Pygmalion 1

Pygmalion

by Sistine

URL: http://www.area52hkh.net/ass/sistine/pygmalion01.php
Summary: When Daniel, a lowly thief, takes part in Jacob Carter's experiment, his life changes dramatically
Info: After a comment in one feedback about not seeing Daniel as anything other than a linguist or archaeologist in most fics, I decided to write something where he wasn't either of them. I didn't mean to make Jack as mean as he is - that was just something that developed as the story went. There may be a sequel at a later date but I've got so many ideas for fics at the moment that it might be quite a while in coming. My thanks to Rossy for going through this and picking up all my errors in spelling, grammar, and historical thinking. Feedback - please, please, please!!! I know not everyone's going to like this fic so if I'd most grateful to those who do if they can let me know <g>.

Warnings: Multiple non-con scene (not too graphic). And Jack fans be warned that he is not very nice throughout a lot of this fic.

Part 1

London, 1901

It was the middle of the night. Most people were tucked up in bed, sleeping soundly. But not Daniel Jackson. Dressed all in black, he moved stealthily through the darkness towards his objective. He had been scouting around the neighbourhood for a couple of weeks, isolating the homes that would be the most vulnerable. Tonight he was going to make his first burglary there.

It was tough living at the turn of the century, especially if one was poor. Also - if they were like Daniel - if they were orphans. Those orphans who didn't get into a workhouse had to live on the streets like Daniel had. Daniel had lost his parents at an early age and had lived on the streets since he was eight years old. His parents had been estranged from his rich grandfather so when they had died, there had been no-one to take care of him. He had been taken in by a man called Robert Simpson, and had learnt how to steal, first by picking pockets and then by robbing houses. He was good at it; he had to be since he was twenty-five years old and had never been caught. The takings were enough to survive on but barely more than that. Daniel wasn't exactly ignorant - he had befriended a couple of schoolteachers early on who had educated him - but he would never be able to get a normal job. Therefore he had to keep going with his 'profession'.

He eased up to the window, making sure that he kept out of sight. He was betting that, like many London homes, the window wasn't locked. Slowly, he stood and carefully lifted the window up. When it was high enough, he lifted himself up and went through.

He moved very carefully through the room, since he had little illumination from the thief's lantern he carried. There were heirlooms aplenty in the room - crystal decanters, silver candlesticks, and that sort of thing - that would fetch a good price on the black market. He started to gather them up and put them into the black bag he had brought with him.

He rounded the couch and suddenly froze. There, lying on the couch, was a man. For the first time in a burglary, Daniel was just a little worried. There wasn't supposed to be any man in the house, just a woman and her maids. What was the man doing there?

Almost as if he knew he was being watched, the man's eyes snapped open. Daniel stood frozen for a second, startled, then he took off.

The man immediately gave chase. Daniel threw the bag out the window then jumped out as well. The man followed. Just before Daniel reached the gate, something caught him around the knees and he fell down onto the grass. He immediately tried to get up but found himself pinned to the ground. "Let me go!"

"No," was the firm answer. "You're coming with me."

Strong hands pulled him upright and dragged him back into the house. A big, black man was lighting a lamp in the dining room as Daniel entered. Daniel was forced to sit in a chair and his hands were tied behind his back. It was only then that he got a good look at the man who had caught him. Over six feet tall, brown steely eyes, grey-blonde hair, and an attractive face. If the man weren't his enemy, Daniel would have liked him.

"What were you doing in Miss Carter's house?" the man demanded.

"Sorry guv'nah. I thought this was me Uncle's house," Daniel replied, using the speech of the uneducated. He found that it made people underestimate him and that was a good thing most of the time.

"Do you always steal from your Uncle?"

"Whatcha ask me what I was doin' if you already knew?" Daniel retorted.

"How old are you?"

"None of your business." He was well aware that he looked much younger than he was. That fact had helped him out many a time.

"Jack, what is going on?" a woman's voice inquired.

Turning to look at his fiancée, Colonel Jack O'Neill gave her a small smile. "Nothing, dear. Go back to bed." He considered it fortunate that he, along with his servant, Teal'c, had decided to stay the night. Otherwise, the thief would have made off with everything.

"Who is this?" Samantha Carter stepped forward to examine the man tied to the chair.

"That is just what I was trying to find out." Not that he figured he would have much luck. Jack turned back to the intruder. He was puzzled - what was an attractive lad like him doing robbing people's houses? With his looks, the lad would make good money as a prostitute. Maybe the burglary was just a sideline. "What is your name?"

"Don't haf to tell ya." Daniel shifted uncomfortably. When 'Jack' had turned, and Daniel saw him in profile, a frisson of desire had run through him. He had always been attracted to men and he had occasionally met others like him, but out in the world, people like him weren't tolerated. They were beaten and jailed just because they were different. So Daniel had always been careful; only a select few knew about him. These people already thought he was a thief - better not to give them something else to lock him up for.

"You can tell me or you can tell the police," Jack threatened, coming to stand right in front of the lad.

Daniel stared defiantly up at him. "You're gonna turn me in anyway so what's the diff'rence?" That brought up an interesting question - how was he going to tell Robert where he was?

"The difference is that they will beat it out of you. I won't." Jack paused. "Yet. So, are you going to tell me your name?"

"I don't hafta tell you nothin'."

"Jack." Sam drew her fiancé aside. "He would be perfect for Father's experiment."

"What?!" Jack shot a look at the lad. Although the lad was attractive, he looked and smelled as if he hadn't bathed in a month. Not exactly upper-class material. "He's a thief!"

"Exactly. If Father can transform him into a gentleman, then his theory will be proven correct."

Jack sighed. He would have to give in on this to appease her - the downside of being engaged. He thought it was a bad idea but it seemed that Sam - and her father - would have to be proven wrong. "Okay. I will take him around to Jacob in the morning."

Daniel had very good hearing and he was immediately alarmed. "I won't be part of no experiment." He had to get home or else Robert would come looking for him.

"It's either that or the police," Jack stated. "Your choice."

"But I gotta get home or me dad will kill me," Daniel protested. Well, Robert wasn't exactly his dad, more like his foster dad, but these toffs didn't have to know that.

Sam looked at the pleading face and the big blue eyes, and started to weaken. She couldn't let him get into trouble with his father. "Maybe..."

"No!" Jack said firmly. "This is why women aren't allowed in the police force," he muttered to himself. He continued in a louder voice, "Your father can't kill you if he can't find you."

Daniel stared wide-eyed at him, milking the scared expression for all it was worth. "How do you know? You don't know nothin' about me life! Me dad, he's got contacts. He'll find me and then he'll kill me!"

"Why should I believe you?" Jack shot back, his heart not softened in the slightest by the lad's pleas. "More to the point, why should I trust you?"

"Maybe," Sam interrupted, "you and Teal'c could accompany him home and talk to his father about this. Then you could bring him back."

"I ain't takin' no-one home with me, and I ain't takin' part in no experiment."

"We'll pay you," Sam said impulsively and received a startled, "What?" from both men. "We will give you money if you work with my father."

"Every day?" Daniel said suspiciously. "Cash?"

"Yes," Sam agreed.

The offer sounded too good to be true. There had to be a catch. "What's the experiment about?"

"Taking someone from the streets and transforming him or her into a gentleman or a lady."

Daniel laughed. "Me, a gentleman?" Once maybe. But the death of his parents had destroyed that dream. "You must be mad."

"I don't think so." Something about the man hinted at more refinement than he was displaying.

"Listen, m'lady, livin' on the streets is the only life I've known. It'd never work. Besides, I'd never fit into 'civilised' society." He had once dreamed of that but reality had quickly intruded.

"I think you could."

"Sam, he doesn't want to be part of it," Jack interrupted. "Besides, I agree with him. Jacob wouldn't be able to make him into a gentleman." Although he would scrub up rather well, Jack noted absently.

Well, he might be attractive, Daniel thought, but he didn't have a personality to match. He looked at the woman. "'Ow much? And 'ow long for?"

"One month," Sam replied, knowing all about the theory. "You will need to stay here though. And how does one pound a day sound?" She was rich - she could afford to give it away.

"Sam!" Jack couldn't believe his ears.

Neither could Daniel. One pound a day! That was thirty-one pounds total! That was enough to feed him, Robert, and Charlie, the new apprentice, for several months! That sealed the deal. "Alright then, miss, I'll do it."

"Good. I'll get you some food to take back for you and your father." Sam left the room.

Jack closed in on the lad. "What are you playing at?" He was suspicious of the change of heart.

"I'm survivin'," Daniel responded, returning the look of dislike. "Thirty pounds is a lot of money."

"I suppose you'll spend it all on drink," Jack said scornfully.

"I don't drink - I need a clear 'ead in my job." It cost too much money for drink - although Robert didn't seem to care less - and there were better ways to spend his time than hanging around taverns.

"Here you go," Sam said as she came back with a basket of food. "Jack, untie him."

"I think this is a mistake, Sam," Jack stated as he reluctantly obeyed her order.

"We'll see. Now, what's your name?" Sam helped the young man to stand and then gave him the basket.

"Daniel," he replied softly as he looked in the basket and saw bread, cheese, milk and biscuits. He was touched that she was actually giving him food. This woman - Sam - was nice.

Sam smiled. "Daniel. I like that. Daniel, I want you to come back here at nine o'clock tomorrow-" she glanced at the clock, "-this morning. Can you do that?"

"I'll try." He didn't have a watch but he would do his best.

"Good. Now, off you go and make sure you and your father have a good breakfast." She accompanied him to the door.

"I will, m'lady." After an awkward bow, Daniel left.

Sam watched Daniel for a minute, then shut the door. She could sense Jack's disapproval without looking. "I know what I'm doing, Jack."

"I hope so." Jack was doubtful. "Because it's your house he is going to rob."

~~~

When Daniel got back to the dwelling he shared with Robert and Charlie, he suddenly found himself sprawled on the floor, his right ear ringing. He looked up and saw Robert standing over him. "What was that for?" he asked, looking up at the big man.

"Where's the loot?" Robert Simpson asked. Ever since taking Daniel under his wing seventeen years ago, Robert had guided him in the art of stealing, had protected him, and had on occasion, acted as his pimp when they were desperate for money. Robert had never been interested in him sexually, viewing Daniel more as a son. Fortunately, with the money Daniel brought in, as well as the goods from their teenage apprentice Charlie, Daniel hadn't had to work as a prostitute for many months now. He wasn't resentful about the way Robert treated him, not nowadays. When he had first arrived in Robert's care, Daniel had been soft, crying whenever Robert had laid a hand on him. Now, he realised that it had toughened him up and prepared him for a life living on the streets. Even though Daniel was now an adult and could have moved away, he stayed with Robert because he was the closest thing Daniel had to family. The beatings were Robert's way of showing who was in charge, and Daniel put up with them, knowing that if Robert crossed the line then he had the skills to fight back.

"I didn't get anything," Daniel had to admit and earned a cuff to his head for it. "But I did get something better." He held out the basket.

"What's this?" Robert sniffed, then investigated the basket. "Food?"

"Yeah. And you'll never guess what else." Daniel waited until he had Robert's full attention. "I got a job."

"A job?"

"There was a man in the house where I went. He caught me, and then his lady friend said that I would be good for some sort of experiment her father's conducting on turning people from the streets into toffs. She's going to pay me and all." Daniel's speech was much better now that he was back home although it still reflected his upbringing. "One pound a day for one month. All I have to do is live there for one month and get turned into a gentleman."

Robert scoffed at the idea. "Turn you into a gentleman? The idea's ridiculous."

"Not according to the lady." Actually, Daniel was beginning to like the idea. A tiny part inside him had never stopped dreaming about living in rich society. "Besides which, it doesn't matter if they can't. They'll pay me regardless."

Giving the idea some more consideration, Robert held out his hand to Daniel and helped him up. "You might just've done the right thing, Daniel. 'Ow are you gonna get the money to me?"

"I don't know yet. I'll think of something." He knew he wouldn't be able to keep any money for himself. "Just think of what you could do with thirty pounds," Daniel said, trying to persuade Robert that this was a good thing.

That certainly was a lot of money. "Alright, you can do it. But I want that money on a regular basis, you hear me? I'll send Charlie to pick it up every day."

"Yes, sir." Daniel rubbed his ear. He knew what would happen to him if he didn't obey.

~~~

The next morning, Jack shared breakfast with his fiancée and his future father-in-law. Jacob Carter had called around earlier and had been informed of the previous night's events. "It's a bad idea," Jack stated as he finished drinking his cup of tea.

"So you keep saying," Jacob responded. "But I think I'll reserve judgement for when I see the lad. How old did you say he was?"

"Eighteen is my guess," Sam spoke up. She was looking lovely that morning in a pale blue dress that highlighted her eyes. However, to her disappointment, Jack hadn't said anything about it. "Jack?"

"Probably," Jack agreed. "Very young to go stealing from houses." Far too young. And definitely too young for the other profession Jack had thought of earlier.

"It's the way they live, Jack." Jacob had made a study of the poor, occasionally heading into their territory to look at the way they lived. "They can't get a decent job so they have to do what they can to survive, usually from a very young age."

Jack was reminded of the comment Daniel had made the previous night about surviving. Maybe the lad hadn't been exaggerating. He glanced at the clock. "It's after nine and he isn't here yet."

"Have you thought that he might not have a watch?" Jacob wanted to know. "Or that he might not even be able to tell the time?"

Admittedly, those thoughts hadn't crossed Jack's mind. He didn't have much experience with the poor as he had spent most of his adult life in the army. "He could ask someone."

"Who around here is going to tell him? They would just as soon call the police." Sam sipped her tea. "He will turn up." Although Jack didn't trust him, Sam did.

~~~

Daniel was nervous as he pressed the doorbell. He didn't know what his reception would be like in the light of day. As he stepped back onto the last step, the door opened and the large black man from the previous night stood there. At the impassive look, Daniel said, "Hi. I'm, uh, I'm Daniel. I'm 'ere to see Sam."

"You mean, Miss Carter?"

"Yeah. Um, she told me to be 'ere this mornin'." Daniel shuffled his feet awkwardly, playing the part he had established in the early hours of the morning.

"Follow me."

Daniel entered the house, his sharp eyes cataloguing everything that he saw. There were a lot of antiques on display, although some of them he believed were replicas; it was obvious that this family had money.

"Wait here."

It was the same dining room that he had been taken to earlier. He decided not to sit down - in daylight, the chairs looked every bit as expensive as the silver candlesticks - and settled for just wandering the room. When he heard footsteps, he looked over at the doorway. The first person he saw was Jack, who was looking disdainfully back at him. Hurt by the expression for some reason Daniel didn't want to examine, he looked at the other man whom he presumed was Sam's father. The man - somewhere in his fifties, Daniel judged - was dressed to the nines and Daniel felt very shabby in comparison; his clothes were very old and ragged, and there were patches and holes everywhere. He dropped his head in genuine embarrassment.

Jacob went over to Daniel when it became obvious that the young man wasn't going to move. "Hello, Daniel. My name is Jacob Carter." He held out his hand for the other man to shake.

Slowly, Daniel lifted his eyes from the floor to the outstretched hand and then he looked at his own. There was dirt under his fingernails and on his hands - it wasn't clean enough to shake Mr. Carter's. But the hand remained in front of him so eventually Daniel shook it. He felt his chin being tilted up and he stared into amused brown eyes.

"Lesson number one, Daniel. Always make eye contact when you're shaking hands." Jacob let go of Daniel's hand. "Did Sam tell you what you would be expected to do?"

"Learn 'ow to be a gentleman," Daniel replied.

"That's right. Now for starters, you need a bath and some new clothes," Jacob stated as he examined the young man's attire. "Do you want to keep your old clothes?"

Daniel nodded slowly. He might as well because after all this was over, he would need something to wear; fancy clothes would just get him robbed and beaten on the way home.

"Okay. We will find somewhere to put them. Jack," Jacob turned to the silent man nearby. "I'm sure you would have something that would fit Daniel."

The colonel opened his mouth to say 'no', then decided he had better co-operate with his future father-in-law. "I'll go check."

"Good boy." Jacob turned to Sam, who had just entered the room. "Now, about that bath..."

~~~

Half an hour later, Daniel found himself thoroughly washed and dressed in one of Jack's suits. The trousers were a little bit long, as were the shirtsleeves, but other than that, it was a good fit. Daniel ran his fingers reverently over the material, enjoying its silky feel. The material felt soft against his skin too, so different from the coarse material that his clothes were usually made out of. He stood, self-consciously, in the middle of the living room as Mr. Carter ran his eyes over him.

"Not bad at all. You scrub up nicely." Jacob could already see the devastating effect Daniel was going to have on the ladies of society. "Let's start with deportment. A gentleman always walks with his chin up and eyes forward." He gently tilted Daniel's face upwards. "Now, I want you to walk across the room without looking downwards."

Daniel took a deep breath; he could do this. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Jack enter the room and he immediately dropped his gaze to the floor as he tried to regain his composure. Daniel knew that Jack didn't like him, and he wasn't comfortable with having an audience who was waiting for him to fail. His face reddened as Jacob tilted his head up again, and he could see the smirk on Jack's face. Why had he ever agreed to this? There were better things to do with his time than stand here and get humiliated.

"Remember, chin up, Daniel," Jacob softly reminded him, well aware that the young man had his pride. He had learnt that contrary to what most rich people thought, poor people did have feelings and they did have their pride. He would need to walk a fine line with Daniel; the young man might have agreed to do this because of the money but he wouldn't continue doing it if he was made to feel like a fool.

Exhaling heavily, Daniel fixed his eyes on the wall opposite. He could do this. He would do this. He would show them all that people like him weren't stupid. With that in mind, he started walking.

Jack kept the smirk on his face as he watched Daniel cross the room but his thoughts didn't match his expression. There was a lithe grace about the lad's movement - presumably a legacy of thieving for many years. He noticed that Daniel tended to walk more on the balls of his feet rather than the whole foot; a habit formed from sneaking around, Jack imagined.

"Very good, Daniel," Jacob praised, going over to stand in front of the young man. "Next thing: shoulders back so that you stand up straight. You are not trying to blend in with the crowd, you are trying to be noticed." He had seen the same thing as Jack had. "You need to walk tall."

Daniel tried to comply but he felt very conspicuous. He jiggled his shoulders a bit, trying to get comfortable. "I ain't used to this."

"I know, and it is 'I am not used to this," Jacob corrected him. "Gentlemen don't use the word 'ain't'."

"I ain't a gentleman yet," Daniel pointed out. He generally didn't use the word either but it was all part of his act.

"'I am not a gentleman yet'," Jacob corrected.

"Then why are you teachin' me to be one?" Daniel asked, the corners of his lips curving upwards for a second.

Jacob caught the movement; the boy had a sense of humour. He shook his head ruefully and grinned. "All right, you got me on that one. Now, shoulders back."

Daniel obeyed that and the orders that followed: step onto your heel first; don't walk too fast; keep your legs straight - no, not that straight! - and hold your hands loosely by your side. "I feel ridiculous," he complained at one point, and he really did. Walking like a gentleman was much harder than walking like a normal person. He couldn't imagine going out in public and walking like this.

Jack thought he looked ridiculous too, especially since Daniel looked like a little boy dressed in his older brother's suit, play-acting at being a gentleman. But that grace from before still shone through, and Jack, although he would never admit it, couldn't take his eyes off Daniel.

~~~

By six o'clock, Daniel was sick of being ordered around. The lessons in deportment, speech and manners were repetitive, and Daniel wanted nothing more than to curl up and go to sleep. But he couldn't do that because he had to dine with the Carters and Jack. He wasn't faking the nervousness as he entered the dining room; he didn't want to do something wrong and look like a fool in front of them.

Jacob smiled gently at the young man and indicated that he should take a seat next to Sam. He had warned the others - well, just Jack actually - not to laugh at Daniel's attempts to do the right thing. Daniel had been making good progress but one stray comment could undo all that work. As Daniel took a seat, Jacob asked him a question about his family. He didn't miss the fleeting pain in the young man's eyes and wondered as to its cause.

"There's me Dad, me brother Charlie, and me," Daniel replied. Well, they were like a family to him. He looked at the fancy cutlery next to his bowl and tried to remember which one he had been told to use.

Jack started at the name Charlie. He had been married once before, a long time ago, and had gained a son from that union. However, his Charlie had died one year ago, lost at sea on his first voyage as a midshipman. Charlie had only been fourteen but he had always wanted to be a sailor. And when he turned fourteen, Jack had reluctantly brought him a commission. Jack had been so proud of his son. When the news had come that the ship had been lost at sea, all hands missing, he had been devastated. He had become a recluse, blaming himself for sending Charlie off to sea at such a young age. His wife, Sarah, had blamed him too and had eventually divorced him - despite the stigma attached to divorcees - because of it. Soon afterwards, he had met Sam, and she had helped pull him out of his despair. And although he did love her - at least, he told himself he did - even she couldn't make him totally happy.

"Your mother?" Sam inquired, oblivious to the thoughts of her fiancé.

"She died when I was young," Daniel stated softly, shifting uncomfortably and dropping his gaze to the table. That, at least, was the truth.

"I'm sorry," Sam said sympathetically. She knew what it was like to grow up without a mother.

The conversation was quiet after that, and Daniel was free to concentrate on his food rather than on speaking. He also took the time to assess the others at the table. He liked Sam - Miss Carter, as he had been told to address her. She was nice - after all, she was providing his wages - and she seemed to genuinely like him, despite the fact that he had tried to steal from her. Jacob, her father, also seemed to be a nice person, although he was also a hard taskmaster. Probably a little on the eccentric side though; how many other people in Jacob's position would try to convert someone from the lower class into high society?

Daniel was torn, though, when it came to Jack. Colonel O'Neill, as he had been reprimanded by the man himself earlier today. Being in the military certainly explained a few things in Daniel's point of view because Jack was just so mean. Also picking fault, always criticising. And he never smiled, not even at Sam, whom he was engaged to. There was definitely something wrong with his personality. But there was nothing wrong with his looks. Lean build with plenty of subtle muscles, blondish hair that was just starting to go grey, and deep brown eyes that if they had displayed any warmth, Daniel would have called velvety. But there was no warmth in them, especially when they were directed at him. Which he was not going to let bother him. No, uh-uh, not in the slightest. Okay, maybe a little bit. But since the only way Jack would sleep with him was if Daniel was charging an hourly rate, then it was no use thinking about how good-looking the man was.

After dinner, Daniel excused himself. He had to go and meet Charlie, and give him the day's wages. Once he was gone, conversation turned to how he had been progressing.

"I still think you're wasting your time," Jack stated, although not with as much conviction as that morning. He had seen how hard Daniel was trying and was the tiniest bit impressed by his determination.

"Thank you, Jack, I know I can always count on your positive support," Jacob said sarcastically. "Daniel has done a good job so far." He turned to Sam. "Did you notice how well he used the utensils?"

"I did." Sam had been watching Daniel carefully throughout the meal. "Do you think he will be ready in time for the ball?"

"I think so. His pride will make sure of it."

The three of them retired to the living room to wait for Daniel's return. They didn't have to wait too long. Jacob engaged the young man in conversation for a while but he could see the fatigue in Daniel's eyes. Eventually, he said, "Daniel, go to bed."

Daniel's eyes grew flinty at the order. "I'm not tired," he lied. He'd had enough of being ordered around for one day.

"Yes, you are," Jacob disagreed. "That's not a bad thing. You won't be impolite if you leave us to get some sleep."

"I'm fine," Daniel continued to argue. He was not five years old; he could figure out his own bedtime, thank you very much!

"Daniel, one thing gentlemen don't do is argue with their elders," Jack said in exasperation. Really, the lad was so stubborn.

"You argue with Jacob," Daniel pointed out. "And Sam - I mean, Miss Carter - argues with you."

Sam chuckled. "He has you there, Jack." Her fiancé just glared at her. "Daniel, none of us are going to stay up too much longer. And you have had a long day. Come, I'll show you where you can sleep." She stood up and started for the door, clearly not expecting Daniel to argue with her.

After a few seconds of contemplation, Daniel decided to follow her. He left the living room, unaware of Jack's eyes on him all the way.

Sam led him to the back of the house, which Daniel identified as the servants quarters. He went inside the room he was shown and had a look around. Although it was very sparse - a bed with white sheets, a dresser, a table and a chair, and a wardrobe - it was better than the room he slept in at home. "It's very nice. Thank you, miss," he added, remembering his manners.

"You're welcome, Daniel. This was the only bedroom available, I'm afraid." She didn't want to offend him by putting him in with the servants.

"I understand. Really, this is fine." He went over and tested out the bed; it was softer than the mattress at home.

"Okay. There are nightshirts in the bottom drawer, towels in the wardrobe. The bathroom is down the hall to your left. I will have someone bring you some new clothes in the morning."

Daniel nodded in acknowledgement, although he was a little surprised. New clothes already? He had only worn these for a day.

"Goodnight then."

"Goodnight," Daniel replied. As soon as Sam left the room, closing the door behind her, Daniel was up off the bed and investigating everything. He checked out the dresser first and found a nightshirt that was of a better quality than the shirts he wore daily. He lay it on the bed, then looked through the wardrobe just to see what was in there. There were some suits hanging up - presumably left over from when a male servant occupied the room - and some towels stacked up at the bottom.

Deciding to save the rest of the exploration until morning, Daniel quickly got ready for bed. But it took a long time for him to go to sleep, even though he was tired, and when he dreamt, it was always of Jack.

~~~

"No, no, no," Jacob said as Daniel picked up the cup the wrong way again. "Hold it delicately."

Daniel resisted the urge to throw the cup at the wall. They had been going over table manners for the past hour or so and he was sick of the constant flow of criticism from Jacob and the taunts from the colonel. He was doing his best! Taking a deep breath, he calmed himself down and then tried to delicately pick up the cup.

Jack, who had been watching for the past half hour, decided it would be a good time to interrupt again. "This is a waste of time, Jacob. He can't even hold a cup the correct way."

That was it! Daniel threw the cup at Jack and stormed out of the room.

The cup hit the wall just to the left of Jack as he moved out of the way. "Hey!" he yelled after the thief.

Jacob just sighed. They had been going so well until Jack had shown up and started to stir Daniel. "Jack, you're not being very helpful. And you're not giving him a fair chance."

"That is because it's not going to work." Jack settled himself down in a nearby chair.

"If you're going to be negative, Jack, you don't have to be here," Jacob stated, disliking the negativity of his future son-in-law.

"I'm not going to let him steal from you." Jack didn't trust anyone who had grown up on the streets.

"Relax, Jack," the older man said with a chuckle. "The really expensive stuff is safely hidden either in the basement or at the bank. Daniel's harmless."

Jack rolled his eyes. "Might I remind you that I caught him trying to steal from Sam?"

"Have faith," Jacob said, patting Jack on the shoulder. "In me and in Daniel." With that, he left the room to find the young man.

Jack crossed his arms; thieves were all the same. He was not going to trust Daniel just because the lad looked so young and innocent. There was just no way he could do that.

It wasn't hard for Jacob to find Daniel. The young man had gone to sit on the back steps, which overlooked the back garden. "I'm sorry about Jack," Jacob stated softly. "He can be annoying at times."

"I noticed," Daniel said dryly. It probably wouldn't be so bad if he didn't like the military man but the problem was that he did. Well, 'liked' as in he was attracted to Jack. And that wasn't a good thing.

"How about we work on something else for a while?" Jacob suggested.

Daniel nodded. Just so long as Jack wasn't in the room.

~~~

By the end of the third day, Jacob was beginning to get the sneaking suspicion that Daniel knew more than he was letting on. They had been going through the letters of the alphabet, and although Daniel appeared not to know them when he saw them, he sure seemed to learn them very quickly. So after about an hour, Jacob said, "You know how to read, don't you, Daniel?"

The young man looked at him with wide eyes; how had Jacob worked that out? Daniel was sure that he had been displaying the proper amount of ignorance. He started to shake his head but stopped when he saw Jacob's knowing look. "Yes."

"How?"

"You make a lot of friends when you live on the streets," Daniel replied. "I happened to find a couple of teachers who were willing to teach me to read."

Jacob nodded in understanding. "So a lot of this has been an act then, hasn't it? Your speech, acting younger than you are?"

"Yes." Daniel hung his head. He felt bad now that he had deceived Jacob. "I'm sorry. I should leave."

"Why?"

Wasn't it obvious? "Because I lied to you."

"So? Plenty of people lie, Daniel. And I assume you had a good reason for it." Jacob would bet that it was a survival mechanism, a way of protecting himself behind a veil of ignorance. "This just means that we'll have to readjust our lessons, that's all."

"Um..." Daniel paused for a second, wondering how he could phrase the next question.

"Oh, right. Jack." That would be a problem; Jack would be extremely angry if he found out the truth. "Okay, we will save the more advanced lessons for when he's not around."

Daniel's eyes opened wide again; how had Jacob known what he had been going to ask?

"Can you write?" Jacob asked. When the young man shook his head, Jacob stated, "That's what we'll work on now then. If Jack is curious, you're learning to read and write at the same time."

"Okay."

"So how old are you really?" Jacob wanted to know.

Daniel ducked his head. "Twenty-five," he replied in a quiet voice.

That surprised Jacob - Daniel looked much younger than that. "And you still live with your father?"

"Uh, yes." Daniel couldn't lie directly to Jacob, not when the man was staring at him so intensely.

The evasion answered the question for Jacob. "He's not really your father, is he?" Jacob had several suspicions about what exactly the man was, and none of them pleased him.

"He's the closest thing I've had to a father in nearly twenty years," Daniel replied. "He took me in when my parents died and taught me how to survive."

"Does he beat you?"

"I can take care of myself," Daniel stated, not wanting to discuss this any further.

Jacob saw the closed-off expression and decided not to press the subject. After instructing Daniel to go on with his exercises, Jacob continued to silently speculate on the life Daniel had so far led. The evasive answer Daniel had just given implied that yes, his foster father did beat him. If that was the case, then why didn't Daniel leave? There were a lot of questions that Jacob wanted the answers to but he wasn't sure he wanted to know what they were.

~~~

Jack found himself drawn to watch Daniel's lessons. He told himself it was because he didn't trust Daniel not to steal from the Carters but deep down, he knew that it wasn't the real reason. But he didn't look too closely in case he didn't like the reason. That didn't stop him from watching Daniel though - the way that the lad moved; the floppy hair that Daniel was constantly brushing away from his eyes; the long fingers holding a quill; the hint of a smile after a job well done. He forced himself to make derogatory comments on Daniel's progress, not admitting to himself that he liked to see the fire in the lad's eyes when he was annoyed. But what he didn't realise was that he was actually starting to like the young man more than he should.

Part 2

Over the next few days, Daniel fell into a routine. In the mornings, he would eat breakfast, have a bath - this was at Sam's urging - and then spend the day working with Jacob on becoming a gentleman. In the evenings, he would dine with the others, then retire to his room to work on his reading and writing skills. It was harder than he thought, the upper-class having all these rules that made no sense but were important in civilised society. Many times he wondered why he had agreed to the experiment.

On the eve of the seventh day, Daniel sat at the table practising his writing, an oil lamp burning nearby. He was concentrating hard on getting the letters right, his quick brain an asset in this endeavour. Because he wasn't focusing on anything other than his writing, he took a long time to realise that he was being watched.

Turning his head, Daniel's eyes locked with Jack's for a brief second and then the colonel was gone. Daniel sat there, slightly stunned. Had he just imagined the man being there? Not to mention the tender look in his eyes? It was hard to believe after all the nasty comments that the colonel had been directing towards him these past few days. He was probably mistaken; if Jack had been there, he wouldn't have been looking at him with anything other than distaste. It was only Daniel's own thoughts that were making him see things.

Shaking his head, Daniel returned to his work.

Further down the corridor, Jack had stopped to calm himself down. He hadn't originally meant to stop in the doorway but he had been curious about the light showing from the room. As he had stared at Daniel, he had realised how beautiful the man was, sitting in the lamp's glow. Daniel had also seemed so vulnerable, so unlike everything Jack had assumed he was. That had been very disturbing by itself but worse was the tugging at his heart as he watched the man work. He didn't want to like Daniel or feel sorry for him, so his reactions were not welcome. It would be so much easier if Daniel did something wrong or was ugly. Since the latter was impossible, Jack would have to hope for the former.

~~~

Daniel woke with a start, gasping for breath. He'd just had the most erotic dream and he was achingly hard. The dream had begun with Jack staring at him from the doorway. Then the older man had come into the room to stand behind Daniel. Soft kisses had been placed on his neck while fingers slid underneath his shirt to caress his chest. The fingers had gradually moved lower until they were skimming the top of his trousers. His skin had been tingling all over from desire, Jack's touch creating feelings that had been dormant for a long time. And then he had woken up.

How could he feel so much about someone he barely knew, not to mention someone who didn't like him? Maybe he just needed to get laid - when was the last time he had done that? Obviously, it was too long ago. He couldn't really do anything about it though because he had a job to do. However, if the dreams continued, he would find time; he did not need these feelings right now.

To make himself calm down, Daniel thought about all the things that had happened in the past week. One week and already he was becoming used to living like royalty. Would he be content to go back to living on the streets after another three weeks? It didn't matter, he told himself; he had to go back. No matter how much he had learnt, he still wouldn't be able to fit in with the upper-class. But he would no longer truly be lower-class either. Had Jacob thought about that when he had conceived the experiment? Probably not, Daniel decided; the thought wouldn't even occur to him.

Rolling over, Daniel tried to rid his mind of all thoughts, and tried to get back to sleep.

~~~

"We're going into town today."

"What?" Daniel stared at Jacob. The only time he had left the house during the last two weeks was to give Charlie the money. He wasn't sure that he was ready to go shopping and have everyone stare at him.

"You can hardly keep on wearing Jack's clothes for the next couple of weeks," Jacob told him.

"Why not?" Daniel kind of liked wearing Jack's things; it was a very intimate thing to do, and since he and Jack would never be lovers, this was as close as he was going to get to the older man.

Jacob chuckled. "It's not going to be that bad, I promise." Daniel was making great progress and Jacob wanted to take him into a social situation to see how he would cope.

Daniel continued to protest. "What if someone sees me?" He would be in for it if anyone from his old life saw him dressed up like this.

"They'd probably have a good laugh," Jack said as he entered the room. Taking a seat across the table from Daniel, he ignored the glares sent in his direction.

"That is not helpful, Jack," Jacob admonished him. He had been hoping his future son-in-law wasn't going to be around this morning. "Aren't you supposed to be having lunch with some of your army buddies?"

"That's not for another hour yet," Jack replied. "You know, if you are taking Daniel down the street, you ought to get his hair cut. Short hair is all the fashion apparently."

"No-one is cutting my hair," Daniel stated firmly. He liked having long hair, and his former clients had always liked it too.

"I agree. Jack, stop being a nuisance."

"Fine." Jack held his hands up in front of him. "Just offering my opinion."

"I don't want your opinion," Daniel said, a hint of anger in his voice. Why did the man always pick on him? "I just want you to go away."

"Okay, I'm going." Jack stood up again. "Have fun, Jacob." He left the room, pleased with the reactions he had caused.

"Ignore him, Daniel." Jacob saw the young man's angry expression. "He was just stirring."

"I know." But that didn't make the words any less hurtful. "Why can't he ever say anything nice?"

"I don't know." Jacob certainly didn't know why Jack had taken such a dislike to the boy. "Maybe it has something to do with being in the army."

Maybe, Daniel thought. Then he changed the subject. "You really want me to go into town?"

"I do."

Daniel sighed. He had made a commitment to do this, so he might as well see it through. "Let's go then."

~~~

There were plenty of shoppers around that morning, all dressed in their finest clothes. Daniel looked enviously at the suits that the men were wearing, conscious of the fact that he would never wear anything like them once the month was up. Some of the clothes looked very uncomfortable though, and in a way he was glad that he had always been able to dress comfortably, if somewhat shabbily. He observed some very bright coloured outfits and said quietly to Jacob, "Don't make me look like that."

"Like what?" Jacob looked around and saw the men Daniel had been referring to. He immediately recognised them as dandies - effeminate rich men who loved to stand out in a crowd. "Don't worry, I won't." The clothes wouldn't suit Daniel anyway.

"Good." Daniel continued observing his surroundings, noting that the crowd offered rich pickings for someone game enough to try. And since he was in the neighbourhood, he might as well be that someone. He 'accidentally' bumped into a middle-aged gentleman and swiftly relieved him of his wallet. Daniel tried that technique a couple more times before Jacob caught on.

"Daniel, what are you doing?" The older man noticed that Daniel suddenly seemed to be tripping over his own feet a lot.

"Nothing," Daniel replied, an innocent look on his face.

"When we get to the tailors, I want you to give me everything you've stolen," Jacob said, not believing the lad.

"I haven't stolen anything," Daniel protested. Which was true in a way - he had lifted them, not stolen. Where he came from, there was a difference.

"I thought we had decided on honesty, Daniel." Jacob suddenly stopped as they had reached the entrance to the tailor shop. He opened the door and motioned for Daniel to precede him in.

A young male shop assistant came over to them straight away. "How may I help you?" he asked.

"My nephew needs a few new suits while he is visiting," Jacob explained.

"Of course. I'll just get his measurements." The assistant got a tape measure out and started using it.

Daniel impatiently endured being measured, squirming when the assistant measured his inside leg. He caught Jacob's reproving glare and tried to act bored like a normal rich man his age would, all the time hoping that this wasn't going to take too long.

When the assistant went into the back room to fetch some materials, Jacob held out his hand. "Give them to me, Daniel."

Knowing that he couldn't keep lying, Daniel reluctantly reached into his pockets and pulled out the three wallets he had lifted and gave them to Jacob. So much for supplementing his income from the experiment.

"I will give these to the first police officer I find," Jacob told the young man. "You do know it's wrong to steal, don't you?"

"Yeah. Yes," he corrected himself before Jacob could. It might be wrong but it was the only way some people survived. "I was just keeping in practise."

Jacob didn't say anything to that but looked disapprovingly at Daniel. He knew that pickpocketing was a part of life for people on the streets but the penalties were severe if they were caught. He didn't want to see Daniel end up in jail because of it. "Surely there are other things you can do."

"Sure. But none of them are exactly legal," Daniel told him. "Being a thief or a whore are the only ways to make money where I come from." And he was both but mainly the former.

The words shocked Jacob although he didn't show it. Fortunately, the assistant came back in then and he could concentrate on that. Jacob picked out various materials, mainly in blues and blacks, while trying to ignore the fact that Daniel might have got his money in ways other than thieving.

Daniel took his time deciding on materials, knowing that he would never get the chance to do this again. He liked the dark colours, and generally agreed with what Jacob picked out. But his mind was also occupied with other thoughts, mainly centering on whether he could lift a few more wallets on the way back without Jacob noticing.

They left the store after an hour, choosing different styles for the suits as well as the materials. Jacob received the promise that a new suit would be delivered every day for the next week - he had paid well for that service. Daniel kept well back from the shop displays, not wanting to be caught obviously stealing, but he managed to lift a couple of wallets, handkerchiefs, and a purse without anyone noticing.

"Lunch in ten minutes," Jacob said when they entered the house.

"I'll go wash up." Daniel went straight to his room and took his haul out of his pockets. He went through the money - forty pounds, all up. He would give Charlie a bit at a time, not wanting Robert to spend it all at once. Besides, who knew when he would get the opportunity to pick pockets again. Putting all the money in the purse, he hid it under his mattress where no-one would think to look. Then he washed his hands in the bowl on the washstand, and headed off to the dining room.

~~~

A few days later, Daniel was working on his speech with Jacob when Jack came storming into the dining room. "Where is it?"

"Where is what?" Jacob replied.

"My pocket watch. I left it on the mantelpiece last night and now it's gone." Jack turned to Daniel. "What did you do with it?"

"I didn't do anything," Daniel stated, starting to get angry at the accusation. "How would I even know it was there?"

"Because you were in the room when I put it there last night." Jack had no doubts whatsoever that Daniel had stolen it. "You saw it and you thought it would be a good opportunity to take it. So where is it?"

"Nowhere! I didn't take anything." He'd had no opportunity to steal it anyway. "Just 'cos you've lost your watch, it doesn't mean that it was me who took it." Daniel's speech lapsed briefly into street-grammar.

Jacob stood up and moved between the two men. "That's not an accusation to make lightly, Jack. Have you checked everywhere for it?"

"Of course I have," Jack snapped, believing that he had looked everywhere necessary. "That's how I know that he took it."

"It wasn't me!" Daniel protested.

"Well, then you won't mind me searching your room then, will you?" Jack stormed off, absolutely sure he was in the right.

Daniel quickly followed. True, he didn't have the watch but he still had over thirty pounds hidden under his mattress. If Jack found that, he was in big trouble. "I didn't take your lousy watch!"

"Sure you didn't." Jack kept walking.

Sam stuck her head out of the living room where she had been reading. "What is going on?" she asked as the procession went past her.

"Jack thinks I stole his watch," Daniel explained angrily.

Oops. "Jack!" she called out to her fiancé.

"What?" Jack halted his progress; it would be bad manners not to stop when she called.

"Are you talking about the pocket watch you left on the mantelpiece last night?"

Jack narrowed his eyes at her. "Yes." He stepped a few paces towards her.

"I saw it sitting there this morning and I put it on your dresser," she told him. "I forgot to mention it. I'm sorry." It had completely slipped her mind.

Daniel turned triumphantly to Jack. "See! I told you I didn't take it."

"Well, you might have." Jack wasn't going to apologise. It had been a natural assumption to make.

"That's enough, both of you. Daniel, go back to the dining room," Jacob ordered. He had a few things he needed to sort out with his future son-in-law.

"But--"

"Go."

Crossing his arms, Daniel sullenly went back to the dining room. He hated that he felt like the bad guy when he hadn't done anything wrong. It was Jack who had been in the wrong, accusing him of theft without any proof. Why wasn't Jack getting into trouble? The image crossed Daniel's mind of bending Jack over his knee and soundly slapping his bare buttocks. Surprised at himself, Daniel shook his head, trying to get rid of the mental image. He had never liked violence before but the stiffening in his groin told him that he apparently liked it now. Or maybe it was just the image of Jack being partially naked that was the turn-on. Either way, he couldn't continue to think like that, so he pushed those thoughts out of his head and focused on his writing.

In the living room, Jacob confronted Jack about his erroneous assumption. "How could you, Jack?"

"It was a natural assumption, Jacob. The lad is a thief, so why wouldn't he take the opportunity?" Jack sat down in one of the chairs and slouched, his posture projecting that he couldn't care less.

"Because he is trying hard to fit in around here, that's why," Jacob replied. Even though he had caught Daniel stealing on the street, it didn't mean that the boy would try it in this house.

"I agree," Sam piped up. "You're being totally unfair to him, Jack. You have never even given him a chance."

"That is because I can see what he is better than you two obviously can." Jack stood up again. "Now if you will excuse me, I will be going out this evening. Tell Cook there will be no need to keep dinner for me." With that, he grabbed his evening coat and headed out the door.

Jacob and Sam shared disappointed looks. Neither of them seemed to be getting through to Jack regarding his discriminatory behaviour. "Do you want me to go after him?" Jacob asked.

"No. Let him go," Sam replied. She had found it best in the past to leave Jack be when he was like this. "You had better get back to Daniel."

Jacob nodded. He went back to the dining room to see Daniel writing furiously. Even from a distance, Jacob could see how hard Daniel was gripping the quill. "Daniel."

The young man jumped, his hand knocking the bottle of ink over. He quickly righted it but not before some of the ink had spilled onto the table top. "I'm sorry," he apologised as he tried to clean it up before it ruined the wooden table.

Jacob sighed and then went to help him. Once the mess was cleaned up, he sat down opposite Daniel. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

But Jacob knew that Daniel was lying by the way the boy avoided meeting his gaze. "You're upset over what Jack said, aren't you?"

"It wasn't fair of him to accuse me!" Daniel blurted out. "I didn't do anything wrong!" He crossed his arms over his chest and slouched down in his chair, looking for all the world like a pouting child.

"I know you didn't, and I think deep down, Jack knows you didn't too," Jacob tried to soothe him. He fought down a smile at the image Daniel was presenting; he had seen Sam do the same thing when she was younger.

"He hates me." Daniel couldn't think of anything he had done wrong except being what he was - a thief from the streets.

"He doesn't understand you." And Jacob knew that the man had never tried to either. "Give him time."

Daniel just shook his head. Time wasn't going to make Jack like him.

Jacob sighed again. He hadn't imagined anything like this when the experiment had first started. "Come on. Let's get back to work."

~~~

Jack arrived back at the house at around midnight. He had spent the first part of the evening drinking, and then the second part he had spent with a nice woman named Mary in the back room of a brothel. But he still wasn't feeling any better. If anything, he was feeling worse. There was a tiny part of him that was feeling guilty about wrongly accusing Daniel earlier, and that had only become worse the more he drank. He shouldn't be feeling guilty though. Anyone would have made the same assumption, he told himself. And Daniel was only a thief, after all. There was no need for him to feel guilty at all.

Shrugging off his evening coat and throwing it over a chair in his room, Jack got partially undressed and then fell into bed. He tossed and turned for a while, trying to get comfortable, then eventually drifted off to sleep.

The dream started off innocently enough.

//He walked into Daniel's room and spied the young man lying on his bed. "Where is it?" he demanded.

"You'll have to search me to find out," Daniel said with a smile, stretching seductively.

Pulling the thief upright, Jack did just that. First he took off Daniel's coat, then his shirt, running his hands over the smooth chest. Then he pulled the trousers down to reveal Daniel wearing nothing underneath.

"As you can see, I'm not hiding anything," Daniel said, his tone husky.

Jack ran his fingers up the long legs up to...//

He jerked in his sleep, trying to get away from the images. But they kept coming back all through the night.

~~~

Meanwhile, down in his bedroom, Daniel tossed restlessly, a headache making sleep difficult. He didn't get them much but when he did, they were usually bad. This one had probably been brought on by Jack's accusations. Turning onto his side, he buried his face into his pillow and prayed for sleep.

~~~

When Daniel woke the next morning, he felt cold all over yet he was sweating and his muscles were aching. His stomach churned and when he tried to sit up, it got worse. With a groan, he lay down again. No, he couldn't be ill, not now.

He curled up, trying to warm himself up, and waited for someone to come and check on him. He had dozed off by the time Sam arrived, and he jumped at the touch on his forehead.

"Daniel?" Sam felt his forehead; he was burning up. "How do you feel?"

"Not good," Daniel admitted; he figured his standard response of 'I'm fine' would be less than convincing.

"Wait here," she ordered.

Like I'm going to go anywhere, Daniel thought as he watched her leave the room. Feeling his stomach start to roll, he moved himself far enough to reach the chamber pot under his bed, and then he threw up into it. When his stomach had calmed down again, he rolled himself onto his back and stared at the ceiling. God, he felt terrible. He closed his eyes and tried to will away his illness.

When strong arms moved under his back and knees, Daniel didn't protest. He lay limp as he was carried to another location and then placed on something soft. His eyes fluttered open and he saw Sam standing over him. "Where...?"

"Shhh," Sam said, pressing a wet cloth to his face and washing it gently. "Just rest."

That sounded good. Daniel obediently closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.

"What's wrong with him?" Jack asked, standing in the doorway to Sam's bedroom. But it wasn't Sam he was looking at; his eyes were fixed on the pale figure in the bed.

"I don't know. Maybe influenza," she replied.

"Great. Now we're all going to get sick too."

Sam ignored that. "Teal'c," she said to the man who had carried Daniel in. "Please ask the doctor to come round."

Teal'c bowed and left to fetch the doctor.

Sam continued to wash Daniel's face gently. She had grown to like the young man, and was concerned that he was ill. "Jack, tell Father that Daniel will not be able to do his lessons today."

Jack nodded and headed off.

~~~

The doctor wound up his stethoscope. "Definitely influenza," he stated after examining the patient. "Keep him warm, and make sure he gets plenty of liquids." He folded up his instruments as he was talking.

"Thank you," Sam said. When the doctor left the room, she turned her attention back to Daniel, who was currently awake. "Looks like you have got a week's rest ahead of you."

"The experiment--" he said weakly.

"Don't worry about it." She smoothed his hair back from his forehead. "Jack will give Charlie the money tonight. I won't let you get in trouble with your father."

"Thank you." The words were barely a whisper; he just felt so drained. And he was aching all over. "Sorry... to be trouble," he continued.

"It's no trouble," Sam assured him. "You just concentrate on getting better, okay?"

"'Kay." Daniel closed his eyes again. It was nice to be looked after.

Sam put a little bell next to the bed so that he could alert her if he needed anything, then went down into the living room. "Influenza," she reported to her father and her fiancé. "He's resting now."

"We're all going to get it, you know," Jack predicted.

"Will you stop that?" Jacob chided him. He had been listening to Jack's doom-and-gloom predictions for thirty minutes.

"I'm telling you, Jacob, it was a bad idea to do an experiment with lower-class people," Jack continued. The thief had haunted his dreams last night, and he just wanted Daniel gone.

"No, it wasn't. Haven't you seen how much progress Daniel has made in the last week?" Jacob was very proud of his protege. "In fact, I'm looking forward to showing him off at the Midsummer's Ball in two weeks." Daniel should be better by then.

"What?" Jack was incredulous. He had known about the plan but hadn't thought that Jacob was serious. "You can't just take someone like that to a ball!"

"Yes, I can. Actually, Jack, I'll make you a bet. If Daniel goes to the ball and is found out to be a commoner, then I'll agree with you that the experiment was a bad idea. If he blends in completely, then you'll have to admit that you were wrong." He knew that Jack could not resist a bet.

Jack thought that over. If Daniel was going to be around for another two weeks, then Jack needed something to sweeten the deal. Problem was, he couldn't think of anything except money. "One hundred pounds on the outcome?" He didn't really need the money but hey, he would take what he could get.

"You're on." Jacob had every confidence that Daniel would pull it off, and he was determined to give the young man the hundred pounds to start his new life with.

"Men," Sam muttered, rolling her eyes.

~~~

On Sam's orders, Jack went out to give the pound note to Charlie that evening. According to her, Daniel always met him just down the road at the red post-box, just after dark. When he reached the post-box, he saw a young lad, no more than fourteen, waiting there. When the lad saw him, he started to run away. "Hey!" Jack called out. "Are you Charlie?"

The lad stopped and turned slowly around. "What if I am?"

"This is from Daniel." Jack held out the money. He was relieved that the lad looked nothing like his own Charlie, black hair instead of blonde, and blue eyes instead of brown. "He's sick so he won't be getting any money for a while."

Charlie gingerly stepped forward and took the money. "What's wrong with 'im?"

"Influenza," Jack told him. "The doctor said he should be better in about a week. So don't bother coming to collect the money until then, okay?"

"Sure, mister." Charlie didn't like the cold way the man was telling him this. He stuffed the pound note in his pocket and ran off, dreading telling Robert what had happened.

Smiling, Jack went back indoors. That solved one problem. Too bad he couldn't get rid of Daniel that easily.

~~~

Sam went into her bedroom the next morning to see how Daniel was feeling. She noticed that he was still sleeping, his long blonde hair damp and sticking to his face. Getting the washcloth from the basin, she gently washed his face, brushing the hair back out of the way. She genuinely liked the young man, and felt sorry that he had fallen ill during his stay. But at least he was here where she could help him, instead of out there on the streets, where he could easily die because of the virus going untreated.

She moved back when Daniel stirred. Going over to the table, she picked up the bowl of chicken soup and then went back over to the bed. "Hey, Daniel," she said softly.

Daniel's eyelids felt like they were weighed down with lead as he tried to open them. The lightness of the room told him that it was morning, which meant that he had actually been able to get some sleep. "Hi," he mumbled, blinking several times as he slowly woke up.

"I have brought you some soup," Sam said, sitting down on the edge of the bed. "You need to eat something so that you will get better more quickly."

Eat? Daniel's stomach rebelled at the thought. "Don't think I can."

"Try." Sam put the bowl down to assist Daniel in sitting up a bit higher. Once he was settled to her satisfaction, she picked up the spoon and held it up to his mouth. "Here."

Daniel opened his mouth and reluctantly swallowed the soup Sam gave him. But he didn't manage more than a few mouthfuls before he started to feel very sick. "Sam--"

Quickly, Sam reached for the empty bowl on the beside table and held it in front of Daniel. As Daniel heaved up everything he had just eaten, she gently stroked the back of his neck, trying to give some comfort. She knew how miserable being ill could make one feel. When he had finished, she put the bowl aside and helped him to lie down again. She then moved the bowl further away and retrieved the washcloth again.

Daniel lay passively as Sam washed his face. He felt terrible because of the influenza, and embarrassed at having just thrown up in front of a lady. "I'm sorry."

"There is nothing to be sorry for," Sam gently chided him. "You're ill. These things happen." She put the washcloth back on the table then picked up the bowl. "I'll just take this away and then I will be back, okay?"

"Okay," Daniel said weakly. He watched her leave the room, a part of him happy to be looked after. Had he been at home, Robert would have said there was nothing wrong with him, and forced him to go out and work regardless of how he felt. A small smile on his face, he closed his eyes and went back to sleep again.

When Sam returned and saw that he was asleep, she quietly retrieved the soup. Before leaving the room, she stared at Daniel for a few seconds, pleased to see the smile on his face. Then she left the room, leaving him in peace.

~~~

That night, after Jack had gone out and pretended to give the money to Charlie, the officer found himself standing in the doorway to Sam's bedroom, looking at the young thief. He hadn't bothered to drop in during the day, despite both Sam and Jacob urging him to. There wasn't any point in visiting Daniel; what could Jack do for him? Besides, they weren't friends, so there was no use treating Daniel as one. Although surprisingly, Jack did find that he was missing dropping in on the lessons and annoying the lad.

He stepped further into the room, eventually coming to a halt next to the bed. Jack looked down at the pale face, observing the flawless skin and full, round lips. It was a beautiful face, and if it had been on a woman, Jack would have found it appealing - well, if it was more feminine, obviously.

With a tentative hand, Jack traced over Daniel's cheekbones, wondering at the smooth skin. Who had shaved him? He could see the telltale signs of stubble beginning to grow as the young man slept. Jack hoped it hadn't been Sam because then there would be the question of how she had learnt to shave a man.

With a start, Jack drew his hand back, realising where he was and what he was doing. He was a man. Men didn't stand around staring at other men sleep, and they certainly didn't stroke their faces. Disgusted with himself, Jack took himself out of the room and back to bed. Sam's compassion was obviously having a bad influence on him.

~~~

Sam smiled to herself as she sewed. Jack had just left her, citing that he had business in town. Before that, they had been talking about Daniel's recovery. Sam had brought the subject up and done all the talking but she had seen how interested Jack was, even though he hid it well. She suspected that Jack actually liked the young man and was hiding it through sharp comments and criticisms. There had to be some way, though, that she could get Jack get over his prejudice towards Daniel. Only problem was, she didn't know what.

Her expression turned more pensive as she thought about Daniel. She had noticed, before he had fallen ill, Daniel glancing longingly at Jack in much the same way she used to. The glances were extremely brief - if she had blinked, she would have missed them - but they had betrayed his feelings. She was reasonably sure that Daniel liked Jack in a sexual way. Surprisingly, this didn't disgust her. She had always thought that two men being together was wrong but somehow with Daniel, she didn't feel that way. It might be because he looked so innocent and young that she thought it could just be an adolescent crush on an older male. It was certainly nothing to worry Jack about. She didn't think for a second that Daniel would try to do something about his crush because she knew that the young man knew how Jack would react. Daniel would get over it, as all young people got over their first crushes, and then he would leave after the ball.

Smiling again, Sam concentrated her thoughts on her sewing again.

~~~

Daniel had hardly seen Jack during the week he was sick, so he was surprised to see him step into the bedroom on the morning of the seventh day. Daniel shakily pushed himself up until he was sitting against the headboard, and stared curiously at the colonel. "Morning," he said cautiously.

"Good morning," Jack replied automatically. He stood stiffly at attention, not wanting to be there. "Miss Carter has sent me to assist you to the bathroom."

Daniel managed a weak smile. Sponge baths obviously weren't very satisfactory in Sam's opinion. "Okay." He moved the bedclothes back and shifted his legs so they hung over the side.

Jack sighed. He was going to have to go over there and help the man stand up. Reluctantly, he went over and held onto Daniel's arm as the young man stood. Jack absently noted the muscle under his fingers as he steadied the thief. "Are you all right?" he asked as Daniel swayed a little.

"I'm fine," Daniel replied. His head was spinning a little but nothing he couldn't handle. "Thank you," he added, remembering his manners.

With Jack's assistance, Daniel walked slowly down the passageway to the bathroom. Upon arrival, he saw that the water had already been drawn, steam rising from it. Daniel stepped out of the colonel's hold and went over to feel the water. It was deliciously warm, almost hot. Eager for the first time in a week, Daniel stripped off his nightshirt and stepped into the bath.

Jack got an eyeful of the young man's naked body before he was able to look away. Pale, flawless skin, the flat stomach, and a light patch of hair were the things that he noticed the most - the last thing caused a slight stir in the corresponding part of Jack's body. He cleared his throat, then asked, "Uh, do you need anything?"

"No, thank you." Daniel tipped his head back and relaxed, allowing the water to warm his body. "How long do I have?"

"Ten minutes." And Jack had been ordered to wait with him just in case Daniel went to sleep or needed help getting out. Jack kept his back turned for the whole time, only glancing over his shoulder a few times to make sure that Daniel was all right.

Daniel thought that the colonel's behaviour was amusing. It appeared that the upper classes were more prudish than his own people, or perhaps there was a rule he hadn't come across yet. A wicked thought came to mind - what if he asked Jack to help him out of the bath? The thought put a smile on Daniel's face; how was the older man going to do that without looking at him? He arched his head backwards, his mood lifting from the depression and lethargy of the past week. The fact that Jack would be touching his naked body would just be a bonus.

Jack continually looked at his watch, giving silent thanks when ten minutes had passed. "Time's up."

"Could you - could you help me out?" Daniel asked weakly.

Jack's first instinct was to refuse but he knew Sam wanted him to be helpful. So, armed with a towel, Jack went over to the bath, keeping his eyes averted the whole time.

Pushing upwards with his arms, Daniel managed to get his feet under him. As he stood though, he swayed into Jack, forcing the older man to put his arms around Daniel's waist. "Thanks."

"You're welcome," Jack said automatically, his mind in shock. It felt good to be holding Daniel like this. It shouldn't feel good to be touching this man. To feel the satiny skin under his fingertips. He jumped back as if burnt and thrust the towel in Daniel's direction.

The younger man smiled as he took the towel. Jack was afraid of him, of his nudity. Daniel wrapped the towel around his waist then carefully stepped out of the bath. His head started to spin so he instinctively reached out and grabbed hold of the other man.

Jack suddenly found himself with an armful of a wet and scantily clad Daniel, and his body reacted accordingly. He immediately stepped backwards to put some distance between him and Daniel, although he remained holding onto the younger man's arms. "Are you all right?"

"Just a bit dizzy," Daniel replied as his eyes flickered downwards. Yes, there was definitely a bulge in Jack's trousers now. Daniel smiled inwardly; maybe the man wasn't as normal as he appeared.

After going back to the bedroom and getting dressed - Jack kept his eyes averted the whole time - Daniel lay back on the bed. After doing nothing for a week, the trip to the bathroom had tired him. But he didn't want to lie there and do nothing all day. "Has Jacob arrived yet?" he asked.

"Mr. Carter," Jack corrected as he looked at his pocket watch, his movements betraying his anxiety. "Probably. I'll go get him." With relief, Jack left the bedroom. His mind and body were in turmoil over the strange feelings he had experienced. His reaction to Daniel's naked body was similar to seeing a naked woman, and he couldn't understand why. Daniel was a man. It was wrong to feel anything more than friendship towards him. Just because Daniel was young and attractive, it didn't make it right. His thoughts drifted to how satiny Daniel's skin had felt, and Jack's groin stirred in response, forcing him to abruptly stop thinking about that. There was obviously something wrong with him if a man's body was arousing him. Maybe it was time for him to visit the local madam again; he was obviously missing sex. Feeling much better about himself, Jack went to find Jacob.

~~~

Charlie nervously pressed the doorbell then stepped back, absently rubbing his shoulder. A bruise was forming where Robert had hit him earlier after giving him orders to get as much money from Daniel as possible. This required actually going into the house since it had been made clear to him that no-one would be coming out to give it to him. He hoped that the man he had met last week didn't answer the door because Charlie didn't think he would be helpful.

"Yes?"

The teenager stared up at the huge black man standing in the doorway. "Uh, is Daniel there?"

"Who is asking?"

"Charlie. I'm, um, I'm Charlie."

"One moment." The door closed.

Charlie stepped back, extremely intimidated by the man. He wondered whether the man came from Africa - that's where Daniel said many black people came from. Maybe he could ask Daniel when he saw him.

The door opened again and a pretty woman stood there. "So you are Charlie."

"Yes, ma'am." Charlie used his manners like Daniel had taught him. "I'm 'ere to see Daniel."

"Of course. Come with me."

She led him through the house and up some stairs. Charlie gawked at the expensive furniture, paintings and silverware that he could see. "You must be rich."

Sam just laughed. "Not compared to some people," she replied. She stopped outside her bedroom and knocked on the door. "Daniel, you have a visitor." Stepping back, she gestured for Charlie to go in.

Charlie was surprised to see how pale Daniel was; the illness had obviously not been a lie. "Hey."

"Hey." Daniel struggled to sit up against the pillows. "What are you doing here?"

"Came to see 'ow you were," Charlie replied. He perched himself on the edge of the bed. "'Ow is they treating ya?"

"Pretty good actually." Daniel smiled at the lad. "How have you been coping at home?"

Charlie ducked his head and shuffled his feet. "Okay, I s'pose."

"What's Robert been doing?" Daniel wanted to know, recognising the evasion. He hoped that Robert hadn't been treating Charlie badly.

"Just the usual 'cept..." Charlie trailed off as he looked up at Daniel. "'E wants more money."

"Why doesn't that surprise me?" Daniel said dryly. He should have realised that after supplementing the pound note with the stolen money, Robert would want the extra cash to continue coming in. "I can't get it for you at the moment. It's in my room downstairs."

"'E's not going to be happy," Charlie warned him.

"Just tell him that I'll give it to you tomorrow." Hopefully that would appease the older man.

"Okay." Charlie rubbed his shoulder again. He wasn't betting that Robert would understand.

~~~

"Where is it?" Robert demanded as soon as Charlie got back.

Charlie handed over the one pound note that the pretty lady had given him. "Daniel doesn't have any other money," he lied. "'E's sent it all to us."

"You're lying," Robert stated, grabbing hold of Charlie's hair.

"Not I'm not!" Charlie cried in protest. "The stuff 'e gave us 'e lifted from toffs in the street, and that was all 'e 'ad, I swear!"

Robert threw Charlie to the ground, angry at the news. He needed more money and he needed it now. And if Daniel wouldn't give him any, then he would just have to go and take it. "Right. You're going to start earnin' your keep then. Get up!"

Charlie got warily to his feet. He yelped when Robert roughly took hold of his arm and started pulling him towards the door. "Where ya takin' me?"

"You'll see." Robert kept a firm grip all the way to the brothel. When he got there, he went straight to the back of the building. A greasy-haired man was sitting at a desk, counting money. "'Arry, got a worker for you."

The man looked up, and Charlie cringed as when he saw the lust in the man's eyes. Harry came forward to examine him. "'Ow old?"

"Just turned fourteen," Robert told him.

"I 'ave a few customers who'll be very pleased." Harry grinned, looking the lad up and down. "Leave 'im with me."

"I'll be back for 'im later." Robert released Charlie and cuffed the back of his head. "Behave."

Charlie started after Robert but was held back by the greasy man. From the look on the man's face, Charlie realised just what kind of place this was and he got scared. He knew that Daniel had sometimes come here to work but that was different. Daniel was older, whereas he was still a lad. And he didn't want anyone to stick their thing up him; the thought terrified him. Pushing the man hard, Charlie managed to get free and then he ran away, straight out the back door.

Part 3

Daniel was restless all day, worrying about Charlie. He knew that the pound note Sam had sent with Charlie wouldn't satisfy Robert for long. Foremost in his mind was whether Robert would sell Charlie's body as he had often done with Daniel's when he had wanted the extra money. But Charlie was only fourteen - surely that was too young.

He lay awake in the darkness for a long time, worrying. And those thoughts were eventually joined by ones about Jack. Daniel had to acknowledge to himself that he was attracted to the man. He didn't want to be but he was. Allowing himself a brief fantasy, Daniel thought about how Jack would be as a lover. The fingers had felt slightly rough - probably due to the hard work Jack did as an officer - and would scratch his skin a little. Jack was strong, so he might be somewhat rough when it came to sex - Daniel didn't imagine he would be gentle. And Jack would definitely want to be 'the man', Daniel didn't doubt that.

His hand slid down to cup his awakening erection. He imagined Jack putting his hand there, stroking him roughly as he kissed him hard. Because Daniel was still sick, he wasn't getting very hard but it was making him feel good anyway.

Abruptly he stopped. He thought he had just heard something. Daniel lay still for half a minute, listening, and then he heard soft footsteps entering his room. He saw the dim light of a thief's lantern and realised that someone was trying to rob the house. Despite the fact that he wasn't yet strong enough, Daniel started to get out of bed.

Robert quickly moved over to the bed and pushed Daniel back onto it, placing a hand over his mouth at the same time. "Stop it!" he hissed when the younger man tried to struggle.

Daniel's eyes opened wide; what was Robert doing here? He lay still, waiting to see why Robert had come.

"Nice deal you got goin' 'ere," Robert whispered. "Soft bed, nice clothes, lots of food. Too bad the rest of us can't 'ave the same." With one hand, he threw back the bed clothes and then he knelt over Daniel, trapping him.

Wrenching his head to the side, Daniel managed to ask, "What are you doing?" before he was silenced again.

Robert leaned down so that his lips were next to Daniel's ear. "I'm getting my point across. While you're not workin', you're not bringin' 'ome any money. And I don't like that. So you're gonna to get off your lazy ass and start workin' again, you 'ear me? Otherwise, Charlie will have start gettin' acquainted with some of the men down at the dock." He let those words sink in, knowing exactly when they did by Daniel's movement.

Reaching up, Daniel pulled Robert's hand away from his mouth. "You wouldn't?" he said in a shocked voice.

"Try me."

"He's still a child."

"'E'll bring in more money." Those who liked them young were always prepared to pay more.

"You--" The rest of his words were cut off when Robert effectively gagged him again, this time covering his nose as well. Daniel struggled to dislodge the hand, fighting for breath. "I am not going to let you exploit Charlie like that." Selling a child - that was just wrong. At least Daniel had been seventeen before Robert had done that to him.

"You can't stop me while you're 'ere, can you? You shoulda got 'em to keep payin' while you were sick. Then there wouldn't be a problem."

Daniel's eyes narrowed as he realised the extent of the blackmail Robert was trying for. "It's not my fault." But in a way it was. He hadn't thought about all the consequences when he had accepted the job, and now Charlie would pay for it. But Daniel hadn't had too many options at the time because if he had been taken to the police, he would now be languishing in a London jail. "You could go out and get some money yourself, you know." Why did he have to do all the work?

"Why do you think I'm 'ere? I'm sure they won't miss a few pieces."

A lantern appeared in the doorway, casting light on Jack's face. The officer was aiming a gun at Robert. "I think we would," Jack said flatly, observing the position of the two men. "Get up. Hands behind your head."

Robert assessed the situation and knew he shouldn't cross the man with the gun. He moved off Daniel into the centre of the bed, and scooped the younger man up to hold in front of him. He was sure that the man wouldn't shoot Daniel.

Jack was briefly distracted by the amount of bare leg that he could see; Daniel's nightshirt had ridden up as he was twisted around by the other man. Those long, pale legs leading up to...

"Let go of me!" Daniel demanded, ineffectually trying to get free. Robert was too strong though, and had an arm across Daniel's throat. Because of that, the young man didn't notice that Jack had been looking at him.

Robert had, though. He didn't say anything straight away, trying to work out how best to use it to his advantage. "Put the gun down," he demanded.

"Not a chance," Jack replied. He held the gun steady. "Release him." He kept his eyes on the intruder.

"So, 'ave you 'ad 'im yet?" Robert asked in mock innocence.

"What?"

"Robert!" Daniel hissed, fearful of where this was heading. In fact, he was simply scared of Robert; the older man had never acted this way before.

"'E's a queer, 'e likes men. Didn't ya know that?"

"Daniel?" Jack looked at the man in question and saw the miserable truth in the blue eyes. The blood drained from his face as the realisation sank in. So that's what the thing in the bathroom had been about. His expression changed to one of disgust. "You... you were... you..."

"No, Jack, I--" Daniel froze when the gun was lowered slightly to aim at him. He swallowed hard, scared that Jack might actually pull the trigger.

Robert smiled with glee. So something had been going on. This was going to make things interesting.

"Don't you 'Jack' me!" Hatred rose in him as he stared at the young man, who was looking back at him with fear. He - Daniel - had been trying to turn him queer. In Jack's opinion, that was an offence punishable by death. God, to think that he had been actually beginning to like the man! "I want you gone. Queers aren't allowed in this house."

"What's going on?" Sam chose that moment to appear in the hallway. "Jack?" She looked into the room and saw Daniel being held in a stranglehold. "Holy Hannah!"

"Quite the opposite," Jack stated dryly.

"Put the gun down, Jack." Sam was worried about Daniel's safety.

"Oh, I don't think so. Tell her what you are, Daniel," Jack demanded. "Tell her how you like men instead of women."

Daniel cringed at the hatred in the voice. Deep down, he had known there hadn't been any hope for him and Jack, but to hear the disgust in Jack's voice now... "I'm sorry, Sam."

"It's alright, Daniel, you haven't done anything wrong." Sam turned to her fiancé. "Jack, I already knew."

"What?" How could she have known? More importantly, Jack thought, why didn't she care?

"I knew," Sam repeated. "Call it woman's intuition."

"And you let him stay here?" Jack was incredulous.

"There was no harm in it." He eyes narrowed as she guessed the real reason for Jack's concern. "Despite appearances, Jack, not everyone falls for you. And he won't make you like men too just by staying here." Sam looked at Daniel, who was still looking scared. She was not as closed-minded as her husband-to-be, and although she had told Jack that Daniel hadn't fallen for him, she had seen the way the young man had looked at him. But as it couldn't go any further, she hadn't worried about it. "Now put the gun down."

Reluctantly, Jack lowered the gun.

Sam turned her attention to the intruder. "I don't know who you are or why you are here but it is obvious that you meant to cause trouble for Daniel. So if you don't release him now and leave this house for good, I will shoot you myself." She took the gun out of Jack's hand.

Robert weighed up the threat and decided that he had done all the damage necessary. Daniel would be sent packing and Robert would be able to put him to work again. He released Daniel and got off the bed, hands held high.

Realising that Teal'c had joined the little group, Sam handed the gun over to him. It wasn't that she couldn't shoot the intruder; she wanted to comfort Daniel instead. "Teal'c will escort you out." She waited until the man had left before going over to sit on the bed. "Are you okay?"

Daniel rubbed his throat. Besides being bewildered at events, he was fine. "Yeah."

Sam put an arm around his shoulders. "Who was that?"

"Robert." Daniel couldn't believe what Robert had just done. Had the older man been desperate for money as he had claimed, or was he jealous and that was the reason that he had wanted Daniel to get thrown out? Was that what Robert had been hoping to achieve by telling about Daniel's sexuality? There was no other explanation for it because saying that someone was queer was not something one did for a joke. And for that, Daniel hated him; after all the things Daniel had done for Robert, this was how he was repaid.

"Your father?" Sam couldn't believe it. No father should use his own son as a shield, nor destroy his standing in the eyes of others.

Daniel shook his head. "Not my real father. Robert took me in when my parents died. Taught me how to steal, how to survive." He was beginning to shake now, reaction setting in. He wrapped his arms around his chest, trying not to let his emotions out. "I can't believe he would do this," he whispered.

"Why did he come here?" Sam asked as she hugged him tighter.

"He wanted more money. He said you hadn't paid him since I got sick." Daniel looked at Sam; he didn't want to believe that she would do that. "Is that true?"

Sam shook her head. "I gave the money to Jack every day to give to Charlie..." she trailed off, looking at her husband-to-be. "You didn't give him the money, did you?"

"No." Jack didn't deny the accusation because he didn't feel ashamed of it. "I thought they would have had enough sense to save the money they had already received."

"Money doesn't last very long when you're on the streets," Daniel stated. "And once you have some, you always want more," he said sadly, describing Robert's actions.

"And he came straight here looking for more because you had already told him about the valuables in this house," Jack said scornfully. "See, Sam, I told you that this whole thing was a bad idea."

Sam just glared at him for a few seconds, then went back to comforting Daniel. "Do you think Robert will come back?"

"Probably not... No." Robert had made his threats and made sure that Daniel would be kicked out. "There won't be any need if I'm not here."

"Don't you want to stay here?" Sam asked.

Daniel looked at her; why was she asking that? "I-I do, but I thought..." He couldn't ask if she still wanted him to stay.

"I'm not going to throw you out, Daniel."

"I am," Jack interrupted.

Sam glared at him again. "This is my house, Jack. And I want Daniel to stay."

Daniel's eyes widened. He didn't disgust her?

"Then I'm leaving," Jack announced. "I am not going to stay here while that queer is in the house." He saw Daniel wince and felt a stab of guilt over the words but he pushed that aside. Men liking men was simply against nature, and he could not stand to be around someone like that. Jack glared at Sam, hoping that she would change her mind and tell Daniel to leave but as the moments passed, he realised that she wasn't going to. And it hurt that she was taking Daniel's side over his, so he lashed out. He stalked over to the bed, grabbed Daniel by the front of the shirt and hauled him to his feet. "Do you make a habit of trying to seduce rich men? Is that how you normally make your money? Is that man your pimp?"

"Jack!"

Daniel bit his lip as he shook his head. He could feel the tears welling up behind his eyes in reaction to the previous events and the verbal attack. "I've never--" he started to defend himself.

"Really? Then why were you all over me in the bathroom yesterday? And why was that man straddling you like that? How many times has he had you?"

The tears started to overflow but Daniel choked back the sobs that were threatening to erupt. "He hasn't--"

"How many men have you slept with, huh? Ten? Fifty? One hundred?" Jack was almost yelling by now, angry with the lad for being what he was, and angry with himself for actually feeling something for him. On impulse, he spun around and shoved Daniel away from him, the young man hitting the wall hard.

"Jack!" Sam tried to stop her fiancé by getting in between them but he just ignored her.

"You disgust me! You're nothing but a common whore, preying on gullible women! How many men have you seduced and then blackmailed so their wives or girlfriends wouldn't know? How many?" he demanded, certain now that this was what Daniel had been planning.

"None! I don't do that!" Daniel yelled back from his position on the floor. The back of his head hurt from where it had collided with the wall. "I don't do that," he repeated in a softer voice, curling up on himself.

"Jack! Enough!" Sam couldn't stand it any longer. She could see the tears rolling down Daniel's cheeks and hated the hurt that was being inflicted upon him. She went over to Daniel and pulled him into an embrace. Sam held on tightly, feeling the tears soak through the shoulder of her nightgown. "I have made my decision, Jack. If you don't like it, you are free to leave." The thought of Jack leaving made her heart ache but she didn't back down; Daniel needed protecting and she was just the one to do it.

"Fine. I'll be back when you come to your senses." With those parting words, he stormed out of the room. A door was heard slamming shut soon after.

Sam cradled Daniel's head to her shoulder. She couldn't believe that Jack had just left her. This wasn't how she had imagined love to be; since Jack was in love with her, he was supposed to do anything for her, including putting aside his feelings so that she could be happy. Why hadn't he done that?

"I'm sorry," Daniel said, feeling guilty that he had caused them to argue like that. He tried to pull back but Sam wouldn't let him so he stayed where he was. It was nice to know that there was one person who didn't hate him. He felt so ashamed though; Jack had completed what Robert had set out to do.

"It's not your fault, Daniel. None of this was your fault," Sam tried to comfort him verbally as well as physically. It was difficult to hold him since he was still curled up but she did her best, her maternal instincts coming to the fore. She rocked him gently back and forth until he was calmer. "Don't listen to a word Jack said; he didn't mean any of it." At least, she hoped he didn't.

Yes he did, Daniel silently disagreed. "I didn't try to seduce him," he said softly, hoping that she would believe him. The thing in the bathroom yesterday had only been a bit of fun.

"I know, Daniel." Although she would love to know what actually happened, she didn't ask. "Jack sometimes tends to blow things out of proportion, especially when it comes to his ego." She gave him a small smile. "He should be flattered that you would pay any attention to him given how badly he has treated you."

"You noticed?" Daniel was surprised at that. Sam didn't visit during lesson time very much so he didn't think that she would have heard Jack's comments.

"Of course I noticed. I might love Jack but I'm not completely blind or deaf." She squeezed his shoulders. "How is your head?"

Daniel opened his mouth to say 'fine' but when he saw the concern in her eyes, he said, "Throbbing a little."

"Come on, let's get you into bed then." She helped him to his feet, and held onto him as they crossed the room. After pulling back the covers, she assisted Daniel into bed, then arranged the covers over him. "Try and get some sleep, okay? I'll be right here if you need me." She settled down into the nearby chair.

"Thank you." Sam was so nice to him; tears again pricked at Daniel's eyes. No-one had ever been this nice to him. He hadn't realised just how much he had missed out on growing up without kindness. Granted, he wouldn't have survived on the streets if he'd had this kind of upbringing, but would it have hurt for someone to have shown him just a little bit of concern? Robert had shown him none, Daniel now realised, except when something occurred that would affect his ability to work. Even when Daniel had come home bleeding after his first sexual encounter with a man, Robert had been harsh, saying it was Daniel's own fault for not doing things right. Why had he put up with that all these years? And how was he going to stop Robert from doing the same thing to Charlie?

Sam watched Daniel fighting his emotions until the young man fell asleep between one heartbeat and the next, exhaustion overtaking him. She had to fight back a few tears herself when she thought about what Daniel must have been through with someone like Robert looking after him. That man had no right to come into her home and treat Daniel so badly. She would make sure somehow that Daniel would not need to go back to him when the month was up. Daniel was tough, she could see that, but underneath, in his heart, he could be easily hurt, and she was not going to let Robert abuse him any longer.

~~~

Jack stared out the window of the Hansom cab as it travelled through the posh London streets, contemplating what had just happened. His anger had gone, leaving guilt in its place. He had spoken harshly to Sam; a gentleman never spoke such a way to a lady. He was going to have some serious making-up to do, preferably before Jacob found out - Jack had no doubt that the older man would come after him with a gun for hurting his daughter.

And then there was Daniel. In retrospect, Jack had to admit that his words had been unjustified. He hadn't even been truly angry with Daniel - the anger was more at himself for starting to have feelings for the young man, and he had needed to blame that on someone. Daniel had been the most convenient person. Jack tried to block out the images of the teary blue eyes staring at him with hurt and fear; the pale figure curled up on the floor in a defensive position; the long legs that had been bared when the nightshirt had ridden up... Jack mentally shook the last image from his mind. He was not attracted to Daniel! If he was, that would mean he was queer too, and Jack had always considered himself to be the consummate ladies man. There was no way he was queer.

Jack tried to think about his future, about Sam. But during the journey to his house outside of London, his thoughts always switched back to Daniel...

~~~

Robert walked casually through the dark streets. He thought things had gone well, and that Daniel would arrive back at their dwelling before sunrise. There was no way that the toffs would want to keep him in the house now. Daniel would go back to earning money for him, just the way it should be. Maybe he should line up a few customers for Daniel too - teach him not to think above himself.

Upon arrival at the brothel, Robert went straight to the back, wanting to see how Charlie was working out. "'Arry!"

The sleazy owner of the brothel turned when he heard his name called. "What are you doin' back so soon?"

"Things didn't quite go as I'd planned. 'Ow's Charlie goin'?"

Harry snorted. "Don't know. Lad ran out the back door as soon as you left."

"What? You didn't stop him?" Now Robert was furious. Wait till he got hold of Charlie.

"Too fast," Harry explained.

Swearing profusely, Robert turned and left the brothel. Neither of his schemes for the evening had borne fruit. However, if he was lucky, then Daniel would be back soon, working overtime to make up for the current lack of cash. And Charlie... well, the lad was going to get a hiding first, and then Robert was going to make sure that he stayed put.

~~~

"Morning, Daniel." Sam breezed into the bedroom but the smile on her face disappeared as soon as she saw Daniel. The young man was curled up on his side staring at the wall, his expression downcast. She put the breakfast tray down and quietly went over to his side. "Hey."

Daniel was pulled out of his melancholy thoughts by her soft words. He had been awake for quite some time but hadn't felt like getting out of bed. The ramifications of what had happened last night had sunk in and Daniel didn't like them. "Hey."

Sam sat down on the bed next to him. "Are you all right?"

"I can't go back," Daniel said. "I don't have a home anymore." There was no way he could go back to Robert now.

"Oh Daniel." Sam leaned over and kissed his forehead. She hadn't thought about that last night. "You have a home here." She didn't even think twice about making the offer. Although she hadn't spent a lot of time with him until he had become ill, he had quietly wormed his way into her affections.

Daniel said nothing, assuming that she was just saying that to make him feel better. "I can't even go back to that area because Robert will find me eventually and he'll..." He broke off, images of being pinned down and raped by dozens of men assailing his mind.

"He'll what? Beat you?" Sam stroked the long hair, trying to comfort him.

"Yes," Daniel said hoarsely. He closed his eyes tightly against the pictures in his mind. Then a picture of Charlie appeared, and his eyes sprang open. "Charlie!"

"What about him?"

"We have to find him. Robert said he would take Charlie to a-a brothel if I didn't give him more money." Daniel sat up, shivers running through his body. He heard the doorbell ring downstairs but paid it no attention. He had to get to Charlie before Robert did.

"But he is only a lad!" Sam exclaimed. No-one would be cruel enough to... She looked at Daniel's bleak expression. Or maybe Robert would. "Surely that's illegal."

"Laws don't mean much down there," Daniel told her. He wrapped his arms around his chest, trying to stop shivering. "He would think nothing of forcing me to do the same."

Sam stared at him. For Daniel to say that, it implied that it had happened in the past. What a terrible childhood Daniel must have had. "Why didn't you leave?"

"He was safe. He looked after me and taught me everything I needed to survive, and in return, I occasionally did - things - for him when we needed the money." It hadn't all been bad; sometimes he had enjoyed the sex. "We need to find Charlie."

Teal'c appeared in the doorway. "I believe he has been found."

The teenager came out from behind Teal'c and ran over to Daniel, hugging him with all his strength. He had spent a terrifying night on the streets, making sure that Robert couldn't find him, and then when the sun had started to rise, he had made his way to where Daniel was staying. "Daniel!"

"Charlie! Are you okay?" Daniel put his arms around the lad and hugged him back.

Releasing Daniel, Charlie sat beside him on the bed. "I'm better now." He turned to the lady. "I'm sorry, ma'am, but I 'ad to come 'ere."

"It's okay, Charlie. And call me Sam." She smiled at him. "We were just going to start looking for you."

"Did Robert hurt you?" Daniel wanted to know.

"'E tried. But I ran away." He turned pleading eyes on Sam. "Don't make me go back."

Sam got up and gathered him into a hug. "I won't. You can stay here for as long as you like."

"Thank you," Daniel replied for them both. At least he wouldn't have to worry about Charlie's welfare now. "What's Jack going to say when he finds out?"

"If he isn't here, then it is none of his concern," Sam stated with false bravado. She had secretly hoped that Jack would return this morning but so far there was no sign of him. "Come on," she said to Charlie. "Let's get you cleaned up."

~~~

Robert looked around him in anger. Charlie hadn't returned home; he was obviously hiding out. The logical place for him to have gone was to Daniel, and Robert couldn't go back there without risking being shot. So he would just have to bide his time until the month was up, and then he could get both of them back at once. And then he would teach them both a lesson they would not soon forget.

~~~

A couple of days later, Daniel was feeling well enough to get out of bed for long periods of time, and he resumed his lessons with Jacob. Charlie now sat in on them, encouraging Daniel's efforts, and trying some of the things himself. He already knew how to read a little bit because Daniel had taught him, but he only knew the small words. With Jacob's help, he was getting better at reading, as well as learning about things only a gentleman usually would. He really liked Sam, and he set about trying to please her by remembering his manners, and washing his hands before every meal.

Daniel had a quiet laugh when he realised that Charlie had an adolescent crush on Sam. He had a word with Charlie about it so that the teenager wouldn't try anything stupid and embarrass himself too much but Daniel still watched him carefully. Charlie's antics helped keep his mind off his problems.

Number one on the list, to his surprise, was that he really missed having Jack around. Despite the older man's awful behaviour and comments, Daniel found that he had been beginning to fall for him. The physical attraction was an obvious clue, as was the sense of disappointment at the end of every day when Jack still hadn't come back. Unbeknownst to anyone else, Daniel had cried himself to sleep the past two nights knowing that if he fell over the edge into being in love with Jack, there was no way the other man would ever return it. That had been made crystal clear the other day. Daniel's heart ached every time he recalled Jack's harsh words, the hatred behind them cutting him to the core. How could he fall in love with someone who treated him like that?

His other problem - finding somewhere to live after the ball - seemed small in comparison. There was no possibility of going back to his former home, and going to another part of London where Robert hopefully didn't have contacts wasn't very appealing. But he couldn't buy a house either, or even rent one, because he didn't have enough money. He would have to find a job, and he doubted that anyone would hire him considering he had no experience at anything they would believe useful. And what would he do with Charlie? Daniel would like Charlie to go to school but again, that was out of the question due to a lack of money. So the problem remained - what were they going to do?

"Daniel!"

Jumping at the unexpected voice, Daniel looked at Jacob, who was standing right in front of him. "Sorry. I was... thinking."

Jacob's face softened. He knew Daniel had a lot of things on his mind right now. "That's okay. Do you want to rest?"

Daniel shook his head. Better to keep his mind occupied. "No. I'm ready to continue." He focused on Jacob's voice as the man started talking again, determined to push all his problems aside.

~~~

The evening before the ball, Sam stood staring out the front window. She hadn't heard from Jack in six days and she was worried about him. She was reasonably sure that he would have gone back to his house in St. Albans, which was half a day's travel from London. Given the distance, she could have gone to see him but as Jack was the one who had walked out, Sam thought it should be up to him to make the first move. It was hard to believe that he would not contact her but she knew he could be very stubborn when he thought he was right. She knew, however, that he would be at the ball to see if he had won the bet. Then she would judge his behaviour towards both herself and to Daniel, and if it was unforgivable, then she would break off the engagement. She could not marry a man who could behave so dishonourably.

"Time for bed, Sam," her father said from behind her.

"In a minute," she replied. Maybe if she gave him a few more minutes...

"He's not coming," Jacob said gently, knowing how much his daughter was hurting. "But you'll see him tomorrow night."

Sam reluctantly looked away from the window. "I know. I had just hoped..." She trailed off.

Jacob understood that. He had hoped that Jack would come so he could give him a piece of his mind for abandoning Sam. Still, that could wait until after the ball tomorrow night. "Come on."

Sam let herself be led away from the window, her heart heavy with disappointment.

~~~

Jack could see Sam leaving from where he was standing. The shadows made it easier for him to hide. He had been standing in the street watching the house for the past thirty minutes, and Sam specifically for about twenty. It hurt him that he couldn't go in there and talk to her but he had a principle to uphold. He knew Daniel was still in the house - in fact, the young man was staring out of his window the way Sam had been. Jack had observed him there the past three nights actually, and he wondered what the young man was thinking. He wasn't close enough to see the expression on Daniel's face but from the motionless way that he stood there for at least half an hour every night, Jack guessed that it was something sad. He hoped it wasn't anything to do with what he had said.

The way he had treated Daniel had been totally unfair, he knew that. But he had needed someone to lash out at. The dreams he'd had while Daniel was living at Sam's place had scared him, and when it had been revealed that Daniel was queer, a part of Jack had wondered whether that was why he had been having the dreams. But those dreams had continued even when he had returned home, becoming more explicit in their nature, and that had scared him even more. Was it because he now knew about Daniel or was it because he himself was queer?

It better not be the latter, he said to himself. His whole life would have been a lie otherwise. He had served amongst men all his adult life and he had never once looked at any of them the way he used to look at his wife. However, once or twice he had found himself looking that way at Daniel, not with love but a sexual awareness. Even now, as he stood there watching Daniel, he was thinking about it. About how slender Daniel's waist was when Jack had steadied him in the bathroom the other day, about those long pale legs, the kissable lips... No! Jack clamped down hard on those thoughts as he became aroused. This is not supposed to be happening, he told himself; I am not attracted to him! The hardening erection disagreed. Jack looked away, trying to get himself under control. He was not going to turn queer! Men who liked other men were sissy creatures, and he was definitely not that. But then again, neither was Daniel. Despite his beauty, there was nothing else to suggest that Daniel was queer. Jack certainly hadn't suspected it. Did that mean that one could like men and still look and behave like one?

Not liking where his questions were taking him, Jack hurried away into the night. He had a lot of thinking to do and the streets weren't the place to do it.

Robert saw Jack go past but didn't recognise him or realise that they had both been watching the same house. Robert was keeping an eye on the place, knowing that the month would soon be up. And when it was, he would to retrieve Daniel and teach him a lesson he would not forget.

~~~

Jacob stood back and looked at his creation. Daniel looked magnificent. The brown-blonde hair was tied back from his face, with several strands flopping over his ears. His starched-collar white shirt was brand-new, as was the white waistcoat that went with it. The white bow tie was small and secured - a little too tightly, Daniel thought - around his neck. A black jacket and pants were in stark contrast to the white, and suited him very nicely. Shiny black shoes completed the ensemble.

Daniel tugged at the collar. "It's too tight," he complained. He didn't want to have his air supply cut off during the evening.

Sam came forward and loosened it a bit. "It's supposed to be tight, Daniel," she said, straightening up his jacket while she was there.

"Yeah, well why no-one has ever been strangled by their own tie yet, I don't know." Daniel fidgeted with the cuffs of his shirt. "Is this why rich people don't look happy? Because their clothes are so uncomfortable?"

"Daniel," Jacob warned. "What did we discuss about tonight?"

The young man sighed. "Keep conversation to a minimum and don't critisise what anyone is wearing," he recited. The latter rule would take all the fun out of the evening.

"And don't be too outspoken," Charlie chimed up from where he was sitting on the sofa. He was practically bouncing up and down with excitement even though he wasn't going to the ball. After some discussion, Jacob and Sam had decided that they could trust him enough to leave him home with the servants.

Daniel glared at Charlie for the reminder. Jacob had frequently commented on Daniel's tendency to speak before thinking but the young man couldn't help it. Once he had learnt that he wasn't going to get beaten for it, Daniel had occasionally become careless about what he said. He knew that he had to be very careful tonight though or he would get both himself and Jacob into deep trouble.

"Exactly," Jacob said. "And remember to always keep your head up high. Looking at the floor is a sign of nervousness or awkwardness, and you do not want to appear as either."

"Okay."

"And don't use 'okay' tonight. It's fine for everyday use but when you are mixing with society, use something else like 'very good' or 'yes, sir'."

"Yes, sir," Daniel said dutifully. His fingers started twitching again; he was getting nervous about the whole thing. What if Jack was there and said something nasty to him? Daniel was quite sure that the way his nerves were tonight, he would probably hit Jack, and that wouldn't be good.

"Jolly good," Charlie mimicked in his best posh accent. When Jacob shook his head at him, Charlie just grinned back.

"Daniel." Jacob stood in front of the young man and smiled at him. "I am proud of you. You applied yourself consistently and if I didn't know any better, I would think you had always been a gentleman. Now I want you to go to that ball, charm all the ladies - yes, I know but it's expected," he said upon seeing Daniel's expression, "- and make all the men jealous. Think you can do that?"

Daniel slowly grinned. The part about making the men jealous sounded good. "Yes, sir."

~~~

It was bright. That was the first thing Daniel noticed about the ballroom. The second thing was the huge crowd of people. He was a little nervous but he did as Jacob had taught him and kept his head held high. Jacob introduced him to a lot of people, saying that Daniel was his cousin's nephew and was staying in town for a while. This earned him a lot of speculative looks from the young women, who were obviously eyeing him up as a potential husband. Daniel danced with many of them, remembering to compliment them on their dresses or their hair, but managed to avoid making any definite dates with them; after all, he wouldn't be able to keep them, and a gentleman should never make a promise he can't keep.

Jacob watched with pride as Daniel successfully bowled over the entire population of women at the ball - and several of the men as well. He watched several of the dandies go over and talk to Daniel, obviously wanting to know if the newcomer was one of them. Jacob was pleased to see Daniel respond pleasantly but with no hint that he liked anything other than the ladies. His protege was indeed doing well, and he had received many compliments on what a fine young man Daniel was. And Sam was cutting quite a swathe amongst the gentlemen at the ball, trying to put Jack's desertion behind her. Jacob was proud of both of them.

It wasn't until nearly the end of the ball that any of them caught sight of Jack. He had decided to arrive late, and since then had remained in the background, observing how Daniel was going. Jack had to admit that Daniel cut a fine figure in his fitted suit, and so far hadn't seemed to have put a foot wrong because no-one seemed to realise that he wasn't a real gentleman. Jack was sorely tempted to spread a couple of rumours but decided against it; deep down, he wanted Daniel to succeed at this.

Jack had reached one conclusion while he was thinking last night - he was definitely physically attracted to Daniel. The thought had initially disgusted him but after a while, that had changed. Curiosity had taken over, and he had begun to wonder how it would be between them. His mind had shied away from the more intimate things though because if he did them, then that would mean that he was queer, and Jack refused to apply that label to himself. So long as it wasn't anything more than attraction, then he would remain heterosexual. Wanting and thinking were fine; doing something about it wasn't.

Daniel walked off the dance floor, escorting his partner to a seat, and then froze in shock when he heard his grandfather's name mentioned. He turned his head and saw a distinguished gentleman talking to some older women nearby. His grandfather; Daniel recognised him despite the fact twenty years had passed since he had seen him last. But he doubted that his grandfather would recognise him and at the moment, Daniel didn't want him too because he was too ashamed of what he was. That, and his grandfather could denounce him in front of everybody.

As Daniel turned to move away, he froze once again. Jack was standing only a few metres away staring right at him. Daniel could feel the heat in that gaze burning into him, and he started to get hard, his body responding to the heat. He quickly looked away, hating that the man could arouse him with just a look. Politely excusing himself, he made his way through the crowd to the restroom, wanting some peace.

Jack followed behind, curious to know why Daniel had gone so pale when he had seen that gentleman. Jack recognised the man - Sir Nicholas Ballard - but how did Daniel know him? A former client maybe? Jack shook his head; that was just disgusting given the ages of the two men. But Jack knew that such things happened. So he would follow Daniel and ask him - out of curiosity, of course.

When Jacob saw Daniel head off, he wondered where he was going. Then Jacob saw Jack following Daniel, and was immediately worried for the young man. If Jack decided to make a scene here, it could be extremely damaging to both men. Jacob decided to follow both of them.

Fortunately there was no-one in the rest room when Daniel got there. He went over to one of the basins and put his hands on the edges, leaning forward as he tried to get himself under control. Why had Jack come? Everything had been going so well, and Daniel had actually been beginning to enjoy himself.

"Daniel."

"Go away," Daniel responded, lifting his head to look in the mirror. He could see Jack's image reflected there, and his heart skipped a beat at seeing the older man looking so handsome.

"Who was that man?" Jack asked straight away.

"What man?" Daniel stalled. He had hoped that no-one had seen his reaction - it was just his luck that the one person who had was Jack.

"The man who gave you such a shock. Who was he, a former client?"

Daniel would have laughed if he wasn't still feeling shocked. "Definitely not."

Jack heard the door opening behind him and turned slightly to see Jacob enter the room. "Then what?"

"If you must know, Sir Nicholas Ballard is my grandfather," Daniel replied, his eyes flicking to Jacob and then away.

Now it was Jack's turn to be surprised. "Grandfather? But you're--"

"From the streets, I know." Daniel hung his head, hating to admit the next part. "He disowned my mother before I was born."

"So how do you know what he looks like?" Jacob asked, trying to process this new piece of information.

"He disowned my mother, not me. I visited him a few times when I was young before he and my parents had a major falling out." And because of that, he had been living in poverty ever since.

"So do you want to talk to him?" Jacob wanted to know.

"No!" Daniel was adamant about that. "Not at the moment, no."

Daniel seemed so firm on that point that Jack decided to change the topic. "Well, you seem to be a hit with everyone. They're all convinced that you are a gentleman."

Daniel didn't know how to respond to that. He turned around and leaned back against the basin, his arms crossing over his chest. "Thank you," he said sarcastically. He didn't trust Jack giving him a compliment. "And?"

"And nothing." He took some money out of his pocket and handed it to Jacob. "I believe this is yours," he said.

It didn't take Daniel long to work out what the money was for. "You bet on this?"

"Of course. I didn't believe that you could do it," Jack admitted freely. "After all, with your upbringing, becoming civilised in four weeks was rather a challenge."

"Jack," Jacob warned when he saw sparks of anger in Daniel's eyes. He had hoped that Jack's behaviour towards Daniel would have improved during the time he was away but obviously that wasn't the case.

"Well, if I'd known that being civilised meant being like you, then I wouldn't have accepted the job," Daniel shot back, anger rising in him. He had just known that Jack couldn't say anything nice without something mean to back it up.

"As I recall, you didn't have much of a choice," Jack stated, unable to stop the words from spilling out. "Or would you rather be languishing in a cell for the rest of your life?"

"Sometimes I'm not so sure!" At least then he wouldn't be suffering this verbal abuse.

"Well, maybe you would like the chance to find out! I hear the jailers love your kind in prison!"

"Enough!" Jacob stood between the two men. "Jack, you've said your piece, now I think you should leave Daniel alone."

"Fine," Jack happily agreed. "Tell Sam I'll call in tomorrow morning." He turned on his heel and left.

Daniel bit his lip hard, hurt by Jack's words. He hated that the man had the power to hurt him this way.

Jacob went over to Daniel and put an arm around his shoulders. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Daniel took a couple of deep breaths and let them out slowly. He was not going to let Jack get to him. And the best way to do that was to go somewhere where Jack wasn't. If Jack was going to be at Sam's house tomorrow, then Daniel would leave tonight.

"Uh-huh." Jacob didn't believe that. He had seen before how badly Jack could hurt Daniel with words. "Just ignore him, Daniel. He's just sore because he was wrong."

No, he just doesn't like me, Daniel said silently. "Can we go home now?" He didn't feel like going back into the ballroom and trying to be happy while his heart was hurting, not to mention the small issue of his grandfather being there.

Jacob debated for a few seconds about whether it would be wise but when he looked at Daniel's face, the decision was clear. "Of course. We'll collect Sam and then go home."

"Thank you."

It took fifteen minutes for the trio to say their goodbyes and get out to their carriage. Sam then took the opportunity to ask Daniel what was wrong - his body language was very tense.

Daniel shook his head; he didn't want to discuss it. He crossed his arms and stared out the carriage window.

"Jack," Jacob said, giving Sam a fair idea of what had happened with just that one word.

"Oh." Sam looked at Daniel again and noted the sad face. Trying to take his mind off Jack, she said, "Every woman I spoke to was very impressed with you, Daniel." There was no indication that he had heard what she had said. Sam looked at her father, who shook his head in warning. Okay, she would keep quiet. But someone better tell her what Jack had said when they got home so that she could be suitably mad at him when she saw him next.

Part 4

Daniel waited until he was sure everyone was asleep before sneaking out of the house. He wore his street clothes, and took a change of clothes wrapped up so they wouldn't get dirty. He also took the money he had kept hidden so that he would be able to buy food until such time as he could get a job. Given his education, he was sure that he would be able to find something in one of the middle-class suburbs of London.

He hurried down to the end of the street, then stood there for a few seconds, trying to decide which way to go. Unfortunately for him, he waited too long. Two pairs of hands grabbed hold of his arms, and he jumped in surprise. Turning to look at each of the men in turn, he recognised them as friends of Robert's. Daniel tried to shake them loose but he was still weak from the influenza and couldn't muster the strength.

"Well, well, if it ain't Mister 'igh-n-Mighty 'imself," Robert said as he strode towards the trio. He had seen Daniel sneak out of the house and had decided to take the opportunity to take him home.

"What do you think you're doing?" Daniel asked, fear beginning to rise in him. After what Robert had done to him a week ago, he didn't expect to like what the man would do now.

"Just collectin' what's rightfully mine." Robert stepped up to Daniel and looked coldly at him.

"I am not yours," Daniel shot back.

"Oh but you are. I found you and raised you, kept you fed and safe when I could've tossed you out onto the streets, so that means you're mine." Robert took hold of the stubborn chin. "And you owe me."

"Go to hell." Daniel refused to give in to his fear. He kicked out at Robert, catching the man on the shin and forcing him to let go.

Robert stepped forward again, his shinbone throbbing. "You first." Then he casually punched Daniel's jaw hard enough to knock the young man out. The parcel dropped from Daniel's grip, and Robert picked it up, certain it would come in handy. Then he nodded to his friends who were still holding Daniel. "Bring him."

~~~

Sam knocked on the bedroom door. "Daniel?" She waited for ten seconds then tried again when there was no response. "Daniel?" Sam had let him sleep late but she thought it was time he was awake. She knocked a third time, and when there was still no response, she opened the door.

The bed was neatly made and obviously hadn't been slept in. The suit Daniel had worn to the ball lay on the bed. On top of the jacket was a piece of paper. Sam went across and picked it up.

'Dear Sam, thank you for everything you have done for me. I am sorry but I must leave. Do not worry about me, and please, take care of Charlie. Yours, Daniel.'

"Oh no," Sam murmured, ignoring Daniel's advice and worrying. Why had Daniel left? Did it have something to do with Jack's behaviour last night? Whatever the reason, she couldn't let him just disappear like this. But what could she do to get him back?

~~~

He was lying on something lumpy. That was the first thing Daniel noticed as he regained consciousness. The second thing that he noticed was that he was naked and cold. He opened his eyes and saw that he was lying face down on his old mattress - the one at Robert's place, he remembered. Oh, this is not good, he thought. Daniel quickly sat up and started to get off the mattress.

"Where do ya think you're goin'?" a voice asked from right behind him.

Startled, Daniel turned and saw Robert there. Without thinking, Daniel tried to scramble away but was quickly caught and pinned on his back to the mattress, hands above his head. Robert straddled him, just like he had that night in Sam's house, his weight preventing Daniel from struggling too much. "Let go of me!"

"I should never 'ave let ya get y'rself educated in the first place," Robert said. He leaned forward, putting his weight onto his arms and pressing Daniel's wrists into the bedding. "It let ya think that you could be somethin' you're not."

The pressure on his wrists increased to the point where Daniel thought they would surely snap. "I was born a gentleman," he retorted, trying to ignore the pain. "There's no reason why I can't be one again."

"You're not a gentleman, you're a thief and a whore, that's what you are," Robert stated cruelly. "That's all you'll ever be good for, and that Jack of yours knew it too."

A slice of pain went through Daniel's heart at the truth in those words. Jack had never believed he could change. "No." He was not going to be those things ever again.

"Yes."

The two men from earlier - Billy and Ned - came up onto the bedding and, with Robert's assistance, turned Daniel onto his front. Robert knelt over Daniel's body, while Billy grabbed the young man's wrists and held them tight, and Ned held the legs apart by the ankles. Daniel started struggling again, having a fair idea of where this was headed; he couldn't believe that Robert was going to rape him!

Robert ran his fingers through Daniel's long hair and then he gripped some of it and pulled back. Then he leaned down and said in Daniel's ear, "No better than a whore." Then he moved down the lean body and prepared to enter him.

Daniel yelled with pain as Robert entered him, ripping him open. Fire blossomed around his anus and travelled up his spine. He couldn't help the cries of pain as Robert pounded into him repeatedly, the assault seeming to go on forever. He dropped his head so that his forehead was touching the mattress, and tears leaked out from beneath tightly closed eyelids as he mentally cursed Robert with every shuddering breath.

Finally, blessedly, Robert climaxed and Daniel thought that would be the end of it, that they would go away and leave him alone. But that didn't happen. Instead, Robert swapped places with Billy, and Daniel was forced to endure another assault, and then another when Ned took his turn. By the time they were finished, he was extremely sore, and he could feel the blood and semen dripping down between his legs. Tears were flowing freely now, such was the emotional and physical pain he was in. He felt so used and dirty, exactly what he assumed Robert had been aiming for. When his wrists and legs were released, he curled up on himself, instinctively protecting himself from more assaults.

Robert knelt down next to Daniel, pleased at the effect of the 'lesson'. "Remember, Daniel, you're no better than a whore. And from now on, that's all ya gonna be, understand?"

Daniel nodded once. It was better to agree than not to. But he didn't intend to stick around to let Robert fulfil his threat. He remained curled up for a long time after Robert and his friends had gone, letting the tears run their course until there were no more. His body was racked with shivers, both from the cold and the shock at what had just happened. When he had planned his new life, he hadn't expected this to happen.

After a while, Daniel felt enough in control of himself to go and clean himself up. He made it through to the bathroom on unsteady legs and promptly threw up into the hole that served as the toilet. Then he sat on the floor for a few minutes, waiting till the nausea had passed before standing up. He washed away the evidence of the assault as best he could considering there was very little water in the tub. Then he took himself back to his room, curled up to keep warm, and started planning his escape.

~~~

"No."

Sam glared at her fiancé, who had shown up five minutes ago. "Why not?"

"Because he obviously doesn't belong here," Jack replied. He had been surprised by Daniel's disappearance, expecting the lad to still be there this morning. In fact, he had almost been looking forward to seeing him. Almost.

"Jack, I'm worried about him," Sam persisted. "What if he's been robbed? Or beaten? Or - or worse?"

"Then he will just be one of dozens that were attacked last night," Jack stated, holding his ground despite the fact that he was concerned too.

"I can't believe you! Don't you have any compassion, any feelings for Daniel at all?" Sam stared at Jack, disbelief written on her face. How could Jack be so unfeeling, so unconcerned?

Jack held his tongue because he couldn't lie to Sam. He did have feelings for Daniel but they weren't exactly the ones she would be expecting.

Sam took that as a 'yes'. "Then why won't you look for him?"

"Look for who?" Charlie had been eating in the kitchen when he had heard the raised voices. He looked at Sam, then at Jack, then back again. "Is Daniel gone?"

"Apparently," Sam replied. "You wouldn't happen to know where he would have gone, would you?"

Charlie shrugged. "'E wouldn't 'ave gone back 'ome because Robert would be real mad. Probably would've gone to a different part of town so Robert couldn't find 'im." He slumped into a chair, depressed. Daniel had left him behind. Much as he liked living at Miss Carter's, Charlie had wanted to stay with Daniel.

"He could be anywhere in London by now," Jack pointed out to Sam. "And he probably won't want us to go looking for him."

"Well, we are going to, and if you're not going to help me, then I guess I'll just go on my own." She would take a gun with her just in case anyone tried to harm her.

"Oh, for crying out loud." Jack sighed. He couldn't in good conscience let Sam go searching around the slums - that would be just asking for trouble. "Teal'c and I will go. Charlie can show us where he used to live and we'll check there first just in case. Okay?"

"That would be very good of you considering it's your fault he left," Sam said. "Why did you have to be so mean to him?"

"I have my reasons," Jack replied, not willing to discuss them with his fiancée.

"Well, you had better find him, Jack, and if anything has happened to him, then God help you."

Jack didn't take the threat lightly. He nodded in acknowledgement, then left the room to go and find Teal'c.

~~~

After sorting through Daniel's belongings and finding the money hidden in the clothes, Robert went back to see how Daniel was faring. He was pleased to see that Daniel was still lying there on the mattress, apparently still in the same position as when he had left. Moving closer, he dropped a lump of bread in front of Daniel. "Here, eat."

Much as Daniel didn't want to accept anything from Robert, his stomach was telling him that it wanted something right now. After having a month of regular meals, Daniel's body wasn't used to long periods of time without eating any more. He snatched up the bread and quickly gobbled it down before Robert could take it away. Then he locked his arms around his legs again, protecting himself from his former mentor.

Robert crouched down in front of Daniel and reached out to touch him. When Daniel tried to move out of reach, he said, "Now don't be like that, Daniel. It was for your own good."

Daniel snorted in disbelief. "No, it was so you could control me again. Well, guess what?" He looked up at the man, hate in his eyes. "I'm not going to let you. Even if you rape me every day, I will not give in to you. You've used me nearly my whole life, and I won't let you do it again." He would rather die first.

"Oh yes, you will. Because you'll 'ave no choice." Robert managed to get a fistful of Daniel's hair. "Don't forget, I know where Charlie is. I can easily retrieve 'im as I did you," he threatened.

Daniel understood what Robert was threatening to do, and his blood ran cold. He couldn't let Charlie get dragged into this. "He won't be so easy to get," he said defiantly. The words lacked conviction though.

"Don't be too sure of that." Robert stood up, bringing Daniel with him, and then threw the young man across the room. Before Daniel could get up, Robert was back on him, and tossed him back onto the mattress.

Daniel scrambled upright, his back against the wall. He was aching all over but he was determined to fight. "Keep away from me," he warned.

Robert ignored him, coming to stand right in front of him and grabbing his hair again. Daniel immediately kicked out with his feet, trying to get Robert's legs out from under him. The older man stumbled but recovered quickly to drag Daniel forward. Once Daniel was lying face down on the mattress, Robert started beating him again.

~~~

"This is it," Charlie announced as the carriage drew up beside an old warehouse.

Jack looked around at the dreadful surroundings. The buildings were dingy and run-down, there was mud everywhere underfoot, and even the air looked dirtier, not to mention the awful smell. This was definitely not a good place to live. "Nice place," he said sarcastically.

Charlie ignored him as he hopped down onto the ground. "Come on," he urged, impatient to see whether Daniel was there or not.

Sighing, Jack jumped onto the ground, the mud splashing over his shiny boots and onto his trousers. He didn't like mud, having spent too much time in it during battles. "Lead on." He got his gun ready.

Charlie entered the warehouse first, closely followed by Jack and then Teal'c, the big man carrying a rifle. As they went further in, there were some muffled thuds, so they changed course to follow those sounds. When they got close to the room the sounds were coming from, Charlie could hear Daniel's voice cursing someone. "He's in there," he whispered to the colonel.

"Stay back." Jack could hear Daniel now and knew that the young man was in trouble. He eased the door open and quietly stepped inside, surprised at the scene that greeted him. Robert was standing over Daniel's tightly curled body, laying into him with fists and feet while Daniel was cursing him continuously. "Stop!" he commanded in his best military officer's voice.

Robert turned sideways and saw the gun trained on him by the man called Jack. Then he saw the big black man enter the room, rifle aimed straight at his heart. "What do you want?"

"For starters, I want you to move away from Daniel." Jack could see the bruises on Daniel's legs and wrists, and wondered just what the hell Robert had been doing to him. A second thought followed, a protective one that came out of nowhere and demanded that he save Daniel from further abuse.

Robert shrugged and stepped away. "Changed your mind, did ya? You can 'ave 'im right 'ere," he offered.

"No, I haven't changed my mind," Jack replied. The only way he would sleep with Daniel was if the young man was willing, and after Jack's behaviour, that wasn't likely.

"Too bad." Robert moved further away, towards a pile of rags in the corner. He had a gun hidden under there. Now, if he could just get to it without getting shot... "'E makes a good whore."

Jack saw Daniel flinch at the word, and had to admit the young man had good reason to. Firstly, Jack had called him that, now the man who had raised him was saying the same thing. Time to fix that. "Daniel is a gentleman." He had proved it throughout his stay at Sam's house and at the ball last night.

Daniel's head shot up and he stared at Jack. He couldn't have heard right - Jack couldn't have called him a gentleman. Jack thought the same as Robert, that he was nothing but a whore.

Robert laughed harshly. "'E's a mighty fine actor, that's what 'e is." He stepped in front of the rag pile. "'E's a thief, through and through. 'E won't never be nothing different."

"I guess we'll just have to disagree about that," Jack stated. "Daniel, get your things. We're leaving."

"What?" Leaving? And go where?

"Do you really want to stay here?"

Well if Jack put it that way... Daniel slowly sat up, his body aching from the beating it had just received. "Robert took my things."

Jack turned his head slightly to talk to the teenager who was hanging back outside the room. "Charlie, go get Daniel's clothes."

The lad took off at a run, eager to help. Then Jack, trusting Teal'c to watch his back, went over to Daniel. "You okay?" he asked as he crouched down in front of him.

Daniel didn't have it in him to lie. He shook his head, hugging his knees to his chest for modesty and warmth.

Jack's gaze shifted around the room, disgusted at the condition of it. The mattress was old and dirty and... He paused when he saw the recent blood stains, something white turning the blood pink. And now that he was closer, he could smell something too, something that seemed familiar. Suddenly he knew how the blood had been spilt. His finger tightened on the trigger, wishing he was the kind of man who could shoot someone in cold blood. He turned when he heard footsteps running outside, hoping it was Charlie with Daniel's clothes.

Teal'c turned slightly too, and that was all Robert needed. He bobbed down and retrieved his gun, pointing it at Jack. He was about to pull the trigger when a gunshot sounded and a sudden pain erupted in his chest. He looked down in shock; this can't be... Then he knew no more.

Jack had never taken his complete attention off Robert and therefore was ready when the man tried to shoot him. He watched with satisfaction as the man fell to the floor, dead. Robert wouldn't be able to bother Daniel or Charlie any more.

Daniel turned his head away, unable to look at Robert's dead body. Despite the fact that he hated the man, Robert had been a big part of his life and it wasn't easy to forget that.

Charlie sladded into the room and came to an abrupt halt. He observed the pool of blood that was becoming visible beside Robert's body, then he turned to Jack. "You shot 'im?"

"He was going to shoot us," Jack replied calmly. "Are those Daniel's clothes?"

"Yeah." Charlie took them over to Jack, keeping well away from the dead body. He sat down next to Daniel and threw his arms around him. "Don't ever leave me again," he chided his friend.

"I won't," Daniel promised, returning the hug. He turned his head towards Jack. "Why did you come?"

"Sam was worried about you." Jack tucked his gun away. "We came here on the off-chance that you might have come here."

Daniel couldn't believe that Jack had come after what had been said last night. "I thought you wanted me gone."

"I did." But not anymore. "I changed my mind."

"Oh." Daniel didn't quite know what to say to that. He could see that the hostility towards him that had been in Jack's eyes last night had gone but he didn't know why. All he could do now was be grateful that it had because otherwise, Robert would still be beating him... or worse. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." Jack reached his hand out towards Daniel's hair but pulled it back when the young man flinched away. Of course Daniel doesn't want you to touch him, Jack told himself; he's just been raped and besides, you haven't voluntarily touched him before. "I'll leave you to get dressed."

Daniel nodded in gratitude; the last thing he wanted right now was for anyone to see him naked. Well, more than they could actually see now, anyway. And he definitely didn't want Jack seeing any more of him than was necessary.

Teal'c went over to Robert, picked up the limp body, and took it out of the room so that no-one would have to continue looking at it. That meant that Daniel didn't have to get dressed with the body still in the room.

It took Daniel a few minutes to get dressed, his body aching from the beating he had received only minutes before. When he was ready, he walked out of the room, praying that he would never see it again.

"Ready?" Jack asked, concern rising in him again when he saw the bruise that was beginning to blossom on Daniel's pale right cheek.

"I had some money with me," Daniel stated, wrapping his arms around his chest again. "It should have been with my clothes."

"This?" Charlie held up the few notes that he had found.

Daniel nodded but didn't hold his hand out for the money. He trusted that Charlie would look after it.

"Let's go home," Jack said, moving over to Daniel and putting an arm around the slender waist. He saw Daniel flinch but ignored it; the lad looked like he was in shock, and Jack didn't want him to fall down in the mud outside. When they got back to the carriage, Jack let Charlie go in the compartment with Daniel while he went up top with Teal'c. He really wanted to be with Daniel but could see that the young man wasn't comfortable around him, so it was better this way. But all the way home he kept wishing that he hadn't said those awful things to Daniel because then the young man wouldn't have left Sam's house and ended up back with Robert.

~~~

Sam kept an impatient watch out the front window, wondering how long it would take Jack to come back with Daniel. When she saw the carriage pull up after only a couple of hours, she thought that Jack had changed his mind. Then she saw Charlie helping Daniel out of the carriage and those thoughts fled at the sight of them. She rushed out the front door and went immediately to Daniel. "Are you all right?" she asked, wincing when she saw the bruise on his face.

"I'm fine," Daniel replied softly, not feeling like talking very much. He had been thankful that Charlie had remained silent on the trip back, giving Daniel the space he needed.

"Come inside," Sam insisted as she put an arm around Daniel's shoulders and started to guide him up the steps. "I'll get you something nice and warm to eat."

"I'm not hungry," Daniel protested half-heartedly. He really wasn't hungry, shock having robbed him of his appetite.

"You'll feel better once you eat something." This was a common treatment for many different ailments. Sam guided him into the living room, wrapped the crocheted rug from the back of the couch around his shoulders, and then kissed his forehead. "You gave me such a scare," she said.

"I didn't mean to." He had expected that she would have been too busy with Jack to worry about him.

"Daniel, you know you are welcome to stay here as long as you like, don't you?" Sam asked, concerned by his downcast expression.

"I thought - I didn't know you meant it," he said, looking at the floor.

Looking over her shoulder, Sam told Jack to go get something warm for Daniel to eat. Then she turned back to Daniel. "I don't say things I don't mean, Daniel. You - and Charlie - can stay here as long as you like."

"What about Jack?" Daniel hugged the rug tighter around his shoulders. He knew Jack had said that he'd changed his mind but Daniel hadn't known whether or not to believe him.

Sam brushed the long hair away from Daniel's forehead, something inside her wrenching at the hurt in the quiet voice. It had taken her a while to see underneath Jack's actions but she thought she finally understood. "I think he'll be okay with it. He's had a lot of prejudices to overcome, and I think he was trying to fight that."

Daniel wrinkled up his nose in puzzlement. What did she mean by that? He shifted uncomfortably, not used to the compassion Sam was showing. That, and he was still sore after the assaults. He couldn't tell Sam about them though - they weren't something a lady should hear about.

Jack soon arrived back with some hot chicken soup and he put it on the table in front of Daniel, not wanting to get too close. "Here, get this into you," he said.

Daniel picked up the bowl but as soon as he smelled the soup, his stomach started to churn. He hurriedly put it back down again. "I'm not hungry."

Sam noticed how Daniel pale suddenly was, and she was immediately worried. She put a hand on his forehead, in case he was sick. "What's wrong?"

"I just--" How could he refuse to eat without saying why or offending Sam? "I can't right now." Daniel felt tears prick at his eyes and he cursed them silently, determined not to break down in front of everyone.

"He's in shock, Sam," Jack stated matter-of-factly. "Robert was beating the hell out of him when we got there." He wasn't going to tell Sam about what had likely happened before they had arrived.

Charlie sat down on the couch right next to Daniel and snuggled up to his friend. "Jack shot Robert," he announced.

Sam looked at Jack, who stared back, a grim look on his face. She wanted to know exactly what had happened but knew that now wasn't the time. She turned to Daniel again. "Are you sure you can't eat anything?"

Daniel nodded. He shivered and held himself tighter; he was so very cold.

"Sam, I think Daniel just needs to lie down for a while," Jack said, noting the shiver. He had seen the symptoms of shock before and knew that being warm would help a little.

She had to agree. "Daniel, can you make it upstairs?" Sam asked. The young man gave a tiny nod in reply. "Okay, let's go and get you into bed."

Daniel let himself be led up the stairs and into Sam's bedroom. Everything was beginning to get hazy, and he gratefully crawled into bed. He curled up facing away from Sam and then shut out the world by closing his eyes.

Sam rubbed Daniel's back gently until she heard his breathing even out. Then she went back downstairs to get the full story out of Jack.

~~~

"No, get off me! No, please no, stop it!"

Sam was woken by the shouts and ran into her bedroom where Daniel lay thrashing about in the throes of a nightmare. She hurried over to him and gathered him into her arms, trying to hold on tight when he struggled against her.

"No, stop it!" Daniel protested, still dreaming. He woke himself up with his struggles, and found himself held tightly by someone. Because he didn't know who it was, he continued to struggle. "Please, let me go!"

"Daniel, it's me. It's Sam." She rocked him back and forth, trying to comfort him.

Now that he was more awake, Daniel could feel that this was indeed Sam. He stopped moving, his breathing ragged. "Sam?"

"Yes, it's me," she confirmed. "You were having a bad dream."

No, not a dream, Daniel thought; a memory. He had been reliving what Robert and the others had done to him, only this time Daniel had been looking into Robert's dead face, his eyes horribly blank. "I'm fine," he said, curling up on himself. Much as he appreciated her concern, he had never before needed babying after having a bad dream.

"Are you sure?" There had been a lot of pain and fear in his vocalisations.

"Yes. Thank you," he added politely.

Sam felt a little bit hurt at the dismissal but then realised that he wouldn't be used to being comforted during the night. "I'll let you get back to sleep then." She got off the bed then hesitated. "If you're sure..."

"I am."

"Okay." Reluctantly, Sam left to go back to her bed.

Daniel got out of bed and went to stand at the window. He stared out at the dark street, his heart still beating fast after the terror in his dream. The words that Robert had said to him stuck in his mind and he wondered how true they really were. Was he only good for being a whore now? Or would it be possible for him to make a life for himself and Charlie away from the slums - not a rich life, but maybe a comfortable one? He desperately wanted to believe the latter but in his heart, he was afraid that it was the former. He had to at least have a go at living as a gentleman; after all, that was what Jacob had trained him to be. But how long would he be able to do that before he was back living on the streets? The situation depressed him and he remained standing at the window, thinking, for a long time.

Unbeknownst to him, Jack stood in the doorway watching him for some time. He had been woken by the shouts and curiosity had propelled him along to the bedroom. He had stayed in the hallway, listening to the conversation between Sam and Daniel, and then had hidden when Sam had left the room. Then he had come back to the doorway, where he was now watching Daniel. The young man's posture was defeated, as if he didn't know what he was going to do next. And well he mightn't, Jack thought, calling to mind how Daniel's life had changed in the past month. Jack now wished he had been a bit more supportive, aware that it couldn't have been easy for Daniel to be here. Was it too late to do that? Perhaps he should make an effort tomorrow and find out.

After watching Daniel for a few more minutes, Jack went back to bed and planned what he would do.

~~~

Daniel didn't want to get out of bed. He hadn't got much sleep after going back to bed, his thoughts keeping him awake until dawn when he had finally drifted off. He judged it was now midday, and someone had been into the bedroom while he was asleep to bring him a breakfast that was now cold. His stomach appreciated the thought but Daniel didn't really have an appetite despite not eating anything but some bread in over twenty-four hours. His body ached all over, and he couldn't get comfortable; lying on his front seemed to be the best option. Either that, or getting up but he really didn't want to do that because then he would have to go downstairs and face everybody. Face Jack. He had seen Jack's knowing look yesterday and Daniel didn't want to deal with that.

"Hey."

Daniel jumped at the softly spoken word, his head turning towards the voice. When he saw it was Jack, he instinctively curled himself up under the blankets, not wanting to talk to him.

"You're finally awake." Jack had been checking every so often, aware that the young man might have had a restless night. His eyes went to the untouched food. "Not hungry?"

"No," Daniel said half-truthfully. His stomach was currently suggesting something hot would be good and it growled in protest when sustenance wasn't forthcoming.

Jack couldn't help a small smile from forming when he heard the noise. "Feel up to some soup?"

Daniel hesitated for a second, the smile tugging painfully at his heart. Why was Jack being so nice to him? "Um, okay."

"I will be right back." Jack quickly left the room.

Slowly, Daniel uncurled himself and turned onto his back to look at the ceiling. The attraction to Jack was still there even though Daniel didn't want to do anything about it. Right now, the thought of any man touching him was enough to make him feel sick. His breathing quickened as his stomach began to churn, and Daniel tried to turn his thoughts away from the subject.

When he arrived back in the bedroom, Jack noticed Daniel's pale face and quickened breathing immediately. He quickly crossed to Daniel's side and put a hand on his forehead. It felt clammy to touch. "What's wrong?"

"I'm fine," Daniel protested, jerking his head away from Jack's hand. "Just... give me a minute." He could get this under control if Jack didn't touch him.

"Sorry." Jack pulled his hand back immediately, mentally cursing himself for not remembering that Daniel wouldn't want him touching him. "I, uh, I brought you some soup." He held out the bowl in his other hand. "Tomato."

That sounded nice. Getting himself under control, Daniel sat up, keeping the blankets nice and high. "Thank you." He held his hand out for the bowl.

Jack handed the bowl over, being careful that their fingers didn't touch. He watched Daniel tentatively eat a spoonful of the soup, as if he was afraid, and Jack decided this was the best time to apologise. "Daniel, I'm sorry for everything I have said to you during your stay. It was terrible of me, and not at all a good example of being a gentleman. I especially apologise for calling you a whore." He saw Daniel tense at the name. "You are not one - in fact, you are more of a gentleman than I have been recently."

Daniel's mind was whirling at the apology. He had to be dreaming. There was no way that Jack would apologise to him like this.

"Don't let anyone tell you any differently, Daniel. Not Robert, not me, not anyone." Jack reached out and slid his fingers once through Daniel's long silky hair. "You're a gentleman. I just wanted to tell you that before I left."

"You're leaving?" Daniel didn't know how he felt about that. Part of him was relieved while the other part was disappointed.

"I'm going home this afternoon. Then I'm going to meet up with my regiment in a few days." He was going to head downstairs and break off his engagement with Sam before he left.

"Jack?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm twenty-five." Daniel couldn't let the man go away without telling him that. "Not eighteen."

Just ten years younger than him, not seventeen. That made Jack feel a little better about his fantasies. He nodded in acknowledgment. "Good luck, Daniel."

Daniel could only watch as Jack left him, perhaps forever.

~~~

Sam knew what was coming as soon as Jack walked into the room. The set of his shoulders was a dead giveaway that he was about to say something that she didn't want to hear. "You're leaving, aren't you?" she asked, taking a stab in the dark.

"Yes." Jack didn't bother denying it. "I'm sorry, Sam."

"Are you coming back?" In other words, were they still a couple?

"I don't know." Jack went over to stand in front of her, hating himself for what he was about to say. "Sam--"

"I know, Jack." Sam took off her engagement ring, not needing Jack to say the words. She handed the ring back to him, dignified on the outside but hurting on the inside. "Maybe it's for the best."

Jack slowly closed his fingers around the ring. "I do love you, Sam."

"Just not the way you thought you did," Sam stated. When Jack had left after that terrible argument, she had begun to see that. She had also recently begun to realise that maybe her feelings for Jack weren't exactly the 'in love' kind. "I understand."

"If you ever need to get away from the city, you are always welcome at my house." He didn't want to stop being Sam's friend but knew it was asking a lot of her.

"Thank you." Sam stood up and kissed Jack on the cheek. "One day I might." It would take some time for her heart to heal.

Jack hugged her to him, trying to give her some comfort. When he pulled back, he said, "Take care of Daniel. Robert said some nasty things to him so it might be a while before he gets back to normal."

"I will," Sam promised, receiving confirmation at last that Jack did care for the young man. "Goodbye, Jack."

"Goodbye."

~~~

After being informed about most of what had happened, Jacob went up to see Daniel. The young man was still in bed, a thoughtful look on his face. Jacob knocked on the doorframe, not wanting to be impolite. "Daniel, may I come in?"

Daniel was silent for a moment, then said, "Yes." He pushed himself into a sitting position, trying not to wince when the movement hurt all his sore muscles. "I suppose you've heard."

"Yes, I have. Daniel, what were you thinking going off like that?" Jacob pulled up a chair and sat next to the bed. "If Jack and Teal'c hadn't found you..."

"I know." Daniel crossed his arms over his chest. "I was causing problems between Sam and Jack, so I figured leaving would be the best for everybody." And if Robert hadn't caught him, it probably would have been.

"Did Sam actually tell you to leave?"

"No." There was a hint of uncertainty in Daniel's voice.

"That's because she wanted you to stay. She's an adult, Daniel, and she was well aware of the choice she was making." And besides which, Jacob thought, Jack was not the most suitable husband for her.

"I don't want people to argue over me." Not that it had ever happened before he'd met Sam but still, it made him feel uncomfortable. He wasn't important enough to be argued over.

"I know. It's not a pleasant feeling, is it?" Jacob shifted forward in his seat so that he was closer to the young man without appearing to crowd him. "Anyway, they won't be fighting anymore. Jack's--"

"Left, I know. He told me," Daniel stated in a flat voice. He was already missing Jack more than he had any right to be.

Jacob observed Daniel's face, intrigued by the emotion he didn't see there. He ran his mind over the way Daniel had reacted to Jack the other night and came to one conclusion. "Daniel, do you have feelings for Jack?"

"No," Daniel lied, turning away from Jacob.

"Daniel, I promise you I will not be mad if you do." In fact, it might explain why Jack could hurt the young man so easily.

There was a few seconds pause, then a small voice replied, "Maybe."

"You poor thing." Jacob put his hand on Daniel's shoulder, then let go when the man tensed up. "No wonder you were so upset at the ball."

Daniel remained silent. He didn't like to think of that evening.

"You'll get over him in time. There's plenty of other young men out there for you."

The problem with that was that Daniel didn't want anyone else. He wanted Jack.

"In fact," Jacob continued, "I know where you would be able to meet a whole lot of young men. How would you like to go to university?"

Daniel turned back over to look at Jacob, astonishment in his eyes. "University?"

"Yes." Jacob had been doing some thinking about it since the ball and he thought it would be a good opportunity for Daniel. "I noticed that you liked those history books of Sam's, and I thought maybe you would like to go to the University of London and find out more."

Would he ever! Daniel's face lit up with excitement then just as quickly fell as he realised that there was no way he could pay for the privilege. "That was a lovely thought, Jacob, but I can't."

"Why not? I'm paying, so you don't have to worry about that." For Jacob, the money was a drop in the bucket.

"I couldn't ask you to do that," Daniel stated, his pride kicking in.

Jacob grinned. "You're not. I'm offering. And no, I don't expect you to pay me back," he forestalled the next question. "The only repayment I'm interested in is seeing your name on that diploma in three years time."

For the first time in a long time, Daniel felt that his childhood dream could actually come true. He liked learning, and being educated was part of being a gentleman. And he wouldn't have to go back to the streets. "Really?"

"Really. So what do you say?" Jacob could see the hope in Daniel's eyes.

"I say... thank you." A genuine smile appeared on Daniel's face. He would find some way to repay Jacob with money - Daniel's pride wouldn't let him accept this otherwise - and in the meantime, he would do his best to make Jacob proud of him.

Part 5:

Daniel stared out the window of the carriage as it travelled the road to St. Albans. Beside him was Charlie, who was currently asleep - the long journey had worn him out. Opposite were Sam, who was reading, and Jacob, who was writing in his journal. The lack of conversation suited Daniel fine because he wanted to savour what he could of his first carriage ride.

It had been six months since he had started living at Sam's house full-time, and five since he had started university. He had started a bit later than the other students but had caught up quickly, his shrewd mind soaking up information. Daniel loved the course - history - and was planning to branch out into archaeology in his second year. He was also thinking of doing some linguistic courses - he was already well on his way to becoming fluent in Latin and French. He didn't have many friends at the university; some were jealous of his marks while others were just plain snobbish. But the few friends he did have made him feel like he belonged there.

He loved living in Sam's house, he really did. But it felt empty without Jack there. Daniel's feelings hadn't lessened with time; in fact, he realised that he had fallen in love with the older man. But he knew it could never be returned and so he was trying to get on with his life. He had gone out with a couple of men from university - very discreetly, of course - but he wasn't satisfied with that. He wanted Jack in spite of the fact that Jack had never said anything nice to him except for that last day. Why he felt this way, he didn't know, but there wasn't anything he could do about it. It would be hard seeing Jack today and keeping his distance but Daniel would do it to protect his heart. The thought that he might not need to protect it never crossed his mind.

~~~

Jack watched as the carriage travelled up the long driveway. He was very nervous about the weekend. It had taken him several weeks to get up the courage to write to his ex-fiancée and ask her and the others to come down to visit. But it wasn't the fact that he would be seeing Sam again that was making him nervous, it was Daniel. Jack had thought that going back to the military would erase all thoughts about the young man but he was wrong. Instead, those thoughts had increased, much like the last time he had tried to escape them. Jack had eventually come to the realisation that despite the fact that Daniel was a man, he had fallen in love with him. There was a sweetness, an innocence, about Daniel underneath the hardened exterior, and that was what Jack had been busily denying when he had been in London. His whole world had turned upside down after getting to know Daniel, and he now recognised that the reason for his own gruff behaviour was so he didn't let the young man into his heart. That tactic hadn't worked very well.

He was planning on using this weekend to find out if there was a chance that he could have a relationship with Daniel. Although he didn't consider himself to be a queer, Jack wanted to see where a relationship with Daniel would lead them. If Daniel would have him - that was the big question.

"Should we not greet them, O'Neill?" Teal'c asked, coming to stand behind his master. He was well aware of the reason O'Neill had invited the group down and approved of it. Daniel was just the one to make O'Neill a better person, and he believed that now that O'Neill knew this, he would treat Daniel accordingly.

"Yes, we should." Jack went out the front door, closely followed by Teal'c, and waited for the carriage to arrive.

Inside the carriage, Charlie was hanging out the window to get a better view of the house. Three storeys high with a grand entrance, it indicated that Jack had a lot of money. "Wow," Charlie breathed, never before having seen a sight like this. "Is Mr. O'Neill rich?"

Sam laughed at the question. She had grown very fond of Charlie over the past six months and enjoyed the questions that those in polite society would never ask. "Yes, he is. Although not as rich as some."

"Wow," Charlie said again. He was very impressed.

Daniel was too, although he didn't show it. The house was beautiful and stately, the opposite of what Daniel had expected. He would love to live in a home like this where there was so much space that he could get lost just going from one end of the house to another. But he didn't expect that dream to ever come true.

The carriage pulled up to the front steps, and Jack moved forward to open the door for the occupants. Sam was first to alight from the carriage, and she accepted Jack's helping hand as she stepped down onto the gravel. Jack kissed her cheek before letting go and helping Jacob from the coach. Charlie came next, full of enthusiasm, leaving Daniel to come last.

Jack held his hand out to help Daniel step down, uncertain whether the gesture would be rejected. After a moment of hesitation, Daniel put his hand in Jack's, accepting the assistance. Both men were very aware of each other, skin tingling where they touched. Jack withdrew his hand reluctantly when Daniel had both feet on the ground; he had liked holding Daniel's hand.

Daniel kept his eyes on the ground, not wanting Jack - or anyone else - to see what he was feeling. That simple touch had made him feel more than he had expected, more than he had felt when he had kissed some of the men from the university. And that did not bode well for the visit.

"Lunch will be served soon," Jack stated, turning back to his other guests. He stepped forward and offered his arm to Sam. "I'll show you where you can freshen up before then."

He led them up to the second storey where the bedrooms were located. Jack had arranged this very carefully, and had made sure that Daniel's bedroom was right across the hall from his. Not that he was planning on taking advantage of that - he didn't know what he would do anyway - but he believed he would feel better if Daniel was somewhere nearby.

When Sam was shown to a different bedroom to the one she had normally occupied - the one opposite Jack's bedroom - she was relieved. It would have been awkward to have walked out in the morning and seen him straight away. She was pleased that Daniel was there, although she believed that putting Charlie there would have been a better move. As the others moved down the hallway, she stayed in her bedroom and freshened up.

Daniel had a brief moment of panic when he saw the bedroom he would be occupying, and he wondered whether Jack had done it on purpose. The two bedrooms were facing each other - it would be ever so easy just to sneak across the hallway into the other one during the night. If one was so inclined, that was. He knew that Jack wasn't, though, so there wasn't anything to worry about.

Probably.

~~~

Lunch was a talkative affair. Jack wanted to know what everyone had been up to, and Charlie was very keen to fill him in. Jack was very impressed with how well Charlie had adapted to his new environment, and with the teenager's speech. Jacob had certainly done a good job with Charlie. And as for Daniel, if Jack hadn't known better, he would have believed Daniel had always been a gentleman. His speech was impeccable, as were his manners, and Jack felt that they actually took something away from Daniel. There was no sign of the fiery temper that Jack had often deliberately provoked, and there was less innocence shining from those clear blue eyes. It seemed that Daniel had grown up in the last six months.

"Daniel started his history degree five months ago," Jacob stated proudly to Jack. "He's already streets ahead of everyone else."

"Really?" Jack was impressed. "I take it you're enjoying university then, Daniel."

"Very much." Daniel gave Jack a tentative smile. "Everyone there is younger than me but I'm catching up," he said modestly.

"Daniel is planning on doing some courses in archaeology next semester," Jacob continued. "Then he will be off exploring the world."

"Sounds like fun," Jack commented, smiling at Daniel. He wasn't into archaeology or history but he imagined that Daniel could make them interesting.

Daniel couldn't hear any sarcastic edge to Jack's voice so he assumed the comment was sincere. "I think so too." It would be even more fun if he had someone to travel round with. But that was hoping for too much.

After lunch, the group retired to the drawing room for a while and just sat there in conversation. Then, at about two o'clock, Sam asked Jack if he still had the horses.

"Just the three," he replied. "Although only two can be ridden at the moment. Aphrodite just had her new foal last week."

Charlie's eyes lit up. "A foal! May I see it?"

"Sure. Jacob?"

"I think I will stay here and catch up on my rest," Jacob said with a grin. He didn't like horses very much.

"Daniel?" Jack asked.

"Okay." Daniel had seen horses before but never a newborn foal.

The four of them went outside to the stables, Charlie telling Jack all he had learnt about horses in school. When he laid eyes on the brown foal, he ran delightedly over to it. "Oh, it's so small! And it's got a diamond patch on its forehead!"

"Just like his father," Jack stated. "That's Apollo over there. Would you like to ride him?"

Charlie's eyes opened wide. "May I?"

"Sure." Jack went over to the wall where the saddles and reins were located. He selected the ones he usually used when riding the stallion then brought them over to the stall Apollo was in. Well aware of Daniel's eyes on him, Jack taught Charlie how to put everything on and then helped the teenager onto the horse.

"Wow!" Charlie felt like he was ten feet tall. "What do I do next?"

Sam stepped forward and took the reins from Jack. She had been watching Daniel for the last few minutes and had decided to give him and Jack some time together. "Just nudge him gently with your heels - that will get him to start walking."

Charlie did as instructed, a huge smile on his face as he did so. Sam led the horse outside for more space - and to give the two men some privacy.

Daniel's lips had curved up into a smile as he had watched Charlie riding. "He's going to want to take Apollo home with him, you know."

Jack chuckled. "I'm afraid he will have to be disappointed on that score. Apollo's definitely a country horse." He paused for a moment. "Charlie seems like a good lad." He started inching towards Daniel.

"He is. He loves going to school and learning, and Sam spoils him rotten." Daniel's smile faded and he crossed his arms over his chest. Jack was getting too close for comfort. "I suppose I'd better go back inside."

"There's no hurry." Jack thought quickly; he wanted to spend some time alone with Daniel, and he couldn't do that in the house. Well, he probably could because there were so many rooms, but in the house he had to be hospitable to everyone else too. "Let me show you around the grounds."

Daniel looked at Jack for a long moment then nodded. "Okay." It would be ill-mannered of him to refuse.

"Great." Jack led the way out of the stables and down towards the back of the estate. He kept quiet until they had reached the garden area, by which time he had enough courage to speak. "So, have you got a boyfriend?" he asked, not looking at Daniel as he did so.

"Why do you want to know?" Daniel replied defensively.

"Because, ah, if you don't, I was wondering whether you would, ah, consider me for the position."

Daniel stopped and just stared at Jack. No way did he just hear what he thought he did. "Excuse me?"

Jack couldn't tell whether the thought had never crossed Daniel's mind, or whether Daniel just didn't like him. "I've been doing a lot of thinking about this, and I would like to try... you know. With you."

"I am not a whore anymore, Jack!" Daniel said, his anger immediate. "In fact, you told me that yourself! I am not going to sleep with you just because you want to try being with a man!"

"That didn't come out right." Jack cursed himself for not using the right words. "I'm not just looking for sex, Daniel. I want to court you."

"What?" That couldn't be right. "You don't even like me."

"Yes, I do. That's why I was so horrible to you and that's why I split up with Sam. Because I started having... feelings for you."

"Oh." Daniel was stunned. Jack had feelings for him. This was unbelievable. "Really?"

"Really," Jack confirmed. "I want to court you and see where it leads," he continued.

"You want to court me?" Daniel echoed, still not entirely believing Jack.

"Yes." Jack stepped in and gently gripped Daniel's upper arms to hold him in place. "And I want to kiss you. And I want to do things with you that I never would have believed seven months ago."

"I don't know..." Should he risk this and see where a relationship with Jack would lead?

"I will never treat you like I did back in London, I promise. Those days are behind me." He released one of Daniel's arms so that he could run his index finger over the young man's full lips. "Please?"

Daniel's breath caught in his throat at the feel of the finger on his lips. "I don't want to be hurt, Jack." He'd had enough of that in his life.

"I won't hurt you," Jack promised. "I'm not used to this, so I don't know whether I'll ever be able to say the words, but I will show you my feelings every day. And I know that you don't exactly have any reason to like me but..." He knew that Daniel needed to feel that he was loved. "You've grown on me, Daniel Jackson."

"Likewise." Daniel tentatively put his arms around Jack's waist and tilted his head upwards. "Kiss me?"

Jack couldn't disobey that order. He leaned in and brushed his lips against Daniel's, shocked at the current of desire that went through him at the contact. He slid his hands around to Daniel's back and pressed the young man closer to him, wanting more body contact. This was so much better than he had imagined.

Daniel let himself fall into the kiss, having wanted this for so long. His lips parted naturally and as the kiss deepened, his arousal grew. It felt so good to be finally kissing Jack, better than anyone else he had been with. That, he reasoned to himself, was because he was in love with Jack. There was a promise in that kiss too, one that indicated that Jack loved him. He felt a sense of loss as Jack drew away, and he opened his eyes to look into Jack's.

"I never imagined..." Jack couldn't look away. His world had just been permanently changed for the better. "So, can I court you?"

"Technically, you don't court other men but yes," Daniel replied, metaphorically putting his heart in Jack's hands. "You can." He didn't want any relationship with Jack to be ordinary. "What will the others say?"

"Do you want to tell them?"

"They will find out eventually."

Jack couldn't argue with that. "Okay, we'll tell them. I think they'll be fine with it."

"I hope so." Daniel didn't want to lose his new-found family, even for Jack. "What if they're not?"

"Then I want you to come and live with me in London while you finish your degree, and then live here." That incredible kiss had Jack planning long-term. "If... if you want to."

Daniel nodded; he would love to do that. He still had one reservation though... "This isn't just a passing fancy, is it?" He didn't want this to just be a fling.

Jack's heart melted at the uncertain look in Daniel's eyes. "No, it's not. I've never felt this way before, not even with my wife. If you'll have me, I'll do my best to make you happy." He hugged Daniel closer to him.

"That's all I want," Daniel whispered as he leaned forward to kiss Jack. To be happy and to be loved - that was all he had ever really wanted out of life. And now it looked like he could have both.

~~~

Sometime later, the two men made their way back up to the house. Jacob was still in the drawing room, reading, but Sam and Charlie were still out riding so the men decided that their news could wait. Jack took Daniel on a tour of the house while they were waiting; this allowed them to kiss away from everyone else. When they heard Charlie's voice downstairs, Jack took Daniel by the hand and led him down to the drawing room.

Charlie was too excited to notice the two men holding hands but both Sam and Jacob noticed. The latter recovered first and said, "Something to tell us, Jack?"

"Yes, actually." Jack felt Daniel try to pull away and tightened his grip. If he was going to do this, he was going to go the whole way and show his feelings. "I am going to court Daniel with a view to living together as a couple. If you don't approve, that's fine, but I am going to do it anyway."

"You could do so much better, Daniel," Jacob said with a straight face but the twinkle in his eyes belied his words. He just wanted Daniel to be happy, and if this was the way, then Jacob was all for it. So long as he didn't have to think about it, of course.

"I agree," Sam stated, a small part of her hurting that he had chosen Daniel over her.

"Thank you so much," Jack drawled, not truly taking offence.

Daniel just smiled. He was grateful that his friends seemed to be taking the news so well. Not many others would understand as they did.

"Just understand, Jack, that if you ever hurt Daniel, I will shoot you," Jacob said, this time seriously. He had said the same thing when Jack had started courting Sam, and there had been the odd occasion over the past six months when he had wished that he had carried out that threat. Not that he would have killed Jack - a leg wound or something similar would have been sufficient.

"I understand." He didn't doubt that for a second.

From his place on the couch, Charlie looked from Daniel to Jack and then back again, his mind processing what was being discussed. "So you're going to let him stick his--"

"Charlie!" several voices exclaimed at once; Daniel was silent, ducking his head in embarrassment. Jacob reached over and put his hand over the teenager's mouth. "That's enough, young man."

"Mm-mm," Charlie apologised, Jacob's hand still over his mouth. He had just been curious; what was wrong with that?

"I think I need to have a chat with Charlie about what are appropriate questions to ask," Jacob said, releasing the teenager. "Come with me."

"Yes, sir." Charlie reluctantly got up and followed Jacob out of the room.

Jack looked over at Sam, who was now standing by the fireplace. "Are you okay with this?"

"I think so," she replied. "Deep down, I think I knew this was going to happen when you broke off the engagement." She looked directly at Daniel. "Are you sure about this?"

Daniel nodded, then shot a quick glance at Jack. Yes, he was sure. "I want to be with him," he admitted to Sam.

"Then I'm happy for you." Sam walked over to Daniel and hugged him to her. "As for you, Jack, what Dad said goes double for me."

"Understood." Great - he was really going to have to watch his step.

Sam smiled at him, then at Daniel. "I'm sure you two will want to spend lots of time together while we're here so I'll just go into the parlour and do some sewing." Something to keep her mind occupied so that she didn't have to think about what the two men would be doing.

When Sam had left the drawing room, Jack turned to Daniel and took him into his arms. "I'll resign my commission and buy a townhouse in London. That way you can come over whenever you want to."

"I love you, Jack." The words popped out of Daniel's mouth. He immediately ducked his head, embarrassed at having spoken his feelings out loud before he was fully certain of Jack's feelings for him.

Jack put a finger under Daniel's chin and lifted it up until he could see into those beautiful blue eyes. Then he drew Daniel into a kiss and expressed his feelings that way rather than with words. He would have plenty of time to learn how to say them during the rest of their lives.

THE END

Next: Blood Money