I've been meaning to 'fix' them for a long time and now I've finally gotten around to it.  It's been a heck of a lot of work but all of the stories in this collection have been extensively rewritten.  Oh yeah....  The plots are basically the same. I'm not sure if that's good or bad, but there you are.

Anyway, I think the results are a lot better.  I hope you do as well!

Redemption

Categories: Gen, J/D friendship, Drama, A/A, Angst, H/C.  Not an episode tag per se but draws heavily on  events occurring in SGTM and CoTG
Synopsis:  The adventure in which Jack O’Neil, as he was at the end of the movie, becomes Jack O’Neill, the colonel we all know and love.  With the help of a certain archaeologist…
Rating R

Ties That Bind Series Part 1
Blood Ties

Categories:  Gen, J/D friendship Angst, Episode Tag for Secrets and Prequel for Take Me Home
Synopsis:  What happens after SG-1 returns from Abydos after the events in 'Secrets': Jack has a crisis of conscience which leads him to an important decision. Can Daniel help him find what he has lost?
Rated PG-13

Ties That Bind Part 2
Take Me Home

Categories: Gen, J/D friendship, Drama, A/A, H/C, Angst
Synopsis: Daniel has a dangerous encounter with an alien life form. Can Jack and his team help him find his way home?
Rated R

Categories:  Gen, Jack/Daniel friendship, H/C, Vignette 
Synopsis: An ailing Daniel receives an unexpected visitor, much to his chagrin.  An early days tale of the beginnings of a friendship.
Rating:  G

Other good Stuff:
Book Antiqua font, 12 point. single column, 280 pages, 102,618 words, 9.8 megs, 33 full colour illustrations.  Biblio and I came up with the cover together.
 

Notes:
Just a couple of points of interest, X'ia is pronounced ZEE-ah, and as for the character itself....this story was originally written/net published in January 2000, well before Maternal Instinct aired.  Not before it was written or filmed, but before it aired.  I just got a big kick out of the episode knowing I'd previously written this.  The story is also a prequel of sorts to Doppelganger, which references it in the beginning. And oh yeah, I wrote Redemption before I'd seen The Fifth Race.  I'm embarrassed to admit how many eps I actually had seen before dashing off the story in a week, but Fifth Race wasn't one of them.

And now: if you haven't already zipped down and read 'em -  the excepts...

Jack pasted his very best ‘forcryingoutloud’ look on his face and started to stride down the stairs while barking, “Carter!  Do you have any idea why I'm not standing on P7J whatever with a drink in my hand?”

The woman addressed immediately ceased her sweep of the wall to the left and strode smartly to join him when he reached the bottom of the stairs.

“Well, yes, Sir, “ she answered curtly.  “It can only be for one of two reasons.”

He emitted an impatient sigh and made a ‘give me more’ gesture with his right hand.

“Which would be…what? Exactly?"

Carter flushed a little, suddenly feeling very insecure under the weight of the colonel’s glare.  This was turning out to be a really bad day…

“Well Sir,” she began, the words tumbling out a little too quickly in her nervousness.  "The gate appeared to be functioning normally and there also did not seem to be any anomalous phenomena in the wormhole itself –“

Jack pulled a face.  "English, Captain, if you would be so kind.”

Carter took another deep breath and continued on, still not trusting herself to look directly at the man she was addressing.

“Sir, if there has been no malfunction of the gate and yet we still are not where we are supposed to be then logically it can only be because either the destination was mis-dialed – “

“And we all know that is not what occurred,” Teal’c supplied gravely, coming up to Carter’s side to give her some moral support.

“Okay Captain, so what’s behind door number two?"  Jack frowned.

Feeling much more confident with the imposing Jaffa at her side Sam at last was able to look her CO in the eye.

“The only other possible explanation I can think of is somehow something interfered with the matter stream.  Diverted it somehow.  I don’t know how," she admitted unhappily, "but that's what must have happened.   It’s the only other reasonable explanation for why we are here instead of where we are supposed to be.”

"And where exactly is here?"  Jack asked with a patience he did not feel.

"I don't know, Sir," Carter meekly replied.

Jack pursed his lips in disgust and took a few steps away from the pair before turning back to them and replying.

“Well, that gets us exactly… nowhere.”  He turned and began to walk away from them once more, trying not to get pulled toward Daniel as he began to pace the room and give it the once-over.

“You guys been all over these walls?  Any signs of any openings?  Cracks?  Doors? Windows?  Anything at all that looks like anything that opens or closes?  Or leads to a way in or out of this joint?”

“It would appear there is no way to leave this place, O'Neill" Teal'c solemnly boomed.  I was unable to detect any indications it is possible to access this area other than through the Stargate."

“I see," Jack announced as he wheeled and headed back towards the Jaffa and Captain Carter.   "You can't see any way to go from this point A to a Point B.  In fact, there might not even be a Point B.  Or C, for that matter.  Therefore what you're telling me is as far as you can tell, we're standing in a really big empty box.”

"Not completely empty, O'Neill," Teal'c dead-panned.  There is the Stargate and the Dial Home Device.  And of course, we are here."

Jack flashed him a sour look which was completely ignored, and took a few more steps towards Daniel’s side of the room.  As he turned back once again to Carter and Teal’c he allowed himself to observe the linguist out of the corner of his eye.

Daniel was staring raptly at the inscriptions on the wall before him, an expression of pure bliss on his face.  Whatever he was looking at, he was completely gone.  He'd probably totally forgotten there was anyone else in the room. Or that they were all standing in the middle of a big puzzle box with no idea where they were or why.  Or…how…

Jack suddenly felt an urgent need to get the hell outta Dodge.  He wasn’t sure what had brought it on - there was nothing in the room to make him twitchy, but suddenly, he was.  Call it what you would, claustrophobia, some obscure premonition of doom, or just not liking the idea it was possible someone had yanked a chain and brought them here for some reason he probably didn’t want to know about.  Whatever was pinging his radar, he didn't need to know what or why, just it was going off and he wasn’t going to ignore it.

“Okay kids, can anybody think of any good reason why we shouldn’t just blow this Popsicle stand right here and now?” Jack demanded of the room at large and his team mates in particular.

No response.  They were learning.

“Right answer!"  he smiled.  "All right, Captain, what say you hit the ole Dial Home Device and figure out how to get us to the party. “

Carter was crossing to the DHD as Jack started to stride toward the last member of their team.

“Daniel!" he started to address him, a little louder than he meant to.

"Sir," Carter's perplexed tones hit the air on the heels of his.  "I never noticed it before but the DHD - there's something different here.  Odd.  Two crystals on the key I believe is the Point of Origin.  I haven't seen this modification on any of the other DHD's we've so far encountered."

Daniel whirled at the sound of Sam's voice, a shocked expression on his face.  He looked up, saw Carter's hand hovering over the crystals making her so curious, and the look of dreadful alarm on his face had an even more alarming impact on the colonel seeing it there.

The second Daniel realised what she was doing he started to bolt toward her, gesturing for her to listen to him, a shout ripping from him.

“No!  Sam, don't!" he desperately hollered "Don’t touch them!  You don't understand!”

The three things happened almost simultaneously.

So desperate was he to get to Sam Daniel would have run right through Jack if he hadn't stumbled and fallen literally into the confused colonel's arms.

Sam's fingers brushed against the larger of the two anomalous crystals on the DHD….

Jack and Daniel abruptly, soundlessly disappeared.
 

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Jack pulled into his driveway to find it already occupied by another car. Daniel’s car.

Crap.

Oh, Daniel, you shouldn’t have come. Not here. Not tonight. You don’t want to see me like this. I don’t know what I might do.

Jack reached for the hated box, thrusting it into his jacket pocket as he turned off the motor. He searched for his nemesis as he got slowly out of the truck. It didn’t take him long to spot Daniel sitting on the step, waiting. Jack stood by the side of the truck, not willing to get any closer to the man he was going to do his damndest to get rid of.

“What are you doing here, Daniel?” Ah, that sounded suitably hostile and definitely unfriendly. Well done, Jack.

“Waiting for you,”came the mild and slightly redundant response.

Leave it to Daniel never to miss an opportunity to state the obvious.

“I’m really not in the mood for company tonight,” Jack warned. Take the hint you nosy little shit and piss off. Jack does not want to play the 'I'm fine you're fine, we're all so fucking fine' game with you tonight.

“That’s exactly why I’m here, Jack,” Daniel returned in a mild voice laced with steel. Every syllable screaming 'you'll have to kill me to get rid of me' with as much annoying clarity as the set of Daniel's jaw and the determined glint in his eyes.

Killing? He could do killing. Daniel got in his face tonight he might get a lot more than he bargained for.

Daniel was getting up, starting to walk toward him. Don’t do it, Daniel. Keep your distance and keep on going.   I want you to leave. Now. Don’t push it – don’t push me. I push back and I push hard.

“Sam told me what happened in Washington, Jack,” Daniel's face was a conflicting study of determined sympathy. He was going to offer Jack a shoulder to cry on if he had to shove it down his throat to get him to take it. Not taking no for an answer, huh?

This could get ugly.

“Did she now?” Jack snapped back. “Well maybe I should tell her she should mind her own goddamned business. And so, for the matter, should you.”

Still coming, Daniel? Still walking fearlessly forward, like your namesake, into the lion’s den? Still as thick as the day you were born? Well, don’t say I didn’t warn you.

“I hope you're coming over here to get into your car and leave,” Jack growled menacingly.

“What do you think, Jack?” Daniel replied softly.

“I think you're gonna get your head handed to you in a minute if you don’t get out of my face!” Jack threatened as Daniel continued to close the space between them until he came to a stop only a few feet in front of him. Stood there looking at him with those damned eyes…

Daniel crossed his arms and waited. Jack glowered back at him. After an agonising span of unrelenting silence and even more implacable staring Daniel sighed and let his shoulders slump.  "Listen," he said kindly, "If it would make you feel better to take a poke at me, well then by all means, be my guest.”

Jack glared at him, trembling, fists clenched in rage. For several long, crackling seconds he stared furiously at the man standing calmly before him. offering himself up as an outlet. Then with a howl of frustration Jack tore his gaze away, whirled and smashed both his fists down on the hood of his truck.

Oh my, that was going to really hurt in a couple of minutes.

Jack snarled as he turned and charged at Daniel. Who calmly stood his ground watching him, not moving to defend himself or back away. Jack put the brakes on just in time, bringing himself to heel only inches from Daniel's placid face.

“Dammit – you would – wouldn’t you?" Jack bellowed at him point blank.  "You’d just stand there and let me punch your lights out!”

Daniel sighed and placed a hand on his shoulder. He locked his fearless eyes with the furious ones of the man before him and smiled.

“It was all right, Jack. I knew you wouldn’t.”

 Jack felt the rage in him beginning to drain away at the touch of Daniel’s hand. “I’m not so sure I was,” he grated, knowing, even as he said the words there was no way he would have - could have. No matter how angry he was. No way. Not Daniel.

The smug bastard damned well knew it too.

“Yeah, you were,” Daniel slid his hand behind Jack’s neck and his arm followed it to come to rest around Jack’s shoulders. He then began to steer his suddenly tractable friend toward his house.

“Come on Jack, let’s go inside. It’s getting chilly out here.”

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TAKE ME HOME

"Ten klicks," Jack loudly complained as he irritably kicked at a loose shard of paving stone and watched it sail for a satisfying distance ahead of him before bouncing several times and coming to rest on the ruined and buckled surface of the ancient roadway SG-1 was currently trudging along. "That wouldn't be so bad, but it has to be all up hill too. I'm thinking we do way too much walking in this job. Here's a thought. Dirt bikes," he proclaimed with a nod. "It'd sure cut down on our transit time, not to mention the wear and tear on my knees!" 

"I don't think the general would go for it, Sir," Sam returned absently, shading her eyes against the daunting glare of the overhead sun as she peered at their distant destination, the bleak plateau sulking over the barren valley where the gate resided on P8V 201. The huge circular building atop it they'd come here to investigate intrigued her; even though the UAV hadn't turned up any visual or energy indications this portion of the planet was inhabited the edifice they had observed, though evidently abandoned was also obviously of advanced construction and the material it was made of was like nothing they'd ever encountered before. That in itself was interesting enough but Sam was enough of an optimist to hope they'd find much more than that within the building to round out the trip. 

"Ah, you're probably right, Captain," Jack generously observed as SG-1 continued to make their way along the worn and shattered surface of the road sinuously winding across the rugged valley from the base of the Stargate to the top of the plateau. "But it's still a great idea. Ah well," he said with a tragic sigh. "You know what they say, a genius is never appreciated except in his own mind." 

The man walking in previous silence a couple of paces behind him softly snorted but said nothing. 

"Do you have something you wish to share with the rest of us, Daniel?" Jack happily shot back over his shoulder, his mood instantly improving with the sudden prospect of some action from his favourite verbal sparing partner to help liven up the tedium of the journey. 

"Me?" Daniel exclaimed, startled. "Um - no," he hastily muttered in a closed down, defensive, 'leave me alone I don't feel like talking' voice. 

Jack glumly noted the tenor of the archaeologist's response. Crap, it was gonna be one of those days was it. Daniel was in a mood. Contrary to his usual garrulous nature, inconveniently clamming up when Jack actually wanted him to talk. Typical. And if Jack had wanted him to zip it he'd be yapping his ear off. Odd though, him seeming to be out of sorts now, and all - Daniel had seemed in good enough spirits when they'd both checked in this morning; he'd been chatty gearing up and almost depressingly cheery in the gate room. Not so ever since they'd stepped through the gate. Come to think of it this was the first sound he'd made since they set foot on this inhospitable rock over an hour ago. Weird. 

Oh well, with Daniel who the hell knew. 

Never one to accept defeat gracefully, Jack decided to dangle Daniel a little more conversational bait with the hopes he'd piss him off enough to bite. 

"Ya think they could have picked a duller spot on this godforsaken planet to stick the gate on?" Jack observed, deliberately offensively as he gestured toward the featureless expanse of barren, bleached rock stretching for miles in every direction. 

"Look on the bright side, Colonel," Carter chimed in. Crap. Wrong conversationalist. 

"How's that, Carter?"  

"No trees, Sir," Sam smirked. 

"Yeah, there's that," Jack conceded, pausing to see if Daniel had anything to add. Nothing. Boonie boy was still plodding along behind him in complete silence. Bogus. 

"Damn, that sun is harsh!" Jack began again, scowling at the swollen overhead molten sphere he was having issues with. "Carter, that big, grey Frisbee of yours we're heading for had better be worth what these rays have to be doing to my girlish complexion. Is my nose starting to peel?" he peevishly observed, to no one in particular. 

"I believe your comparison of the alien structure to a Frisbee is erroneous, O'Neill," Teal'c said gravely. Which is pretty much the way he said everything so maybe he was making a joke even though he didn't sound it. "If we wish to continue to use a Tau'ri child's toy as a basis for comparison than I would suggest it would be more accurate to state the structure resembles a hockey puck." 

Jack considered this for a moment before replying. 

"Teal'c, does it worry you at all you actually know what a Frisbee is?" 

"It does not," Teal'c replied. "I have endeavoured to become well versed in the customs and cultures of your planet."

"How many times I gotta tell ya, Teal'c, Jerry Springer is not culture, now the Simpsons, on the other hand - " 

"Did you hear that?" Daniel suddenly, sharply demanded, surprising the heck out of the man just in front of him. 

"Hear what?" Jack demanded back as he braked and whirled. "Us flappin' our gums? So what?" 

Any further wisecracks died on the tip of his tongue as he got a look at Daniel's face. 

Fear. 

It wasn't until Daniel shouldered by him, head still lowered muttering, "It's nothing, forget about it," Jack realised he was standing frozen in the road with his mouth hanging open. 

"Yeah, well let's pick up the pace a bit," Jack finally managed to get out as he stared at Daniel's rigid and extremely inhospitable back. "I wanna get there before I'm too old to enjoy the experience."