Time

by Mandalee 

If only the horizon would stop moving.

He hated that about deserts--the way the heat melted everything, including the sky.

Desert missions sucked, because every time they gated to a world with sand, the same thing happened. He got stuck outside some honking big pyramid, sitting on a jagged broken-off column, while everyone else had something to do. It never failed. The sand wavered in the distance, the sweat burned his eyes, and he was left staring at a plane of nothing, where the only thing that moved was the skyline. All he had to do was think.

And after two days in the desert--days without cable TV, hockey play-offs, or any other damn thing--he hated that the most.

He hated the thinking.

There were so many things he didn't want to think about, and they were interfering with his...thinking. Missions he'd blown, people he'd lost, deserts he'd hated, they all came back while he stared into the rippling horizon, because he couldn't relax while something was moving out there.

God, he had to find something else to do, something to focus on until Carter reported back. He turned away from the screwy horizon, and desperately took one more look behind him.

He craned his head to stare up at the pyramid, the weathered stone tilting into the sky, trying to find something interesting, something he might have missed the last million or so times he'd tried to distract himself.

Jack prodded his mind for any echo of awed wonder--tried to remember that feeling of stupefied amazement: 'Wow, a pyramid!'

Nothing. Seen one, seen em' all.

He turned around.

The horizon was waiting.

Please Carter, now would be good. Now would be great. Come on, Carter; you can do it.

This was driving him crazy.

Every time he looked up, his mind ploughed into another painful memory--over and over, until he thought he'd lose it. And that thought led him to think about Dr. Jackson, the cure for what ailed him.

Well, the temporary cure.

But thoughts of Daniel led to thoughts of sex, which led to huge boners Jack had to hide, which sucked in new and different ways.

Jack couldn't win.

Not that boners were a bad thing, necessarily. His aging little buddy could come to attention like a teenager, for Daniel. But sporting major wood on mission was a no-no, and Jack could only grind his teeth for so long before he had a headache.

So he'd compromised. His mind fixed on the 'Daniel' things he worried about. Wasn't the human mind amazing--a compromise that pleased nobody.

Jack had been in the military too long.

First, he reviewed the specifics: Daniel shuddering in pain; Daniel with his side burned away; Daniel dead. That always won over his dick, but it was still a little hard on the old jaw muscles. So he moved on to generalities: Daniel's rose-colored glasses had filled a few hours; Daniel's willingness to trust the weirdest people filled a few more. But between worry and fear, Jack's fantasies had looped again and again, his cock hardening against and with his will.

Nights where fumbling hands pulled at his zipper, eager fingers sliding against his cock. Hesitant eyes darted up to gleam in the darkness, before a tongue licked out to taste.

Jack had been hard for hours.

But those nights had been pretty scarce of late. One mission after another, with Daniel working all hours to find a baby Jack didn't believe in, until he saw the nipper with his own eyes.

Boy, had Jack been wrong about that one.

Alien baby clothes sure were weird. The kid had been wearing some kind of tiny velvet turban thing, and Daniel had looked at the little guy with those eyes, half triumph and all serious, as glowing light took Daniel's last connection to Sha're away.

And Jack and Daniel were left with each other, which made Jack happy. And he was pretty sure Daniel liked the whole mind-blowing-orgasm-every-time thing, but...

Something wasn't right.

Jack had his suspicions, magnified by the rippling scenery on this hellhole--and he had his plans, helped on by the same.

Yes, he had his solution; he had a plan. Hey, he might not be the best thinker in the world, but he was a hell of a planner. They didn't put birds on a guy's shoulders if he couldn't strategize. Jack bared his teeth at the endless line of sand. I'm going to win, you son of a bitch! As soon as Carter calls her position, your ass is mine!

Jack stopped; thought about it. That wasn't quite right.

He smiled tightly. Whatever.

But some plans were more difficult to implement than others, unfortunately. That was the worst thing about command, when the plan wouldn't come together because the parts just wouldn't fit.

Whoops, he was back to Daniel again. Damn, he was getting more desperate by the minute.

Oh yeah, Jack knew about frustration, and he'd learned even more inside that damned stone torture chamber behind him.

Carter, if you've ever come through for me, now's the time. Come on, baby. You can do it Carter; I'm counting on you, Major. Come on, Blondie!

Oops, that wasn't quite PC. Come on you flamingly brilliant fellow officer, you. Just call in; that's all I need.

Jack tried various Carter encouraging cheers, throwing in periodic Teal'c encouragement from time to time. But he knew it was Carter who'd come through for him this time. After all, it'd taken him all morning, but he'd pissed her off royally before she'd volunteered to inspect another pyramid 5 clicks away.

Jack knew Carter. Irritation would carry her to the pyramid in record time, and absolute disgust would keep her reconnoitering way past the time an ordinary soldier would give up. Yes, Carter had amazing reserves of patience, but he'd managed to crack her, all the same.

Hey, it was for an important cause, for Daniel.

Not that Daniel had any clue either. In fact, if Jack had to pick which one wanted him muzzled more, Daniel or Sam, he'd declare a solid draw.

Damn, he was good.

Not that he'd been trying to piss them off. Oh no, he'd managed that entirely on autopilot. He realized he'd been a complete asshole only after he'd seen steam rising from Carter's already overheated brain.

While admiring the effect, he'd thought about apologizing, then he realized.

This could work.

He'd apologize to Carter after his apology to Daniel. And he'd get as much mileage out of Carter's aggravation as he could... all 5 K's worth.

He hoped he wouldn't have to eat too much crow, because he had no clue how his apology to Daniel would go down.

Go down. Maybe his mind was trying to tell him something. Maybe now wasn't the time for anything strenuous. He could put off the heavy-duty stuff for their homecoming, and...

Bullshit. He'd been thinking about this for fucking months. He'd been... 'training' for weeks.

Well, really, he hadn't thought it would be on mission, but this was no ordinary mission, and he was ready, as ready as he'd ever be.

"Colonel."

Carter's tinny voice chirped in his ear.

Yes!

Jack kept his voice steady, kept his cool.

"Go ahead, Carter." he readjusted his earpiece, trying for his usual suave tones.

"We're at the pyramid, sir. It looks deserted, no sign of hostiles."

Jack squinted at the sand again; damn that stuff looked hot. "As expected, Carter. Don't know why you wanted to go there, anyway."

There was a moment of silence.

Careful, Jack. You want her to stay out for a while, not march back double-time and strangle her CO.

But Teal'c took up the battle. "MajorCarter and I judged there would be great benefit from examining any structure other than the one you currently inhabit, O'Neill. This conclusion has not changed. Have you any instructions?"

Carter was still suspiciously silent, probably slapping Teal'c on the back and giving him the high sign. But Jack could ignore the not so subtle insult. Heck, he deserved it. He grinned, carefully keeping the smile out of his voice.

"No, just don't bother reporting your position every half hour. Just radio when you you're in sight of home base; wouldn't want anybody accidentally shot when you get back." And it would give him plenty of uninterrupted time to accomplish the plan.

There was more silence. Sam and Teal'c obviously thinking that somebody's accidental shooting might be a good thing.

Finally, Sam replied, "Understood, Colonel." Ah yes, Sam had her soldier voice under full control. She might want to off Jack right now, but she'd never say it. However, if looks could kill...

To be honest, if looks could kill, Daniel would have been booked on Murder One five seconds into the mission briefing.

Well, it was time to make amends, right old wrongs, boldly go where no man had gone before.

That was it. That one was just right.

Jack stood tall, heard his spine crack. Sliding his hand inside his jacket, his fingers touched over a few necessary items he'd been carrying all day, next to his skin, like a lucky charm.

Those details checked, he inspected the sand once more before he turned away. No hostiles, no scenery, no nothing--just shimmering endless heat: what a way to miss the playoffs.

But this wasn't about the playoffs--at least, not anymore. This was about the past and the future, and what he wanted that future to be. And his future was inside the pyramid.

So Jack turned his back on his enemy, and stepped through the huge stone archway.

Crunching sand became silent stone as he strode through dim hallways. Gathering speed, he passed through about thirty doors, twisted around a fallen statue, and nearly tripped down the stairs to stop, cold.

There was only one question left.

How long could one man sit and stare at crap?

Watching Daniel's inert body, Jack had his answer.

Forever, apparently.

Jack sighed, and stared at Daniel for the millionth time that morning. Yes, he was about to officially go out of his skull with frustration.

The huge room hadn't changed since Jack's last ego pummeling attempt to raise the spirit of Dr. Daniel Jackson. The high windows concentrated this sun's light in the center of the room, captured in a circle of red and blue tiles. Other windows left boxes of light on the walls, barely helping the few portable lamps Daniel used for reading. Their packs were the only normal thing in the room, sporadic lumps of khaki, shoving themselves against the walls, covering the colorful designs in light sucking dullness.

The lighted ring of symbols in the room's center held other clumps, as well as Daniel's laptop and books. All that light, just for a few piles of rocks, a few mounds of clay: what a waste. The real star of the show, the real attraction, lay just out of the light. Apparently he hadn't moved for the last hour, as far as Jack could tell.

Well, he'd given Daniel all the time he could spare.

Oh, he'd tried to be fair. He'd tried the soft option, the diplomatic approach. Jack was, after all, a huge fan of subtlety. But each attempt had been deflected off Daniel's impenetrable, single-minded, totally clueless, nerd-tunnel-vision armor plated hide.

Ever since Carter and Teal'c had left, Jack had been trying to get Daniel's attention, with absolutely no success.

But this was crunch time.

And look at him! The crazy bastard was planted in the dust, peering at another piece of nameless junk, when they could be...

Jack set his hand against the wall and drummed his fingers. He couldn't believe it! For two brain-pummeling days, he'd watched Daniel examine and catalog various pieces of unidentifiable... dirt. Jack knew those pieces of crap were important. If he hadn't, the General and Daniel had been more than willing to fill him in. So he'd played along.

In good commander form, Jack had gone about his business: securing the perimeter, looking for hostiles, eating MRE's. But that could only occupy a guy for so long, and so...

Well, basically, Jack had run out of constructive things to do by the first afternoon. And for some reason, Daniel kept sending him outside, instead of giving him something else to do. Factor in the whole horizon-moving-making-him-think-thing and...

Well, like any active goal-oriented guy, Jack had been thinking up unconstructive--

--well, not unconstructive. They were more like creative--

Yeah, creative things to do since then.

Hell, the army had been encouraging initiative, lately. Well, Jack's plan showed plenty. In fact, this was more initiative than he'd ever attempted in his life; which, all modesty aside, was really saying something.

If only he could get Daniel out of single-minded scientist mode.

Jack had known it would be hard, being together with a genius. That was the worst thing about brainy types; they never wanted to play, just sit around and do their dull stuff. Jack remembered tons of times when he was a kid:

'Go sit and read with Timmy, Jack,'

'No way Mom, the guys are playin'! I'm not hanging around with that geek, no way!'

And yet, here he was; still stuck inside, still waiting for somebody to realize there was fun out there.

Well, he hoped Daniel would think it was fun. In fact, he just hoped Daniel would spend less than a half-hour arguing; they were on a schedule.

Actually, now that Jack remembered it, Timmy had been an all right little guy, having a decent grasp of astronomy and a totally cool comic book collection. But Timmy could never understand that there were other things to do with their time, other things that didn't involve complete personal inertia or terminal eyestrain.

Great. His mother was now General Hammond. 'You will schedule the mission ASAP, Colonel, won't you?'

Yessir, sir. Thank you, sir. Right away, sir. Three bags full, sir. Bending over, sir.

And Daniel...

Well, Daniel was Timmy all over again, only with a great body and a million times the brainpower. But still stuck in geek overdrive.

In the months that he had been obsessed with Daniel: Daniel's body, Daniel's eyes, Daniel's incredible...

But he was getting off track; this was focus time.

In the few months that he'd been seeing Daniel--what a wimpy term for the most amazing sex he'd ever had in his life. Jesus, why was Daniel so damn...

Damn.

That was the problem. Daniel Jackson was one hell of a smart guy, and amazingly focused on the things he decided were important. It was just that Jack and Daniel often had different opinions on what those things actually were.

And Jack had learned, after several terminal cases of blue balls, that the direct approach did not work.

When they were having a drink? Sure. When they were out of Daniel's lab? No problemo. But find Daniel some thousand year-old dirt, and his body shut down to scavenge power for his brain.

It didn't mean that there was no hope; Daniel could be coaxed out of this fugue thing of his. If Jack was careful and sneaky, he could do it. But it took time, which he'd just run out of.

Since Carter and Teal'c had reported in, Jack knew to a minute how long it would take them to return to home base. And so...

There was only one way to quickly break Daniel's concentration, and it was risky.

Well, risk was Jack's middle name, and it was worth it. He had nothing more to lose, his sanity having gone out the window about two hours ago. The fallout had convinced Carter and Teal'c that it might be a good idea to put some distance between their lunatic commander and themselves.

Yeah, Jack did a good lunatic.

But he also gave good strategy: like now.

So he pushed himself away from the wall, and paced firmly over to a huge book two feet from Daniel's head. With no ceremony, and definitely without asking, Jack sat on his new perch. The book was about as merciless as the sand outside, but hopefully he wouldn't be stuck there for long. Thunking his boots against the floor, he stared at his target.

Okay, this was worth staring at. Daniel Jackson at work was a still life worthy of appreciation.

Daniel's long legs lay sprawled in the dirt, his desert camouflage uniform doing something different for his dirty blonde hair. A light sheen of sweat brought a glow to his face, framing his intense eyes as he completely missed the fact that Jack was planted right in front of him.

Irritated as he was, it was at times like this that Jack wished he had some sort of special vocabulary, some special words that would describe how amazing Daniel looked laid out on the grimy floor.

Was it the hands: long fingers gracefully handling each piece of ...something... with an almost paranoid caution?

Was it the face: lips pursed, eyes fixed in solemn brainitude?

Was it the body: lean and relaxed while Daniel's gray matter took over the work?

The body: Jack was definitely voting for the body.

Jack had never noticed stuff like that before, never given a damn whether he could describe his lovers in sappy detail.

But Daniel was different, and Jack knew why. None of the others had ever meant as much, touched him as much, made him feel so much.

Damn, he felt stupid saying that. He'd been around the block: married, fuck buddies, one night stands. He should be too old for feelings. He should be too old to feel this great.

Too old for Daniel.

But, if that were the case, then why was he about to descend into extreme juvenility just to get into Daniel's pants?

Well, mainly, because they were there.

Good enough for Everest, and Daniel used it to justify brain thumpingly boring expeditions, like this one.

And, because Jack had an idea--well, really, it was an obsession. It had been rooting around in his mind for months. Every time Daniel opened himself, every time Jack entered Daniel's tight warmth, every time Daniel relaxed as Jack pushed deep, Jack knew.

It was time.

So, yesterday afternoon Jack had been staring into the distance, trying not to think about his dead son, Daniel's dead wife, and the uncertain future. The horizon had moved and taunted, shoving Jack's frustration right in his face. And he had looked at the nothing surrounding the pyramid, at Carter's cold shoulder and Teal'c's laser glare and thought... 'Why the hell not?

It was time.

And he couldn't shake it--didn't want to shake it.

It was an obsession of such monumental proportions, such awesome coolness, that Jack knew he could get Daniel on board.

And, if he knew Daniel, which he did in every sense of the word, Daniel would be grateful.

Eventually.

So he scooted the book, and himself, a little closer--ending up firmly in Daniel's personal space.

He waited, knowing it would take Daniel a while to surface. Sure enough, three minutes later, his buddy finally took the bait.

"Did you...um..." Daniel always said 'um' when his brain was triple tasking "did you want something, Jack?"

Okaay, at least Daniel remembered Jack's name, even if he wouldn't look up from his current...stuff.

Jack mentally thwacked himself on the forehead; what had he been thinking? Why even try the soft option? When Daniel was this far under, subtle type stuff was useless. Forget meaningful glances. Forget the inadvertent bump.

Get over it, O'Neill. Let's get the ball rolling, and past time.

Direct was out. Subtle was out.

So Jack tried for flippant. "No. No. Didn't want anything--not at all," he said airily, "Just thinking about the hockey playoffs. The score. Fights. Needless violence in sports. The meaning of life. That sort of thing. Why do you ask?" He took a rapid survey of the room, spotting their bedrolls in the corner, where they'd been the last fifty times he'd checked.

This little detail cleared, he focused back to watch Daniel Jackson in thrilling slo-mo.

Daniel brushed some dust off of a piece of dirt. He inspected the dirt carefully before tossing it into a pile with other pieces of dirt. He then picked up another piece of dirt, cleared his throat, and began speaking in his patient voice: the one Jack hated.

"I, um...asked because I could have sworn you stalked in, stared at me for five minutes, and then sat on my chief reference book. So I thought you might want something. From me, that is."

Now, at this point, when dealing with anybody else, Jack would have said, 'I've got a great idea for some hot sex, let's do it,' and everything would have been copacetic.

But, having been shot down enough times to qualify for clay pigeon status, Jack had learned not to do that.

Something about brainy types and delayed gratification; they were really into self-denial, and it sucked.

So, from time to time, when the direct approach was out, and the subtle approach had failed, Jack was left with the hard option.

The thermonuclear bomb in the war of nookie, the never-fail way to get Daniel's mind off his baked mud:

Piss Daniel off.

Jack didn't do it often, just when he was desperate. And...

He was desperate.

Sometimes the end did justify the means.

So Jack widened his eyes at his wary victim, and fired another salvo.

"Well, I guess it must have been your imagination, Daniel," he said cheerfully, waving one hand jauntily, "but don't mind me, I don't mean to get in your way or anything." Years of practice had perfected the art of apologizing without sounding apologetic--a life skill in the military.

Direct hit. Irritable light eyes glared up through wire frames as Daniel said, "Well, I'm sorry to bother you, but I'm having a hard time concentrating while you're planted on my reference material. Now I know that's the effect you wanted, but you're obviously forgetting one thing here, Jack."

Oh good, the first cracks were appearing; Jack must be getting better at this. Much better than the last four or five times he tried this...this month.

And Daniel was still going!

"I mean, think about it, Jack." The latest piece of dirt hit the pile with a little more force.

"The longer it takes me to finish this" One irritable finger jerked toward the pile, "the longer it takes to get back to base. Therefore, if you want to get back anytime this century I suggest you..." Daniel's jaw clenched, obviously biting off something creative.

Come on, Daniel; don't hold back!

"...hand me that book." That last might have wound down a little, but he still sounded nicely crabby. Jack wished Daniel had finished the original suggestion; it would have saved time.

But that was Daniel, always doing things the hard way.

Daniel's book request had potential, though. Jack looked obliviously for any stray books; Daniel hated it when he acted oblivious. "That one?" Jack asked, pointing to a book by Daniel's feet, "or this one?" he asked, thumping the huge book supporting his butt. Daniel was bound to wear down sooner or later, sooner if Jack kept up the clueless act.

"Well, since you're sitting on the larger one, and I could pick up the other one myself, I must want you to move your rear end, and Hand. Me. theBook."

Yeah, Daniel was breaking; he sounded like a demented day-care worker. Why, Jack couldn't imagine, but it always started that way.

Jack ignored the order; he didn't feel like standing up. The book was comfortable, and Jack needed to hurry this along.

For a few silently pointed minutes, Daniel ignored Jack's passive aggression. Just as Jack started to worry, Daniel made another attempt.

He kept his eyes firmly fixed on the latest dirt object and asked mildly, "I don't understand the big deal about watching the playoffs live, anyway. You're going to see them on tape."

Jack ignored this blatant male heresy. Daniel just wasn't a jock, that's all. He just didn't understand. Jack could forgive him.

Apparently recognizing that this shot had failed, Daniel tried another. He inspected the large fragment in his hand for several excruciating minutes before he said, "I mean, I thought I heard you ordering--oops, sorry--suggesting to Simmons that he record the games for you." Daniel gently tossed the fragment aside and picked up another for an even more irritating inspection. "If I understand military life, that's the kind of brown nosing favor Colonels expect to extract from their helpless underlings." Gauging the damage, Daniel stared meaningfully at Jack before he picked up a third piece of something nobody cared about but him.

Oh, how sweet. An insult.

Jack loved it when Daniel tried to be mean. Hostility was so counter to Daniel's personality that most insults just came out sounding...snide.

Well, Jack could work with snide; he'd had great success with snide in the past. After snide came irritable, then pissed off, and then...

"You know, Daniel, that's the cool thing about you; you're so quick on the uptake." Jack was pleased with the tone: conversational, yet sarcastic. "Three years ago you had no clue about the essential nature of the American Military, and now... now you can spot the finer points without any help at all."

There, that should push him closer towards the edge.

Daniel inspected the latest piece of rock, but Jack knew it was only a diversion.

But he didn't look up. "Doesn't sarcasm get tiring after a while, Jack?" he asked, sounding snidely distracted. One hand moved, as if on its own, and pointed to Jack's left foot. "Hand me that brush, will you?"

Damn, Daniel was becoming one with the dirt again. But Jack wouldn't give up. Not because this was the only game in town, no. It was the principle of the thing. No brain was gonna beat him, not even his brain. Jack shook his head. He had to stop thinking; it was getting him in trouble.

He tried another shot, "Don't these rocks get tiring after awhile, Danny-boy?" Jack looked down; there was something under his left heel. He picked it up and offered it to Daniel. "This brush?"

Daniel looked up with narrowed eyes. "Yes, the one you just um... flattened for me, thank you Jack. That one. And no, the artifacts don't get tiring; just you."

Oh yeah, now Daniel was nicely peeved. Maybe Jack should step on something else. He looked around for likely victims while he answered, "Oh, and I'm the one with a sarcasm problem. Do the words 'Pot' and 'Kettle' mean anything to you, Daniel?"

"Why yes, Jack," answered Daniel with complete certainty, "They mean you have a cliché for every occasion."

To hell with stepping, this meant war! Jack picked up the small book and hefted it meaningfully.

"No! Don't throw that! The binding might break."

Daniel didn't look up, though. How did he do that?

"What about this?" Jack lifted a grenade on his belt.

"You'll have to pull the pin, first."

Jack stopped playing with the grenade. Daniel wasn't moving to irritable, like normal; he'd gone straight to pissed. He just kept brushing away at whatever the hell that was in his hands, and wouldn't look at Jack.

Hell. Jack didn't want him angry, just distracted from the academic tunnel vision thing. Houston, we have a problem.

Okay, he knew what to do. Daniel would calm down if he held back and listened for a few minutes. Daniel was a lot like his ex-wife that way--something about 'validating their feelings'. The things he did for Daniel, and awesomely hot sex.

"Jack, you started complaining during the briefing."

Jack had a hard time swallowing the comeback. He didn't remember it as complaining, more like making his opinion known.

"You kept at it all through mission prep. I think you stepped through the gate mid-word, not a pause."

Now that was an exaggeration. Jack remembered coughing when he went through the gate. A guy couldn't cough and talk at the same time.

"And the hike," Daniel said disgustedly. "Well, let me put it this way. If the Bataan death march had a hockey enthusiast, I know what it was like. So, if anyone's tempted to use that grenade..." Daniel stopped, looked down at the latest fragment, dirt obsessed again. "See this? Look at this!" Daniel held the piece out toward Jack. "Does this look like the cartouche for Earth?"

Jack squinted, "Nah, more like a little 'o' with legs... Oww!"

Daniel glared at Jack through narrowed eyes before replacing his hat on the floor. Jack thought he might be thinking of hitting Jack again, just for good measure.

Oh good, this was normal pissed off. Inwardly relieved, Jack kept up the clueless act. "What?! What did I do?! You asked!"

He also felt real pride. Daniel had learned the hat-hitting thing from him, as part of his anti-geek training. Jack believed it was a necessary part of regular guy-hood. Hitting was the foundation of all contact sports; he'd read it somewhere. Honest.

Daniel's grim voice spoke from behind a larger fragment of junk. "I regret the question already." Oh goody, Daniel was fed up; fed up was always good. Now he'd start searching for reasonable solutions, totally forgetting Jack had passed reasonable a couple of days ago.

"All right, I want the book and you're bored," said Daniel. "Don't you have Colonel things to do? Perimeters to check, plants to kill, that sort of thing? Anything?" He leaned to reach a particularly interesting piece of dirt, but stopped to stare up at Jack, "Anything that will get you outside. That kind of anything."

Oh cool, Daniel was actually fidgeting, always a good sign. Jack kept his butt planted firmly on the book in question. "Nope. Done it. Hot outside."

"Great." Daniel's hand wavered over another piece of junk while his brain grappled. Jack always imagined this was like Star Trek, when they distracted the computer with some unsolvable puzzle. The computer started to break down and come up with stupid stuff, like now.

"Why didn't you go with Sam and Teal'c?" asked Daniel desperately.

He had to be kidding, but he didn't sound like it. His voice had gone from fed up to plaintive. He sounded hot plaintive; this was turning out better than Jack expected.

Jack kept pushing Daniel's buttons, waiting for the right reaction.

He rested his chin in his hand. "Hot. Hike. Boring. Nope." There, Daniel hated it when Jack went monosyllabic; he interpreted it as an insult, which it was.

"Super," said Daniel irritably, glaring at Jack. "With company like this, I can't imagine why they'd want to get away." His eyes turned panicked. "Don't touch that! You might break it!"

Jack had picked up one of Daniel's eraser-brush thingies.

Jack looked up incredulously. "How can you break this?"

Really, Daniel could go overboard sometimes.

"I don't know how; I just know that in your present state anything is possible. Drop it. Thank You. Okay, I don't care about the book. Just go back to staring, whatever...and leave me alone."

Daniel glared back at his stuff, pointedly ignoring Jack. Darn, and they'd been so close. Jack wasn't about to give up now; it was almost a done deal.

Maybe if he gave Daniel an opening. "Wait. Are you insinuating that Teal'c and Carter just hiked 5 K's to get away from me?"

His fish nibbled again. "Yes, I believe that was my point." Daniel sounded smug. Well, Jack would change that lickety-split.

"That's low, Jackson. Even for you."

Keep it going, they were getting closer.

Daniel looked up again, before shaking his head and picking up something off of the nearest pile. "No, Jack. It's not. Here. Brush the dirt off of this, but don't break it--at least not without showing it to me first." Daniel's long fingers glanced against Jack's as he accepted a triangle covered with confusing squiggles. Jack felt that touch all the way to his cock, which jumped in response.

Christ, he was hard up.

Concentrate, Jack. He focused on the dusty...doo-dad. Oh, look. The teacher had given him something to keep him busy. Well, Jack could brush with the best of them, no matter what Daniel thought. And keep his mind focused on the plan.

Jack grabbed back the confiscated eraser-brush thingee before Daniel could stop him. "Since when is it not low to insult a buddy? And when have I ever broken any of your stuff?!"

"Whatever, Jack. Maybe if you were a little more gentle with the..."

Jack blew softly at the dust, thought about blowing in Daniel's ear, "Gentle. You're saying I'm rough with these babies?" Jack started to feel annoyed himself. How could Daniel, of all people, say that he wasn't gentle with rocks?

Daniel carefully set down his brush before he looked up to face Jack, "What I'm saying is that you've been even more exasperating than usual for this entire mission, and I'd prefer you didn't add property destruction to the list before we left."

Oh yeah. Daniel was almost there. He'd left his dirt completely, and come out fighting. This was gonna be good.

Jack took the opportunity to smirk his most aggravating smirk, the one he saved for visiting brass.

"Wow, Daniel. Don't hold back. Tell us how you really feel."

Come on, baby; show me what you got.

And Daniel did, unfortunately. Daniel turned serious. "I mean, Jack, you are SG-1's commanding officer. You could have convinced Hammond to postpone the mission for a few days."

Ouch, a real hit. Jack didn't like having to admit the truth on that one.

So he put on his best Colonel face. "US Military operations do not get postponed for the playoffs." That sounded tough, for a lie. But Daniel deserved the truth, as painful as it was. He dropped the act, and made eye contact for the awful reality, "Actually, that's what the General said when I tried." Hr looked woefully over for sympathy, "I thought Hammond was going to bust a gut."

Daniel shook his head, obviously writing off Jack's remaining sanity, and went back to the dirt: so much for sympathy.

Jack's mind replayed Hammond's 'immediate go' order, his fist clenching just a little too tightly. He felt something break, heard the clink of cracking pottery.

Oops. Jack winced and waited for the explosion.

"JACK!" Damn, an irate Daniel could pump out some decibels. "I told you not to break it before I had a chance to look at it!"

The look on Daniel's face--like Jack had just flushed his fish down the toilet.

"Damn, sorry Daniel, I just wasn't..." Jack felt like shit. He'd always tried to be so careful with Daniel's stuff. And this could kibosh the whole plan. Crap. He tried to bluff his way out of the hole he'd just dug, holding the fragments out for Daniel's worried inspection. As far as he could tell, it was FUBAR, just like his plan.

"You can still see the writing," he soothed. He also had the grace to feel like scum as he looked down at the crushed fragments in his hand.

"Yeah, every other word! What was I thinking?! You can't be trusted with anything right now; you're like some kind of hockey obsessed toddler!"

Yes! Houston, we have lift-off! Daniel's voice held just the right amount of irritation and exasperation. It was risky right after his screw up, but Jack recognized the signs. All systems go!

Now the only thing left to do was reel him in.

"Now that hurts. No need to get personal, Daniel." He carefully placed the crumbled piece of clay off to one side, and surreptitiously brushed his hands. This was the most delicate part of the operation. Well maybe not the most delicate, but close.

Daniel was looking around, definitely knocked out of his tunnel vision, jerkily reorganizing various piles of dirt. "No, Jack. Just go back to staring. Whatever. I don't care what! Be bored out of your mind! I am through trying to find ways to keep you busy. Go... shoot at cans or something."

This actually stopped Jack. "Shoot at cans?" That was a new one; Jack smiled to himself.

"You get the essential meaning, yes. Go!" Daniel ordered, pointing back to the stairs.

Now all Jack had to do was get into position. Piece of cake.

"Daniel, unless it's escaped your admittedly large brain, civilians do not tell their commanders to 'Go' during military missions."

"No, Jack. You are not going to play the 'I am your commander' card. Right now you are just one more incompetent student assistant I have to throw off a dig. Go."

Jack stood up slowly, careful to make no sudden moves. He kept up the distracting patter. "Hey, that really hurts. Deep inside. I'm feeling awfully rejected over here."

"Well, we wouldn't want to damage your vulnerable psyche now, would we? So why don't you just leave me alone, and nobody will get hurt." Daniel's eyes darted to the book; obviously thinking of grabbing it while it was unoccupied.

"Oh, a tough guy. You know, Daniel, I don't think I'll go. Instead, I want to stay here and prove something: defend my manhood, so to speak." Jack was close to Daniel now; close enough to let his intentions bleed into his words.

Daniel's head jerked up; his eyes bright and focused. He looked at Jack, really looked at Jack: all the way down, stopping at his crotch. Awareness entered his eyes.

Now Daniel gets it. Literally.

"Your...manhood." Daniel swallowed; the junk in his hands dropped, unnoticed.

Yeah, Jack had Daniel right where he wanted him.

Daniel stared, his mouth half open, his eyes blinking in rapid thought.

Jack braced himself while he moved in; let the arguing begin.

"I can't believe it. I've practically gone blind trying to finish this so you can get back for your stupid game, and you want to..." More blinking, followed closely by head shaking. "I mean, you've been such a jerk about it, I had no idea you were trying to--I mean I thought you were just being an idiot like you have the last few days--not trying to do what I see you want to do and Jack, let's talk about this, Jack. Just listen."

Daniel stopped for a breath, thank God. Jack halted, about ten inches away.

Daniel tried to stay unaffected, and failed miserably, his breathing quickening, his voice breaking. "Jack, this, um...this isn't a good idea." Daniel slanted to look up at Jack, one arm moving behind him so he could lean back to meet Jack's eyes. This new position pulled Daniel's t-shirt tight over his lean chest. Nice effect, that.

Daniel snapped his fingers in front of one tantalizing pec. "Jack, focus. You told me this wasn't a good idea; remember? You explained the strategic ramifications. Remember the strategic ramifications talk, Jack? I know I do. You gave me a thirty-minute talk on responsibility and appropriateness. Responsibility and appropriateness, Jack!"

Ah yes, the 'talk'. Jack had such good intentions, when he set out those rules. But once and a while, he got tired of the road to Hell. He'd weighed the risks, minimal as they were, against the benefits, which were stupendous, if he did say so himself. This was a no-brainer.

He hoped Daniel could read the purpose in his eyes. "Oh, I think it's a very good idea, Daniel." He smiled his most predatory smile as he stopped inches from Daniels body. He stared down, admiring Daniel leaning back, admiring the pose and the body, before he checked Daniel's face. Daniel's expression combined worried rabbit with irritable scholar. Jack knew it was the sign of a sick mind; but he found the combination particularly sexy. Sexy and useful, because it meant Jack could predict Daniel's next move.

Come on, Daniel; tell me why it's a bad idea. You know that makes me hot. "Jack, we had a talk," Daniel started to inch back, as Jack bent closer, "about this. We um...we swore that missions were absolutely...absolutely off limits."

Daniel was starting to look desperate: also a hot look for him. Jack enjoyed Daniel's expressions; they were so easy to read. It was the talking at inopportune times thing Jack had a problem with. Daniel was still trying to argue, but not that hard.

This was the same guy who regularly convinced armed strangers to lay down their guns. Jack knew Daniel was willing, and not just from the small tent in his pants. An unwilling Daniel would've had Jack on his knees at the very beginning, apologizing for being a dick. That thought also had a certain appeal. Maybe later.

Right now Jack needed to get the ball rolling, so to speak. He kneeled down, ignoring his knees, and put his hands on Daniel's shoulders--his mind set firmly on his mission goal.

Daniel babbled on, torn between worry and excitement. "Remember we talked about what a bad idea it was, and how it was dangerous and a bad idea and Jack, it's not that I don't want to, but you said it was a bad ideumph."

Lip lock, works every time.

Jack curved his hands to frame Daniel's face, his lips drinking deep. Daniel's mouth parted, letting Jack's tongue lick inside, tasting so sweet. Jack tilted, went deeper, wanting to taste deeper, needing to feel his lips hard against Daniel's. Two hands met around Jack's neck, clutching him closer.

Jack broke the kiss to look down at Daniel's glazed eyes. He cleared his throat, tried to sound normal. "You know, Daniel. I love shutting you up...like that." Didn't quite make it.

"But Jammph." Jack planted another lung sucking kiss, which Daniel returned with interest. Oh, yeah. Nothing got Daniel's blood pumping like a good argument. Jack carefully lowered Daniel's zipper, his fingers fumbling with the buttons of Daniel's pants.

"You just go all spacey, like I hit a button or something." Jack had to keep teasing; he knew Daniel could take it. Daniel might not be able to answer coherently, but he needed it. The teasing kept that overpowered brain from interfering with the action.

"I nee...need to..." Daniel submitted to Jack's urgent hands, letting Jack strip him while he visibly struggled to form rational thought. Slip off the jacket, pull off the radio, unbuckle the belt, hike down the pants: it was always so great to watch the clothes drop away.

Until Jack rubbed Daniel's cock through cotton blend briefs, and all protests choked into one long moan. Daniel's eyes darkened, and he stopped with an indrawn breath, before he bent one knee, and drew his thighs apart to let Jack in closer. Daniel's head dropped forward, "Oh Jack, f-feels so...so good," was the only thing to make it out of Dr. Jackson's brain. "Oh, Daniel you are awesome, fantastic, stupendous..." Jack kissed Daniel hard and fast while he rubbed. Daniel's lips clung to his as Jack pulled away, and Daniel made a small sound of protest. Jack felt like some kind of sex god when Daniel got like this. The feelings amazed him, and he owed it all to Daniel. So he did his very best to ensure Daniel felt amazingly good every time. Every time.

Mostly.

But this would even things. This would give Daniel what he deserved.

Like now, "You like it when I touch you there, don't you Daniel?" Jack stroked harder, just to hear the moans. "And what about here." Jack took his hand off Daniel's penis, caressing one finger feather light over Daniel's balls. Daniel gasped, jumped a little. Sensitive...yeah. Those guys should get a workout today.

"You like that too; don't you, Daniel. Those soft little guys right next to my best buddy." Daniel tried to nod, but it was a pathetic effort. Time to move to the next phase of the operation.

Jack gently patted Daniel's dick one last time, regretfully leaving it for later. He grabbed the pants and briefs, started to work them off. "Let's pull these puppies down. Just like that."

Daniel raised his hips in silent capitulation. Jack got them halfway down before he realized he'd forgotten something. He looked around, found their packs. He lifted one finger, "Stay like that, Daniel. Don't move."

Daniel leaned back on his hands, his erect cock jutting up from his trapped legs. A nest of hair framed the smooth length as it cried for attention.

Daniel's eyes had lost a little of their cloudy look. And Jack was afraid he'd say no; ruin the moment. But instead Daniel reached one shaking hand over to shove the piles of dirt away, clearing a space for them. Finished, his eyes traveled back up Jack's body. Jack felt those eyes like burn like acid.

Not a nerd...not a geek.

That kind of guy wouldn't risk like this, want like this. Daniel was incredible, totally different from the cloistered man who'd gone to Abydos. Yes, Jack was the luckiest bastard alive; his lover had moved from male virgin to sexual powerhouse in a few short months. So this wouldn't be some fast fuck and grope. He needed some padding. No hard stone for these old knees or Daniel's great ass.

Maybe that should be Daniel's great knees and Jack's old ass.

Jack jerked up quickly and stumbled to their gear. He picked a bedroll, his rifle, and the radio. He already had lotion and condoms in his pant's pocket; he'd been keeping them warm all day long. Normally, he'd be doing that for Daniel's comfort. But this time, he thought with determined humor, he'd done it for his own.

His gun and his condoms, damn he was good. He put the gun down close. Even 99% sure, the one percent was too much risk to relax completely. He rolled out the bedroll next to Daniel and looked up.

Even through the desire, Daniel watched Jack's preparations with a jaundiced eye. He was still a little feisty. Jack liked him that way; fighting wasn't fun if the other guy wimped out.

Jack tapped the sleeping bag meaningfully. Daniel stared at Jack for a protracted, and intentionally annoying, moment, before slowly scooting over. His cock had faded a little, but that wouldn't be a problem for long.

Jack was so stoked! The plan was working!

"Everybody all present and accounted for, and Winky's still saluting. Yeah, let's get these clothes off, Daniel. I have got an idea." Jack didn't stop, untying Daniel's boots with manic speed, keeping one eye on the uncooperative laces, and one eye on the potentially uncooperative archeologist.

Daniel lay back on his elbows. "An idea. Really." Daniel met Jack's eyes over his wire-rims. "And are you sure you've thought this...idea...through, Jack?"

Darn, Jack was busy with the feet; it would be impossible to get to Daniel's mouth before he made his point. Oh well, he could take a little conversation; it just meant he got to shut Daniel up all over again.

Jack tried a reassuring smile, "Definitely, Daniel. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that this is a very good idea. Call it a sanity break--a really overdue sanity break."

Overdue in more ways than one.

Jack knew Daniel wouldn't let it go that easily. "But you gave me all sorts of reasons before, basically threatened my life if I ever tried anything on a mission. What if Sam and Teal'c come back? What about intruders? What about all the reasons we said we'd never do this. And what exactly is this idea, specifically?"

Daniel's dick was almost back to normal, and Jack's had lost a little momentum as well. Damn, he had spoken too soon.

This was a definitely a nerd moment. Daniel had the most screwed up priorities sometimes. Just because Jack had said it might get them killed, Daniel was worried. He should have realized by now that Jack had planned this carefully. Damn, he'd had nothing but time to plan this carefully.

It hadn't been easy to convince Sam and Teal'c to go exploring in the heat. It'd been even harder to wait for them to report back from the second temple. Right now the only hostile thing on this planet, other than Jack's team, was the insect life. If any planet was made for nookie, this was it: time to bring Daniel up to speed. Jack roughly pulled off the first boot, setting it down with a thump. "Daniel, I know you tend to get caught up in your work. In fact, I find it very sexy, from time to time."

Jack peeled off one sock, stuffing it in a boot.

"But, you must have been in la-la land to miss the way I practically shoved Sam and Teal'c out the door. Then there were the fifteen, count 'em, fifteen deep perimeter searches I did yesterday and today. I normally do four."

Jack pulled off the other boot and sock. These he threw over his shoulder.

"Then there was Sam's and Teal'c's report; you heard it. Since when do I ever tell Sam she doesn't have to report mission status every half-hour?

He pulled down Daniel's pants with one strong pull. They wouldn't come.

He glared at Daniel, who smiled sheepishly back and lifted his hips one more time.

"And you truly must have been out of it, when you missed me making...I dunno... goo-goo eyes! Since Sam and Teal'c left! And all those times I bumped against you? What did you think; I'd all of a sudden had a clumsy attack?!" Pants and briefs came off with a few sharp tugs.

Daniel opened his mouth, but Jack didn't want to hear it. He put his hand over Daniel's lips. "So, considering all the work I put into this; I think you'd do me the favor of shutting up and enjoying it." Jack continued to glare down at his unintimidated buddy.

Daniel tightened his lips and glared right back. Hell. Jack would regret it later if he didn't let Daniel get whatever it was off his chest, so he took the hand away. "Okay, but make it short. We're on a schedule."

Daniel got straight to the point.

"The idea, Jack. What is it?"

Well, that was...blunt. Jack hadn't expected Daniel to just ask.

Who was he kidding? Jack waffled as he began to slip off his own boots and socks.

"Well, I was thinking this morning--well, longer than this morning. Really for a couple of weeks now."

One boot hit the wall.

"And so I realized this morning that, potentially, the last game of the series was playing right now." Another boot bounced against the glyphs.

"And, accepting the reality, so to speak--I kind of noticed that I'd been, well, a real prick." The first sock just missed the boots. "For the last few days." The floor felt gritty under Jack's feet. Oh great, more sand; it was going to get everywhere.

Daniel's snort accompanied the removal of Jack's last sock. Jack ignored the editorial comment and concentrated on his fly. He kept his head down, which meant he didn't have to look at Daniel while he made his point. "And so I was thinking..."

Damn, how did a guy say something like this?

Jack couldn't believe he was having trouble getting this out. He'd practically made a career out of saying things other people didn't think they could get away with.

Well, really, Jack didn't get away with them either, but he'd had a lot of practice saying them.

So why was he having trouble asking Daniel to...

To...

Fuck him.

Damn, it just sounded so...brutal.

Jack's pants fell down around his ankles, and he started to step out.

All the time Jack had been...working both sides of the fence, he'd avoided that.

Oh he'd done it to other guys, with great enthusiasm. In fact, his sex with Daniel was the closest to a religious experience Jack had ever come. But he'd never seen himself on 'bottom', so to speak.

He used one sockless foot to nudge the pants away, suddenly nervous, staring at Daniel's assessing eyes.

And he'd been cool with that, thinking it was for other guys--not for him.

But every time Daniel turned over, from that first time, when Daniel said...

Okay.

Something he'd been thinking about for months, almost from the first time Daniel let him...

God. Daniel's shy smile, Daniel's nude body turning on the bed, Daniel's legs parting: Jack hardened, his cock filling on memory alone.

Nervous eyes had glanced back over Daniel's shoulder, watching Jack open him for the first time, Daniel's strained moans turning into surprised cries of ecstasy.

The most wonderful word in any language--Daniel might know some great words, but none had ever sounded so great, so perfect, as that one word--

Okay.

And so Jack wanted to give that, to let Daniel do that, to him.

For weeks the idea had grown.

Every time Daniel let him push inside, he felt more and more...unworthy. Daniel was so damn smart, so damn wonderful. Why the hell would he stay with him if he wouldn't, couldn't, do that.

And it wasn't just that.

Daniel loved it. He really loved it, when Jack hit just the perfect angle, hit Daniel's prostate again and again, grabbed hard onto Daniel's body to shove it deep, again and again.

Daniel closed his eyes, his brilliant mouth went slack, and he moaned a never-ending stream of words that made Jack come so hard.

"Please-please-oh Jack...harder-please-please-more-there...right-there-oh-please"

Daniel would push back against him--make him drive deeper--the words growing--gasping breaths screaming into one loud wordless cry as Daniel came and came and came.

Inside Daniel.

Inside heaven.

So he had to be honest. Daniel was obviously having an awesome time. Maybe he was missing something by being so closed...minded.

Jack had been thinking about it for months, but the last few weeks he'd been obsessed. He wanted to get back to base, get back to Daniel's apartment--Jack's house--anywhere, to tell Daniel...

Okay.

But they'd been so fucking busy. Damn missions and briefings and endless loads of crap conspiring to keep him from making his move.

Then the damn rippling horizon, the smell of crunching sand, an endless dry sea taunting him with the past and the future...

And somehow, yesterday, he just broke.

They could die tomorrow, they could gate back into the Arctic--Antarctic--Whatever.

And he would never have given Daniel back what Daniel had given him so openly, so eagerly.

Jack would never know what it was like to hold Daniel inside him.

And he knew, somehow, that it had to happen now.

Time's up.

But now he had to tell Daniel.

Which wasn't getting any easier while Jack stood in his boxers in front of an over-the-glasses stare.

Jesus, and he thought women could be difficult.

But then he had never asked a woman to screw him before. Well there was that time in Singapore, but he'd been drunk and...

And he was stalling.

He did have reservations, for a couple of reasons.

One problem: he'd had other things inside him.

Not that Daniel was in any way similar to alien microbes and Goa'uld snakes. No Sirree.

But they'd been inside him. And he knew, after the running, and the shooting, and the collapsing, and the medical exams, that there were changes.

So a guy started asking questions. 'Would I be doing this if I hadn't...'

And the questions grew and grew until one day a guy realized that the only lasting trauma was...the questions.

Sitting in a bar, trying to drink himself into a stupor, and thinking, 'Would I be doing this if I hadn't...' was just a little too lame. So Jack had pushed away the questions, and realized that he was, basically, okay.

Aside from the nightmares where he shot his team to death wearing blue streaks and glowing eyes. Those sucked.

And he had seen guys freak out, after the first time. And he'd seen guys screw up, the first time.

He remembered Peter. Six feet of curious farm boy Jack met in a no-name bar. Peter hadn't mentioned his inexperience, and Jack had been too drunk to remember to ask. But he'd noticed that Peter was amazingly tight, even after he loosened him up with booze and fingers. He'd grunted when Jack pushed inside, lost his hard-on while Jack pushed through the tight rings of muscle, and never gotten it back.

And then Jack had seen the blood, and tried to stop, then tried to finish as quickly as possible, when he realized he couldn't stop.

Sick, he'd turned Peter over and held his sobbing body, muttering apologies and cursing his own selfish stupidity in the stale darkness of their hotel room. Finally, he'd convinced Peter to sleep, and woke up alone with a hangover, and guilt that haunted him to this day.

So he'd stayed away from unknown quantities after that. They either knew the score, or Jack knew them, but no more one night stands. And then there was Sara, and Jack had been faithful, because that's what a man did.

Jack didn't think he'd freak, but he'd thought long and hard about what he owed to Daniel, and what he wanted himself. So he gritted his teeth, and spent extra shower time for the last month with fingers up his ass and a hand on his dick, dreaming about Daniel.

Damn. Thoughts of Daniel could make anything feel good.

And Daniel had been staring at him for the last few minutes. Oops.

He'd thought all of that 'emotion' stuff had been worked out already. Should have known better. Time to get things back on track. So Jack bit his lip, unclenched his jaw, and found some words.

"So...Daniel."

Daniel looked up at him intently, probably thinking Jack had finally lost it, which was almost right.

"So...Jack"

Great. Repeating. Very helpful, Daniel.

"Um, so I had this idea"

Jack smiled weakly and Daniel shook his head.

Shit. Jack was screwing this up. He had to just say it. Say...

"Okay"

Jack did a double take. "What did you say?"

"I said, 'Okay,' Jack. Whatever you want, whatever this idea of yours is, it seems that you've put a lot of effort into it. And so, 'Okay'." Daniel moved to lie back, obviously thinking that he'd given Jack permission to go wild. Which did have a certain appeal, in fact incredible appeal.

But no. Jack had made a decision, and he would stick to it.

He just wished the word 'stick' didn't make him wince.

But 'okay' was a good starting point.

"Um, I want you to take a little more active role this time, Daniel." Jack walked carefully over to the sleeping bag.

Daniel propped himself up on one elbow and gazed at Jack thoroughly.

"How active?" Always precise--you had to love a guy who was that consistent.

"Like, extremely active."

They were getting warmer. Carter and Teal'c should get back just as they'd both agreed to take off their underpants.

"Will I like this 'active'?" asked Daniel carefully.

Jack tried to be modest, "Well, I'd like to think so." He smiled his best winning smile.

But Daniel was relentless, "And have I ever been this 'active' before?"

Damn, Daniel was smart. This might turn out to be the weirdest game of twenty questions Jack had ever played, but Daniel seemed to be getting closer to the right answer. Animal, definitely animal.

"No you haven't been this animal...uh--this 'active' before. In fact I've been the active one. Mostly."

Always.

This required a little thought on Daniel's part, but Jack could see the realization flowing over his genius lover's face. Right before Daniel started shaking his head.

"Jack, this really isn't a good idea"

Damn, he'd known Daniel would be difficult about this. He sighed and pulled his hands over his face while Daniel started to babble.

"I mean, I appreciate the thought. But you shouldn't do this if you're not--not comfortable with it."

Daniel was shaking his head again. Jack surreptitiously looked at his watch. Damn, another ten minutes about to go down the drain. And Daniel had just gotten started.

"I don't mind..." Daniel stopped before he completed that thought, and quickly started another diversionary sentence.

Aha!

"Well, I enjoy everything we do together. I don't want you to..."

This sentence stopped too, before Daniel hurried over the pause.

Jack tuned out the rest of Daniel's lecture; some things never changed. He could always count on Daniel's relentless honesty in every argument. And, like always, Daniel had just made Jack's point. He did mind the fact that Jack was always the do-er and not the do-ee. And, Daniel said that he enjoyed being the do-ee when they did. Do it, that is.

All Jack had to do was say that to Daniel, once he figured out exactly what he'd just...said.

"Daniel..."

"Jack..."

Daniel smiled up at Jack invitingly. "I promise we'll talk about this when we get back, but right now why don't we take advantage of fifteen...was it really fifteen perimeter searches?" Daniel frowned as if trying to remember what he'd been doing while Jack beat the nonexistent underbrush looking for the odd snake or BEM.

But Jack wouldn't let it go. If Daniel could do it, if Daniel enjoyed it, then he should enjoy it too. And he had a weird feeling. A feeling he'd learned to respect.

A feeling that said that things shouldn't be put off, shouldn't be pushed aside.

An empty feeling only Daniel could fill.

"No, Daniel. Not this time"

Daniel frowned, exasperated at Jack's insistence.

"Jack, this isn't some sort of macho endurance thing. This isn't about who's done what to whom, this is about how we...how we...feel. And I don't want you to feel bad about anything we do. Why can't you understand that?"

Great. Jack loved it when Daniel really insulted his intelligence.

Well, at least it would give him enough pissed off energy to get him through Daniel's wall of--whatever Daniel's wall was made out of.

"Look, Daniel. I hate to burst your little 'me-me-me' bubble, but this isn't just about you. Sure, I started out thinking about doing it today as a way to make it up to you, for being such an asshole and all."

Daniel started to talk; Jack waved away his interruption. "But it just took over. I started to think about how you look, when I'm inside you. And how you move around me."

That stopped Daniel cold, eyes wide. Maybe Jack should try this sharing thing more often.

"And I decided that I was missing something--something we should do together."

Jack shoved off his outer jacket and took off his undershirt in quick jerky motions.

"And I remembered all the times that we've almost died, almost lost it, almost screwed it up." Damn, where was his head. Jack snapped his fingers, where had he put that stuff?

Jack almost missed Daniel's wince, searching for the condoms and lotion in his discarded clothes. He looked over his shoulder angrily; Daniel had the most overdeveloped guilt complex.

"I meant my own screw ups, Daniel. That other stuff is just that, stuff. And it's over, and I still need you."

God, that was as close to the 'L' word as Jack wanted to go. Jesus, he felt weird whenever he thought about it--like he was tempting the fates, daring them to come down and smash his last chance at happiness.

Well screw them! Jack did care for Daniel, and Daniel...

Daniel was biting his own lip with a combination of lust and extreme caution.

Well, that would have to do. Jack ripped off his boxers and shoved the condoms and lotion in Daniel's hands.

"I may not be...One-hundred percent ready. I may be a little...worried, about the whole 'slot A into tab B' thing.

Daniel swallowed a smile at this, and fidgeted with the rubbers, his eyes beginning to gleam.

"But I want this. I mean, I really want this. I don't want to go another day without knowing what it's like for you, and what it could be like for me." Jack stared into Daniel's eyes, watched them darken in the half-light from the high windows. He knew Daniel wanted this; why was he making Jack work so damn hard? Didn't he understand how much Jack needed this? "Don't make me beg, Daniel."

Daniel swallowed, and his face lost the teasing expression, lost the gleam. His eyes searched for something in Jack; what, Jack had no idea.

Jack had never felt more serious, and he hated it. Life was too full of serious things to be serious. Besides, he had the clincher. "Come on, Daniel. Don't tell me you haven't thought 'Fuck You, Jack' at least once these past few days."

The gleam came back, and Daniel smiled, and looked at the foil-covered packets in his hand. He closed his fist around them, finally looking up at Jack for one heart stopping second.

Then he nodded, his eyes focused and sure. "Okay, Jack. Since you put it that way." The corner of Daniel's mouth curved up before he flattened it, and fixed Jack's eyes with his own. "But I don't want you to let me hurt you. I think we'd have a hard time explaining that to Janet. And then there's the General."

"Hammond?" Damn, was Daniel trying to screw this up before it started? Mentioning Hammond's name was as effective as one of those terrifying anti-VD movies they showed in Basic. Those puppies had put him off sex for...well, not that long, actually. And he'd been very nervous when he'd done it with his bunkmate later that week. But Jack could joke his way out of anything.

"He's a pussycat. He'd probably ask us if we wanted a toaster or something."

Yeah. Right after he kicked their butts out of the program. But he'd still come up with the toaster; he was that kind of guy. However, Jack was babbling, so he shut up and stared, and waited.

Daniel rose to his knees, and quickly stripped off the rest of his clothes. The khaki shirt rode up to frame firm stomach before Daniel ripped it off his body, revealing lean planes and no wasted flesh. Forget huge muscles; bulk made Jack gag. Daniel was perfect, perfect for him.

God. Daniel was taking off his clothes! Mentally, Jack had never gotten past the almost impossible hurdle of getting Daniel to do something he didn't think was a good idea. What the hell was going to happen now?

Well, first Daniel was going to take off his glasses, and put them carefully on top of that huge honking book. But what would happen next?!

Jack breathed harder, his hands clenching and unclenching against his legs. He knew the mechanics, but somehow it was all new, almost like he had never been with a man.

Weird.

Nude, Daniel scooted over to the end of the bedroll, and lifted his arm. One hand reached up, palm open, waiting for a decision.

Jack focused on that hand, eyes moving past that hand to see Daniel's face, open and reassuring, eyes moving past Daniel's face to Daniel's cock, standing hard.

Daniel wanted this. Jack wanted this. It was time.

Jack lifted his arm, and put his hand in Daniel's.

Daniel pulled lightly, toppling Jack to sit on the sleeping bag, to sit next to him, their shoulders touching. "Come on, Jack, try to relax." Daniel smiled, just a quirk of his lips, before he managed to smother it. "I didn't know you could get this tense." His hand rubbed gently up and down Jack's arm and over his shoulders, soothing and calm. And he kept his face completely blank, obviously trying not to laugh.

Jack appreciated Daniel's attempt to maintain Jack's manly dignity, but his 'clueless virgin act' must seem pretty hilarious. Jack just wished he could appreciate the joke. He was this close to freaked. His eyes felt like they were glued onto Daniel's gleaming cock as he almost missed the next question.

"You said you'd been planning this. How much time do we have before Sam and Teal'c get back?" The movement of Daniel's hands interrupted his mesmerized staring. Daniel was fiddling with the lotion, unscrewing the cap, squeezing some on his fingers.

Jack carefully settled on the bag, still unsure of the next steps. He made himself concentrate on his answer.

"About an hour now. We just wasted the first hour while you played clueless guy and I had my freak out."

Freak out. Jack bit his tongue. Damn, sometimes he thought he needed a muzzle.

But Daniel just shook his head, more than used to this side of Jack by now. Daniel's brow furrowed, and he chewed on his lip again, then nodded once. "I think the most important part is to get you as relaxed as possible, as open."

Jack jerked, along with his dick. God, he couldn't believe it; how could one guy feel such brain fusing lust and terror just from one word.

Open.

But the feeling raged through him, his dick hardening as he stared mesmerized at Daniel's thoughtful expression, and the white lotion slicking through Daniel's fingers.

Trust Daniel. If Jack could put down his weapons in the face of Apophis's guards, he could trust Daniel with this. It was just a difference of...degree.

Daniel leaned in, and Jack realized he was going to kiss him.

This felt so weird. Usually Jack was the one on the offensive...so to speak. He stayed still, waiting for Daniel, waiting for whatever Daniel wanted to do, to him.

Daniel's lips pressed along the curve of Jack's jaw. Jack kept his eyes open, appreciating the sight of Daniel's oddly long lashes without their usual glass frames. Daniel's breath flowed over Jack's lips, as his lips gently flowed over Jack's skin.

But then Daniel kissed Jack for real, and the rub of flesh against flesh, lip against lip started to work inside him.

Jack's eyes fluttered closed, almost by themselves.

Daniel's tongue gently licked against the line of his lips, and Jack opened his mouth.

Hesitantly, tenderly, Daniel's tongue tangled with Jack's.

Jack moaned and sucked on Daniel's tongue, as Daniel reached across Jack's chest, to pinch and rub first one nipple, then the other. The lotion-covered fingers slid the heat back and forth, again and again.

Jack had taught Daniel that, taught Daniel he enjoyed that.

God, Daniel had learned the lesson well.

Jack's hands reached to cradle Daniel's face, merge their mouths deeper before he started to kiss his way over Daniel's cheeks--tasting the stubbled skin--biting tenderly at the soft-hard planes.

Daniel gently reached around to hold him, but he could feel the lightness, the careful control. Not too hard, not too demanding.

In the still freaked corner of his mind, Jack was grateful for that, for Daniel's care.

It made him trust, and with that trust he relaxed, let his weight settle into Daniel's arms. The lotion slick skin of his chest rubbed against Daniel's nipples, their ridged caresses making him moan and slide closer, slide their chests against each other, to feel them again.

It all felt so new; Jack couldn't believe the way everything seemed so different.

Too different--Jack's heart lurched, the reality of Daniel's hard cock, Daniel's hands holding him while Daniel pushed inside, suddenly hit him. Hard.

Jack's breath caught in his throat, his eyes flying open, needing to see Daniel's eyes, needing to know somebody was in charge. Because, suddenly, Jack knew he wasn't.

Daniel blinked back, eyes wanting, but serious...not surprised. Jack's breath huffed out once. Oh he got it; Daniel had been expecting this, expecting Jack to freak out again.

Daniel stilled his hands, pulling away a fraction, one side of his mouth crooking up in a gentle smile. In the soft light, his clear eyes smiled as well, and Jack reading purpose in their calm depths.

He could relax.

Daniel could handle this.

Jack remembered feeling grateful: for his life, for his sanity, for so many things.

But this was different, and it was right.

Daniel stared, his eyes unwavering and analyzing. Still smiling, he waited for Jack with all of his attention. There was something amazingly familiar, about Daniel's riveted expression.

Oh, that was it; it was the same look Daniel gave to his favorite pieces of dirt. Jack grinned; he was honored. Daniel grinned back right before Jack kissed the tip of Daniel's nose, just to watch it crinkle, just because some things would never change.

This led Jack on another staring ride over Daniel's amazing nude wonderland; it was definitely worth the ticket. He'd just gotten past the lightly furred skin on Daniel's chest when Daniel laid his hand on his shoulder, bringing him back from his trip through the hills and valleys of Daniel's exposed body.

Daniel's eyes smiled into Jack's distracted face, shy pride mixed with determination.

"Jack, normally--well, maybe not 'normally', that does have certain pejorative connotations in this sort of situation..."

Ah yes. Pillow talk, Jackson style.

"But I've read that usually it's easiest for a beginner to be on their stomach. But your knees..."

Yeah, Jack had thought about that one. And dreamed about it, too.

Jack hurried to interrupt, before he lost his courage. "I know all that, Daniel." Daniel's eyebrow rose at Jack's faint impatience, but he stayed quiet, tolerantly waiting. The moment gave Jack the courage to continue, get out what he needed to say. "I kind of wanted, needed, to see you."

Daniel blinked at Jack, super-powered brain on hyper drive.

"Are you sure? I mean, I've read..."

God. Jack wondered if Daniel kept those reference manuals in the mountain along with his other books.

"I know you could probably get another degree in this Daniel, but I...I've really thought about this. I need to see you; I need to, Daniel."

Jack had always needed control. Always needed to run the show, even when he didn't look like he was doing anything at all.

So if he was going to lie back and let Daniel...run with the ball, Jack thought he needed to see what was going on: to supervise, if necessary.

He widened his eyes at Daniel, trying to communicate that this was a 'Jack' thing, with no logical explanation. Daniel should be used to those by now.

Daniel smiled Jack's favorite half smile, and leaned in again. His hand reached down to fist Jack's cock. Jack blew out the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding, and inhaled a gasp as Daniel squeezed. Oh God. Daniel's face, hot eyes like never before.

"Yes, I've read a lot, Jack." The lotion-covered hand squeezed tighter, firm strokes hardening Jack's cock while Daniel's words seared Jack's ears.

"I've wanted to do this for a long time." The friction pulled Jack into Daniel's heat, Daniel's low voice, his eyes staring into Jack's. "And you know, I never thought I'd get to do it, because I'd never do it with anyone else." Daniel's smile changed, hard lust and satisfaction. "So I'm going to do this right. I'm going to do everything I want because I know what you need. I've always known what you need, even when I wouldn't admit it to myself."

Jack closed his eyes, his mind losing the battle with the hot desire coursing up his dick.

"Lay back, Jack. Just lay back and let me. Let me..."

Jack slowly leaned backwards, torn between the need to push up into that hand, and fall backward as his muscles stopped working.

He collapsed onto the bedroll as the first tremors of want shuddered through his body.

Daniel was so great at this.

By this, Jack meant Daniel leaning down to take the leaking head of Jack's cock into his hot mouth.

Wet sucking, hot melting fingers tightening around Jack's cock.

Pushing up into that hand, tight hold into rubbing tongue. That tongue curling over the head of Jack's cock, licking up and down, over and over.

The pad of one finger rubbing gently at Jack's hole.

If Jack hadn't been so fried, so completely into Daniel's sucking mouth, he might have been nervous.

But he didn't care, just as long as Daniel kept up that...that was...so good.

The finger dipped in--pressing into the rim, pushing against the tight ring. He'd taught Daniel this, watched Daniel jerk with surprise. And Daniel had done this to him before, but this was different. This was so damn different.

Jack couldn't help it. He pushed into that hand, that mouth-the finger probing into his ass, until it reached his...

Jack's hips bucked; God, electric sparks, shooting into him, making him want to... "Daniel, I'm going to--going to--"

Daniel kept sucking, hard.

Jack's fingers clutched; his hips jerked up once, twice while Jack cried out his pleasure, come spurting into Daniel's mouth, and Daniel sucking endless pulses into hot wetness.

Jack panted in labored heaves; he lay boneless. He couldn't believe he'd been that...quick.

He looked up at Daniel's satisfied expression, wanting those come stained lips, that passion reddened face, but he couldn't move a muscle.

The finger circled carefully around his hole, now probing deeply into Jack's inner passageway. Another finger pushed in to join the first.

"Jack?"

God, he hoped Daniel didn't expect a coherent answer right now.

"Jack, just nod yes or no. Have you been, well, widening yourself? Because you feel...looser." Daniel closed his eyes, and Jack could feel the change in the fingers moving inside him. They pressed into the lining, tried the edges, tested him, opened him. Daniel opened his eyes again; why? Oh yeah, an answer.

Jack managed a small nod; it was all he had energy for, because those fingers were scissoring inside him, shoving deeper.

Daniel's eyes closed, his entire concentration on his fingers. He threw his head back, and his jaw firmed, his face catching one stray beam of light, as his fingers curled and pushed.

Jack couldn't tear his eyes away from Daniel, couldn't keep from moving around those fingers. Daniel inhaled, deep and full, before he opened lust fired eyes to stare down at Jack.

Daniel smiled changed, hardened, before Daniel licked the come off his lips, clearing his throat. "You've been...widening yourself; I can only imagine how. You should have been a Boy Scout, Jack."

Wow. Daniel's enthusiasm level had obviously increased. Maybe Jack should have mentioned the 'widening' thing when he could actually talk.

Oh God. Those fingers...sparks of pleasure. Daniel smiling down with a tight, satisfied grin. "You have no idea how hot that makes me, Jack. The idea of you making yourself ready for me, open for me."

If he could have spoken rationally, Jack might have argued. The fevered anticipation in Daniel's eyes, and the glistening head of Daniel's cock said that the idea must have made Daniel pretty hot indeed. Oh yeah. But why argue when Daniel was saying all the things Jack wanted to hear, and doing that with his fingers. Oh God, his fingers.

"Well then..." Jack watched transfixed as Daniel tongue licked more come off his bottom lip, "I should be able to relax you nicely, Jack. Just lie back, and let me do this. Let us do this."

Another urgent finger pressed in to join the others, the full feeling making Jack clutch the material underneath him more tightly: half pain, half pleasure. He couldn't take his eyes away from Daniel; Daniel was still smiling. Not his usual sweet smile, but a smile of almost savage determination, deep needy desire fused with desperate curiosity--no softness now.

Daniel's muscles were thrown in to stark relief as his jaw clenched. His lips pressed together, and his shoulders started to move with his hand. One arm pulled up Jack's left leg, holding him open. The other arm moved with Daniel's fingers, thrusting with Daniel's fingers, as they thrust into Jack.

And then the smile widened, the fingers moving deeper, swirling around Jack's widening hole: flaring, pushing against his...pushing. Oh God.

Now he knew why. Why Daniel said that... said those words. His neck arched, and he rubbed his head against the slick material, trying not to speak, needing to speak, having to speak.

"God, Daniel. Please, that feels so...so good. Don't...s-stop."

Over his own taut pleas, Jack could hear Daniel's reply, strained words he could barely hear over his beating heart, over his roaring blood.

"Nothing could make me stop, Jack. Nothing." Daniel thrust his fingers deeper, wider. "You're right. I've been wanting to fuck you." Each word joined with another push, strong fingers filling desperate emptiness, sliding against virgin skin. "Forever."

Daniel's arm pressed. Daniel's fingers drove in. It was Daniel, opening him. God it was...

"D-Daniel...yes..."

Jack's back arched as he tried to shove himself further onto that hand; he couldn't believe he was enjoying it, needing it. But it was Daniel.

The sound of lotion squeezing broke between their gasping breaths. The fingers inside him jostled. The lotion was still warm; the soothing slickness rained along his buttocks; poured over the hand in his ass, drained into his hole.

It was so wild. Daniel was going to be inside him.

Jack knew he was starting to worry, coming out of the spell of those fingers, so he did what he always did when he was afraid.

He faked it.

He grabbed his legs, drew his thighs farther apart, offered his hole to push Daniel into moving faster, getting it over with.

And pressed his lips together, not wanting to fuck this up.

Daniel frowned, tightened the corners of his mouth at this latest Jack thing with no logical explanation. "Just relax, Jack. Just give me a chance to show you how good it can be. Can you do that?"

Damn. He could never fool Daniel in bed.

And Daniel was starting to use his patient voice again. But this time Jack was so freaked that he didn't mind, much.

He tried to meet Daniel's worried gaze, but he couldn't look into those eyes and talk about something so...real. But he knew Daniel wouldn't move ahead without the words, without knowing that Jack would be okay.

Damn, how to get this out? How to say something so deep inside it hurt just to think it.

He know he'd never be able to say it to Daniel, so he focused on one of the squares of light, high up on the wall, and tried to talk to it. This was so stupid. Of all the things he wanted to do, wanted to have done to him, this was the only one that really bothered him. Of all the things happening in his body, this was the only thing that seemed to really...hurt.

But he had to do this, for Daniel.

So he explained to the little box of light next to the left corner, what he couldn't explain to Daniel, at least not to Daniel's face.

"It's just, it feels weird, even though I want it, you know." His eyes flitted back to Daniel, checking for any reaction before they jerked back to the light. "I mean...oh hell, I don't know what I mean, except that it's what I want. I'm just...Crap!" God, this sucked. Why was it so hard to open his mouth when something was important? Why did his body open easier than his brain?

Jack didn't know, but he did know that those fingers were moving again, thank God. It had been enough.

He was getting used to the feeling of stretching--warmth inside his ass--liking the push and pull, that it was Daniel. It made it easier to look at Daniel, wait for Daniel's answer. He couldn't believe he was talking with Daniel's fingers up his ass. But Daniel answered just as if they were talking in his lab."

"You're worried about whether it will hurt, whether it will make you feel like less of a man." Daniel was soothing, comforting--and obviously horny. His cock stood hard and glistening while his eyes fixed on Jack's nervous face. His free hand soothed gently up and down Jack's leg.

Well, maybe not exactly like they would in Daniel's lab.

Daniel began sliding his fingers in and around, gently widening them around Jack's loosening hole. They pushed in and out, deep and firm, just like Daniel's cock would move inside Jack.

Except Daniel's dick would be different. Bigger. Longer.

Jack could feel himself tense, which he knew was a bad thing. He tried to relax, breathing deep, making himself concentrate on Daniel's serious face, and the gentle strength in Daniel's words.

"I won't lie to you Jack, there can be some...discomfort. But I love the feeling, when you're inside me." The fingers moved deeper, Daniel's eyes flickering between Jack's face and the fingers disappearing into Jack's needy tightness. Jack was starting to get really into it again. Daniel's words helped, because they made him so hot.

"It's like you're a part of me, opening me for you, sharing yourself with me." Oh yeah, Jack was definitely getting into it again; he began to press back, harder.

Daniel's other hand soothed up and down Jack's thigh, before gripping his hip, holding him in place. "Shhh, just let it happen." Daniel was concentrating mostly on his fingers now.

Jack watched as Daniel bit his lip, closed his eyes for a second, reaching for...

More electric shocks of pleasure.

He jerked, pushed down harder, once more... please...

"Daniel!"

Jack wanted to close his eyes, wanted to give himself up to Daniel's bumping fingers, to go along with the pushing ecstasy. But he had to see.

The fingers finally left him.

He kept holding himself open; his hands bit into his legs as he held desperately behind his knees.

He heard the ripping noise of an opening condom--silence and gasping breath, his own.

When had he closed his eyes? When had he decided to close them?

Squeezing lotion, slick-rubbing sounds.

Fuck afraid, he still had to look.

Daniel's eyes were fixed on Jack: his body, his ass.

He noticed Jack's open eyes, smiled a fuck filled smile. "Ready, Jack?" Jack nodded once, a quick jerk of his head.

And Jack felt something press against him.

Daniel's harsh voice rasped in a fierce whisper.

"Relax. Bear down."

Jack remembered saying those words, saying them to Daniel that first time, as if he could command Daniel's tightness to open.

And it had.

So he opened, bore down, followed the whispers that told him to relax, to yield.

He held his knees to his chest, concentrating on Daniel's face, the lust-fired expression, not the feeling of pressure.

Incredible pressure.

Pushing into him, the head of Daniel's cock forcing the rings.

Piercing him.

Splitting him.

God. It hurt.

But it was Daniel.

"Breathe Jack, you have to breathe," gritted Daniel.

Jack gasped, tried to relax his muscles, inside and out. Daniel stopped moving, his face frozen with need and control.

"Jack?"

God, it hurt. The pain was a hot stinging thing, firing down inside his body. But Daniel's face, Daniel's hard cock, Daniel's biting hands anchored him, held him to Daniel's body until he could relax. Jack stuttered out another breath, as he felt the sharp flames die down. He sucked in another gulp of air, and blew it out. Another breath. Again.

He could smooth the fire inside. And he did, for Daniel--to take Daniel inside him, where he belonged.

Daniel's cock jerked, an involuntary spasm. Daniel's cock wanted to thrust, but Daniel waited, his eyes burning into Jack's, needing permission. So Jack nodded.

And Daniel pushed--while Jack loosened and accepted.

And opened.

Each push, each wait, while he breathed and took more of Daniel's cock.

It hurt, more than he expected. But it felt so right, to know Daniel was pushing into his body, like no one before.

And he could feel Daniel, feel the head as it slid into him, as it pierced his body.

Deep inside.

So he took the pain, aching fire with every new thrust, just to look into Daniel's passion-red face, and watch the lines of sweat drip onto straining arms. Daniel's muscles held in sharp relief, held Jack still while his cock thrust into Jack's tight hole.

Inside Jack.

Jack gasped, grit his teeth, and accepted each careful shove, widening for Daniel with every thrust. Tight muscles gave, giving to hold the most private part of Daniel, giving to accept Daniel, all of Daniel going into him as he took every inch.

Another push, sobbing breath, from Daniel. Balls shoved against his ass.

"God-Jack...So...Tight!"

Jack curved his neck to rub his cheek against the synthetic fabric, trying to soothe the heat burning in his face as well as the heat burning deep inside. Daniel's dick throbbed, and he could feel, feel his body squeeze Daniel deep inside: so full, so incredibly full. So Jack pulled his legs farther apart, opened more.

And they both moaned, as Daniel slipped deeper.

Daniel hung his head, chest heaving, breath gasping.

So Jack waited, trying to relax and soothe the burning inside, listening to Daniel's gasps, and moaning when Daniel straightened and shoved a little more. He focused off the pain, the splitting ache, and onto Daniel's fingers gently holding his thigh. As they waited, frozen and joined in the dimming chamber's light, the streaks of pain numbed into pulsing need.

He looked up, and Daniel's eyes open, sheer acid want flaring out. Jack could see blood, where Daniel had bitten his lip--concentrating, for Jack.

"Are you...ready?" gasped Daniel, his voice taut and husky. Sweat glistening on his chest, muscles sharp and tight, hands strong from years of work biting into Jack's hips.

An answer. A true answer. "Now. Yes." And he was, the pulsing filled him, the pain left him because Daniel was moving. Just a little. In.

And out.

Motion. Jack learned...motion.

Jesus. Daniel's slowly pumping hips, lean muscled thighs, tight clenching fingers held him, while Daniel's cock stroked and slid against willing flesh--inside.

And he was still holding his legs, keeping himself open, needing to be open.

For Daniel.

Moved inside him. Lotion covered hand--grabbing Jack's dick--pumping tight.

Nailing him. God, right there. Yes!

"More..."

He arched, pushing against Daniel. Like Daniel, words coming from his lips, begging because it was too much, he needed it too much!

"More D-Daniel. M-more."

His head fell back. Pain and pleasure, aching fullness, so close...

Daniel's sobbing breath--his name with every thrust--

"Jack...Jack...uh...Jack"

Daniel drove himself out and in, the fullness, his shoves jerky with every new push faster--Daniel pounded...him, pumping his dick. God. Daniel was taking him. It was so good!

"Jack!"

Daniel jerked inside him, Daniel coming inside him.

Made Jack come.

Yes--God--Yes!

Forever--Yes!

Daniel.

Love.

Jack coasted on the pleasure. The feeling that comes...

Hah!

comes from knowing you did what you set out to do. And would do it again.

He winced as Daniel's cock pulled out.

Maybe not for a few days, though.

But seeing Daniel's face, feeling the stinging warmth where Daniel's dick had touched the deepest parts of him, he knew it would be soon.

He relaxed his hands, let his legs relax; felt the twinges as unused muscles complained.

Pipe down you guys.

Jack laughed to himself. They could complain all they wanted. He had everything he needed right here--right now.

Through heavy eyes, he watched Daniel draw off the condom, and push it onto the dusty floor. Daniel flopped onto the bedroll, and right onto him, Daniel's head falling onto his chest, moving with the rise and fall as both men worked to breathe. Jack shakily slid a lead weight arm onto Daniel's shoulder, squeezing gently.

This jerked Daniel up, blearily at first, but still faster than Jack had ever seen any guy move post-orgasm. Daniel curved one arm around Jack's working ribs as he fumbled for his glasses. After a heroic effort, glasses in place, he finally slumped down again, leaning his chin on Jack's chest, to stare into his face, stare into his eyes.

Jack was still panting, their chests pushing against each other, sweat mingling because they couldn't stand to be apart.

Daniel's serious face watched him. He didn't know what Daniel saw; he only knew what he felt...

Good.

Really good.

Great, in fact.

His butt might be sore, but his heart and macho pride were in full working order.

No doubts. No tears. No flashbacks. No anger.

This time, instead of questions, Jack had all the answers pillowed against him, wearing a slightly worried expression as his glasses fogged around the edges.

Jack met those foggy eyes and smiled a disgustingly satisfied smile, before leaning back and closing his eyes.

...and grinning even wider.

He could almost feel Daniel's stare. Checking whether he was faking it, probably. So he opened one eye to catch Daniel's worried expression, to meet it with a self-satisfied grin. Daniel shook his head, his chin gently rubbing a hole into Jack's ribcage, before he finally relaxed.

If anything, this made Jack smile even wider; he knew his expression had to be disgustingly smug. Well, he could be generous in victory. Happy, sore, proud, and tired, Jack lifted one sated finger to rub gently across Daniel's lips, feeling Daniel's lips kiss his finger while they were both too tired for anything else.

Daniel's eyes closed, and Jack relaxed as well. They lay together in the waning light, while the boxes of light slowly faded against the carved walls. Finally, Daniel hauled himself up to kiss Jack, their tongues sliding together in slow contented play.

Life couldn't get much better than this. He pressed Daniel to him for a moment, and then remembered.

Damn.

He checked his watch. Dropped his arm. Twenty left. Shit.

"Time to straighten up?"

Jack met understanding blue eyes and nodded regretfully. And stopped.

"Thanks, Daniel. I just--didn't want to wait. It was important. So...thanks."

Daniel shook his head at this latest example of Jack craziness, smiling Jack's favorite sweet smile, "I think, in all honesty, the pleasure was mine, Jack."

They shared a kiss, a grin, and started cleaning.

Dirt was a great semen absorber, Jack thought, as he buried the more incriminating stuff outside, under some spare sand that was lying around.

He didn't think Sam and Teal'c gave a rat's ass about gayness, or men with men, but Jack did think shoving it in their faces on mission might be pushing it.

Especially since he needed to apologize for being a dick when they got back. It was just too bad all apologies couldn't be as awesome as the one he'd given Daniel.

Carter and Teal'c were expected any minute now, and Jack and Daniel were returning back to their pre-nookie positions, with Jack staring at Daniel, and Daniel returning all his little piles to their appointed places before he sat as well.

Jack's perch on the book wasn't nearly as comfortable, now. But hell, he was so old people wouldn't wonder if he carried one of those little inflatable pillows. Maybe he should lay in an extra supply.

Daniel leaned down, to pick up his brush thingee, and grimaced.

This wasn't an ordinary nerd-Daniel grimace. This was a real grimace, pain and everything, with a grunt thrown in for extra. Jack's head came up, like a bird-dog, or a full bird Colonel.

"Daniel?"

Another part of the brain complex--definitely associated with the self-denial thing--Daniel wouldn't complain if something was actually bothering him.

Daniel smiled self-depreciatingly, "It's nothing, Jack. I swear it didn't happen when we..." Daniel waved his hands evocatively as the words trailed off.

But he kept rubbing just center of his right hip while little alarm bells rang in Jack's mind.

"It's just been bothering me lately; I'm sure it's no big deal." Daniel bent over, wincing again, before he picked up a book and sat down.

But Jack wasn't fooled. He'd had the medical training, done the first aid courses, shepherded macho soldiers for decades. And he knew Dr. Jackson.

Right lower quadrant, throbbing pain... maybe...

Jack rose, wincing himself, and knelt down carefully next to Daniel.

"Lay down."

Daniel's brow creased, and he stared up at Jack doubtfully. "I thought you said Sam and Teal'c were coming back any minute?"

Jack shook his head. Normally, he'd be flattered at Daniel's touching faith in his recuperative powers, but not right now. "Look at me, Daniel." Jack's serious eyes met Daniel's. "This isn't Jack the guy who's hot for your body." Jack tilted his head, thought about it; he had to be honest. "Well, actually, I'm always that guy. But right now this is 'Colonel' stuff. Just lay down and let me try something, here."

Daniel leaned back on his elbows, grumbling. "I told you it's no big deal, Jack."

Jack pressed firmly; he knew just the spot.

"I mean...okay...yes. That hurts."

He held the pressure, seeing the pain in Daniel's eyes. Hating the fact that what was next would be...

"OOW!"

More painful as he released the pressure. Jack shook his head, and activated his radio.

"Carter, what's your ETA?"

She responded immediately; damn she was good. "I was just about to call you, sir. We're in sight of the main pyramid now. The other one was pretty much a bust, Colonel."

"Roger that, Major. But I'm afraid we're going to have to cut this party short."

Jack's hand covered Daniel's mouth, as it started to complain. It was another way to shut him up, but not nearly as fun.

"Is there some difficulty, O'Neill?"

Ah yes, Teal'c getting to the point once again. Jack did so love a guy who cut to the chase.

"Yeah, 'fraid so. I think our resident archeologist has gotten himself a touch of appendicitis. This place will keep; we need to get him back to base. We'll pack up here, and meet you outside. O'Neill out."

Jack hung his head for a second before pinning Daniel with an accusing look. "Daniel...?"

Daniel picked up an anonymous shard, and fiddled with it. He looked away, staring fixedly at the walls they'd just spent two days videotaping.

Damn. Jack wished he could let it go, but he had to find out. "Daniel, that must have been bugging you when we..." Jack broke off, tried to shove his anger down, but it broke free. "Why didn't you say anything, damn it!?" His hands jerked involuntarily. They couldn't decide whether to beg for forgiveness or strangle Daniel. "I didn't want you to bust an intestine just because I had a sudden urge to...to...bottom!"

Jack knew that sounded lame, but he felt lame. That had to have hurt. All the time he was...

He ran his hand through his hair while he waited for Daniel to come up with anything sane to say on the subject. But he didn't hold out much hope as Daniel looked up and shook his head, as if he didn't quite understand it either.

Daniel picked up another shard, looked at it, tried to smile, and then couldn't. He stared toward the walls again, but his eyes focused to some other place, "It was just something you said, about dying."

Jesus, Sha're. Sometimes Jack thought he should have a permanent foot in mouth-ectomy.

Daniel's eyes left the past, and faced Jack. "I realized you were right," his light eyes, so serious, "We couldn't wait, because nothing lasts forever."

Daniel's clear loving eyes, burning into his. God, let him never live in a world without Daniel.

"And I didn't want to die without knowing what it was like--and letting you know, too." Daniel shrugged. "So, it hurt. Big deal." He smiled, a ghost of the hard smile that had captured Jack minutes before. "It also felt incredibly good, so it was worth it." The hard smile changed into an expression Jack was more familiar with. Daniel looked mulish, frowning, face set. "And I'd do it all over again; even if I had known it was my appendix."

Daniel crossed his arms over his chest, grimly unrepentant.

Jack couldn't stay upset at that; Daniel was just so hot when he was pissed off. He gave up, shaking his head and smiling helplessly into Daniel's serious expression, "You're crazy; you know that, don't you?"

Daniel's face relaxed, his body along with it. He grinned in return, after another small wince. "What was that 'pot calling the kettle black' thing you were talking about earlier?"

Damn. Jack was hoping he would forget about that.

Time to side step. "I think I hear Carter and Teal'c. Do we need to take any of this dirt with us, Daniel?"

Daniel looked down at the carefully sorted piles, thankfully distracted.

"Just this one," Daniel said, pointing to the smallest pile in the corner.

Jack couldn't believe it. For this he might have missed game five of the playoffs? Daniel had better pray there was a game six. Even guilt couldn't beat the annoyance.

Then Jack reached down to scoop up the rocks, and felt a twinge, where he normally didn't twinge.

For that he would have missed game seven, rink side.

Daniel stood, slightly bent over, not trying to hide the pain anymore.

Jack remembered Daniel's face, as Daniel pushed inside. To Hell with the fates.

"I love you, Daniel."

Daniel's head jerked up, his jaw dropping in shock. Outside they heard voices, one deep, one high.

They'd run out of time.

But that wouldn't stop Daniel. He smiled a small smile, "Me too, Jack. And that's why... why the pain didn't matter."

Daniel could say the damndest things, and make them sound like poetry.

Yes, Jack was a lucky bastard. But he had to make sure that Daniel stayed in good working order.

So he gathered the rest of their equipment, quickly shoving Daniel's scientist stuff and books into any available pocket. He donned his own pack, before hefting Daniel's onto one shoulder, ignoring his complaints.

Finally finished, they took one last look around, at the place where it had all happened.

Funny, they might never see this place again. Hammond might reassign them; something might come up.

Things change.

Daniel was staring at Jack; wondering about the hold up, probably. Wanting to kiss Jack as much as Jack wanted to kiss him, definitely. But now wasn't the time.

So Jack decided to change the mood. His hand flourished towards the stairs, and he waited for Daniel to go first.

"So Daniel," he said, climbing the stairs behind his good buddy while enjoying the view. "You know, I've always wanted to see somebody's appendix scar, ever since Timmy wouldn't show me his in the fourth grade."

Daniel followed the topic change and shook his head, "In front of the nurses? I don't think so, Jack."

At the top of the stairs, Daniel leaned against the broken statue, obviously flagging. The exertion of the afternoon had probably pushed him in full-blown appendicitis.

Jack regretted Daniel's pain, but couldn't regret what led to it. Daniel was right; Jack was right.

Carter and Teal'c poked their heads into the shadowy doorway. Carter, bless her soul, had broken out the portable stretcher. They had it down to a system, now. Jack and Sam took one end, Teal'c the other.

"Hi guys," Daniel waved as he leaned at an angle. This pathetic attempt at cheerfulness convinced Jack that surgery was in Dr. Jackson's future. But, because he was in a mellow mood, he patiently listened as Daniel weakly attempted to convince them all that he didn't need the stretcher. Then he let Carter and Teal'c each have a go at convincing Daniel that he did need a stretcher, before Jack intervened. You had to let your people at least try; it was a teambuilding thing.

Staring through the open doorway, Jack said the magic words. "Daniel. Get on the stretcher. That's an order."

Daniel glared. Ah yes, business as usual. Daniel opened his mouth. Damn, just once he wished Daniel wouldn't argue. Jack held up his hand, to stop it before it started. There were some things he didn't let Daniel get away with, and this was one of them.

"Now, Daniel." Jack pointed once at Daniel, and once at the stretcher.

Daniel threw up his hands, and lay down with a pained grunt. Carter and Jack attached the restraints, remembering the one time they decided to humor Daniel and leave them off.

"One, two, three" lifted the stretcher; Teal'c made it look so damn easy. They carried Daniel through the thirty or so odd doorways, and into the dry twilight. Thank God it was early evening here, though it would be morning when they returned to the SGC.

Oh goody, Janet would be nice and fresh for the operation. The thought made Jack smirk as he stared at the skyline. The gray-blue evening light gently softened the pale yellow dunes. He noted the odd scrubs of vegetation dotting the sand. He guessed the stark scenery was okay, if people liked that sort of thing.

He kept searching the skyline, finding the approaching sunset full of useful colors. Useful because they helped him spot the Stargate's ring against the sandy dull sky. He watched the horizon's dying ripples, as the fading movement called to one last thought, and he smiled.

Yes, things could change tomorrow.

But they hadn't wasted time today.

The end