned his head closer to hers and just before their lips met, she whispered, “Don’t ever leave me.”

*Bid my blood to run before I come undone Save me from the nothing I’ve become Bring me to life*

TBC...

Copyright (c) Bryn August 2004

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