Natural Selection

by Berty

URL: http://www.area52hkh.net/asb/berty/naturals.php
Summary: Jack and Daniel need a cure for what ails them. Sounds straighforward enough? Not when they both have a nasty case of denial.

"Man, I NEED to get laid."

"Ya think?"

Jack gave Daniel a hard stare for stealing his best line, then pulled his tee-shirt over his head in the otherwise deserted locker room.

"What? Jack, if you get any more 'tense', the Goa'uld will give it up and settle for second because YOU are the biggest, meanest SOB out there in this or any other galaxy right now!"

It was true. The leader of the race they had most recently encountered had nearly won himself an interesting and possibly terminal new body piercing to join his existing ones, courtesy of Jack O'Neill's belt knife, for 'looking at me in a funny way'.

Only some swift intervention by Daniel and Sam had defused the volatile situation. Daniel had explained to the Chief that Jack was mentally deficient and Sam had 'accompanied' Jack back to the gate with her Zat primed. Teal'c apparently had found the whole exchange 'highly amusing', although how you were supposed to know this was anyone's guess.

"Oh, and like YOU'RE Mr. Mellow at the moment," Jack drawled, averting his eyes as Daniel tucked his shirt into his BDU's.

Which was also true. Daniel was definitely tense, but it was manifested in ways less likely to cause an interplanetary diplomatic incident. However, if Daniel's tongue became any sharper, his mouth and all those within earshot of him were going to need band-aid if not sutures.

And if Daniel said, "Actually, I think you'll find..." one more time, Jack was going to shoot him...and possibly himself too.

***

"So what are we gonna do about it?" Daniel asked twenty minutes later as they walked towards the briefing room, preparing to put a positive spin on coming home empty handed again.

"Don't you have a friend who'd help you out?" Jack asked quietly, eyeing the personnel they passed in the corridors, warily.

"You and Teal'c?"

"A FEMALE friend, Daniel."

"Sam?"

Jack paused at the door and gave Daniel a 'what planet ARE you from?' glare before he entered, shaking his head. The bewildered archaeologist trailed along behind.

***

"So we need to pick up some girls," Daniel announced softly, coming into step with Jack as they left the briefing.

"Too time consuming and no guaranteed outcome," Jack sniffed harshly.

***

Three hours and two reports later, Jack ducked into the elevator as Daniel started for the surface.

"What we need..." he said, with his back to the security camera, "...is some professional help with this."

Daniel looked at him blankly, blinking slowly over the top of his glasses. Jack rolled his eyes and waited patiently for the multiple PhD genius he had for a best friend to catch a clue. Daniel's eyebrows drew down in concentration as Jack's climbed his forehead in a manner that suggested 'PROFESSIONAL help.'

Finally, understanding dawned and Daniel's pleased expression at having worked it out was quickly replaced by a shocked one.

"Oh!...OH!" he blushed.

Jack patted his arm comfortingly. "I know of a place," he confided.

"Errr...how?" Daniel asked.

"Makepeace told me," Jack informed him loftily, knowing what the little shit was implying. Daniel gave him a stunned blink. "What? You think Makepeace could get sex WITHOUT paying for it?"

Daniel had to acknowledge the truth of this.

"Much good that it does him these days," Jack continued with a snort.

"I bet he still sees more action than we do," Daniel mused mournfully.

Jack grimaced, but didn't argue the point.

"But if we go there, doesn't that make us as low as him?" Daniel inquired in the tone that Jack recognised as his 'spoiling for an argument' voice.

And with a roll of his eyes and a grudging shrug, Jack had to acknowledge the truth of that.

***

"So what do we do?" Jack asked as he watched the Colorado afternoon sunshine slide into evening.

"I have no idea. All I know is, if I have to jerk off one more time, I'll end up in the Infirmary, and Janet will never believe it's a tennis injury," Daniel said sullenly.

"You jerk off?" Jack asked with an 'EWWWW!' look on his face.

Daniel contented himself with a well-known and rather rude hand gesture and concentrated on the road.

***

"So we're not hooker kinda guys..." Daniel began, laying his head back on Jack's couch.

"Neither of us has a 'go-to girl' for a friendly f..."

"Self gratification is ruining our health..." Daniel hurriedly added.

"And we're too busy and sad a pair of bastards to be able to meet nice, available and willing women."

"Yep, that's about the shape of it."

"Where does that leave us?" Jack asked his beer bottle. He looked up into Daniel's face and found the archaeologist contemplating him, his head tipped to one side and his teeth worrying his much abused bottom lip.

For a few seconds that seemed to stretch the fabric of time to ripping point, neither man said a thing, their guarded expressions giving nothing away.

Finally, Daniel folded, lowered his eyes and sighed, his shoulders slumped. "Let's just go and get drunk," he murmured dejectedly. "You never know - we might get lucky."

"It is the manly thing to do," Jack agreed. "Give me five minutes." He stalked towards his bedroom without looking back.

Daniel watched Jack as he retreated and sighed again.

******

"How do I look?" Jack asked, standing for Daniel's approval.

"Fine," Daniel muttered, barely giving Jack a glance. He was glum and snippy and even tying his boots was proving impossible with his leaden fingers. He travelled the UNIVERSE for chrissakes! How could he be this pathetic about sex; something that he KNEW he could do without when he had to? God knows he'd done it before.

"Oh!" Jack said, obviously deflated. Daniel sighed and looked up to study his friend. Dressed in blue jeans that emphasised his long legs and a slim fitting cotton jersey, Jack looked very good indeed.

"You'll be beating them off with a stick," Daniel's eyes twinkled as he delivered his considered opinion.

"Asshole," Jack muttered though looking quietly smug.

Daniel went back to his laces again and was surprised by Jack batting his hands away. The colonel matter-of-factly dealt with the irritating bow before straightening and eyeing Daniel critically.

"Are you wearing THAT shirt?" he asked.

***

Despite Daniel's low spirits, he soon found himself enjoying Jack's company enormously. They sat at the bar in a nice place they had visited before in downtown Springs. They sank a few beers, drinking steadily but not excessively, and chatting easily about everything under the sun...but only this sun.

After about an hour, Jack became aware that they had caught the attention of a couple of women at the other end of the bar, who were talking in low voices and casting furtive glances their way. He pointed this out to Daniel under his breath, but was immediately given away by Daniel turning to look and then blushing to the roots of his hair.

"We should go over," Jack told him, when Daniel had finished wheezing.

"Oh...err...right," the linguist managed.

"You don't want to?" Jack challenged. Daniel flinched as Jack's direct gaze seemed to bore into him, seeking answers.

"Well, that's what we came for, isn't it?" Daniel threw back at Jack, stung into bravado by the colonel's enquiry. The look Jack gave Daniel was unreadable but lingering, then he picked up his drink, turned on his heel and lead the way to make the acquaintance of the pleased looking women.

******

"Okay, ready to go?" Jack's friend, a pretty brunette called Lisa smiled, arriving back at their table. Jack had been honest to the point of being blunt with the two women. Amazingly - to Daniel anyway - they had not been offended and had admitted that they were both out celebrating Decree Nisi on their respective marriages and were not looking for much more than an evening's distraction themselves.

"Sure," Jack grinned after exchanging the briefest of looks with Daniel.

"So, where are we going?" Julia enquired, grabbing Daniel's hand and pulling him up from his seat. She was a slim, blonde woman with a shy smile and a slight accent that Daniel couldn't quite place.

"Oh, Jack's place," Daniel said quietly and tentatively copied the colonel who was disappearing through the door with his arm around Lisa. "It's not far."

***

Jack fell through his open front door, fielding an armful of horny divorcee. Daniel and Julia followed more sedately, clicking on the lamp and shutting the door behind them.

"So, drinks?" Jack asked, depositing Lisa on one couch while Daniel and Julia took the other. They all accepted the invitation and Jack retired to the kitchen to satisfy his guests.

Daniel tried to fill his absence with small talk, but he found it excruciatingly hard; his extensive language skills had never stretched to chat up lines.

He was relieved when Jack returned a few moments later with a bottle of wine and a handful of glasses. Daniel took over playing host when, as soon as Jack's ass hit the cushions, he was pounced upon by the irrepressible Lisa.

Daniel turned to Julia, handing her a glass with a smile and wondering what the hell he was going to talk about. She took the drink and Daniel's, placing them both on the table before shyly wriggling up closer to the bemused looking man. Clumsily, she leaned up and pressed a kiss to one side of his mouth, before drawing back to gauge his reaction.

"Oh..umm..." Daniel stammered, smiling apologetically. Casting a glance at Jack and Lisa, who were getting very friendly, he turned back to Julia and they awkwardly kissed again. Daniel sat back, embarrassed at his ineptitude. He removed his glasses as Julia's nose had dislodged them. She took this as an encouraging sign and twined her arms around Daniel's neck and pulled him in for an enthusiastic lip lock. Made suddenly bolder by her own audacity, she began to stroke his neck and shoulders.

The intimate noises coming from Jack's couch told Daniel that he was way behind Lisa and the colonel, so he tentatively rested his hands on Julia's waist. Again, this just seemed to spur the pretty blonde to greater intimacy and her hands began to roam at will over Daniel's chest and belly, pushing him back against the arm of the couch and forcing him to lie down.

As Julia's soft pink tongue licked at his lips requesting entry, Daniel realised that this was a mistake. Although his body had begun to stir to the woman's touches, Daniel knew it was merely a basic reaction and it had nothing to do with the person who was so desperately trying to engage him. This was unknown territory to him, he had never made love with someone he wasn't really attracted to and didn't know well before, and it showed. Luckily, Julia didn't seem to have noticed and had enough enthusiasm for both of them.

Daniel could hear Lisa's high-pitched voice coming softly from the other side of the room. After a few seconds Jack replied, too low for Daniel to make out the words, but his bass rumble somehow made Daniel feel inexplicably better.

Julia's small, soft hands found the hem of his shirt, or rather the shirt that Jack had insisted he borrow, and slipped beneath the material seeking skin contact. She gently raked her nails down his sides, making him shiver despite himself. Once again his body reacted to the stimulus without any reference to his higher brain function and Daniel knew without a doubt that this was the worst idea he'd ever had.

There was no good way of extricating himself from this, Daniel realised, without upsetting Julia and possibly Lisa too, which of course meant that Jack would be out of luck. But could he keep his mouth shut, stop his brain from analysing and just go with his most base instincts, just for the sake of saving face?

Julia's weight was slight and warm against him and, unbidden, came the memory of his wife's body moving against his in the darkness of a desert night. Daniel shivered; would it be a betrayal of his wife's memory to use it like this? Daniel felt confused and wretched.

Julia's fingers swept lower, ghosting over his groin and finally resting to cup the distinctly unenthusiastic bulge in his pants.

"I...ummm...I..." Daniel felt his face flame in mortification, but Julia seemed unperturbed.

"My ex used to take a while to get going too. Don't worry, I know a trick or two," she whispered seductively. Daniel closed his eyes and wished to be ANYWHERE else but here.

"Daniel?" came Jack's voice, startlingly loud in the quiet room.

"Yup?" Daniel sat bolt upright, unceremoniously dumping the girl on her ass.

"A word?"

Jack was standing over the couch, glowering at him, and Daniel wondered what the hell he had done wrong this time. Jack turned and walked away.

***

"You look good in that shirt - keep it," Jack announced curtly as Daniel joined him in the kitchen.

"Oh...uh thanks," he murmured, looking anywhere but at Jack. Daniel stood uncomfortably fidgeting under the colonel's scrutiny as a couple of tense moments slid inexorably by. Did he know that Daniel was so not into this that he would have bolted by now if it weren't for Jack?

"Is there a problem?" Daniel ventured when the wait was becoming worse than the words.

"Sorry, uh...yeah!" Jack muttered, "Look, I don't know about you, but Lisa is...umm... planning to be here for a while. So I figure you guys are okay in the spare room? Bed's all made up clean."

"Sure, sure," Daniel said too quickly.

"Are you okay, Daniel?" Jack asked, his face full of concern when Daniel finally looked at him.

"What could be wrong? This is what I needed." He forced a grin onto his face, but Jack's answering frown told him how unconvincing an actor he was. Daniel moved to turn away only to find Jack's firm grip anchoring him there.

"Have you come prepared? There's stuff in the bathroom cabinet if you need..." Jack said quickly.

"Oh, please, Jack! Do explain safe sex to me. I've only reached the age of thirty six without having a clue, you know."

Jack gave him a wince that told him that was exactly what he thought Daniel had done.

Daniel rolled his eyes and pulled his arm from Jack's grasp. "Shall we?" he gritted, not admitting to Jack, of all people, how utterly un-arousing he found this.

***

Julia had no problems picking up where they left off and Daniel allowed himself to be manoeuvred down onto his back by the petite woman. To Daniel's surprise he noticed that instead of taking Lisa to his bed, Jack had rejoined her on the couch.

Julia kept up a barrage of kisses on his abdomen and chest as she forced his...or rather Jack's shirt up his body. Realising there was no turning back now, Daniel helped Julia pull the soft fabric over his head and down his arms, then flopped back down onto the cushions and rolled his head to the side.

He didn't want to see what Jack was doing, he really didn't need to see Jack fucking someone else but he couldn't keep his eyes closed as the lack of noise from Jack's side of the room attracted his attention. Daniel opened his wary eyes directly into a pair of soft brown ones.

Jack lay on his back with Lisa tucked against the back of the couch, kissing his neck and shoulders. His hand idly stroked her hair as he watched Daniel.

The younger man was vaguely aware that both the girls were echoing each other, using their hands and lips to encourage the desired responses, but Daniel couldn't drag his eyes away from Jack's. Staring into that intense brown gaze, Daniel felt heat pool in his groin for the first time this evening and he resigned himself to what he had feared for a long time now. Daniel couldn't pretend any longer with all the evidence overwhelmingly present in his swelling dick that he was anything but in love with Jack O'Neill.

The hypnotic quality of Jack's eyes and the rhythmic stroking of Julia's knowing hands were like a drug, making Daniel feel disconnected, as if he were drowning in sensation. But underlying everything was Jack's solid presence, making even this disconcerting state feel safe to Daniel.

Jack watched as all the tension in Daniel's body dissipated. The tightness around his mouth and the hardness in his impossibly blue eyes melted away as Jack lost himself in the other man's gentle face.

He knew it wasn't Daniel's hands coaxing his body to greater heights of arousal, but it was only Daniel that he was connecting with here; it was only Daniel's presence that was making this anything other than a sordid little tryst. Daniel had a way of touching even the most base of things with his spirit and making them somehow better.

There was suddenly nothing else in the whole world but each other's gaze to the two men. As if time had stopped, their existence came down to the slow beat of their hearts and this eloquent exchange of eye contact. Daniel's eyes asked and were answered. Jack's stare promised and was accepted.

Despite the stillness they found in each other, some time must have passed before they became aware of their surroundings again. Lisa was sitting tensely on the end of the couch pulling on her shoes and Julia was hanging up the 'phone.

"Who are you calling?" Daniel croaked, sitting bolt upright and blinking, still with the feeling of being out of time.

"Cab," Julia said softly. "I think...I think you guys need to talk."

Lisa made a soft snorting sound that could have been assent or laughter; Daniel didn't bother to look at her.

"Look, I'm sorry...it's not..." Daniel didn't know what to say and trailed off, shaking his head. Self consciously, he picked up his...no, Jack's shirt from the floor and pulled it back over his head.

Jack slowly sat up, his eyes darting to Daniel repeatedly, as if to reassure himself that he was real and not running away. He looked unnerved yet determined, but said nothing to Lisa who was shooting him looks of disgust at every available opportunity.

The ten minutes it took for the cab to arrive might as well have been a lifetime. Nobody knew what to say and as any glance might provoke an unwanted reaction, they all kept their gazes away from each other.

Daniel jumped when the expected knock came on the front door and stood, uncertainly, as the women picked up their bags and walked in silence to answer it. Jack didn't move, but continued to stare at the floor.

Lisa stalked out without a backwards glance, but Julia stopped in the doorway and looked at Daniel with a rueful half-smile on her face.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't know..." Daniel floundered.

Julia nodded her understanding and spared a glance at the still, silent form of Jack. "Good luck," she murmured and pulled the door closed behind her with an echoing click.

******

Daniel slumped back down on his couch, then quickly bounced back up, grabbed his untouched wine and came round to sit next to Jack. He pressed the glass into Jack's hand and snagged another from the table for himself.

"Well that went well," he said quietly and swigged from his glass. Jack snuffed, then chuckled, and then began to laugh in a slightly manic way, his shoulders shaking. Daniel too started to chuckle and Jack swung around to look at him, his face creased with laughter in a way Daniel saw so rarely.

"Only we could fuck that up so spectacularly!" Jack breathed heavily. But that of course brought them back to why and their laughter subsided back into silence, albeit less fraught this time.

***

When Daniel had mentally run through his repertoire of opening lines, and found them all wanting, he faced the unpleasant truth. Although they had at least, finally, made some connection tonight, they were by no means out of the woods and walking through fluffy bunny filled meadows. Instead of clarity, their mutual epiphany seemed to have left them more confused than ever.

The whole day seemed to have been leading up to this; every loaded question and each significant glance had hastened them to this point and now they were both here it was as if they had lost direction totally and were starting out in opposite directions again.

Now Daniel thought about it, it seemed to him that the last four years had been preparation for this decision. Innocent friendship had become curiosity had become interest had become...what? Now they were finally here, what was this thing they had watched grow?

And of course there was the flirting. He hadn't recognised it for what it was at first, the novelty of a best friend overwhelming Daniel's usual restrained nature. He had thought it was something natural between friends, the looks, the touches, the in-jokes until he realised that he didn't see them happening anywhere else and he couldn't imagine his life without them.

So they flirted - big deal.

It was safe. It was always in plain sight. It never got beyond the realms of what could be laughed off. SG-1 were known for being tight - and none more so than Jack and Daniel; this horsing around was simply further evidence of that unique bond.

But after a while, Daniel realised that this was a big deal. All the time he was out there looking for his wife, it could never have been anything more. When that one chance in a million that she might still be out there became zero in a million, Daniel had to face the fact that he and Jack were close...too close. But there was nothing he could do about it by this time without severing the last thread of his sanity and denying the only thing that made him feel alive anymore.

So they had got here, finally, sometimes steadily, sometimes flying and sometimes, when they could find nothing to say to each other that wasn't hurtful, on their knees.

Finally the silence was too much for Daniel. He hadn't expected invisible choirs and lightning strikes, but he had expected Jack to be with him. The colonel's lack of reaction saddened Daniel and convinced him that despite the evidence of their mutual attraction, Jack was unwilling or unable to take the final step, the one Daniel felt he had taken alone tonight.

******

When Daniel put his glass down, Jack knew his time had run out. He felt Daniel's weight shift in preparation to leave and Jack shot out a hand, connecting blindly with Daniel's arm. He took a handful of muscle and material and hung on.

"I just need...one more minute, Daniel."

In the field he could do this - make the decisions that mattered. In the field he was decisive, never certain of the outcomes, but definitively able to choose his next move on the information he had. So why was this so complicated?

He knew he was in love with Daniel, just as he knew he'd been deluding himself, albeit very successfully, for the last months. He'd told himself that he and Daniel were close like buddies, close like best friends, close like guys who would take a hit for each other without hesitation. But close like lovers?

He had no idea why he'd commanded Daniel to the kitchen the way he had until it was all over. All Jack had known was the tightness in his chest and the buzzing in his ears when he had glanced over to Daniel and seen Julia's pink nailed hand on his groin.

Now he knew it was jealousy.

There had been something so wrong with the image of Daniel with someone else...anyone else. He had left Lisa abruptly and dragged Daniel to the kitchen under the pretence of some friendly advice. A time-out for Jack to analyse what this response he was experiencing was about.

But by the time he was sure, Daniel was walking back to Julia and a nice uncomplicated night of sex. So instead of taking Lisa to his room as he had told Daniel, Jack sat back down beside her and let himself be eased back by her willing hands. At no point did his eyes leave Daniel for more than three seconds. It was like a kind of torture, he was seeing how much he could take before he cracked - watching that woman kiss him and touch him.

And then Daniel had turned his head, his face strained and unhappy and found Jack's gaze waiting for him.

Just like Daniel's was waiting for him now, wary, hopeful and concerned. He could lose himself in those blue eyes, so expressive one moment and so guarded the next.

As Jack watched he saw the softness of Daniel's gaze begin the swing back to shuttered. Daniel was preparing himself to be rejected, protecting the parts of him that only Jack got to see these days. Daniel was withdrawing from him, putting up the barriers Jack knew he normally lived behind, the ones he was privileged to be the destroyer of on a daily basis. And this time it would be for good.

And it was as simple as that. Was there anything in Jack's life that was worth more than Daniel looking at him like that? Did anything come even close to making him feel the way he felt around Daniel? Could he stand another day if he didn't have the certainty of Daniel's friendship to ground him?

No.

As simple as that.

Jack prided himself on being a simple man - and went with it.

******

Daniel thought he could stay like this forever, apart from the obvious fact that his back would be broken and he'd be dead in a few minutes from asphyxia anyway. But he'd die happy.

In the darkness of his bedroom, Jack dropped kisses on Daniel's face as they rocked slowly together, their movement easy and barely perceptible, building the passion gradually, taking their time.

Jack's reaction to Daniel's hands gently mapping the skin of his back was incredible. Sensation ran from his toes to his scalp, making him shiver and flex. How could something as basic as the linguist's hands on him be creating this response, when the best Lisa - pretty, available and horny as hell - had managed was half-hearted to say the least?

Jack felt so turned on that it was taking all his considerable restraint not to strip and lay into Daniel with the pounding, compulsive thrusts his heated body was yearning for. But Daniel had set this languid, slow-burning pace and Jack was gonna give it to him, even if it caused him permanent damage.

Daniel rolled them onto their sides and drew back from Jack, a curious smile on his flushed face. Jack looked confused and reached for the other man, to draw him back in, but Daniel resisted and stood up, if a little shakily. Swallowing, he slowly unbuttoned his fly and pushed his shorts and jeans over his slim hips, let them drop and stepped out of them. He stood, blushing but defiant in front of Jack, waiting for his reaction.

Jack had never seen anything so sexy in his life and his mouth watered in response. When Daniel didn't rejoin him on the bed, Jack reached for him once more, but again Daniel resisted.

"Your turn," he commanded.

Jack stood and complied quickly and a lot less gracefully; need overwhelming his sense of occasion. Daniel smiled and stepped into him as soon as he was naked, overbalancing them both so they landed heavily on the bed. It was as if the spell was broken and a new one was cast; they couldn't keep their hands and mouths off each other for a moment. They were in constant motion, seeking maximum skin contact and the perfect friction between their sweat-slicked bodies.

Daniel gasped and writhed over Jack who was clutching the younger man's ass with desperate fingers, urging him on, lifting his hips into each thrust of Daniel's.

Jack had time to think fleetingly that it had been worth the wait before the sweet darkness claimed them both and they collapsed, exhausted and tangled into sleep.

******

Lisa scowled at her reflection in the window of the taxi.

"Did you know they were gay?" she muttered savagely to her disgustingly composed friend.

"I thought yours might be," Julia admitted thoughtfully.

"Why?"

"Well, he didn't take his eyes off of Daniel for more than a minute the whole evening...and who can blame him?"

Lisa made a dismissive bleating noise in her throat that might have been, "Men!"

They continued in silence, the taxi driver's radio quietly playing something Country.

Lisa sniffed. "Think they'll last?" she finally asked.

Julia looked out at the dark streets and smiled at her reflection. "If the grey wolf can keep up with Daniel, yeah, I reckon they will. They'll be getting jiggy into their eighties."

Lisa muttered some choice expletives under her breath. The taxi driver turned up the radio - he hated to hear a woman swear and he liked this tune. And Julia began to giggle as Dolly Parton belted out "Stand by your man."

Fin