Starting Points by Pepe     
Novella, J/D, First Time, Angst, Romance.  Brief Spoilers for The Game Keeper, and a tiny, tiny, blink-and-you'll-miss-it one for Forever in a Day.
Rating: NC-17.
Warnings: Slash. Graphic consensual m/m sex.  Bad language.     
Notes:  I don’t know where this came from.  I just know it has taken nearly two years to complete, and would probably never have seen the light of day if not for this zine!  My thanks to Nicci for reading this through for me, and for the support every time I wailed!!!  
Sometimes people aren’t who they seem to be, and an act of passion in the past can lead to a whole new life in the present.

“So what’s the big secret, Doctor Jackson?”  Jack wandered along the hallway, threw his keys up onto the counter and then dropped down into Daniel’s living room.  Daniel was sitting on the far couch, elbows on his thighs and hands twisted together.  “I was about to eat some pie,” Jack explained, digging his hands into his pockets. 

“For breakfast?”  Daniel asked distractedly.

“Your point is?”

Daniel lifted his head, frowned at Jack and asked tentatively, “Apple?”

“Yeah.  Well, apple and some other mysterious ingredient no one was prepared to put a name to.”

“Good?”

“Don’t know.  It’s still sitting there.”  Jack pursed his lips and decided there was no point beating around the bush.  “Want to tell me what this is all about?”

In reply, Daniel nodded his head at a letter lying on the table.  “You’d better read it.”

“Okay,” Jack agreed, moving cautiously forward.  He wasn’t used to this behaviour from Daniel.  If he had to be brutally honest, it worried him.  He’d been worried ever since the phone call saying simply that Daniel needed Jack to come to the apartment.  Daniel didn’t ask for help unless there was some weird shit going down.  And it was still before breakfast.  “Can you just tell me briefly?”  Jack inquired.  “Just to save a bit of time.”

Daniel made a slight hissing sound and then muttered, “It’s from my sister.”

It took a moment for the words to sink in, then Jack blurted, “Your WHAT?”  He could have sworn Daniel had said ‘sister’, which was just ridiculous, because…

“My sister,” Daniel confirmed.

“You haven’t got a sister.  I distinctly remember that particular piece of information about you.  I’d KNOW if you had a sister.”

“And now I have, you’re not dating her,” Daniel replied vaguely.

“Why not?”  Jack tried not to sound outraged, but didn’t succeed.  What the hell was wrong with him dating Daniel’s sister?  It wasn’t like he smelled or anything.  He was actually a damn good catch for those who didn’t mind grey hair and the occasional bit of geriatric snarkiness.

“Jack…” Daniel began, only to have Jack pull a face at him.  “Read the letter,” Daniel sighed, knowing it was pointless to get into the reasons why he would never in a million years let Jack near any relation of his.

“The letter about…?” 

“My sister,” Daniel said patiently.  “The one called Claire – which I find somewhat offensive to be honest.”

“Wh…?”

“My mother’s name,” Daniel clarified, going back to staring hard at the piece of paper lying innocently on the table top.

“Ah.”  Okay.  That still made no sense to Jack.  “And you find this offensive because…?” Naming sons after fathers and daughters after mothers seemed perfectly normal to Jack.

“Because she’s my HALF sister, Jack.”

“As in…?”

“What do you think?” Daniel snapped irritably.

“I don’t know.  That’s why I’m asking.”

“As in my father had an affair when I was seven years old and I have a half-sister to prove it.”

Jack took in the sight of the distressed, angry, confused man and sank down onto the couch opposite him.  “Just like that?” he asked.  How could you go from having no sister, to having a HALF sister, just like that?   How could you go from having a dead, paragon-of-virtue father, to having one who had fucked some woman other than your mother?  How could Daniel not have known?

“I have no idea if it was just like that.  She didn’t go into details.”  And Daniel didn’t want them… or didn’t think he did.

“Wow.”  Jack had to admit it was worth the phone call.  Pie be damned.  “You, uh, you don’t really believe this, do you?”  He picked up the letter and read it briefly through.  It didn’t really give a whole lot of information.  The usual pleasantries of introduction.  The ‘sorry-to-bother-you’.  The ‘it’s-just-come-to-my-attention’.  The whole family tree and history stuff.  The ‘guess-what-I-do-for-a-living?’… and finally, the bombshell.  “Wow,” Jack said again.  “Nice writing.”  It was a completely ridiculous thing to say, but he had the feeling nothing he came up with would suit the situation.  It seemed better to keep it on the lighter side.

“She’s an archaeologist,” Daniel explained, knowing Jack had already read that in the letter.

“And?”

“I’m an archaeologist.”

“Daniel, you’re not related to every archaeologist in the world.”

“Claire Jackson.”

“And you’re not related to every Claire Jackson.  In fact, the only Claire Jackson you are definitely related to isn’t this one.” 

“She knows all about my father,” Daniel argued feebly, waving a hand at the letter.  “‘Our’ father.”

“And she couldn’t have looked it all up?”  The letter certainly didn’t give away anything new.  Birthdates and places.  Dig sites.  Finds.  Lectures.  “Your father was pretty well-known wasn’t he?”  And the internet was full of information should anyone care to dig deep enough. 

“Why would she have made it up?”  Daniel had been asking himself the same question ever since he’d opened the envelope.  Why the hell would someone make this stuff up?  It wasn’t like knowing him was a step to the big time.  Just the opposite, probably. 

“Because you’re… Daniel,” Jack answered helplessly, wondering how Daniel could really be this naïve after so many years. “You’re Doctor Daniel Jackson.  You work for a top-secret military institution.”

“And?”  Daniel wrinkled up his face.  He had a headache, and it wasn’t getting any better.

“And maybe this woman has found out about you and is trying to get some dirt.”

“Why?” Daniel asked, eyes opening wide.  There WAS no dirt.  He didn’t do dirt – other than the kind artefacts were found in.  He was, in fact, pathetically UN dirty.

“Because that’s what some people do for a living, and you do work for a secret program – remember?”  When Daniel continued to look blank, Jack decided he was sitting too far away, so he crossed the room and sat down beside the miserable figure of his best friend.  “Remember the Stargate?” he inquired, waving the letter he still held.  “Big circular thing.  Doorway to other worlds.  Aliens built it.”

“Yes, but…” Daniel still didn’t see what that had to do with anything.

“And I really hate to be cynical, but you do remember it’s top…se-cret…?” Jack sighed, emphasising the words for good measure.  He nudged Daniel’s shoulder with his.  “Ringing any warning bells, here?”

“Yes, but…”

“And you knew your father, Daniel.  You know this letter is a pile of crap.”

 

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