Two Men In A Tent

by Berty

URL: http://www.area52hkh.net/asb/berty/twomenin.php
Summary: Caught offworld, Daniel and Jack find ways to endure the rain, the boredom and the remaining MREs.
Info: Written for the Pepesplace October Challenge, to use a list of 15 prompt words with 100 words for each. Thanks to Pepe for the beta and for being her-insane-self. For Saladscream, with love.

"Still raining?"

"Good one." Jack shoots Daniel a sour smile and goes back to cleaning his nails with his knife.

"We could have lunch?"

Jack sighs, knowing Daniel's as bored as he is - and that they won't be leaving anytime soon. It's bad when even Daniel can't find something to occupy himself with.

"What's left?"

"Pudding."

"Really? What flavour?" Jack feels hopeful.

"Mango."

Only to have it dashed. "No thanks."

"I guess that's why that's all that's left," Daniel agrees sadly.

Jack cuts his thumb.

Daniel turns his snigger into a cough.

***

Jack is repacking the first-aid kit, still muttering.

"Did Sam say how long this might take?" Daniel asks, watching the sky for any let up.

"Nope. Just not to touch anything."

The rain, against all the rules of science and the universe, gets harder.

"Did you put antiseptic on that?" Daniel asks over the blatter of raindrops on nylon.

"Yes, mother."

"Good. It would be such a pity if you contracted some alien plague and died from a manicure."

Jack doesn't think Daniel sounds entirely sincere.

***

Jack watches while Daniel stuffs all the items he's just tipped out back into his pack. It's mildly entertaining and it sure beats listening to the rain.

"Hair gel, Daniel?" he asks, picking up a tube from Daniel's pile of belongings. "You expecting to get lucky on PL6 2T8?" Jack makes a show of scanning the surroundings for non-existent life forms.

Daniel snatches it back and stuffs it away with a scowl. He starts to pick up the sachets of instant coffee he carries for emergencies.

"You know, Daniel, I don't like to use the word, but 'addict' does seem to cover all the bases on this one."

Daniel throws a couple of the sharp little packages at him, harder than playfulness would warrant, Jack thinks.

"What are you looking for anyway?"

"Distraction," Daniel says tersely.

"We could play I Spy?"

Daniel's withering look has been honed over many such exchanges, and he uses it now to devastating effect.

***

"It looks like a World War One battlefield out there. The Somme or something," Jack says morosely, staring out at the unending grey of the sky and brown of the mud.

"Apart from the large Stargate and the lack of infantry, bomb craters, bodies, gunfire or mustard gas," Daniel points out, laying on his back and staring at the roof of their tent.

"Apart from that," Jack concedes.

"So... not really like a World War One battlefield at all then?"

"Daniel?"

"Hmm?"

"Bite me."

***

"They could send Prometheus to get us," Jack says sullenly into the silence that has fallen. He's cold, damp, bored and his ass is numb from being scrunched up in the tent for so long. He starts to rock back and forth, trying to get some blood-flow to the area.

"Because that's the best use of Earth's resources," Daniel replies levelly.

"Well the Tok'ra always seem to have Ha'tak and Al'kesh space... vessel... things just hanging around. Couldn't they send one of those?"

"I'm sure if it becomes desperate, they'll call in some favours, but as it's only been..." Daniel peers at his watch, "... eleven hours, I'm thinking we're hardly a priority."

Jack just sniffs, leaving Daniel in no doubt what he thinks of the SGC's priorities.

***

"...something beginning with M"

"Mud."

"Right."

"I spy with my little eye, something beginning with R."

"Rain."

"Right."

***

"Have they even checked that it's okay for us to spend this long on this planet?"

"How do you mean?" Daniel asks, looking up from the ingredients on the back of the pudding pack.

"Well, I don't know. Maybe there's funky radiation from this sun. Maybe there's too much nitrogen in the atmosphere. Maybe we'll both die of foot-rot from all this fucking rain..."

"Maybe I'll kill you dead with this..." Daniel grabs the first thing he can reach from his pack, "... spoon."

There's a short silence.

"If I was getting on your nerves, you'd tell me, right?"

Daniel laughs hollowly.

***

When Jack gets back from setting the sensors and checking in, he's soaked to the skin.

"Still raining?" Daniel asks and receives a sopping wet sock in the face.

"Any news?" he tries again, wiping his wet nose on Jack's sleeping bag.

"Nope. Sit tight. Working as fast as we can. You'll be the first to know. Yadda yadda."

Jack wriggles into some dry clothes with difficulty before crawling up his bedroll. "You need to be double-jointed or something to move around in here. This is supposed to be a two-man tent."

He kneels on Daniel as he passes.

Daniel's pretty sure that's not accidental.

***

"Daniel? Are you awake?"

"Possibly."

"I can't sleep."

"What? Your injury causing you too much discomfort?" Daniel snorts.

Jack cracks a glow-stick, making Daniel squint in the sudden shocking green light.

"Did I do something to piss you off?" Jack asks, leaning up on one elbow, suddenly serious.

Daniel glances at him and looks away.

Jack's not quite sure how to continue without making things worse. "I just couldn't help noticing that your recent reactions to me have been more... severe than usual."

"No. No, it's... me. I'm just..." Daniel's voice has lost all its sharpness, leaving him sounding tired.

"You worried? 'Cause I'm certain Carter will have this cracked soon and we'll go home. Good thing she went through first with Teal'c, huh? If it had been me, you'd have been stuck here forever."

"I'm not worried, Jack. Gate malfunctions are nothing new. And thanks for dragging me back, by the way. I'd have been scrambled across the universe right now if you hadn't caught me."

Jack shrugs. "So...? I'm just a bigger jerk than usual?"

And still Daniel doesn't meet Jack's gaze.

"It's me who's the jerk. I'm sorry. I'll sort it out."

"Can I help?"

A small chuckle escapes Daniel, but there's no warmth behind it. "No, thanks anyway."

Daniel closes his eyes, signaling an end to the conversation, and Jack is left in limbo. Wondering.

***

After ten minutes, Jack's had enough.

"You don't have to do that anymore, you know."

Jack speaks softly, although he's pretty sure that Daniel's not asleep, lack of movement and the rhythmic breathing notwithstanding. Call it intuition, call it familiarity, but he knows Daniel, and he's fairly certain this is a defence mechanism.

Sure enough, the sleeping bag eventually replies. "Do what?"

"The sucking it up on your own thing, seen it before. You go off into your own head and segregate yourself from the rest of us when you have a problem. All I'm saying is you don't have to. I'm on your team, Daniel. You can trust me."

There's another silence, and Jack wonders if that's all he's going to get until there's a sigh and Daniel's head appears.

"I do trust you," he says simply, finally, finally making some eye contact.

"So...?"

"Jack, seriously, I appreciate the offer, but..."

"It's a problem with me, isn't it?"

Daniel's eyebrows shoot up and he blinks at Jack.

"Yeah, I knew it. You've been avoiding me for a while now. C'mon. Spill."

Daniel, uncharacteristically, seems lost for words.

***

Daniel, uncharacteristically, is lost for words.

He stares stupidly at Jack, mentally kicking himself for underestimating him. Jack's right - he does withdraw when he's faced with a problem; he's learned to be self-reliant over the years. It's easier that way.

So that's what he's done. He's withdrawn from this problem. Jack: a source of temptation, a tantalizing, naked flame to a moth like Daniel. He's had to remove himself from the glow.

To save himself from being burned.

To save Jack from the potential scandal.

Daniel doesn't want to leave SG-1. He doesn't want to lose Jack's friendship. So he's stepped back, biding his time until his feelings are more controllable. And he's been doing really well with that... until Jack hooked his hand through Daniel's vest and dragged him bodily out of the destabilizing wormhole, saving his life and killing him at the same time.

Because now he's stranded on a wet planet, in a tiny, two-man tent with the source of all his problems.

"So, professional? Personal? What? You got a problem with they way I lead SG-1?"

Jack seems perfectly matter-of-fact about this, like he gets it all the time. And Daniel was feeling lost already, but now he's reeling.

"N...no."

"Okay, good. So it's personal."

Daniel wonders if he'll wake up screaming in a moment, because this has to be a nightmare.

"What? You can't stand me?" Jack grins like a maniac and Daniel is so shocked he replies.

"Hardly."

Jack looks at him, his brows drawing down in confusion before he stills and his face slowly takes on an incredulous expression.

"Jesus, Daniel! You've had me going nuts with worry. I thought it was something serious!"

And he grabs Daniel's face with both hands and kisses him.

***

That night Daniel learns to love the sound of rain on nylon.

Fin