"Daniel?" It was Jack O'Neill's most pleading voice and it echoed around the 'gate room even before the event horizon had vanished.

With a set look on his face, Doctor Daniel Jackson was striding firmly down the ramp. He didn't look back or even blink.

Waiting at the base of the ramp, General Hammond grimaced. He recognized that expression only too well. He'd met a really pissed-off Daniel Jackson twice before and knew from bitter experience that when SG-1's anthropologist was mad as hell everyone had an uncomfortable time until he was appeased.

At the moment Jack's attempts to appease him were falling on what was clearly very stony ground.

"Oh come on, Daniel. You're making way too much of this."

"Oh, am I?" Daniel stepped off the ramp and turned to General Hammond with a set look on his face. "General, can you refresh my memory? Is there some kind of official guideline about not smart-mouthing off to the enemy in a way that's likely to get you killed? About not going out of your way to try and get yourself turned into meatloaf apparently on a whim?"

"Daniel…" A protest and plea for forgiveness combined from O'Neill which Daniel studiously ignored.

General Hammond sighed. Having to umpire in an argument between two strong-willed men with very clear ideas of their own, who had a lot of history together and who were also passionately in love was not really his idea of a good time. Resignedly he said, "Did something go wrong on the last mission, Doctor Jackson?"

Daniel was clearly still seething. And frightened, Hammond realized as he looked at him more closely and noticed the pallor and the trembling. He'd had a very nasty scare and clearly hadn't yet got over it. It took all of Hammond's self-control not to pat Daniel gently on the shoulder and say, 'There, there, son,' but he made himself stay remote and apparently oblivious of his distress. Daniel clearly needed to vent right now. It would be O'Neill's job to provide the comfort later.

Wrapping his arms around his chest, Daniel spoke rapidly: "Jack and I were captured by Cronos. You know, the Goa'uld who said if he captured any of us we'd 'suffer greatly'. He wanted Teal'c and he was none too happy about us being on his world, but I was managing to communicate with him okay. I reminded him Sam had saved his life – unfortunately that just made him insist he wanted her as well because of the memories of Jolinar she carries but he did say he was willing to negotiate and I think I'd made some definite progress with him when..." He darted a ferocious glare at O'Neill, who had now strolled down the ramp to join them. "When Jack decided to try and piss him off as much as he possibly could. With the result that Jack got dragged outside to be..." Daniel gripped the edges of his sleeves tightly, clearly attempting to quell the tremor in his voice, "...to be killed, sir. Only Sam and Teal'c turned up in time and used one of those shock grenades to knock everyone out. In the confusion they got us out of there and back to the Stargate without having to kill anyone and without Cronos knowing how it was done. But it was very close. And totally unnecessary."

General Hammond said, "This sounds like such a complicated one I think we'll have the debriefing tomorrow. Seven a.m. sharp. In the meantime, Doctor Jackson, you get yourself to the infirmary and have a check up. I'll send the others along after you."

Giving O'Neill a last glare that contained a fair amount of reproach along with the anger, Daniel headed out of the 'gate room at what could fairly be called a 'stomp'. Everyone in the place breathed a collective sigh as the door closed behind him.

O'Neill raised an eyebrow and flapped his jacket. "Oh boy. Pissy as hell. And we all know how long he can keep that up for."

General Hammond gave him a straight look. "It sounds like you might have given him cause, Colonel. Why didn't you leave the negotiations with Cronos to Doctor Jackson?"

"Because what Doctor Jackson signally failed to notice – " O'Neill began angrily.

Carter cleared her throat, "Uh, sir, do you think this is the best place to have this discussion?"

General Hammond looked at her and, reading her expression, nodded. "You're right, Major. Let's take this to the briefing room."

Once there, Hammond looked at O'Neill and sighed: "Let's have it, Colonel."

"Okay. What Daniel said is true. He and I got captured by Cronos but Carter and Teal'c were on the other side of this ridge of trees and the Jaffa didn't see them. Daniel and I got taken in to see Cronos and Daniel starts making nice with the guy. What he totally fails to notice is that Cronos is clearly just itching to make even nicer with him. I mean the guy was standing three feet from us, sir, and he was ready, willing, and able about ten seconds after those damned Jaffa shoved Daniel on his knees right in front of him. I was kind of right on eye level if you get my drift and there was definitely movement."

"I get you, Colonel."

"Well, Daniel's giving the guy all these reasons why he doesn't want to kill us and Cronos is pretending to listen but it's obvious what he's got in mind. And then the first time Daniel pauses for breath, Cronos suggests he and Daniel go and discuss the negotiations privately. And Daniel agrees! He really thinks this is some kind of diplomatic breakthrough, but it was obvious what that Goa'uld had planned, and I don't think it was anything to do with the goddamned Protected Planets Treaty."

"So you made your contribution to the discussion?" Hammond sighed.

O'Neill shrugged. "Damned right I did. I knew if Cronos took Daniel out of that room I was never going to see him in the same condition again." He turned to look at the Jaffa. "Teal'c, help me out here?"

Teal'c said imperturbably, "Cronos has shown himself willing to listen to diplomatic reasoning in the past."

"But?" O'Neill prompted.

"But he is also well known for his rapacious sexual appetite."

"And?" O'Neill insisted.

Teal'c sighed. "And during his visit to the SGC, Cronos did tell me that he found Daniel Jackson sexually desirable."

"He did?" General Hammond looked scandalized.

"In no uncertain terms."

O'Neill said through gritted teeth, "About two seconds before Nirrti whammied him Cronos told Teal'c he was going to fuck Daniel raw the first chance he got. Teal'c didn't tell us at the time because it would only have complicated matters and he thought I might get...tetchy. But after Cronos had delivered his little farewell warning and headed off Teal'c took me to one side and told me what Cronos had in mind for Daniel if he ever got his stinking hands on him."

Hammond nodded. "I understand, Colonel. Whether Doctor Jackson will understand is an entirely different matter but I suggest you go and talk to him. See if you can't clear things up between you. I want SG-1 ready to head out to P3Y-956 in twenty-four hours, which means you and Doctor Jackson need to be on speaking terms."

"Yes, sir."

Hammond waited until Jack had left the room before turning to look at Teal'c. "Did Cronos say anything else about his plans for Doctor Jackson on his last visit here?"

"A great deal, General Hammond. He was most detailed about his intentions. However as he had jumped to an erroneous conclusion about the relationship between Daniel Jackson and myself I could not be sure if the interest he spoke of was in fact a lie designed only to incur my wrath."

Hammond considered the point. "Tell me what he said, word for word."

Teal'c did so.

Hammond got to his feet, face ashen with anger. "I don't care what the Asgard say, that Goa'uld is never entering this facility again." He looked at Carter then. "Do you think Doctor Jackson will accept Colonel O'Neill's explanation for his behavior?"

She pulled a face. "Um, Daniel doesn't really see himself the way the rest of us see him. He'd be the last person to notice if someone was...well, not to put too fine a point on it, eyeing him up. He and the Colonel have already had a few discussions on that very subject."

General Hammond had vivid memories of passing O'Neill's office as the man was yelling: "Well why the hell do you think Sanderson just invited you over to his place, Daniel?"

"Jack, I already told you, he's having trouble with a translation."

"No, Daniel, that's you. You're having trouble translating a code into basic English that everyone else on the damned facility already understands. When a guy asks you to dinner it isn't because he's having problems with his goddamned cuneiform. Given the fact Sanderson is a muscle-bound piece of shit who has been checking out your cute little butt for months, I don't think you need to be Einstein to work out the way he's hoping this evening is going to go."

"God, Jack, you are so unbelievably paranoid."

"And you are so clueless sometimes it defies belief!"

Hammond winced and recalled himself to the present. "Yes. I can see there might be problems. Let's just hope they can work them out between them."

***

"Oh come on, Daniel." Sitting on the next bed in the infirmary, Jack gave Daniel his most winsome look. "Cut me some slack here."

"Why? So you can make a nice little noose out of it and then put it around your own neck?"

"Did I ever tell you you're beautiful when you're angry?"

"No, and you'd better not because patronizing me when I already want to put a bullet in you really wouldn't be a smart way to go."

Jack winced. Daniel was always snappier than a crocodile when he was in this mood.

"Everything all right, gentlemen?" Janet Fraiser advanced on them, stethoscope around her neck and penlight in her hand. She gave them a quick assessing glance, taking in their rumpled clothing and the bruise on Jack's face. "I see you've been in the wars again."

"Just Jack," Daniel was quick to assure her. "He thought it would be fun to try and piss off as many Jaffa as possible as they were dragging him out to be executed."

She darted an enquiring glance at Jack and he shrugged resignedly. Her tone was calm, "Well, in that case, I'd better start with you, Daniel." As he blinked at her in surprise she said gently, "Watching the Colonel get dragged out to be executed probably wasn't a very enjoyable experience for you. I'll get you something for the shock."

He was about to refute it but was disarmed by the sympathy in her eyes, and, becoming aware of the trembling still thrumming through him, dropped his gaze. "Thank you."

As she went off to get the injection, Daniel rallied and said, "Well at least Janet knows what you acting like that does to me. It's a pity you don't."

Jack sighed in fond exasperation. "Daniel, if Cronos had got you alone he would have raped you. Call me old-fashioned but I didn't want that to happen."

"Oh nonsense. You always think every guy in the galaxy is trying to get me into bed. You're just paranoid."

"No, I'm just not quite as fatally unobservant as some people I could mention. Christ, Daniel, that Goa'uld had a hard-on anyone else would have spotted a mile off."

"Rubbish."

Jack looked at him sideways. "Okay. Do I have hard-on right now?"

Daniel glanced at him in surprise. "No, of course not."

Jack reached across, grabbed Daniel's hand and then placed it over his groin. "Think again."

Daniel snatched his hand away. "Might I ask why you have a hard-on?"

"Probably because I'm sitting here thinking how much I'd really like to fuck some sense into you right now."

"You son-of-a-bitch!" Daniel looked both shocked and outraged.

Jack shook his head in disbelief. "Okay, just answer me this. How many men in your life have found you sexually desirable?"

Daniel blinked then gave him a sideways look. "You."

"Just me?"

"Yes."

"And you're basing that on…what…?"

"You're the only guy who ever...you know…" Daniel looked around awkwardly, obviously worried about being overheard. Despite the fact there was no one within earshot, he still jerked his head descriptively. "Well...you know…"

"So, because I'm the only guy in your life who has actually hit the emergency stop button in the elevator, grabbed you, and then kissed you, before declaring his undying love for you, you reckon I'm the only one who ever wanted to?"

"Yes."

"And the fact I'd been wanting to do that for at least six months before I did it, and might never have done it if I hadn't had three glasses of Dutch courage inside me, that doesn't influence you at all?"

As Daniel frowned in confusion, Jack sighed. "Daniel, I might never have told you how I feel about you but that wouldn't have meant I didn't have those feelings. And you have to trust me on this, there are other guys on this base who have noticed how damned cute you are, and the only reason they haven't told you is because everyone knows I would rip the head off of any guy who so much as looked at you because you're mine, mine, mine."

A smile tugged at Daniel's mouth and although he bent his head to try and hide it, Jack saw it and felt a rush of relief. Every time he and Daniel had an argument he was afraid they'd never get over it, that the thaw would never come. And the world never felt chillier than when Daniel was freezing him out, probably because it was so wonderfully warm when Daniel was happy with him.

Daniel cleared his throat, making an effort to sound casual: "Being a bit of a caveman aren't we, Jack?"

"Do you have any idea what it would do to me if you went off with someone else?"

Daniel gave him a level look. "Do you have any idea what it would do to me if you got yourself killed?"

Jack read it in those haunted blue eyes and winced. He stretched out a hand and touched the side of Daniel's face. "I'm sorry. I really am. It's just I care about you so damned much I sometimes forget you care about me too. It seems so unlikely you would that I find it a little hard to hang onto."

Daniel stared at him. "You're my whole damned world, Jack. If anything happened to you I couldn't go on. Not again. You're...you're..."

Jack hurried over to where Daniel was sitting and made to put his arms around him, but Daniel collected himself and shoved the older man away, saying angrily, "I don't want comfort, damnit. I want some kind of assurance from you you'll never pull a stunt like that again. You nearly got yourself killed. Those guys were two seconds away from blasting you to hell when Teal'c and Sam showed up. How could you do that? How could you do that to me?"

Jack looked at him in exasperation. "Daniel, he was going to take you away and do all kinds of unbelievably sick things to you in the bedroom. Cronos is a bastard mother-fu-" He collected himself. "He's a bad person and if I'd let him take you out of that room, I wouldn't ever have got you back again. That freakin' Goa'uld would have chewed you up and spat you out. I couldn't let him do that."

"Oh I see. So, just to clarify – you're allowed to recklessly risk your own neck whenever the urge comes upon you if you decide my honor is at stake, but I'm just supposed to suck it up when you get yourself sentenced to death because you've never learned to keep your mouth shut?"

Standing in the doorway, General Hammond looked enquiringly at Janet Fraiser who was keeping a tactful distance from the two. "I think they're working it out, General," she said.

"Sounds like they're still yelling at each other to me."

"Well they both had a shock today. I think they need to vent a little."

"Are they in need of treatment?"

She made a wry face. "Not the kind of treatment I can give them, sir. Although he might not agree with me, I think the best possible medicine for Daniel right now would be a few hours alone with Colonel O'Neill."

O'Neill said placatingly, "Danny?"

"Don't call me 'Danny'."

"Daniel?"

It was O'Neill's gentlest, most beguiling murmur of the younger man's name and General Hammond noticed Daniel definitely waver before fighting back.

"Don't call me 'Daniel' either. Don't call me at all, Jack, unless you're calling to tell me you'll never ever start mouthing off to an angry Goa'uld with the power of life and death over you again."

Daniel got to his feet and stomped towards the doorway. The look he gave Janet was a mixture of defiance and pleading. "Can I go home?"

General Hammond answered for her. "If you go home, Doctor Jackson. Doctor Fraiser tells me you're suffering from mild shock so if you don't want to stay in the infirmary under observation you have to give me your word you'll go straight home and get some rest."

Daniel darted O'Neill a glance from under his eyelashes. The man was still sitting on the infirmary bed giving Daniel his best pleading look. Daniel averted his gaze. He looked sulky, mixed-up and vulnerable as a teenager as he muttered a protesting, "Jack'll be there. I gave up my apartment months – "

"Good," Janet Fraiser interrupted him briskly. "I wouldn't want to release Colonel O'Neill unless I knew there was someone around to keep an eye on him, and as you're under medical house arrest until I say differently that makes you his designated carer. I think that works out perfectly for all parties."

Daniel looked even sulkier and there was a definite pout to his lower lip. "I don't see why I have to – "

"Either you stay here or you stay there," Janet told him.

"Why can't you keep Jack in for observation?"

"I'm understaffed."

She met his gaze unflinchingly even when he looked around at the almost empty infirmary in disbelief. "But..."

"But me no buts, Daniel. You can stay here overnight with Colonel O'Neill or you can stay at home overnight with Colonel O'Neill. Your choice."

Muttering a protest Daniel nevertheless sighed resignedly. "Okay. I'll look after him at home then."

"Excellent. I'll call for a driver for you. Why don't you go and wait in the VIP room while I finish my examination of Colonel O'Neill."

As Daniel trudged off sulkily, General Hammond and Janet Fraiser exchanged a smile of satisfaction. "Well done, Doctor," the general murmured.

"Oh, I'd say Cupid had nothing on us, General," she smiled.

***

"Danny, please, if you'd just listen..."

"No, why don't you listen, Jack? Why don't you ever listen to anything I tell you?"

The surroundings had changed but the argument remained stolidly the same. Jack sighed heavily. "Tell me what I have to do to make it up to you and I swear I'll do it."

"No, you won't." Daniel stomped over to the kitchen and put on the coffee with unnecessary violence. "What you'll do is promise to be careful in future but mentally you'll be reserving the right to do as you damned well please. Well I've had it with you acting like this. Life's too damned short to spend this much of it waiting for people you love to get themselves killed." He slammed the jug down onto the hot plate so hard Jack flinched in anticipation of the glass shattering.

Daniel glared at him. "Everyone I've ever cared about has left me or died, Jack, so excuse me for not applauding when you want to go pull some macho crap on a mission."

"Hey, hey." Jack crossed the room. "Look, Daniel, you are getting this all out of proportion. This is just a problem. We can get through this. We just need to talk it over."

"No. We don't need to talk it over. There is nothing to talk about." He opened the fridge, sniffed the milk carton and then slammed it into the sink with unnecessary violence. "This is off."

"Daniel you drink black coffee. You always have done."

"Well I felt like a change."

Jack looked at him. "How much of a change?"

"Well let's just say that ringing Sanderson and asking if he still needs a hand with his cuneiform is looking good to me right now."

"He's a macho prick!" Jack protested, wounded to the core.

Daniel glared at him. "True. But at least he's not a macho prick I'm in love with who is so fucking inconsiderate he still sticks his head on the block every mission out even though he must know damned well it would kill me if anything happened to him."

"Daniel, damnit!" Jack took him by the shoulders and gave him a little shake. "Cronos would have raped you for crying out loud!"

"So what?" Daniel yelled back. "I would have got over it and at least that way you would still have been alive!"

Jack took a deep steadying breath. "I am alive," he said gently. "I'm alive here and now and I'm standing right in front of you, Daniel. Neither one of us died today."

"No thanks to you," Daniel retorted.

"Well no thanks to you either," Jack returned.

"At least I had a plan of sorts. A way of stalling."

Exasperated, Jack said, "Oh, so keeping Cronos's dick warm for him counts as a plan does it?"

Daniel gave him a sideways look. "Well, it always puts you in a good mood, Colonel."

Jack always felt that was a dirty trick of Daniel's. He'd just be getting the upper hand in an argument and Daniel would give him one of those looks from under his eyelashes that lit such a fire in his groin he'd always lose the thread completely. A second ago he'd had all his arguments and counter-arguments set up like salom skiers ready to hit the slope and now all he could think about was how damned beautiful Daniel was, and how close they were to the bedroom. "That's not fair," he protested feebly.

Daniel leant across and put his mouth a tantalizing millimeter away from Jack's. Not permitting their lips to touch even as Jack automatically moved forward, he swayed back out of reach to breathe huskily, "Neither was nearly getting yourself killed in front of me."

"I'm sorry." Jack couldn't wrench his gaze away from that perfect mouth he so wanted to kiss. "I'm truly truly sorry."

"And you'll never do it again?" Daniel pressed.

Jack swallowed hard. That really wasn't a promise he could make and he knew it. Then Daniel ran his tongue across his lips before pulling his t-shirt off over his head and kicking off his shoes. Jack found himself a couple of inches away from a Daniel Jackson who was barefoot and bare-chested and who was lazily moistening his perfect lower lip.

Daniel stepped back and tossed his t-shirt onto the back of a kitchen chair, tracing a finger apparently absently across the flawlessly smooth skin of his chest. "And you'll never do it again?" he prompted.

Jack looked at those huge blue eyes, their expression guarded but the pupils unmistakably dilated with desire, that face whose every contour he had traced a hundred times with fingertips and lips. His gaze dropped to that long white neck he'd bitten into at the moment of orgasm, making Daniel come so explosively in the process they'd both almost fainted with the pleasure of it. Even then he might have been able to resist but the look Daniel gave him was full of such wistful sadness, letting him read the truth of what all those past losses had cost him; what it would do to him to lose the man he needed, relied upon, and loved more than he had ever needed, relied upon, and loved any other human being.

The last hope of resistance went when Daniel said softly, "Please, Jack? Please?"

"I promise. Daniel, I swear to God, I'll never do it again. Not like that. I promise."

Daniel was in his arms before the words were even out of his mouth, hands clamped to his face, kissing him over and over, almost sobbing with need, breathless with longing, tongue burrowing deep into Jack's mouth, hungry, desperate. He jammed Jack back against the wall, kissing him harder and hungrier, whimpering as he did so and only gradually slowing down to breathless but less ravenous kisses.

Jack gently stroked his hair and then ran his hands up and down Daniel's back, distressed by his distress, but understanding it. How could he not, when he was perhaps the only other person on the planet who knew what it was to have found your perfect match and be terrified of losing him?

"I'm not going to leave you and I'm not going to die."

"We're all going to die, Jack."

"Not us." Jack rested his forehead against Daniel's as they took a breathless pause from kissing. "We'll be crabby old Tok'ra together for the next three hundred years."

Daniel pulled a face. "Let's just go the John Donne route."

"What's that?"

"Get buried in the same coffin and have sex after death."

Jack shrugged. "Sounds good to me."

"In the meantime?" Daniel disentangled himself from the man and backed up. He beckoned to Jack as he did so. "How about some sex before death?"

"Best kind." Jack was already pulling his t-shirt off over his head.

They fell onto the bed together, kissing deliriously. There was a definite crackle in the air between them tonight, like a build-up of static electricity – death too barely averted.

Jack couldn't help thinking about Cronos. He'd made Teal'c tell him word for word what the son-of-a-bitch had planned for Daniel and all he could say was that it was damned lucky Teal'c had waited until Cronos was gone before he did so or he would have finished the job Nirrti had started with pleasure. Thinking of how nearly Daniel could have been hurt today made him want to kiss every perfect inch of him and revel in the fact he wasn't even scratched.

He brushed his lips across Daniel's chest, saying, "Mine! Mine! All mine!" like a mad scientist. Daniel started to laugh and Jack pressed his head against his chest to hear the sound better. Daniel's giggles reverberating against his ear, he felt Daniel's fingers furrowing his hair. He loved the way Daniel did that. He spent hours like it sometimes, Daniel examining him like he was an Etruscan vase. He complained about it on occasion, of course, pointing out that he wasn't a Barbary ape and he didn't have fleas, thank you very much, just so Daniel didn't realize how much he loved the way Daniel gazed at him like he wanted to catalogue every grey hair for posterity, but it made him feel pretty damned special all the same. Now he buried his face in Daniel's skin, reveling in the silky warmth of it, and began to kiss his body fiercely and thoroughly. Daniel was ticklish and could be reduced to hysteria if he was nibbled in the right places. And luckily Jack now carried a route map to all Daniel's right places, erogenous and just plain old ticklish, locked in his head.

"Don't. Oh God...don't, Jack! Don't…!"

Daniel definitely never laughed enough. It was one of those things Jack had resolved to change from their first night together. Holding Daniel's arms up above his head he blew a line deliberately from his left nipple to his armpit, then reached across to blow behind his ear. Daniel was trying to curl up in a ball, grimacing and laughing at the same time. Jack twisted round to begin to nibble down his ribs. There was a spot at the base of them that reduced Daniel to hysterical jelly if he could just...

"Don't! No! Don't!"

Ah yes, there it was.

Whenever he reduced Daniel to a boneless squirming mass of hysteria, Jack always wondered if anyone had ever done this for him when he was a child. Had his true parents been too busy unwrapping mummies to ever get down on their hands and knees on the floor and be silly with him? And what about his foster parents? Somehow Jack had never seen them as the tactile type either. He thought there were probably chimpanzee babies in any zoo in the world getting better physical comfort from their troupe than Daniel had from any of the people who had parented him. Daniel was always so surprised by his own body; by the incredible ways you could make it feel if you touched it in the right place. He hadn't known where his ticklish places where and had only seemed to know about half of his erogenous zones until Jack had begun to gently point them out to him. Daniel was a bit like darkest Africa to a Victorian explorer – a place full of infinite and as yet undiscovered possibilities.

"Damnit, Jack!" Daniel finally recovered enough breath to manage a coherent sentence and thumped Jack on the chest in protest. "Don't do that!"

"It's good for you. Sometimes even really clever little anthropologists just need to have fun."

Still panting, Daniel looked up at him, chest rising and falling rapidly. He licked his lips again. "Want to show me a good time, Colonel?"

Jack grinned and bent over him to rub noses. "What'll it cost me?"

"Not a cent." Daniel kissed him tenderly before adding sternly, "But no more tickling."

"Okay."

Jack ran his fingers through Daniel's hair and then began to kiss him again; but if the other kisses had been designed to make him laugh, these had a very different intention. He kissed his eyes, his cheekbone, his ears, his jaw, his neck, and then kissed a trail across his chest, pausing to mouth and nibble each nipple to rock-hard arousal, before kissing each rib in turn, then beginning to kiss a trail down his navel. Daniel let him do it, closing his eyes and sinking into the sensations like someone floating on a life-raft on the open sea. When Jack nibbled and licked the inside of each of his thighs in turn, he gave a little whimper of pleasure and frustration because his cock was now aching for release yet being studiously ignored. Jack continued his kissing trail, all the way down the inside of Daniel's left leg to his instep. Then he kissed another path back up the inside of his right leg. Daniel was now groaning with frustration and had his arm across his eyes. "Jack." his voice was tight with need.

"Something I can for you?" Jack paused in his kissing trail and looked up.

Daniel took the arm from his eyes and just looked at him. "Please?"

Jack regarded him levelly. "It'll cost you."

"I'll return the favor, I swear."

Jack shook his head. "Not good enough."

"I'll give you the best blow-job anyone ever had, then sit on your lap for a week, Jack, please!"

"Still not good enough."

"I'll do anything you like, Jack, I swear, but please..."

Jack caught him by the hips and tugged him gently down the bed so Daniel's aching cock was only an inch from his mouth. "Promise me something."

"Anything!"

"Promise me you'll listen to me next time I tell you some guy wants to have sex with you. Promise me you won't go off with Goa'uld with hard-ons or marines with designs on your virtue who weigh a hundred pounds more than you do. Promise me."

As he met Daniel's eyes, read the understanding in them there of how the fear in this relationship didn't go all one way, Jack realized Daniel wasn't giving him what he wanted because of his desire for a blow-job, he was giving him what he wanted because he'd just grasped how badly Jack needed it.

"I promise," Daniel said softly.

Jack bent his head and engulfed Daniel's cock to the root.

Three minutes later he looked down on the brain-fried remnants of Doctor Daniel Jackson in satisfaction and wiped his mouth. Daniel was just coming down from his orgasm high. That last screamed 'Jack!' still reverberating nicely in both their eardrums. Daniel's eyelids flickered then he opened his eyes and gazed up at him with that usual mixture of love and wonder. That was just one of the loveable things about Daniel – he was always so damned impressed by how hard and how high Jack could make him come.

"Thank you," Daniel said breathlessly.

Jack couldn't conceal a grin. "Any time."

Daniel made to scramble up to return the favor but Jack rested a hand on his hip. "Not like that."

Daniel looked at Jack's erect, oozing cock and stretched out a hand. "Do you want me to...?"

Jack bent over him and kissed him tenderly on the mouth, stroking his hair back from his forehead as he gazed into those blue eyes where all that love lived just for him. They widened in understanding and Daniel kissed him back, lingering over Jack's lower lip and then opening his mouth to suck Jack's tongue inside invitingly. "I know what you need," he said softly, canting up his legs as he did so.

"Sometimes it's the only way I know for sure I've got you back again," Jack began.

Daniel shushed him with a finger across his mouth before kissing him again. "I know. It's okay. It's always okay. I need it as much as you do."

Jack was never sure how true that was. He suspected there might be a lot more days when he needed to bury himself inside Daniel than Daniel needed him to do it. Daniel always acted like this was something he wanted and needed every bit as much as Jack but there were still moments when he was thrusting into him and Daniel's body was jolting from the force of his passion when he wondered if Daniel wouldn't rather help him reach climax another way. He lifted himself up. "Are you sure?"

Daniel wrapped his arms around his neck and pulled him back down for another kiss. "Go for it, Jack. As hard and as deep and as long as you like."

And there was that total trust he always got from Daniel. Daniel had climbed into bed with him without making a single condition from that very first night. There had never been anything he'd wanted to try that Daniel hadn't agreed to at once, without even a second's hesitation. You couldn't buy trust like that. And you sure as hell didn't want to take advantage of it. He knew there must have been some pain the first few times but Daniel had never acknowledged it. Never admitted Jack making love to him was anything other than completely pleasurable and desirable experience. Daniel never said he was too tired. He never said he was still aching from the night before or didn't want to do it that way tonight. He never said Jack was selfish for making the assumption he would always be the one who went underneath. All Daniel had ever said was 'Yes. Yes, I love you; yes, I trust you; yes, do anything you like and I know I'll enjoy it too.

Jack bit his lip. "I am so damned lucky to have you."

Daniel looked at him for a long moment and then nodded, saying deadpan, "Yes. You are. Glad you realize that. Now how about this sex we were supposed to be having?" He squirmed over to retrieve the lube from under the pillow, flashing a very beautiful ass in Jack's face as he did so.

"Oh boy." Jack stroked those tight curves reverently.

Daniel gave him a seductive glance over his shoulder. "See anything you like?"

Jack abruptly flipped him back over, throwing Daniel onto his back so he landed with a breathless thump on the bed, lube still clutched in his right hand, mouth open in surprise. Jack pounced and kissed him. " You are what I like, Daniel. You. Not your cute little butt or even your whole beautiful outside wrapping. I want to make love to you."

"Oh." Daniel dropped his gaze and made a rueful face. "Well that's a shame because I'm only interested in you for your body, Jack. What can I say? I get hot for Air Force Colonels in fingerless gloves...nnnmmph."

He was forced to break off as Jack's tongue in his mouth reproved him soundly for telling lies.

When Daniel responded with vigor and enthusiasm to his reproof, Jack was reminded painfully that his cock had unfinished business with the eager, squirming body currently trying to wrap as many limbs around him as was humanly possible. When Daniel began to rub his groin hard against his, Jack damned near came. "Slow down," he gasped.

"Why don't you speed up?" Daniel counter-proposed, breathless with excitement.

They fumbled passing the lube to each other, Jack's fingers shaking so much that even when he'd snatched it up from the bedcover it still took him three tries to get the top off. Daniel was urging him on: "Hurry up, Jack, hurry up."

"Stop saying 'up'!" Jack protested. He slipped a slicked finger into that wonderfully tight channel and Daniel gasped with pleasure and immediately ground his hips down to meet him.

"Oh yeah," he murmured.

"You're not just being polite, are you, Danny?" Jack frowned. "I mean it really does do something for you when we do it like this?"

Daniel opened his eyes. "No, I'm just being polite. My manners really are this good. So are my acting skills. Oh God. Do that again. Right there, right now. Yes!" He arched his back in unmistakable pleasure, like a jungle cat picking up a particularly good patch of sunshine. When he focused again he said breathlessly, "I'm ready. Do it."

"Not yet."

Jack added a second finger, needing to hang onto his self control for all his worth as Daniel squirmed ecstatically in response and slammed his hips down, impaling himself on Jack's fingers as deep as he could.

"Damnit, Jack, I'm ready now!"

And it was a two-way street, of course. There were reasons why Daniel still trusted him, utterly and without hesitation, and one of the reasons was because he didn't listen to Daniel when Daniel said things like that to him. Gritting his teeth and working to stretch that still tight channel as fast as he could without hurting Daniel, Jack said, "No, you're not."

"Prove it."

It was tempting on a lot of different levels but hurting Daniel even when Daniel was literally asking for it, really wasn't. Jack said conversationally, "You know, patience is a virtue, Doctor Jackson."

Daniel muttered something in frustration that Jack was sure was very naughty. And how could he not adore the contradictory, sulky yet selfless, pouting but innocent, so insecure and yet so loveable Doctor Daniel Jackson? He slipped three fingers into him, still stretching him gently despite the straining hunger in his cock.

"Damnit to hell, Jack!"

Jack grinned. It was such a turn on to feel Daniel writhing against his fingers, trying to will him in deeper, needing more, needing him, literally begging him for it. He looked down at Daniel and saw the need on his face, the urgency. No, Daniel was most definitely not just being polite.

He entered him gently, as always. Teasing Daniel a little because the younger man was so obviously aching to feel every inch inside him going by the way he was muttering, "Do it, Jack. Do it." But they were going to do this his way, gentle, slow and –

"Yes!" Daniel had wrapped his long legs around him like an octopus grabbing his prey and hauled him all the way in.

Jack damned near came right there. Gasping to hold onto the last shreds of his self-control he looked down at that self-satisfied face and held up an admonishing finger. "Bad," he panted.

Daniel looked even more smug. "Feels pretty damned good to me, Jack." He ground his hips down invitingly and gave Jack his most inflammatory under-the-eyelashes-glance. "Are you just going to sit there or...?"

A millisecond later Jack was giving Daniel what he wanted as hard and as deep as he could. They didn't do 'frenzied' very often. Jack liked to keep things gentle and controlled but every now and then Daniel outmaneuvered him and they ended up having a love-making session like this one. As Daniel wrapped his hands around the bed head and urged him on breathlessly Jack reminded himself how much this man was his with the most penetrating thrusts he could, burying himself in Daniel so deeply he knew for those minutes nothing and no one could ever tear them apart.

"Oh yes, Jack! Yes! Yes! Oh God, yes!"

Maybe that magazine article he'd read which said it wasn't much fun for the guy underneath hadn't been so accurate after all? Jack was starting to have serious doubts about how much homework that journalist had done before going to print.

Daniel was lunging and writhing like a rowboat tossed on a stormy sea, hanging onto the bed head with all his might as he slammed his hips back to meet Jack's thrusts, clearly wanting them even deeper, even harder, guiding each one straight across his prostate with a moan of triumph. All Jack was doing was trying to keep up with him; trying to keep the rhythm Daniel was setting, to achieve that perfect unity when...

Yes! Now they had it. Daniel tightening at just the right instant to send the pleasure through him harder and faster; their bodies hitting that pitch-perfect rhythm of his cock scraping ecstatically across Daniel's prostate before the extremity of each thrust sent a lightning bolt of pleasure through both of them. They were onto a different plane now; sensations so incredible they couldn't even be described in colors. Both in tune to the millisecond, pleasure building and building so it would only need Daniel to tighten once more as he...

"Jack!"

"Daniel!"

As he suffered a near whiteout of ecstasy Jack thought deliriously how much he loved it when they both came together. He kissed Daniel breathlessly and Daniel opened his eyes, looking more than a little dazed. He'd probably passed out for a few seconds. He did that sometimes when they got it really really right. The first few times it had scared the hell out of Jack but he was starting to get used to it now. "You okay?" he asked.

Daniel gave him a sweetly shy smile, looking up at him with that post-orgasmic wonder again. "Never better. You?"

"Happy as a pig in clover."

Daniel giggled and Jack felt the sensations thrum through his softening cock, reminding him where it was. He pulled out gently. "Sure you're okay? We got a little carried away there."

Daniel looked at him for a moment then said provocatively, "Wuss."

Jack kissed him hard as punishment. Not a very successful punishment he had to admit as Daniel just looked all dreamy and pleased with himself, stretching luxuriously before gazing up at him slyly. "You're just a big marshmallow at heart, aren't you, Jack?"

Only where you're concerned, Daniel. Probably best not to tell him that. The boy already had way too much power over him. "I'm going to take the fifth on that one." He bent down and kissed Daniel again, wondering if he could ever get enough of the taste of those lips. Then he lay down and patted his chest invitingly.

Daniel was already snuggling up against him, the way Daniel always did after they had sex now. He'd had to teach him that one. The first time Daniel had looked at him uncertainly, like he was waiting for Jack to hand him his shorts and the price of his bus ticket home. Jack had felt one of those fierce protective waves sweep through him and he'd pulled Daniel into his arms, kissing him over and over and telling him how much he loved him, making sure Daniel slept with his head on his chest where he could hear his heartbeat and know he'd still be there in the morning when he woke up.

Now Daniel did it without needing to be shown, resting his head on Jack's chest, smiling contentedly like a cat on a cushion in front of the fire, while Jack gently stroked his hair.

Jack raised his head to get a look at Daniel's expression and it was dreamy and sleepy but utterly relaxed. Happy. He'd made Daniel happy. That was something very few people had ever tried to do and even fewer had ever managed. And Daniel was happy not just because he'd just had some really good sex with the man he loved. He was happy because the man he loved had given him his word he would be more careful from now on. That he accepted responsibility for what it would do to Daniel if anything happened to him.

Jack tightened his grip in Daniel's hair and said, "I promise."

Daniel raised his head and looked up at him, blinking sleepily. "What?"

"I promise I won't get myself killed if there is any way I can avoid it."

Daniel's eyes widened and there was a pause before he said softly, "Thank you."

"And you'll do the same?" Jack urged him.

Daniel nodded. "I promise."

"Okay. Just needed to get that cleared up." Jack put a hand back on his head and gently pushed Daniel down onto his chest, needing that weight there now before he could get off to sleep just like Daniel needed to hear his heart ticking. He felt Daniel's breath warm his nipple tantalizingly as Daniel gave a big soppy sigh of contentment.

And, it was true; he was never going to get himself killed if he could avoid it. He would do anything he could to stay alive now just as once he would have given anything to die. If only because Daniel needed him, and as long as Daniel needed him, Jack O'Neill had everything in the world to live for.

The End