TITLE: Yellowstone
DATE: So long ago I can’t remember but probably circa 2000.
STATUS: Complete
AUTHOR: Circe
EMAIL: lorigrey@aol.com
CATEGORY: Slash
PAIRING: Jack O’Neill/Daniel Jackson
RATING: NC17
DISCLAIMER: Stargate Sg-1 and its characters are the property of Stargate (II) Productions, Showtime/Viacom, MGM/UA, Double Secret Productions, and Gekko Productions.
SPOILERS: Spoilers up to and including S4 of Stargate SG-1.
SEASON: Season 4.
SUMMARY: Daniel is persuaded against his better judgment to go on vacation to Yellowstone National Park, where he finds himself at the mercy of a grizzly bear, a river, and a very masterful Jack O'Neill. [Released from zine Pretense #1]

Yellowstone

By Circe

"What do you mean you've never been to Yellowstone?"

Jack appeared so outraged, Daniel felt as if he must be guilty of making some terrible social gaff. He looked around in embarrassment. "I've just never…been there."

"Why not?"

"I don't know. For the same reason you've never been to Egypt, I suppose."

"That's different. This is your own country, Daniel. This is a famous National Park filled with wolves and bears and – "

"Oh, hold me back." Daniel sat down on the edge of Jack's desk and gazed at the man in exasperation.

Jack looked him up and down in that rather disconcerting way Jack had. Daniel was never too sure what Jack was seeing when he did that but it always made him feel as though he was being weighed and found wanting in some way. "Well, that's settled anyway," Jack announced in his best brooking-no-argument tone. "At least we now know where we're going on vacation."

"'We're going'?" Daniel echoed a little uncertainly. Had he agreed to take his leave with Jack? They'd discussed it, but he didn't remember agreeing to it. Hadn't he just said he'd think about it…? Teal'c had said he was going to spend the week in the Land of Light. Sam had said she was going to visit her brother. Jack had looked at him and said 'So, it's just you and me then.' At the time Daniel had interpreted that as a question he hadn't yet got around to answering, now he realized that as far as Jack was concerned it had been a statement of fact. Apparently he and Jack were spending their leave together.

"Yes. You and me, camping in Yellowstone for a week. It'll be perfect."

"In what sense are you using 'perfect' here?" Daniel demanded.

"You'll love it." Jack reached across and ruffled his hair. "Trust me."

By the time Daniel had pulled his fingers through his hair to comb it back into place and opened his mouth to say 'I won't love it!' Jack was already striding down the corridor towards General Hammond's office. Daniel reached the room just in time to hear Jack announcing to the general that he and Daniel were spending their vacation in Yellowstone. Just the two of them, communing with nature, backpacks, tents, and sleeping bags. It was going to be great. Jack had his shoulders back and his chest puffed out a little as though he was already inhaling that clean Montana air.

General Hammond looked mildly perplexed, perhaps reasoning, rightly, that Daniel would, in fact, rather be in Egypt, or Athens, or Rome, or almost anywhere but there. "This is what Doctor Jackson wants to do with his leave?"

"Daniel's never been to Yellowstone. Can you believe that? You know, he's probably never even been to Mount Rushmore. The next vacation I think I need to take him and Teal'c around as many famous landmarks as we can fit into a fortnight. What do you say, General?"

"I say dismissed, Colonel." The general looked past Jack to where Daniel was standing in the doorway. "I've just heard your vacation plans, Doctor Jackson."

Daniel gave him a sickly grin and shrugged helplessly. He knew from experience that there was no point in going up against Jack when he was in this mood. It was like trying to argue with a landslide. And he hadn't really had anything planned for his vacation. And he'd rather have Jack's company than not. He liked Jack's company as long as the man wasn't being too…larger than life.

"Well, have a good vacation, both of you." General Hammond still looked as though he had serious misgivings and he wasn't the only one.

"Thank you, sir." Daniel had opened his mouth to say a little more but Jack chose that moment to sweep out of the room, collecting him on the way. He barely had a chance to give General Hammond a last nod before he was yanked out of the room and along the corridor. "What’s the rush?" he demanded.

"We're on leave, Daniel. That means every minute we spend in Cheyenne Mountain from now on is in our own time."

Daniel realized he was being tugged towards the elevator. "You want to leave now?"

"Yes. That's one what one does when one has leave, Daniel. That's why it's called 'leave'."

He looked across at Jack in disbelief as they waited for the elevator. The man still had a firm hold on his sleeve but Daniel hoped that if he made it clear he wanted him to let go now, Jack would let go. They couldn't just leave, he had things to finish up, a report to write, all kinds of…He tried to pull free from Jack's grasp but the man just tightened his grip, gave him a much firmer tug back towards him and began to whistle tunelessly, pausing mid verse to say, "No, Daniel. You can't," while Daniel still only had his mouth open to voice his protests.

As the elevator doors opened and he was pulled into it after Jack, Daniel felt like a disobedient puppy who was being lead-trained by someone kind but firm. He hated it when Jack went all…masterful on him. He'd never really found a way to deal with Jack when he was in this mood.

As the elevator doors opened and Daniel followed Jack out into the corridor he managed a muttered: 'Don't want to go camping in Yellowstone…"

Jack didn't even break stride. He just tightened his grip on Daniel's sleeve and said with perfect confidence, "Don't be silly, Daniel, of course you do."

By the time they had traveled up the rest of the way to the surface and Daniel had been bundled into the passenger seat of Jack's jeep, Daniel had resigned himself to the fact that they were going on vacation now, they were going to Yellowstone, they were going to camp under the stars, and he was going to have a good time.

As they drove down the mountain he wondered if there was anything Jack O'Neill couldn't talk him into if he really put his mind to it.

***

Twelve hours later…

Shivering naked under the blanket wrapped around his shoulders in front of a blazing fire, Daniel decided that he hated camping in places that weren't Egypt or off-world. And he especially hated camping in Yellowstone.

The flight out had been okay apart from the fact Jack had fallen asleep on the plane ten minutes after take off and spent the whole flight with his head on Daniel's shoulder. Knowing how hard the man worked on missions, Daniel hadn't liked to wake him up but when Jack had started murmuring things in his ear that suggested he was dreaming about Sara, Daniel had been forced to give him a quick nudge with his elbow and hiss 'Jack…!' in his ear.

The man had woken up crabby and said, 'What?' in annoyance.

Daniel was saved from having to find an answer to that question by the pilot announcing that they were landing. He breathed a hasty sigh of relief. "That," he said, waving a hand at the front of the plane.

That had pretty much been the high point of the day's proceedings. After that things had started to go downhill.

Daniel never liked feeling as though he was just being swept along in Jack's wake. There had been too many missions like that in his early days with SG-1, ones where he'd been so far out of his depth and had so many unanswered questions that he'd had no choice other than to do pretty much what Jack told him. He'd had to wear what he was told to wear, go where he was told to go, carry what he was told to carry, and only every now and then would he be able to see a pattern in what they were doing and so be able to make his own suggestions or take action for himself. Preparing to go camping with Jack had been like a bad flashback to their first half a dozen missions.

Once out of the Airport, he'd been hustled into a jeep Jack had hired, driven to a camping equipment store, and then forced to buy lots of esoteric things he was sure he'd never want again. Everything he'd picked up, Jack had put back and given him something else, usually in a more garish color and at twice the price. Daniel had plenty of experience with tents, and mosquito nets, and sleeping bags, and he didn't see why he couldn't just get the ones he liked the look of, but Jack was still in masterful mode and had imperiously sent Daniel away with a wave of the hand. In the end, Daniel had sat down in the middle of the store while objects were tossed at his feet in a growing sea of orange nylon.

After his gold card had taken a near-terminal pounding, Daniel thought they would then get to buy supplies, but Jack had insisted he'd already got their supplies. Knowing from bitter experience that Jack's idea of essentials and his did not always coincide, Daniel had been unconvinced. So while Jack was inspecting compasses that looked as if they could also take your pulse and give you a sponge bath, Daniel had sneaked into the convenience store next door and bought himself a packet of good coffee and a cache of chocolate bars Then while Jack wasn't looking, he'd hastily shoved his supplies into any gap he could find in his newly-purchased rucksack.

The rucksack, of course, had ended up weighing more than an SG pack, and as they stepped out of the jeep, Daniel realized he was now faced with the prospect of being effectively on a mission with Jack with no Teal'c and Sam to dilute the full force of Jack's personality. Other than that they were still in North America instead of on the other side of the known galaxy, Daniel certainly couldn't see any other difference between being on a mission with Jack and being on vacation with Jack. Both involved him having to stumble in the man's wake over uneven terrain carrying a heavy pack and getting hot, sweaty, and hungry while Jack strode along at twice normal speed commenting on the number of trees there were in the universe.

They had broken for lunch in a clearing in which Daniel had gratefully dumped his pack while he went off to obey a call of nature that had nothing to do with wolves howling. Jack had headed off in the opposite direction presumably for the same purpose. For a reason he couldn't fathom, Daniel had been overcome by a sudden inability to pee against a tree and been forced to lay his head against the bark for a few minutes and think tinkling streams and waterfalls torrenting until he could make any progress.

He was also trying to think of a way to change the balance of power in his and Jack's relationship. Having been a little hurt by the way the man had taken to shutting him out, Daniel had started taking refuge in sarcasm and waspish one-liners which had made Jack bad tempered but also stopped him from walking all over him. However, the last few times Daniel had tried it, Jack had stopped him by doing something unexpected and usually…intimate. He'd pushed Daniel's glasses back on his nose in the elevator in front of Jacob and Sam, and although Daniel knew he was making much too big a deal of it he'd felt as embarrassed and put in his place as if the man had reached out and copped a feel. That had slowed him up for a few days and then the next time he and Jack had had a disagreement in the briefing room, Jack had come into his office straight after the briefing, put a hand behind Daniel's head, gazed into his eyes and said, "Daniel, ever disagree with me in front of General Hammond again, and I'll kiss you. In public."

Daniel had gaped at him in astonishment and only managed a feeble, "Wh-What…?"

Jack hadn't even blinked, gaze stern and unreadable. "Probably with tongue if you're being really annoying."

"You – you can't," Daniel had protested.

The result had been inevitable but at the time Daniel certainly hadn't seen it coming. Thirty seconds later, he was left gasping and open-mouthed in astonishment, the memory of Jack's dry lips bruising his apparently burned into his brain, while Jack strode out of the room as if he did that every day. Jack had kissed him with the kind of confidence that came from practice – had seemed to know exactly how to kiss Daniel so as to make his knees go weak. That was when it had occurred to Daniel that Jack might have done…stuff to him when they were all looping. The thought had thrown him so completely for his own little loop that he'd barely managed a waspish put down since. He'd opened his mouth in the next mission briefing after Jack had made some crass comment about the Tok'ra, seen that steely glint back in Jack's brown eyes, and closed his mouth again with an audible clicking of teeth.

He'd spent two weeks being jumpy as a cat on hot bricks, then when Jack hadn't followed up with any more…weird stuff, had started to relax again. Jack had just been putting him in his place, he realized. Jack couldn't match him for intellect so he was playing dirty and bullying him into submission. When he'd thought about it, Daniel realized that of course it was an idle threat. Jack would never kiss him in front of the others. General Hammond would reprimand him and Teal'c would probably deck him, and if Teal'c didn't, Sam would. It would be considered sexual harassment and Jack would never do it. Daniel was safe.

But the look in Jack's eyes definitely hadn't said 'safe'. That look had definitely said 'Watch out'. Daniel was too good an anthropologist not to be good at reading those kind of signs but he realized he had to stop thinking of Jack as someone who had power over him or they were going to slip back into the bad old ways of Jack treating him like he was ten years old and Daniel putting up with it.

As he had marched back to that clearing, Daniel was mentally lecturing himself on the ways he was not going to let Jack walk all over him this vacation.

That was when he saw the bear. His first, he realized as he stared at in stupefaction. He knew a lot about bears. He was probably the only person in SG-1 who knew that it was the now-extinct Caledonian bears that had been favored by the Romans for putting in their arenas. He knew that bears had been worshipped by many of the fishing and hunting tribes of the past, that the Finno-Ugric people considered the bear to carry the spirit of their forefathers. He knew even the word 'bear', like the word 'wolf', (and the word 'elf') had been a taboo in many Indo-European languages because bears were believed to have magical powers and so could be summoned by use of their name. He knew the tale of Arcus and Callisto, of Morozko, and the story of the spirit-bear. He'd just never realized they got so…big. He'd seen footage of them in National Geographic programs, of course. They were brown and furry and caught salmon in their surprisingly dexterous paws. But he'd never really got the way a grizzly bear's claws looked as if they were made of steel or that its teeth were so enormous, or that when it opened its jaws like that it was possible to see how a man's head would fit right inside its mouth with no difficulty whatsoever. And, of course, the scent of its wet fur – almost overpowering over such a short distance – had never really been conveyed by those nature programs at all.

This bear was ripping into Daniel's pack with gusto. It had already torn off his tent, which had been in a roll attached to the top of the pack, and it was now shredded across the clearing like the silk of a parachute that had snagged in a thorn tree. The bear was currently engaged in eating his sleeping bag.

Daniel was too shocked to move in any direction. He was vaguely aware that he should probably be doing something, either telling the bear to stop eating his belongings or else running away quickly before it started eating him, but his legs had decided he needed to stay rooted to the spot, so that was what he was doing.

His pajamas looked absurd in a bear's jaws; he'd packed the ones with little blue question marks on them – ones Jack had bought him for Christmas as he remembered – and it looked as if the bear was taking revenge on Jack's behalf for all the annoying questions Daniel had asked over the years; munching its way through curiosity while shredding it with those terrifying claws.

Daniel stood and watched the grizzly eat his underwear, rip the last of the stuffing out of his sleeping bag and then wipe its face on his shirt. Then it turned its enormous head and looked straight at him.

"Oh boy…" Daniel automatically took a step back and wondered what the hell you did about an animal that was stronger than you, bigger than you, faster than you, and could climb trees, oh yes, and swim. Get eaten, seemed to be the only possible answer to that question.

As it lumbered towards him a shot rang out. A sound the bear clearly recognized, as it swung away and thundered into the undergrowth while Daniel was still waiting for it to rip out his throat.

When he opened his eyes, he saw Jack walking towards him across the clearing, the rifle in his hand still pointing skywards from when he'd fired that warning shot. Through the pounding of his heart, Daniel wondered if anyone had ever pointed out to Jack how damned phallic all those guns looked which the man was always carrying.

Jack turned over the shredded remains of Daniel's pajamas with his toe and said, "And this is why I told you not to put any food in your pack."

"I didn't." Daniel edged cautiously into the clearing.

Jack held up a chocolate wrapper in wordless accusation.

Daniel winced. "Oh, except for that."

"You didn't happen to notice the signs all over the park warning campers about leaving food uncovered where it might attract the bears?"

"Sort of." Daniel ran a hand through his hair and looked at Jack sideways. "It was in silver paper, didn't that count?"

Jack indicated the wreckage all round the clearing. "Evidently not."

Daniel looked around the shredded remains of his belongings and wondered if they could go home now. He'd spent over a thousand dollars to give a bear a not-very-nutritious lunch and was now without a tent, a sleeping bag, his pajamas, or his underwear. Or his chocolate.

"It must have melted all over your damned clothes anyway, or else the bear wouldn't have eaten them." Jack picked up a ripped sleeve and glared at Daniel, then strode across the clearing to invade his personal space with a vengeance as he waved the Suchard-stained cotton at him accusingly. "Damnit, Daniel! If you'd been in your chocolate-flavored sleeping bag, wearing your chocolate-flavored pajamas tonight, the damned bear would have eaten you. When are you going to start listening to what I tell you?"

"When you say something interesting?" Daniel countered.

"That does it." Jack threw aside the pajama sleeve, grabbed Daniel and swung him down. Then he kissed him. Hard. Setting Daniel back on his feet, Jack said sternly, "Let that be a lesson to you. From now on, you do as you're told."

Daniel gaped at him in astonishment. "You can't just – "

Jack held up a warning finger. "I think you'll find I just did."

"But – "

"No buts." Jack looked around the clearing. "Get this stuff picked up. We'll take it with us and burn it tonight."

Daniel picked up an aluminum tent pole which showed the clear indentations of bear teethmarks. "You don't think it's worth trying to get a refund then?"

The glare Jack gave him made Daniel decide that discretion was the better part of valor and smartass comments were probably best left unsaid for the moment.

It had taken him an hour to collect up the remnants of possessions the bear had ruined in ten minutes. He had to borrow some tape from Jack to do running repairs on his pack and then stuff in the remains of his belongings. Nearly all of them had been smeared with both bear drool and melted chocolate, each new proof of Daniel's 'disobedience' meeting with another glare from Jack. If the man had said 'Do you know how damned close you came to getting killed?' once he'd said it a dozen times.

Realizing that he was in the wrong wouldn't necessarily have stopped Daniel from saying something withering in return, but that burn was in Jack's eyes again, the one that said 'safe' was not an option. Not for the first time Daniel realized how nice it was to have Sam and Teal'c along on missions. Quite apart from the fact they were good company, they also ensured that however annoyed Jack got with him, he couldn't just kiss him for punishment.

It wasn't as if he hated being kissed by Jack, but he didn't like the way it…jangled him so much, didn't like the way Jack just dragged him in against that tall, lanky, muscular body and made him realize how hard, masculine, and unpredictable Jack was. He liked to think of Jack as someone comforting and safe, someone who would protect him, someone who needed him. This Jack felt unreachable and unknowable. This was a Jack who seemed capable of anything. Daniel had no idea where he was with this man and he had marooned himself in the wilderness with him. He also didn't like the way he found himself thinking about those kisses so much afterwards. Jack had made it clear they were a punishment; the equivalent of a tap on the nose for a naughty dog; a sort of 'see, all you're fit for' in an easily translatable form. These were kisses which disempowered Daniel and empowered Jack. It was just a typical masculine response to someone who was cleverer but less physically strong than he was…but also to someone he found attractive.

That was the other point, of course, Daniel thought as he stumbled after a still fuming Jack O'Neill with his now stuck-together-with-duct-tape pack digging uncomfortably into his shoulders on its shredded straps. Men kissed women to shut them up because they wanted to kiss them anyway and it provided a good excuse. It was a put down which worked and made the guy feel good about himself, but which also turned him on. Jack could have smacked him around the back of the head, after all. That would have made Daniel take in what he was saying and would have inhibited him from coming back with a snappy one-liner. Daniel didn't like being smacked around the back of the head, after all. But no, that would have been too obviously the action of a bully. This was in the gray area of not quite being intimidation. It was silly, after all. They were both guys so it was a joke, Jack kissing him, but a joke which was definitely on Daniel. Daniel wondered if he could disconcert Jack right back. Perhaps the next time Jack kissed him, he should accuse him of enjoying it. Or he should tell Jack that Daniel was enjoying himself.

He darted a look at the older man. Jack was still striding effortlessly along the path, long legs covering a yard with every stride. He opened his mouth to say, 'Have you ever considered the point that I might like you kissing me?' but one look at that chiseled profile told him to hold his breath. He wasn't sure why he thought it, but he had a sneaking suspicion there was quite a libido smoldering under Jack's handsome gray-haired surface; one that had been sizzling for a while through a long enforced celibacy but which might be about to blow like Old Faithful. Perhaps it wouldn't be a good idea to start lighting any fires he didn't know how to put out, especially as glancing around their surroundings, Daniel remembered that Yellowstone was the home of Old Faithful.

After Hadante, Teal'c had taken Daniel to one side and given him a quiet talking to about the dangers of being someone who fell into a sexually indeterminate classification either through youth or unusual…attractiveness. Teal'c had told him that there were some men whom other men found attractive even when they generally confined their interest to women. They were drawn to them despite themselves. There was no shame in finding them desirable in the way there might be with other men because they had something about them which most men could instantly recognize as being desirable. Some men might react to this 'something' with hostility, others might just feel a need to get to know them better, others would realize it was sexual attraction and might act upon it accordingly. Teal'c had told him gravely that Daniel definitely fell into this – unusually desirable – category and for that reason should be careful in certain situations.

He hadn't necessarily believed it, but he had come to realize that Jack and Teal'c certainly believed it. They could hardly have been more protective of him and his 'virtue' if they'd been working for an exam on the subject. But the more he thought about it, the more he realized that Jack and Teal'c were not guys who dealt with abstract concepts. They had both come to the conclusion that there was something about Daniel which made him attractive to men who didn't usually find other men attractive, and attractive with enough power that those men wouldn't necessarily ask his permission before acting on the twitching he was eliciting from their groins. He'd always thought of that as an…intellectual decision on their parts. As though they'd examined him with rigorous objectivity, compared his physical appearance against some checklist of which Daniel was unaware but to which they had access, and decided that his marks out of ten on some imaginary scale made the needle move into the danger zone where he was concerned.

For the first time it occurred to him how unlike both Jack and Teal'c that would be. The conversation was much more likely to have gone along the lines of:

"Is it me, or is there something about Daniel which might get him…you know…?"

"If you are referring to his physical desirability, O'Neill, then no, it is not 'just you'."

"Because I really don't generally notice the way guys look but I have to say that with Dannyboy…"

"I have had precisely the same reaction to Daniel Jackson myself, O'Neill."

"Damn. That could be a problem. Not from us, obviously, but from other guys. So, who's going to tell him the good news. You or me…?"

That was a conversation he could imagine Jack and Teal'c having without too much difficulty. It also made lot more sense of their over-protectiveness. Jack and Teal'c always acted like every marine on base, not to mention every woman they met through the Stargate, was aching to get into Daniel's boxer shorts. He wondered if Jack and Teal'c had ever had…thoughts about him which they hadn't just pushed away. He was pretty certain Teal'c was too honorable to fantasize about him but he wasn't so sure about Jack. After they'd come back from having those mind patches they'd all told each other a lot more about their dreams and memories…except for Jack. Jack had been very cagey indeed about sharing his dreams and when Daniel had half-jokingly asked if they were about Sam, Jack had looked genuinely surprised. "God, no," he'd said. Then after a pause he'd added, "I think the guy whose memory I had and the woman whose memory Carter had were a couple or something because I had very…comfortable feelings about her."

"You didn't have comfortable feelings about me?" Daniel had been a little surprised by how hurt he'd been, but he'd had dream after dream about Jack in that place and it seemed so unfair that he hadn't even featured once in the other man's subconscious.

"Comfortable?" Jack had given a short laugh. "Oh, I definitely wouldn't have said the feelings I had about you were 'comfortable', Daniel. More like downright disconcerting."

The look on Jack's face had been so odd, Daniel hadn't quite liked to ask any more questions.

He'd been so busy thinking about the look on Jack's face when they'd had that conversation that Daniel had missed his footing, tumbled down a bank and ended up in a river which seemed to have its source in Siberia.

With no clothes to change into, he'd been forced to put up with being hauled out of the water by Jack, scolded by Jack, anxiously examined by Jack, then dragged after Jack along more ankle twisting paths until they found a place Jack deemed suitable for them to make camp for the night. Then he'd been told to take his clothes off, right now, Daniel. He'd been embarrassed about stripping off in front of Jack and in the end had made his embarrassment worse by saying 'Turn around.' Jack had looked at him in disbelief and then slowly done so, but had stood there shaking his head while Daniel struggled out of his wringing wet clothes.

Then he'd been given a blanket to wrap himself in while Jack was annoyingly efficient about making a fire and setting up their remaining tent.

After half an hour of shivering and feeling sorry for himself, Daniel had been given a cup of coffee and a ruffle of his hair. They'd helped a little but he was still of the opinion that camping sucked. And he was feeling a weird mixture of trepidation and excitement about the realization that they had only one sleeping bag and as he had no clothes whatsoever he was going to be sleeping in it, naked, with a rather unpredictable Jack O'Neill.

***

Jack picked up the whiskey bottle for the third time and then put it down again, still untasted. The amber liquid looked very beguiling in the light from the campfire, but he needed to be drunk right now the way a gunpowder factory needed a lighted match. The trouble was every time he thought about the day's events he felt the need to make his brain a little blurrier, and every time he thought about the night that lay ahead of him, he felt the need to be unconscious as fast as possible.

Wasn't there a proverb out there about being careful what you asked for because you might just get it? He'd got everything he'd ever fantasized about, however unlikely it might be, with almost alarming ease and now he was scared to death of where it might lead him.

But he could hardly complain about things not going to plan. He was still amazed Daniel had consented to come on vacation with him. No, correction, backtrack, honesty check. He'd bulldozed Daniel into agreeing to come on vacation with him, by going Alpha Male to a point dangerously close to Macho Prick. Basically, he'd grabbed Daniel and hauled him after him, both literally and figuratively, and because despite being a multiple PhD, Daniel was still a bit slow in the standing-up-to-Jack stakes he'd got away with it.

On the plane he'd had a dream about Daniel that had been so unbelievably hot he was amazed he hadn't turned into a puddle of grease. It was pure luck he hadn't said anything out loud because moaning 'Oh yes, Dannyboy…!' in Daniel's ear would probably have tipped off even Daniel that his CO's feelings for him were no longer exactly platonic. Then in the camping supplies store he'd seen three guys in checked shirts looking in their direction and immediately decided that they wanted Daniel, had designs on Daniel, were going to try to kidnap Daniel and do him right there in the back of their pick-up truck, the fuckin' redneck bastards. He'd been a hair away from striding over there and demanding to know what they were looking at when he'd realized the thing so absorbing their attention and making their pupils dilate with excitement was not his teammate but the all-singing all-dancing tent on the display behind Daniel. They hadn't even registered Daniel's existence. Suggesting the guys needed an eyesight test, if you asked him, but all the same…He had come dangerously close to horribly embarrassing himself and Daniel in public for no reason at all.

Well – one reason – the fact that Daniel was an unsecured prize. Daniel was also single, a widower, quite possibly up for it. The more time that passed since Sha're's death, the more likely it was that Daniel would be willing to get his feet wet in a relationship again. And his CO, best friend, and teammate was like a cat on hot bricks waiting to see who was going to lure Daniel away first. This was what was so agonizing. He had a ringside seat. When it happened he was going to have to watch it. He was probably going to have to hear about it as well. And the only way to stop it was to…

There was no way to stop it; that was the problem; not unless he was willing to take the massive gamble involved in offering himself to Daniel and living with the consequences when Daniel turned him down. He had rehearsed it in his head: a few beers, a few jokes, edge the conversation that way, a light-hearted 'Don't suppose you'd like to give me a try, would you?' Another joke ready to hand to hide his disappointment when Daniel said 'Not quite that desperate yet, Jack, but I'll let you know when I am.'

Because – God, but Daniel was a pissy little son-of-a-bitch these days, positively waspish at times. Jack recognized the signs. Daniel was getting the way powerless people got; the ones who didn't have the option of hitting you with fists so used words instead. When you'd driven them to the limit, hurt their feelings so much they started wanting to hurt yours back again. He wasn't sure when it had started exactly, but Daniel had been like this for months now. Except when the chips were down, of course. He knew that Daniel cared for him deeply, would crawl on his hands and knees across broken glass to try to save him if he could, but Daniel would do that for Teal'c and Carter too. He'd proven over that business with the Enkarans that he'd go to the limit even for a bunch of freeze-dried aliens if he happened to think it was the right thing to do.

He would love to think that Daniel's pissyness with him had stemmed from the Carter business. It had seemed to start around then, but Jack couldn't be sure. He'd got very upset about having to leave Carter behind to die and managed to convince himself this was more than loving friendship and physical attraction. Yes, against the regulations it might be, but it would at least prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that all he wanted from Daniel was friendship. He might have thought he'd had some different kinds of stirrings when in Daniel's company in the past, but if he had a thing for Carter that clearly couldn't be the case. Yeah, right. Even Carter hadn't been very convinced. And those tricky little facts had kept disputing matters. Like him kissing Carter once in that time loop and kissing Daniel…well, a lot more than once. Just a joke, right? Just a game. Then the way he'd felt when Daniel had been taken by the Unas. Trying to breathe around the pain of knowing Daniel was the prisoner of a monster like that. Trying to exist around the gaping abyss inside of him as he contemplated a future with a Daniel-shaped hole in it. The mind-patches had pretty much finished things. He'd had all those comfortable feelings about Carter and all those extremely uncomfortable feelings about Daniel. The kind that made his groin ache in ways that just couldn't be explained by that convenient tag of 'mutual affection'. Mutual affection didn't give you wet dreams night after night; but that was what he'd been having recently.

The only bright spot had been after the business with the death glider: the memory of Daniel giving Teal'c the most perfunctory examination before haring straight to his side. Daniel crouching there gazing at him like every cell in his body was focused on making sure that Jack O'Neill was alive and well. He'd been so glad to see Daniel's face. He was afraid he'd given himself away in that instant. He'd come so close to dying it hadn't seemed to matter if Daniel found out Jack O'Neill had all these feelings for him, so he'd let it shine out of his face and voice, taken Daniel's hand and told himself that he'd tell him everything later. Say, 'Sorry, Daniel, but I'm afraid I've fallen in love with you. How do you feel about that?' Then of course, when later had come around, he'd thought of all he had to lose by speaking out and bottled it. Again.

Jack gazed across the campfire at the object of his thoughts. Daniel was shivering resentfully in his blanket. He looked cold, wet and tired, and clearly hated this vacation with a passion. Hardly surprising given the day he'd had. Jack had bullied him, forced him to spend lots of money, yelled at him, then yelled at him some more. Oh yes, and kissed him without so much as a by-your-leave. No wonder Daniel was looking as if he'd like to be anywhere but here.

Jack knew he'd handled things badly but he had to find a way to keep Daniel at arm's length at the moment. Daniel responded much too well to kindly treatment. If Jack was considerate to him, said nice things to him, touched him gently, patted his arm, like in the old days, Daniel would respond, be all sweet and trusting and there was no way in hell Jack would be able to resist…. Damn, serious groin spasms just thinking about it. If he shut Daniel out, slapped him down, pushed him away, Daniel would be waspish and pissy and keep the hell away from him. He didn't know if he'd kissed him to try to find out if Daniel liked it, to give him some kind of oblique warning about the way his friend's thoughts were now wandering, or just because the temptation to press his lips against those soft warm ones was too great for him to resist. But all he seemed to have done was confuse Daniel and make him jittery.

Then fate had thought it would be really funny to first make sure he and Daniel had to share a tent, then insist they would have to share a sleeping bag, and oh yes, for extra belly laughs, Daniel would have to be naked at the time.

As a test designed to try his self-control to the limit it was admirable. Put a shivering naked Daniel into his sleeping bag and see how long this Air Force officer could be a credit to his training. About thirty seconds, was Jack's personal estimate.

Jack groaned inwardly. He was going to screw up on a scale that defied all measuring tonight and he knew it. He'd been jerking off to thoughts of Daniel for the past two months and he'd had so many erection-dousing cold showers on base his cock now automatically cringed at the sound of running water.

He looked across at Daniel again and saw the man send a confused and slightly reproachful glance in his direction. "You okay?" Jack asked at once.

Daniel said, "Haven't you got any clothes I can borrow?"

Jack almost hit himself on the forehead. Of course! Daniel didn't need to be naked. Daniel could borrow a pair of shorts and a t-shirt from him. Admittedly a spacesuit or a nice set of chainmail would probably be better for extra safety, but a cotton-polyester mix would cut it. "No problem, Daniel." Jack went and fetched his pack, strolled over to where Daniel was sitting as casually as he could and opened the pack. "I'm sure I can lend you some – "

Jack stared at his pack in disbelief. He had foot powder, MREs, a first aid kit, bug spray, sunblock, the latest John Grisham, coffee, a can opener, some plastic bags, field glasses, a notebook with a pencil attached to it by a string, cough drops, a penknife, a compass, a water bottle…oh, heaps of interesting and useful things, but no clothes, not even a spare pair of socks. He must have left them in the jeep. Talk about a Freudian slip….

"Oh crap." He didn't want to turn and see the mistrust in Daniel's blue eyes. Who wouldn't be suspicious under the circumstances? Sorry, Dannyboy, a guy who has never in his life before left home without a spare set of underwear has very conveniently lost all his clothes just when yours happen to be sopping wet and you're going to have to share a sleeping bag with him… Of course Daniel wouldn't suspect some kind of subterfuge, I mean why would he?

Wordlessly, Jack held out the pack. He watched Daniel root through it with dawning comprehension before staring up at him in disbelief. "You forgot your clothes?"

"I didn't exactly forget them. I just didn't transfer them from my suitcase to my pack."

Daniel moistened his lips. "And this means…what?"

"That as soon as we get back to the jeep we can both change into a dry set of clothes." Jack tried to sound as though as contingency plans went this was really quite a good one.

Daniel darted a glance at his dripping clothes which Jack was attempting to dry in front of the campfire. "And tonight?"

Jack forced a smile. "Hey, we came out here to commune with nature, didn't we?"

"We have to share a sleeping bag naked?"

Daniel wasn't exactly taking this in his stride, Jack couldn't help noticing. He decided to go on the offensive. "So? We've done it before."

"No, we haven't."

"All the missions we've been on we're bound to have done."

"No, we haven't." Daniel had his stubborn face on. "I would have remembered."

"Well, it'll be a first then."

Daniel darted him another reproachful look and Jack help up his hands. "Look, I didn't forget my clothes on purpose." Maybe I did. Maybe my subconscious was planning this all along. "And I wasn't the one who got everything he owned covered in chocolate then eaten by a bear."

"Promise me you won't tell anyone."

Jack felt more than a little put out. Oh fine, so Daniel couldn't bear the thought of anyone on the base knowing he'd had to sleep with crabby old Jack O'Neill, eh? Too shaming was it? Too terrible a thing to have to live down?

"Damn, and there was me going to have it put onto a t-shirt as soon as we got back to Colorado."

"I'm serious, Jack," Daniel protested. "You don't know what it's like to –"

As Daniel broke off, Jack frowned. "What?"

"I'm tired of being made fun of, that's all."

Jack sat down next to him. "Who makes fun of you?"

Daniel looked at the floor, rubbing his bare toes into the earth. "I get scared when things happen to you. It never occurred to me to try to hide it. I didn't know it was something I was supposed to be…ashamed of."

"It isn't." Jack put a hand on his shoulder. "What's this about?"

"When you were on Edora I missed you."

"I missed you too." Jack couldn't stop the ache in his voice as he remembered the misery of missing Daniel. Missing everything and everyone else as well, but missing Daniel so much it hurt like a physical wound. He'd talked about him to Laira so much she'd started to look at him oddly. That was when they'd started spending the evenings in awkward silence instead.

Daniel was drawing the symbol for earth with his big toe in the dirt. "Yes, but I missed you so much I went and got your BDU out of the laundry before it was washed. I hung it up in my locker and I tried to breathe in the scent of you. Makepeace found me doing it. He told SG-3. SG-3 told everyone in Cheyenne Mountain. A lot of people thought it was funny. I guess it was."

Jack said hoarsely, "I don't think it's funny, Daniel."

"Siler told Ferretti and he told SG-3 to shut the fuck up. He said they had no idea what you and I had been through together. Makepeace said, after seeing the way I was mooning around the base he had a pretty good idea." Daniel jerked his head up and shrugged. "I didn't care. I mean, I cared a bit but it didn't really bother me until you came back from the dead after nine days away and didn't even ask me how I was. I presumed someone must have told you and you were distancing yourself from me. I remembered that it's a big thing in the Air Force, all that 'don't ask, don't tell' crap."

Jack blinked. He remembered thinking about Daniel so much it hurt while they waited for the gate to be set up. Thinking about that fishing holiday they'd been going to take together. Thinking about Daniel looking so small and pale in that infirmary bed. Thinking about how close he had come to losing him forever. Determined not to give himself away when he came back, no throwing his arms around the guy's neck; self-control, O'Neill, you have some somewhere, get it out of mothballs and use it. He'd used it.

"I saw you making up to Sam and shutting me out so I presumed that you really cared about those regulations."

Jack pulled a face. "You don't have a very high opinion of me, do you, Daniel?"

Daniel wiped out the symbol for Earth with his other foot. "You froze me out, Jack. You went from being someone who used to touch me ten times a day to someone who never touched me. I presumed there was a good reason for that."

Jack said conversationally, "The good reason being the fact I'm a macho dickhead who would rather snub his best friend than have a few morons giggle behind his back about the fact he might bat for both teams?"

Daniel just shrugged. "You have your career to think of."

"Daniel, I swear to you, I would never cold shoulder you because I was worried about my career."

"Then why did you?"

It was asked quietly and Jack turned his head to meet clear blue eyes which looked at him without accusation. Jack had to lower his gaze. Here was the moment to tell Daniel the truth, to tell him that he found him too desirable to hide it and was afraid that a ruffle of the hair might all too quickly turn into fingers being carded through hair, a friendly glance turn into a smoldering gaze he couldn't disguise. He owed it to Daniel to tell him the truth before they got into that sleeping bag together…but he couldn't, he just couldn't.

Clearing his throat, Jack lied quickly, "I heard some of those rumors Makepeace was putting around and I was worried it was my fault. I realized how many times a day I just reach out and ruffle your hair or pat you on the back or whatever. As you never touched me back, I thought maybe you didn't like me doing that to you but you were too polite to say so. I was worried you might get beaten up or something just because I was too touchy-feely with you. I told myself it was a bad habit I'd got into and I needed to break it."

It was a lie but it sounded more plausible than he deserved and when he risked a sideways glance at Daniel to see how it had gone home, he saw Daniel nodding his head, apparently satisfied. "I can see that." There was a pause before Daniel said, "I didn't mind you touching me, Jack. I kind of liked it. It was…reassuring."

Reassuring? Jack groaned inwardly. Well, that was sexy, wasn't it? Good old reassuring Jack, father-substitute and big brother combined. He reached out and rubbed Daniel's back awkwardly through the blanket. "So, we're okay now?" Nope, he couldn't do this touching thing. He was too aware of the fact that the warmth against his hand was coming from Daniel's body, that was Daniel's skin under there, smooth silk he wanted to lick and nibble and…

Jack snatched his hand away and shifted uncomfortably. No way in hell was he going to be able to get through this night without giving himself away.

Daniel was nodding. "We're okay." He got to his feet as if he'd made a decision, blanket still wrapped protectively around his body. "So, shall we turn in?"

Jack looked up at Daniel, his hair still a little damp, a 'v' of his bare chest visible where he was clutching the blanket to himself, a glimpse of a creamy length of inner leg which dissolved into tantalizing shadows where the blanket crossed over itself. Oh boy. Special Ops never prepared you for this. His throat was so dry his words came out as a pathetic croak: "Okay."

***

Daniel had to admit to himself he was disappointed. It was embarrassing and it made him want to kick himself, but all the same he might as well be honest in the confines of his own mind, and he was disappointed by how matter-of-fact Jack had been. The way Jack had been with him recently, not to mention the two kisses the man had had effectively stolen from him had made him start hoping…hoping? He meant 'suspecting'. Yes, that was the word. Had made him start suspecting that Jack might find him physically attractive. That Jack had been shutting him out and avoiding his company because he didn't trust his own reactions to being alone with Daniel. He'd almost managed to convince himself that Jack was a simmering pot of sublimated desire for him, and that climbing into that sleeping bag with the man was inevitably going to lead to some big dramatic confession.

But, no. He'd been so far off beam it was almost funny. Jack had heard the same rumors Daniel had and been trying to protect him from them. Jack was a tactile affectionate man who'd lost his child and who had transferred all the little touches and reassurances he would have given to Charlie to Daniel instead. Daniel, being such a fucked-up, affection-starved, social misfit, had allowed himself to become reliant on all those little touches and reassurances to a ridiculous degree. Such a degree that when they'd been withdrawn he'd felt as resentful and miserable as though a lover had abandoned him for someone else. God, maybe Jack had kissed him to show Daniel that as far as he was concerned anything physical between them definitely came under the category of a joke. Or maybe…

Daniel realized he was standing in front of the tent now, with no memory of how he'd got here. He looked at the sleeping bag then automatically looked to Jack for guidance. The man ran a hand through his hair. "Um – look I'll stay outside and get undressed. You get in and make yourself comfortable. Okay?"

Daniel nodded dumbly. Waiting until Jack was definitely out of sight, he slipped the blanket from around his shoulders then quickly scrambled into the sleeping bag, realizing as he wriggled into it that this was going to be a pretty snug fit for two. He supposed he should be grateful it wasn't Teal'c he was having to share with. He'd have had to plaster himself to the Jaffa like a bug on a windshield to fit into this padded nylon cocoon with him.

Taking a deep breath, Daniel decided to think about that while he waited for Jack to come into the tent. Being pressed up against Teal'c, the man's strong arms around him, using Teal'c's body heat to warm himself, inhaling the scent of him. Daniel frowned. Well, nothing was stirring. He felt safe and protected and comforted by the thought of being in a sleeping bag with Teal'c; the prospect certainly didn't really bother him at all. He trusted Teal'c completely and he knew the man would never do or say anything to make him feel uncomfortable. Okay, what about Sam? What was the sleeping bag acid test like with her?

Daniel pictured himself and Sam getting into a sleeping bag naked together. They would be embarrassed and probably excruciatingly polite…for about five minutes. Then one of them would be bound to start giggling. It would be like having to share a bed with your twin sister; you'd try to be grown-up about it, but sooner or later the absurdity of it would get to you and you'd just have to laugh. He pictured him and Sam giggling like three year olds then playing I-spy until four a.m. despite the fact there was nothing out there to see. They both had about a zillion questions in their heads they'd never had a chance to find an answer for and being over-tired and wakeful as naughty children would give them a chance to say them aloud. They could have balloon debates between Mickey Mouse, Stephen Hawking and Cleopatra. They could bitch about Jack like kids finally having a chance to moan about big brother. He grinned at the thought. Sharing a sleeping bag with Sam would be fun.

Then he thought about sharing a sleeping bag with Jack and his stomach immediately clenched itself a bow-knot of tension. He thought about Jack's lanky, muscular, so-familiar body against his, the scent of him wrapped up as it was in so many memories of almost unbearable intensity. There had been a time when they could have taken this in their stride; that was the really sad thing. When the other man was like a spare overcoat he just didn't happen to be wearing but which was still worn to their individual shape. But they'd lost that somehow. Their relationship was undergoing some strange metamorphosis and they couldn't be together now without being too aware of how near to one another they were. If Jack touched him these days, Daniel resented how much it made him feel better, how badly he'd missed the pressure of those fingers against his arm. If Jack didn't touch him, he felt snubbed, slighted and hurt. He knew that all he was going to think about once Jack got into that sleeping bag was that he was now in a sleeping bag with Jack O'Neill, because somewhere along the line he and Jack had lost the ability to be comfortable with each other. Daniel wondered if there was any way they could ever get that back again.

The sound of footsteps outside made him tense up like a virgin bride on her wedding night and he groaned inwardly.

The moonlight was blotted out by a Jack-shaped shadow, then the man ducked under the tent flap and the light filtered back in. Daniel had a brief glimpse of Jack's naked body, blue-lit by moonlight, skin oddly pale, shadowed around the loins to which Daniel's gaze seemed drawn as if by a magnet, and then the man was climbing into the sleeping bag beside him. Daniel rolled onto his side to make more room and Jack slid in behind him. He felt a foot touch his leg, then a knee warmed the back of his thigh, Jack's stubble brushed his shoulder lightly as the man tried to wriggle in beside him without rolling on him.

"Not much room in here, is there?" Jack observed. "Are you okay?"

"Fine." Daniel swallowed hard. He'd already worked out that they couldn't lie back to back; they had to spoon around each other. He was going to have Jack's knees pushing into the back of his knees; Jack's face in the back of his neck; Jack's chest against his back.

"Sorry." Jack muttered.

Daniel realized that the man had accidentally touched his ass and cringed inside. This was embarrassing to the point where death would be a merciful release.

He found his voice with difficulty. "I'm the one who should be apologizing. It was me who lost my sleeping bag."

"I should have reminded you about the bears." Jack wriggled in deeper. "Are you okay?"

"Fine." It came out in a breathless sort of croak. He couldn't do this. He couldn't be in a sleeping bag with Jack O'Neill. It mattered too much. Every cell in his body was aware of the man's warmth behind him, that chest hair against his back, those long legs pressing against his. Jack's cock was back there somewhere, round about on a level with Daniel's ass. If it had been Teal'c he would have been wondering if the Jaffa ever thought of him that way but it would have been an academic matter, because he would know Teal'c had such wonderful self control that even if he did, Daniel would never know about it, and anyway Daniel wouldn't have minded one way or the other as long as he could just ignore it. But this mattered. Jack was a fit man who hadn't been getting any in months and who had sort of suggested a couple of times that he might have noticed Daniel was attractive. And now circumstances had forced him into spooning up behind Daniel in a confined space when they were both naked. If Jack didn't get a hard-on then Daniel was going to feel as rejected and abandoned as if the man had turned him down flat. But if he did, how the hell could they go on from here? They'd gone past the point where everything could stay the same and be okay between them months ago, which was probably why they'd been biting each other's heads off for the past few missions. But if everything changed they might lose more than they gained….

Daniel closed his eyes tightly but it was no good, he was so aware of Jack's body pressing against his, the man's breathing very loud in the tent, his breath gusting into Daniel's hair, those long legs touching his. He couldn't stop the thoughts from tormenting him. He imagined Jack's warm callused fingers lightly tracing a line up his thigh, then slowly reaching across to cup Daniel's groin in his, caressing Daniel's cock as he very gently kissed the back of Daniel's neck….

No! Daniel tried to think dull thoughts, boring things, horrible things, garbage collection, sand, dead stuff, God no! It was too late, at the thought of how close Jack was, of him pressing against him, touching him, kissing him, Daniel was achingly hard, his cock jutting into the side of the sleeping bag in a way that forced him to push back to give himself more room….

"Daniel…?"

Jack's voice sounded curiously strained.

Daniel swallowed hard, trying to think about anything except how much his cock was hurting, how desperate he was to wrap his fingers around it start pumping – correction, how desperate he was for Jack to wrap his fingers around it and start pumping – but he had to answer. "Yes?" It came out as tight and strangled as Jack had sounded.

"Can you – move forward a little…?"

"Not. Really." Daniel gritted his teeth. "No more room."

"But damnit, Daniel – " Jack sounded pretty desperate and he was breathing quickly.

"I can't help it," Daniel insisted.

"But – "

That was when Daniel felt something that definitely wasn't Jack's leg nudging him hard in the buttock. The relief was almost overwhelming. Yes, this was a very embarrassing boat to be in but at least he now knew wasn't the only one bailing frantically as he tried to reach the shore.

***

This was definitely a big mistake, in fact this was like something Torquemada might have dreamed up: a naked Daniel pressing against his own naked body; Daniel's hair practically in his mouth; those strong shoulders so invitingly smooth against his chest; the scent of him, the warmth of him, something he wanted to bury his face in and inhale. Christ but he smelt wonderful; well, he smelt faintly of the river and of woodsmoke and too much coffee, but there was that unmistakable Daniel aroma there too. The one he'd never even noticed until he'd got him back from the dead; when he'd hugged him in the 'gateroom and realized as he breathed him in that Daniel had a scent he not only recognized but would have missed like a part of himself if he'd never got to inhale it again. Now that smell was driving him nuts.

So was the wriggling. And Christ if Daniel kept shoving his ass back against him like that he was going to be in serious trouble. It was bad enough having a cock which seemed to have the determination of a heat-seeking missile, but now Daniel was actually helping the treacherous little bastard to close in on its target. Christ, what was the guy doing now?

Jack tried to pull back but the sleeping bag was too snug. Damnit, Daniel, stop moving! He winced as his cock jabbed Daniel in the buttock and muttered an embarrassed apology. God that was way too close to comfort. If Daniel didn't keep still he was going to be getting a present from Chicago where he really didn't want it. In fact…

As Daniel moved again, Jack realized he was going to have to explain the problem, right now. Embarrassing as it was to have to tell Daniel he had to stop wriggling about because his CO had a very insistent hard on, it would be more embarrassing by far to have to extricate his cock from the place it seemed bent on burying itself. It wasn't the kind of 'accident' you could explain with a light laugh and an apology. 'Oops, sorry, my mistake…oh darn there it goes again…never mind, you weren't planning to sit on that ass for a while, were you?' No, somehow he didn't think he'd quite be able to carry that off. And round about now that particular accident had a horrible sense of inevitability about it. Not only did this vacation seem to have been heading for this particular disaster from the word go, the laws of physics were against them. They were jammed into a too-confined space with several inches of jutting impatience bang on a level with an oh-so-inviting aperture which would be able to accommodate it perfectly.

"Daniel, you have to move forward a little," Jack said breathlessly.

"Can't…" Daniel sounded pretty weird. Mind you being jabbed in the buttock by your best friend's cock would probably do that to a boy.

"Danny, please. I'm – having a few problems back here."

There was a breathless pause in which Jack willed Daniel to get what he was telling him without need of further explanation.

"Ha-Having a few problems myself, Jack."

It took him a few seconds and then realization dawned. "Oh." Did Daniel mean what he thought he meant? "You mean…?"

Daniel sounded like his teeth were gritted. "I mean I can't move forward without making a hole in the sleeping bag first."

"Well, I have the opposite problem." Jack realized his teeth were also gritted. He wondered why they were doing this when it made no difference to their erections whatsoever.

"What?" It was obvious Daniel was telling the truth and not just saying it to make him feel better. He clearly didn't have as much blood in his brain as usual or he'd have got that no trouble at all.

"I have a hole my hard-on would fit into perfectly. It's keeping them apart that's a little tricky. Especially when you keep moving around like that!"

"I can't help it. I'm getting all – bent out of shape."

Jack clasped his hand over the front of his cock just in time. "Damnit, Daniel. Do you know how close you just came to finding out a how a fire feels when it's poked?"

Daniel twisted his head round. "Are you telling me I'm…hot?"

Moonlight was streaming in from between the tent flap, illuminating every long eyelash, the line of Daniel's cheekbone, that cute little nose which Jack really wanted to kiss, and oh boy oh boy that mouth. Jack said hoarsely, "Hotter than hell, Daniel."

Daniel wriggled, twisted, and then abruptly turned over; something hard and insistent jabbed Jack in the stomach and he realized Daniel hadn't been kidding about needing that hole in the sleeping bag. Still finding it a little difficult to summon any saliva Jack said, "Very…impressive, Doctor Jackson."

Daniel licked his lips then said deliberately, "If you were lying on top of me, we'd have more room."

Jack couldn't stop that filthy grin breaking out. "If you were lying underneath me, I'd be a very happy man."

Now these were the kind of maneuvers he could definitely get used to… As Daniel wriggled underneath him, Jack carefully straddled what until a few minutes ago had been his 'teammate'. That word no longer seemed appropriate. A man didn't gently move his hips so that his erect cock would slide tantalizingly against the equally erect cock of his 'teammate'. Nor did he bend down very slowly and brush his lips so softly against the slightly moist mouth of a 'teammate'. That was a point. Daniel was his teammate and there were good reasons why he shouldn’t be doing these kind of things with someone under his command.

Jack frowned and pulled back from the kiss. "Should we not be doing this?"

Daniel was breathing quickly and his voice sounded ragged. "Wh-what?"

Jack ran his fingers through Daniel's hair. It was still damp from where he'd taken that tumble into the river, but so soft against his skin. "We're teammates. I'm your CO. I shouldn't be – "

Two hands were abruptly clasped to his head and he was pulled down into a kiss so demanding he feared he would probably never see his tonsils again. A tongue danced maddeningly across his lips before plunging into his mouth, counting every tooth in his head then wrapping itself around his tongue like they were old friends who wanted to get much closer. Jack went cross-eyed, then damned near blacked out from oxygen starvation before Daniel let him go.

Daniel licked his lips, the blue moonlight once again revealing the length of his eyelashes. "Does that answer your question?"

"Not really, no. I'm still your CO."

"No, you're not."

"Yes, I am, Daniel."

"I don't do what you tell me so it doesn't count."

Jack stared down at him in disbelief. "And which rule book did you get that out of?"

Daniel sighed at him impatiently. "Are we on leave or aren't we?"

"We're on leave."

"So, am I under your – " Daniel made little quotation marks with his fingers " – 'command' or not right now?"

"You're not."

"So shut up and kiss me."

Jack reminded himself that arguing with Daniel was always a waste of time. Sometimes it was much easier to just give in and do what he wanted. Now, definitely felt like one of those times.

He gazed down at a blue-lit Daniel and decided that was a color which really suited him. He bent and kissed him gently on the nose. Then he kissed the eyelids which Daniel automatically closed as Jack's face moved near to his. Then that mouth, oh boy but that mouth repaid kissing so much. He brushed his lips across it gently then increased the pressure a fraction, a 'May I?' wrapped around a 'Please, let me…' The soft lips parted to welcome him in for a second visit. Jack deepened the kiss, slipped his tongue back inside, stroked his fingers through Daniel's damp hair as he pressed harder against those moist warm lips, let his tongue delve deep, explore thoroughly. Daniel was making inarticulate sound, little gasps of wanting mixed in with something that sounded suspiciously like surprise.

The kissing continued for a while, first with Jack on top, then, with some rolling around in the sleeping bag, Daniel went on top for a while and stroked his fingers through Jack's hair, pressed their foreheads against each other, murmuring, "Why does this feel so right? It feels so damned right. Shouldn't it feel wrong?"

"I was thinking the same thing." Jack decided to roll them back over again. Having Daniel's weight on top of his was wonderful but having Daniel wriggling a little underneath him was even more wonderful.

They struggled a little against a sleeping bag which seemed bent on stifling their creativity but then Daniel was back underneath with Jack on top, Jack kissing the hollow of his throat with a passion that bordered on reverence. He brushed his thumbs lightly across Daniel's nipples and felt Daniel's back arch in immediate response, rewarding him with a gasped 'Oh God…' that was very gratifying to hear.

Jack licked up Daniel's neck, nibbled behind his ear, laved inside his ear, kissed a path down his cheekbone and then pressed his lips back to Daniel's before breaking off to say, "It should feel wrong, shouldn't it? Wrong gender. Wrong relationship. Wrong place. Wrong time. Wrong Slot B. Wrong Tab A."

Daniel blinked at him. "'Wrong Tab A'? Why, did you pack someone else's equipment, Jack?"

Jack tapped his nose lightly. "Don't be a smartass. I meant the wrong Tab A for you."

"You think I've had experience with other Tab As?"

"I don't know. Have you?"

Daniel looked at him for a long moment and then said, "None of your business."

Jack looked at him for a moment then deliberately licked his left middle finger, sticking it right into his mouth so it was thoroughly coated with saliva. Then he slipped it very carefully into Daniel's Slot B.

"Oh God – " The convulsive jump Daniel gave, the way his back arched, his legs open, his mouth opened and his eyes widened in surprise, answered that question for Jack very satisfactorily. He withdrew his finger, wiped it on the sleeping bag, kissed Daniel very gently on the forehead and said, "We don't have to do anything you don't want to. I'm having a whale of a time with the kissing and touching and if you let me I'd really like to blow your…mind."

Daniel swallowed hard. "Are you really…okay with this, Jack?"

"Do I not seem okay with this?" Jack returned. He wondered what would happen if he breathed on Daniel's nipples. He tried it. As a hot gust of Jack's breath warmed them, those nubs hardened at once while Daniel's back gave another of those arches that pushed up his groin to rub pleasurably against Jack's. Boy, but Daniel had a lot of buttons and Jack suspected that finding them and then pressing them was going to provide hours of fun for both of them.

"How much whiskey did you drink?"

Jack jerked his head up. "I'm not drunk!" He moved his hips backwards and forwards to give Daniel some extra proof of his interest and felt little sparks of lightning shoot from the tip all the way down to his testicles every time his aching cock made contact with Daniel's.

"So why are you kissing me?"

Jack looked at that guarded expression on Daniel's face. Yes, this was a classic Daniel Jackson moment. A guy he knew as well as himself who had been bad tempered with him for weeks; arguments punctuated with moments where he had insisted on underlining the intimacy that existed between them, not to mention the odd stolen kiss, finally made his move and initiated foreplay, and Daniel was thinking there had to be a catch somewhere.

"Because, Chocolate Boy, I'm in love with you. Now will you shut up and let me concentrate on what I'm doing?"

Daniel blinked. "'Chocolate Boy'?"

Jack broke off from worrying a nipple with his teeth to look up again. "Hey, it's better than Plant Boy."

"Can't you just call me 'Daniel'?"

He loved those protesting wails Daniel got in sometimes. Jack grinned to himself and began to kiss a trail down Daniel's wonderfully warm naked body. In a minute Daniel was going to catch up with the other thing he'd said, probably in about five kisses time. Ah, there was a nice patch, just on his chest. One kiss. And that was a nice spot too – under the ribs, nice and warm and tasty. Two kisses. And then there was that appendix scar; that merited a lick and a very gentle pressure of lips against it. Three kisses. And then there was that beguiling area just below the navel, the fuzz that needed to be nuzzled; that would make four –

"Did you just say you loved me?"

Jack grinned. Daniel was always quicker than he gave him credit for. He lifted his head to see the moonlit look of disbelief on Daniel's face. Jack gave a rueful shrug. "Hey, Danny, maybe I'm just a roll in the hay to you, but you're the most – " He couldn't kid about over something that important. He could feel his face changing although he tried to stop it, could feel the truth showing, the love showing. He had to swallow hard before finishing abruptly, " – the most important thing in the world to me."

Daniel gazed at him for a moment in obvious astonishment then collected himself, trying for casual and failing as abjectly as Jack had done. "Except for hockey."

Jack swallowed again. "Obviously."

"That goes without saying."

"Why I didn't say it." Jack looked down at what was in front of him. "You know while I'm down here – "

Daniel's hand shot out to cup his cheek, his head was tilted up while he was still only breathing on the weeping head of Daniel's erection. Daniel gazed at him for a moment and then said huskily, "You're too far away, Jack. Come back up here."

Seconds later he was pressing his mouth to Daniel's and this time Daniel's arms went around his neck, pulled him in close, held him tight. Daniel's eyes were squeezed shut and he was kissing Jack back with everything he had. "You know I – " Daniel gasped, opened his eyes and gazed up at Jack with an expression in his eyes that warmed the man through like the world's best brandy. "I just – I never thought I'd say it to anyone except Sha're, but I –"

Jack hastily put a finger across Daniel's mouth. "You don't have to say it, Daniel." Then he grinned at him and said, "Ever heard of 'show don't tell'?"

Daniel looked at him for a moment and then a slow smile broke out. "I can do that," he said. "I can definitely do that."

A moment later Jack found his fingertip being kissed then gently pulled into Daniel's mouth, tongued, and sucked. Then the next finger was kissed and sucked, then the next, and the next.

Jack closed his eyes as Daniel held his wrist lightly, that warm wet tongue gently caressing each digit in turn. This was turning him on like nothing he'd never known. As Daniel approached his left hand though Jack pulled it away. "Not that one. You don't know where it's been."

Daniel gave him a level look. "Actually I remember where it went pretty well. Why didn't you use your right hand, anyway?"

"Because I wanted to run that one through your hair."

Daniel gave a surprised little smile. "That's pretty…romantic."

Jack gave him a level look. "What, I can't be romantic? You were assuming I was a wham bam, thank you, mister, kind of guy were you?"

"Well, you know – " Daniel gave a careless shrug.

Jack pounced. Clasping his right hand in Daniel's hair, he eased back his head gently and kissed his throat, delicate, tender kisses that turned into gentle bites. Then he claimed that mouth again, brushing his lips across it, pressing his mouth against it, exploring it, devouring it, tongue sucking on Daniel's drawing it into Jack's mouth to duel with his own tongue. Then he pulled back abruptly and bent to explore Daniel's left ear, laving it, nibbling it, licking behind it, then laving it again, while his left hand gently stroked Daniel's chest, a thumb glancing across Daniel's right nipple as lightly as a butterfly's wings.

He was aware of Daniel squirming now, making incoherent noises denoting what appeared to be of the 'Oh God stop – no, don't…' variety. Jack smiled to himself and began to kiss a trail down Daniel's body, trying to cover every inch of that silky skin with his lips, maddening little dabs unerringly seeking out Daniel's erogenous zones and ticklish spots with equal determination. The sleeping bag was annoying him now and he yanked the zip down to the bottom; the night breeze snaked across his ass but it was worth it to see Daniel naked underneath him.

Daniel's knees were jerking up in response, like a kid being tickled, but the way his erection was jabbing into Jack's chest was decidedly unchildlike. In between kisses, Jack murmured softly, "You were saying…?"

"Okay – you're not – a –wham bam – Oh God – thank you mister – kind of guy – "

"You sure about that? Because I can keep the foreplay going until dawn if you want it." Jack eased Daniel's legs open and began to kiss between his thighs, breathing in the musky odor of Daniel's arousal as he did so.

Daniel was actually whimpering now and Jack couldn't help grinning evilly as he heard the sound of those needy little moans making such sweet music to his ears. He nibbled a trail up the inside of Daniel's left thigh while Daniel jerked and jolted in response. God, but this boy was touch-sensitive. Touch -deprived. The thought came unbidden but he realized at once it was the truth. Touch-deprived. Affection-deprived. Downright love-deprived. Orphaned. Rejected. Fostered. Everyone had put a limitation on their love for him after his parents' death. His grandfather wouldn't take him because he was too much trouble. The fact he'd been fostered instead of adopted suggested a reservation in the limits of his acceptance. People who'd done their duty by Daniel. Not people who needed him like the air that they breathed.

Sha're must have been so good for him, Jack thought in between kisses. She'd loved him unconditionally. No wonder he'd been so utterly lost without her, so dependent on Jack, clinging to the one person he recognized. He'd known how much Daniel had needed him back then and tried to be there for him. What had made him think Daniel could manage without him now? What had made him think it wouldn't cause terrible harm to someone who'd been through everything Daniel had to be rejected by his best friend? How the fuck could he have been such an insensitive jerk as to treat Daniel the way he'd been treating him?

Jack jerked his head up and looked up Daniel's body. Daniel had his eyes closed, an arm across them, clamped down in an attempt at self-control, cock clearly about to burst with his need for release. Jack said quietly, "Tell me what you want, Daniel?"

Through a voice tight with need, Daniel gasped, "Isn't it obvious?"

"No, Danny, not just here and now. I mean – tell me what you want."

"Oh God, Jack, please don't go all philosophical on me now. Just – "

"Just what?"

Daniel jerked his hand away from his face angrily, lifted his head and glared at him. "Christ, Jack. I'm lying here with my legs open, moaning, how much more of an invitation do you need? I know you like to act dumb sometimes but this is ridiculous!"

Still thinking of Daniel's emotional needs, Jack glanced down at those eagerly parted thighs in surprise. "You mean –?"

"I mean get on with it, will you?"

Jack sat back on his heels. "Well, after an invitation that romantic how can I refuse?"

Daniel spoke through gritted teeth. "Jack, you can suck me, fuck me, or give me a hand-job, but if you don't start doing one of those things in the next thirty seconds I am going to kill you. And there isn't a court in the land that won't call it justifiable homicide. And what's more –"

Jack grabbed Daniel's ankles and pulled him down to where he was kneeling so their groins met with a pleasurable clash. He transferred his grip to Daniel's thighs and made circling motions with his thumbs over the hipbones. "Choose an option, Doctor Jackson, and your fairy team leader will try to make your wish his command."

"Can I have one and two?" Daniel gasped. "And then three afterwards if I need it?"

"I'll do my best." Jack reached across for the Astroglide he had so optimistically packed, adding conversationally, "Are you always going to be this demanding in bed?"

"I'm hoping to have you so well trained I won't need to spell it out from now on," Daniel returned.

"I'll show you who needs the training here." Jack buried his face in Daniel's loins, licked his testicles, sucked them in their sacs, let his teeth grate across them in gentle threat, then began to kiss a trail along Daniel's straining erection. He smiled as he heard Daniel moaning incoherently, arm pressed back across his eyes again, hips giving convulsive little jerks.

It was the work of a few seconds to coat his three middle fingers in lube and slip the first one into the moist tight cavity where it seemed to fit so naturally. He closed his mouth over Daniel's cock and gave a hard suck as he reached for his prostate. Daniel's moan of pleasure was very satisfactory. Jack pulled back, ran his tongue around the slit at the end of Daniel's cock, explored it thoroughly, sucked on the head, drove his finger in deeper, letting the nail grate tantalizingly across his prostate.

The 'Oh God!'s were all running together now. Even better Daniel was slipping into Abydonian. Such a beautiful language. Jack began to let Daniel's cock slide in and out of his mouth, building up to deep-throating him at the crucial moment, and slipped in two fingers. God, but Daniel was making a lot of noise. He hoped there was no one but the bears out there to hear this, because no one older than a two year old was going to mistake this for anything other than serious boffing. He sucked hard, pulled back, tantalizing the head with his tongue again. Pushed in three fingers. Daniel was wonderfully receptive in every way; opening his legs, not wincing even as he was stretched, murmuring things in ancient Egyptian that definitely didn't sound like they had any 'no's in them, and you didn't need to be a linguist to know that gasped quavering sound didn't translate as 'please stop that at once'.

Jack pulled back enough to just kiss the end of Daniel's cock then said quietly, "Are you sure you want this, Danny?"

"Yes. Yes. Oh God. Yes…!"

Daniel jerked his head from side to side like a fever victim and Jack grinned. "I'll take that as a yes."

He gripped Daniel's hips, then slid his hands down those long legs, lifted them up and hooked them over his shoulders, then he pushed forward and let the head of his cock just touch the younger man's opening. "Tell me what 'no' is in Abydonian or remember to speak English," he added.

"I'll speak English…" Daniel gasped.

Jack eased the head of his cock into Daniel's opening, wincing as he felt the ring stretch to accommodate him. "Am I hurting you?"

"No."

"I can stop."

"Stop and I'll kill you."

Jack gasped with the pleasure of that tight heat closing around his aching cock. God, but Daniel was so damned perfect in every way. "Never knew you were so…masterful, Doctor Jackson." He eased on in and Daniel gave a moan, back arching, pulling his legs up higher. "Am I hurting you?"

"It's so weird," Daniel gasped. "It feels so…weird. It really hurts but it feels so…good." He screwed up his face, back arching again. "So good…"

Jack pushed on in slowly until he was inside him to the root. Daniel's body was sheened with sweat and he was breathing quickly, like a woman in labor. Jack bent his head and kissed him on the chest. "Do you want me to pull out?"

"No!" Daniel put his head back again, arm across his eyes. "God, no." After a pause his breathing slowed and he looked up at Jack, frowning. "Well, is that it? Are you just going to sit there?"

Jack looked at him in disbelief. "I'm waiting for you to adjust."

"Believe me, Jack, all my college reports will tell you I'm very well adjusted. Now, will you get on with it?"

Jack realized he was going to have his hands full with Daniel. Anyone who thought going on top was the easy part had clearly never had a demanding archaeologist giving him directions. "Well, as you asked so nicely…" He pulled out very slowly, then pushed in equally slowly, watching Daniel's face anxiously for signs of pain.

There were so many expressions chasing their way across Daniel's face it was very hard to tell what he was feeling but as no 'No's were forthcoming, Jack presumed it was okay to continue.

Making love to Daniel felt so good he wondered why they'd waited so long. Daniel's body seemed to fit together with his so perfectly that it was almost frightening. All this time they'd been capable of clicking into place like this; Daniel's body something always meant to be joined with his. They were so in tune it took him by surprise. No one watching them would ever have thought this was their first time together; they found the rhythm so quickly, Daniel tightening then relaxing against his cock at exactly the right time; Jack knowing precisely when to increase the speed and depth of his thrusts; bending his head every now and then to let his mouth brush across Daniel's chest, his left hand reaching for Daniel's cock to pump it in a counter-rhythm to his thrusts. He wanted them to come together. This was doing it for him – and how – thrusting into Daniel was like being in paradise for him and the pleasure was thrumming from the head of his cock right down to his toes with every thrust. But he wasn't sure if Daniel was getting as much from this as he was. He was hitting Daniel's prostate in about one thrust in three but he thought he could up that average with a minor adjustment. "Is deeper okay?" he gasped breathlessly.

"Anything – " Daniel panted it back at him, back arching, pushing back against the last thrust, fingers gripping the sleeping bag, head thrown back, sweat trickling down his face and glistening on his naked body. The moonlight was pouring through the tent opening to bathe him in a blue glow, and as he thrust Jack couldn't help thinking that he'd never seen anything so beautiful.

He was being turned on by the noises they were making; his grunts; Daniel's moans; they sounded remarkably like two people having sex, which was pretty strange to hear as it was unmistakably in their voices; a porno soundtrack they seemed to be dubbing. Moaning, grunting, gasping, whispered endearments, panting, whimpering, the full range of x-ratable sound effects. Jack shifted his position slightly, pulling Daniel a little further down the sleeping bag so he could thrust deeper, angling into him so he could hit that prostate and send Daniel straight down the pleasure freeway to what would hopefully be Orgasm City. Jerking him off after Jack had come was a good contingency plan but it would feel selfish and he so wanted their first time to be perfect in every way. He began to pump Daniel's cock harder as he jerked harder and deeper from his hips. Daniel's moans were getting louder which was good because the pleasure was building, building –

"Oh God," Jack gasped it aloud. "Please, Daniel…please…"

As Daniel yelled his name so loudly he figured they must have frightened off all the bears for fifty miles, Jack felt the wave engulf him amd overcome him. He was drowning in Daniel and in ecstasy.

He came around panting on top of Daniel, squashing him in a way that Daniel would surely have objected to if he hadn't still been convulsing from the aftershocks of what had clearly been one hell of an orgasm.

Jack thought of that 'little death' feeling that could overwhelm him afterwards sometimes, that sense of desolation that would sweep over him unexpectedly, and wondered if Daniel was the same. Just in case, he pulled out quickly, then bent down and kissed Daniel on the forehead. "You okay?" he whispered.

Daniel murmured a dazed, "Hhmm?" Opening his eyes he looked up at Jack as though he'd never seen him before in his life. Shy and a little awe-struck.

Jack stared at him in disbelief because not even back in the good old days when Daniel had thought he could do anything had Daniel looked at him with this kind of…hero worship. He knew he'd feel smug later. He'd probably be unspeakable and Daniel would tell him he wasn't half as impressive as he thought he was, so there. But right now the look in Daniel's eyes was making him feel simultaneously wonderful and unworthy. He bent and kissed him gently on the mouth, saying, "Thank you, Daniel. Thank you for trusting me. I love you."

Daniel was still gazing up at him with that open-mouthed 'wow' look and Jack could already feel a little bit of smugness creeping in. He carefully reached round and zipped them back into the sleeping bag, then patted his chest invitingly. "Wanna snuggle?"

The way Daniel immediately draped himself over him was very pleasant. Daniel felt warm and heavy on top of him, all dazed and drowsy and very delightfully impressed. Equally pleasant were the little kisses Daniel dabbed over his throat. After a long pause, Daniel said in a small voice, "Thank you too. And – ditto."

Jack wiped his fingers off on the groundsheet and then ran a hand through Daniel's hair, burying his mouth in it to inhale the scent then brush his lips across the top of his head. "We can talk about this in the morning."

"Or not," Daniel put in sleepily. "You being you and all."

"We have a lot to discuss." Jack said it firmly. "There are issues. Working together, the effects on the team. If you're going to move in with me the second we get back or if we should leave it a week, not to mention – "

He broke off as he realized the warm air gusting against his nipple was suspiciously rhythmic. He bent his head down to see and noticed that Daniel's eyelashes were the longest on the planet, that he really did look wonderful bathed in blue moonlight, and that he was already fast asleep. "How come you even manage to have the last word when I'm still talking?" Jack demanded.

As his chest rose and fell, lifting Daniel with it, he sighed, stroked the soft hair again, then planted another kiss on the top of his head. In the morning they were going to have what promised to be one humdinger of an argument about the regulations...which he would lose. Then they'd probably have another humdinger of an argument on the journey back…which he would lose. Then he'd lay down a lot of strict ground rules setting out the only conditions under which he was willing to have a relationship…which Daniel would agree to…then ignore. Then they'd have another humdinger of an argument….which he'd lose.

As Jack closed his eyes he had a smile on his face. No one was saying this relationship was going to be trouble free or easy, but anyway you looked at it, he was guaranteed one hell of a lot of make-up sex. And the insecure, impossible, and maddening Doctor Daniel Jackson was guaranteed more love than he'd even know what to do with. Never a dull moment, that was for sure.

Sometimes there were worse things than getting what you wished for.

-The End-