The silence is unbearable; it leaves Daniel alone with his own toxic thought process, running and re-running through endless mental scenarios, anything to forestall the guilt and the crushing image of seeing the SGC ceiling spattered with Seth's cranial tissue.

The loop of the dream running in his mind's eye hits that point again. Daniel closes his eyes, twitching involuntarily when the nonexistent shot goes off so he doesn't have to see the body arcing backwards against the wall. He sees it anyway, naturally, because of course he does.

He opens his eyes again.

The silence persists. It's becoming unsustainable.

"I don't know what to tell you," he says finally, grinding out the internalized mess of frustration that's still winding its way through the mental replay that's just kicked off again. "You knew I worked with my universe's military. And you knew what that could entail."