Sunrise

by J. M. Griffin

URL: http://www.area52hkh.net/asj/jmgriffin/sunrise.php
Summary: A much younger Jack finds himself on a beach at dawn.

Everyone else had gone to Cairo for R and R, but Jack had to be perverse and go to Suez. Cairo was okay, but he was sick of the clubs and the hectic pace of the city. So he'd told the rest of 'em to fuck off and hopped the train to the coast.

He knew the minute he got off the train that he'd made the right decision. Hassan's apartment was only a block from the beach. This coastline where the desert met the sea was beautiful. Quiet and serene. Jack sat on the beach for long stretches, knowing the rest of the guys would not understand his need for solitude. They wanted raucous play to forget the horrors of the work they did. Jack wanted only peace and quiet.

On the fifth day of his six day furlough, he got up before dawn and headed for the seashore. Hassan had made him promise to do this at least once. So with only one more day left, it was now or never.

"When we are done here, we will go to my home on the Red Sea, Jack. And one morning we shall awaken early and go to watch the sunrise. Then perhaps you will understand a bit of the magic of my home."

Hassan had died three weeks ago, shot by a sniper during a Black Ops mission. His brother, Karim, had given Jack the key to the place. It was a small apartment, simple but unexpectedly elegant, full of antiques and bright rugs. And pictures of two brothers - one who would never return to this place by the sea.

On the beach at dawn, Jack thought of Hassan. Their friendship would not have been allowed if it had been found out. You could work with the natives, use what they knew, but you were never to become actual friends with them. Picking up a shell and throwing it hard into the surf, Jack found grief surging within him like the incoming tide. He'd broken the rules, but he wasn't sorry. Hell, he'd do it again.

The sun was coming up, casting orange glints on the sea, pink shadows on the sand. Suddenly, Jack didn't want to see it, and he turned to go, to run back to the apartment and never see the beauty of the sun o n the sea. But as he turned he smacked violently into someone who, for some inexplicable reason, had come up behind him.

"Fuck," He said sharply, grabbing at the kid who had apparently been jogging along the beach. Jack had to hold on tight to keep them both from going down. He looked into a pair of blue eyes behind gold-rimmed glasses.

"Oh, ah, sorry." Blue-eyes said quickly.

Jack saw a grimace of pain on the young man's face.

"Oh, shit, man," the kid muttered and sort of crumbled in Jack's hands, sliding down to sit in the sand.

"Whoa, what happened?" Jack bent down to get a better look at the leg the young man was holding.

"I think I twisted my ankle when I collided into you. It will be okay, don't worry." The kid bent his head and his hair sheeted into his face, covering the blue eyes and glasses. He batted his bangs away impatiently and looked straight into Jack's eyes.

Immediately, Jack looked away and got an entirely different eyeful. The young man had on cut-off shorts and his long, lean legs were tanned from the sun. His hands wrapped around his right ankle were long-fingered and elegant. The ankle was slightly swollen and yellow with old bruising.

"Wait a minute, you didn't do that just now." Jack accused.

"No, no, I tripped over some debris at the dig site last week. I twisted it again just now when I ran into you."

Jack straightened and then extended his hand to help the younger man up.

Blue-eyes came to his feet with another grimace. Jack found himself caught in the cerulean gaze.

"Okay, so let me buy you breakfast. It's the least I can do after re-injuring you. Hell, let me make breakfast for you." Jack said before he thought it through.

"Okay, " came the easy reply.

They walked in silence up the beach past the dunes and the short block to Karim's apartment.

"What's for breakfast?" Jack's guest said as he shook his hair out of his eyes for the umpteenth time.

"Fresh bread, hummus and eggs." Jack intoned. He had the sudden urge to drag the kid to Hassan's bedroom, to shove him down on the bed and kiss his ripe mouth.

The young man's eyes widened under Jack's scrutiny as if he somehow knew what he was thinking.

"What dig?" Jack asked as he began making omelets.

"The one at Jebel Ataga. It's under the auspices of the American University at Cairo, but I'm working as research assistant to Dr. Jordan from University of Chicago. What brought you to Egypt?"

Jack ignored the question. "How old are you."

"I'm nineteen."

"You have your degree already?" Somehow he knew this was one of those whiz kids who had made him feel stupid back in school.

"Umm, yeah, I have my master's in Archaeology. I'm taking some time off before I start my doctorate."

"I'm impressed," Jack said dryly, as he started serving the eggs. He poured them both red wine. Good stuff, French and decently old. No sense letting it go to waste, he couldn't take it back with him, that was for sure.

The kid knew good wine. Jack could see that in his eyes after he took his first sip. "Great stuff."

They drank too much and somehow ended up laughing together about the absurd little birds that ran along the shoreline.

Finally, in the midst of the laughter, the kid got up, limped over to Jack, leaned down and kissed him. It was an incredibly intoxicating kiss. Deep and luscious. Jack didn't want to come up for breath. Eventually he had to, so when he did he added, "The bedroom's that way."

They stumbled down the short hallway to the bedroom. The window was open and the curtains puffed back and forth with the morning breeze. Jack watched as the young man hopped up on the tall bed, then reached out a hand to pull him onto it also. The kid smelled like sea breezes, fruity red wine, and lust. Jack took in a deep, deep breath before he zeroed in for another kiss. His efforts were rewarded by a moan, deep and low and not at all boyish.

Jack lost himself in the silky brown hair, the long tanned neck, the smooth bare chest and lean hips. The cut-offs ended up on the floor . As Jack dipped his tongue into the newly revealed navel, the kid arched up with a short cry, but he didn't come. Not quite. Not yet.

The sun-browned hands on Jack's body were learned. Sure and talented. The boy-man skimmed Jack's nipples with his thumb pads, slid Jack's swimming trunks off, and ducked down to engulf his dick. The kid sucked and bit and soothed until Jack was so inflamed, he couldn't hold back any longer. He came with a sharp cry and was milked dry, lapped clean.

He stayed hovering over the younger man, licking his collar bone, nipping his way down the taunt body. He stopped briefly to find the lube he used when he jacked off each morning. The kid's blue eyes grew huge when Jack anointed the marvelously hefty cock. He wrenched another incredulous gasp from the plummy mouth when he centered himself over the young man's rampant flesh and let himself down, down, until he was empaled by heat and light and an incredible frisson started in him as the boy moved with such fierceness, Jack thought he' d die it felt so good. He came again as the kid climaxed in throbbing spurts that seemed to go on and on.

The blue eyes were full of tears when Jack finally slid away from him.

"Oh," he said softly. "Oh."

Jack kissed the sweet mouth, gently, thoroughly. Then they both slept for a bit.

"Tomorrow," the younger man said as Jack let him out the door, "I'll meet you on the beach in the morning."

"Yes," Jack said and he meant it. He had one more day and they'd make the most of it, starting with sunrise on the beach.

But that night Major West called and Jack was summoned back to Cairo, where he joined the others on the flight to their next assignment. He didn't see the kid again for ten years and a lifetime later. Still, he instantly recognized the blue eyes the moment he saw them that first day in the SGC. They flickered with light of a sun-lit sea and gave Jack hope.