Thrill Of The Chase 1

Thrill Of The Chase

by Sistine

URL: http://www.area52hkh.net/ass/sistine/thrill01.php
Summary: Not supplied

"Let's run through the gate."

The other members of SG-1 stopped and stared at Daniel. "What?" Jack expressed his surprise at such a request.

"I have a theory but we need to run through the gate to test it," Daniel replied as he started dialling. He was all but bouncing with excitement, unaware that his teammates were looking curiously at him.

"Care to share?" Jack couldn't wait to hear what weird theory Daniel had come up with now.

Daniel took a deep breath and said in one breath, "Have you ever noticed that when we go through the gate at walking speed, the wormhole disengages as soon as we're through but if we're desperately trying to escape someone, it stays on to let the bad guys through?"

Teal'c raised one eyebrow. "Are you in jest, DanielJackson?"

"No, I'm not." Daniel paused before pressing the orange dome in the middle of the DHD. They weren't in any danger so it seemed like a good idea to try it.

"Uh, Daniel, how are you going to explain it to Hammond?" Jack asked. "He's going to be a mite concerned if we charge through the gate as if an army of Jaffa is chasing us."

"Don't worry, I'll explain it to him," Daniel said as the gate whooshed into life. He sent the GDO then grinned at his friends. "Come on - last one through is a Goa'uld."

They watched as Daniel sprinted towards the wormhole, all surprised at the linguist's behaviour. Then Jack shrugged and said, "Why not?" And so the three remaining SG-1 members ran after their teammate.

They arrived on the other side to see one very confused general and one bouncing archaeologist who was staring at the Stargate with a rapt expression. Hammond looked at Jack and asked, "What's going on, Colonel?"

"I'd love to explain, sir, but I think that Daniel would explain it better," Jack replied, looking at his linguist. Daniel's behaviour seemed familiar but it wasn't the passionate scholar that Jack had seen before - this was something different. The way Daniel was bouncing, he'd seen that before, and not in a good way...

"Seven seconds!" Daniel exclaimed happily, turning towards Jack, eager to share his findings. "It's true!"

"What's true?" Hammond asked, looking at his favourite civilian with confusion.

"That if you run through a wormhole, it stays on longer," Daniel explained, shifting his attention towards the general but his eyes never focused on him. "So if we're being attacked on another planet, and we just walk through, then the bad guys won't get a chance to come after us."

Everyone in the gateroom just stared at him in stunned silence but Daniel didn't seem to notice. He was too busy being happy with his discovery.

"Permission to go to the infirmary, sir," Jack requested of General Hammond, certain that Daniel needed to be checked out. Daniel was almost acting as if he was high on something, or drunk, which was not a good thing.

"Granted." Hammond wanted to know what - probably literally - had got into Doctor Jackson.

"Daniel." Jack caught the younger man's arm just as he was about to bound up the ramp. "Let's go to the infirmary and say hi to Doc Fraiser."

"Okay." Daniel let himself be led out of the gateroom but a few steps down the corridor, he shook himself loose of his guide. Flashing a huge grin at Jack, he said, "Can't catch me!" and took off down the corridor.

For a moment, Jack was tempted to let him wear himself out but he knew that Daniel could not be allowed to roam the SGC like this. With a sigh, he started running off after Daniel, aware that Carter and Teal'c were following him.

When they reached the intersection, there was no sign of Daniel. Jack shook his head; really, he was going to have to put Daniel on a leash. *After* they had another talk about touching things on alien planets. "You two go that way," he said, pointing to the left. He received nods from his two teammates, and then they ran down that corridor. With another sigh, Jack headed off in the other direction.

After a couple of minutes, Jack reached the elevator and was pleased to see Daniel standing there waiting. He came to a halt in front of Daniel and took a good look at his eyes. The blue pupils looked normal so maybe Daniel wasn't high. But if being drugged wasn't the cause, then what was?

"Jack, I was right!" Daniel enthused, still bouncing up and down. "Thank you for letting me try it!" Impulsively, he hugged Jack hard, and said, "I love you!" Then he kissed Jack on the lips before taking off again at a run.

Stunned, Jack stood there for a few moments, processing what Daniel had just done. Daniel had just kissed him! Had that been a side effect of the drugs or was it just that Daniel's inhibitions had been lowered? Jack admitted to himself that he wanted it to be the latter. It had been so hard just watching Daniel, knowing that he loved the linguist but being unable to do anything about it. Maybe this was an indication that his feelings were returned.

Or maybe he ought to catch Daniel before he tried kissing anyone else. Jack sprinted off in the direction Daniel had gone, hoping that his errant linguist hadn't gone too far.

Daniel wasn't watching where he was going and ran straight into Teal'c. He bounced off the Jaffa and ended up sprawled on the floor. For a moment he looked up at Teal'c, stunned, and then he started laughing when he imagined how that incident must have looked.

Sam, who had been right beside Teal'c, fought hard to hide her grin; Daniel was so cute when he was like this. She shared a look with Teal'c, who raised his eyebrow at her in amusement, then stepped forward. "Come on, Daniel," she said, taking hold of one arm and pulling upwards. Teal'c did the same on the other side.

"Upsie-daisy," Daniel sing-songed, flopping first one way and then the other, forcing his friends to hold him upright. "Daisy-upsie, Sammsie-Maisie--" He stopped abruptly, suddenly realising that Teal'c's name couldn't be made into something that rhymed.

"Daniel, are you okay?" Sam asked, trying to keep a straight face. Daniel was currently wearing a pout that, if the rest of the base saw it, would cause a stampede straight to the linguist's side.

"Splendiferous!" Daniel waved his arms around, making him off-balance again and causing him to fall against Teal'c. His big friend righted him and Daniel smiled gratefully at him. "Thank you, Teal'c."

Jack rounded the corner just in time to see Daniel give Teal'c a big hug. Not waiting to see if Daniel would do anything else, he called out, "Daniel!"

The linguist stepped away from Teal'c and his face lit up. "Jack! You can't catch me!" And he was off again.

"Oy, this is getting old," Jack groaned and he came to a stop next to Carter. "You were supposed to hold onto him."

"We tried," Sam replied, allowing her grin to appear.

"It seems you were also unable to," Teal'c observed, his face neutral to all but those who knew him well.

"Yeah, well..." There was nothing Jack could say to that, not without revealing what had happened. "I suppose we'd better go find him again. I'm going to go back to the elevator." And he would walk back - no point in running if he didn't have to.

His friends headed off in the opposite direction, both at a slower pace than before. Jack grinned at the idea that they were both tiring of this as well. He headed off in the direction that he had come, and was surprised to see Daniel waiting by the elevator again. "Hey."

"Hi, Jack! You haven't caught me yet!"

Determined to keep Daniel in the one spot this time, Jack put on a sudden burst of speed and caught his linguist as the younger man started to flee. He locked his arms around Daniel's waist and held on tight.

"You caught me!" Daniel sounded pleased. He wriggled his butt against Jack's groin as he tried to turn around in the older man's arms. "Well done!" He managed to turn and then he put his arms around Jack.

For his part, Jack was enjoying having Daniel in his arms - perhaps too much, especially since they were at work. He hoped that Daniel wasn't paying any attention to the increasing bulge in his trousers. "I'm glad you're happy about it," he stated, moving his hands to grab Daniel's wrists and then unpeeled the linguist from him. "Now, we have to go visit Janet."

"Okay." But before he could move, Daniel's eyes rolled up into his head and he collapsed.

Jack quickly caught the younger man, shocked at the sudden collapse. He lowered Daniel carefully to the floor and checked his vital signs. Pulse - check, breathing - check, consciousness - not check. Jack rested his hand on Daniel's cheek for a second then went over to the nearby phone to call the infirmary.

Ten minutes later, Daniel was situated on a bed in the infirmary, with SG-1 and General Hammond standing around him. Janet had taken a blood sample and was off busily testing it while everyone else stood guard.

"So no-one saw him touch anything?" Hammond was asking.

"Not a thing," Sam replied for everyone.

"DanielJackson was supervised at all times," Teal'c added.

Janet came back into the room ten minutes later, a manila folder in her hand. "Well, whatever it was has gone. His blood test shows no unusual readings."

"Excuse me?" Jack was disbelieving. "He was definitely high on something."

"Not any more," Janet stated. "I'd guess that whatever was in his system was fast acting, and has dissipated just as rapidly."

"Jack?"

The sound from the bed had them all turning in that direction. "Daniel?" Jack responded. He moved into Daniel's line of vision as the young man opened his eyes.

"What happened?" Daniel blinked several times, trying to orientate himself. He gazed up at the face hovering above him, trying to work out why everyone was concerned.

"Oh nothing," Jack said casually. "You just got high, ran around the base a few times, then collapsed."

Daniel stared at him for a few seconds, then looked at the others surrounding his bed. It seemed he had quite an audience. "Oh."

"You don't remember?" Janet asked, shining a light in his eyes to check for pupil reaction.

"Not a thing."

More questions were asked, with Daniel denying all knowledge of events just prior to returning through the Stargate, and then everyone but Jack and Janet left. The pint-sized doctor gave Daniel instructions to rest for an hour before she came back to make sure the drug had completely gone from his system, and then she left too.

Once they were alone, Jack sat down in the chair next to the bed. "So, you don't remember anything?" he asked, not sure whether he wanted Daniel to remember their kiss or not.

Daniel scrunched up his nose, trying to remember anything at all; it seemed like it was an important question to Jack. "I don't..." He trailed off and then looked at Jack with wide eyes. "Did I...?"

"Kiss me?" Jack said soft enough for no-one else to overhear, guessing that Daniel had just remembered that part. "Yes."

"Oh boy." Daniel blushed and turned his face away from Jack. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be."

What? Daniel turned his head back to look at Jack. "Excuse me?" Had Jack *wanted* to be kissed by him?

"This probably isn't the time or place to be telling you, but I have - feelings - for you, way, way more than I should," Jack confessed. "And I'm hoping that kiss means that you do too. Have feelings for me, I mean." He held his breath, waiting for an answer.

"I do," Daniel admitted. "I never said anything because..."

"I know. Same here." Jack rested his hand on the bed next to Daniel's so that they were touching but it wouldn't look suspicious to the cameras. "Want to discuss this at my place tonight?"

"Definitely." Now that he knew, there would be nothing holding them back.

"Okay then. I'd better get back to work," Jack said as he stood and stuck his hands in his pockets. "I'll see you tonight."

Daniel hid a grin as he watched Jack walk away. His plan had worked beautifully, and no-one was any the wiser, especially the object of his plan. He looked over at Jack, the man who would soon be his lover, and allowed a hint of his grin to show through. There was definitely something to be said for the thrill of the chase - and catching the one you loved.

Next: Ensnared