Revelations 

Saturday, November 03, 2001 8:09 AM
Rating: NC17
Spoilers: None
Pairing: J/D first time
Archive: Yeasureyoubetcha!

Disclaimer: SGC is not mine, it belongs to Gekko, MGM
et al. All original characters/situations are mine so
please don't use them without my permission. I'm
making no profit from this, only trying to entertain
others J

Summary: A huge honkin' secret from Jack's past is
revealed. 

Notes: This is a very long story, but it is complete
so you will have all the parts as soon as I email 'em.
It was written months ago, before my muse deserted me.
She's back now, so beware! Thanks to Adrienne for the
beta, to Biblio for inspiring me to try and write as
well as she does and make ALL the characters whole
rounded people like she does. And to our favourite
colonel and linguist for being so darned
inspirational!

_____________________________________________________________
Part One

Jack and Daniel were watching hockey together at
Jack's house. It had become a Saturday afternoon
ritual for the two men, and whilst Daniel still didn't
exactly love hockey like Jack did, he could bear it.
For Jack, he was willing to put up with a lot. And he
got his revenge by making Jack watch documentaries.

The two men were lounged companionably together on
Jack's sofa, Jack with beer in hand, yelling and
cheering the antics of his team. Daniel held a can of
soda, but was a lot more restrained. He did however,
cheer as loudly as Jack when their team scored.

Just then, a knock sounded at the door.

"Pizza!" Jack cheered, heading for the door.

"I'll get more drinks," Daniel said, going through to
the kitchen.

Jack opened the door, wallet in hand, but was
surprised to find that instead of the pizza guy at the
door, a woman and young girl stood there.

"Czech or German?" Daniel yelled from the kitchen, as
Jack stood in shock.

"Hello Jack," the woman said. "How are you?"

"Rachel," Jack stuttered in shock. He seemed to have
lost the ability to think or speak as he stood staring
at the couple on his doorstep.

Daniel stuck his head round the kitchen door,
wondering what was taking Jack so long to reply. He
was surprised to see Jack still stood in front of the
door.

"Jack?" he called, curious. Jack looked round blankly,
shock clearly etched on his face. Daniel hurried down
the hall, wondering what could have had such an effect
on his friend.

"Can we come in?" the woman asked, indicating the rain
falling heavily outside. "It's kind of wet out here."

Jack took a step back, allowing them to come through
the door. Then he closed the door behind them, but
still stood with one hand on the handle. 

"What's going on?" Daniel asked.

"I'm Rachel Grey, this is my daughter Laura," the
woman said.

Daniel reached out to shake hands. "Daniel Jackson,"
he said. "Are you friends of Jack's?" he was curious
as to what was going on, and why Jack seemed so
dumbstruck.

"Sort of," Rachel replied. "I knew Jack a long time
ago. Jack, can we talk please?" she turned to where
the Colonel still stood by his door. He crossed now to
sit on his couch.

"Why?" he asked, the question coming out in a harsh
tone that Daniel hadn't heard him use before. "It's
been ten years."

"There are things we need to discuss," Rachel said.
Just then another knock sounded on the door. Daniel
went to answer it; this time it was the pizza delivery
guy. Daniel paid him and took the boxes through to the
kitchen. He had a feeling they wouldn't be eating any
time soon.

"Perhaps I should go," he said as he returned to the
lounge.

"No, Daniel, you don't need to leave," Jack said.

"I think perhaps I do," Daniel said. "Whatever Rachel
needs to say to you, it's obviously private, so I
should leave you to it." He reached for his jacket off
the coat rack. "You can call me later if you want,
Jack." With that he waved goodbye and headed out the
door.


The next day, although a Sunday, found Daniel at the
Base bright and early. He had so much work to do, he
rarely had a whole weekend off. Saturday afternoons at
Jack's, though, were one luxury he couldn't do
without. He was grateful of any chance to spend time
alone with Jack, to try and maintain an illusion of
friendship between the two men.

As he left the elevator, he saw Sam in the corridor up
ahead and called out to her. She stopped and waited
for him to catch up.

"What are you doing today?" Sam asked, smiling at
Daniel, trying not to look concerned at how tired he
seemed, or the dark circles under his eyes

"Translations on that artefact SG7 brought back from
P2X778," Daniel replied. "What about you?"

"Helping Janet with the plants from M2C999," Sam said.
"We're hoping to find out something about their
medicinal properties."

"Do you have time for coffee first?" Daniel asked. Sam
looked at her watch.

"Sure, I'm not meeting Janet till 0800; I was just on
my way to the Commissary for breakfast anyway."


Once in the Commissary, Sam tried to persuade Daniel
to have some breakfast.

"You know that Janet's concerned that you've lost
weight recently," she pointed out gently. "Man cannot
live on coffee alone." She tried to make it into a
joke.

"No, but Daniel can try," Daniel said. He didn't seem
to have any appetite at the moment. Jack had not
called him the evening before, and Daniel was
concerned about him. He had spent a restless night,
wondering who the mysterious Rachel was and what
exactly her relationship with Jack had been.

"Daniel?" Sam called his name, concerned about her
friend. He was lost in thought, with a worried
expression on his face that she didn't like. He looked
up, startled, when she put a hand on his arm.

"Oh Sam, I'm sorry," he said, noticing the look of
concern on her face. "I was miles away."

"Are you going to have some breakfast?" she asked
again.

"I guess I could manage some toast," Daniel said. He
wasn't really hungry, but didn't want Sam telling
Janet that he wasn't eating, as it would only cause
more trouble in the long run.

The friends sat at a table in the corner of the
Commissary, which was deserted this early on a Sunday
morning.

"Are you ok Daniel?" Sam asked, wondering what was
weighing so heavily on his mind.

"I'm fine, Sam," Daniel said. "Just a lot on my mind
at the moment." At that moment, Janet came into the
Commissary. Sam waved at her, and she came over to
their table.

"Hello Janet," Sam said.

"Hi Sam, hello Daniel," Janet said.

"Hello Janet," Daniel said, doing his best to smile,
but failing miserably. Janet said down at the table.

"What's up?" she asked, her doctor's instincts alerted
by the way Sam was looking at Daniel, and the way
Daniel himself looked.

"Nothing," Daniel said, in a not too convincing tone
of voice.

"Daniel?" Janet persisted.

"I'm just tired," Daniel said.

"Not sleeping properly again?" Janet asked. "Maybe I
should give you a check over later?"

"It's nothing, Janet," Daniel said. "Please don't
worry. I'll be fine."

"It's my job to worry," Janet told him. 

"You know we only want to help," Sam told him. "We
care about you Daniel."

Daniel smiled at that. "I know Sam, I promise I do.
But it's nothing you can help me with. Now, I need to
go and get to work." And with that, Daniel stood up to
leave the Commissary.

"Ok," Sam said, "but promise me that you'll let me
know if there's anything we can do to help.

"I promise," Daniel said and smiled at the women as he
left. 

Daniel was glad to get away from the two women and
escape to his office to work. He hoped that
concentrating on his work would help him to forget
what was on his mind. He couldn't stop thinking about
the day before at Jack's house and the mysterious
Rachel. He had noticed that the little girl, Laura,
had not spoken during the brief time they had been at
Jack's. He wondered why Rachel had brought the girl
with her to see Jack.

Sighing heavily, Daniel decided all this speculation
was getting him nowhere. He had decided not to discuss
the visitor with Sam and Janet, knowing instinctively
Jack would not want it broadcast even that far.  He
reached his office and sat down in front of the
plaque, which was on his desk surrounded by books and
paper. He switched on the lamp and got down to work.

It was several hours later when the phone ringing
disturbed Daniel.

"Hello?" he said.

"Daniel, it's Jack," the voice at the other end of the
phone said.

"Jack!" Daniel was surprised.  "Is everything all
right?"

"Um, yeah, it's fine," Jack said. "I just wanted to
apologise for yesterday, you having to leave like
that."

"Oh, that's ok, Jack," Daniel said. He was glad Jack
couldn't see him. His face was burning, as it often
did when he lied. He had never had a poker face when
it came to lying, unlike Jack.

"Well, that was all I wanted to say really," Jack was
saying now. "Sorry that our afternoon was spoiled."

"Thank you, Jack" Daniel said.

"Ok, Daniel, bye then," Daniel heard Jack say and then
the line went dead. He put his phone down slowly,
puzzled by Jack's behaviour. Why had Jack rung him
just to say sorry? He could have easily waited until
the next day to have the conversation. 

Before he had a chance to puzzle over it any further,
Sam came into the room.

"Hey, Daniel, are you ready for lunch?" she asked.
_____________________________
Part two


"Sam," Daniel looked up in surprise. "Is it lunch time
already?"

"It's 12.30," Sam said. "Janet and I have finished our
work so she's gone home to Cassie. I thought you might
like to have lunch with me before I go and do any of
my own work."

"Ok," Daniel said. He stacked his papers neatly and
turned off the desk lamp. He knew that it was
pointless to refuse Sam, as it would only get back to
Janet. 

Once they reached the Commissary, Daniel was surprised
to discover that he did actually have an appetite. He
took a plateful of chicken salad and his inevitable
cup of coffee. He and Sam sat at the same table they
had that morning.

"How's the translation going?" Sam asked.

"Pretty well actually," Daniel said. "It's quite an
interesting language, a mixture of Aramaic and Latin,
but with the odd bit of Egyptian thrown in for good
measure." Daniel got enthusiastic as he spoke, showing
some of his old excitement. Sam smiled at him, pleased
to see the transformation in her friend as he
continued to talk about the translation. Whatever had
been bothering him that morning had obviously been
forgotten in the joy of his work. The colour returned
to his face, and he was eating lunch one-handed,
gesturing with the other as he spoke. Sam wished that
he could always be this happy.

Eventually, Daniel ran out of steam and stopped
talking.

"Sorry, Sam," he said. "I got a bit carried away."

"That's ok, Daniel," she replied. "It's good to see
you getting into your work again. You've haven't been
this enthusiastic for a while."

"I know," Daniel said. 

"Do you want to talk about it?" Sam asked, almost
holding her breath as she did so. She thought she knew
what the problem was, but needed Daniel to say it. If
he didn't recognise the problem, she couldn't tell
him. He needed to work it out for himself.

"Not really," Daniel said in reply to her question.
Sam sighed internally. Somehow that response didn't
surprise her.

"Ok, but anytime you change your mind, Daniel, you
know where to find me." It was the best that she could
do. She and Janet had discussed the situation during
their work that morning, and Sam knew she couldn't
force Daniel to talk if he wasn't ready. They could
only be patient and hope he opened up eventually,
either that or the situation would resolve itself
another way, although as that would require the minor
miracle of Colonel Jack O'Neill opening up to his
feelings, Sam wasn't holding her breath over that
happening.

Daniel nodded his appreciation of what Sam was saying.
"Thanks for the offer, Sam, I appreciate it," he said.
He could guess some of what Sam was thinking, but
because she was part of the problem, although through
no real fault of her own, Daniel couldn't talk to her
about what was bothering him.

Finishing their lunch, the two scientists went their
separate ways.


The next day, Daniel was back at the SGC bright and
early. SG1 were scheduled to go on a mission later
that day, and had an early briefing. Having worked
till quite late the night before, when he had finally
gone home, Daniel had fallen into bed and gone
straight to sleep.

He headed for his office to pick up the information on
the translation he had done the day before, which he
would be briefing SG7 on after SG1's briefing. Once in
the briefing room, he poured a cup of coffee before
settling down at the table. He was the first one
there, which wasn't that unusual.

A little while later, Sam and Teal'c came in, saying
good morning and taking their seats. A couple of
minutes after that, General Hammond arrived. However,
Colonel O'Neill was still missing.

"Before we start on the briefing, SG1, I have some
news for you," General Hammond had a serious look on
his face. "Colonel O'Neill will not be joining the
briefing today. He has requested a leave of absence
from the SGC."

"What?"

"Sir?"

"General?"

The rest of SG1 spoke simultaneously. Even Teal'c had
been surprised out of his usual stoic silence by the
General's announcement. The General looked at the team
carefully. All three faces registered shock and
surprise at the news. He had known that this
information would hit the team badly and their
reactions bore this out.

It had been a shock to the General as well when the
Colonel had phoned him at home late on Saturday night
to make the request for a leave of absence for
personal reasons. Despite the General's efforts to get
an explanation from his best officer, Jack had given
nothing away. He had pointed out to the General that
he did not have to give a reason for his absence,
regulations permitted an officer to take personal
leave without giving a detailed explanation. So the
General had had no choice but to agree with him and
accept the request. Nor had Hammond been able to get
an idea from the Colonel as to how long he would be
away.

"It'll be a while, sir," was all Jack had said.

"What do you call a while, Jack?" the General asked.
"A week, a month, what?"

"I'm not sure at the moment, General," Jack replied,
sounding apologetic. "Possibly weeks but not months.
I'll let you know as soon as I do."

The General had sighed and agreed. "Very well, Jack,
but please try and let me know as soon as possible how
long you'll be away. And in the meantime, if there is
anything I can do to help you, please let me know."

"Yes sir, I will," Jack agreed. And he had put the
phone down with no further comment.

The General sighed again now as he looked round the
table at his lead team. Coping with the Colonel's
absence would not be easy for any of them. SG1 were
outstanding as individuals, but together they were so
much more than any four such disparate people had the
right to be. The Colonel was the glue that held them
together. He was more than just an officer or team
leader, he was a father figure to the group, and he
made the mix work. He would not be easy to replace, as
the disastrous period when Colonel Makepeace had
briefly taken over had shown. At the moment, there was
no one else in the SGC who would be suitable to take
over the leadership of the flagship team. Which made
his next announcement doubly hard to make.

"For the moment, the Colonel has not indicated how
long he will be absent for, therefore in the short
term, Major Carter I would like you to lead SG1. I
will assign another officer to you for the interim.
Once I have a better idea of what will be happening, I
will decide whether to look for someone else to lead
the team."

"Yes sir," Sam spoke first, nodding at the General.
She had mixed feelings about leading the team. Whilst
she welcomed the opportunity, and knew that she could
do the job, she had no illusions about her long-term
ability to replace the Colonel. He was too unique, too
special to replace easily. She did not have his flair
for leadership or his individual style, which allowed
him to handle the three of them and balance their
skills to the best advantage of everyone, making them
greater than the sum of their parts.

"Did Colonel O'Neill say how long he would be gone
for?" Teal'c asked. 

"No, Teal'c he didn't," the General replied.

After his initial reaction to the news, Daniel sat in
stunned silence. He didn't know what to say. Somehow,
he knew this must have something to do with that woman
Rachel who had turned up at Jack's on Saturday. The
thought of an extended period without the Colonel's
presence was a painful one.

The General moved on to the briefing for SG1's
mission. At the end, he spoke again about the Colonel.

"I know it will not be easy for you whilst Colonel
O'Neill is absent, but I trust you will not let this
affect your work. The fourth member of your team will
join you after this mission."

Sam and Teal'c left the briefing room together, but
Daniel stayed behind ready for his briefing with SG7.

"Is everything all right Dr Jackson?" the General had
paused on the way back to his office. The briefing
with SG7 was not due to start for 15 minutes, and he
had calls to make in the meantime. 

"Oh, yes, sir," Daniel said. He shuffled his papers
awkwardly. The General nodded.

"I know how much you will miss Colonel O'Neill,
Daniel," Hammond said, surprising Daniel by using his
first name. 

"As will Sam and Teal'c," Daniel said, making the rote
response, in the same way that Jack had talked about
the loss of Sam during the incident with the Entity.
The General nodded, knowing that in actual fact, Jack
meant a lot more to Daniel than just a work colleague,
but he had to respect Daniel's privacy. He carried on
into his office, leaving Daniel to stare at his papers
in despair.

Once the briefing with SG7 was over, Daniel returned
to his office to prepare for SG1's mission to G3X777
later that day. It was a routine exploration and
survey of a planet, which seemed to be uninhabited.
Daniel needed no special equipment or books so he
spent the time until he needed to go and get ready to
read and answer emails.

______________________________________________________
part three


He did this absently, thinking about Jack at the same
time. He wondered whether he should call Jack or wait
to see if the Colonel called him. When Sam came into
his office to accompany him to the gear up room, he
jumped in surprise. He had been lost in thought,
remembering again everything that had happened the
previous Saturday.

"Daniel, time to go get ready," Sam said.

"Huh?" Daniel looked up. "Already?"

Sam nodded, "already," she confirmed. Daniel shut down
his computer and got up to follow her.

Once they reached G3X777, the team set out on their
survey. A UAV had already been sent to the planet as
well as the usual MALP probe, and both had shown signs
that there might once have been habitation on the
planet. The team would also take samples of soil to
check for the presence of Naquadah and other useful
minerals.

As they headed off into the almost inevitable forest
to look for signs of life, humanoid or otherwise, Sam
raised the topic that was at the forefront of
everyone's minds.

"Why do you think the Colonel asked for a leave of
absence?" she asked, looking from Daniel to Teal'c.
Teal'c shrugged his shoulders.

"I know of no reason why he should wish to be absent
from the SGC," he said.

Daniel hesitated, wondering whether to say anything
about Saturday. In the end, he decided to say nothing,
after all Jack had clearly not even said anything to
General Hammond about his reasons for his absence, and
Daniel did not have any real proof that it was
anything to do with Rachel, just suspicions. He would
wait a while before saying anything.

"I don't know either," he said, turning his head away,
not liking the fact that he was technically lying to
his friends.

"What was he like on Saturday?" Sam asked, sensing
that Daniel was being evasive.

"Oh, you know," Daniel said, waving a hand. "He was
Jack."

Sam stared at him for a moment, and even Teal'c looked
a little surprised by Daniel's response. Daniel
however, wandered off to examine a large stone set in
a small clearing, which seemed to have markings of
some kind on it. 

"This looks interesting," he said over his shoulder.
Sam headed over to join him, dropping the subject of
Colonel O'Neill for the time being. Daniel required
patience and coaxing to part with sensitive
information, but Sam was willing to take the time.


The rest of the mission was fairly routine. The
markings on the rock turned out not to be a language
and the soil samples were quickly gathered. The
supposed ruins the UAV had shown on its flight turned
out to be more large stones of a similar type to the
one near the Gate. Closer inspection showed that they
were not buildings of any kind. Eventually, Sam called
for their return to the 'Gate, and home.

Once back on Earth, they went through the debrief and
routine medical exams quickly. Their next mission was
not for a couple of days, and they would meet their
new team member that day.


Whilst SG1 were trying to come to terms with their
loss, their team leader was trying to come to terms
with the life changing news he had been given on
Saturday when Rachel had arrived back in his life with
Laura.

After Daniel had left, Jack had given Rachel an angry
look.

"So what are you doing here then?" he asked. "What's
suddenly so important you need to turn on my doorstep
after 10 years without some much as a postcard, letter
or phone call?"

"Laura, honey, why don't you read your book," Rachel
had pulled a paperback out of her coat pocket and
handed it to the girl. Laura took the book and went to
sit on the steps up to the rest of the house. She
opened it and started reading. Rachel went to sit next
to Jack on the couch.

"There's no easy way to say this Jack," she said, "so
I'll just come out with it. I want you to look after
our daughter because I'm dying and I can't look after
her any more."

Jack sat looking at her in shock, mouth hanging open.
He couldn't believe what he had just heard.

"What the hell are you talking about?" he yelled. He
stood up and walked over to the window. 

"Do you have to shout?" Rachel asked quietly. "It
upsets Laura." She gestured at her daughter, who was
looking at them warily. Rachel crossed the room to
crouch in front of her. "It's all right honey," she
said. "Carry on with your book." She patted the girl
on the arm then walked over to stand beside Jack, who
stood resting his forehead on the cold glass.

"Why don't we talk outside?" Rachel gestured at the
garden. "It's stopped raining for a bit, and there are
things I'd have to say that I'd prefer Laura not to
hear."

"Why bring her then?" Jack snapped, not looking round.

"I had no choice," Rachel said. "I don't know anyone
in Colorado Springs but you. We only arrived here this
morning. Please, Jack," she put a hand on his arm
tentatively, but Jack immediately flinched away, so
she let it fall to her side again. He did however,
slide the French window open and step outside. Rachel
followed him on to the patio, where he stood looking
at her.

"So talk, then," he said. "The sooner you're done, the
sooner you leave." His face was set like stone, lips
compressed in a thin line. It was a look that
terrified his subordinates, but Rachel seemed
unimpressed.

"You don't scare me Jack," she said. "I've seen your
other side, remember?"

"Just get to the point," Jack said.

"The point is, Jack," Rachel said, "that I'm dying of
lymphoma and my child needs someone to raise her. As
you're her father, you seem to be the best candidate."

"How do I know you're telling the truth?" Jack asked,
still unyielding.

"I don't know," Rachel said, puzzled by the question.
"What reason would I have for lying to you?"

"Oh, I can think of plenty," Jack said sarcastically.
"Starting with money and going downhill from there."

"This isn't a scam," Rachel said. "I've changed since
the last time we met."

"I find that hard to believe," Jack said. "You'll have
to work a bit harder than that to convince me."

"I don't know how you expect me to do that Jack,"
Rachel said, frowning. She couldn't believe that Jack
was being so difficult about things. She had not
realised that he had such a hard side to him.

When she had known him before, Jack had been going
through a difficult patch with Sara after the birth of
Charlie. She had conned her way onto the Airforce Base
where Jack was based at the time and into a job in the
Officers' Club. Jack had got to know her when he had
frequented the bar before a Special Forces mission.
They had only slept together once, when Jack had been
drunk. Two days later, he had gone abroad on his
mission, and when he returned, he heard all about how
the barmaid at the OC had run off with a lot of money
from the till. That had been the last he had heard of
her. Until now.

"Well," he said now, "You can start by telling me why
you think I would want to bring up a child that I
don't know. And how do I even know she's mine? For all
I know you were sleeping with half the Base!"

Rachel flinched back from that remark. "How dare you?"
she said. "What sort of person do you think I am?"

"Well, I don't know do I?" Jack sneered. "That's the
whole point I'm trying to make here."


The argument had gone on for a long time, round and
round. Laura had eventually come out into the garden
to say that she was hungry, so Jack had put the pizzas
he and Daniel had been planning to share into the oven
to reheat and made a salad to go with them. 

Whilst they had been eating, Jack had taken the
opportunity to study Laura without seeming to, trying
to see if there was any resemblance to himself, or to
Charlie. He couldn't see any, but didn't know whether
this was because there wasn't any, or because he
didn't want to see any.

After they had eaten, he agreed to drive Rachel and
Laura back to the motel where they were staying.
Afterwards, he had sat up half the night, wrestling
with what to do next. However, he couldn't seem to
decide. He saw the face of Charlie in front of him as
he thought about Laura. If she really were his
daughter, it would go a small way to making up for the
loss of his son to have another chance to raise a
child. He sipped whisky whilst he sat in the darkened
lounge, thinking. 

Eventually, the only conclusion he came to was that he
couldn't decide what to do. So he decided he needed
some time off to think. He rang General Hammond and
requested a leave of absence. He had been deliberately
vague in his conversation with the General because he
did not know himself what he would be doing yet.

The next problem was what to say to his team, if
anything. He felt guilty abandoning them, but knew
that he had no choice. He would not be able to do his
job properly whilst having this problem weighing on
his mind. In the end, though he had opted for the
coward's route and decided to say nothing, leaving it
to Hammond to tell them. Knowing Daniel, he would
probably guess it was something to do with Rachel, but
Jack couldn't face the thought of telling his friend
the truth. He didn't like the idea of seeing the
disappointment in Daniel's face if he told him about
Rachel. Although he wasn't actually married to Sara
any more, he had still cheated on her and he couldn't
help feeling that Daniel wouldn't approve of that. 

However, he felt he owed Daniel something for the way
he had ruined their Saturday afternoon, so on Sunday
he called Daniel at the Base to apologise. He had
phoned the SGC first, guessing that Daniel would be in
his office working, rather than at home. The
conversation had been brief, but Jack could tell that
Daniel was unhappy about things. Daniel not only
couldn't lie worth a damn, he couldn't disguise the
curiosity in his voice either. However he was too much
of a gentleman to ask questions of Jack. Instead he
waited - in vain - for Jack to volunteer information.
When it wasn't forthcoming, he said goodbye, thanking
Jack for his apology. 

After he had put the phone down, Jack had sat there
wishing he could have said more to Daniel, he hated to
let his friend down. He worried most of all about how
the archaeologist would cope without him there leading
the team. Sam and Teal'c were competent warriors, but
Daniel was different, a fact that few people
appreciated. They rarely saw past the genius exterior
to the real man underneath. Daniel was so much more
than just an archaeologist or linguist.

As he sat there, contemplating Daniel, the phone rang
under Jack's hand, surprising him. He picked the
receiver up reluctantly.

"Hello?" he said.

It was Rachel, phoning to ask if they could talk some
more. Jack thought about it. He thought it was
probably pointless, but he couldn't just ignore the
situation, so he agreed to meet and talk.

"I'll pick you up from the motel," he offered. "If we
go to the park, Laura can play safely whilst we talk."

"Thanks, Jack," Rachel said.

So they had sat in the park all afternoon, watching
Laura playing on the swings and climbing frame whilst
they talked. Jack had asked Rachel about the incident
on the Base in Florida. 

"I'm not proud of what I did," Rachel said, "but I was
desperate at the time. I felt trapped by my situation,
and needed a way out. Taking the money seemed the only
way I could do that."

"Why didn't you ask me for help?" Jack asked. 

"Because after we slept together, I felt bad. I know
you were having a difficult time with your wife, but
you were totally hung up on Charlie. I couldn't do
anything to break that connection you had, and I
didn't want to. Being a parent is a very precious
thing."

Jack looked at her, and suddenly saw the woman that he
had known all those years ago. He had liked Rachel a
lot, she had been fun to talk to, and hadn't been
impressed by his job in Special Forces. She hadn't
been bothered that he didn't talk about his work
either.

"Look, Rachel, I'm still not sure about this whole
idea of bringing up Laura. My job isn't really suited
to me being a single parent, even if she is my
daughter, which I'm still not convinced of," Jack
said.

"Well, there's only way to find out for sure," Rachel
said. "A paternity test."

Jack nodded his head in agreement. "Ok," he said. He
was a bit surprised that Rachel had suggested this way
out, but realised that this was the only way to find
out the truth about Laura's paternity.  "We can go to
the hospital tomorrow and arrange the test. I know a
doctor who will do it for us."

"Are you sure?" Rachel asked, surprised that Jack had
agreed so readily to the test.

"Yea, I'm sure," Jack replied. "I want to sort this
out."


The next day, Jack picked up Laura and Rachel and
drove them to the hospital. He had arranged an
appointment with Janet for late in the day. He knew
the doctor was curious as to what was going on, and
that she was aware of his current absence from the
SGC, but he trusted in her role as his doctor to be
discreet.

The test was short and painless, but Janet worked her
charm on Laura any way to ensure the little girl was
not upset by the procedure. Afterwards, Rachel took
her outside to wait whilst Jack had his blood test
done. 

"Is everything ok, sir?" Janet asked as she prepared
to draw his blood.

"You ask me this whilst you have a needle in your
hand?" Jack asked jokingly.

"Come on, Colonel, this is me you're talking to,"
Janet said. "You can trust me, I'm bound by
patient/doctor confidentiality. There must a reason
why you're doing this, I take it it's connected to
your current leave of absence from the SGC?"

"There is a reason for it," Jack admitted cautiously.
"And yes, it is related to my current absence."

"Are you going make me draw out the answers with this
blood?" Janet joked as she put the needle into his
arm.

"I'd really prefer not to talk about it Janet," Jack
said as he watched the vial fill up with his blood.
"It's a difficult situation, which I'm still trying to
sort out for myself."

"Talking about it might help," Janet suggested to him.
She carefully withdrew the needle, then put a piece of
cotton wool over the puncture mark. Jack automatically
bent his arm as Janet reached for a plaster.

Jack looked at the petite doctor, who was all
seriousness now. He wondered how she would react to
the news of his adultery. He used the harsh word
deliberately in his head, because that was what he was
guilty of, even if it had only been a drunken
one-night stand.

"Perhaps when I get the results," he said. "But right
now, I don't think talking would help me."

Janet nodded. "Ok, Colonel, but remember, I'm always
available if you change your mind."

"Thanks, Doc," the Colonel nodded his appreciation of
the offer. "When will the results be ready?"

"A couple of days," she told him. 

"And how's things at the SGC?" he asked casually as he
watched Janet label the vial of blood and put it down
next to the sample of Laura's blood she had taken
earlier.

Janet looked around at him, senses alert. She wasn't
fooled by the casual tone for a second. She knew
exactly what he was asking - more to the point, who he
was asking about.

"Everything's fine," she said. "Sam lead the mission
today and it was pretty routine stuff. She's leading
the team for the moment."

"Who's the fourth?" Jack asked.

"At the moment, no-one," Janet told him. "I think the
General is going to bring in a lower ranked officer
until he finds someone suitable to lead the team.
Unless, of course, you come back first."

As she made this last comment, Janet looked at the
Colonel carefully. He just nodded at her, face in
neutral. 

"I should get going," he said, standing up, "Rachel
and Laura are waiting."

"Ok, Colonel. You can make an appointment to come back
in two days for the results, or if you prefer you can
call in for them," she told him.

"Thanks Doc," he said, nodding his appreciation.


The next two days, Jack spent time with Rachel and
Laura getting to know them. Laura was a quiet,
studious girl, who spent a lot of time reading. She
was totally different to Charlie had been, and she was
a lot quieter than Cassie was as well. Jack liked her
though; she was well spoken and endlessly curious. In
some respects, she reminded Jack of Daniel, and he had
an idea of what the archaeologist must have been like
at that age.

To Jack's surprise, Daniel had not phoned or called
round during the two days. Neither had Sam. Jack
wondered briefly if Janet had said something to them,
then dismissed the thought. She was too professional
to do that. They were probably both too busy to find
the time to call him.

Finally, the time had come for Jack to get the results
of the paternity test. He had decided to call for the
results, knowing he would probably only have to speak
to a secretary rather than Janet if he did it that
way. He had told Rachel that he would call her with
the results of the test when he had them, and she had
agreed. He was glad she had not wanted to be there
with him when he found out. It gave him a chance to
digest the news privately and control his reactions
before he spoke to Rachel.

The secretary was polite and helpful. "Yes sir, the
results have arrived," she told him. Jack waited
patiently through the medical jargon until she got to
the point.

"So there's no doubt?" he asked.

"No sir, none at all," she told him.

"I see," Jack said slowly, "thank you." He put the
phone down gently, taking a deep breath as he resisted
the urge to yell. He went into the kitchen to fetch a
beer, drinking it down in three gulps, then took
another bottle from the fridge, which he sipped from
slowly before going back into the lounge.

He picked up the phone ready to call Rachel. Before he
could dial the number though, the phone rang. He
pressed the button to answer

"Hello?" he said cautiously.

"Jack?" a voice said equally cautiously.

"Daniel," Jack said, recognising the voice instantly.
Daniel's tone was guarded, and Jack could sense he was
worried about the reception he was going to get.

"How are you?" Daniel asked.

_________________________________________________
Part four 



"I'm fine, Daniel," Jack replied, hoping he sounded
more convincing than he felt. He didn't want to talk
to Daniel right now, the timing was awful as he had
the whole Rachel situation to try and sort out.

"I was wondering if you wanted to go out for pizza
with us tonight?" Daniel asked hopefully,

"Aren't you going on a mission tomorrow?" Jack asked.

"Yes," Daniel agreed, "but not until late in the day,
so we thought we'd have a team night out first."

"I'm not on the team at the moment," Jack pointed out
gently, not wanting to hurt Daniel's feelings.

"The important phrase there, Jack, is 'at the
moment'," Daniel said.

"Now you're splitting hairs," Jack countered, a little
more forcefully. He winced as he said it, almost
feeling Daniel's hurt down the phone, but he couldn't
help himself. He just couldn't deal with Daniel at the
moment.

"Fine, Jack," Daniel said, anger in his tone now. "If
you're not interested in spending time with the team
and sharing with us whatever is happening in your life
right now, I'll make sure I tell Teal'c and Sam to
leave you well enough alone. I thought we were family,
Jack, but obviously I was wrong." 

With that, the phone was slammed down loudly in Jack's
ear, leaving it vibrating with the aftershock of angry
archaeologist. Jack hit the off button on his phone
and swore loudly. He hated what he had just done to
Daniel. It was almost as bad as when he had gone
undercover to find the mole in the SGC and he had said
all that stuff to Daniel about not being friends. It
had taken months for him to properly make that up with
Daniel, even though Daniel had tried to dismiss it by
saying that the team had drawn straws to see who would
come see him. Jack, however, had not been convinced by
that remark, and had eventually got Carter to admit to
him that it wasn't true, it was Daniel's way of trying
to even things up with Jack for the hurt he had
inflicted on the team.

Jack drained his second beer in a few seconds, then
slammed the bottle down on the table. He needed to
call Rachel, who would be waiting for the news of the
paternity test, but right now he was so angry, he
didn't think he was capable of holding a rational
conversation with her. Sighing heavily, he went and
fetched a third beer from the kitchen.

Back in the lounge, he picked up the phone again,
ready to call Rachel. He didn't want to make the call,
but couldn't put it off any longer. He dialled the
number quickly, and the phone was picked up on the
first ring. He wasn't surprised, Rachel had obviously
been waiting for his call.

"Rachel," he said as she answered the phone. "It's
Jack. I've got the results."

"And?" she said.

"Laura's mine," Jack said flatly. "You were telling
the truth."

"Thank you," Rachel said softly. She knew how much the
admission had cost Jack, the pain in his voice was
evident even on the phone. "So what now?" she asked. 

"I don't know," Jack said, the shrug in his voice
travelling down the phone line.

"We should talk," Rachel said.

"Again?" Jack asked, unable to hid the sarcasm in his
voice.

"Please Jack, don't make this any harder than it need
be," Rachel said.

"Oh please, not clichés," Jack groaned. "Look, I'll
call you in a day or so, ok. I need time to sort
things out." He didn't bother saying goodbye, just
hung up. He really couldn't handle this right now. 

After sitting sipping his beer for a few minutes, he
finally came to a decision. What he needed right now,
he decided was a change of scenery. He would go to his
cabin in Minnesota and spend a few days fishing and
thinking. With the decision made, he went to his
bedroom to pack. He threw a few things in a bag, then
went through to the garage to pick up his fishing
gear. Once the car was loaded up, he went through the
house making sure everything was locked up. Finally,
he switched on the answering machine before heading
out the front door and locking it behind him.

Before setting off across country, he stopped off at
the store to pick up some food and beer, which he
loaded into the back of the car with his fishing gear.
Once on the Interstate, he turned up his CD player to
top volume, blasting opera through the car. He
whistled along as he drove.  The further he travelled
from home, the more he relaxed.


Daniel slammed his phone down so hard he cracked the
case. He couldn't believe Jack could be so
insensitive! It was like the whole mole business all
over again. 

"Daniel?" Sam looked at him concerned. She hadn't seen
Daniel this angry for a while. 

"He's not interested in seeing us," Daniel said,
throwing the phone aside.

"I got that," Sam said. "What did he say?"

"He's not on the team at the moment," Daniel said.
"Which is a technicality really. But that doesn't seem
to bother him. He's regressed back to Colonel Robot
again." There was a bitter tone to his voice that Sam
didn't like.

"Well, you know what he's like," Sam said. "When
something bothers him, he retreats. He doesn't know
how to deal emotionally so he shuts down. We just have
to be patient."

"I don't know how much longer I can be patient for,
Sam," Daniel said, his voice cracking a little with
emotion. Sam moved to sit next to him on the couch.
She put a hand on his arm. 

"Don't say that, Daniel," she said. "He'll come round
eventually."

"Do you really think that?" Daniel asked, a pleading
note in his voice.

"If he doesn't he'll have me to deal with," Sam said,
a note of menace in her tone. Daniel actually managed
to smile at that remark. The thought of Sam having a
conversation with Jack on the subject of his
relationship with Daniel was a scary one.

"Well, anyway, let's forget about him for the time
being and concentrate on having a good night tonight,"
Daniel said resolutely.

Sam nodded agreement "that's a good idea, Daniel," she
said. 


SG1's next mission was a three day one to S4C222,
where they made contact with a friendly race of aliens
whose culture was matriarchal, much to Sam's delight.
It was a straightforward mission, just what was needed
to break in their new team member, Lieutenant John
Michaels, who had transferred to SG1 from SG3, where
he had been doing good work. He was a little overawed
to be joining the legendary SG1, but Sam and Daniel
worked hard to make him feel welcome, and even Teal'c
was almost talkative during the course of the mission.


After the mission, the four of them went out together
to O'Malley's for dinner. It was a light-hearted
evening, full of laughter, which they all really
enjoyed.  Afterwards, Daniel drove Sam home. In the
car, Sam looked at Daniel.

"That was a good evening," she said.

Daniel nodded agreement, not looking round from the
road.

"Michaels seems nice," she added. That did make Daniel
look round.

"Nice?" he asked.

"Friendly, intelligent, hard working," Sam elaborated,
smiling.

"And you're his team leader," Daniel said with a grin.

"Oh, I don't think that matters," Sam grinned back,
enjoying the banter. "It wasn't me he was staring at
for the whole three days."

"What do you mean?" Daniel asked as he stopped outside
Sam's house.

Sam looked at him. "You mean you didn't notice?" she
said in surprise.

"Notice what?" Daniel asked. 

"The way Lieutenant Michaels stared at you the whole
three days we were on the mission," Sam said slowly
and patiently, as if talking to a child.

"I don't know what you mean," Daniel said.

Sam sighed and smiled at Daniel affectionately; he was
totally clueless about the effect that he had on both
men and women alike. Which was just as well really,
because otherwise it might have gone to his head,
making him pretty unbearable and thus not the Daniel
everyone knew and loved.

"Never mind," she said now. "I'd better get going.
I'll see you next week, Daniel," she leaned over and
gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"Bye Sam," Daniel replied, smiling at her.

Sam got out of the car and went into the house. She
turned to wave at Daniel before closing the front
door. The fact that he waited till she got into the
house before driving off was typical of Daniel, even
though she was more than capable of defending herself.

Daniel drove home slowly, wondering if it was worth
calling round to Jack's house the next day. He missed
Jack more than he thought he would, even though it had
only been a week since he had seen him. He wanted to
apologise for the argument they had had on the phone,
but more than that he wanted to find out what was
keeping Jack away from the SGC.


The next day, a Sunday, Daniel was up early. He had
hardly slept the night before because he had been
wondering whether to try and call on Jack. In the end,
he had decided that he had to give it a try. The
current state of his relationship with Jack was
unbearable and Daniel wanted to try and sort things
out. Even if they couldn't go back to the easy
relationship they had had at the start of the Stargate
programme, Daniel wanted to reclaim some sort of
relationship with him. He just hoped that Jack felt
the same way.

Deciding that surprise was the best form of attack, in
order to ensure that Jack had no chance to get away or
refuse to see him, Daniel set out without phoning
first. He left fairly early because that also
increased his chances of finding Jack at home.

The drive was a short one and the town was fairly
empty, which meant that it was only a few minutes
later that Daniel found himself pulling up in Jack's
driveway. He looked around as he got out of the car,
but couldn't see Jack's jeep anywhere in sight. He
frowned to himself. Walking up the path, he could
almost sense that the house was empty even before he
knocked on the door. Sure enough, Jack did not appear.
Sighing with frustration, Daniel turned to head back
down the path and almost collided with the woman whom
he had met at Jack's house the previous Saturday.

"Sorry," he apologised, stepping back.

"No, my fault," she said. "I did kind of creep up
behind you."

"It's Rachel, isn't it?" Daniel asked, remembering the
name at the last second.

"And you're Daniel, Jack's friend," she replied.

"That's right," Daniel nodded agreement.

"Is he not in?" Rachel asked.

"Apparently not," Daniel replied. "Where's your
daughter?" he asked suddenly, realising that she
wasn't there.

"Staying with a friend," Rachel said. "So how do you
know Jack?"

"We work together," Daniel said.

Oh.  So what do you do? Only you don't look like any
pilot I ever met." She smiled as she said it, taking
the sting out of the remark.

"Oh, no, I'm not in the Air Force," Daniel smiled
back. "I'm an archaeologist."

"What's that got to do with the Air Force?" Rachel
asked, curious now.

"Um, well," Daniel hesitated, not sure what to say.

"Look, it's ok," Rachel said. "I guess it's none of my
business anyway. Have you any idea where Jack might
have gone? I really need to speak to him."

"Well not really," Daniel said. "Sorry."

"Ok. Well I guess I should head back anyway," Rachel
headed down the path to her rental car, which was
parked behind Daniel's.

She drove away, leaving Daniel standing on the path
looking after her. He wondered exactly what was going
on between her and Jack. As he got back into his car,
his mobile phone rang.

"Hello?" he said.

"Daniel, it's Sam," the voice at the other end said.

"Sam, how are you?" Daniel asked. A laugh sounded down
the phone.

"One too many last night, I think," she replied.

"Oh," Daniel said. He had not really noticed how much
Sam had been drinking the night before.

"Are you working today?" she asked.

"No," Daniel said. "I'm actually at Jack's house."

"Oh, I should go," Sam said. "I didn't mean to
interrupt anything."

"It's all right, Sam, he's not here," Daniel quickly
reassured her. "I guess he decided to go away for a
few days."

"Oh, right," Sam said. "Perhaps he went to his cabin."

"That's what I was thinking," Daniel said.

"Are you going to go up there?" Sam asked.

"I'm not sure that would be a good idea," Daniel
replied. "He obviously wants to be left alone."

"That doesn't mean he should be," Sam pointed out.
Daniel wasn't sure about the logic of that remark.

"I don't know, Sam, I got pretty mad with him the
other day, I'm sure he doesn't want me turning up
there," he said.

"You don't know till you try," Sam said. "I think you
should go. We're on stand down for two days, and the
time off wouldn't hurt you. You've been working harder
than ever lately.  You know what Janet said to you
last week in the Commissary."

Daniel pulled a face as he remembered that
conversation. He thought about it for a second. "Well,
I guess it won't hurt to try," he said finally. "The
worst that happens is Jack gets even more angry with
me."

"I don't think that's likely to happen," Sam said.
"Anyway, I have to go, just promise me you'll call me
when you get back."

"I promise," Daniel agreed. As he said goodbye to Sam
and shut off his phone, he wondered whether he was in
fact doing the right thing. But one way or another,
this confrontation with Jack had to come. Putting it
off wasn't doing either of them any favours. So he
drove back to his apartment, picked up a couple of
things and then set off for Minnesota.


Jack was lying on his couch, dozing, when a sudden
loud knocking at the door startled him awake. He got
up cautiously, wondering who could be at his door. It
was late at night and his cabin was well off the
beaten track. He opened the door to find a soaking wet
Daniel stood there.

"Daniel!" he said in surprise, ushering him inside.
"What are you doing here?" Daniel sneezed several
times and Jack stepped back from him. "Never mind,"
Jack said. "Tell me later. You need to change and
fast. Come on." He pulled Daniel after him to his
bedroom. 

Daniel followed behind Jack, squelching as he went. He
was shivering with cold and his teeth were starting to
chatter. In Jack's bedroom, he stood waiting whilst
Jack pulled clothes out of the drawers. He was
uncomfortable being in Jack's bedroom, but knew he had
no choice. Jack handed him the pile of clothes and
then ushered him through to the bathroom.

"Go ahead and shower before you change," Jack
suggested, "It'll warm you up."

"Thanks," Daniel said, sneezing again as he said it.

Jack waved a hand, "No problem Daniel," he said. He
left Daniel alone in the bathroom, going through to
the kitchen to make a hot drink.

Daniel stripped off his wet clothes and left them in a
heap on the floor whilst he had a shower. He turned
the water up as hot as he could bear for the first few
minutes, then turned it back down again to a more
manageable level. As he towelled himself dry, he
wondered how Jack was going to react once he explained
why he was here.

A few minutes later, Jack looked up as Daniel came out
of the bathroom dressed in a pair of his sweatpants
and a sweatshirt. His hair was still damp and tousled
from the shower and Jack had to resist an urge to run
his fingers through the hair to straighten it out. He
couldn't believe how gorgeous Daniel looked dressed so
casually.

"Hot chocolate?" he finally managed to ask, holding
out a mug to Daniel.

"Thanks," Daniel took the cup, dropping his eyes from
Jack's gaze. He was embarrassed by the scrutiny.

"Where are your clothes?" Jack asked. Daniel gestured
behind him at the bathroom.

"I don't have a washing machine," Jack told him, "but
I have some lines in the kitchen you can hang them
on."

"Ok," Daniel put down the mug of chocolate and went to
fetch his clothes. He looked around at the cabin as he
followed Jack through to the kitchen. It was quite a
bit bigger than Daniel had thought it would be, but
was still fairly basic. Although there was obviously
electricity, because of the hot water for the shower,
Jack had a fire burning in the grate and several lamps
and candles spread around the room, rather than
electric lights.

"You have an Aga!" Daniel exclaimed in surprise as he
followed Jack into the kitchen.

"Yea," Jack said, smiling. "Don't sound quite so
surprised, Daniel."

"Just not what I was expecting to see," Daniel said. 

______________________________
part five


Jack shrugged, "They're economical," he said "and
fairly practical. The power here isn't too reliable,
so this ensures I have warmth and food in case I ever
get trapped."

"Trapped?" Daniel asked, eyes widening in surprise.

"Don't worry Daniel, it usually only happens in the
winter, if we have a lot of snow," Jack reassured him.

"Oh," Daniel said. He let Jack take his clothes and
hang them on the lines he had strung across the
kitchen.

"So what exactly are you doing here, Daniel?" Jack
asked as they went back into the lounge. "And why did
you turn up on my doorstep looking like a drowned
rat?"

"Um, well I came to apologise," Daniel said.

"You came all this way just to apologise?" Jack asked
incredulously.

"Well, that and to see if you're all right," Daniel
said. "We're all concerned about you Jack."

"Right," Jack said. "You're all concerned about me.
And this has nothing to do with the fact that you saw
this stranger at my house last week."

"Actually, no, it doesn't," Daniel said.

"Don't bother lying Daniel, it doesn't suit you," Jack
said.

"I'm not lying," Daniel denied the accusation angrily.
"I am worried. We're all worried," he corrected
himself, hoping Jack hadn't noticed the slip. "And for
your information, Rachel is looking for you as well. I
called by your house this morning and she was there,
wondering where you'd disappeared to. I didn't say
anything to her. Oh and just for the record, I haven't
said anything to anyone at the SGC about her either."
He crossed to the far side of the room to put as much
space between himself and Jack as possible.

Jack watched Daniel's back, which was giving off waves
of anger. He could tell by Daniel's posture that he
had his arms crossed and was hugging himself in the
way he always did when angry or upset. He sighed. This
was not what he had wanted to happen. Deciding that
there was no point putting things off any longer, he
crossed the room.

"Daniel," he said softly. Daniel ignored him, resting
his head on the window. "Daniel," Jack said again,
putting a hand on his arm. "I'm sorry for yelling."

Daniel turned to look at him. "Is that it?" he asked.

"No, that's not it," Jack said. "But will it do for a
start?"

Daniel looked at him thoughtfully. Jack offered him a
tentative smile. "You still haven't told me why you
arrived looking like a drowned rat," he said.

"My car broke down," Daniel said abruptly, turning
around fully to face Jack.

"Where?" Jack asked.

"About three miles away," Daniel admitted.

"You walked three miles in the rain to get here?" Jack
asked, surprised.

"Didn't have a lot of choice," Daniel said. 

"You could have called me," Jack suggested.

"The battery on my phone was flat," Daniel admitted
with a blush.

"Oh Daniel," Jack said. "What are we going to do with
you?"

"I'm sorry Jack," Daniel said softly. "I don't mean to
be so hopeless."

"Come and sit down," Jack said, taking Daniel's hand
and leading him over to the couch. "I'll tell you
what's going on. I'd already decided to come back and
tell you what was happening, and to apologise."

"Apologise for what?" Daniel asked, his curiosity
piqued by what Jack was saying.

"I'll tell you the whole story," Jack said. He settled
into a corner of the couch, then stretched his legs
out on the coffee table. Daniel sat at the opposite
end, turning so that he could see Jack as he talked.

"Basically, it's a simple but not pleasant story,"
Jack began. "I knew Rachel 10 years ago when I was
based at Florida briefly. It was just after Charlie
was born, and Sara and I were going through a bad
patch."

As Jack told the story, Daniel watched him carefully,
noting the play of expressions over Jack's face as he
talked. Jack, however, seemed to find the table
fascinating. He stared at it as he talked,
deliberately avoiding looking at Daniel. After he had
told Daniel everything, he couldn't turn and look at
the other man, he was too afraid of what he might see
on Daniel's face.

Daniel sat in silence for a few minutes, digesting
what Jack had told him.

"So what are you going to do?" he asked at last.

Jack turned finally to look at him. "Is that all you
can say?" he asked, surprised.

"Well, there's obviously lots of things I could say,"
Daniel told him. "But that seems the most important
question. I know it's probably the most selfish
question to ask, but I'd like to know if you're going
to leave SG1 to be a father. I would say the two
things were mutually exclusive."

Jack looked at Daniel, who looked back at him,
challenge in every line of his body. Finally, Jack
looked away, unable to face the challenge.

"I don't know," he said finally. "I don't want to give
up SG1, but at the same time, I could never be a desk
jockey. You can understand that can't you Daniel?" he
appealed, looking for some understanding in his
friend's expression. "You feel the same way about
going through the 'Gate."

Daniel nodded his head slowly. "I understand that
Jack," he agreed. "There's always retirement, though."

Jack laughed humourlessly at that. "I know," he said.
"I guess I could go for the world record of most
retirements in any one career."

Daniel frowned. "Not funny, Jack," he said. "This is a
serious business."

"I know, Daniel, I know," Jack said. "But you know how
hopeless I am about dealing with this stuff. It's more
your type of thing."

"Don't belittle yourself, Jack," Daniel said. "This
isn't an easy situation to deal with. You just have to
do the best you can in the circumstances." He reached
out and put a hand on Jack's arm. "We'll be here to
help you," he told him earnestly. "SG1 is a family,
remember. That's means we help and support each
other."

"Thanks Daniel," Jack said. "It means a lot to me that
you feel that way. I was worried that you'd condemn me
for the fact that I slept with someone else when I was
still with Sara."

"You're only human," Daniel pointed out. "We all make
mistakes."

"Not you," Jack said, shaking his head, "not this sort
of mistake."

"Don't assume you know me that well," Daniel said.
"Anyway, let's not argue about it. The point is, this
is the situation you're in, what are you going to do
about it?"

Jack looked at Daniel, who was leaning forward,
studying Jack intently. He bit back the urge to reach
forward and kiss Daniel. He turned away and stood up,
suddenly restless. Having Daniel this close, and this
intense, was playing havoc with his emotions, which
were already mixed up enough from the situation he was
in with Rachel and Laura. Shoving his hands in his
pockets, he went to stand by the fire, looking down at
the flames. 

Daniel sat watching him, aware of the strong
undercurrent of tension in the room, but not sure what
was causing it. He waited patiently for Jack to decide
to answer his question. He wanted to go to the other
man and hold him, tell him it would be ok, but
couldn't quite bring himself to cross that divide. He
was too afraid of how Jack would react to take that
risk at the moment. The fact that he was also more or
less trapped here, dependent on Jack to get away also
held him back.

Eventually, Jack turned back to face Daniel. "What
would you do?" he asked.

"Not fair," Daniel pouted. "I can't answer that
question."

"Why not?" Jack asked. "Suppose Share had asked you to
bring up Shifu, what would you have done?"

Daniel squirmed uncomfortably in his seat, remembering
the dream Shifu had given him on his last visit. He
had told no one about the details of the dream. He had
been too embarrassed by the thought that what the
dream had shown him about himself might actually be
true, to tell anyone what he had seen. Instead he had
merely told the others that he had seen a version of
the future, which had convinced him of the dangers of
trying to extract any information from the boy, and
left it at that. Thankfully, General Hammond had
accepted this explanation.

Looking at Jack again, as he stood waiting for an
answer, he decided that he owed it to Jack to be as
honest with him, as Jack had been with him.

"You remember that dream I had when Shifu was here?"
he asked Jack. Jack looked puzzled, unsure of the
relevance to the conversation, but nodded agreement.
"Well, the future that it showed me was a pretty
uncomfortable one," he said.

"Why?" Jack asked. He came to sit down again,
intrigued by what Daniel was saying. He had been
curious as to what Daniel had dreamt about, but Daniel
had refused all attempts to get him to discuss the
subject, so in the end Jack had given up. Daniel
explained the dream and the vision of the future it
had given him.

After he had finished, Daniel was the one refusing to
make eye contact.

"Why are you so embarrassed by this Daniel?" Jack
asked. "It was a dream, not real."

"But it could have been real," Daniel said. "It made
me face a darker side of myself which I hadn't faced
since I was addicted to the sarcophagus. And I didn't
like that Daniel. One of the things that happened in
the dream was that Shifu came to live with me, and I
made a pretty bad job of being a father. I didn't
enjoy the experience at all."

Jack looked at Daniel with sympathy in his eyes. He
reached out and put a hand on Daniel's shoulder.

"I'm sorry Daniel, I had no idea," he said. "No wonder
you didn't want to discuss it with anyone."

Daniel turned to look at him. "Do you see why I can't
answer your question though? Anything I say will be
coloured by that experience, even if it was only a
dream."

"I do understand," Jack nodded his agreement. "The
thing is though, if I do say no to Rachel, what
happens to Laura then?"

"Why should that be your problem?" Daniel asked. "I
know she's your flesh and blood, but Rachel chose not
to stay around and tell you that. Why should she have
the right to turn up in your life now and demand that
you make this decision? It's her responsibility to
sort out some sort of provision for Laura, but she
doesn't have the right to dump that responsibility on
you just because you happen to share some genes."

Jack was shocked. "Wow," he said. "I never expected
you to react like this." He stood up and began to
pace. "I never really thought about things like that
before."

Daniel slid to his feet and stood in front of Jack,
forcing him to stop pacing. "Look Jack," he said,
"this is emotional blackmail. Rachel is asking you to
take on Laura out of guilt. There's no reason why you
should do that if you don't want to. Why sacrifice
your life, your career for someone you never even knew
existed until a week ago?"

Just then, Jack yawned widely. "Sorry, Daniel," he
said. "I'm pretty tired. This emotional stuff is
pretty draining."

Daniel yawned himself, then laughed. "I know how you
feel," he said. 

"Well, that walk must have tired you out," Jack said.
"I'm afraid I don't have a spare bedroom, though."

"The couch will be fine," Daniel said.

"I don't think so," Jack said. "It's falling apart.
You wouldn't sleep a wink all night."

"So what do you suggest then?" Daniel asked.

"Well, my bed is king size," Jack pointed out. "We've
slept in a tent together often enough. This will be no
different to that."

"Well," Daniel hesitated. It was a tempting prospect,
but he was nervous about the effect such close
proximity to Jack would have on him. "Ok then," he
said. "I guess the couch doesn't exactly feel that
comfortable."

___________________________________________________
part six


"Exactly," Jack grinned. "You go on ahead and get
ready, I'll just lock up and sort out the fire."

Daniel nodded agreement, and headed off to the
bedroom. He paused for a while, unsure of himself.
Finally, he removed his sweatshirt and pants, but kept
on the T-shirt and boxers he was wearing. It was a
compromise between his usual nakedness when sleeping
at home and staying fully dressed as he did when they
were on missions. He slipped into bed and pulled the
duvet around himself. He hoped Jack didn't have any
strong preferences which side of the bed he slept on,
because he could only sleep on the left side of the
bed.


When Jack came into the bedroom a few minutes later,
Daniel was curled up on his side under the duvet. He
was already half asleep, exhausted by the events of
the day. Jack undressed quickly then slid into bed.
Daniel turned over as he did so, woken by the
movement.

"Sorry," Jack said.

"S'ok," Daniel said sleepily, blinking at Jack. He
turned onto his side to lie facing Jack. "I really am
sorry about yelling at you the other day, Jack," he
said sincerely.

Jack smiled at him "don't sweat it Daniel. I deserved
to be yelled at. I've been a complete asshole the last
week. I'm sorry for the way I behaved."

"And for running out on us?" Daniel asked.

Jack sighed. "You're determined to make me pay aren't
you Daniel?" he said rhetorically. "Yea, I'm sorry I
ran away as well. I'm no good at dealing with this
stuff, so I run away. I apologise for being a coward."

Daniel smiled at Jack. "Apology accepted," he said,
repressing an urge to sound too smug. "Are you coming
home tomorrow?"

Jack hesitated for an instant, then agreed, "I guess
so," he said. "I need to talk to Rachel, let her know
my decision. Now can I go to sleep?"

Daniel grinned, "Yes, Jack," he said, "you can go to
sleep." And with that, he rolled away from Jack again.


Watching him, Jack sighed to himself. He turned out
the lamp quickly and turned away from Daniel. It
wasn't the same as sharing a tent at all, sharing his
bed with Daniel. He could hardly bear the closeness
and the fact that he couldn't touch Daniel. But he
didn't want to scare him off, having just worked so
hard to repair their friendship. As he lay there, mind
and body in turmoil, he listened to Daniel's breathing
gradually deepen as he went to sleep. 


Jack woke suddenly and lay for a moment, wondering
what had disturbed his sleep. Then he heard the noise
again. He frowned, unsure what it was. The noise came
again and Jack suddenly realised what it was. Daniel
was making noises in his sleep. Jack lay there
wondering what to do. It was obvious Daniel was
dreaming, but Jack couldn't tell whether it was a good
dream or a bad one. Then he heard Daniel say his name
and moan loudly. Jack lay frozen, that moan didn't
sound like Daniel was in pain. He was also writhing
around on the bed. 

Jack carefully eased himself away from Daniel and out
of bed. This was more than he could stand. A glance at
his watch in the light from the window showed him that
it was 3am. It was still a few hours till dawn, but he
didn't think he'd be able to sleep next to Daniel any
more tonight. Instead he put some clothes on and went
through to the kitchen to make some coffee. 


A hand on his shoulder woke Jack a little while later.
He sat up in surprise, having dozed off slumped across
the kitchen table.

"Jack?" Daniel stood there barefoot and tousled. Jack
buried his head in his arms again with a groan. He
couldn't believe how gorgeous Daniel looked standing
there half dressed and sleepy-eyed.

"What do you want Daniel?" Jack said, his words
muffled by the fact that he had his head down.

"I was wondering where you are," Daniel said, sliding
into the seat next to Jack. "I woke up and you were
gone. I just wanted to make sure you're ok."

Jack sat up and turned to look at Daniel. "I was
having trouble sleeping," he said.

"Didn't look like it to me," Daniel said with a grin.
"You were sound asleep just now. But I bet you weren't
comfortable. Why didn't you come back to bed?"

Jack had to stifle a groan at that remark, said in all
innocence by Daniel, but loaded with meaning for Jack.

"I didn't want to disturb you," Jack said. "You were
sound asleep."

"Well I'm not now," Daniel pointed out the obvious,
"so there's nothing stopping you coming back to bed
now." He stood up and held out a hand to Jack, "Come
on," he said.

Jack stood up, ignoring the hand and carried his
half-full mug of cold coffee over to the sink.

"You go ahead, I'll be there in a second," he said
over his shoulder as he emptied the cup and rinsed it
out. 

When he finally turned around again, he was surprised
to see Daniel still standing there. "Daniel?" he said
cautiously, "what is it?"

Daniel sighed and ran a hand through his hair,
tousling it even further. He had woken up from a
particularly vivid dream about himself and Jack, the
memory of which was enough to make him blush, and it
had left him feeling more than a little frustrated.
Jack's casual dismissal of him had annoyed him. He was
sure that Jack felt something more than friendship for
him but didn't know how to get him to show it.

"Nothing, Jack," he said eventually, "I'm going to
bed." He turned and walked out of the kitchen,
frustrated with his inability to communicate with Jack
on a more intimate level. Jack followed him a few
minutes later, puzzled by Daniel's behaviour, but
unable to fathom what it meant.

When Jack reached the bedroom, Daniel was again lying
curled up on his side. Jack turned out the lamp and
slid into bed. He lay on his back, hands under his
head, staring at the ceiling in the darkness. He had a
feeling he wouldn't be going back to sleep again. The
memory of how Daniel had looked when he was dreaming
wouldn't go away, however hard Jack tried to think
about other things, and it was making Jack frustrated.

Daniel was lying equally frustrated on the other side
of the bed, back to Jack. He rolled onto his back with
a sigh, unable to sleep. Jack heard him move, and
automatically turned away, even though it was still
too dark for Daniel to see him. Closing his eyes
resolutely, Jack decided to count sheep. In contrast,
Daniel was running through the names of pharaohs in
his head. Eventually, both men fell asleep again.


The next time Jack opened his eyes, it was to find
Daniel's face a few inches from his own. Jack smiled
instinctively at the sight of Daniel's face in repose,
long lashes covering the beautiful blue eyes. He lay
there enjoying the opportunity of looking at Daniel
without the archaeologist being aware of the scrutiny.
Gradually, he became aware that his arm was dead,
where Daniel was lying across it. His legs were also
tangled with Daniel's. Jack breathed in hard, there
was no way he could extricate himself from Daniel
without waking him up, which could only prove to be
embarrassing for both of them. He would have to wait
for Daniel to move first. In the meantime, he would
enjoy the scenery, he decided with a grin.


Daniel opened his eyes slowly, unsure where he was at
first. He lay there, waking up gradually, until he
realised where he was - in bed with Jack. As that
memory dawned on him, he also became aware that he was
literally in bed with Jack - their limbs were tangled
together, and his head was on Jack's shoulder. He sat
up suddenly, feeling his face flush bright red as he
realised exactly what a compromising position he was
in. 

"Morning Danny," Jack said with a grin as Daniel slid
out of bed and tripped over his own feet in his haste
and confusion.

Daniel ignored him, grabbing his clothes and bolting
for the bathroom, burning with embarrassment. He
quickly threw off his T-shirt and boxers and dived
into the shower, turning the cold water on full blast
in an effort to cool himself down and regain control.
He leant his head against the tiled shower wall,
berating himself internally for having been so stupid
as to agree to share a bed with Jack in the first
place. Waking up in such a compromising position was
not part of his plan for getting Jack to admit to his
feelings.

He was so lost in the turmoil of his thoughts, barely
aware of the cold water continuing to pour down on
him, that he didn't hear the shower door slide open or
notice the rush of cold air that came with it.
However, the sudden presence of a pair of hands on his
shoulders startled him from his miserable
introspection. He started in surprise and twisted
around to see Jack standing facing him.

"Jack?" he said the name hesitantly, not sure exactly
what was going on, but painfully aware with his whole
body that Jack was standing there naked in front of
him.

Jack didn't say anything, instead he reached up to
change the temperature control on the shower so that
the water was warmer. 

"Don't want you catching cold, Danny," he commented
casually, seemingly unconcerned by the fact that he
was standing naked in a shower with another man.
Although they had had showers together on Base, this
was hardly the same. Teal'c was usually there at the
SGC as well, and they were usually in different shower
stalls, not the same one.

Jack then turned back to Daniel and smiled at him.
Daniel smiled back tentatively, still unsure exactly
what was going on.

"Need your back scrubbing?" Jack asked, the tremor in
his voice belying the casual tone this time.

Daniel gave him a searching look. "What exactly is
going on here Jack?" he asked. Before he agreed to
anything, he needed to know where he stood and what
Jack's intentions were. He hoped they were
dishonourable intentions, but he needed to be sure.

In answer to his question, Jack once again proved
that, for him, cliché or not, actions spoke louder
than words. He swayed forward and gently touched his
lips to Daniel's, the touch feather light but at the
same time electric in its intensity. Daniel moaned,
licking his lips where Jack's had touched them. Jack
moaned in response to that movement and moved closer
to Daniel, pinning the younger man against the shower
wall with his body as he bent to kiss him again. This
time, though, the kiss deepened and became more
passionate, tongues probing the other's mouth, teeth
and lips scraping together, until the need for oxygen
eventually forced them apart.

The two men stood panting, chests heaving. Their eyes
were locked together, pupils dilated by arousal,
expressions slightly dazed by the intensity of the
passion between them and the way it had suddenly
exploded into action. Jack ran a hand through his
hair, which the shower had plastered against his head.
Daniel licked his lips again, tasting Jack as he did
so.

"Um, what just happened?" Daniel asked. 

Jack chuckled at that. "I think that's pretty obvious
don't you?" he said.

"You know what I mean!" Daniel protested.

Jack groaned. "Don't pout, Daniel, it drives me wild!"
he said. 

"Really?" Daniel asked, a little shocked by that.

"Well, actually, you pretty much drive me crazy just
by existing," Jack admitted with a small smile. 

Daniel smiled back. "I feel pretty much the same way
about you," he said, reaching out to caress Jack's
face as he said it.

"So what do you say to getting out of the shower
before we turn into prunes and going back to bed?"
Jack asked hopefully. Daniel reached up to turn off
the shower and gestured to Jack to lead the way. Jack
grinned and reached out to open the shower door. He
passed Daniel a towel before wrapping another around
himself.

Back in the bedroom, they both paused, suddenly shy. 

Jack sighed loudly. "I'm too old for this," he
announced abruptly.

"Too old for what?" Daniel asked nervously.

"To feel so damn nervous about sex," Jack said. He
went to sit on the edge of the bed, needing to put
some distance between himself and Daniel before he
embarrassed himself. Daniel, however, was having none
of it. He crossed the bedroom to stand in front of
Jack.

"Why nervous?" he asked.

"Because," Jack said. He didn't want to discuss this
with Daniel, but knew he had no choice. That didn't
mean however, that he was going to go down without a
fight. 

"Tell me, Jack," Daniel said. He sat down next to Jack
on the bed, taking Jack's hand in his, lacing their
fingers together. "Trust me?" he asked.

Jack looked at him sideways. "Always," he said.

"Then talk to me," Daniel said. "We've taken a big
step here and we both need to be comfortable before we
go any further."

"Ok," Jack said slowly. "I guess I'm nervous because
I've never been in love with a man before. And I don't
want to hurt you, Daniel. You've been through enough
in the past, without having me happen to you as well."

Daniel smiled. "Don't worry Jack, I trust you," he
said. "I don't think you're capable of hurting me. And
just for the record, I love you too."

______________________________________________
Part seven


Jack pulled Daniel close to him, overwhelmed by his
emotions. Daniel put his arms around Jack, liking the
feeling of skin to skin contact with him. He ran his
hands across Jack's back and down to the edge of the
towel around Jack's waist. He slipped one hand under
the towel to caress the base of Jack's spine. Jack
shivered in his arms and he immediately stopped and
pulled back.

"Jack?" he said, surprised to find tears on the other
man's face. He ran his fingers lightly across Jack's
cheeks, brushing the tears away. Then he softly
pressed his lips to Jack's. The kiss stayed chaste
this time, until Daniel eventually pulled back again.
Jack looked into the blue eyes in front of him.

"Thank you," he whispered.

Daniel smiled at him, "you're welcome," he murmured.
Pulling Jack back with him, he eased the two of them
onto the bed side by side.

"So now what?" Jack asked.

"Whatever you want," Daniel said a hopeful note in his
voice as he looked at Jack.

"That sounds like an invitation to trouble," Jack
said. "Are you trying to corrupt me Danny?"

"Actually, I was hoping it would be the other way
round," Daniel said honestly. "This is all a new
experience for me."

Jack looked at him in surprise. "You could've fooled
me Dannyboy," he said. "As it happens, I do have some
experience, but I'm not going to tell you about it."

"That's all right, I'd rather not know," Daniel said.
"There are some things it's best not to share."

Jack nodded his agreement with that statement. Daniel
wriggled closer to Jack, "so corrupt me then," he said
in a husky voice. Jack grinned at that and put his
arms around Daniel, moving in for a kiss. He probed
Daniel's mouth with his tongue, nibbling at his lips
at the same time. Daniel moaned deeply in his throat,
feeling his arousal growing as Jack pressed against
him with his full length. With only towels between
them, each could feel the weight of the other's groin
trapped between them. 

Jack reached down a hand and pulled the towels away,
throwing them on to the floor. He then started to
grind his hips against Daniel's, keeping the kiss
going between them the whole time. Eventually though,
he had to stop to breathe. Daniel's head fell back on
the pillow, exposing his throat. Jack immediately
pounced, licking and kissing the skin there. At the
same time, one of his hands roamed across Daniel's
smooth, well-muscled chest, not stopping until it
encountered a nipple. Once there, Jack began to rub
across the sensitive skin with his fingertip. Jack's
roughened skin increased the pleasure for Daniel, who
was moaning constantly from the full sensual assault
he was receiving. Jack was still grinding his hips
against Daniel's at the same time.

Jack switched his attentions to the other nipple now,
rubbing it to hardness. He was also kissing his way
along Daniel's jaw line to his ear. When he put his
tongue in to the ear, Daniel bucked wildly beneath
him.

"Gods, Jack," he cried out. "Don't stop." Jack paused
for a second to grin at him.

"Enjoying yourself?" he said teasingly. Daniel nodded
his head wordlessly, unable to form a coherent
sentence any more. Rational thought seemed to have
fled from his brain as the blood had pooled in his
groin. Jack looked into the darkened eyes below him.

"Do you want more?" he asked, suddenly serious again.
Daniel nodded again without hesitation. Jack nodded
too and slid his body down Daniel's. He paused again
to look at Daniel, who had lifted his head to see what
Jack was doing. Seeing only love and trust in Daniel's
expression, Jack bent his head to Daniel's groin. He
took the tip between his lips, licking gently. Daniel
shuddered under him, and Jack reached out to hold him
steady.

"Easy Daniel," he murmured. Daniel immediately stilled
beneath him, chest heaving as he struggled to regain a
measure of control. Jack allowed him to recover before
going any further. He was acutely aware that this was
Daniel's first time with a man and wanted it to be the
best it could be for him, to repay the trust Daniel
was giving him.

Once Daniel was calm again, Jack went back to licking
at his cock, gradually working his way down to the
base, nipping lightly at the skin from time to time.
He could hear Daniel's breathing become more ragged
again, as he became more aroused. Finally, Jack slid
the length of Daniel into his mouth, enjoying the
taste and feel of him. It had been a long time since
he had been with another man, and he realised now how
much he had missed it.

Jack worked his mouth along the length of Daniel,
sucking and licking slowly to start with, but
gradually building up speed. Daniel was thrusting his
hips in a counterpoint rhythm and moaning constantly
at the same time as he writhed around on the bed,
fingers tangling in the sheets. His face was bathed in
sweat and contorted with passion. Jack marvelled at
how responsive Daniel was and how enthusiastic. As he
sucked harder, Daniel finally came with a yell,
pouring himself into Jack's waiting mouth as he
shuddered out his orgasm.

When he was finally done, Daniel lay boneless and
sated on the bed, eyes closed and breathing harsh.
Jack lay beside him, stroking back Daniel's
sweat-soaked hair from his forehead, running his
fingers down Daniel's face and across his lips.
Daniel's tongue came out and licked the fingers,
sucking them into his mouth. His eyes opened slowly
and looked into Jack's, a smile curving his features.

Jack bent his head to replace his lips with his
fingers. He was still painfully aroused, but didn't
want to rush Daniel, instead contenting himself with a
slow, gentle kiss, tongues gently tangling together.
Daniel however, surprised him by suddenly rolling
himself on top of Jack, breaking the kiss to nibble at
Jack's throat. Then he moved down to lick at a nipple.
At the same time, he rubbed himself against Jack's
still-engorged cock, making Jack moan.

"Daniel," Jack called. Daniel looked up, a question in
his eyes. "I love you," Jack said.

Daniel smiled one of his rare, earth-shattering
smiles, which lit up his whole face. "I love you too
Jack," he said.

"I want to come inside you," Jack said now, "will you
let me do that?" He watched Daniel carefully, looking
for a hint of doubt or hesitancy, but seeing only the
trust in Daniel's expression.

Daniel nodded. "Ok," he said. "Tell me what to do."
Jack rolled them over again so that he was on top.
Then he pulled open the drawer of his locker, digging
around until he found the tube of lube, which he then
dropped onto Daniel's chest.

"Just be comfortable and trust me," Jack said. He
opened the tube and put some onto his fingers. Daniel
lay watching him closely, nervous but determined. He
wanted this - he wanted to prove to Jack how much he
loved him. Jack slid a finger slowly and gently into
Daniel's cleft, at the same time putting his other
hand on Daniel's hip, caressing him gently. He watched
Daniel closely, gauging his reaction. Daniel had his
eyes closed, a look of fierce concentration on his
face. 

Jack slowly added a second finger, working them in and
out gently. He could see Daniel respond, his legs
widening and his cock swelling again, as he became
aroused once more. Adding a third finger, Jack
gradually began to thrust harder and quicker. Daniel's
breathing came more quickly, and his feet drummed on
the bed. Jack slowed down again, not wanting Daniel to
get too excited before he was ready. Taking up the
lube again, he carefully applied some to his cock, in
readiness to enter Daniel.

Daniel opened his eyes, straining to see what Jack was
doing. Jack looked up and caught the glance and the
anxious look on Daniel's face. Smiling reassuringly,
he moved up Daniel's body to kiss him.

"Ready?" he asked. Daniel nodded, spreading his legs
wide. Jack took a pillow and slid it under Daniel's
hips for support. Then he moved forward and started to
slide his cock into Daniel's cleft. Daniel started to
tense up and Jack paused. He kissed Daniel again
slowly and deeply. "Try and relax," he said. Daniel
nodded agreement and closed his eyes, breathing
deeply. 

As he relaxed again, he felt Jack push forward again.
Concentrating fiercely, Daniel managed not to tense up
this time. Finally, Jack was all the way inside and
paused there to allow Daniel to get used to the
sensation of being filled in this way. Once he was
sure Daniel was ok, Jack began to thrust against him,
at the same time taking Daniel's newly erect cock in
his hand and starting to stroke him in time to his
thrusts into Daniel. 

Daniel put his legs around Jack's back, drawing the
other man closer and deeper. Jack adjusted position
slightly as he thrust, and suddenly he was hitting
Daniel's prostate for the first time. Daniel yelled in
surprise at the sensation, head falling back on the
pillow, hands gripping the sheets again. Jack smiled
in satisfaction and thrust forward again, hitting the
sweet spot once again. Daniel pushed his hips forward,
encouraging Jack to continue.

Jack needed no encouragement, starting to strike
harder and faster, at the same time keeping up his
pressure on Daniel's cock, pausing only to change
hands. 

"More," Daniel said breathlessly, "oh god, don't
stop."

"Not going too," Jack ground out, feeling himself
teetering on the edge. Finally, he could hold back no
longer and with one final thrust he came with a yell,
pouring himself into Daniel, who came a second time as
well. 

Exhausted, Jack slumped across Daniel, head on his
chest, gasping for breath. Daniel was breathing
equally hard, overwhelmed with what he had just
experienced. Finally, Jack slid off of Daniel and lay
beside him

"Wow," Daniel said finally. Jack grinned at him.

"Wow indeed," he said. 


A couple of hours later, Jack was tinkering with
Daniel's car, trying to work out why it had broken
down. Daniel hovered at his side, watching him work.

"For crying out loud," Jack finally said, "relax,
Daniel, it'll be ok."

Daniel looked at him, "I'm sorry Jack," he said. He
turned and walked a short distance down the road,
scuffing his feet in the dirt. Ever since this
morning, he had been nervous and edgy, worried about
what would happen when he and Jack got back to the
SGC. He was also worried about the upcoming meeting
between Jack and Rachel. Although he had encouraged
Jack to feel free to refuse Rachel's request, he was
now concerned that he had done the wrong thing, in
persuading Jack to deny Laura a chance to grow up with
her father, simply because he didn't want to lose
Jack's daily presence at work.

Just then, a hand on his shoulder made him jump. He
spun round to see Jack standing there. "I'm sorry for
yelling," Jack said softly.

Daniel shook his head. "I'm the one who should
apologise, Jack," he said. "I've been acting like a
baby all morning. I'm sorry for being such a coward."

"Don't let's start trying to assign blame here," Jack
said. "This is a major change in our relationship,
it's bound to take some time for us to adjust."

Daniel smiled at him. "When did you get so wise?" he
asked.

"Old age," Jack said with a grin. "It does have some
advantages, Daniel. Your car's fixed, so let's go
home, ok?"

Daniel nodded his agreement and turned back towards
his car. Jack went to his own car, and headed off
first, with Daniel following close behind.


The journey back to Colorado Springs was long and
boring. The two men drove in convoy, stopping several
times on the way back to eat and rest. Finally,
though, they reached the outskirts of the town late in
the evening. Daniel followed Jack all the way to his
house without hesitating, knowing that for him, at
least, it was too soon for them to be separated.

Once inside the house, Jack immediately turned to kiss
Daniel, surprising the other man, but he quickly
responded, tangling his fingers in the hair at the
back of Jack's head to pull him closer. 

The phone ringing loudly startled them apart. "It's
all right," Jack said, "the answering machine's still
on." He moved forward again, ignoring the message
being left on the machine. Then Daniel's mobile, which
was in his jacket pocket, rang. Jack swore as he
stepped back again, allowing Daniel to pull the phone
from his pocket to answer it.

"Hello?" Daniel said. Jack tried to kiss Daniel on the
cheek, but Daniel fended him off, walking away from
Jack. When he saw the serious look on his face, Jack
immediately backed off, going through to the kitchen
to put some coffee on.

Daniel's side of the conversation was fairly
monosyllabic and short. Afterwards, he wandered
through to the kitchen.

"I have to go Jack," he said. Jack spun round.

"What's up?" he asked, worried by the tone of voice
Daniel was using.

"Um, something came up at the Base," Daniel said.

"What?" Jack asked impatiently.

"An emergency with SG9," Daniel said. "I have to go
in."

"I'll go with you," Jack said immediately.

"Are you sure?" Daniel asked, following Jack as he
headed back through the house.

"Yes," Jack said. "If it's an emergency, I should go."
Just then, Daniel's phone rang again.

"Hello?" he asked.

"It's Sam," the voice on the other end of the phone
said.

"Hi Sam," Daniel said, raising his eyebrows at Jack.
"I'm just about to leave now."

"Do you know where the Colonel is?" the voice on the
other end of the phone asked. 

"Here," Daniel replied. "He's coming in too."

"Can I speak to her?" Jack grabbed the phone out of
Daniel's hand. "Carter, what's going on?" he asked
abruptly.

"Uh, sir," Carter stammered. "All I know is that there
is some sort of problem with the mission that SG9 are
on at the moment. I'm just on my way into the Base
now."

"Right, we'll see you there," Jack said. He switched
the phone off and handed it back to Daniel. "Let's
go," he said.

Daniel took the phone, shaking his head as he did so.
He was bemused by the sudden change in behaviour from
Jack. He followed Jack out of the house.

"We may as well go in my car," Jack said as they
walked down the drive.

"Ok," Daniel muttered. He got in the car and fastened
his seat belt, slumping down in the seat. He was glad
not to have to drive, as he was still tired from
having driven to Minnesota and back in two days.

___________________________________________________________
part eight


"Daniel, we're here," Jack shook Daniel awake. He had
fallen asleep before they had barely left Jack's
house.

"Huh?" Daniel looked up in surprise, glasses askew on
his face. He straightened them up and looked around.
They had reached the Base and Jack was looking at him
patiently, waiting for him to get out of the car.
"Sorry, Jack," Daniel scrambled out of the car
quickly, then joined Jack for the journey through Base
security to the briefing room where General Hammond
was waiting.

"Colonel O'Neill," the General was surprised to see
the officer arrive with Daniel Jackson. He noted that
both men looked tired and rumpled, but decided not to
comment. Time was short for SG9. He gestured them to
seats. Major Carter, Teal'c and Lieutenant Michaels
were already waiting.

"Hello sir," Jack nodded to the General. "Hope you
don't mind me joining the briefing, it sounded
urgent."

The General nodded agreement, "good to have you back,
Jack," he said. "Let's get started. SG9 have been
negotiating for access to medical technology on S4C200
for the last few days. Things appeared to be going
well and Major Kovacek reported that they were close
to a conclusion when he last reported. That was 12
hours ago. Their latest report is 4 hours overdue and
when we opened the Gate to attempt communication, we
were unable to raise them."

"What about the probe sir?" the Colonel asked as soon
as the General paused.

"The probe shows nothing untoward in the immediate
vicinity of the Gate, but unfortunately this is of
little use because the town where the team were
working is several miles from the Gate. We have sent
out a UAV to do a survey and are waiting for the
results from that now. However, I want SG1 on stand by
ready to go through the Gate if necessary."

"What do we know about the indigenous people?" Daniel
asked.

"They are probably as advanced as the Tollan," the
General replied. "They have been very friendly since
SG5 first encountered them a few weeks ago. They are
peaceful, with no sign of any weapons technology on
the planet. They are aware of the Goa'uld, but don't
have anything to do with them."

"What can you tell us about the technology that SG9
were negotiating for, sir?" Daniel asked next.

"It's mainly medical technology," the General replied.
"They have a number of interesting drugs and machines
which has Dr Frasier and her team very excited. The
Myerlings all seem to live to at least 150, with few
diseases or illnesses. The technology could be a huge
breakthrough for us."

Sam nodded. She had heard some of this from Janet
already. "It sounds exciting stuff," she said. "The
possibilities are intriguing."

"I'd like you to be ready to go through the Gate as
soon as we have the results of the UAV survey," the
General said. "You're all dismissed."

He stood up and SG1 followed suit. "A word, Colonel,"
he said, indicating his office.

"Yes sir," the Colonel replied, following behind him.
Daniel watched him go anxiously.

"Daniel," Sam put a hand on his arm and he looked
round.

"Hey Sam," he said.

 "Walk with me?" she asked. He nodded agreement and
fell into step beside her. Teal'c and Lieutenant
Michaels had already left for the gear up room. "How
did things go?" Sam asked.

Daniel smiled at her, "Ok," he said.

"Just ok?" Sam persisted, smiling too.

Daniel looked around, but the corridor was empty.
"Better than ok," he admitted his smile growing, "very
well in fact."

"Good," Sam said with satisfaction. "I'm pleased
Daniel. What about the situation that made him leave
though?"

"That's still to be resolved," Daniel said carefully.
"But I think he's close to sorting it out."

Sam nodded. "Ok," she said. "So long as you're sure."

When SG1 assembled in the Control Room to await the
results of the UAV survey, Colonel O'Neill and General
Hammond joined them. It was the first time Daniel had
seen Jack since the briefing, and he was pleased to
see that Jack looked fairly relaxed. He was newly
showered and had changed into his uniform.

"Lieutenant Michaels, a word please," the General
said. As the two men left the room, Jack went to stand
next to Sam and Daniel.

"What's the survey saying?" he asked Sam.

"The town looks fine," Sam said. "There's no sign of
any trouble or disturbance. I can't see any reason why
SG9 would be unable to contact us."

"Guess we'll just have to go in on foot and find out
then," Jack said, not sounding concerned by the
prospect.

"How far is it from the Gate to the town?" Teal'c
asked.

"Ten miles," Sam said. 

"A few hours then, to walk there and back," Daniel
said, sounding less than enthusiastic. Although he too
had had a shower and several cups of coffee, he was
still tired out from the journey back from Minnesota.
It was now nearly midnight and he was feeling pretty
strung out.

"Piece of cake," Jack said cheerfully. In contrast to
Daniel, he seemed full of energy and raring to go.

"SG1, you can disembark when ready," General Hammond
said as he and Lieutenant Michaels rejoined them in
the Control Room.

"Yes sir," Colonel O'Neill said. He turned and led the
team down to the Gate room briskly. 

A few minutes later, the team was on the other side of
the wormhole and looking around for trouble. Although
the MALP had shown no signs of problems, it was second
nature to the team to check for potential threats as
soon as they arrived on a new planet.

"Area secure sir," Sam reported.

"All right, let's head out then," the Colonel
responded. "Teal'c you take point, Carter, you have
the six."

The team headed off on the trek to the Myerling town
at a steady pace. Jack and Daniel walked side by side
just behind Teal'c, with Lieutenant Michaels just
behind, but ahead of Sam who brought up the rear. 

"So how did you get on with General Hammond?" Daniel
asked quietly as they walked along.

"Oh, fine," Jack said. "I explained the situation with
Rachel and he was very understanding. He said that I
can have some more time off if I need it."

"Are you going to?" Daniel asked. Jack shook his head.

"I don't think so," he replied. "I just need to tell
Rachel my decision, then it's over."

"I hope so," Daniel said softly.

"What do you mean?" Jack asked.

"Well, do you think that she'll give up that easily?"
Daniel asked.

"I don't know," Jack said. "But let's change the
subject, Daniel."


When SG1 eventually reached the Myerling town, they
were greeted by a group of people just inside the town
boundaries.

Daniel introduced the team and explained they were
looking for SG9.

"They are not here," one of the men, who had
introduced himself as Caris said. "They left many
hours ago to return home through the Stargate. Our
negotiations were successfully concluded and they said
they must return home to report the outcome."

"Ok, how the hell does an entire team just disappear
without trace?" Jack asked impatiently. 

"We will help you look for them," Caris said,
seemingly unperturbed by Jack's outburst. "If you
would like to rest first, whilst we organise a search
party."

"What sort of predators do you have on your planet?"
Sam asked as they followed Caris into a house nearby.

"Predators?" Caris asked, puzzled.

"Large animals or birds that might attack people,"
Daniel clarified.

"There is nothing of that sort on Myerling," Caris
replied. "This is a peaceful world."

"What do you think might have happened to our people?"
Daniel asked, sensing Jack was becoming impatient
again behind him. He sat next to Caris at a table in
the room they had been shown into. 

"I don't know," Caris admitted. "The only thing I can
think of is some sort of accident, but even that seems
unlikely. They knew the route from here to the Gate
well and there is nothing dangerous along the way, as
you know yourselves from having walked here."

Another man came into the room, carrying a tray of
refreshments, which he set on the table in front of
the team. Daniel immediately took a cup and sniffed
it. It was a spicy smell, which reminded him of Jack's
after-shave for some reason. He took a cautious sip,
but found it was a fruity taste with a pleasant
after-taste. He drank some more, finding it cool on
his tongue after the long walk across country.

"Daniel?" Jack asked. Daniel looked up to find him
watching him closely. He smiled and Jack smiled back.

"Give it a try, Jack," he said. "It's delicious."

Jack sat down opposite him, and the rest of SG1
finally sat down as well. Caris passed cups around and
plates with small cakes and fruit. Everyone ate
quietly for several minutes and Caris excused himself
to go and talk to someone outside.

"What do you think sir?" Sam asked, looking up at the
Colonel from her empty plate.

"They seem friendly enough, and willing to help," he
said. "I don't understand how SG9 could just
disappear. Caris was right about the lack of apparent
threats on the walk here, and we've no reason to think
he's lying about there being predators here. We'll
just have to get out there and beat the bushes I
suppose."

Daniel sighed to himself at the thought of yet more
walking. He was starting to have trouble keeping his
eyes open just sitting here.

"Daniel!" Jack's voice startled him and he looked up.
"Not falling asleep are you?" Jack asked.

"Just thinking," Daniel lied, ducking his head to his
plate to try and hide his blush.

"Well, do it with your eyes open in future," Jack said
with a grin. He knew that Daniel was exhausted and he
was starting to feel tired himself, but for the
moment, none of them could afford to rest.

Just then Caris returned. "If you are sufficiently
rested, we are ready to begin searching. We have
several hours before darkness falls, so should be able
to retrace the route back to the Stargate in that
time. We will begin a wider search in the morning if
we have not found SG9 in that time."

Jack nodded appreciation and understanding, getting to
his feet and heading out the door, eager to get the
search under way.


A few hours later, the search was well under way. SG1
had been joined by over a dozen Myerling citizens and
they were sweeping up the path in pairs, searching for
any trace of SG9. Jack had paired himself with Daniel
so that he could keep an eye on the archaeologist, who
was tiring more and more as the search went on. He had
also placed them in the centre of the search so that
they mostly kept to the path, which was well worn,
making it easier to traverse. Still, Daniel stumbled
from time to time as they walked along, unable to keep
to his feet properly. Jack had got a second wind and
was keeping up a steady pace.

Daniel looked up as he heard a yell from Jack, who was
slightly ahead of him. Startled out of the trance like
state he had been walking in for the last hour, Daniel
raced forward as he saw Jack fall to the ground in
front of him. At the same time, he yelled his lover's
name.

"Daniel, stay back," Jack yelled as Daniel charged at
him. He was falling into a ravine in the earth, which
had suddenly appeared under his feet, as he walked
along.

As Daniel reached the spot where Jack had been
standing when the crack opened, he threw himself
forward full length on the ground, reaching for Jack.
However, before Daniel could reach him, the ground
suddenly closed up again in front of him and Jack was
gone.

"Jack!" Daniel howled, unable to believe what he was
seeing. He scrabbled through the dirt with his hands,
searching for evidence of the other man, or the ravine
he had just seen. But it was as if both man and hole
had never existed, so completely had they vanished.

Several Myerling converged on the spot just then,
alerted by the yells of the two men. Caris reached the
spot first and crouched down beside Daniel.

"Dr Jackson, what is it? What happened?" he asked,
putting a hand on Daniel's shoulder. Daniel threw
himself away from the touch, shuddering in surprise.

"The ground opened up and swallowed Jack," he
stuttered out, pointing to the ground where it had
happened. Just then, Sam, Teal'c and Lieutenant
Michaels all reached the group of Myerling surrounding
Daniel, who had staggered to his feet. Caris knelt on
the ground, examining it closely.

"I can see no sign of such a thing happening," he
finally said, standing up again.

"Daniel, what happened?" Sam came up to him and put a
hand on his shoulder.

Daniel explained again what he had seen. Sam looked
around, baffled.

"But Daniel, Caris is right," she said, "if the ground
opened up, there should be some evidence of it. And we
felt no tremors either. It just doesn't seem
possible."

"I know what I saw," Daniel said, glaring round at the
group. "The ground opened up and swallowed up Jack,
right there," he pointed again at the ground.

"Daniel Jackson, surely there should be some sign of
such an event?" Teal'c asked.

"I know, I know," Daniel said impatiently. "I've been
in earthquakes, I know what they're like. But I'm
telling you, it happened just like I said. How else
can you explain Jack's disappearance?"

"I don't know," Sam admitted, at a loss to know what
was going on. "This seems impossible." She turned to
Caris. "Have your people any experience of this sort
of thing happening before?" she asked.

"No," he replied promptly. "We do not have ground
tremors or anything like that here. The land is
benign, as are the animals. I cannot explain this
event any more than you can. How do you think we
should proceed Major Carter?"

Sam was surprised to find him deferring to her over
what to do, after all it wasn't her planet. She
thought for a moment.

"Let's mark this spot clearly so we can find it
again," she finally said. "And then I think we need to
get back to the gate as soon as possible in order to
report the Colonel's disappearance to General Hammond.
We need to work out a proper plan of action before we
go any further."

Caris nodded his agreement with the plan, so they set
off in a group for the Gate, once they had carefully
marked out the ground where Daniel had seen Jack
disappear.

_______________________________________
part nine


Jack felt himself falling through blackness for what
seemed like forever, until finally he hit the ground,
hard. He yelled out in agony, feeling his ribs
cracking as he landed on his gun, which he had somehow
held on to the whole time he was falling.

He lay stunned for a few minutes, trying to recover
his breath and wits. At the same time, his eyes slowly
adjusted to his surroundings, which weren't quite as
dark as he had first thought. At last, he gathered the
strength to sit upright, yelling again at the pain in
his ribs as he did so.

"Definitely cracked those," he told himself as he felt
his side gingerly. It was the same place that he had
broken the ribs when he and Sam had landed in
Antartica. However, the difference in pain told him
that at least this time they were only cracked, not
broken. Cautiously, he stood up. He seemed to have
survived without breaking or spraining anything else,
apart from the bump on his head. He pulled his torch
out of his pocket and turned it on. Nothing happened.
Muttering a curse, he shook it and tried again,
unsuccessfully. Shrugging resignedly, he threw it
aside and set off down the passage he could just about
see, one hand trailing along the wall, the other
stretched out in front of him.

He carried on in this fashion for a while until he
stumbled over something and fell to the ground,
yelling as his ribs protested at the rough treatment.
Deciding he needed a rest anyway, he rolled over and
sat against the wall, pulling out a canister of water
as he did so to take a sip.


Having reached the Stargate, Sam dialled Earth and
reported to General Hammond via the MALP. He ordered
SG1 back home immediately, to report fully in person.
Sam spoke to Caris, who assured her that the Myerling
would continue to search at first light - night was
falling on the planet now. Sam thanked him, then led
the team back through the Gate to Earth.

SG1 reported straight to General Hammond in the
briefing room, without pausing to shower or check in
at the Infirmary first. Hammond asked Daniel to
explain exactly what he had seen when Jack had
disappeared. Daniel did so slowly and carefully,
exhaustion and worry slurring his words slightly.

"Thank you, Dr Jackson," General Hammond nodded once
Daniel had finished. "I want all of you to go and get
checked out then go home to rest," he said. "I will
send SG3 through in 8 hours, when it should be light
again to join the search with the Myerling."

"What about us, sir?" Daniel asked. "We'd like to
continue searching too." As he said it, Daniel looked
around the table for confirmation, and the rest of the
team nodded agreement.

"Not until you've had at least 12 hours rest, Dr
Jackson," General Hammond said. "You've been searching
for hours and you need to recuperate before you
continue. Report back here this evening and we will
see what the situation is then. Dismissed." Before
Daniel had a chance to protest, the General was
striding from the room back to his office.

"That's it?" Daniel asked, stunned. He stood up,
staggered and sat back down again heavily.

"He's right, Daniel," Sam said. "We do need to rest."
She crossed round the table to where Daniel was
pushing himself upright. "You can hardly stand, you're
so tired. Let's get Janet to check us out, then I'll
drive you home so you can get some sleep."

Daniel snorted. "Fat chance of that," he muttered. Sam
looked around, but Lieutenant Michaels had left the
room.

"Come on Daniel, you know the Colonel, he'll be all
right," as she said it, Sam rubbed her hand across
Daniel's back.

Daniel sighed wearily. "Maybe," he said. "Then again,
he could be dead already, along with all of SG9." He
allowed Sam to lead him from the briefing room and to
the Infirmary.

Once in the Infirmary, Janet checked them over
quickly. As other teams had already visited the
Myerling world, and returned safely, it was just a
superficial check and they were soon ready to leave.

"Just a minute, Daniel," Janet put a hand on his arm
as he stood to go. "How are you getting home? You're
in no state to drive yourself."

"It's ok Janet," Sam said from the doorway, where she
stood waiting for Daniel. "I said I'd drive him home.
You don't have your car here anyway, do you Daniel?"

"No," Daniel shook his head. "I came in with Jack." As
he said Jack's name, he dropped his eyes, seeing again
the awful sight of his lover falling into the earth.
He shuddered at the memory and begged fate, or
someone, to let Jack be all right. Having just found
him, he couldn't bear the thought of losing him again.

Janet put a hand on his shoulder. "He'll be ok," she
said. "You know Colonel O'Neill, he's almost as
indestructible as you Daniel."

The small joke raised a ghost of a smile on Daniel's
face, which quickly disappeared. "Can I go?" he asked
Janet. She nodded agreement, so he slid off the bed
and followed Sam out of the Infirmary.


Just as Sam was taking Daniel home, Jack O'Neill was
again feeling his way through the underground caves he
had landed in. Turning a corner, he could sense, as
much as see that the space had opened out into a much
larger cavern. Jack paused, cautious about going on
across such a large area without any illumination.
Deciding the safest option was to stick close to the
wall, he put his back to it, stretched out an arm to
feel his way and started inching his way along.

Part way along, he tripped over something he couldn't
see and fell yet again. As he did so, he heard a faint
metallic sound. Rolling over, he called out in the
darkness.

"Hey, anybody there?" he asked as he felt his way
upright again.

"Colonel O'Neill is that you?" an incredulous voice
spoke out of the darkness.

"Major Kovacek?" Jack called.

"Yes sir," a torch came on in the darkness, hitting
Jack straight in the eye. 

"Christ, man, you trying to blind me?" he called out. 

"Sorry," the light dipped away from his face and Jack
rubbed at his eyes. When he looked up again, he could
see Major Kovacek standing in front of him, with the
rest of SG9 just behind.

"You're all here?" Jack asked, struggling to his feet.

"Yes sir," the Major replied. "Are you ok?" he had
noticed Jack holding his chest as he stood up, and
could see in the light from his torch how grey the
Colonel's face looked.

"Cracked some ribs on the way down," Jack replied
matter of factly.

"If you come this way sir, Captain Martin can take a
look for you," the Major suggested.

"The last time a Captain fiddled with my injuries I
had internal bleeding," Jack said. "I'll be fine."

"At least have some aspirin, sir," Major Kovacek
pulled them from his pocket and handed them to the
Colonel with his canteen of water.

"Thanks," Jack accepted the tablets and swallowed a
couple with some water. He then eased himself down to
the floor next to Major Kovacek. The team had their
gear spread around the cavern, which torchlight showed
to be large and mostly bare, apart from lumps of rock
strewn liberally across the floor. It was one such
lump that had tripped Jack up this time.

"How long have you been here for?" Jack asked, pulling
a ration bar from a pocket.

Kovacek looked at his watch. "Just about 13 hours," he
said.

"Really?" Jack looked at his own watch. "Did you fall
through an opening in the ground?"

"Yes sir," it was Captain Martin who spoke this time,
from the other side of Jack. "It just seemed to appear
out of nowhere as we were walking along the path. We
found this cavern shortly after and Major Kovacek
decided we should stay here to await rescue."

"Have you explored any further?" Jack asked, waving a
hand at the cavern.

"Yes sir," Major Kovacek took up the report again.
"There are a few passages leading away from the cavern
on the far side, but they all peter out within a few
metres, ending in solid rock. There's no way out
through any of them that we can find."

"I see," Jack nodded. "Well we have a problem then."

"How so sir?" Kovacek asked.

"Well, as far as I can see," Jack replied. "This
cavern opens up in the ground every few hours allowing
people to fall into it, but it's going to be
impossible to climb back out of it. And given that no
one knew where you were until I fell down here too
suggests that there's nothing on the surface to
indicate where we've gone. So how do we let people
know we're down here, and how do we get back out
again?"

"Can't we just go back to the entrance and wait for it
to open again?" Captain Martin asked.

"And then do what, exactly, Captain?" Jack asked.

"Try yelling to the surface, in case there's anyone
there. And we still have our flares, perhaps we could
throw one of those out of the hole," Martin suggested.

"It's a hell of a long way up," Jack pointed out. "I
doubt anyone would hear us, or that a flare would get
to the surface."

"And even if they knew we were down here, how do we
get the ravine to stay open long enough for us to
climb out?" asked Lieutenant George, who had been
silent so far. "It only opens for a short time, so
even if were to try and climb out, we would probably
either fall back or be crushed halfway out."

"Good point," Kovacek said.

"Could they dig us out?" that was from Captain
Marshall, the fourth member of SG9. "If we can find
some way of communicating with the surface," he added
quickly, sensing the comment that Jack was about to
make.

"Possibly," Jack admitted. "But the problem is still
how we communicate with the surface."

"We haven't tried our radios," Captain Marshall said
suddenly. "We've assumed they won't work with all the
rock and stuff above us. But if we try and use them
when the ravine opens, perhaps they'll work."

"Good idea," Major Kovacek said enthusiastically.

"It might work," Jack agreed grudgingly. "We've got
nothing else to lose, so we might as well give it a
try."

"When do you think the ravine will open again, sir?"
Lieutenant George asked.

"Given that you've been down here 13 hours and it
didn't open until we were searching for you in the
direction of the Gate, I'd say every 12 hours," Jack
said.

"So we just have to wait another 101/2 hours then,"
Captain Martin said, glancing at his watch.

"We should try to sleep," Major Kovacek suggested.

"I agree," Jack nodded. 

So the five men settled down to wait as best they
could on the rocky floor of the cavern.

__________________________________________
Part 10


Daniel lay sprawled on his couch, watching TV and
sipping coffee. It was nearly 3 o'clock and he
couldn't sleep. He had never been able to sleep in the
daytime anyway and now, despite being totally
exhausted, he still couldn't drop off. Every time he
closed his eyes, all he could see was Jack falling
into the Earth beneath him.

Restlessly, he got to his feet and wandered around his
apartment, fiddling with things. He looked at several
books aimlessly, opened and closed his journals and
played a few notes on his piano. Nothing could hold
his attention for more than a few seconds, though.
Finally, he went into his bedroom and lay down. He
grabbed a pillow to his chest for comfort, remembering
holding Jack to him the day before, in Minnesota. As
he lay there, tears slipped down his face, as his
overworked emotions got the better of him. Eventually,
though, he drifted off to sleep.


The alarm ringing loudly woke Daniel at 6 o'clock. He
batted it off and sat up, not feeling at all refreshed
by the little sleep he had had. He went and had a
shower, switching the water from really hot to really
cold in an attempt to wake himself up. Then, wearing
just his towel, he made some fresh coffee to drink
whilst he dressed.

His doorbell rang on cue at 6.30, as Sam came to drive
him back to the Base. He opened the door, putting on
his jacket at the same time.

"How are you feeling?" Sam asked as he closed the door
behind him. She could see that Daniel had dark circles
under his eyes, suggesting he had hardly slept.

"Terrible," Daniel admitted. He followed Sam down to
her car slowly. "I couldn't sleep."

"I can see that," Sam said. "And the General will be
able to as well. I don't think that he's going to let
you go back to the Myerling home world, Daniel, not
looking like you do."

"He can't refuse me!" Daniel said hotly as he settled
into his seat for the drive to the SGC.

"He can, and he will," Sam said gently. "He'll see you
as a liability Daniel. You should go and see Janet for
a sedative and get some sleep."

Daniel didn't answer, merely staring out his window at
the darkening sky as they drove through the town.


Once on Base, Sam and Daniel headed for the briefing
room. General Hammond wasn't there, and neither were
SG3, who were supposed to be going through the Gate to
help the Myerling search. Just then, Lieutenant
Michaels came into the room.

"Major," he said. "General Hammond is waiting for us
in the control room. Caris is on the radio from
S4C200."

Daniel and Sam hurried down the stairs into the
Control Room. They had left a radio with Caris before
leaving the Myerling in case of news on the Colonel or
SG9 during the night.

"Sir?" Sam hurried over to the General's side. He was
talking to Caris on the radio. Sam could see Caris
through the MALP's video camera, on the other side of
the wormhole.

"So you definitely saw the ravine open?" General
Hammond was asking Caris.

"Yes, and we heard a message through the radio you
left with us," Caris replied.

"A message?" Daniel stood on the other side of General
Hammond.

"That is correct, Dr Jackson," Caris replied. "It was
Colonel O'Neill. He has found all of SG9 and they all
alive. There is a large cavern some way from the
ravine, which the Colonel suggested we might be able
to excavate down to in order to rescue your personnel.
There does not seem to be a safe way to extract them
through the ravine."

"Thank you, Caris," General Hammond spoke into the
radio. "I will send through personnel and equipment
shortly to begin digging."

"We have all the necessary machinery here, General,"
Caris replied. "I have already requested that it be
brought to the site immediately. We should be ready to
begin digging in an hour's time."

"Very well," Hammond said. "I will send some personnel
through anyway to be on hand to assist if need be."

"I understand," Caris said. "I would wish to have my
people present also, if the situation were to be
reversed. We will have some waiting for your people
when they arrive. Now I must return to supervise the
search for the cavern, so that we are ready to dig as
soon as the machinery arrives."

"Thank you," General Hammond said. "Hammond out."

The wormhole shut down and General Hammond turned to
SG1 and SG3, who were standing behind him waiting. 

"SG3, you may stand down," he said. "SG1 will go
through to assist the Myerling. Dr Frasier will also
go in case of any injuries."

"Yes sir," Sam and Major Lewis, the leader of SG3
spoke simultaneously. SG3 filed out of the control
room as General Hammond got on the phone to the
Infirmary. 

Half an hour later, SG1 were geared and ready to go
through the Gate, along with Dr Frasier and a couple
of her staff.

"Bring them home safely, Major," General Hammond said
to Sam as she stood with the group waiting for the
wormhole to open up.

"Yes sir," Sam replied, nodding agreement. She was
surprised that the General had said nothing to Daniel
about the fact that he still looked exhausted, but
decided to say nothing either. If the General chose to
turn a blind eye, she could understand that. She had a
feeling that the General saw more than what was on the
surface between Jack and Daniel, but had decided to
adopt the 'don't ask, don't tell' policy.


A few hours later, Sam led the team back through the
Gate, with SG9 and Colonel O'Neill. Janet was beside
the Colonel, hand on his elbow. He had insisted on
walking, but the pallor of his face showed that he was
in pain. Daniel was hovering just behind them, trying
not to be too obviously concerned with Jack's plight.
However, his anxiety was unmistakable to everyone
watching, but at least he no longer looked as though
he was about to pass out from exhaustion. 

Janet led Jack straight off to the Infirmary whilst
everyone else went to be debriefed before going for
their own medical checks. 

When Daniel got to the Infirmary, Jack was nowhere in
sight. He submitted to the quick check over Janet gave
him quietly. 

"How are you feeling?" Janet asked him as she checked
his blood pressure.

"I'm ok," Daniel said softly.

"Do you want something to help you sleep tonight?"
Janet asked.

"No, I'll be fine," Daniel said. Having Jack back was
all that he needed to help him sleep. "How's Jack?"

His ribs are cracked, but he'll be fine," Janet
replied. "He needs to take it easy for a few days
though, to give him a chance to heal. Perhaps you can
try and persuade him of that."

"I'll try," Daniel said. "But you know Jack, he's not
the world's best patient."

"Well do your best Daniel," Janet said. "I'm putting
SG1 on medical stand down for 4 days though. You all
need some time to recover from the past few days. That
will allow the Colonel's ribs time to heal as well."

"Thanks, Janet," Daniel slid off the bed.

"Oh, and Daniel," Janet said as he headed for the
door. "The Colonel said he'd be waiting in his office
for you to drive him home."

Daniel turned and smiled at her. "Thanks, Janet," he
said again.


Once they had reached home, Jack and Daniel went
straight to bed, too tired to even eat first.  Daniel
cuddled up to Jack, putting his arms around him
carefully to avoid the strapped ribs.

"Glad you're home," Daniel said, kissing him softly. 

"Me too," Jack said, running a hand across Daniel's
face. "I hated that place, all that darkness and
rock." He shuddered convulsively and Daniel hugged him
a bit closer. "I was just so glad you weren't there
too."

"You're safe now, so let's try and get some sleep,"
Daniel suggested. He reached out to turn out the lamp,
but Jack put a hand on his.

"Leave it, please," he said. Daniel looked at him, a
question in his eyes. "I don't want darkness," Jack
said, eyes downcast, embarrassed.

"It's all right, Jack," Daniel said. He rubbed a hand
across Jack's shoulder. "If it makes you more
comfortable to leave it on, then we'll leave it on."

"Thank you," Jack said, relieved Daniel wasn't teasing
him for what he felt was childish behaviour.

"Sleep, Jack," Daniel said. He tucked one leg between
Jack's and pulled his head against his chest. Running
his fingers through Jack's hair, he tried to reassure
Jack that it was ok to relax and let go, to allow
himself to sleep. 

And eventually, it did work. Jack's breathing
gradually evened out and became deeper as he relaxed
and drifted off to sleep. Daniel relaxed himself as he
realised that Jack was asleep, finally allowing
himself to fall asleep too.


The next morning, the two men woke late to see the sun
streaming through the window. It was a beautiful day.
Jack stretched slowly, careful not to hurt his ribs. 

"How do you feel?" Daniel asked him, admiring the
view.

"Actually, not too bad," Jack admitted with a smile.
"Just need a shower to get all the kinks out."

"Are you sure about that?" Daniel asked with a leer.

"Daniel!" Jack said. "You know we can't. Janet said I
have to take it easy, and I'm sure that sex doesn't
fall into that bracket."

"I can wash your back," Daniel suggested.

"Don't tempt me," Jack said with a groan. "Go make
some coffee."

"All right," Daniel said with a sigh. He slid out of
bed and picked up a t-shirt to put on.

"That's my t-shirt," Jack said.

Daniel smiled. "I know, it smells of you," he pulled
the t-shirt on, then added a pair of pyjama bottoms.

"And those are my jammies," Jack protested again. This
time Daniel merely nodded in agreement.

"Weird," Jack said, shaking his head. Daniel smiled
again and went to the kitchen to make the coffee.

Jack went through to the bathroom and put the water
on, singing off key as he did so. He was looking
forward to 4 days of just himself and Daniel at home
together, cracked ribs or not. He had forgotten for
the moment about Rachel and Laura.

A little while later, a loud hammering on the door
startled him.

"Jack," he heard Daniel's voice calling. He opened the
door to see Daniel standing there blushing bright red.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Visitors," Daniel stammered, retreating to the
bedroom as he did so. Jack followed him, oblivious of
his nakedness.

"Who?" Jack asked, watching with concern as Daniel
ripped the t-shirt and pyjama trousers off and started
to put his own clothes on. 

"Rachel and Laura," he said. 

Jack sighed, no wonder Daniel was so upset. "And you
went to the door dressed in my clothes," he said. "I'm
sorry, Daniel." Reluctantly, Jack started to dress
himself.

Daniel crossed to stand in front of the window,
quivering still with upset and embarrassment at what
he had done. After he had dressed, Jack crossed to
stand behind him. He put his arms around Daniel, who
stood stiff and unyielding at first, then relaxed into
the embrace. Jack leant his head on Daniel's shoulder.

"I'm sorry, Daniel," he said again softly. "I'd
forgotten all about them. I didn't expect Rachel to
just turn up like that." He kissed Daniel's cheek.
"I'll go get rid of them."

"You can't do that," Daniel said, twisting his head to
look at Jack. "You know you have to talk to her."

"I know," Jack sighed. "This is such a mess."

"I'll go," Daniel said abruptly, pulling away from
Jack's embrace.

"That wasn't what I meant, Daniel," Jack said,
reaching out to him.

"It'll still better if I go," Daniel insisted, putting
the bed between him and Jack.

"Better for whom?" Jack asked. "I want you here, with
me. I need you." That remark made Daniel look up,
wide-eyed. "I mean it," Jack said insistently. "Don't
go please, Daniel."

Daniel sighed. He was helpless in the face of Jack's
need for him. "I'll stay," he agreed.

"Good," Jack smiled, pleased he had got his way.

"You'd better go talk to Rachel," Daniel reminded him
gently.

"I know," Jack sighed. "Will you come with me?" he
asked.

"I'll take Laura in the kitchen whilst you talk to
Rachel," Daniel said.

Jack nodded agreement, thinking it was probably a good
idea for them not to be around as Rachel was bound to
cause a scene when Jack turned her down.

__________________________________________
part 11 


When Jack walked into his lounge, Rachel and Laura
were sat on the couch, heads together. They were
looking at a copy of National Geographic.

"Jack," Rachel jumped to her feet when she saw him.
"You're back then?"

"Um, look's like it," Jack said. He stuffed his hands
in his trouser pockets nervously.

"I came to see what was going on as you've been
avoiding me for the last few days," Rachel said,
watching Jack closely. She was puzzled by the fact
that Daniel was there as well, sensing that something
was going on between the two men. She had been
surprised when Daniel had opened the door, dressed
only in a shirt, despite the fact that it was nearly
lunchtime.

"Laura, would you like to go and have some ice cream
with Daniel?" Jack asked.

The little girl nodded shyly as she looked up at
Daniel who smiled encouragingly at her. He held out a
hand, which Laura took and allowed herself to be led
away. Jack watched them disappear into the kitchen and
the door close. Then he turned back to Rachel.

"So," he said, "how are you?" He sat down on the
opposite side of the room to Rachel, who resumed her
position on the couch.

"Not too bad," she said. He nodded awkwardly, not sure
what to say.

"Have you sorted things out?" Rachel asked,
remembering the words that Jack had used on the phone
the last time they had talked.

"Yes," Jack nodded.

"And?" Rachel prompted when the silence made it
apparent that Jack wasn't going to say any more.

"I can't look after Laura," Jack said, studying the
floor as he said it. The silence lengthened again, and
eventually Jack looked up. Rachel was looking at him.
"Say something," Jack said.

"Why?" Rachel asked, standing up. "Why won't you take
her?"

"I can't," Jack said, standing up as well. He paced
the length of the room. "It just wouldn't work."

"You're being selfish," Rachel said.

Jack looked at her. "I'm being realistic," he said.
"It wouldn't work on so many levels. I hardly know
her, my work, the hours I keep, my whole lifestyle is
not geared up to raising a child."

"You could change that, though, couldn't you?" Rachel
asked. "Get to know her, change your work."

"Maybe, maybe not," Jack said, stern and unyielding in
his expression.

"So you don't want to do this then," Rachel concluded
wearily. "You're not prepared to sacrifice anything
for your daughter," her voice rose as she said it, and
Jack glanced at the kitchen door. There was no sign of
movement and he turned back to Rachel.

"I don't want to do this, I can't do this," he said.
"I wish you could accept that. You don't know me
Rachel. You never really knew me." He turned away from
her with finality as he said it, sitting down again.

"So that's it then?" Rachel asked. "You've made up
your mind, no compromise, no discussion, subject
closed?"

"Yes," Jack said deliberately, emotionlessly. "It's
not going to happen, Rachel. So please, just take
Laura and go."

He continued to sit there, stony-faced, ignoring
Rachel's agitated pacing in front of him. She was
reluctant to give in, though.

"Please, Jack, won't you think again?" she pleaded.
Jack continued to sit implacably, ignoring her. It was
hurting him to do it, but he knew he had no choice.
There was no way that this would work. He couldn't
give up SG1, give up Daniel, retire again. He
couldn't.

Seeing that there was nothing to be said right now to
change Jack's mind, Rachel sighed suddenly, defeated.

"I'll go then," she said. "But this isn't over yet,
Jack. I'm not going to give up that easily." She went
to the kitchen to collect Laura. Jack sat on in the
lounge, not moving, eyes closed. He heard the front
door open and voices mumbling, then the door closed
again. Still he sat there, unmoving