SG:1 Fic - Five Days Through The Night 1/2
Feb. 7th, 2005 10:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
moonlettuceTitle: Five Days Through The Night
Fandom: Stargate SG:1
Pairing: Jack/Daniel
Rating: NC-17
Notes: This first appeared in the![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
connotations con book for 2004.
Five Days Through The Night
by Claire
"Here, drink this."
Jack looks up as a glass is pushed under his nose, pushed into his hand. And Janet Fraiser is standing there, looking at him with emotion he can't quite recognise in her eyes. "What is it?" Because it may look like orange juice, but not an hour earlier she'd been threatening to have him knocked out if he refused to leave her Infirmary and get some rest. But how can he? How can he rest without knowing? How can he risk not being here if something happens?
"It's just orange juice, Colonel." Janet must have been able to hear the uncertainty in his question because her eyes crinkle with something akin to tiredness tinged with understanding. "If you won't leave then at least I can make sure you don't drop from dehydration while you are here."
Taking a sip of the juice, he places the glass on the small table next to the bed. The bed that contains the man whose hand Jack is refusing to let go of. The bed that contains his lover. The bed that contains Dr Daniel Jackson. Daniel, who's covered in tubes and monitoring equipment. Daniel, who, oh god, was it only this morning?, had hurried Jack into the shower to show him new and inventive uses for liquid soap. And suddenly it hits him, hits him harder than anything ever has before. Voice dropping, Jack turns to Janet. "I'm going to lose him, aren't I?"
He can see the words before they fall from her lips, hear the platitudes designed to reassure him. "Janet, please, the truth." Because he can't handle the word games, can't handle the false hope.
"I don't know," she eventually answers. "The next few hours are critical. If he makes it though the night then I think we're home free."
'If he makes it though the night then we're home free.' Jack holds the words in his mind, clinging to them. He doesn't know what he'll do if he loses Daniel. He just knows that they haven't had enough time together, will never have had enough time together. And they'd still be dancing around each other if it wasn't for that night at his a little over a year ago. That night when they both discovered how they felt about the other. That night when they decided a life together was worth risking everything for...
~#~
Jack grinned as he reached out and put the empty beer bottle on the coffee table to join the others already there. "I don't think I'm completely sober." He could feel the buzz of the alcohol running through his veins.
"You and me both, Jack. But after this last mission I think we've deserved it," replied Daniel.
Jack smiled at his friend. Daniel was right, the last mission had been a doozy. SG-1 had only just managed to escape from the clutches of another Goa'uld. He knew Daniel had named him, but all Jack could remember was it started with H and had sounded like Daniel was clearing his throat. "Yeah, and you've had less than me." Closing his eyes, Jack let his head fall gently onto the back of the sofa.
"Like you once told me, Jack, I'm a cheap date."
"Nah, not cheap, Danny," muttered Jack. "You're worth every cent to me." And then he'd realised what he'd said. Opening his eyes, he looked over to where a Daniel was staring at him in shock. "I, err..." He'd been about to say that he didn't mean it the way it sounded, but that was a lie. He did mean it, meant it with every part of him. Dropping his gaze for a brief second before looking back up he was surprised to find Daniel still staring at him, eyes full of arousal swimming in a sea of blue.
Ignoring the voice telling him this was a bad idea, Jack moved forward, closed the distance between them and brushed his lips across Daniel's.
A groan came from deep in Daniel's throat as Jack pressed his lips harder against the other man's. Soft lips opened beneath his and a tongue darted into his mouth, teasing.
Jack's tongue rising up to meet Daniel's, he wrapped his fingers around the archaeologist's arm, feeling the heat seeping through his shirt and sinking into Jack's skin. Pulling Daniel closer, Jack moaned with loss when the other man broke from the embrace and pulled away.
"We shouldn't do this." Daniel's voice was barely a whisper. Pushing himself to his feet, he started towards the door.
Jack knew Daniel was right, knew there were a thousand and one reasons why they shouldn't be doing what they were thinking about doing. But at that moment, he couldn't bring a single one to mind. All Jack knew was if he let Daniel walk out of that door he would regret it. Going after Daniel, he reached out and took hold of the other man's arm, stopping him. "Don't leave," he said. "Please."
Blue eyes looked down at the fingers wrapped around his arm before meeting Jack's. "Don't ask me unless you mean it." The words were soft.
Jack stopped. Did he mean it? If they did this and were found out both of them would be off the Stargate Project quicker than you could say 'don't ask, don't tell'. And not only that but Jack would most likely be hauled up on a court martial for 'conduct unbecoming an officer'. Was it worth the risk? He'd wanted to be in the Air Force his entire life. As a child he would daydream about flying planes and winning wars. But his career, his life, was so much more than that. He was doing things people only dreamed about, things that he'd once dreamed about. He'd once thought there was nothing that would make him jeopardise that. He was wrong. Tightening his hold on Daniel's arm, he pulled the other man back to him. "I mean it."
Emotions flickered across Daniel's face, too fast for Jack to name them. And then the younger man's features settled, determination written over him. His hands rising to Jack's cheeks, he pulled Jack to him and kissed him, lips opening to admit his tongue.
The hint of beer on Daniel's breath added to Jack's own slight intoxication and he felt giddy. And underneath it he could taste something else, something he couldn't name. And then it came to him. He was tasting Daniel. Soft, spicy and with a sense of musk, but definitely something uniquely Daniel.
Their mouths still together, Daniel's hands moved from Jack's face, reaching down to the bottom of his shirt and pulling it free from his trousers, dipping underneath and skimming the skin of his stomach with feather-light touches before disappearing.
Jack moaned with the loss of contact, Daniel's mouth swallowing the sound as fingers slowly reached out to undo the buttons on Jack's shirt. But Daniel hadn't even got one of them open before he stopped, breaking contact with Jack and stepping away. And the only thought that sprang to Jack's mind was that Daniel'd had second thoughts about continuing, swiftly followed by what he could do to change the other man's mind back again. He knew he was wrong when Daniel took hold of the front of Jack's shirt and simply ripped it open, sending buttons flying around the room. Jack grinned as air brushed across his now exposed skin. He liked this side of Daniel, his hardening cock liked this side of Daniel, and both of them hoped they'd get to see it more often. Pulling Daniel back to him, he tangled his fingers in the brown hair and tilted Daniel's face back towards him.
Daniel laughed softly and shimmied out of Jack's grasp, smile widening when the older man automatically reached out to catch hold of him again. Pressing his hands against Jack's chest, he started to walk forward, forcing Jack backwards until his legs hit the couch.
The hands now resting on his shoulders forced Jack to sit, eyes fixed steadily on Daniel's form as he pushed apart Jack's legs and knelt between them. Nimble hands deftly opened Jack's trousers and released the rock-hard erection straining to be free. He sucked in a breath as fingers more used to handling centuries old artefacts were suddenly wrapped around him, holding him, caressing him. And then all thoughts fled from his mind as Daniel's head dipped and a soft tongue lapped at his heated flesh. Wetness swept up and down his length, Daniel's tongue tracing patterns on Jack's velvet hardness. He wanted to thrust into Daniel's mouth, wanted to do anything that got more of his cock in Daniel's mouth, but the hands on his hips held him to the couch. Jack's head dropped back and he closed his eyes, biting at his lower lip as teeth were gently scraped up his shaft. He could feel himself start to tighten, feel his orgasm build in him. "Dan... Daniel..." he gasped out, wanting to stop the younger man, wanting to prolong the delicious agony.
"Yes, Jack?"
Jack opened his eyes and raised his head to look at the man kneeling between his legs. The calmness of Daniel's reply belied his eyes, now so dilated Jack could only see a corona of blue around a pool of black. Cupping his hands around Daniel's face, Jack brought the other man face to face with him. "When I come... it's going to be in you," he said, feeling ridiculously pleased with himself for managing to string a sentence together.
"Whatever you want, Jack. Whatever you say." Daniel's tongue darted out to lick at his lips.
Jack growled, the throb running through his cock beating an insistent tattoo. "You," he pointed to Daniel. "Here," then to his erection. "Now."
The younger man smiled before he pulled away and got to his feet. Toeing off his boots and socks, Daniel stood there in bare feet as he raised his hands and slowly began to undo his shirt. Stopping when half of the buttons were open, he licked a finger and circled a nipple with the wet digit, enticing it to hardness.
Jack hissed along with Daniel as the small, brown nub crinkled into hardness. His entire body thrummed as he watched Daniel shrug off his now open shirt. Thrummed as Daniel stepped closer and swept the shirt across Jack's body, fabric brushing lightly over the older man's nipples, before finally dropping it to the floor. Thrummed as the archaeologist, his archaeologist, straddled his legs and rubbed against Jack's exposed cock with the one straining under his trousers. Reaching up, Jack carefully plucked Daniel's glasses off his face and placed them on the side table. Daniel's head tilted slightly as Jack's fingers danced over his stomach, flesh rippling with the soft touch. Wanting to feel more of Daniel's flesh next to his, Jack gently pushed the younger man off his lap, looking him up and down as he stood before him. Leaning forward, he swiftly opened Daniel's trousers before hooking his hands into the fabric and pulling them down.
Daniel's hard cock sprang free, finally released from the captivity of his trousers.
Jack licked his lips. Wanting to know what the other man tasted like he edged forward, frowning when Daniel moved away, stepping out of his trousers and kicking them to the side.
"When I come, it's going to be with you in me." Daniel echoed Jack's earlier sentiment. "Do you have anything?" he asked, stepping forward and trailing a finger up Jack's hardness.
"Er, no," admitted Jack, feeling like screaming. He hadn't exactly planned this, but if he'd known it was going to happen he would have bought the local pharmacy out of every supply they could have possibly used.
"Well, we know we're both clean, so that just leaves lubricant."
Jack could feel his heart breaking and his cock starting to wilt. "I don't have any."
Daniel smiled enigmatically. "Not a problem."
'Yes, a problem!' thought Jack as Daniel moved away from him, heading into the kitchen. 'Big honkin' problem if Daniel doesn't get his ass right back here, right now!' He could hear some of the cupboards in his kitchen being opened and closed again, before Daniel's soft triumphant cry reached him.
Standing in the doorway, Daniel held up a bottle of olive oil. "I told you, not a problem."
Jack's cock jerked back to attention as Daniel padded back into the middle of the room and opened the bottle.
Fixing his gaze with Jack's, Daniel knelt down and poured some of the oil onto his fingers.
Unable to tear his eyes away, Jack watched as Daniel's reached behind himself with now slick fingers and started to prepare himself for Jack.
Moaning as fingers slipped into his body, Daniel stretched himself, pushing back on the fingers he held within his ass.
"daniel..." the murmur slipped from Jack's lips as the man he had wanted for so long opened himself in front of him.
Stretched as much as he wanted to be, Daniel stood and closed the distance between them. Leaning down, he swept his tongue over Jack's lips as he tipped the bottle, slowly drizzling oil onto the head of the older man's cock.
'My couch is dead,' Jack thought, as the oil ran down his cock to pool between his legs. And then Daniel's hand wrapped around him, spreading the oil, and the only words in Jack's mind were, 'fuck the couch!'
Putting the bottle next to his glasses on the side table, Daniel straddled Jack, a hand reaching down to position the other man's cock at the entrance to his body. "Ready?" he asked softly.
'I've been ready for this since the moment I saw you juggling star maps and coffee at the SGC,' was the thought, and then all words fled from him as his cock was steadily engulfed by the velvet heat of Daniel's body. Swallowing him, holding him, until Daniel's ass was flush with his skin and there was nowhere else to go. And it had been too long since he'd felt this. It was too much, but not enough, and he needed more. "Daniel..." He couldn't tell if the strangled moan was a plea or a demand, but it was something, because he couldn't stay quiet.
And Daniel answered, answered by placing his hands on Jack's arms and lifting himself off Jack's cock until only the head remained inside him. Lifted himself before dropping back down.
Jack wasn't sure whether the groan that rent the air was his or Daniel's; was more than half convinced it belonged to both of them. Daniel's hands stayed on his arms as the younger man set a punishing rhythm, fucking himself on Jack's pulsing hardness. Skin slapped against skin, the house filled with gasps and moans. Raising his hips to meet Daniel's movements, Jack could feel his body scream every time he was pulled from Daniel, screaming to be buried back in the younger man. Working on instinct, craving the tightness and the heat, Jack met each of Daniel's downward thrusts, cleaving into his lover.
Arching his back as his motions became more erratic, Daniel tightened his hold on Jack's arm, fingers digging into the soft flesh. Dropping forcefully onto Jack's lap, Daniel cried out, his seed spilling between them.
Jack's cry joined Daniel's as the younger man clamped down on his cock, ripping the orgasm from him. Spilling himself into Daniel's body with a final thrust, Jack slumped back, feeling the warmth of Daniel's come spread over his stomach.
Draped over Jack's body, Daniel dropped his head to rest on the older man's shoulder.
"Stay," Jack murmured.
"I'll have to," Daniel replied. "I don't think I can move."
"Suits me," grinned Jack, quite happy with the reassuring weight of Daniel blanketed over him. "Suits me just fine..."
~#~
"Colonel?"
The voice floating into his ear and the hand on his shoulder shakes Jack out of his memories. Turning, he looks up at Doctor Fraiser. "Yeah?" Because he knows he missed what she said, and she knows it too, so he's not even going to try to bluff his way out, to pretend he was listening.
"I was just saying, Daniel's unlikely to wake within the next few hours. Are you sure you don't want to use this time to go and get some rest?"
But Jack can tell from the look on her face that she knows, even as she's saying the words, that he's going to refuse, going to stay here. "No, I want to be here, just in case..." But the words trail off because he's unable to voice them, unable to give them substance. "What should I do?" And the words are a plea to Janet. Because he needs to do something. Needs to do more than sit here helpless.
"Talk to him," Janet replies. "People seem to respond better if they hear a voice, especially if it's someone they know."
Jack nods before he turns back to Daniel's too-still form. He can hear Janet moving off, but ignores her. "Well, Danny, the Doc says I gotta talk to you. It's a pretty good idea, too. I'm guessing you'll wake up just to tell me to shut it." His thumb rubs gently over Daniel's hand as he speaks. "Come on, baby, open those eyes for me before I start boring you with tales from my misspent youth." But Daniel's eyes stay shut. "Okay, but don't say I didn't warn you, Danny-boy." Jack takes a breath, looking down at his lover's pale face before starting. "I never told you the story of when I was 13 and went fishing with my grandfather, did I? Well, it was the summer and I'd been looking forward to it all year..."
~~<<->>~~
Janet Fraiser glances back quickly before she leaves the Infirmary, Jack O'Neill's soft voice cutting out as she closes the door behind her. Daniel's as stable as she can make him, and the nurse on duty has orders to get her if there's any change in his condition. He also has orders not to disturb the Colonel under any circumstances. She doubts if keeping the nature of his relationship with SG-1's archaeologist quiet is uppermost on Jack's mind at the moment, and the least she can do is make sure no one will overhear exactly what is being said to the unconscious man.
When she'd first seen Daniel there'd been so much blood sticking to his uniform that she'd automatically assumed the worst, that she didn't know if he was going to make it. Not that she was about to say that. Not to the General, not to Sam or Teal'c, and certainly not to the Colonel running alongside the gurney refusing to let go of Daniel's hand.
She doesn't like to think of how often she's done this; of how often she's had a member one of the SG teams laying on a gurney, or in surgery, with the rest of the team waiting for news, any news, hoping it'll be what they so desperately want to hear. Especially doesn't like to think of how often it's been this particular team, this particular person. She hates to see anyone at the SGC injured, but SG-1 are different. They aren't just people under her care, they're friends. The man lying on that gurney isn't just a patient, he's the man who gave Cassie the dress she'd been after for weeks for her birthday. He's the man who sat up with her for hours after her latest relationship didn't work out. He's not just Dr Jackson, resident archaeological expert of the SGC. He's Daniel. He's her friend. And this scene has played out far too often. Too many times has Daniel Jackson been lying in that bed, waiting for surgery. Too many times has Jack O'Neill been pacing across the room, trying to do anything to keep himself from screaming.
Janet doesn't know how he does it. It's hard enough staying sane when it's her friends that are in danger, god only know what it's like when it's your lover. If anyone is injured then she's in the middle of it, actively trying to save them and dropping back on her professionalism to help her get through. All Jack can do is watch and wait. Watch, wait and wonder what's going to happen. She doubts if she could do it, especially if she had to pretend to the world that the person she was so worried about was just a friend. At least she can give Jack the privacy he needs and make sure he's not interrupted by a procession of nurses and doctors. At least she can make sure he can talk to Daniel freely without worrying about who could be listening. And to think, if this had happened only a few weeks ago she wouldn't have even been able to give him that. Wouldn't have been able to because she'd had no idea that Jack O'Neill and Daniel Jackson were any more than just good friends...
~#~
"Cassie!" Janet shouted, smiling at her adopted daughter when the teenager stuck her head around the door.
"Yeah?"
"Take these out to the table, will you?" Janet waved over to a couple of bowls sitting on the counter.
"Sure, mom." Cassandra picked up the bowls and started to head back out of the room.
Janet smiled to herself as Cassandra left. If someone had told her a few years ago that she'd be hosting a Thanksgiving party for her, her friends, and her teenage daughter, Janet would have thought they were insane. But, there she was. She was just glad she hadn't had to do all the work. Everyone who was there had brought something with them. Sam had been there most of the afternoon helping her prepare everything else that was needed for the meal, but now, the other woman was sitting in the front room explaining to Teal'c just what Thanksgiving was about. The large Jaffa had told them that he could understand the concept of a day of giving thanks, what he couldn't seem to wrap his mind around was why it was so important that this day had to involve a 25 pound turkey.
Chuckling softly, Janet turned back to the counter. All of the vegetables were sitting in their dishes, the table was laid, and all that was needed was to take the turkey out of the oven and get down to the serious business of Thanksgiving dinner. Bending down and opening the oven, Janet was stopped from her task of removing the turkey by Cassandra's voice.
"Are these the last ones to go in?"
Getting back to her feet and turning to face her daughter, Janet looked at where Cass was pointing. "Yes, that's it. I've just got to get the turkey and we're all set. Is everyone ready?"
"Sam and Teal'c are in the front room. I saw Colonel O'Neill and Daniel go out onto the back porch a while ago; I think they're still there."
Janet frowned slightly. What would Jack and Daniel be doing standing on the back porch? Walking across the room to glance out of the window, Janet couldn't help the gasp that escaped her lips as she saw Daniel lean over and place a quick kiss on Jack's lips and slip his hand into the Colonel's. She'd never realised, never known. And then she wondered if Sam knew, absent-mindedly listing all the ways she was going to make the other woman pay if she'd known about this and not told Janet.
"They fit, don't they?"
The quiet words brought her attention skidding back to the girl next to her.
Cassandra looked at Janet. "You didn't know?" she asked, correctly reading the look on her mother's face as surprise.
"And you did?" Janet didn't know what she was more unnerved at, finding Jack and Daniel were obviously so much more than friends, or finding out her daughter knew about it when she didn't.
Cassie shrugged. "I kinda guessed. Um, it wasn't that hard," she continued at the look Janet gave her. "Colonel O'Neill looks at Daniel the way..." Cassandra's words trailed off.
"Yes?" Janet prompted gently.
"The way I remember my mother looking at my father." The words were so soft Janet had to strain to hear them.
Reaching out Janet wrapped her arms around Cassandra and pulled her into a hug. "It's okay to talk about them, you know."
"I know," Cass replied, "but I don't want to hurt you." I don't want to remind you that you're not my real mother. Janet heard the unspoken words.
"Hearing about them could never hurt me, Cass. How could it when I owe them so much?" She carried on speaking when Cassandra frowned. "If it wasn't for them, I'd never have you. And not having you is something I don't even want to consider."
Cassandra was quiet for long moments before, "I love you, mom."
"I love you, too, Cass." Janet tightened her hold on the young woman in her arms, before moving away. "Now, we'd better get this out before everyone gets so hungry they start nibbling on each other."
"Um, I think we're too late for that," laughed Cassandra, nodding to the window.
Looking out the window, knowing what she'd see, Janet's laugh joined her daughter's as she watched Jack capture Daniel's lips in a long kiss. "You'd better take those last two bowls through and go out and tell them dinner's ready."
Cass nodded as she turned to pick up the bowls of vegetables.
"Oh, and Cass?" Janet called softly before her daughter left.
"Yeah?"
"Make sure they're a respectable distance apart before you interrupt them."
Cassandra's melodic laughter could still be heard as Janet pulled the turkey out of the oven and put it on its plate.
"Hey."
Janet turned towards the voice coming from the doorway.
"Cassie told us you're ready. Are you sure there's nothing you want us to do?" Jack asked.
Janet smiled. "Well, if you insist, you can carry the turkey through."
"Sure." Heading over to the counter, Jack picked up the turkey, grimacing slightly at the weight. "Jeez, Doc, you planning on feeding the entire SGC with this thing?"
Janet laughed. "Don't blame me. Once Sam told Teal'c about the turkey tradition, he insisted on supplying the one for today."
"Where'd he get it? 'Mutant Turkeys R Us?'" muttered Jack, walking out of the kitchen.
After checking the oven was switched off, Janet followed him through to the other room. Watching as he tried to find a place on the table to put the turkey down, Janet saved him by picking up a bottle of wine to clear a space big enough for the plate. "Daniel, if you'd do the honours," she asked, handing him the bottle.
"Sure," Daniel replied, opening the bottle.
"Wine?" Jack said doubtfully as Daniel poured him a glass before moving around the table and filling the other glasses there.
Sam grinned. "It's just for the toast, Colonel, there's beer in the fridge."
"Well, that's okay, then," he replied cheerfully, throwing a grin in Daniel's direction as the other man placed the nearly empty bottle in the middle of the table and sat next to him.
Janet just managed to hide the smile that wanted to spring to her face. Cass was right, they did fit, she was just surprised she'd never seen it before now.
"Well, what are we thankful for this year, kids?" Jack asked, raising his glass of wine.
"Friends," replied Janet, without hesitation. "No," she said, suddenly changing her mind. Looking around the table, she realised that the people here were more than just friends. Her free hand reaching out to lay over Cassandra's, she smiled softly. "Family. To family."
"To family," everyone echoed.
"Yeah," said Jack, the glance he threw at Daniel so quick Janet wasn't sure if she imagined it or not, "I'll drink to that..."
~#~
And now she's tended to two members of the SG-1 family, she needs to tend to the other two before she can make her report to General Hammond...
~~<<->>~~
Major Samantha Carter doesn't quite know what to do with herself. Dr Boyd hustled her into one of the medical rooms to check out her shoulder just as Daniel was being taken into surgery. He was still in there when Boyd had told her that she was going be fine, if sore and bruised for the next few days. Sore and bruised, she came off a hell of a lot better than Daniel did.
She'd barely even noticed the jarring shudder that ran through her shoulder as she impacted with the ramp. Her P-90 was still kicking out bullets into the wormhole because she knew at least one of the Jaffa was right behind her.
And then the iris was closed, and she thinks she remembers hearing a dull thud before the wormhole disengaged. They were back home, back in the safety of the SGC. Pushing herself to her feet, Sam's eyes were instantly drawn to the base of the ramp. The base of the ramp where Daniel was being frantically placed onto a gurney as Janet Fraiser barked out orders at people to get the surgery prepped. Where airmen were clearing a path through to the door so they could get to the Infirmary as quickly as possible. Where Colonel O'Neill had abandoned his pack and was running out of the door alongside the gurney. Where a patch of floor, marked with blood and footprints, taunted her with what happened to Daniel.
And she still doesn't even know if her friend is going to make it...
"Sam?"
Raising her eyes from the cup of coffee she's been staring at for the past she doesn't know how long, she sees Janet looking at her with worry etched across her features.
"Are you okay?"
"I'm fine. How's Daniel?"
Janet sighs and sits down opposite her. "He's stable."
"But?" Because Sam can hear the 'but' in Janet's words, can see it in her posture.
"He's still critical," Janet admits. "Colonel O'Neill is in there with him."
Well of course he is, thinks Sam, because where else would he be? He wouldn't move from outside the surgical room and as soon as Daniel was wheeled out, he was in the Infirmary with him. And not a word had been said about it. Sam wants to snort, can feel the hysteria welling up inside her, but thinks that if she starts laughing she might start crying, and if she start crying she might never stop. It must be the best kept open secret in the SGC. It's well known among everyone who works in the Mountain that if the Colonel isn't in his office, then he's in Daniel's, and if you want to find Dr Jackson then the best bet is to find Colonel O'Neill. It's almost like they're one person: Jackanddaniel, O'Neillandjackson. And it had hurt when she'd found out, had hurt like hell...
~#~
"Why didn't you tell me?" Sam whirled around to look at the two men standing in her living room.
"We didn't think you should know," admitted Daniel.
"Why? Were you so sure that I'd go running to the General."
"Of course not, Sam."
But it was Colonel O'Neill's voice that she listened to.
"Major, think about it. If anyone finds out about this then we're gone, no questions asked. Daniel'll be kicked off the Project and I'll be hauled up in front of a court-martial." He paused. "As would anyone else who knew but didn't say anything. If you didn't know then they couldn't use it against you."
"We wanted to tell you, Sam," stressed Daniel. "We just thought it best not to. We thought it would be safer for you."
And you. It's also safer for you. Because if no one knows, then no one can tell Hammond. Sam's train of thought stopped suddenly. Because they hadn't said no one else knew, just that they hadn't told her. "Who else knows?"
Daniel paused, glancing down before he answered her. "Teal'c."
"So, you could tell him, but not me?" And that hurt almost as much, that they trusted Teal'c but not her.
"No, Sam!" exclaimed Daniel. "We didn't tell Teal'c, he just knew."
"So, mind-reading is now part of the Jaffa make-up?"
Daniel shifted uncomfortably as he threw a look at the Colonel. And part of Sam felt strangely triumphant, but that was soon squashed by guilt. Guilt that she would feel happy over causing her friend distress.
"No, it's not," O'Neill answered for both of them. "But it's not unknown for Jaffa to, what did Teal'c call it?"
"Pair-bond," supplied Daniel.
"Yeah, pair-bond," nodded O'Neill.
"So, he just picked up on the signs that I somehow missed?"
"That and his wonderful sense of smell," muttered the Colonel.
"Smell?" frowned Sam.
Daniel flushed and for a brief moment the only word that ran through Sam's mind was 'cute'.. "Apparently a Jaffa has a more sensitive olfactory nerve than a human does."
"He smells like a dog," commented O'Neill, who then stopped and thought about what he'd just said. "And I mean that in the nicest possible way," he added.
But surely he can't be saying what she thinks he's saying. "He smelled you on each other?!"
"Yup," nodded the Colonel. "And it was kinda difficult to tell him he was wrong when he walked up to me when we were on P3X-923 and told me that if I was going to molest Daniel Jackson in the middle of the night I should at least wait until we were somewhere with a shower." His voice dropped a tone as he imitated Teal'c's speech pattern almost perfectly.
"Please understand, Sam, we didn't keep this from you to hurt you. We didn't do this just to hurt you."
And deep down she knew he was right, knew that they didn't set out just to hurt her, but it doesn't stop it from hurting. "You told me you cared."
"Sam?"
She was trying not to let the tears come as she looked at Colonel O'Neill. "When Anise thought we were zatarcs. You were strapped up to that machine, and you said that you cared about me. Cared more than you were supposed to. Were you lying?"
And Jack looked at her, but didn't leave Daniel's side. "No, Major, I didn't lie. I do care about you, and it probably is more than a commander should care about the people under him, but it's the same way I care about Teal'c. Or about Janet. Hell, even about Hammond, and Jacob."
"Not the way you care about Daniel." It wasn't a question, because she already knew the answer.
"No, Major, not the way I... care... about Daniel." Not the way I love Daniel. She could hear the words even though O'Neill didn't speak them.
"I think you should leave now." She turned away from them, casting her gaze out of the window, absently noting how empty the street looked. The only vehicle she could see was Colonel O'Neill's jeep parked outside her house.
"Sam-" But Daniel's words were cut off.
"I think the Major's right, Danny, we should leave."
And it was probably the first time she'd known Jack O'Neill to not go at something with the delicacy of a raging bull, to actually know when to back away.
"If you're sure you'll be all right."
And it would have been so much easier if Daniel hadn't shown so much concern, if he hadn't been so worried about her. Part of her wanted to demonize him, to rant and rave about how he's stolen the Colonel from under her nose, but she couldn't. He wasn't a demon, he was Daniel. And if she couldn't take it out on him, then she was going to take it out on something. Sam wanted to scream and shout and she was damned if she was going to do it with spectators, especially these spectators.
She didn't turn around as they left, hearing them walk past her and then the soft click of the front door opening and closing. She watched as they headed down her path to O'Neill's jeep, his hand resting in the small of Daniel's back as they walked.
And suddenly she couldn't stand it anymore. Grabbing the nearest thing she could she hurled it at the opposite wall, watching in satisfaction as the small glass teddy bear her brother had given her one Christmas smashed into a million pieces and dropped to the floor.
It wasn't fair! She'd opened her heart when Anise had linked her up to that damned machine, had thought Colonel O'Neill had as well. And now, all her beliefs lay as shattered as that glass bear. It just wasn't fair...
~#~
"Sam?"
She looks up to see concerned eyes watching her.
"You okay? You sort of spaced out there for a moment."
"I'm fine, Janet, just thinking."
Janet smiles. "I think there have been a lot of people doing that tonight."
"We nearly lost him, didn't we." We still could. She can't voice the words, doesn't want to make them real.
And then Janet's hand is on hers, warm, soft and reassuring. "He's stronger than a lot of people think, you know."
"I know," she nods. Daniel Jackson has a soul of steel. It's part of what O'Neill sees in him, she thinks. So many of the people who come into the SGC write him off as a geek when they first meet him. She knows O'Neill did. She's heard the tale of the infamous first trip to Abydos from Ferretti, heard all about the hard-ass Colonel who didn't trust the civilian archaeologist he'd been lumbered with for the mission, and yet still risked everything on his word. Even back then Daniel had got underneath the Colonel's skin. Hell, even in an alternate reality where she and O'Neill were the ones involved in a relationship, Jack O'Neill still faced off a horde of Jaffa for Daniel, sacrificed the last hope his planet had for a guy he'd only known 5 minutes. It seemed like the universe had decided that Daniel Jackson and Jack O'Neill were bound together.
And it wasn't as though she found herself disagreeing with the universe these days. She knows she was angry when she'd found out that they'd hid their relationship from her, and she knows she was a bitch to both of them for a good couple of weeks after she'd found out, but that had changed when Teal'c had pulled her aside one day. His words still rang through her. 'Is your sole purpose to make them as unhappy as you are?' And her first answer had been yes. Yes, she wanted them unhappy. Yes, she wanted them apart. And then she'd thought about it one night. Sat down and really thought about it. Both the Colonel and Daniel had been more relaxed, happier, than she'd ever seen them. And, although she hadn't known it at the time, she knew now that their relationship was the cause.
And it wasn't as if anything would have ever happened between her and O'Neill. Any type of liaison between them was against Air Force regulations, and she couldn't see either of them giving up the Stargate Programme for the other person. And that was what had made her realise what the difference between her and Daniel was. She could never see O'Neill giving up SG-1 for her, but she could see him giving it up for Daniel, if he had to. And she could see Daniel giving it up for the Colonel. Neither of them would want to but they'd do it, in a heartbeat and without hesitation. They loved each other, and it was plain to see to anyone who didn't have her head up her own ass. So, that night, in the sanctuary of her own house, she'd worked through it, through the anger and the emotions and sorted everything out in her own mind. It may have taken her two pints of double chocolate chip ice cream and a box of tissues, but she'd done it.
The next day, she'd tracked both of them down in Daniel's office and apologised. Apologised and hoped that she hadn't ruined two of the best friendships she'd ever had. And when she'd asked if they could just forget that the previous weeks had happened, Daniel had laughed and hugged her, and O'Neill had replied with "What previous weeks?" and then grinned. She'd sworn to herself there and then that no one would use what those two men felt for each other against them if she could help it.
Focusing her attention back on Janet, Sam smiles. "I know he is," she says, her voice stronger.
Janet returns her smile before she asks, "How's your shoulder?"
"Tender," Sam admits, "but it'll be as good as new in a few days. Boyd gave me some anti-inflammatory cream for it, although I won't be doing any shoulder-rolls for a while, though."
"Did he see Teal'c, as well?"
Sam nods. The Jaffa had been checked over by Dr Boyd as soon as she'd come out. "He's fine, some cuts and a couple of strained muscles. He went to his quarters, he said that going into a state of Kel'no'reem would help the symbiote to heal him faster."
"I won't disturb him then." Janet pauses slightly as she looks at her watch. "Damn, I was meant to give the General a report on Daniel's condition."
"Shouldn't you have gone as soon as you got Daniel settled?"
Janet shrugs and blushes slightly. "Yes, but I was worried about you."
Smiling, Sam shakes her head softly. "Go, I'll be fine."
"You sure? General Hammond won't mind if I'm another few minutes late."
"Positive. I was thinking about swinging by the Infirmary to see if there's anything the Colonel wants, anyway."
Janet nods as she stands, and Sam only just stops the frown as the other woman moves her hand from atop Sam's, cool air now sweeping over the blonde's skin.
Watching as Janet walks out of the mess, Sam absently traces her fingers over the back of her hand. When the doctor is out of sight, her eyes drop back down to look at the disgustingly cold coffee. Picking the cup up to dump it in the trash, Sam checks her pockets for change as she heads back over to the snack machines. If Colonel O'Neill has plans to stay in the Infirmary until Daniel wakes up then he'll need something to eat other than the reconstituted bars he seems to keep in his trouser pockets. She thinks chocolate is good, so she pulls out quarters and starts feeding them to the machine. And if he doesn't want the chocolate then she'll have it while she's keeping him company, because there's no need for him to face this night alone, not when she's around...
~~<<->>~~
On to part two
Fandom: Stargate SG:1
Pairing: Jack/Daniel
Rating: NC-17
Notes: This first appeared in the
connotations con book for 2004.Five Days Through The Night
by Claire
"Here, drink this."
Jack looks up as a glass is pushed under his nose, pushed into his hand. And Janet Fraiser is standing there, looking at him with emotion he can't quite recognise in her eyes. "What is it?" Because it may look like orange juice, but not an hour earlier she'd been threatening to have him knocked out if he refused to leave her Infirmary and get some rest. But how can he? How can he rest without knowing? How can he risk not being here if something happens?
"It's just orange juice, Colonel." Janet must have been able to hear the uncertainty in his question because her eyes crinkle with something akin to tiredness tinged with understanding. "If you won't leave then at least I can make sure you don't drop from dehydration while you are here."
Taking a sip of the juice, he places the glass on the small table next to the bed. The bed that contains the man whose hand Jack is refusing to let go of. The bed that contains his lover. The bed that contains Dr Daniel Jackson. Daniel, who's covered in tubes and monitoring equipment. Daniel, who, oh god, was it only this morning?, had hurried Jack into the shower to show him new and inventive uses for liquid soap. And suddenly it hits him, hits him harder than anything ever has before. Voice dropping, Jack turns to Janet. "I'm going to lose him, aren't I?"
He can see the words before they fall from her lips, hear the platitudes designed to reassure him. "Janet, please, the truth." Because he can't handle the word games, can't handle the false hope.
"I don't know," she eventually answers. "The next few hours are critical. If he makes it though the night then I think we're home free."
'If he makes it though the night then we're home free.' Jack holds the words in his mind, clinging to them. He doesn't know what he'll do if he loses Daniel. He just knows that they haven't had enough time together, will never have had enough time together. And they'd still be dancing around each other if it wasn't for that night at his a little over a year ago. That night when they both discovered how they felt about the other. That night when they decided a life together was worth risking everything for...
~#~
Jack grinned as he reached out and put the empty beer bottle on the coffee table to join the others already there. "I don't think I'm completely sober." He could feel the buzz of the alcohol running through his veins.
"You and me both, Jack. But after this last mission I think we've deserved it," replied Daniel.
Jack smiled at his friend. Daniel was right, the last mission had been a doozy. SG-1 had only just managed to escape from the clutches of another Goa'uld. He knew Daniel had named him, but all Jack could remember was it started with H and had sounded like Daniel was clearing his throat. "Yeah, and you've had less than me." Closing his eyes, Jack let his head fall gently onto the back of the sofa.
"Like you once told me, Jack, I'm a cheap date."
"Nah, not cheap, Danny," muttered Jack. "You're worth every cent to me." And then he'd realised what he'd said. Opening his eyes, he looked over to where a Daniel was staring at him in shock. "I, err..." He'd been about to say that he didn't mean it the way it sounded, but that was a lie. He did mean it, meant it with every part of him. Dropping his gaze for a brief second before looking back up he was surprised to find Daniel still staring at him, eyes full of arousal swimming in a sea of blue.
Ignoring the voice telling him this was a bad idea, Jack moved forward, closed the distance between them and brushed his lips across Daniel's.
A groan came from deep in Daniel's throat as Jack pressed his lips harder against the other man's. Soft lips opened beneath his and a tongue darted into his mouth, teasing.
Jack's tongue rising up to meet Daniel's, he wrapped his fingers around the archaeologist's arm, feeling the heat seeping through his shirt and sinking into Jack's skin. Pulling Daniel closer, Jack moaned with loss when the other man broke from the embrace and pulled away.
"We shouldn't do this." Daniel's voice was barely a whisper. Pushing himself to his feet, he started towards the door.
Jack knew Daniel was right, knew there were a thousand and one reasons why they shouldn't be doing what they were thinking about doing. But at that moment, he couldn't bring a single one to mind. All Jack knew was if he let Daniel walk out of that door he would regret it. Going after Daniel, he reached out and took hold of the other man's arm, stopping him. "Don't leave," he said. "Please."
Blue eyes looked down at the fingers wrapped around his arm before meeting Jack's. "Don't ask me unless you mean it." The words were soft.
Jack stopped. Did he mean it? If they did this and were found out both of them would be off the Stargate Project quicker than you could say 'don't ask, don't tell'. And not only that but Jack would most likely be hauled up on a court martial for 'conduct unbecoming an officer'. Was it worth the risk? He'd wanted to be in the Air Force his entire life. As a child he would daydream about flying planes and winning wars. But his career, his life, was so much more than that. He was doing things people only dreamed about, things that he'd once dreamed about. He'd once thought there was nothing that would make him jeopardise that. He was wrong. Tightening his hold on Daniel's arm, he pulled the other man back to him. "I mean it."
Emotions flickered across Daniel's face, too fast for Jack to name them. And then the younger man's features settled, determination written over him. His hands rising to Jack's cheeks, he pulled Jack to him and kissed him, lips opening to admit his tongue.
The hint of beer on Daniel's breath added to Jack's own slight intoxication and he felt giddy. And underneath it he could taste something else, something he couldn't name. And then it came to him. He was tasting Daniel. Soft, spicy and with a sense of musk, but definitely something uniquely Daniel.
Their mouths still together, Daniel's hands moved from Jack's face, reaching down to the bottom of his shirt and pulling it free from his trousers, dipping underneath and skimming the skin of his stomach with feather-light touches before disappearing.
Jack moaned with the loss of contact, Daniel's mouth swallowing the sound as fingers slowly reached out to undo the buttons on Jack's shirt. But Daniel hadn't even got one of them open before he stopped, breaking contact with Jack and stepping away. And the only thought that sprang to Jack's mind was that Daniel'd had second thoughts about continuing, swiftly followed by what he could do to change the other man's mind back again. He knew he was wrong when Daniel took hold of the front of Jack's shirt and simply ripped it open, sending buttons flying around the room. Jack grinned as air brushed across his now exposed skin. He liked this side of Daniel, his hardening cock liked this side of Daniel, and both of them hoped they'd get to see it more often. Pulling Daniel back to him, he tangled his fingers in the brown hair and tilted Daniel's face back towards him.
Daniel laughed softly and shimmied out of Jack's grasp, smile widening when the older man automatically reached out to catch hold of him again. Pressing his hands against Jack's chest, he started to walk forward, forcing Jack backwards until his legs hit the couch.
The hands now resting on his shoulders forced Jack to sit, eyes fixed steadily on Daniel's form as he pushed apart Jack's legs and knelt between them. Nimble hands deftly opened Jack's trousers and released the rock-hard erection straining to be free. He sucked in a breath as fingers more used to handling centuries old artefacts were suddenly wrapped around him, holding him, caressing him. And then all thoughts fled from his mind as Daniel's head dipped and a soft tongue lapped at his heated flesh. Wetness swept up and down his length, Daniel's tongue tracing patterns on Jack's velvet hardness. He wanted to thrust into Daniel's mouth, wanted to do anything that got more of his cock in Daniel's mouth, but the hands on his hips held him to the couch. Jack's head dropped back and he closed his eyes, biting at his lower lip as teeth were gently scraped up his shaft. He could feel himself start to tighten, feel his orgasm build in him. "Dan... Daniel..." he gasped out, wanting to stop the younger man, wanting to prolong the delicious agony.
"Yes, Jack?"
Jack opened his eyes and raised his head to look at the man kneeling between his legs. The calmness of Daniel's reply belied his eyes, now so dilated Jack could only see a corona of blue around a pool of black. Cupping his hands around Daniel's face, Jack brought the other man face to face with him. "When I come... it's going to be in you," he said, feeling ridiculously pleased with himself for managing to string a sentence together.
"Whatever you want, Jack. Whatever you say." Daniel's tongue darted out to lick at his lips.
Jack growled, the throb running through his cock beating an insistent tattoo. "You," he pointed to Daniel. "Here," then to his erection. "Now."
The younger man smiled before he pulled away and got to his feet. Toeing off his boots and socks, Daniel stood there in bare feet as he raised his hands and slowly began to undo his shirt. Stopping when half of the buttons were open, he licked a finger and circled a nipple with the wet digit, enticing it to hardness.
Jack hissed along with Daniel as the small, brown nub crinkled into hardness. His entire body thrummed as he watched Daniel shrug off his now open shirt. Thrummed as Daniel stepped closer and swept the shirt across Jack's body, fabric brushing lightly over the older man's nipples, before finally dropping it to the floor. Thrummed as the archaeologist, his archaeologist, straddled his legs and rubbed against Jack's exposed cock with the one straining under his trousers. Reaching up, Jack carefully plucked Daniel's glasses off his face and placed them on the side table. Daniel's head tilted slightly as Jack's fingers danced over his stomach, flesh rippling with the soft touch. Wanting to feel more of Daniel's flesh next to his, Jack gently pushed the younger man off his lap, looking him up and down as he stood before him. Leaning forward, he swiftly opened Daniel's trousers before hooking his hands into the fabric and pulling them down.
Daniel's hard cock sprang free, finally released from the captivity of his trousers.
Jack licked his lips. Wanting to know what the other man tasted like he edged forward, frowning when Daniel moved away, stepping out of his trousers and kicking them to the side.
"When I come, it's going to be with you in me." Daniel echoed Jack's earlier sentiment. "Do you have anything?" he asked, stepping forward and trailing a finger up Jack's hardness.
"Er, no," admitted Jack, feeling like screaming. He hadn't exactly planned this, but if he'd known it was going to happen he would have bought the local pharmacy out of every supply they could have possibly used.
"Well, we know we're both clean, so that just leaves lubricant."
Jack could feel his heart breaking and his cock starting to wilt. "I don't have any."
Daniel smiled enigmatically. "Not a problem."
'Yes, a problem!' thought Jack as Daniel moved away from him, heading into the kitchen. 'Big honkin' problem if Daniel doesn't get his ass right back here, right now!' He could hear some of the cupboards in his kitchen being opened and closed again, before Daniel's soft triumphant cry reached him.
Standing in the doorway, Daniel held up a bottle of olive oil. "I told you, not a problem."
Jack's cock jerked back to attention as Daniel padded back into the middle of the room and opened the bottle.
Fixing his gaze with Jack's, Daniel knelt down and poured some of the oil onto his fingers.
Unable to tear his eyes away, Jack watched as Daniel's reached behind himself with now slick fingers and started to prepare himself for Jack.
Moaning as fingers slipped into his body, Daniel stretched himself, pushing back on the fingers he held within his ass.
"daniel..." the murmur slipped from Jack's lips as the man he had wanted for so long opened himself in front of him.
Stretched as much as he wanted to be, Daniel stood and closed the distance between them. Leaning down, he swept his tongue over Jack's lips as he tipped the bottle, slowly drizzling oil onto the head of the older man's cock.
'My couch is dead,' Jack thought, as the oil ran down his cock to pool between his legs. And then Daniel's hand wrapped around him, spreading the oil, and the only words in Jack's mind were, 'fuck the couch!'
Putting the bottle next to his glasses on the side table, Daniel straddled Jack, a hand reaching down to position the other man's cock at the entrance to his body. "Ready?" he asked softly.
'I've been ready for this since the moment I saw you juggling star maps and coffee at the SGC,' was the thought, and then all words fled from him as his cock was steadily engulfed by the velvet heat of Daniel's body. Swallowing him, holding him, until Daniel's ass was flush with his skin and there was nowhere else to go. And it had been too long since he'd felt this. It was too much, but not enough, and he needed more. "Daniel..." He couldn't tell if the strangled moan was a plea or a demand, but it was something, because he couldn't stay quiet.
And Daniel answered, answered by placing his hands on Jack's arms and lifting himself off Jack's cock until only the head remained inside him. Lifted himself before dropping back down.
Jack wasn't sure whether the groan that rent the air was his or Daniel's; was more than half convinced it belonged to both of them. Daniel's hands stayed on his arms as the younger man set a punishing rhythm, fucking himself on Jack's pulsing hardness. Skin slapped against skin, the house filled with gasps and moans. Raising his hips to meet Daniel's movements, Jack could feel his body scream every time he was pulled from Daniel, screaming to be buried back in the younger man. Working on instinct, craving the tightness and the heat, Jack met each of Daniel's downward thrusts, cleaving into his lover.
Arching his back as his motions became more erratic, Daniel tightened his hold on Jack's arm, fingers digging into the soft flesh. Dropping forcefully onto Jack's lap, Daniel cried out, his seed spilling between them.
Jack's cry joined Daniel's as the younger man clamped down on his cock, ripping the orgasm from him. Spilling himself into Daniel's body with a final thrust, Jack slumped back, feeling the warmth of Daniel's come spread over his stomach.
Draped over Jack's body, Daniel dropped his head to rest on the older man's shoulder.
"Stay," Jack murmured.
"I'll have to," Daniel replied. "I don't think I can move."
"Suits me," grinned Jack, quite happy with the reassuring weight of Daniel blanketed over him. "Suits me just fine..."
~#~
"Colonel?"
The voice floating into his ear and the hand on his shoulder shakes Jack out of his memories. Turning, he looks up at Doctor Fraiser. "Yeah?" Because he knows he missed what she said, and she knows it too, so he's not even going to try to bluff his way out, to pretend he was listening.
"I was just saying, Daniel's unlikely to wake within the next few hours. Are you sure you don't want to use this time to go and get some rest?"
But Jack can tell from the look on her face that she knows, even as she's saying the words, that he's going to refuse, going to stay here. "No, I want to be here, just in case..." But the words trail off because he's unable to voice them, unable to give them substance. "What should I do?" And the words are a plea to Janet. Because he needs to do something. Needs to do more than sit here helpless.
"Talk to him," Janet replies. "People seem to respond better if they hear a voice, especially if it's someone they know."
Jack nods before he turns back to Daniel's too-still form. He can hear Janet moving off, but ignores her. "Well, Danny, the Doc says I gotta talk to you. It's a pretty good idea, too. I'm guessing you'll wake up just to tell me to shut it." His thumb rubs gently over Daniel's hand as he speaks. "Come on, baby, open those eyes for me before I start boring you with tales from my misspent youth." But Daniel's eyes stay shut. "Okay, but don't say I didn't warn you, Danny-boy." Jack takes a breath, looking down at his lover's pale face before starting. "I never told you the story of when I was 13 and went fishing with my grandfather, did I? Well, it was the summer and I'd been looking forward to it all year..."
~~<<->>~~
Janet Fraiser glances back quickly before she leaves the Infirmary, Jack O'Neill's soft voice cutting out as she closes the door behind her. Daniel's as stable as she can make him, and the nurse on duty has orders to get her if there's any change in his condition. He also has orders not to disturb the Colonel under any circumstances. She doubts if keeping the nature of his relationship with SG-1's archaeologist quiet is uppermost on Jack's mind at the moment, and the least she can do is make sure no one will overhear exactly what is being said to the unconscious man.
When she'd first seen Daniel there'd been so much blood sticking to his uniform that she'd automatically assumed the worst, that she didn't know if he was going to make it. Not that she was about to say that. Not to the General, not to Sam or Teal'c, and certainly not to the Colonel running alongside the gurney refusing to let go of Daniel's hand.
She doesn't like to think of how often she's done this; of how often she's had a member one of the SG teams laying on a gurney, or in surgery, with the rest of the team waiting for news, any news, hoping it'll be what they so desperately want to hear. Especially doesn't like to think of how often it's been this particular team, this particular person. She hates to see anyone at the SGC injured, but SG-1 are different. They aren't just people under her care, they're friends. The man lying on that gurney isn't just a patient, he's the man who gave Cassie the dress she'd been after for weeks for her birthday. He's the man who sat up with her for hours after her latest relationship didn't work out. He's not just Dr Jackson, resident archaeological expert of the SGC. He's Daniel. He's her friend. And this scene has played out far too often. Too many times has Daniel Jackson been lying in that bed, waiting for surgery. Too many times has Jack O'Neill been pacing across the room, trying to do anything to keep himself from screaming.
Janet doesn't know how he does it. It's hard enough staying sane when it's her friends that are in danger, god only know what it's like when it's your lover. If anyone is injured then she's in the middle of it, actively trying to save them and dropping back on her professionalism to help her get through. All Jack can do is watch and wait. Watch, wait and wonder what's going to happen. She doubts if she could do it, especially if she had to pretend to the world that the person she was so worried about was just a friend. At least she can give Jack the privacy he needs and make sure he's not interrupted by a procession of nurses and doctors. At least she can make sure he can talk to Daniel freely without worrying about who could be listening. And to think, if this had happened only a few weeks ago she wouldn't have even been able to give him that. Wouldn't have been able to because she'd had no idea that Jack O'Neill and Daniel Jackson were any more than just good friends...
~#~
"Cassie!" Janet shouted, smiling at her adopted daughter when the teenager stuck her head around the door.
"Yeah?"
"Take these out to the table, will you?" Janet waved over to a couple of bowls sitting on the counter.
"Sure, mom." Cassandra picked up the bowls and started to head back out of the room.
Janet smiled to herself as Cassandra left. If someone had told her a few years ago that she'd be hosting a Thanksgiving party for her, her friends, and her teenage daughter, Janet would have thought they were insane. But, there she was. She was just glad she hadn't had to do all the work. Everyone who was there had brought something with them. Sam had been there most of the afternoon helping her prepare everything else that was needed for the meal, but now, the other woman was sitting in the front room explaining to Teal'c just what Thanksgiving was about. The large Jaffa had told them that he could understand the concept of a day of giving thanks, what he couldn't seem to wrap his mind around was why it was so important that this day had to involve a 25 pound turkey.
Chuckling softly, Janet turned back to the counter. All of the vegetables were sitting in their dishes, the table was laid, and all that was needed was to take the turkey out of the oven and get down to the serious business of Thanksgiving dinner. Bending down and opening the oven, Janet was stopped from her task of removing the turkey by Cassandra's voice.
"Are these the last ones to go in?"
Getting back to her feet and turning to face her daughter, Janet looked at where Cass was pointing. "Yes, that's it. I've just got to get the turkey and we're all set. Is everyone ready?"
"Sam and Teal'c are in the front room. I saw Colonel O'Neill and Daniel go out onto the back porch a while ago; I think they're still there."
Janet frowned slightly. What would Jack and Daniel be doing standing on the back porch? Walking across the room to glance out of the window, Janet couldn't help the gasp that escaped her lips as she saw Daniel lean over and place a quick kiss on Jack's lips and slip his hand into the Colonel's. She'd never realised, never known. And then she wondered if Sam knew, absent-mindedly listing all the ways she was going to make the other woman pay if she'd known about this and not told Janet.
"They fit, don't they?"
The quiet words brought her attention skidding back to the girl next to her.
Cassandra looked at Janet. "You didn't know?" she asked, correctly reading the look on her mother's face as surprise.
"And you did?" Janet didn't know what she was more unnerved at, finding Jack and Daniel were obviously so much more than friends, or finding out her daughter knew about it when she didn't.
Cassie shrugged. "I kinda guessed. Um, it wasn't that hard," she continued at the look Janet gave her. "Colonel O'Neill looks at Daniel the way..." Cassandra's words trailed off.
"Yes?" Janet prompted gently.
"The way I remember my mother looking at my father." The words were so soft Janet had to strain to hear them.
Reaching out Janet wrapped her arms around Cassandra and pulled her into a hug. "It's okay to talk about them, you know."
"I know," Cass replied, "but I don't want to hurt you." I don't want to remind you that you're not my real mother. Janet heard the unspoken words.
"Hearing about them could never hurt me, Cass. How could it when I owe them so much?" She carried on speaking when Cassandra frowned. "If it wasn't for them, I'd never have you. And not having you is something I don't even want to consider."
Cassandra was quiet for long moments before, "I love you, mom."
"I love you, too, Cass." Janet tightened her hold on the young woman in her arms, before moving away. "Now, we'd better get this out before everyone gets so hungry they start nibbling on each other."
"Um, I think we're too late for that," laughed Cassandra, nodding to the window.
Looking out the window, knowing what she'd see, Janet's laugh joined her daughter's as she watched Jack capture Daniel's lips in a long kiss. "You'd better take those last two bowls through and go out and tell them dinner's ready."
Cass nodded as she turned to pick up the bowls of vegetables.
"Oh, and Cass?" Janet called softly before her daughter left.
"Yeah?"
"Make sure they're a respectable distance apart before you interrupt them."
Cassandra's melodic laughter could still be heard as Janet pulled the turkey out of the oven and put it on its plate.
"Hey."
Janet turned towards the voice coming from the doorway.
"Cassie told us you're ready. Are you sure there's nothing you want us to do?" Jack asked.
Janet smiled. "Well, if you insist, you can carry the turkey through."
"Sure." Heading over to the counter, Jack picked up the turkey, grimacing slightly at the weight. "Jeez, Doc, you planning on feeding the entire SGC with this thing?"
Janet laughed. "Don't blame me. Once Sam told Teal'c about the turkey tradition, he insisted on supplying the one for today."
"Where'd he get it? 'Mutant Turkeys R Us?'" muttered Jack, walking out of the kitchen.
After checking the oven was switched off, Janet followed him through to the other room. Watching as he tried to find a place on the table to put the turkey down, Janet saved him by picking up a bottle of wine to clear a space big enough for the plate. "Daniel, if you'd do the honours," she asked, handing him the bottle.
"Sure," Daniel replied, opening the bottle.
"Wine?" Jack said doubtfully as Daniel poured him a glass before moving around the table and filling the other glasses there.
Sam grinned. "It's just for the toast, Colonel, there's beer in the fridge."
"Well, that's okay, then," he replied cheerfully, throwing a grin in Daniel's direction as the other man placed the nearly empty bottle in the middle of the table and sat next to him.
Janet just managed to hide the smile that wanted to spring to her face. Cass was right, they did fit, she was just surprised she'd never seen it before now.
"Well, what are we thankful for this year, kids?" Jack asked, raising his glass of wine.
"Friends," replied Janet, without hesitation. "No," she said, suddenly changing her mind. Looking around the table, she realised that the people here were more than just friends. Her free hand reaching out to lay over Cassandra's, she smiled softly. "Family. To family."
"To family," everyone echoed.
"Yeah," said Jack, the glance he threw at Daniel so quick Janet wasn't sure if she imagined it or not, "I'll drink to that..."
~#~
And now she's tended to two members of the SG-1 family, she needs to tend to the other two before she can make her report to General Hammond...
~~<<->>~~
Major Samantha Carter doesn't quite know what to do with herself. Dr Boyd hustled her into one of the medical rooms to check out her shoulder just as Daniel was being taken into surgery. He was still in there when Boyd had told her that she was going be fine, if sore and bruised for the next few days. Sore and bruised, she came off a hell of a lot better than Daniel did.
She'd barely even noticed the jarring shudder that ran through her shoulder as she impacted with the ramp. Her P-90 was still kicking out bullets into the wormhole because she knew at least one of the Jaffa was right behind her.
And then the iris was closed, and she thinks she remembers hearing a dull thud before the wormhole disengaged. They were back home, back in the safety of the SGC. Pushing herself to her feet, Sam's eyes were instantly drawn to the base of the ramp. The base of the ramp where Daniel was being frantically placed onto a gurney as Janet Fraiser barked out orders at people to get the surgery prepped. Where airmen were clearing a path through to the door so they could get to the Infirmary as quickly as possible. Where Colonel O'Neill had abandoned his pack and was running out of the door alongside the gurney. Where a patch of floor, marked with blood and footprints, taunted her with what happened to Daniel.
And she still doesn't even know if her friend is going to make it...
"Sam?"
Raising her eyes from the cup of coffee she's been staring at for the past she doesn't know how long, she sees Janet looking at her with worry etched across her features.
"Are you okay?"
"I'm fine. How's Daniel?"
Janet sighs and sits down opposite her. "He's stable."
"But?" Because Sam can hear the 'but' in Janet's words, can see it in her posture.
"He's still critical," Janet admits. "Colonel O'Neill is in there with him."
Well of course he is, thinks Sam, because where else would he be? He wouldn't move from outside the surgical room and as soon as Daniel was wheeled out, he was in the Infirmary with him. And not a word had been said about it. Sam wants to snort, can feel the hysteria welling up inside her, but thinks that if she starts laughing she might start crying, and if she start crying she might never stop. It must be the best kept open secret in the SGC. It's well known among everyone who works in the Mountain that if the Colonel isn't in his office, then he's in Daniel's, and if you want to find Dr Jackson then the best bet is to find Colonel O'Neill. It's almost like they're one person: Jackanddaniel, O'Neillandjackson. And it had hurt when she'd found out, had hurt like hell...
~#~
"Why didn't you tell me?" Sam whirled around to look at the two men standing in her living room.
"We didn't think you should know," admitted Daniel.
"Why? Were you so sure that I'd go running to the General."
"Of course not, Sam."
But it was Colonel O'Neill's voice that she listened to.
"Major, think about it. If anyone finds out about this then we're gone, no questions asked. Daniel'll be kicked off the Project and I'll be hauled up in front of a court-martial." He paused. "As would anyone else who knew but didn't say anything. If you didn't know then they couldn't use it against you."
"We wanted to tell you, Sam," stressed Daniel. "We just thought it best not to. We thought it would be safer for you."
And you. It's also safer for you. Because if no one knows, then no one can tell Hammond. Sam's train of thought stopped suddenly. Because they hadn't said no one else knew, just that they hadn't told her. "Who else knows?"
Daniel paused, glancing down before he answered her. "Teal'c."
"So, you could tell him, but not me?" And that hurt almost as much, that they trusted Teal'c but not her.
"No, Sam!" exclaimed Daniel. "We didn't tell Teal'c, he just knew."
"So, mind-reading is now part of the Jaffa make-up?"
Daniel shifted uncomfortably as he threw a look at the Colonel. And part of Sam felt strangely triumphant, but that was soon squashed by guilt. Guilt that she would feel happy over causing her friend distress.
"No, it's not," O'Neill answered for both of them. "But it's not unknown for Jaffa to, what did Teal'c call it?"
"Pair-bond," supplied Daniel.
"Yeah, pair-bond," nodded O'Neill.
"So, he just picked up on the signs that I somehow missed?"
"That and his wonderful sense of smell," muttered the Colonel.
"Smell?" frowned Sam.
Daniel flushed and for a brief moment the only word that ran through Sam's mind was 'cute'.. "Apparently a Jaffa has a more sensitive olfactory nerve than a human does."
"He smells like a dog," commented O'Neill, who then stopped and thought about what he'd just said. "And I mean that in the nicest possible way," he added.
But surely he can't be saying what she thinks he's saying. "He smelled you on each other?!"
"Yup," nodded the Colonel. "And it was kinda difficult to tell him he was wrong when he walked up to me when we were on P3X-923 and told me that if I was going to molest Daniel Jackson in the middle of the night I should at least wait until we were somewhere with a shower." His voice dropped a tone as he imitated Teal'c's speech pattern almost perfectly.
"Please understand, Sam, we didn't keep this from you to hurt you. We didn't do this just to hurt you."
And deep down she knew he was right, knew that they didn't set out just to hurt her, but it doesn't stop it from hurting. "You told me you cared."
"Sam?"
She was trying not to let the tears come as she looked at Colonel O'Neill. "When Anise thought we were zatarcs. You were strapped up to that machine, and you said that you cared about me. Cared more than you were supposed to. Were you lying?"
And Jack looked at her, but didn't leave Daniel's side. "No, Major, I didn't lie. I do care about you, and it probably is more than a commander should care about the people under him, but it's the same way I care about Teal'c. Or about Janet. Hell, even about Hammond, and Jacob."
"Not the way you care about Daniel." It wasn't a question, because she already knew the answer.
"No, Major, not the way I... care... about Daniel." Not the way I love Daniel. She could hear the words even though O'Neill didn't speak them.
"I think you should leave now." She turned away from them, casting her gaze out of the window, absently noting how empty the street looked. The only vehicle she could see was Colonel O'Neill's jeep parked outside her house.
"Sam-" But Daniel's words were cut off.
"I think the Major's right, Danny, we should leave."
And it was probably the first time she'd known Jack O'Neill to not go at something with the delicacy of a raging bull, to actually know when to back away.
"If you're sure you'll be all right."
And it would have been so much easier if Daniel hadn't shown so much concern, if he hadn't been so worried about her. Part of her wanted to demonize him, to rant and rave about how he's stolen the Colonel from under her nose, but she couldn't. He wasn't a demon, he was Daniel. And if she couldn't take it out on him, then she was going to take it out on something. Sam wanted to scream and shout and she was damned if she was going to do it with spectators, especially these spectators.
She didn't turn around as they left, hearing them walk past her and then the soft click of the front door opening and closing. She watched as they headed down her path to O'Neill's jeep, his hand resting in the small of Daniel's back as they walked.
And suddenly she couldn't stand it anymore. Grabbing the nearest thing she could she hurled it at the opposite wall, watching in satisfaction as the small glass teddy bear her brother had given her one Christmas smashed into a million pieces and dropped to the floor.
It wasn't fair! She'd opened her heart when Anise had linked her up to that damned machine, had thought Colonel O'Neill had as well. And now, all her beliefs lay as shattered as that glass bear. It just wasn't fair...
~#~
"Sam?"
She looks up to see concerned eyes watching her.
"You okay? You sort of spaced out there for a moment."
"I'm fine, Janet, just thinking."
Janet smiles. "I think there have been a lot of people doing that tonight."
"We nearly lost him, didn't we." We still could. She can't voice the words, doesn't want to make them real.
And then Janet's hand is on hers, warm, soft and reassuring. "He's stronger than a lot of people think, you know."
"I know," she nods. Daniel Jackson has a soul of steel. It's part of what O'Neill sees in him, she thinks. So many of the people who come into the SGC write him off as a geek when they first meet him. She knows O'Neill did. She's heard the tale of the infamous first trip to Abydos from Ferretti, heard all about the hard-ass Colonel who didn't trust the civilian archaeologist he'd been lumbered with for the mission, and yet still risked everything on his word. Even back then Daniel had got underneath the Colonel's skin. Hell, even in an alternate reality where she and O'Neill were the ones involved in a relationship, Jack O'Neill still faced off a horde of Jaffa for Daniel, sacrificed the last hope his planet had for a guy he'd only known 5 minutes. It seemed like the universe had decided that Daniel Jackson and Jack O'Neill were bound together.
And it wasn't as though she found herself disagreeing with the universe these days. She knows she was angry when she'd found out that they'd hid their relationship from her, and she knows she was a bitch to both of them for a good couple of weeks after she'd found out, but that had changed when Teal'c had pulled her aside one day. His words still rang through her. 'Is your sole purpose to make them as unhappy as you are?' And her first answer had been yes. Yes, she wanted them unhappy. Yes, she wanted them apart. And then she'd thought about it one night. Sat down and really thought about it. Both the Colonel and Daniel had been more relaxed, happier, than she'd ever seen them. And, although she hadn't known it at the time, she knew now that their relationship was the cause.
And it wasn't as if anything would have ever happened between her and O'Neill. Any type of liaison between them was against Air Force regulations, and she couldn't see either of them giving up the Stargate Programme for the other person. And that was what had made her realise what the difference between her and Daniel was. She could never see O'Neill giving up SG-1 for her, but she could see him giving it up for Daniel, if he had to. And she could see Daniel giving it up for the Colonel. Neither of them would want to but they'd do it, in a heartbeat and without hesitation. They loved each other, and it was plain to see to anyone who didn't have her head up her own ass. So, that night, in the sanctuary of her own house, she'd worked through it, through the anger and the emotions and sorted everything out in her own mind. It may have taken her two pints of double chocolate chip ice cream and a box of tissues, but she'd done it.
The next day, she'd tracked both of them down in Daniel's office and apologised. Apologised and hoped that she hadn't ruined two of the best friendships she'd ever had. And when she'd asked if they could just forget that the previous weeks had happened, Daniel had laughed and hugged her, and O'Neill had replied with "What previous weeks?" and then grinned. She'd sworn to herself there and then that no one would use what those two men felt for each other against them if she could help it.
Focusing her attention back on Janet, Sam smiles. "I know he is," she says, her voice stronger.
Janet returns her smile before she asks, "How's your shoulder?"
"Tender," Sam admits, "but it'll be as good as new in a few days. Boyd gave me some anti-inflammatory cream for it, although I won't be doing any shoulder-rolls for a while, though."
"Did he see Teal'c, as well?"
Sam nods. The Jaffa had been checked over by Dr Boyd as soon as she'd come out. "He's fine, some cuts and a couple of strained muscles. He went to his quarters, he said that going into a state of Kel'no'reem would help the symbiote to heal him faster."
"I won't disturb him then." Janet pauses slightly as she looks at her watch. "Damn, I was meant to give the General a report on Daniel's condition."
"Shouldn't you have gone as soon as you got Daniel settled?"
Janet shrugs and blushes slightly. "Yes, but I was worried about you."
Smiling, Sam shakes her head softly. "Go, I'll be fine."
"You sure? General Hammond won't mind if I'm another few minutes late."
"Positive. I was thinking about swinging by the Infirmary to see if there's anything the Colonel wants, anyway."
Janet nods as she stands, and Sam only just stops the frown as the other woman moves her hand from atop Sam's, cool air now sweeping over the blonde's skin.
Watching as Janet walks out of the mess, Sam absently traces her fingers over the back of her hand. When the doctor is out of sight, her eyes drop back down to look at the disgustingly cold coffee. Picking the cup up to dump it in the trash, Sam checks her pockets for change as she heads back over to the snack machines. If Colonel O'Neill has plans to stay in the Infirmary until Daniel wakes up then he'll need something to eat other than the reconstituted bars he seems to keep in his trouser pockets. She thinks chocolate is good, so she pulls out quarters and starts feeding them to the machine. And if he doesn't want the chocolate then she'll have it while she's keeping him company, because there's no need for him to face this night alone, not when she's around...
~~<<->>~~
On to part two
