"Jack," Daniel sighs, "Stop…hovering.  It's no big deal.  I've climbed up here dozens of times before."

But never right after you've barely crawled away from death's door.

I didn't say that out loud, did I?  Nope, definitely didn't.  Damned near bit my tongue through holding it in, but I didn't.

"Ole Doc Fraiser will have my head if she finds out I've let you come out here in the middle of the frigging night," I gruffly scold Daniel, following him as closely as I dare while he painfully struggles to negotiate the route to my roof.  The state his illness has left him in, I'm thinking Daniel wouldn't find Everest as much of a challenge as the little ladder he's currently struggling to pull himself up.  But being who he is and the fact he's set his mind to doing it, even though he can barely stand he'll haul his ass all the way up to the roof on stubbornness alone. 

All on his own, thank you very much.  Colonels need not hover, scold or sweat it. And they'd also better not try to stop him either.

Actually, the way he's clinging to the rungs and gasping I'm surprised he has the energy to spare for bitching.  We're only halfway to the top and even he can't ignore how much this seemingly simple exertion is taking it out of him.

Even though we both know he should be in bed and he really doesn't have the strength yet to be climbing onto roofs, Daniel wants to see the stars.  He wants to see the damned stars and the best place for doing that is on my roof, so he's going to make it up this frigging ladder so he can see the frigging stars on my frigging roof, that's the long and the short of it.

It's just like him to want to - to need to do something like this even though he's still so damned weak he can barely make it to the john without a helping hand.  Hell, he's the only man living stubborner than I am.  And that's saying something. He's also no better at being a patient.  Or lying back and doing what he's told for his own damned good.  Especially if he gets a notion in his head he wants to do something else, whether it's in his own best interests or not.

Dammit!  This is nuts!  I can’t believe I let him talk me into - only a day and a half out of Fraiser's tender loving care after just barely living through three weeks of a raging fever of alien origins that should have killed him. Probably would have killed anyone else.  Didn't kill him, though, but it's left its mark on him just the same.  It'll be awhile before he's strong enough to even think of going back to work, never mind anything else, and he's still so weak and physically wasted he definitely shouldn't be out of bed, never mind doing what he's doing right now.

But here he is, hanging off my ladder by a thread.

And here's me, so damned grateful he's still alive I can't say no to him even though I know…well, you know…   So although I should have put my foot down and not let him get out of bed, guess what, I didn't, so here he is, and here am I not stopping him and standing by with my foot in my mouth watching him struggle and sweat.  What's more it's tearing my heart out to see him like this, so damned weak and yet so damned determined, knowing there's no way I can help him - because there' no way he'd let me - make any of it any easier for him.

You know what, though?  As I hang so close behind him I can almost feel each bead of sweat blossoming on his shining skin I realise this same bone-deep stubbornness, the very spirit driving him to doggedly fight his way up to my roof against all the odds and his own infirmity, this 'never say die, never surrender' Jackson grit is what kept him alive all those weeks while the fever burned him alive before our helpless eyes.  The same thing giving him the strength to haul himself up another rung is what kept him hanging on, day after agonizing, endless day even after even Fraiser was convinced he wouldn't make it to each successive sunrise.

During that second, awful week as I watched him writhe and burn and couldn't do anything more for him than anyone else, I got to thinking he was hanging on just to spite Fraiser.  I’ve never known the Doc to ever give up on a patient, but she couldn’t hide it; she was scared. 

Hell, she wasn’t the only one. In the dark, still times of early morning I'd sit by his bedside, listening to him fight for every breath, willing him to take the next, and the next, and on and on.  All alone; just him and me.

I was fucking petrified.

I don't want to know how close we really came to losing him.  Or how many times. 

Dammit.  Not going there.  Not now. Not ever.

I guess we forgot who we were dealing with.  He showed her, all right.  He showed all of us. He hung in.  He made it through.  Thank God.

Daniel never gives up.  He'll make it to the roof, the same way he bucked the odds and beat that alien bug trying to kill him. 

And you know what else? Even though I think the whole thing's nuts, I don't care.   I'm damned well gonna let him climb this freaking ladder if he wants to.  Fuck, he's earned it!  Fraiser can bust my chops for it later, that is, if she ever finds out.  But seeing as how I don't think either one of us are going to breathe a word, what she doesn't know won't kill her.

Or me.

A soft, barely audible sigh escapes Daniel and he abruptly falls back against me, the exhausted tremors violently rippling through his labouring body kinda scaring me just a tad. He's so damned weak.  Crap, I'm no doctor. I have no idea what's going on, if this is 'normal' given the run down shape he's still in or if this unscheduled workout is making things worse. Yeah, he's on the mend, sure enough or Fraiser wouldn't have cut him loose and given him into Colonel Nightingale's custody.  Still, she's trusting me to look after him, to make sure he takes care of himself and doesn't do anything stupid to set back his recovery.  Kinda like this.

Exactly like this.  Maybe - maybe we should rethink this plan of yours, Daniel.  Go back inside?  The stars will be there another night.  They're always gonna be there.  You…you on the other hand…

As if he's picking the thoughts right out of my brain Daniel weakly shakes his head, blatantly slumping against me, letting me take his weight and support him while he shallowly gulps air into his lungs and rests until the trembling in his arms and legs lessens.  Then he reaches back, grabs my hand and squeezes it reassuringly.

"I'm okay," he bravely lies, ignoring his faltering voice.

"You're sure you want to do this?" I gently whisper into his ear as he faintly nods and guides my hand until it's resting on his left hip.

Meaning of course, the arm it's attached to is now encircling his waist.

"I - I - I might need a push," he pants into my neck, letting go of my hand and allowing me to wrap my arm more securely around him.  "Do you mind? Giving me a boost?"

"No problem.  I've got you," I assure him, moving up the ladder and into him so as to be able to lever him up the last couple of rungs.  Hell, I'll carry him if I have to.  No sweat.  Wouldn't be difficult either.  He's lost so much weight; it scares me how much smaller and frailer he is now.  I know given time and lots of fattening he'll get it back, but at the moment, as I move my hand up his side to get a better grip on him I can practically count every rib under my palm and being reminded so painfully of how what he's just been through has affected him I -

I'm gonna stop thinking about it and just get him up this damned ladder.  It's over. He made it.  He's alive.  He's fine - or at least, he will be, once he's back to his old self.  And he will be.  It'll just take a little time.

"I've got you," I tell him again, just in case he didn't hear me the first time.  I don't know why, but all of a sudden it's important to me he not have any doubts I won't let him down.

"I - I know you do," he murmurs quietly, and there's a fond, unwavering warmth to his voice pulls at my heart as I hear him tell me, unequivocally, he trusts me completely to get him where he needs to be.

Daniel trusts me. He knows I won't let him down.  What's more, as we make our joint bid for the top pretty much joined at the hip I don't know what I'm prouder of, that he's actually letting me help him up the few final feet to his objective or knowing he knows - I'll get him there.

He needs me.  Counts on me.  Depends on me.  Knows he can do all of the above.  Doesn't seem to have any problem with either leaning on me or knowing he is.  Maybe it's always been this way for him - about me - and I just never noticed before, but this is the first time it's ever hit home, so dramatically, that Daniel has ever let me see…

I mean something to him.  I'm not just - he - he -

He needs me.  And he doesn't mind that he does.  In fact, I think he's kinda happy about it….like someone like me is something he's never had before, and he's pretty damned pleased he's got me now.

Yeah, you do, Danny.  You really do.  I'm not going anywhere.  Not on your life.  Funny thing, a year ago figuring this out would have scared the crap out of me but now -

Feels, it feels right somehow.  A lot righter than things have been for the longest time.  I don't know what that means, but I'm not going to waste any time worrying about it.  Besides, we're here.

Top of the world, Danny.

"Thank you," Daniel says simply as we stand swaying together on the deck of my wee rooftop observatory.  I've still got my arm firmly locked around Daniel's waist, hugging him close and holding him up.  We both know from the way he's shaking his legs are about to go and he doesn't utter a peep of protest when I pat him on the shoulder to acknowledge his accomplishment and then silently guide him toward the little nest of pillows and blankets I installed up here prior to his arrival and after he first nailed me with those big blue eyes and 'please, Jack, I HAVE to see the stars'.

It's nuts, I know, he shouldn't be here, not only is it the middle of the night, but the mercury is hovering near freezing.  Fraiser really will have my head and a few other body parts I'm especially fond of if she gets wind of this, but you try looking at that face and saying no to him. 

Gowan - I dare you.

Daniel heaves a grateful sigh as I settle him down against me and efficiently cocoon both of us in the warmth of my huge, ridiculously expensive down comforter. Decorative and definitely functional.  He doesn't move while I get both of us comfy and protected from the cold, just shuts his eyes and lets his head fall wearily against my shoulder, concentrating on breathing.  He still doesn't open them but makes a small, contented sound when I finish up by wrapping my arms around him. 

To tell you the truth, I'm feeling pretty darned contented myself.  Daniel's warmth, his nearness, the way he feels in my arms - again, I'm struck with how right it all is, how right he is, and there's something ticking over inside me, quiet and steady, like a softly chiming bell, a kind of….peace… I guess, that's as good a word as any…I haven't felt in a long time.  It's nice.  So is this.  Being here, with him.  Like…like this. 

Not just the way I am, but the way he is - with me - right now.  I haven't seen him this serene since Abydos.  He had this look back then, a kind of happy glow; not just with Sha'uri and Skaara, but with the Abydonians. They got close to him.  He let them be that close.   They were home to him.  And he was happy.  You could see it pouring off of him.

Daniel is happy.  Like he was in Abydos.  And me?  I'm turning cartwheels, here.  On the inside.

This means something, doesn't it?  Over and above the obvious, I mean, me just being plain glad he's still here. Yeah, sure, I'm over the moon he's warm and breathing and in my arms after such a long time of him being so sick and all and coming so close to very nearly not being with us at all - but this - whatever it is I'm feeling at the moment - this is something else. 

Something…more.

Something about Daniel.  Daniel and me.

Daniel…

"You okay?"  I whisper, glancing down at the head nestled against my shoulder.

"I'm fine," Daniel breathes, his reply barely audible.

"Warm enough?" I ask him, starting to gently rub his arm.  Just in case…

This time the corner of Daniel's mouth quirks in a brief, ironic grin before he replies.

"What do you want from me, a note from my doctor, I told you I'm fine, Jack."

The fondness in Daniel's low retort both cheers and warms me.  That's my boy - as long as he can manage enough of a spark to kick back, even a little -

Abruptly his eyes open, fasten on mine.  I swear they're glowing.  Something… something about the way he's looking at me makes my heart leap and stutter. The blood is pounding in my head and there's a sudden roaring in my ears so loud I almost don't hear what he softly says next.

"As a matter of fact, I've never been better."

I don't know what he means by that but before I can try and puzzle it out he flashes me a shy smile and turns his head to gaze up toward the heavens.  I stifle an irrational feeling of loss unexpectedly gripping me because he's no longer looking at me, but at the sky.

It's why he's here, after all, to see the stars.

Not the crotchety old colonel who suddenly can't take his own eyes off him.

The stars.  Daniel wants see the stars.  He couldn't have picked a better night for it.  I checked out the show before I brought him up here and the view is down right spectacular.  The moon hasn't made it over the mountains yet; the air is cold, crisp, and the night sky clear and as black as a bitch.  I didn't move out here just because there weren't many other people around.  This far away from the city centre, light pollution is minimal. Ideal for stargazing.  You can see a lot, if you've a mind to look.

And right now, if the rapt expression on his face is anything to go by, Daniel is seeing plenty.  Holy buckets, he's not the only one.

"Thank you," Daniel says, his eyes dancing as they devour the night sky above us, his sheer delight in what he's seeing brightening his face and driving away the gaunt, exhausted mask of sickness haunting his features.  He's never looked more alive, more…

"For what?"  I blurt out dumbly just in time to head myself off at the pass from saying something really dumb. Although the way it feels here and now in this quiet and suddenly sacrosanct space, this little world on high we're existing in, just the two of us and a billion burning witnesses above, the night air swirling and sparking all around us - like some kind of….magic….or something, I wonder if I could do or say anything wrong, or anything Daniel wouldn't want to hear.

Of course that whole last bit I just ran through my head is probably the dumbest idea I've ever had in a very long history of dumb ideas and yet…

"For…everything," Daniel quietly replies, his eyes still locked on the heavens.  "But most of all, thanks for being here."

"Hey, backatcha," I blurt out, briskly rubbing his arm to give myself something to focus on so the lump doing its damndest to clog up my throat - doesn't.  "It wouldn't be the same….without - that is - I mean - "

Well, so much for that idea!

"I know," Daniel gently pats my hand and mercifully spares me the necessity of having to stumble to the end of my sentence.  "Me too."

Then he's gone again, his upturned face transcendent and kissed by starlight, his wide, encompassing eyes ablaze with wonder.

"Oh Jack," Daniel murmurs, his hungry gaze greedily feasting upon the spectacle sprawled above us.  "It's so beautiful."

"Uh huh," I hear myself grunting. "Beautiful."

I can't tell you what the hell he's looking at because the only stars I'm seeing are the ones shining in his eyes but I couldn't agree more with his assessment just the same.

I bask in the glories of the universe reflected in the face of the man before me, a cosmos of wonders encapsulated in the miracle of the man in my arms.  He's always been right in front of me, always - Daniel - and yet now, he's so much more. 

I look at Daniel practically every damned day - it's my job to watch his six out there and as a friend I keep an eye on him most of the rest of the time as well, but - and this is the weird part - how come for all that looking I've never really seen.  Not like...now…  Is it me?  Am I the one who couldn't see what was right in front of me or has he been doing that hiding his light under a basket…thing.   I don't think that's quite right, but…oh crap, I don't know, don't really care actually; I'm having a moment here and Daniel…  Whoa, just look at him.  He's - so - so - so damned…

How the hell did I miss this?  Look at him!  I swear, he's glowing.

Okay, possible explanation for what's happening here, maybe a large part of what's inspiring my new take on Daniel has to do with how close we came to never having this moment at all.  Or any moments…period.  All because of a stupid slip, a small, harmless scratch and an alien bacterium that was anything but harmless.  I still can't get my head around the fact after everything he's pulled himself through, endured, got the better of and generally survived it was a stupid, scum-sucking microscopic bug that almost got him.

Almost, but not quite.  You beat it, Danny, you held off that stinking microbe long enough for them to finally figure out how to kill it.  As a result Earth got a honking heavyweight of a new antibiotic, waah hoo, but what's even more important, what's certainly all I care about - we got to keep you alive and breathing.

I got - I got to have you and to keep on having you.  Right here.  Right now.  That means more to me than anything.  It does, Daniel.  It really does.

Son of a gun…

I become aware Daniel is hugging my bent right leg to his side and his hand is gently massaging my shin about the same time I realise I've sorta had my nose in his hair for….at least several minutes.  Give or take.

Damn, it's soft. His hair, that is. You wouldn't expect it would be that soft, I mean, because he's a guy, and the whole 'silken locks' deal - not exactly a guy thing - not that I'm in the habit of running my fingers through guys' hair or anything like that because I'm not, but Daniel's hair… as long as I happen to be - um - nuzzling, I can't help but notice, it is, it's really soft, and silky and it smells, so -

What the heck is that smell, anyway? I don't know, but it's nice.  Really nice.  I'm no good at figuring out crap like what smells like what, but I wish I knew what this is, it's really - whatever it is - it's…mmmmmm.  Must be his shampoo.  Hell, I don't even remember what kind it is, I just carted a bunch of his personal crap over, whatever I thought he'd need, before I brought him home.  Good thing I did, too.  I'd barely got him through the door and he wanted to take a bath.  Said he had to wash the smell of the infirmary off, the sooner the better.  He didn't have an easy time of managing that by himself either, but he did it.  And afterwards, the look on his face when he got an eyeful of those new pj's I'd laid out for him! The ones Cassie bought for him.  Blue silk, for crying out loud. You have to wonder why a teenager is buying a grown man blue silk pyjamas. What exactly is that all about and do I really want to know? I'm gonna have to remember to ask Janet if anyone else had a hand in the selection, but my God, once he got over being mortified as hell and actually put them on I have to say whoever made the call and picked them out knew their stuff.  They look pretty damned good on him.  Felt pretty good, too.  He's not wearing them right now, no way, made sure he was bundled up nice and warm before coming out here, but oh yeah, silk, felt nice…really nice…

Um - oh wow!  How the hell did I get from….wherever the hell I was to blue silk jammies and how Daniel looks in them?  Crap, there must be something in the air or something.  What the hell is going on here? Have I lost my mind?  I'm sitting up on my roof in the middle of the frigging night, it's bloody freezing and I'm wrapped around my best friend hugging the shit out of him and getting off on sniffing his hair and remembering the way he looks in his brand new silk jammies.  While he's got his head on my shoulder and is feeling up my leg.  Shouldn't I be having a problem with this?

This should be weirding me out.  That we're sitting like this, so close, touching…and stuff…I mean, his butt is practically plastered to my…um… but it isn't.  Freaking me out, that is.  It really isn't, and the fact it isn't, isn't weirding me out either.  I'm sure that means something too, but figuring out what would mean I'd have to start thinking about it and I'd…oh, I'd just as soon not right now.  All I want to do is sit right here, with Daniel, my friend, my…

Daniel…

My lips seem determined to brush against his brow and I'm just gonna give them their head.  So to speak.  Daniel's eyes gently close when he feels the slight caress.  A dreamy, contented smile wanders all over his face and he sighs deeply.  A happy sound.  Nice sound.

He liked it when I did that.  Hey, me too.

I feel kind of giddy as I hug him closer and he lets me. I haven't got a clue why my head is spinning and my heart is flip flopping, but it's a pretty neat feeling and I'm definitely going with it.  I'm getting into being with Daniel like this, and truth be told wouldn't have a problem with spending the rest of the night sitting here with him, just the way we are right now, just…just like this, but I have to think about what's best for Daniel.  He's still recuperating and even though he seems fine now he's resting and not trying to scale Mount O'Neill I shouldn't let this go on much longer. It's so cold the tip of my nose is starting to tingle and the small clouds of condensation we're creating with each breath are swirling about each other, co-mingling…

Oooooh, that's kind of…hot…

Okay, that was weird but my original point was, I think, we've been here for about twenty minutes and it's getting colder. Way colder.  I really should get him inside, soon, even though I don't want to leave - not just yet, anyway, but I'm worried about Daniel being out here much longer with him still being so weak and run down and all.

So even though a part of me is dragging its heels at the very idea of busting this up and taking it back inside I really should…

"Danny," I start telling him while stroking the hair back from his forehead.  "It's cold.  We should go back in."

He heaves another sigh, this one not so happy, his face scrunching up in protest as he turns toward me and burrows his head into the hollow of my neck.  "Oh Jack, do we have to?" he pleads.  "Go back in, right away, I mean.  It's just…this is…it's nice.  Just a few more minutes?  Please?"

Nice.  Yeah, it is.  Very nice.  Just about the nicest time I've ever had.  Really.

Whoa!  Is Daniel - sniffing me?  Well, I guess turnabout is fair play, I mean, I've been sitting here surreptitiously snorting his hair so I guess I can't say too much if he wants to get in some…um… reciprocal sniffage...

I think I'll change the subject.  Now.

"I never knew you had this much of a thing about stars," I tease him, leaning forward to catch his faint grin of response to my gentle jibe.

"I don't," he shrugs and then unabashedly snuggles in even closer, rubbing his cheek against the side of my face like a happily nuzzling puppy.  "Yeah, I wanted to see them, and I'm glad I have but they're not the reason I don't want to leave.  It's just…I might never get a chance - this - you - like this - we go back in and it'll be…over.  Gone," he finishes with a wistful sigh that twists into my heart like a tiny, burrowing splinter of pain.

The sort of pain I never suspected has been sheltering inside him or realized he felt - because - because of something he's let slip he likes and wants but doesn't believe he'll ever have again.

Me.  Being close to – to me.

Daniel was happy but now he's sad.  As it's coming crystal clear to me I'd rather chew my own arm off than let him live another minute with this sorrow inside him what it means - what everything that's been going on since we got here and kind of confusing me…what it's all about…

I've got to sort it all out, make some sense of it but it's not easy to think, and all of a sudden it gets even more difficult.

He tilts his head up until his wide, eloquent eyes are beaming into mine.  They're deep, full of a wistful longing I've never seen before, hope shimmering with regret, and overflowing with a promise and a secret he's never let me see before.

The funny thing - I should be surprised.  But I'm not.

"I'm not ready for this to be over, just yet.  I hope you don't mind…putting up with me for a few minutes longer.  Just a few more minutes…"

My mouth is moving and words are coming out but I'm not really sure what I'm saying.  Or how I'm able to say anything at all.  All I can see is Daniel and I feel like I'm falling straight into those eyes getting bigger and bigger until their serene, searching blueness is all I know, or ever care to know.

"Who says it has to be over?"

Yeah…that's right.  Who says?

"Jack?"

He's puzzled by what he's just heard, I can tell by the way his forehead is doing that scrunching up thing it always does when he's thinking, or bugged by something, but his eyes are still clear and trusting.  Not scared, not disbelieving, just trying to understand.

What do you mean?  He says to me, clean as a bell although he hasn't said a word.

What - what do I mean?

"Um…"

That's the best I can do right now.  Not that I don't want to answer him, I just can't.  Too much is swimming around in my head and it won't settle down and make enough sense for me to be able to do more than stare at him with my mouth hanging open, especially the way he's looking at me now, a kind of melty, soft indulgence crinkling his eyes and pulling gently at his mouth.

"As articulate as always, I see," Daniel softly murmurs, his tone anything but unkind.

"Yeah well, you know me," I shrug and goon a grin right back at him.

Daniel abruptly blinks a couple of times like he's got something in his eye and then bites his lower lip.  I - he - oh my, that lip caught between those strong, white teeth - oh, oh  -

"Yes I do," he starts to say slowly, carefully, his eyes sliding away from mine just a little.  "I don't think I've ever told you how much - knowing you has meant - how much you…" 

His voice trails off, he’s silent for a second or two, then he takes a deep breath and plunges onward, still looking more past me than at me.

"We've been friends for a long time and I think you know - I'm sure you know I care about you - not that we've ever needed to talk about it or anything but it's there.  We're friends, just goes without saying. Always has.  But that's changed for me now, because, well, just because…"

Changed?  What, where, how, why, what does he mean? 

Wait.  Don't panic.  This isn't anything bad.  I just realized he's holding one of my hands - has been for a while, just holding it and gently running his thumb across my palm and I haven't even noticed he was doing it because it feels so…right.

I keep saying that, don't I?  I still have no idea what I mean.  Maybe I'll tell my inner moron to can it and just listen to what he's trying so damned hard to tell me.

"I - life is short, Jack.  Too short, and far more uncertain than any of us want to believe - even people who do insane things like we do on practically a daily basis.  You never know when - " he pauses, frowns and shifts unhappily in my embrace like what he's trying to say isn't coming out the way he wants it to.  "Let's just say being here, right now - and very grateful to be, believe me - after coming so close to - you know - more than a couple of times, especially this time… What I mean to say is - what I want you to know….ohhhhh……"

Daniel stops talking, a soft sigh of pleasure easing out from between his slightly parted lips so warm and silken beneath my fingers.  His moist breath drives the chill from my fingertips as I gently stroke across his mouth, and I can't believe not only how incredible it feels to touch him like this, but I'm actually touching him. 

Like this.

I know moonlight is supposed to drive you mad, make you do insane things but there is no moon, only the stars, does starlight make you crazy, bonzo, nutso, fill your head with thoughts you never dreamt you'd have for someone you've never seen the way you're seeing them now, wide eyes clouding with desire, heavy lids slowly sliding closed while he shudders at your touch, not the cold, just you. You stare at his shining face, the only thing that exists, your trembling, curious fingers tracing across its lines and contours, mapping, seeking, feeling, curling against his cheek like they never want to let go, then moving again to cup the back of his head, to clutch, possess, impel, draw forward…

I'm leaning down, toward him, can't help myself it has to be the stars, but I don't care.  Whatever it is, Daniel shudders once more, swallows a hushed gasp and darts his tongue out to lightly touch his lower lip as his eyes open and gaze trustingly into mine.

"Jack," he contentedly sighs, his yearning face drawing nearer, filling my sight as his light swarms my senses.

Screw the stars, who needs 'em…

Our lips meet, we're completing a circuit and suddenly I'm shivering too, quaking like I'm about to fly apart, the current of our connection knifing through me like I've just stuck my finger in a live socket.  Maybe my brain was a bit slow on the uptake but my dick is having no problems connecting the dots; it springs to life with a vengeance.  It feels like I've got a red hot poker in my shorts with Daniel moaning and squirming about in my arms, clutching frantically at the front of my jacket as he pushes me back onto the deck and throws himself on top of me, his mouth still clamped to mine, sucking furiously.  Maybe he's sucking more than my face, getting all his new-found strength directly out of me and that's why he's suddenly able to be all over me while I can't seem to do anything but lie here like a very happy lump soaking in everything he's giving me, drowning in an ocean of delight.  Oh yeah, I'm in big trouble here, in way over my head, I'm going down for the third time and loving it, getting sucked away in the undertow of waves of bliss, but what a way to go…

What the fuck?  Why did he stop?  It was just starting to get good.  Really, really good.

I crack open my eyes to see Daniel's slyly smiling face hovering a few inches above mine.  I'm still too blown away to be articulate, but my strangled bleat of confusion cracks him up. Apparently.

When he stops chuckling he melts me with a fond look while he lightly traces the shape of my lower lip with his finger.

"Jack," he murmurs.  "I think we should go back inside. I want to go to bed."

What?  What?  He wants to go to sleep?  Now?  What?

Daniel sighs and shakes his head.  "Yes, Jack.  Let's go inside.  Where it's warm.  Where the bed is.  Bed, Jack?"

OH!  Bed!  I get it!  Not, sleep - bed!

That's very different from sleep.  And way better than here.  Yeah, bed sounds like a damned fine idea to me.  Bed.  Yeah.  Bed.

"We can do that," I hastily agree.  "We should do that.  Yeah, we definitely should.  Let's - do that."

"Jack," Daniel tenderly sighs my name, looking down at me with wide, shining eyes and so much affection it makes my heart hurt to be so lucky.  I think I'm in love.

In love?  Oh!  So that's what's been going on all this time and had me all confused.  It's absolutely nothing to do with the stars and I haven't been having a stroke either, which I have to say is a bit of a relief. 

Neither a stroke or insanity, just love.  I'm in love.  With Daniel.

I'm in love with Daniel.

Cool!

No stars grace this new darkness we find ourselves in, save the ones splattering spectacularly against the canvas of my closed lids while Daniel's warm, soft lips sensually caress the naked skin of my chest.  I'm lying sprawled across my bed overdosing on desire, peeled and laid out, limp as a wet noodle.  Well, not all of me, part of me is anything but limp, the part Daniel's got his long, limber fingers wrapped around and what they're doing to me right now - oh my, from one end to the other I'm feeling no pain.

I should come up for air here, even though it's really, really…damn, it feels so good but I shouldn't…oooooh God…just a little…more…right there!  Just like that!  Oooooh yeah…  Hooooley buckets, those fingers, those lips, that mouth!  Moving south, making me crazy every inch of the way.  Oh!  Licking, now!  This feels even better.  Never been licked before but I like it.  Like licking.  Uh uh.  Oh yeah.  Licking.  Licking is definitely…definitely…

Oh wait, oh wait, what's he doing?  I think he's gonna - oh boy, not that!  Not now.  I wouldn't mind, 'cause on principle I have absolutely nothing against the practice, especially if I'm the one being practised on but I shouldn't let him - that is - he's already done more than enough given the condition he's in - I should be the one doing him, not -

"Daniel - wait," I manage to gasp as his breath warms the head of my penis, nearly making me pass out from a combination of pleasure and anticipation.

"You don't like it," Daniel quavers and immediately backs away from me, and my subsequently abruptly abandoned dick flops forlornly against my stomach.  He sounds so disappointed he's almost in tears.  Crap, he thinks I  don’t want this, don’t want him -

"No, oh no!"  I exclaim, springing up from the bed and groping about in the dark until I can grab him and hug the shit out of him.  "I like it.  Youbetcha, I like it so much I'm practically a puddle of goo, here, but  - your condition, and all. I’m worried about you.  Maybe it's not such a good idea for you - I wish you would but I don't know if you should.  That's all I meant."

"Don't be," Daniel gently assures me between planting soft, playful kisses all over my face.  "I'm fine and believe me I really want to do this."

"You do?" I barely manage to grunt.

"Oh yeah," he growls.

"You do?  Well, if you really want to…"

Hey, don't look at me like that, he wants to!

"I do," he returns emphatically and then abruptly puts a hand on my chest and shoves me back so - emphatically - I bounce once when I hit the bed.

Whoa!  Remind me never to argue with Daniel when he's horny.

"Now shut up and lie there," Daniel tersely instructs me as he takes matters in…um…hand once again.

Yes Sir!  Assuming the position and lying here as instructed.  You got it.  No, what's more to the point, you got me.  Oh yeah, definitely, and there's the mouth, holy crap here we gooooooooo….

I slide back down from one hell of an orgasm with delicious slowness, returning to my senses cozy in my bed, a lightly panting linguist wrapped around me.  Oh my God, what a ride.  That mouth, not that the rest of him isn't an incredible enough package but if that mouth comes with too…

Let's just say I'm definitely in for the long….um…haul.

Whew, and how!

But what the hell am I thinking, here I am lying here like some smug, satisfied pig basking in my selfish afterglow when Daniel's done all the work and he hasn't….yet.  It's definitely time for me to show him as good a time as he's just showed me.

Hey, fair is fair.

"Hey," I gently pat his arm.  "Your turn."

Daniel snorts against my chest, his body gently shaking with laughter.  "That's - that's okay, Jack.  I'm good for now.  A little tired, but really good.  I think I'll sleep, now.  How about you get back to me in the morning."

"You're sure," I ask him, rubbing his back after he slumps contentedly against me.

"Yeah," he sighs and nuzzles his cheek against my chest.  "The morning will be just fine."

"Well, okay.  If you're sure."  I hope I don't sound disappointed because strange as it might sound, that's exactly how I'm feeling.

"I'm sure," Daniel murmurs, brushing a kiss into my chest.

"Okay, whatever you want," I assure him, and give him a little squeeze.  "We can go to sleep, but just so you know, if you want anything now, I don't mind, that is, if you don't want to wait 'til morning…"

Daniel mumbles something else I can't quite hear because he's speaking really softly and directly into my right nipple.  Which makes for an interesting sensation, I must say but doesn't do squat for my hearing.

Funny thing, though, I have a feeling I know exactly what he just said.

"Backatcha," I tell him.  And I really mean it.  "Go to sleep, now Daniel."

Not a sound.  He's breathing deep and steady, as contented as a clam.  Huh, looks like he's already dropped off.

Well, what do you know, I finally get the last word!

FINIS