Chapter Text
Gone. The kid was gone, lost in the infinity of the universe. Hell, technically, it wasn’t even the same universe. Shifu was an ascended being, so wherever he went, it was in a different plane of existence, another dimension of sorts, the infinity beyond the infinity. Daniel doubted… no, didn’t doubt. Actually, he was almost certain that their paths would never cross again. So, the kid was gone, truly gone. The only thing that kept him attached to his late wife was lost for good, and with that thought came the sorrow, then a glimpse of hope that he quickly pushed away, and then the overwhelming guilt for allowing his mind to go there to begin with.
The archaeologist felt he was being watched and turned his head to meet concerned brown eyes: Jack, the reason for his shame. Not only had Shifu shown him the kind of monster he could become, but the kid had also dug out his dirtiest secret and had put it right in front of his nose in full technicolor, so obvious, so clear, that it had smashed any room for denial. He was in love with Jack, he wanted him like he had never wanted anyone, and now that he had no option but to admit it, he felt trapped in a tangle of mixed feelings from which he couldn’t see the way out. Grief, love, fear, shame, longing, hope, guilt, confusion, pain, horror… Unable to cope with everything at once, Daniel turned around sharply and ran away.
“Daniel!”
The archaeologist didn’t even hear Sam or see her attempt to follow him, much less how Jack gripped her arm while his head drew a no.
“But, sir, he’s obviously upset about everything that happened,” she protested. “He needs his friends, his family.”
“Agreed,” the colonel said, “but he needs to cool off first. He just lost what kept him linked to his wife. Give him some time to pull himself together.”
“But, sir…”
“I’ll go check on him in a few minutes to make sure he’s fine, all things considered,” Jack interrupted her.
And at this point, Jack didn’t know what was included in the *all things considered* pack. The kaleidoscope of emotions he had seen reflected in Daniel’s eyes told the colonel that Shifu’s departure was only the tip of the iceberg. The kid said before that he was teaching Daniel through a dream, and something about a battle between the conscious and the subconscious. God, who knew what that little psycho had put his friend through. Suddenly, Jack wished he hadn’t let the kid go before having the chance to interrogate him his way instead of giving the honors to the Tok’ra. Ugh, nothing that involved those snakeheads ever ended up well. Why did he think it might be different this time?
“Yes, sir,” the colonel heard Carter mutter next to him.
With his mind reeling with a thousand questions, the gray-haired man spun around and abandoned the control room as well. He came across General Hammond as the older man arrived, and they agreed to debrief the next morning. Then Jack made a beeline to the mess hall, grabbed a coffee, and sat at a table. A few minutes, fifteen, half an hour tops, and then he’d go to find Daniel and would take him home to share some beers and hopefully, his story. If he couldn’t be more, at least he’d be his friend, the shoulder to lean on.
***
Daniel changed into his civvies without bothering to shower first and left the base like a bat out of hell. The concern he had seen in Jack’s eyes told him the colonel would come after him soon to ask for an explanation, and no way he was ready to face the officer without falling apart. Maybe after a hot shower, an even hotter coffee, and a good night's sleep… Huh, who was he trying to fool? He’d never be ready to face Jack again, not after admitting to himself the extent of his feelings for him. God, what was he going to do? He couldn’t continue being part of SG-1. Hell, he couldn’t even talk to Jack again without panicking before the possibility of giving his feelings away.
Leave.
He had to leave.
Sure he could find some remote dig to get lost in. Or he could return to Abydos. Shifu wasn’t his last connection with Sha’re. There were Kasuf and Skaara, her family, his family. Although… no. Returning there knowing that his heart was now beating for Jack wouldn’t be fair to them. They’d figure it out eventually, and he wouldn’t be able to live with the shame. What to do, dammit? What to do?
By the time the archaeologist reached his car, his heart was pounding so fast that he couldn’t even hear his thoughts.
Breathe. Ok. Breathe. No rush. You can think about it through the night. No rush. No rush.
Daniel swallowed the lump in his throat, took several deep breaths, and started the vehicle.
***
Twenty minutes. That was all Jack could stand before exiting the mess hall and going after his missing friend. First stop, his office: first strike. Daniel was nowhere in sight, and the guards were positive that he hadn’t been there since the morning. Ok, next try, the locker room: strike two. Jack growled. He wasn’t in the mood for games, so he didn’t try a third time. He simply called to the checking point at the entrance of the complex, and the guard in charge confirmed that the archaeologist had left the mountain a while ago. Well, the colonel didn’t feel as at ease in Daniel’s apartment as he felt in his house, but it would do. Maybe even better. Being in his environment might help his friend to open up. So, next stop, downtown.
***
The first stage of Daniel’s plan, aka taking a hot shower, didn’t help the archaeologist to relax one bit. If anything, he felt even edgier than before. Coffee. He needed coffee. Not that it would help to calm his nerves, but the familiar taste was somehow comforting. So, Daniel put on a pair of sweatpants and an old t-shirt and headed to the kitchen, turned on the coffeemaker, and grabbed a mug from the cupboard. And that was the moment the doorbell rang, startling the archaeologist and making him drop the cup, which shattered as it hit the floor.
“Damn.”
The doorbell rang again, and Daniel looked at the mess. Too much to pretend he wasn’t at home. Hopefully, it would be some neighbor asking for sugar or some other stuff.
“Daniel! I know you’re in there! Open the door!”
Or not.
A fist banging on the wood confirmed the identity of the visitor. Shit, he wasn’t ready for that. He would never be ready for that.
“Daniel! Open the damned door or I’ll knock it down!”
The archaeologist sighed in defeat. Jack was capable of that and much more. Well, maybe he could just pretend to be exhausted and get rid of him pronto.
Yeah, and pigs could fly.
Feeling like a sheep walking to the slaughterhouse, Daniel headed to the entrance and opened the door.
“Daniel! Are you alright?! I heard something shatter!”
Jack tried to meet the archaeologist’s gaze, but the younger man had his head bowed and his eyes glued to the floor.
“I, uh... I dropped a cup,” Daniel said with little energy. “It’s not a big deal.”
“Isn’t it?” Jack frowned with worry. “Then why are you shaking?”
That made the archaeologist raise his head and meet Jack’s troubled eyes.
“Wha- what?”
Daniel looked at his hands and frowned. Jack was right; he was trembling hard. Then suddenly, the back of the colonel’s hand was on his cheek, and he heard a gasp.
“Jesus, Daniel. You’re freezing. Let’s go inside. I’ll make coffee.”
“What?” the archaeologist repeated.
Jack grabbed the stunned man by the shoulder near his neck and accompanied him to the living room. He made him sit down on the couch and covered his shaking body with a blanket. Then he went to the kitchen, started the coffeemaker, and cleaned the mess on the floor. The colonel returned to the living room with two mugs and found Daniel sitting in the same position he had left him two minutes ago: back slightly hunched, arms resting on his thighs, hands hanging between his knees, and haunted eyes staring blankly at his bare feet.
“You could have hurt your feet badly, you know?” Jack said in a mixture of worry and relief as he put one mug on the coffee table. “Here. This will help you warm up.”
“Thanks,” the archaeologist whispered absently.
Dammit. How did he end up with Jack sitting next to him on his couch? He should have told him he was fine, just tired but fine, but the moment he saw the colonel, his brain cells short-circuited and could no longer think. And now Jack would question him, and he would notice something was off.
Daniel's thoughts made the archaeologist shake harder. Jack got closer, wrapped his friend with his arm, and pulled him towards him. Oh, shit, shit, the contact felt so good. Daniel swallowed. He had to compose himself or things would only get worse.
“Hey, hey,” Jack said soothingly.
“I’m fine, I’m fine,” Daniel lied.
“Yeah, I can see that,” the colonel replied, his voice full of concern.
Daniel grabbed his mug, and they stayed in silence for a couple of minutes, the archaeologist concentrating on his breathing between sips and Jack concentrating on the younger man. Dammit, Daniel was hurting deeply, and whatever the reason, the colonel promised to himself that he would be there for him as his best friend. Oh, and the fact that he was deeply in love with the younger man and his heart was breaking at his obvious distress might also have something to do with it.
“This isn’t only because Shifu left, is it?” Jack asked softly.
Daniel knew he would never be able to fool the colonel completely, so he might well share part of the truth. The archaeologist took a deep breath and let it out with a sigh.
“No,” he said.
Jack cleared his throat.
“What happened in there?” he asked. “The kid said he was teaching you with a dream.”
“Yeah.” Daniel shot a glance at Jack and quickly looked away.
“Well, what was the dream about?” Jack pushed when he realized the archaeologist wasn’t going to elaborate on his answer further.
“It doesn’t matter.” Daniel shook his head.
“Yeah, that’s what you said before, but we have to debrief Hammond tomorrow morning,” the colonel informed his teammate, “and you know you’ll have to give him more than that.”
Daniel looked at his friend in horror. No way he was going to share the details of the dream. It was too dangerous. It could lead to the end of all things.
“I can’t… I can’t…”
Jack had seen Daniel worried plenty of times, even scared, but what he saw at that moment in his friend’s eyes was like nothing he had seen before. Daniel was terrified. What the heck…? Dread grew and spread in the colonel’s gut.
“Jesus, Daniel, what happened? What did that kid put you through?
Realizing he had said too much with his expression, Daniel put the mug on the coffee table, buried his face into one hand, and shook his head again.
“Daniel, please, tell me,” Jack insisted, “and then we can decide together what to tell Hammond.”
“You wouldn’t lie to him,” the archaeologist said firmly.
“It wouldn’t be the first time,” the colonel pointed out.
Daniel looked at his friend again, and he held his gaze this time. Jack stared back at him. Two hearts swelled with love, completely oblivious to the feelings of their counterparts. The archaeologist blinked as he cleared his thoughts. Jack was right. He had lied to the entire military to protect him after the first mission to Abydos, and some other time under Hammond’s command. The colonel could be rather obtuse sometimes, but he usually ended up doing the right thing, which was one of the main reasons Daniel loved him.
The archaeologist felt his heart swell further and took a deep breath to expand his rib cage. Alright, he better start to speak before his face revealed the rest of it.
“He, uh…” Daniel bowed his head, “he gave me the means to protect Earth against the Goa’uld, and I used them.”
“What?” Jack asked excitedly, ignoring the despondency in his friend’s tone. “What means? Some weapon? What was it?”
“It doesn’t really matter.” Daniel scrunched his face at the memory of what he *did*. “He would never have shown me something that would work for real. It was only part of his lesson, a prop of sorts. What matters is what I did with that power.”
This time, Jack didn’t miss the angst contained in the archaeologist’s last sentence.
“What did you do?” His feeling of dread returned and increased tenfold.
Daniel looked at him again, the terror clouding his eyes even more noticeable than before. The little brightness that was left on them disappeared, and the archaeologist spoke.
“I took over the world.”
Jack blinked as his brain processed the archaeologist’s words. Everything was so wrong in that sentence…
“Yeah, sure,” he snorted.
Pain joined the horror in Daniel’s eyes, and the colonel stiffened.
“You can’t be serious,” the older man said.
But his friend’s expression left no room for interpretation. The archaeologist was deadly serious.
“Daniel, I… I know you,” Jack stammered. “You… you’d never take advantage of any kind of power for your own benefit.”
“Then obviously you don’t know me as much as you think,” Daniel said with misery, “and neither do I.”
Jack shook his head. Daniel was wrong. He knew him. The archaeologist possessed the gentlest soul. Taking over the world? Not in a million years. He needed to know what had happened that made his friend believe he had become a dictator of sorts.
“Tell me,” the colonel asked as he gently squeezed Daniel’s arm.
The archaeologist gulped. Where to start? And how to prevent Jack from hating him if he explained everything to him? The archaeologist squeezed his eyes shut and let out a strangled sob.
“Hey, whatever it is, it was only a dream,” Jack said. “Whatever happened, it wasn’t real.”
“It feels like it was.” Daniel’s voice broke.
“Yeah, well, dreams do that sometimes, right?” the colonel said empathically.
The archaeologist looked at his friend again, his eyes glistening with unshed tears.
“I bet you never had one that lasted for a year.”
“A year?” Jack frowned in confusion. “What are you talking about? You were asleep only for a few hours.”
Daniel shook his head once more.
“Maybe it was only a few hours for you, but it was a year for me. An entire year, Jack. A year in which I did terrible things.”
“Dear God.” The colonel’s eyes opened wide in shock.
“I… I had the knowledge. The Pentagon put me in charge, and I was the one giving the orders,” Daniel explained. “They followed my lead without question. I… God, I turned into a monster. I… I sent Teal’c on a suicide mission,” the first tears fell, “I… I threw Sam in jail. They… they questioned me and I… I hated them. I hated everyone who questioned me, and I only wanted to get rid of them. I… I made the Pentagon build a system to protect Earth, and in the end, I turned it against ourselves. I… I pressed the button, Jack. I killed millions of people to make my point.”
By the time Daniel uttered the last word, the tremors were back, even stronger than before, and thick tears were streaming down his cheeks. Jack made a mental note to kill Shifu if their paths ever crossed again, and he didn’t care that the kid was an immortal bunch of energy.
“My God, Daniel, that was only a dream,” the colonel said with a hint of despair. “You’d never do something like that. Don’t you see? Only talking about it is breaking your heart.”
“It felt so real…”
“In the dream, yes, but do you feel like this for real? Do you hate Teal’c? Do you feel like killing him?”
“God, no!” Daniel looked at Jack in horror.
“Even when he was the one who chose Sha’re to become Amounet? Even when he was the one who killed her?”
“He saved many other women by sacrificing Sha’re,” Daniel said, “and he saved her from a destiny worse than death. Apophis is the only one to blame, the only one who deserves my contempt.”
“And what about Carter?” Jack asked. “Do you hate her when she disagrees with you?”
“Of course not,” the archaeologist denied. “She’s the sister I never had. We don’t see eye to eye sometimes, but I could never hate her.”
“See? That's who you are,” Jack pointed out, “the compassionate soul that always manages to get the best of every situation. Whoever you became in that dream, it was only an illusion. That wasn’t you. You would never do what you said you did.”
“You don’t know that,” Daniel said, refusing to believe in his complete innocence.
“OK, let me ask you something.” The colonel squinted his eyes. “Why do you think Shifu chose you as the subject of his little experiment?”
“I… I was married to his mother,” the archaeologist replied as if that explained everything.
“And? So? Therefore?” Jack raised his eyebrows.
“I, uh…” Daniel looked at his friend in confusion.
“What do you think would have happened if he had put me through that dream? Or Hammond? Or Carter?”
“Huh, you'd have called Washington as soon as you woke up to tell them you had found out a way to defeat the Goa… oh.”
“Exactly!" Jack exclaimed triumphantly.
Daniel sniffled and swept the tears away with his hands.
“I’m sure Shifu chose you because he knew you were the only one smart enough to understand,” the colonel continued. “He chose you because he trusted you. He knew you are the only one among us who would use the information the right way. He didn’t show you what would happen to you if you had that power. He showed you what would happen to anyone else if they had it, anyone who wasn’t you.”
Daniel sniffled again and blinked as his brain processed Jack’s words.
“You didn’t do any of those things, and you never will,” the colonel insisted. “It was only a dream. Nothing was real.”
“But what if something was?” the archaeologist said before he could stop himself. “What if I did something in that dream that I’ve been wanting to do all along? A wish I've kept buried in the deepest of my being? Something that was so obvious in my dream that I couldn’t deny it anymore? If that part was real, who says the rest can’t be, too?”
“What is it, Danny?” Jack was at a loss now. “What’s that thing you want so badly that you couldn’t even admit it to yourself?”
“I… I can’t tell you.” Daniel wrapped his arms around his body in a futile attempt to stop a new round of tremors.
“Hey, it can’t be worse than hating Teal’c and Carter,” Jack frowned.
“Huh.” Daniel let out a sound between a laugh and a sob. “It is. Worse. Much worse.”
Jack saw a new emotion joining the kaleidoscope on Daniel’s face. Shame. The archaeologist looked mortified. And suddenly, the older man realized something.
“Wait. It has to do with me, right?” the colonel ventured.
Daniel’s impersonation of a deer caught in a car's headlights told the gray-haired man he had hit the target. The tremors increased, and the archaeologist closed his eyes as he tried to bury himself into the couch.
“You told me about Teal’c and Carter,” the colonel continued, “but you said nothing about me. I was also there, right?”
“Jack, no, please…”
“What did you do? Did you kill me, too?”
“What? No!” Daniel blurted out, his eyes open wide now, horrified at the idea. “I’d never… I didn’t… God, no…”
The archaeologist’s face contorted in such anguish that Jack’s stomach clenched painfully. What could his friend have done to him to leave him in such a state of misery?
“Daniel…” Jack gasped.
“Jack, please, I need you to go,” the archaeologist implored.
“What? No way,” the older man refused. “I’m not leaving you like this.”
“Please…”
“God, Daniel. What is it? Tell me, please,” Jack asked, anxiety devouring him as well. “It can’t be that bad.”
“It is,” the archaeologist insisted. “You’re gonna hate me.”
“I won’t, I promise. I can’t begin to imagine a reason that could make me hate you.”
“Please, please, I need… I need you to go.”
“No.”
“Please…”
“No.”
“Alright!” Daniel exploded, unable to hold the pressure any longer. “I tried to seduce you, ok?! Everything I did, I did it for you! Nothing made sense if I couldn’t share it with you! You were the first one to question me, but I didn’t despise you like I despised the others. All I wanted from you… I… I wanted you to be proud of me, but in the end, you hated me! You hated me and tried to kill me, and I felt so empty, so… hollow, that at that moment I only wished to die. That… That is when I woke up.”
The tears were back, and this time they came accompanied by strangled sobs.
Jack froze. He blinked and blinked again. Had he heard it alright? Before the colonel had time to process the information, he saw Daniel remove the blanket, stand up, and take one step away.
“You’ll have my resignation letter on your desk first thing in the morning,” the archaeologist said brokenly. God, it was difficult to breathe.
“Wait!” Jack grabbed the younger man’s wrist out of instinct, and his brain continued working with the information.
What if I did something in that dream that I’ve been wanting to do all along? A wish I've kept buried in the deepest of my being?
That’s what Daniel said before, right? Seducing him. That was what the archaeologist really wanted? Daniel… wanted him? Him? Holy… buckets.
“You… you want me?” the colonel asked with a hint of awe.
“Please, Jack. I’ve made a fool of myself enough. Don’t… don’t add salt to the wound, please,” the archaeologist said as he felt his heart break into a thousand pieces. God, what had he done? Why couldn’t he just keep his mouth shut? “I’ll leave and I won’t bother you again. Don’t worry, you won’t have to deal with this.”
“That’s it?” the colonel frowned. “I don’t have anything to say on the matter?”
“I’m not in the mood for your usual sarcasm, so please, Jack, just… let it go.”
“What if I don’t want to?” the older man tightened the grip on the archaeologist’s wrist. “What if I want to deal with it?”
“Why would you?” Daniel was starting to get pissed off now. “To report me? To make Hammond kick me out? There’s no need. I told you. I'm leaving.”
“OK, first of all, you’re a civilian, so there’s nothing to report,” Jack pointed out, “and secondly, when you said you wanted to seduce me, did you mean it as in seduce, have fun and bye-bye baby, or are we talking about the whole nine yards?”
“What difference does it make?” Daniel asked, tormented by the colonel’s insistence on clinging to the subject.
“Well, there’s a big difference,” Jack said firmly. “I’m not into one-night stands, you know? However…”
“However?” the archaeologist frowned, utterly confused. What was the colonel playing at?
“You know, long-term stuff, that’s my thing,” the older man clarified. “So if that’s what you meant, I, uh… I’m in.”
“You what?” The remaining space between Daniel’s eyebrows disappeared altogether.
“Geez, do I have to spell it for you? I want you, too,” Jack threw a hand. “Actually, I, uh… I love you, if you want me to be accurate, so if that’s what you meant… you know.”
The colonel swallowed, suddenly very nervous. Oh, crap. What if he had gotten it wrong? What if Daniel was only looking for a fuck buddy?
“Love…” the archaeologist breathed, his mind in turmoil. “But you… you don’t… you can’t…”
“Says who?”
“Oh, I don’t know, the entire military?”
“Fuck, Danny, you’re killing me here.” Jack ran shaking fingers through his silver strands. “Will you stop dicking around and answer the damned question?”
“What question?”
“Do you, or do you not love me?”
The archaeologist looked at the older man as if he were the most intricate artifact. Dear God. He was serious. He was deadly serious!
“With all my heart and soul,” he finally admitted with a tremulous voice.
Jack grinned. “Glad to know we’re on the same page.”
“I never… I didn’t,” Daniel stammered, “how… when…?”
Jack abandoned the couch, stood in front of the younger man, and gently cupped his cheek.
“Can I kiss you already?”
“We… we can’t,” the archaeologist said, his brain still struggling to process what was happening. “Your career, you… I… God, everything is so confusing.”
“Hey, it’s ok,” Jack said soothingly. “We’ll make it work. I’ll retire if it’s necessary.”
“No,” Daniel refused. “You… you can’t. SG-1 needs you. I’ll… I’ll ask for a transfer to another team. I… God, why is it so difficult to think?”
“Then don’t.” Jack stroked the younger man’s cheek with his thumb. “Just kiss me and go with the flow.”
Daniel wanted to protest, tell the colonel things weren’t so easy, but he got caught in the intensity of those warm chocolate eyes, and he couldn’t move. And then Jack’s lips were on his, giving the archaeologist the most loving kiss he had ever received. However, the surge of passion the act awakened in the younger man was more than his troubled mind could stand at the moment. With a new sob erupting from the deepest of his being, Daniel put his hand on Jack’s chest and pulled away.
“Hey, what’s wrong?” the colonel asked in concern. “I thought you wanted this.”
“I do, but… God, it’s… it’s too much,” the archaeologist said with a cracked whisper, torment in full display in his eyes. “I… God, Jack, scarcely an hour ago, I was in a bunker killing millions of people with a single shot, and you were in front of me, emptying a clip on my defense shield. And the disappointment in your eyes, I… I couldn’t take it. And now you’re here, telling me you love me, asking for a future with me, and I… I don’t even know who I am anymore.”
“Of course you know. That was only a dream,” Jack insisted, feeling the younger man’s pain. “You’re the same man I’ve loved for five years.”
“Five… years?” Daniel looked at the older man in shock.
“Since I laid my eyes on you,” Jack confessed, “although denial isn’t a stranger to me, either. I didn’t admit it to myself until a few months ago, after Chaka… you know.”
That new piece of information became the straw that broke the camel's back. Jack fell for him during the first mission on Abydos? At the same moment he fell for the colonel? They had been loving each other, hiding behind a wall of denial for five years? A huge wave of shame and guilt for not loving Sha’re the way she deserved hit the archaeologist and made his head spin and his stomach churn.
“I… I don’t feel so good,” he croaked.
“Shit, Daniel.”
Jack caught the younger man the moment his legs buckled and helped him to retake his position on the couch.
“I’ll bring you some water,” he said, and dashed towards the kitchen.
The colonel returned with a full glass, and Daniel took a few sips.
“Do you need me to call Janet?” Jack asked, deeply concerned about his friend’s state.
“No, I’ll be alright.” Daniel wrapped his arms around his middle. “It’s just… too many emotions all at once. It’s rather… overwhelming. I mean, I… I love you, Jack, but I need to think about all this. Everything is too fresh in my mind. Meeting Shifu, the dream, now this… we work together, and we need to make decisions that I can’t make at this moment. I need some time to pull myself together. Please, tell me you understand that.”
“You mean some time away from me, to get some perspective,” the colonel observed.
Daniel nodded.
“SG-5 is leaving for P4X-347 in a couple of days,” he said. “The MALP showed an abandoned Goa’uld palace of sorts. Lots of writings, so lots of stuff to translate. It would help me to settle my mind.”
“No way!” Jack exclaimed in alarm. “Do I have to remind you that the last time you left on a mission with another team, you almost ended up being the main course of an Unas banquet?”
“See? That’s the kind of stuff we have to talk about,” Daniel said as he tightened the grip on his stomach. “I won’t be able to do my job if you freak out every time I go on a mission.”
Jack kicked himself mentally for his reaction. There was the owner of his heart, asking for some peace, and the first thing he did was to add more stress to his already troubled mind. Daniel was right. There were important decisions to make. The archaeologist’s confession had come like a shock to him as well, so neither of them was in a condition to talk seriously about their potential relationship.
“Shit, I’m sorry,” the colonel apologized. “You’re right. I’ll talk to Hammond and settle things with him. Just promise me you’ll take extra care, ok?”
“I promise,” Daniel said earnestly. “We can talk when I come back, ok?”
“OK,” Jack agreed. “And don’t worry about the dream, either. You won’t have to explain it again. I’ll take care of everything.”
Daniel stared at the older man’s eyes and saw a genuine will to help ease his mind, and for the first time since his confession, the archaeologist thought they might stand a chance. If only he could get rid of that feeling of wrongness…
“Com’ere,” Jack said as he took the younger man into his arms
As Daniel melted into the embrace of the man he loved, one of his scattered thoughts was that maybe this wasn’t so wrong after all.
“Do you want me to stay overnight?” Jack asked as he pulled away. “I can sleep on the couch.”
“No,” the archaeologist refused softly. “I, uh… I'd rather be alone, but thanks anyway.”
“Anytime.” Jack put a stray lock of Daniel’s hair back in place. “Are you gonna be alright?”
“Yeah, yeah. See you tomorrow at the base.”
Jack grabbed Daniel’s hand and kissed the knuckles.
“See you tomorrow at the base.”
“Bye.”
“Bye.”
And Jack left, half on his heart constricted with worry and the other half swimming in hope. Daniel went to the bedroom and lay on the mattress curled up into a ball. Oh, boy, Jack wanted him, for real. Now the question was, was he worth of such love?
***