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This went slow as molasses in whatever month they're slow in until Daniel walked in and then whoosh.
Memo to self; always have Daniel therepreferably naked and weren't there some molasses around?.
Previous parts are here
Leaving Time
Part Eight
The gym's got more people than Teal'c in it, but by the time Jack's finished warming up they've gone, taking their sidelong glances with them.
Teal'c watches in silence as Jack strides over to a bench and then moves to spot him.
Jack's working with more weight than he can handle and his muscles protest after five reps. He's not surprised when Teal'c's hand wraps around the bar and lifts it away but it doesn't stop him snarling.
"You will injure yourself, O'Neill. I cannot let you do that."
He's not looking for a fight like the one he's just had with Daniel, all jagged, rusty edges to cut deep and leave poison, but there's something tempting about the idea of clean violence.
"Fine. Want to spar a little?"
Teal'c considers that for a moment and then nods. "If you wish."
"Oh, I wish," Jack says.
Twenty minutes later, when he's loose and sweating, each breath pulled out of him in a burning, rasping scrape, Teal'c finally lets Jack hit him hard.
There's something deeply satisfying about the grate of knuckle on jaw, and the tremor that races down Jack's arm is electric enough to get his cock filling in a conditioned response. Knowing that Teal'c let him do it should rob it of meaning but it doesn't. He's hurt someone, sent pain whispering through bone and skin, and in that moment of connection his own pain lessens.
Teal'c never quite drops his guard, never gives Jack an opening he doesn't have to work for, but he's a deliberate beat too slow now and that's enough.
When Teal'c's blood is painting a gloss on his mouth, a smeared slick of red, Jack stops, lets his hands hang heavy, and nods permission.
Teal'c smiles and Jack staggers back, the jarring thump of a solid fist pushing heat and hurt through his head, breaking open his lip and sending a warm-salt trickle of blood down his throat as he swallows convulsively and washes away the taste of Daniel's words.
Better.
Teal'c reaches out and steadies him, one eyebrow lifting in a question.
Jack nods. "Yeah, we're done. Thanks."
Teal'c bows, courteous and sympathetic. Jack liked it better when Teal'c was hitting him.
"He's really pissed this time," Jack says abruptly, going over to get a towel.
"I believe that to be the case," Teal'c says equably, as if it's so much the normal state of affairs that he can't be bothered to get concerned. Jack doesn't think he argues with Daniel enough to make that attitude reasonable.
"And I don't know why." Jack scrubs sweat from the back of his neck with the thin, rough towel, already anticipating the rush of water and sting of soap on his skin.
Teal'c doesn't go near that one.
"You'd think he wanted it to happen." Jack runs his tongue over his lips, testing the sticky, imperfect join of skin and thickened blood.
Teal'c's shoulders shift and roll in an unspoken protest. Okay. Daniel had wanted to be saved. Good to know.
"A thank you would've been nice."
There's a small, impatient grunt and Jack smacks the towel against the bench, producing a crack that makes his ass clench tight instinctively. "Teal'c, can you give a little here? I'm still digging splinters out of my butt from that damn planet, so I'm not in a good mood to start with, and I know damn well you speak better English than me, so let yourself go wild and spit out a sentence or two."
"I do not know what you wish me to say, O'Neill."
"Oh, yes, you do," Jack says. "Don't make me beg."
"You would not."
Jack winds the towel around his fingers, making a thick rope out of it. "No, I guess not."
He feels the press of Teal'c hand against his shoulder. "You are both friends, O'Neill. This will pass."
"You know, he thinks he can get me kicked out." Jack sighs. "And I might, but he's too dumb to see it wouldn't be for what I did on that planet; it'd just be an excuse someone like Kinsey would use. No one cares about anything that went down. Oh, they'll sob into their lattes over the deaths of our people, and wail about the aliens, but bottom line, there was nothing there we could use, and so they don't give a rat's ass. Daniel starts getting sappy over a bunch of trees and they'll -- are you smiling?"
"You were inadvertently amusing, O'Neill."
"What? Oh... hey, I did that on purpose!"
"You did not." Teal'c's smile broadens. "It is good to see your mood improve and good to see your concern for Daniel Jackson."
"Let's get cleaned up," Jack says. Improve? Well, maybe a little.
Teal's hand halts him. "In a moment, O'Neill. You asked that I speak and I will do so. It is my belief that Doctor Jackson sees only failure when he thinks of recent events; you, on the other hand, succeeded in what you set out to do. It makes a difference."
"Get Daniel and his team out of there?" Jack says. "Yeah, I suppose we did that. Mostly." He frowns. "Daniel didn't fail. Hell, he fought back even when they were --" His gaze flicks up to meet Teal'c's. "Hurting him," he finishes quietly.
"He did not allow himself to be defeated," Teal'c agrees. "He has great strength of purpose. However, he is not a warrior. I do not think he would view the deaths of the Shalin as a victory or preferable to his own demise."
Jack sits down on a bench, the sweat cooling on his body and making him shiver reflexively. "No, he wouldn't. Hell, I don't like it; that was a lot of dead bodies, Teal'c; that's never easy to deal with."
"Indeed."
"But they weren't down to him and I can't make him see that."
"It is not all that troubles him," Teal'c says with slow reluctance.
"God, Teal'c, us having a conversation like this is bad enough; spit it out will you?" Jack curls his hands into tight fists. "Did he -- you read that book of his; was he raped? Did they rape him, Teal'c?"
Saying it twice is easier than saying it once, repetition blunting the ugly word.
Teal'c's eyes widen. "This is not something you should be discussing with me, O'Neill."
"Just tell me, dammit," Jack snarls, the dull ache in his fingers distracting him from the skin-crawling sensation of sharing. "He wouldn't have any counseling -- not that I blame him -- but if he needs help getting over something like that --"
"He was not," Teal'c said. "Unless it was something he chose not to record, and I do not think that is so, then he was not."
"Well, that's something." Jack says, staring anywhere but at Teal'c as his nightmares lose the part that has him waking, heart hammering, mouth dry with hate and fear. He's still got a phantasmagoria marching through his dreams, culminating in Daniel getting drawn, screaming, inside that fucking tree, but he knows, waking at least, that that didn't happen.
"Yes," Teal'c says.
"So what's going on in his head? Why's he acting this way?" Jack hears his voice get brash and brutal. Always easier to blame someone else when he's feeling confused. Always easy to blame Daniel because it's usually his fault.
"I am not at liberty to say, O'Neill," Teal'c says. "I suggest you direct your questions to Daniel Jackson himself."
"And he'll tell me to read that damn notebook or come out with something that makes me want to punch him."
Teal'c picks up, one-handed, the weights Jack had struggled with and holds the bar poised and still for a long moment before letting it drop with a clang into its rest.
"I would not give way to that impulse, O'Neill."
Jack eyes the bar as it rocks slowly. "Is that your idea of a subtle threat? Because you need to work on the part where it's subtle. Come on, Teal'c; you know I wouldn't. Might want to at least once a mission, but I never do."
Teal'c inclines his head, the small, familiar gesture suddenly profoundly irritating.
"God, he's got us all looking out for him, hasn't he?" Jack stands and kicks angrily at a half-empty water bottle someone left on the floor. It flies across the room, losing its top, water spraying out. "Ever think how that must feel, Teal'c? Ever think maybe he hates it?"
"You have saved my life, and I yours, O'Neill. It has brought us closer, has it not?"
"Daniel's different," Jack says. He laughs, feeling it catch at his throat. "Flaky, geeky, annoying little bastard --"
"I love you, too, Jack."
Shit.
Daniel walks over to them, still not moving quite right, still not there, as if he's unsure he's allowed to take up space, breathe deeply, choose where to go and what to say.
"Daniel, I didn't mean --"
"Every word of it was what you've thought and said a hundred times before," Daniel interrupts. "Don't make yourself even more of a liar, Jack, please."
There's a moment where Jack thinks it'd be worth whatever Teal'c dished out just to lay one on Daniel and jolt the sneer clear out of his eyes leaving shock behind.
Just a moment.
"You know what? Fuck you, Daniel. Just -- stay the hell away from me."
Daniel nods slowly. "I can do that," he says. "Very easily in a few days."
"Still think they're going to kick me out?"
"If they don't, I'll resign," Daniel says. His tongue swipes over his lip and it has to taste bitter, Jack thinks. "I won't go through the 'gate with you again, Jack."
"Why? I got you back in one piece again, didn't I?" Jack demands. "What more did you want me to do, Daniel? I got there as fast as I could. I got you home."
Teal'c walks past them, back straight, eyes blank, and goes through the door, closing it behind him.
"He's going to stand in front of that door until we're done," Jack says softly, knowing it's true because it's what he'd do. "No one's going to walk in on us, Daniel, so go ahead; get it off your chest, whatever it is."
"You'd like that, wouldn't you?" Daniel says. "I explain it to you, nicely dumbed down, of course, because I wouldn't want you to have to actually think about something, and you patronise me into apologising and backing down."
"Well, it'd have a novelty value," Jack says, "because it's never worked that way before!"
Daniel steps closer, his nose wrinkling as he catches the stink of sweat on Jack. It's instinctive, not insulting, but it's enough to make Jack step back, self-conscious because Daniel smells of nothing but clean.
Daniel's eyes narrow and his head tilts as he studies Jack.
He steps forward, crowding Jack, who takes a matching pace back, feeling his heart speed up. He's not sure what he's doing here. It doesn't feel like backing down though; more like a dance, and that's enough to make an uncomfortable grin spread like butter over his face; impossible to wipe off.
Then he's getting pushed back, hard, Daniel's hand around his throat, fingers pressing in all the right places, places Jack's shown him in this very room, and the only thing stopping Daniel is the wall Jack slams into.
Part Nine
Memo to self; always have Daniel there
Previous parts are here
Leaving Time
Part Eight
The gym's got more people than Teal'c in it, but by the time Jack's finished warming up they've gone, taking their sidelong glances with them.
Teal'c watches in silence as Jack strides over to a bench and then moves to spot him.
Jack's working with more weight than he can handle and his muscles protest after five reps. He's not surprised when Teal'c's hand wraps around the bar and lifts it away but it doesn't stop him snarling.
"You will injure yourself, O'Neill. I cannot let you do that."
He's not looking for a fight like the one he's just had with Daniel, all jagged, rusty edges to cut deep and leave poison, but there's something tempting about the idea of clean violence.
"Fine. Want to spar a little?"
Teal'c considers that for a moment and then nods. "If you wish."
"Oh, I wish," Jack says.
Twenty minutes later, when he's loose and sweating, each breath pulled out of him in a burning, rasping scrape, Teal'c finally lets Jack hit him hard.
There's something deeply satisfying about the grate of knuckle on jaw, and the tremor that races down Jack's arm is electric enough to get his cock filling in a conditioned response. Knowing that Teal'c let him do it should rob it of meaning but it doesn't. He's hurt someone, sent pain whispering through bone and skin, and in that moment of connection his own pain lessens.
Teal'c never quite drops his guard, never gives Jack an opening he doesn't have to work for, but he's a deliberate beat too slow now and that's enough.
When Teal'c's blood is painting a gloss on his mouth, a smeared slick of red, Jack stops, lets his hands hang heavy, and nods permission.
Teal'c smiles and Jack staggers back, the jarring thump of a solid fist pushing heat and hurt through his head, breaking open his lip and sending a warm-salt trickle of blood down his throat as he swallows convulsively and washes away the taste of Daniel's words.
Better.
Teal'c reaches out and steadies him, one eyebrow lifting in a question.
Jack nods. "Yeah, we're done. Thanks."
Teal'c bows, courteous and sympathetic. Jack liked it better when Teal'c was hitting him.
"He's really pissed this time," Jack says abruptly, going over to get a towel.
"I believe that to be the case," Teal'c says equably, as if it's so much the normal state of affairs that he can't be bothered to get concerned. Jack doesn't think he argues with Daniel enough to make that attitude reasonable.
"And I don't know why." Jack scrubs sweat from the back of his neck with the thin, rough towel, already anticipating the rush of water and sting of soap on his skin.
Teal'c doesn't go near that one.
"You'd think he wanted it to happen." Jack runs his tongue over his lips, testing the sticky, imperfect join of skin and thickened blood.
Teal'c's shoulders shift and roll in an unspoken protest. Okay. Daniel had wanted to be saved. Good to know.
"A thank you would've been nice."
There's a small, impatient grunt and Jack smacks the towel against the bench, producing a crack that makes his ass clench tight instinctively. "Teal'c, can you give a little here? I'm still digging splinters out of my butt from that damn planet, so I'm not in a good mood to start with, and I know damn well you speak better English than me, so let yourself go wild and spit out a sentence or two."
"I do not know what you wish me to say, O'Neill."
"Oh, yes, you do," Jack says. "Don't make me beg."
"You would not."
Jack winds the towel around his fingers, making a thick rope out of it. "No, I guess not."
He feels the press of Teal'c hand against his shoulder. "You are both friends, O'Neill. This will pass."
"You know, he thinks he can get me kicked out." Jack sighs. "And I might, but he's too dumb to see it wouldn't be for what I did on that planet; it'd just be an excuse someone like Kinsey would use. No one cares about anything that went down. Oh, they'll sob into their lattes over the deaths of our people, and wail about the aliens, but bottom line, there was nothing there we could use, and so they don't give a rat's ass. Daniel starts getting sappy over a bunch of trees and they'll -- are you smiling?"
"You were inadvertently amusing, O'Neill."
"What? Oh... hey, I did that on purpose!"
"You did not." Teal'c's smile broadens. "It is good to see your mood improve and good to see your concern for Daniel Jackson."
"Let's get cleaned up," Jack says. Improve? Well, maybe a little.
Teal's hand halts him. "In a moment, O'Neill. You asked that I speak and I will do so. It is my belief that Doctor Jackson sees only failure when he thinks of recent events; you, on the other hand, succeeded in what you set out to do. It makes a difference."
"Get Daniel and his team out of there?" Jack says. "Yeah, I suppose we did that. Mostly." He frowns. "Daniel didn't fail. Hell, he fought back even when they were --" His gaze flicks up to meet Teal'c's. "Hurting him," he finishes quietly.
"He did not allow himself to be defeated," Teal'c agrees. "He has great strength of purpose. However, he is not a warrior. I do not think he would view the deaths of the Shalin as a victory or preferable to his own demise."
Jack sits down on a bench, the sweat cooling on his body and making him shiver reflexively. "No, he wouldn't. Hell, I don't like it; that was a lot of dead bodies, Teal'c; that's never easy to deal with."
"Indeed."
"But they weren't down to him and I can't make him see that."
"It is not all that troubles him," Teal'c says with slow reluctance.
"God, Teal'c, us having a conversation like this is bad enough; spit it out will you?" Jack curls his hands into tight fists. "Did he -- you read that book of his; was he raped? Did they rape him, Teal'c?"
Saying it twice is easier than saying it once, repetition blunting the ugly word.
Teal'c's eyes widen. "This is not something you should be discussing with me, O'Neill."
"Just tell me, dammit," Jack snarls, the dull ache in his fingers distracting him from the skin-crawling sensation of sharing. "He wouldn't have any counseling -- not that I blame him -- but if he needs help getting over something like that --"
"He was not," Teal'c said. "Unless it was something he chose not to record, and I do not think that is so, then he was not."
"Well, that's something." Jack says, staring anywhere but at Teal'c as his nightmares lose the part that has him waking, heart hammering, mouth dry with hate and fear. He's still got a phantasmagoria marching through his dreams, culminating in Daniel getting drawn, screaming, inside that fucking tree, but he knows, waking at least, that that didn't happen.
"Yes," Teal'c says.
"So what's going on in his head? Why's he acting this way?" Jack hears his voice get brash and brutal. Always easier to blame someone else when he's feeling confused. Always easy to blame Daniel because it's usually his fault.
"I am not at liberty to say, O'Neill," Teal'c says. "I suggest you direct your questions to Daniel Jackson himself."
"And he'll tell me to read that damn notebook or come out with something that makes me want to punch him."
Teal'c picks up, one-handed, the weights Jack had struggled with and holds the bar poised and still for a long moment before letting it drop with a clang into its rest.
"I would not give way to that impulse, O'Neill."
Jack eyes the bar as it rocks slowly. "Is that your idea of a subtle threat? Because you need to work on the part where it's subtle. Come on, Teal'c; you know I wouldn't. Might want to at least once a mission, but I never do."
Teal'c inclines his head, the small, familiar gesture suddenly profoundly irritating.
"God, he's got us all looking out for him, hasn't he?" Jack stands and kicks angrily at a half-empty water bottle someone left on the floor. It flies across the room, losing its top, water spraying out. "Ever think how that must feel, Teal'c? Ever think maybe he hates it?"
"You have saved my life, and I yours, O'Neill. It has brought us closer, has it not?"
"Daniel's different," Jack says. He laughs, feeling it catch at his throat. "Flaky, geeky, annoying little bastard --"
"I love you, too, Jack."
Shit.
Daniel walks over to them, still not moving quite right, still not there, as if he's unsure he's allowed to take up space, breathe deeply, choose where to go and what to say.
"Daniel, I didn't mean --"
"Every word of it was what you've thought and said a hundred times before," Daniel interrupts. "Don't make yourself even more of a liar, Jack, please."
There's a moment where Jack thinks it'd be worth whatever Teal'c dished out just to lay one on Daniel and jolt the sneer clear out of his eyes leaving shock behind.
Just a moment.
"You know what? Fuck you, Daniel. Just -- stay the hell away from me."
Daniel nods slowly. "I can do that," he says. "Very easily in a few days."
"Still think they're going to kick me out?"
"If they don't, I'll resign," Daniel says. His tongue swipes over his lip and it has to taste bitter, Jack thinks. "I won't go through the 'gate with you again, Jack."
"Why? I got you back in one piece again, didn't I?" Jack demands. "What more did you want me to do, Daniel? I got there as fast as I could. I got you home."
Teal'c walks past them, back straight, eyes blank, and goes through the door, closing it behind him.
"He's going to stand in front of that door until we're done," Jack says softly, knowing it's true because it's what he'd do. "No one's going to walk in on us, Daniel, so go ahead; get it off your chest, whatever it is."
"You'd like that, wouldn't you?" Daniel says. "I explain it to you, nicely dumbed down, of course, because I wouldn't want you to have to actually think about something, and you patronise me into apologising and backing down."
"Well, it'd have a novelty value," Jack says, "because it's never worked that way before!"
Daniel steps closer, his nose wrinkling as he catches the stink of sweat on Jack. It's instinctive, not insulting, but it's enough to make Jack step back, self-conscious because Daniel smells of nothing but clean.
Daniel's eyes narrow and his head tilts as he studies Jack.
He steps forward, crowding Jack, who takes a matching pace back, feeling his heart speed up. He's not sure what he's doing here. It doesn't feel like backing down though; more like a dance, and that's enough to make an uncomfortable grin spread like butter over his face; impossible to wipe off.
Then he's getting pushed back, hard, Daniel's hand around his throat, fingers pressing in all the right places, places Jack's shown him in this very room, and the only thing stopping Daniel is the wall Jack slams into.
Part Nine
Tags:
- fic,
- jack/daniel,
- sg-1,
- slash