"Dr. Jackson is
sleeping, as ordered," Jack said easily into his radio, failing to
mention that he wore the boy out with moderately okay sex. "How
long are we going to be here, Sir?" he asked. "Bottom line."
There was a silence.
"Bottom line?"
Hammond finally responded dryly. "Until there's a crisis that
requires Dr. Jackson's presence here."
"Sir?" Jack barked,
startled by the unexpected admission.
"We pissed a lot of
people off, Jack. Compromised their operation and dried up their
supply of technology," the general told him gravely. "Carter and
her team have found unpopulated planets, but in each and every case my
recommendation to extract the components we need from the Stargate has
been overturned at the highest level. Teal'c wants Carter to find
a world we can reasonably assume to be unpopulated because of a
hazardous atmosphere, impossible gravity - anything the bean-counters
can't spin to their advantage."
"At which point
they'll overrule a recommendation to proceed because of the threat to
the safety of the team that goes through," Jack said tiredly.
"I'm sorry,
Jack." Hammond's frustration rang in his voice. "Teal'c and
Carter know the score. They've volunteered to come through to 837
and wait it out with you. Carter is confident she can MacGyver
the Stargate."
"Isn't she always?"
Jack sighed, smiling. "I don't need to ask if you nixed that
suggestion?"
Hammond chuckled,
possibly relieved he didn't have to dish out more bad news.
"Teal'c also privately expressed to me his willingness to engineer a
crisis that would require Dr. Jackson's timely return to the SGC."
"What kind of
crisis?" Jack asked, slightly appalled, and still drawn to the idea,
just to see what the big guy would do.
"I nixed that one
too, Jack," Hammond said tartly.
"Nice to feel
wanted," Jack commented pleasantly. "Does it occur to you that
the longer I'm off-world, the less embarrassment I can cause at
anyone's court-martial?"
"It had crossed my
mind," the general admitted.
"Hell, without my
testimony muddying the waters, the NID could spin this enough to get
those boys a medal." He didn't need to tell Hammond that couldn't
happen. Jack would be paying for his part in this mess for a long
time to come, until Daniel's walls came down, and what had happened
between them in his living room that day was more than forgiven.
It would be over when Daniel was okay with himself again, and okay with
Jack. When the good stuff wasn't an effort.
"If you were at
risk, Colonel," Hammond hinted.
"The bat is
extremely annoying."
"I'd need to go to
the Joint Chiefs with more than that, Jack, even if it did defecate on
a USAF officer."
"Is this a good time
to bring up semantic-phonetic compounds?"
There was another
silence.
"Next check-in 0600,
Colonel. Hammond out."
"Whatever," Jack
muttered, limping back over to the tent. He wanted to wake Daniel
up and make love with him, but instead he crept in noiselessly and sat
on his cot, watching his - he guessed lover was the right word
-sleep. Jack liked to think of himself as flexible, but the
girlfriends he had when he was young hadn't prepared him for his wife,
and he had no experience at all of a lover. A male lover.
He'd always wondered
how some forty-year old suburban guy could have the kind of epiphany
that landed him in bed with a twenty-something stud or maybe another
suburban guy just like him. He had an answer now, of a
sort. The bodies were different, but not the feelings. Jack
would choke on 'tell', but he was doing pretty good with 'show'.
Having sex together the first time had left Daniel confident enough,
open enough to Jack to want a second time with him. Jack wanted
it too, very much. He didn't have much in the way of expectations
and Daniel had seemed okay with what they'd done together. The
two of them were doing good and he had hopes it would be better.
"Hey."
Jack looked up,
smiling. He was touched to see the pleasure flushing Daniel's
face, answering it by easing himself down to the ground and stretching
out on his sleeping bag in silent invitation, surprised at himself, at
how much it mattered to him that Daniel wanted to be with him. He
didn't have to wait long. Daniel's sleeping bag pooled over his
leg and was tweaked away, a pillow plumped down, then Daniel lay at his
side, resting his head slowly on Jack's shoulder as if he wasn't sure
of his welcome.
The tension went
right out of Daniel as Jack put his arms around him. Daniel held
him too, his fingers curling around Jack's shoulder. The solid
weight of the muscular arm across Jack's chest felt right. Daniel
felt right, which was the reason Jack was okay with all of this.
"Where were we?"
Daniel prompted him.
"I was boring you
into unconsciousness."
"I'm up now."
"You can say that
again!" Jack yelped as Daniel emphatically got with the program.
"We're supposed to be talking. Sorting things out."
Nodding sagely,
Daniel sat up and unbuttoned Jack's cut-offs. Then he pulled them
off. He stayed where he was, running his fingertip over and over
Jack's hip as he looked at Jack admiringly.
This was enough to
get Jack with the program too, with - he decided after a swift,
surreptitious assessing glance - equal commitment.
His eyes lighting
up, Daniel carefully lay on top of Jack, wriggling a little to get
comfortable, then looking gravely down at him, for a long time.
Jack held Daniel, feeling self-conscious but going with the intense
scrutiny. Ordinarily he would have pushed right in and demanded
to know what was going on with Daniel, but there was warmth in Daniel's
face and the kind of heat in his eyes Jack hadn't seen since the early
days of his marriage. He liked that. Hell, he liked just
about everything about this. He was easy, at least where Daniel
was concerned. Always had been. Daniel was smiling
now, sweetly, his fingertips dancing over Jack's face.
Jack stretched up to
kiss Daniel, then flipped him neatly onto his back. He discovered
it was impossible to think, let alone talk, when Daniel bent his legs,
planted his feet either side of Jack's thighs and arched suggestively,
his cock sliding over Jack's, which left them both gasping and
trembling. It also left Jack with a slight logistical problem and
a blandly enquiring linguist caressing his biceps, waiting to see what
he did next.
"I feel like I'm
trapped in a revolving door," Jack complained.
Daniel was not
noticeably sympathetic.
Grumbling under his
breath, Jack rolled back the way he came, Daniel followed, smugly
stretching out on top of him and picking up where he left off, gently
exploring the fascinating scar through Jack's eyebrow. As gently
as he rocked his hips into Jack's, their cocks stroking easily.
Wanting more of the good friction he'd enjoyed this morning, more than
this soft slide of skin on skin, Jack hooked his good leg over Daniel's
butt. Then he gave an encouraging shimmy.
"Nice try, Colonel,"
Daniel whispered against Jack's mouth.
Jack's cock
twitched. Jack's mouth fell open. Then he blushed. He
also grabbed Daniel's head and snatched him into a bruising kiss,
possibly in the hopes of circumventing any kind of dialogue about his
apparent liking for talking this kind of dirty. He got into the
kiss, got into Daniel, passionately thrusting into his mouth, tongue
probing hungrily as Daniel rocked their bodies slowly together.
Daniel's fantasies
were nothing more than pale imitations. With two decades of
active service, Jack was granite hard and so much stronger than in
Daniel's imagination. Jack's arms were tight around his shoulders
in a grip he wasn't sure he could break. It thrilled him in a way
he hadn't expected, like the rhythmic flexing of Jack's good leg, heavy
across his ass, working with each roll of his hips to deepen the
friction.
Daniel's body
tingled with shock after shock of desire, leaving him achy and needing,
drunk with sensation. Jack's tongue drove into him, their lips
angling, grinding as they deepened the kiss. One heavy hand
pinned his shoulder, the other his waist, clutching him tightly to
Jack's body, every inch of their hot, slick skin touching and rubbing
as they moved against one another.
Pleasure pulsed
through him, his cock urgently throbbing as he slid over Jack's
slippery erection, fighting the urge to pound into the hard, welcoming
body beneath his. Jack kept shifting position awkwardly, making
Daniel break off the kiss. "Am I hurting you?" he asked
breathlessly. "Your knee?"
Jack looked as if he
didn't want to say anything, then he pulled a wry face. "At the
risk of TMI, I'm not used to being on the bottom," he said
ruefully. "Not that I'm not flexible," he added hurriedly,
apparently thinking he was giving a bad impression of his inventiveness
between the sheets. "Can we pick up the pace?" he prompted, caressing
Daniel's spine.
"No."
He was answered by
an irritable grunt, then Jack's arms clamped around him, holding him
still while Jack moved them both, looking decidedly smug about it.
"It's amazing how
good this feels," Jack confessed, kissing Daniel's shoulder.
"I was just thinking
that too."
"It's very relaxing
being with someone who isn't…you know?"
"Fragile?"
"Exactly!"
"It's a real turn
on," Daniel admitted.
Jack nodded, staring
at Daniel's mouth.
"Please don't rush
this, Jack," Daniel coaxed him. "I've been waiting." Jack's
face and body gentled, a warm look inviting a kiss, a soft bite at
Jack's straight lips. Jack bit back, sighing pleasure as Daniel
sucked on his lower lip. They kissed again, another easy, closed
mouth kiss, then another. Tongues flickered out to taste and
touch, both of them relaxing into it, Jack's hands sliding now over
Daniel's back. When it felt right, Daniel rocked into Jack,
smiling as Jack moved with him, the gripping leg across his ass
finding the slow, satisfying rhythm they'd had earlier, rolling their
bodies together.
"I like this," Jack
muttered, taking a moment, his head tilted back as he processed.
"I like slow." The liquid eyes were saying something a little
different. I like you.
"You're okay
yourself," Daniel said grudgingly, his heart skipping a beat.
Jack smiled slowly and kissed him, tenderly slipping into his mouth and
resting there, close. He thrust into Jack, driving up from his
knees, his back arching to grind their cocks together, leaving them
both shuddering and gasping. Their kiss was aching, Daniel's
longing for Jack almost palpable as he drove their bodies slowly,
relentlessly, his ass clenching as pleasure shook him, pulsing low in
his belly, quickening as he slammed into Jack, crying out as his body
spasmed. Jack was with him, and it was okay to let go just this
one time.
He collapsed heavily
forward, breathing hard into the sweat-soaked hollow of Jack's
throat. Jack held him, making broad, soothing sweeps of his back,
stroking the tremors away as Daniel clung to him.
"Uh, Daniel. I
hate to come off as a selfish bastard here, but…" Jack pointedly rocked
his hips. "Don't you have someone to do?"
"Sorry," Daniel
gasped, slithering off Jack to land in a boneless heap at his side,
hand skimming down over Jack's belly to take hold of his cock.
"Like this."
Jack took Daniel's hand and fitted it around his cock, fingers snug and
gripping, urging him to slide up and down the slick, engorged shaft.
Daniel copied Jack's
motions, tightening his grip, speeding and slowing until Jack made a
guttural noise in the back of his throat, heavy eyes closing as he
began to fuck Daniel's hand. Daniel lost the rhythm as Jack
thrust into him, Jack's hand closing impatiently over his to help him
get it just right, to hold him tighter, to grip here and glide
there. He propped himself up on his elbow to watch Jack's face as
he masturbated him, awed at the way Jack lost himself in the sex.
Jack's hand stayed on his on his cock, the other slipping across to
wrap tight around Daniel's forearm. Daniel was moved that Jack
wanted to keep the intimacy between them, leaning in so they could kiss
again, tight, hungry kisses, Jack's arm hooking around his neck.
"That's good,
Daniel," Jack hissed. "Just theeeere."
Jack's cock jerked
in Daniel's hand as he pressed his thumb into the sensitive head.
"Again!"
Daniel altered his
grip, fingers squeezing the shaft as he stroked the head of Jack's
cock. Jack's ass arched up from the ground, driving his cock into
Daniel's tight fist as Jack rubbed and lightly squeezed his
balls. Daniel clenched his fingers and Jack came with a hoarse,
triumphant shout, explosively shooting his load over his belly.
He was yanked into a fierce, exuberant kiss, Jack tumbled them onto
their sides, wrapped himself smugly around Daniel and went out like a
light.
Smiling to himself,
Daniel snuggled contentedly closer, not minding being used as a
mattress if he got to gloat over his Jack in privacy for a while
longer. He didn't think Jack had any idea how beautiful he was,
but maybe he was buying a clue about how very much Daniel wanted him.
Reflecting on their
lovemaking, Daniel was conscious that none of his informative
illustrated textbooks had been particularly forthcoming about what
impact a nine year age gap could have in bed. He couldn't
remember reading any advice on what to do if one of you came and one of
you didn't. The implication was that once you got a man going,
orgasm was, like death and taxes, inevitable. Not that Jack had
seemed to mind about the actual delivery method.
Maybe - maybe he
should try to get Jack more excited next time.
He was still
thinking about ways to do this when he fell asleep.
"I guess the thrill
is gone already," Jack commented as he sauntered out of the tent,
grinning.
Daniel glanced up
guiltily from packing his gear. "I want to go down into the town
today." Jack's grin faded to wariness. "If you feel up to
it," Daniel added hastily.
Jack was looking at
him, a distinctly predatory gleam in his dark eyes. "I'm
definitely up to it," he said softly, prowling towards Daniel.
"Exploring," Daniel
reminded him a tad breathlessly, ruthlessly stamping down on his
wayward libido.
"Exactly what I had
in mind."
"In town."
"You want to do it
on the dais?"
"Do what?" Daniel
asked suspiciously.
"Rubbing," Jack said
innocently, picking up a piece of charcoal from the table in
evidence. He walked up to Daniel, hesitating and looking
awkward. Then he leaned in and kissed Daniel very quickly and
chastely on the mouth, relaxing with the air of a man who'd done his
duty by an elderly aunt or something.
Daniel scowled at
him.
"Unless you want to
get into some athletic rubbing right here on the table," Jack snapped,
looking goaded, "that's all you're getting."
"Oh."
Oh! That was good. Accepting the implied compliment, Daniel
sidled closer, resting his hand on Jack's shoulder, smiling gratefully
at him. Jack grabbed Daniel's face and kissed him again,
apparently on general principle. Then he lightly shoved Daniel
away and stalked over to the ration boxes in search of breakfast,
muttering darkly about wiles.
Quite pleased with
this entire performance, Daniel went on methodically packing his gear,
making sure everything the Air Force said he had to have was underneath
everything he actually needed. Jack joined him at the table,
filling his own pack rapidly before heading into the tent to pick up
his MP-5, Zat, grenades. The list was endless. Daniel knew
better than to make a fuss about the load Jack was determined to carry,
although he made sure he relieved him of two of the huge chocolate
muffins that constituted breakfast and sadly, the last of the
provisions Sam had sent through for them.
They ate quickly,
gulped down some coffee, extinguished the fire, and did all the other
chores. Daniel followed Jack up the narrow path from the camp,
pleased to see he was walking slightly more easily this morning.
They didn't talk much even when they made it out onto the main trail,
Daniel pausing to put on his customary boonie. Falling into step
side by side was natural, although Daniel missed having Sam and Teal'c
with them.
"I don't have Mr.
Bluebird on my shoulder," Jack commented, "so don't expect me to hold
your hand or anything." He palliated this by moving closer so
they were walking with their arms pleasurably brushing.
"You have a natural
gift for that," Daniel observed. "Doing exactly what you want to
do and blaming other people for making you do it." Jack looked
modest. "You couldn't hold my hand anyway," Daniel added.
"Even if I wanted you to. You've already got your hands full
stroking your stock."
"Going to bed with
you doesn't mean I have to get sappy over you," Jack informed him,
petting his gun to help it get over the shock of the nasty man being
mean about it.
Daniel dropped his
chin onto his chest, looking down at his pistol, strapped discreetly to
his thigh. "I'm not into double-dating," he told it flatly.
"I'm also not into crushing any fond illusions you're entertaining
about yourself," he informed Jack.
"About my superior
firepower?" Jack asked, clearly taken with this particular illusion.
Feeling heat bloom
in his cheeks, Daniel hastened to head Jack off before he had to deal
with him flirting. "I agree that having sex with me hasn't made
you any sappier about me than before," he said blandly, letting Jack
take that any way he liked.
After a few seconds
mulling it over, Jack took it as an insult. "I'm taking a rain
check on retaliation," Jack told him haughtily.
"You do that,"
Daniel agreed pleasantly. "I missed check-in last night," he
casually reminded Jack. "No news is…" he prompted.
"Depends on whether
or not you're happy being stranded here a while longer," Jack answered,
glancing at him enquiringly. "In the hell of an SGC-funded
archaeological vacation complete with in-tent entertainment and Air
Force love toy," he added sarcastically.
Daniel had the grace
to look slightly embarrassed.
Jack softened.
"You look better, though." He seemed to think this needed
qualification, in case Daniel thought it was a compliment. "Less
strained."
"I don't think
you're supposed to telegraph an ambush quite so blatantly," Daniel
coldly informed his Air Force love toy.
"I don't know what
you mean," Jack lied calmly.
"You're building up
to another 'Talk'," Daniel accused him, pissed with a capital P.
"Can't you just leave it alone, Jack?"
"On mature
reflection," Jack mused, "no. Especially not now we're sleeping
together."
"That's just sex,"
Daniel insisted defiantly.
Jack shook his head,
smiling at Daniel with fond exasperation. He took hold of
Daniel's shoulder, moving to stand in front of him.
Daniel was taken
aback when Jack reached up to futz with the brim of his boonie, tilting
it at a precise angle, then smoothing it to hold the shape. A
firm finger lifted Daniel's chin. He turned away, or rather he
turned into Jack's waiting hand. "Don't…"
Jack kissed him
anyway, a cradling arm snaking around Daniel's waist. Jack's
mouth moved persuasively over his, asking, not demanding. Daniel
thought he was pushing Jack away until his fingers were resting against
Jack's throat. He didn't think at all then. He kissed Jack,
slipping into an inviting mouth, stroked and was sucked, stroked again,
and again. He slid over silky flesh and slick enamel, returning
to the knowing rasp of Jack's skilful tongue, losing himself in the
tenderness he hadn't known was there for him before.
When Jack eased away
from him at last, Daniel buried his face in Jack's shoulder.
Jack's radio clicked
and he reached up to it with his free hand. "SG-1-Niner," he
barked.
"Colonel?"
"Sir," Jack
acknowledged. Daniel stirred, but Jack's arm tightened warningly
around him.
"What's your status,
Colonel?" Hammond asked.
"Daniel wants to
take a look at the town so we got an early start. We're about
three kliks sierra-echo that location."
"Roger that,"
Hammond responded equably. "How's your knee, Jack?"
"Don't put me down
for volleyball any time soon, but barring that, I'm fine."
"And Dr. Jackson?"
With blithe
disregard for professionalism, Jack rested his cheek against
Daniel's. "Hugging the crap out of him right now, Sir," he
reported cheerfully.
Hammond chuckled.
"Check-in at 1800. Hammond out."
They stood quietly
for a while, Jack holding Daniel contentedly. "This isn't 'just'
anything," he murmured, kissing Daniel's cheek. "I knew that when
we made love. I don't think I would have had any problems with
the physical stuff anyway, not with you."
Daniel lifted his
head at that. "You trust me that much?"
Jack nodded, a
trifle reluctantly.
"Thanks."
"It was the
feelings, though," Jack went on uncomfortably. "I really got into
the feelings." He glanced nervously at Daniel. "Really."
"I didn't know why
it took me so long, Jack, to realise I was attracted to you. Why
I hadn't seen it before." Daniel glanced up, finding nothing but
understanding in Jack's warm eyes. "I wasn't prepared. I
didn't know what to do, what I wanted, except I was determined you
wouldn't know, you wouldn't be made to feel responsible." His
voice rose on that last word and he took a moment, a deep breath.
He pushed at Jack, who obediently turned, walking at his side, his arm
still around Daniel's waist. "I'm fine," Daniel said more sharply
than he'd intended to.
"Is that the
problem?" Jack asked directly, reluctantly letting go of Daniel.
"You don't want me taking responsibility for you? Me either."
Daniel looked around
at Jack, realising at once it was the truth.
"I didn't think it
would hurt that much," Jack said uneasily. "Not you, and sure as
hell not me. I hated to lie to you like that, I hated seeing the
doubt take hold of you. I didn't plan it that way - the cover
story about losing the command was supposed to be enough." He
looked at Daniel helplessly, struggling to explain, even to
himself. "I don't know where it came from, Daniel. You gave
me that opening, fed me the goddamned line." Bitter regret rang
in his voice. "Where did it come from? That doubt? I
was cruel, I know that, I can't excuse it, but you? Why the fuck
did you believe me?"
"I'm in love with
you." Daniel took a few hasty steps away, trying to control his
surging feelings, unable to face Jack just then. He didn't want
to lose it, and he was so close to that. "All the reasons I had
for not telling you, for not trusting either of us." He swallowed
painfully, trying to steady a pitiably shaking voice. "You didn't
tell me anything I hadn't told myself, Jack. You just told me all
the reasons why you wouldn't be with me."
"Aah, Daniel," Jack
sighed sorrowfully.
"I was wrong about
my feelings for you, so wrong. It shook my faith in myself, in us
- our friendship. It's not your fault," Daniel promised, turning
impulsively to Jack. "It's not," he insisted proudly. "I
was questioning everything, doubting everything. And I
wanted…" he faltered, blinking hard as his eyes began to
sting. "I wanted to be wrong."
"You're in love with
me?" Jack snorted derisively, smacking his fist off his own
head. "Sure you are, or you wouldn't be sleeping with me,
right? Right!" He was angry now, his face flushed and
ugly. "You still don't know if you're wrong, do you?" he demanded
harshly. "Here I was figuring I pushed you away and I didn’t do
that, did I? I couldn't do that. You weren't running from
me."
Daniel's throat was
so tight he couldn't speak.
"You still slept
with me. Is that how much you're in love with me? Is it?"
"You know it is!"
Jack came to him
then, grabbing him by the shoulders. "You were wrong. You
were so fucking wrong, Danny, I swear to God. I was eating my
heart out for you. 'Vesti la giubba', you know it.
Pagliaccio. Maybourne was planting his ass on my deck like he
owned me, I was sick to my soul thinking about him listening to what
went down between us, buying it like you bought it, and it was too
much, I was losing it, so I cranked up the volume. 'Ridi,
Pagliaccio, sul taro amore infranto! Ridi del duol, che
t'avvelena il cor!'," he quoted passionately. "You know it!"
"Leoncavallo, I
know," Daniel assured him.
"Say it. Say
the words."
"Laugh, Pagliaccio,
about your shattered love. Laugh about the pain that poisons your
heart," Daniel translated for him.
"Even with Caruso
blasting it out I didn't buy a clue," Jack snarled. "I know it
now, okay?"
"Okay."
"Could you sound
more underwhelmed?" Jack bellowed. "I'm baring my frigging soul,
here!"
"You were actually
listening to that?" Daniel asked, wondering. "Pagliaccio?"
Jack looked slightly
mollified, his indignant clutch on Daniel easing a fraction.
"And you still claim
you're not sappy?" Good comeback, but Daniel couldn't seem to
steady his still-shaking voice, biting down on chattering teeth and the
chill that struck at him.
All the tension went
out of Jack suddenly. He hugged Daniel close, kissing him softly
on the mouth. "It's okay, Daniel," he promised gently. "I
know better now."
Jack was nothing but
grateful when they finally marched into the cool and shade of the one
building on his list he hadn't checked on his previous abortive trip
into town. Despite being strapped up, his knee was twingeing like
a bastard and Daniel was extremely quiet, which wasn't surprising after
the way his dignified confession got upstaged by Jack bellowing Italian
opera at him. Jack knew that Daniel was in love with him,
deeply in love. He was fairly certain he'd reacted very
badly. Daniel excusing this because Jack was bitterly angry and
guilty was no help. Daniel took it on himself to excuse too damn
much.
He couldn't even
think of that scene in his living room, the look on Daniel's
face. He honestly didn't know if he could have said what he did
if he'd had any suspicion Daniel was in love with him. He didn't
want to think he was capable of that cruelty, but what difference did
it make, except to ease his conscience? He hadn't known how
Daniel felt, hell, he hadn't even known how he felt, but it didn't
change the fact he had been that cruel to Daniel.
Daniel had still
slept with him.
Jack didn't blame
Daniel for holding out. This was a hard thing for his friend to
face. He'd lived his whole life depending only on himself,
keeping his privacy and the small, necessary distance that fooled him
he was safe. Jack had managed to clear that misconception right
up for him. Now, he just wanted to be allowed to help because he
couldn't bear to see Daniel getting stoically through it on his own.
He had another
misconception to clear up. From what he could remember through
the haze of anger, he didn't think he'd come out and said it, actually
told Daniel he was in love with him too. He was sure he hadn't.
Daniel was still very upset or he'd be talking Jack into a coma about
all the really cool stuff they were possibly maybe going to find.
If he was still this quiet and this upset after a three klik hike,
admittedly with Jack limping along for the ride ripe for murder, it was
probable that Daniel had completely missed the minor detail that his
feelings were thoroughly requited.
"My timing sucks,"
Daniel offered with a ghost of a smile, breaking Jack out of his
reverie.
Jack could not agree
more. He couldn't think of a way to tell Daniel he was in love
with him without it coming off as some kind of patronising
reassurance. He had to get it out in a way Daniel believed
it. "If this was a freakin' miniseries, right after you said 'I'm
in love with you!', we'd have cut to swelling, dramatic music and 'To
Be Continued!'."
Daniel's lips
twitched.
Jack cleared his
throat self-consciously, not about to admit that this was pretty much
what had happened. "We're still together," he said
distantly. "You know. In case that wasn't crystal
clear." This was all Jack was prepared to say until he had Daniel
naked in bed. He felt strongly that the application of lots of
skin would be worth a thousand words, all of them sappy.
"Hmmm." Daniel
didn't say anything more, but he was apparently willing to take the
proffered olive branch-cum-rain check, because he did start looking
around at the still intact walls of the building as if they meant
something.
"It's functional,"
Jack offered a conversational cue. "The architecture."
"Yes," Daniel
agreed, his attention already focusing on their surroundings. He
walked off down the hallway, carefully examining the walls either side
of him as he went, Jack mooching along behind him, enjoying the view,
though not the same view Daniel was enjoying. One honey coloured
wall was much like any other honey coloured wall as far as Jack was
concerned, but Daniel's ass was in a newly discovered league of its own.
"If the layout is
like the other buildings, we've got to walk to the end, turn the
corner, then double back on ourselves to reach the opening into the
main chamber," Jack reminded him.
"Does that mean
anything to you?" Daniel asked, glancing back inquisitively.
"From a defensive
point of view?" Jack queried. "Not unless this entryway was in
the middle of the building and the roof was open for defenders above to
fire down into. That would make a helluva killing ground."
Daniel nodded
thoughtfully.
"This doesn't make
sense from a safety point of view either," Jack went on. "It's a
bottleneck if a lot of people need to get out of this building quick."
"Given that we've
seen no signs of collateral damage, this suggests to me that the people
didn't have any enemies. They weren't concerned with defence,"
Daniel suggested.
"Makes a refreshing
change," Jack said dryly, double-timing it to catch him up.
"It makes the end of
this civilisation even more perplexing," Daniel commented, frowning.
"No war, no apparent
natural disaster." Jack casually rapped his knuckles off a
still-solid honey-coloured wall. "The soil seems fertile and
there's plenty of water around."
"Drought could have
been responsible, though." Daniel pulled a rueful face.
"It's a pain in the ass trying to do this blind. History is
remembered and passed on, whether through oral traditions or written
records. You can usually find something in the corpus, and if not
there…"
"Rumours, myths and
fairytales?" Jack asked softly.
Daniel flashed him
an impatient glance, then smiled reluctant acknowledgement of the old,
still unresolved argument.
"What about all that
stuff we found at the mausoleum? The panels of text?"
Daniel looked shifty.
Jack parked himself
in front of Daniel, holding his MP-5 rather pointedly while he
waited. "Daniel?" Four days of his life. Four whole
days. Four.
"I - um - the whole
point of your trip here was to find texts," Daniel reminded a spot on
the ceiling a few yards behind Jack
Jack raised a
politely enquiring eyebrow.
"We need more,"
Daniel confessed to the ceiling.
"Oliver Twist-type
more?" A tablet or two?
"The feeding of the
five thousand-type more."
Or the Library of
Congress!
"There's never been
a successful translation without a significant corpus, Jack," Daniel
explained.
"You do it all the
time!"
"No, I don't.
Look how far I got with the alien languages we found on Ernest's
planet."
"Nowhere, slow?"
"Exactly."
"So those four days
were a bust, huh?" Jack asked pleasantly.
"Necessary
groundwork," Daniel insisted, looking mulish. Looking…
"Crap!" Jack made an
unwelcome realisation, turned on his heel and stalked off.
"Jack?" Daniel
called after him, puzzled.
"I want to kiss you!"
"Oh. Um…that
would be fine," Daniel responded encouragingly.
"It is not
fine. It is missing the point entirely. I should be
yelling!"
"Possibly."
"Definitely.
You played me like a fiddle for four days."
"True."
Jack stopped.
Daniel caught him
up, a definite twinkle in his eyes. "But it was your own
fault. You insisted on helping me, if you remember."
"I remember you
getting pissy about me quietly entertaining myself," Jack argued
vigorously.
"You still want to
kiss me, right?" Daniel recognised. "It's still fine," he
suggested unhelpfully.
"I want to shove you
against the wall, push your BDUs down around your knees and - you know."
Daniel knew.
He swallowed convulsively, apparently not having problems visualising
this scenario.
"I'm very attracted
to you."
"Me too," Daniel
agreed, sighing heavily, his eyes travelling lingeringly over Jack's
body in a blatant once-over.
"Mr. Bluebird is on
my shoulder," Jack elaborated, embarrassed and unfortunately showing
it. "Crapping down my back and laughing his little feathered
fanny off."
With terraces rising
all around them to fill the central chamber, Daniel and Jack lay in the
middle of the floor on ground level, staring up at the painted
ceiling. They hadn't been inspired with any major revelations so
far. "At this point, I am completely open to suggestion," Daniel
said eventually.
"Maybe it's like
ethnic art," Jack suggested, taking him at his word. " A 'Roots'
kind of thing. 'See, kids, this is where we came from!'
Maybe that little horsey over there was the Big Mac of its day."
"There's no evidence
of intermediate stages of development in the writing system from these
crude pictographs to the sophisticated logosyllabic language we have in
the mausoleum, though," Daniel replied, frustrated. "That just
doesn't happen. A species, a culture doesn't leap up the
evolutionary ladder."
"Unless someone
makes it," Jack reminded him.
"Kynthia's people
were genetically engineered party animals," Daniel retorted.
"Beautiful airheads."
"I didn't notice
anyone spending a lot of time on the three Rs," Jack agreed
good-naturedly.
"Exactly. You
can artificially accelerate evolution, but development of language and
writing systems is a gradual process."
"Is this a 'Planet
of the Apes' type deal?"
"I have no idea what
that means."
"I know we're not
dealing with Goa'uld here, there's not so much as an iffy glyph to be
seen, let alone a big honkin' pyramid parked up top of the mountain,
but that doesn't mean there wasn't some uber-species calling the shots
on a pathetic, slave-scum under-species," Jack explained.
"Attired in skimpy
furs or short, tight tunics?"
"That would be
clichéd."
"I don't know,"
Daniel sighed, taking off his glasses to pinch the bridge of his
nose. "I just can't come up with a scenario that explains
this. Two different languages, one primitive, one sophisticated,
no obvious signs of industrialisation, yet we have this technologically
advanced architecture, able to withstand forty thousand years of
erosion more or less untouched. We've found few if any artefacts
in any of the dwellings, all of which are uniform in space allocation
and…" Something tugged at Daniel then. He turned his head
to face Jack, who was lying at precisely one hundred and eighty degrees
to him, for safety's sake. They could talk and they could look,
but they couldn't touch, which was currently an issue for both of
them. "What does this remind you of?" he asked. "The town,
I mean."
"If you hadn't been
whittering on about it for two weeks straight, confusing me?" Jack
replied tactlessly.
"Jack!"
"A barracks?"
Daniel propped
himself up on his elbow, interested now. "Why?"
Jack joined him,
hitching along a few inches so they were once again face to face.
"It looks like it was all built at the same time. I've been
stationed in Europe. There are towns out there where you can walk
down the street from a castle to a high-rise. There's none of
that here. It's all the same."
"No fortifications,
though," Daniel mused. "So why does it remind you of barracks?"
"Married quarters,"
Jack said absently. "If you're a captain, you get a house of a
certain size, with a yard of a certain size, ditto for a major, for a
colonel. Never varies."
"The structures here
are all of the same size. I was trying to draw conclusions from
that in the context of a civilisation that had reached the stage of
socio-political development the architecture and the language on those
panels implied. What if I'm wrong?" Daniel asked excitedly.
"Wouldn't be the
first time," Jack said unkindly.
Daniel ignored this,
flopping onto his back to look again at the painted ceiling.
"It's the same,"
Jack told him. "Dunno if that's important, but all the ceilings
have the same pictographs. You've seen one, you've seen them
all. I think the layout of the rooms is identical too."
This was
interesting. Mindful of their limited time here, Daniel wanted to
move on. "If your knee is rested, feel like taking a look around
the rest of the town?" he invited.
"You love this
stuff, don't you?"
Daniel accepted
Jack's hand and was pulled to his feet. "It's the worst kind of
Discovery Channel
solve-it-sensationally-in-sixty-minutes-sponsored-by-Gap schlockology
special."
"You love it," Jack
said with deep satisfaction. "Gap?"
"I've got some
chinos," Daniel mumbled at his boots. "And a shirt."
"Colour?"
Daniel
blushed. "Blue. Faded but blue."
"Know any
interesting walls?"
"The one behind my
bed is red brick."
"We'll table that
for when we get back."
"I've got two tables
too," Daniel said boldly, surprising them both.
"You can't say stuff
like that to me. You know you can't. Not when we've got two
tables here and neither of them could take the weight!"
Ignoring Jack's
bitching, Daniel took a long last look around, fixing it in his mind,
the vivid images overhead, the placement of the terraces and the
central dais, higher than the others, at the rear of the chamber.
"Did you get footage?" he asked anxiously.
"Yeees, I got
footage," Jack replied patiently. "You'd never let me hear the
end of it if I didn't get the freakin' footage."
"Still thinking
about tables?" There was a glimmer of a hint of apology in there,
if Jack wished to interpret Daniel's tone in that way.
"You're not sorry at
all."
Allowing himself to
feel a little reassured, Daniel followed Jack out of the fascinating
chamber. Dealing with their feelings was hard enough, but trying
to find their balance when they were so attracted to one another was
only adding to the confusion.
He hadn't meant to
tell Jack any of the things he'd said earlier, any more than he'd meant
for Jack to take what he'd said so much to heart. This wasn't the
resolution he'd expected. Working through his feelings alone,
regaining his equanimity, that was the best he'd hoped for. Jack
admitting to the same hurt Daniel felt had floored him. They'd
both said too much -- or maybe not enough, he wasn't sure. The
mere fact of Jack pushing so relentlessly, so bull-headedly, and taking
it all so hard, left Daniel feeling for the first time in a long time
that he wasn't alone. He was beginning to hope - believe - Jack
was with him.
"I'm totally fixated
on this wall thing, now," Jack complained to him irately, looking very
hang-dog. "No offence, Daniel, but I'm finding it hard to
acclimate to being your team leader, friend and lover. You're a
handful for any incarnation." He winced. "See! See!"
he hissed accusingly. "I'm thinking about having sex with you the
whole damn time."
"I'm not," Daniel
offered encouragingly. He was taken aback by Jack's sudden,
scorching glare.
"Why not?!"
Pulling on his
boonie as they emerged into the sunlight bought Daniel some time.
"I have other things on my mind," he said eventually, after he'd slung
on his pack and tweaked every strap that could be tweaked. Jack
thawed visibly, solicitously crowding Daniel as they walked across the
wide paved street to the first square of dwellings.
Stairs rose either
side of the entrance way, leading to the upper level. Daniel
headed straight through to the central square, wanting to get a sense
of perspective and scale before he explored individual dwellings.
The grasses were head-high and rank, extending across the paving slabs
that edged them.
"Easy," Jack
drawled, a firm hand urging Daniel behind him.
Suppressing a sigh -
Jack would never give an inch on this one - Daniel let him take
point, picking his way carefully ahead through the dense grasses.
Jack's probing foot gave suddenly and he stumbled, Daniel darting
forward to grab him round the waist and haul him back.
"Jack? Are you
hurt? Your knee?" He was pulled unceremoniously further
away from whatever had caused Jack to stumble, which he guessed
answered that.
"There's a drop
there. I felt the soil crumbling before I pushed through to the
edge. Back the way we came," Jack ordered tersely.
"We should go to the
upper level."
"SG-5 didn't check
these jungles out?"
"It wasn't high on
my extensive list of priorities, no," Daniel said dryly.
It took them a few
minutes to make their way back to the entrance and up the stairs.
"Wait here," Jack
instructed, nodding at the wall that edged the terrace they were
on. "I'll go check out the other side."
"You wait here,"
Daniel contradicted. "Rest your knee, for cryin' out loud.
I'll go." Jack looked like he was going to argue the point so
Daniel goosed him and took off while he was still sputtering. He
walked rapidly round to the opposite side, peering down into the
grasses as he did so. "I'll be damned!" he yelled. Jack
looked like he was laughing.
A moment later
Daniel's radio clicked. "Come in, Daniel."
"Shut up," Daniel
said huffily. So he forgot about the radio. This was not a crime.
"Want to share
what's got you so excited?"
"Terraces. The
ground is landscaped in the same terraces we found in the larger
buildings. You can only see them from this side, because we
walked in at the highest level."
"Want me to check
the next block over, see if it's the same?" Jack offered generously.
"Please! I'll
take a look in the dwellings."
"I don't need to
tell you to be careful," Jack did just that.
"You're a complete
pain in the ass, Jack. Daniel out!"
Across the square,
Jack flipped him the finger, then disappeared down the stairs.
Feeling as if he'd
dropped the ball on this one, Daniel walked into the nearest
dwelling. He'd just had an unpleasant reminder of how different
his role was on SG-1 to what he'd been educated and trained to
do. He was so used to planning these 'get in, get out and steal a
lot of stuff' off-world hit and runs, even though he'd more than
fulfilled his brief for this mission, he felt neglectful.
SG-5 did the
scutwork for him, grabbing and bagging likely looking samples.
They were excellent at that, always followed his orders to the letter
and could be trusted to work without his supervision once they were
briefed. Daniel was fooling himself he was thorough. He
hadn't taken the time to properly assess the samples SG-5 brought back
for him, focusing instead on copying whatever he could of the alien
language. The members of SG-5 were good at what Daniel had
trained them to do, but they weren't archaeologists. They didn't
look with the same eyes he did, and they didn't challenge him the way a
colleague would.
Daniel missed that
more than he was prepared to admit. He'd aligned himself so much
with the ethos of the SGC, refined his methodology again and again to
safely fit the circumstances he and his team were often faced
with. Being a joke among his peers didn't mean he could abrogate
his professional responsibility. He'd removed artefact after
artefact from its site when the all the science he'd been taught
demanded preservation in situ. In fulfilling his obligations to
his team and the SGC, he was not fulfilling his obligations to the
past, nor was he adding to the body of evidence.
None of this worry
over his compromised professional ethics was new, but it irked
him. This was a case in point. No one had reported that
there was no furniture in the small, dark dwellings because he hadn't
briefed them to and it simply hadn't occurred to them. The
absence of tools and personal items was linked to the ritualised
interment of the dead, he hadn't changed his opinion on that. The
absence of furniture, though, was a surprise.
Daniel hunkered down
on the dusty floor, looking around intently. There was a hearth
for a fire, the sanitation system was a simple stone shelf with a hole
cut in it. Crude but effective. An equally simple stone
basin had a pump for water, he'd seen the photographs of those.
No hinges in the entryway, no panes or frames in the window
space. There were alcoves in the rear wall, deep enough and wide
enough for humanoids to sleep in.
Light pooled on the
dusty floor but didn't reach the walls. Daniel pulled off his
pack and set it at his feet, taking out his flashlight, latex gloves,
brushes and dental picks, which were great for gently scraping away
fungus. Daniel tucked his boonie behind the strap on his BDUs and
tied on his bandana. Then he put on his goggles, his latex
gloves, and because of the fungus, a surgical mask, which Janet kept
him supplied with. He got some plastic baggies ready to store the
detritus, then looked up at the walls assessingly.
He walked to the
nearest corner and began to work clearing the wall at eye height.
It was ironic that what struck his teammates as painfully methodical
and time-consuming was to Daniel appallingly rushed pop-archaeology
based on assumptions and speculation in place of the proper gathering
of evidence.
Scraping away the
fungus took time; it was a resilient little bugger with an unpleasantly
slimy slug-like sheen. After fifteen minutes of careful
extraction, Daniel had cleared an area on the wall equivalent to the
size of his head and began to brush the surface clean of dust and
debris. He found two vertical markings, coming together as they
went up the wall. Curious, he moved further along and attacked
the fungus there.
"Hey," Jack said
from behind him. "It's the same. Terraces. I checked
out a couple of squares just to be sure. You find anything?"
"I don't know
yet. Don't come too close, Jack, I don't know if this fungus is
toxic."
"You got something
under there?"
"I think it’s a
pictograph."
"Like the ones we
saw painted?"
"I think so."
"Looks like you got
yourself a piece of tail there," Jack pointed out helpfully.
"Hmmm." If
Daniel kept working, he had every hope Jack would go away. He had
the patience of the average five year-old unless they were skulking in
the undergrowth looking to shoot something.
"I've been thinking."
"Hmmm."
"Trying to help."
"Hmmm." Just a
little more fungus cleared here and he'd get to the body of the animal
represented.
"Probably dumb, I
know," Jack said gruffly.
Daniel turned
straight around. "Oh, no," he promised, pulling up his
goggles. "What were you thinking? I'm open."
"Everything is the
same," Jack said slowly. "Like barracks, like hospitals.
Schools. Holiday Inn." He hesitated.
Daniel made
encouraging noises.
"Like anyplace you
have to keep people."
"Go on."
"Usually you say 'I
know where you're going with this'," Jack pointed out.
"I don't."
"Or Carter does."
"I still don't, but
go on."
"You make those
kinds of places all the same so even if it isn't familiar, it is.
Kind of. Making something that isn't your space into something
that can feel like your space."
"Are we back to the
slave race?"
"No locks on the
doors." Jack rapped the wall. "No doors."
"Nothing to keep
them here."
"Except maybe not
having any place to go."
"Now I know where
you're going!" Daniel enthused. "All these dichotomies can be
explained by the fact there were two species here, one advanced, one…"
"Young?" Jack asked
dryly.
"Exactly!"
Daniel looked around with fresh eyes. "They - your uber-species -
tried to make these dwellings a comfortable, familiar environment,
compromising only on sanitation and clean water supplies."
"It could be a
refugee camp," Jack suggested diffidently.
"Jack, that's
brilliant!"
Jack straightened
up, beaming at him. "Cool," he said, oh-so-casually.
"Whatever disaster
struck this civilisation, maybe it didn't happen here. Maybe not
even on this planet. Possibly someone brought them here and took
care of them." Daniel walked over to Jack's side. "A very
primitive society, I think. The terracing, the
pictographs…possibly cave dwellers. These squares, the public
buildings, the species who brought them here may have been replicating
a system of caves that existed, possibly the home the primitives were
brought from." He smiled at Jack. "Trying to comfort them."
"Trying to control
them." Jack looked around unenthusiastically. "You want to
chisel more of this crud off the walls, we can bivouac in the larger
structure tonight, get an early start and haul ass back up the mountain
tomorrow."
Daniel walked out
into the fresh air, leaning on the wall. Jack joined him after a
moment. "You know the last complete dig I conducted was on
Abydos? The cartouche room."
"SG-1 is a field
unit. You knew that when you signed on."
"I know."
Jack leaned too, his
forearm warm against Daniel's.
"I do know, Jack."
"You're just
frustrated as hell."
"No, not always,"
Daniel answered honestly. "There's just so much to do here.
So much I could do with time and a team. This is an incredible
find. Two alien species living side by side…"
"The dichotomies."
"Absolutely.
How did one society affect the other? What compromises did each
have to make to co-exist? Why did the advanced species bring the
primitives here? Why couldn't they prevent their demise?"
"I get the picture,"
Jack interrupted hastily.
"The pictograms are
inspiring. They're the only record remaining of a dead
civilisation we'll never know about." Daniel looked sadly at
Jack. "I just don't have time to do enough sampling. I've
concentrated on the advanced civilisation, mostly because I made too
many assumptions and cut too many corners in my methodology."
Jack straightened
up, bristling in Daniel's defence.
"It's okay," Daniel
said soothingly, reaching up to take Jack's arm. "I think I can
be honest with myself." Jack's arm slid around him in a
comforting clasp. "I'm not that traumatised," Daniel complained a
tad breathlessly, finding Jack's supportive look and melting eyes
incredibly distracting. "With the time-scale we usually have to
work in and the pressure to yield results, I've lost focus, lost
discipline. Answers are more important than questions, tangible
gains more important than learning about ourselves and our society
through others. I get that. I get it well enough to stand
and argue with the Tollan for access to their weapons technology."
"I can talk to
Hammond about getting you a staff," Jack offered, hugging Daniel that
bit closer. "And don't piss me off by even thinking it's because
I want you home nights so I can have more moderately okay sex with you."
Daniel stretched up
and nibbled Jack's ear. Then he kissed the sensitive spot below.
"It's only partly
because of that."
"I know it is,"
Daniel murmured, taking little bites at Jack's jawline. "And I
know who would be a great addition to the SGC. I've worked with
him before. In fact, I supervised his doctoral thesis."
He'd dreamed Robert into the SGC when Sha'uri died, but it hadn't
seemed possible.
"Are you trying to
sway me with sex?" Jack asked hopefully.
"Is it working?"
"Sway me some more
and I'll let you know."
Daniel kept casting
longing looks behind him as they began to climb up the long, steep
trail to camp.
"Maybe we should
have quit when we first planned to," Jack suggested, reaching round to
hook Daniel's arm, keep him moving. "I should never have let you
walk back in there. You start with a couple of hooves, move up to
a tail, and before you know it, you have a whole herd uncovered."
His part in the afternoon's proceedings was possibly less
impressive. "Not that I don't appreciate you keeping me fully
occupied in my pivotal function as fungus disposal squad." At
least he had some ideas for the little brushy things Daniel used.
They looked like fun in the right context.
"It was a good day,"
Daniel sighed, misty-eyed.
Jack couldn't
disagree. He'd given what help he could throughout, motivated
mostly by a desire to prove he and Daniel could relate just fine.
They'd worked well together, which had helped Daniel relax and get that
bit more comfortable with Jack. He was going to have to get up
and do it all again tomorrow, but if the sex tonight was as nice
between them tonight as it was last night, he'd have no problems
putting on his happy face. Although Daniel might have problems
not smacking it off him.
"I'll ask Hammond
about getting this Rothman guy for you during check-in," he offered in
the spirit of co-operation.
"But with us trapped
here, and the general not able to help, won't he feel obligated to…"
Daniel began innocently. Then his eyes widened, lips quivering as
he tried to look disapproving and didn't make it.
Jack tried to look
suitably modest and self-effacing and also didn't make it.
"I'm dirty," Daniel
announced, eyeing Jack flirtatiously.
"Filthy," Jack
solemnly agreed. It was a very sexy look on Daniel.
"We need a bath."
"Can I wash your
back?"
"That was my plan."
Jack was going to
let it go at that, but a snatch of this morning's revelations
inconveniently came back to him. He was reluctant to even
raise the issue, but decided he was obligated to give Daniel an out if
there was any chance he felt he was compromising himself to be with
Jack. "You're okay about sleeping with me?" he asked roughly, getting
the words out anything but generously.
"I want the
sex." Daniel didn't seem to feel he needed to say any more, but
after a brief pause, his fingers skimmed across Jack's ass. "I
want you," he said straightforwardly. Which was Daniel's way of
saying whatever Jack was thinking, he should stop.
"I don't spend much
time in my own head," Jack mentioned casually, figuring the reasons for
this were obvious to Daniel. Ignoring Daniel's pantomime
incredulity, Jack grinned. "All this maturity is wearing me
out." He looked at Daniel, the handsome, vivid face and bright
eyes turning to him with every other step, like Daniel was hanging on
his every word, getting then how much Daniel wanted him if he was happy
just to be with him. "You don't want a lot, do you? I mean,
it doesn't take much for you."
"I want everything."
How did Daniel pack
so much feeling into what he said? Into his eyes? How he
looked, how he stood even. How the hell had Jack missed all
this? Was he blind?
Daniel stepped in
front of him, his turn to slide an arm around Jack, a possessive hand
curving over his ass. "I'm going to get it too," he promised
Jack. "You mean too much." He stretched up to kiss Jack
fiercely, gentling as he responded, kissing him sweetly then, his mouth
moving caressingly.
"Am I
arguing?" Jack should have guessed the way it would have to
be. Daniel couldn't mute the intensity of his love just to let
Jack off light, and, honestly, Jack wouldn't want him to. It was
too long since he'd been the focus of this kind of passion, this
want. It made him feel alive. Making himself vulnerable to
Daniel was the only way this would work. His honesty would
re-build trust, he'd seen that already. He was just going to have
to go on embarrassing the crap out of himself for a while longer.
With Daniel, he guessed he was used to making it work, they both
were. At least they were starting out real, as friends
who'd seen the best and the worst of each other. "Slippery and
wet, huh?" he said lightly. "You're definitely going to get it."
"And then
some." Daniel gave him a swift, smug little kiss. "I've
been thinking about what you said," he confided as they got moving
again. "About the town being a refugee camp."
Jack, who'd been
hoping to hear more about mutually exploring warm, wet, slippery
places, was slightly put out by Daniel's aggravating single-mindedness.
"I'm speculating,
here…"
From where Jack was
standing, Daniel speculated about all of it. Endlessly. He
was interested in everything. With the obvious exception of
anything Jack wanted him to be interested in, of course.
"But it occurred to
me that the buildings were purpose-made," Daniel went on with the
bright uncomplicated certainty of a man who knew he was preaching to
the choir. "Your uber-species went for the best compromise
they could between minimum acceptable building standards, sanitation
and so on, to ensure the safety and health of the refugees, as well as
simplicity of design, so that people who weren't familiar with
technology could still operate, for example, the pump for clean
drinking water."
"And?" Jack prompted.
"The terracing they
replicated in the larger structures and in the centre of the dwellings
don't fit comfortably with the style of the architecture. The
buildings are constructed rigidly in blocks of uniform size, hardly
sympathetic to the organic flow of the cave floor they were trying to
copy. So what do you think?" Daniel asked, apparently keen for
Jack's input. "That maybe those features were added later?"
Jack made a firm
mental resolve not to look too happy tomorrow, in case he encouraged
this alarming trend. He eyed Daniel coolly. "Are you
trying to take advantage?" he challenged.
"Yes." Daniel
seemed surprised he'd ask. "I figure as long as I've got you,
then you might as well make yourself useful."
"Well, I'm not."
"But you have to."
"No, I don't."
"Yes, you do,"
Daniel insisted stubbornly. "If you expect me to enthuse about
the boring stuff you do, then you have to at least tolerate the boring
stuff I do."
"Archaeology is not
a team sport!"
"It is to me."
"I need way more
than that," Jack sneered.
"It - er - it turns
me on," Daniel mumbled, flushing to the tips of his ears.
"It does?"
That changed things slightly. "I'll take it under advisement,"
Jack offered graciously, committing himself to nothing.
"So what do you
think?"
Jack thought Daniel
didn't look in the least turned on. "I think you're a pain in the
ass!"
"Do you also think
the uber-species built those comforting, home-like cave terraces
because the primitives they brought here weren't settling easily or
even at all in their new homes? And why do you think they were
brought here? What role did the uber-species play in the
destruction of the primitive civilisation, to take so much
responsibility for them?"
"What is this?" Jack
demanded. "Twenty Loaded Questions?"
"No," Daniel looked
shocked. "I have way more than twenty."
"Told you Hammond
wouldn't say no," Jack smugly reminded Daniel.
"Thank you," Daniel
said sincerely. "It means a lot to me." Jack looked at him
expectantly. Daniel felt he should offer encouragement and
decided to comment further on Jack's performance during the evening's
radio check-in. "You didn't tell me General Hammond would take
the time to explain in detail each and every one of the flaws in your
emotionally manipulative strategy."
"It didn't have to
be pretty. It just had to work," Jack said firmly. He still
looked expectant.
Daniel sensed that
his gratitude was being judged as inadequate. He dropped his chin
onto his chest and eyed his scruffy, sweat-soaked T-shirt. "Could
you help me with this?" Jack lent his assistance with such
alacrity he almost knocked Daniel on his ass, the T-shirt was yanked
unceremoniously over his head, dropped onto the sand and kicked out of
the way. Jack's T-shirt followed with more haste than dignity.
"I never knew two
guys together could be so hot," Jack breathed, resting his palm low on
Daniel's belly, fingers spreading wide, drinking him in with dark,
aching eyes. "Make love with me, Daniel." He gasped as
Daniel slid his thigh between Jack's, rubbing against his crotch.
Ceremoniously, Jack took off Daniel's glasses, placing them behind him
safely on the rock he'd used to prop him up while Daniel helped him
strip each time they came to the pool. He hugged one arm around
Daniel's waist, reaching up then to play with the soft strands of hair
spilling damp across his brow.
Feeling the slow
swell of Jack's erection against his thigh, Daniel rested his hands at
Jack's waist, his thumbs stroking over the muscle ridging his still
flat belly. He looked up then, to find Jack waiting and watching
him, flowing into a warm, easy kiss. They took a moment to just
stand and look at one another, Jack's fingers still tangling in
Daniel's hair. He wondered if Jack had any idea how handsome he
was, how much Daniel wanted him. He licked the straight mouth,
curving into a smile for him, Jack's tongue darting out to tease his,
drawing him near, into another kiss. Jack opened eagerly to him,
moving his mouth against Daniel's as they delicately touched tongues.
"Mmmm," Daniel
sighed, dreamily leaning into Jack, into the dear, trusted strength of
him. He rested there, in Jack, eyes closed, just breathing him
in, then stroking into him, rubbing softly into the tender, rasping
tongue. He drove deeper, rocking Jack back on his heels, smiling
as Jack's grip on him tightened imperatively, his own hands clenching
now on Jack's ass, pulling him in to grind their hips together.
He wanted to be in
the water when they made love, clumsily tugging at the buttons on
Jack's BDUs without breaking their kiss. Jack read him, pulling
away to stoop and unlace his boots. Daniel followed suit, annoyed
at losing the moment, rapidly shedding boots and socks, Jack beating
him to unbuttoning his BDUs, sliding his hands down inside the fabric
to squeeze Daniel's ass and rock him into the cock jutting demandingly
against his belly. Daniel shoved the pants down, startling a
laugh out of Jack as he kicked them impatiently clear and began to back
Jack into the water.
Daniel silenced
Jack's teasing response with a passionate kiss, plunging deep into his
mouth. Jack got all primal on him, blithely ignoring the risk to
his still tender knee by lifting Daniel off his feet and swinging him
around. Laughing softly, Jack backed Daniel into deeper water,
pushing into him with hips and chest, his hands possessive on Daniel's
ass.
"You have real Alpha
Male issues," Daniel complained gently, going with the flow, his toes
sinking into the grainy, rippled sand as the warm water rose around
them to their chests.
"Tell me about it!"
Jack blurted. "I keep having this dream…" He bit off the words,
flushing violently.
"An erotic dream?"
Daniel pushed, intrigued. "Was I in it?"
"I'm not telling you
about my sex dreams."
"You want to have
sex but not talk about it. That's…healthy."
"It's worked for the
past thirty years," Jack pronounced coldly.
Daniel kissed Jack's
shoulder, then his collar bone. Then he lowered his head and
nosed into the crisp hairs furring Jack's chest. Finally, he
swiped his tongue hotly over a nipple. Jack groaned and clutched
Daniel's head to him. Glad something from his books worked,
Daniel enthusiastically licked and suckled, teasing each nub to
hardness, thoroughly enjoying each twitch and jerk of Jack's cock.
"Do you own a
nightshirt?" Jack asked in a strangled voice.
Daniel glanced
up. "No." It had never been an issue.
"Get one," Jack
ordered emphatically, pushing Daniel back against the rocks and
lowering his head. His teeth nipped tenderly at Daniel's
nipple. He chuckled unkindly at Daniel's shout of astonished
arousal, turning instantly to torment the other nipple.
The onslaught left
Daniel's skin tingling, his body thrumming with hot, greedy
pleasure. He put his hands on Jack's ass, pulled him close, Jack
doing the same to him. They kissed deeply as they rubbed
together, their bodies swaying in the water, cocks in slow, sensuous
grind. The erotic pressure of sun-warmed water on hot skin
heightened sensation, Daniel moaning low in his throat as fierce desire
stabbed. Every part of Jack was hard and vital against him as
they drove into one another. Jack pulled away from the kiss to
bury his face in Daniel's throat.
"I love you."
The insistent
whisper snapped Daniel's drowsy eyes wide open, rocked him back on his
heels, the water surging up to splash his face. "Jack?" he gasped.
"I love you.
In case that wasn't absolutely clear."
"Jack…"
"I was waiting for
the perfect time to tell you, then I realised there wouldn't be one,
that this is as good as it gets and I figured you should be naked when
I told you anyway."
"Why?" Daniel asked,
reeling.
"I didn't think
you'd believe me otherwise."
"I wouldn't believe
you loved me if I wasn't naked?" Daniel reiterated painstakingly, too
shocked to really take in Jack's declaration let alone his logic.
Jack emerged from
the haven of Daniel's shoulder, beet red with mortification, defensive
and utterly pissed off. "I figured I should show you, not tell
you!" he snapped. "Yeah. That'll work," he snarled
sarcastically.
"You - you love me?"
Daniel asked deprecatingly, dropping his head to look blindly at
nothing, his body shaken by a surge of raw feeling that left him
breathless. Daniel glanced up fleetingly, excruciating need
stripping away his few defences.
"I'm falling in love
with you." Jack sounded almost afraid. "Deeper than I know
how to deal with."
Overwhelming relief
choked Daniel. "I know," he said jerkily. "I was desolate,
Jack. I've never been so alone in my life. I always turned
to you. I - I didn't even know that until I couldn't any
more." Jack's lips moved caressingly over his temple, his arm
hugging tightly, high around Daniel's shoulders. "Falling in love
with you, it was the best thing. The worst. Who could I
turn to with that? I can't be without you. How pathetic am
I?" he asked, trying to smile.
"Daniel," Jack
murmured, distressed for him.
"I couldn't take the
risk. I tried to tell you so many times. There was always
something. I don't know how to describe it. Not exactly
taking me for granted, more like you really didn't see me. I was
just there, someone you trusted and didn't think too much about unless
you had to."
"It wasn't like
that. I don't have to talk to you," Jack countered, struggling to
understand this and to explain himself. "You understand. We
don't need the words, you know me better than anyone."
"You didn't know me,
though," Daniel said simply. "You didn't know how alone I was,
how hard I was fighting to get clear of it all, to - to just be your
friend. I didn't want any more than that, Jack, I didn't ask
anything. I didn't want to need you and I was falling in love
with you." He lifted his head proudly. "I didn't feel all
that important to you, not if I needed the words."
"You mean more to me
than anything," Jack haltingly promised him, his hesitance more
believable, more meaningful than any rehearsed, extravagant
sentiment. "I just now realised that. You've been a part of
me so long, I stopped thinking about what it meant. It just
was. I didn't question it until you made me. And
honestly? I don't want to think about what brought us here.
It's enough that we're here. You know. In love." Jack
cleared his throat, apparently with some effort. "I want us to
figure out how we live our lives - er - together. And…stuff."
More grateful for
Jack's understanding than he could adequately say, Daniel rewarded his
heroic eloquence with a tender kiss.
Jack looked at him
for a long time, then he smiled slowly and kissed Daniel back.
"We're okay," he sighed.
They were better
than okay, Daniel thought. They were real.
Back to Part Two / On to Part Four
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