All Or Nothing

by Twist

URL: http://www.area52hkh.net/ast/twist/nothing.php
Summary: Time for a change

Jack was sitting on the edge of the balcony, legs swinging idly over the side. Waiting.

Finally, sometime later footsteps rattled on the old battered walkway, causing Jack to turn round and smile.

"Hey Daniel."

Sitting down beside him, Daniel looked down at the Stargate below them. "That's the last of them placed Jack."

Jack shrugged. "Good."

Daniel just sniffed, causing Jack to turn and look at him again. "Sorry. Old habits die hard and all that. So ."

Jack smiled at him. "You do realise ."

Daniel nodded. "Yeah, I know. It's been a while, hasn't it?"

"Too damn long if you ask me, but I had to wait to be sure. Figured he knew that too."

Daniel started to swing his legs in time with Jack's. "Were where you thinking of going?"

"The Land of Light."

"Sunlight. God, if I close my eyes, I can almost still feel what it's like when it touches my skin." He turned to Jack, his expression serious. "The only thing that ever came close to that was you."

Jack leaned forward, his hand reaching out and cupping Daniel's cheek, watching as the archaeologist's eyes closed with a weary satisfaction. Eyes remained closed as he kissed him, lips parting slowly to allow him in, moist delectable heat that he'd missed even for the short while Daniel had been gone.

They parted with a sigh. "I miss this when we're apart. Being able to touch you when I want. Don't think I know how to live without you any more Jack."

Jack turned back to look at the Stargate, his legs once more swinging over the edge, only this time, he was holding Daniel's hand.

"I miss it all Daniel. Everything." He turned to Daniel again, and there were tears in his eyes.

"I miss Sam and Teal'c. I miss the Colorado Mountains in the spring time. I miss feeling the rain on my skin. I miss."

"Everything."

Jack smiled sadly. "Yeah."

"I know. I miss it all too. Especially Sam and Teal'c. I wish he hadn't given up like that."

Jack didn't turn to look at him, but he did squeeze Daniel's hand a little tighter as a gesture of comfort. "I don't know if I could go on without you Danny. And we both saw how much they cared for each other. It.wasn't right one without the other, you know?"

Daniel sighed. "I know. It's just, we were so close back then. Then the accident and it all changed. Sam gone ."

"Sshhh. Don't. They're all gone, we both know that. Everyone we ever knew back on earth is gone. If it wasn't for us, no one would probably remember them."

Daniel reached out and kissed Jack again, drawing both comfort and strength from him. "I know. And it's right that someone should."

He tried to hide the fear in his voice, knowing exactly what the alternative would be if Daniel choose to stay here. "You still coming with me?"

"Try and stop me Jack."

Jack stood, reaching out his hand to Daniel, pulling him up to his feet. "I knew this would happen sooner or later. I guess it just speaks for how much of a family we were that I was able to last as long as I did before I had to get the hell out of this place."

Daniel grinned at that, keeping hold of Jack's hand as they made their way to the Stargate.

"How long do you think we'll last away from here?"

"Dunno. Sam reckoned that with solar power we might never need to come back."

Daniel reached out his hand to the DHD, pressing home the glyphs without a moment's hesitation for the Land of Light. "Then we shouldn't have a problem then, should we?"

"Nope." Jack kept a tight grip on Daniel's hand as the Stargate, inactive for so very long now, finally and spectacularly came back to life. "God! I can't believe I forgot how much I missed seeing that!"

"I know. Come on, let's get the hell out of Dodge Jack. Let's go and live somewhere where the sun is always shining."

They stood in front of the event horizon, and unable to help himself, Jack pulled Daniel back for one final, heart stopping kiss. "I love you so much, you know that?"

Smug grin and Jack just wanted to kiss him again. "I know. I love you too remember."

"We could change our ."

"No! Jack. I'd rather have a day in the sun with you by my side than another 'few hundred years' in a factory under the earth."

"I don't want to watch you die Daniel."

"It might not come to that. You're going through that gate. I know you are. And I'm not leaving you. We've had this conversation already Jack."

Jack nodded, excepting what Daniel was saying. They were done with this place, with this so-called better life Harlon had given them so long ago now. For someone who quite possibly had never seen a green and fertile planet, the man probably never once thought about just how cruel a punishment this was for three humans and a Jaffa.

Squeezing the hand in his once again, Jack and Daniel stepped through the Stargate, the solar power packs Sam had designed a long time ago now fastened tightly to their upper arms.

Seconds after the wormhole had died, a massive explosion tore through the entire underground building, the extra explosives secured to the gate ensuring it's destruction. There was no coming back.

It could have been all or nothing, but they had each other. And whether it was a day or a week, the span of a human life or the hundreds of years of a machine, that was all they had ever really needed.

The End.