Title: Perfect Setting
Author: Circe
Author Page: Circe
Rating: NC-17
Pairing: Jack/Daniel
Category: Slash, Angst, Drama. First Time.
Spoilers: S3
Warnings: Non-con
Summary: When Jack is given the chance to attend a conference of allies against the Goa'uld he must first drink a potion that will reveal to him his “true self.” His self-revelation is as welcome to Daniel as it is surprising to both of them, but when Daniel is kidnapped by an unscrupulous bounty hunter, Jack has to put his faith in the Tok'ra if he hopes to ever see Daniel again.
Note: First appeared in Pretense published by Ashton Press
Disclaimer: Stargate SG-1 and its characters are the property of Stargate (II) Productions, Showtime/Viacom, MGM/UA, Double Secret Productions, and Gekko Productions and a lot of other people who I wouldn't personally leave in charge of a gerbil, never mind Daniel Jackson. This story is for entertainment purposes only and no money exchanged hands. No copyright infringement is intended. The original characters, situations, and story are the property of the author. This story may not be posted elsewhere without the consent of the author.

Perfect Setting

Jack wasn't sure where this anger had come from. He could never remember being angry with Daniel before and given that the man had just lost his wife – irretrievably this time – it seemed particularly both unfair and unlikely that he should be angry with Daniel now. But he was. He was reining it in at the moment, stamping it down hard when it threatened to well up, but he was very afraid it was going to get through, like a puck heading for the back of the net, before he had time to get his stick in the way.

The dreams weren't helping. He kept seeing…her in his mind. Not Hathor – although for a long time after he'd learned what she'd done to Daniel, it had been her lovely face he was destroying – but Ke’ra. Tears misting those blue eyes, lower lip trembling, a lip that was always kiss-swollen in his dreams, and Daniel between the blonde woman and his gun. That moment could always make the rage flare. It was like Vesuvius erupting inside him. Sometimes another dream followed the first: one where he pulled the trigger and watched her die. Or where he dragged Daniel out of there, jammed him back against the wall and told him that he never, ever, ever got between Jack's gun and the person he was pointing it at, ever again. Daniel always had the oddest expression on his face in that dream. He'd stand there with his jacket all crumpled in Jack's hand, his tongue flicking nervously across his lower lip, staring up at Jack out of those huge blue eyes like he was…not afraid, not surprised, just waiting for something. The moment would always stretch like a tightrope, thin and dangerous, Jack would hear the sound of his own breath coming fast and angry, and then he'd move in closer, mouth open to say whatever it was he was going to say, Daniel's eyes widening in some instant of recognition and then…

He'd wake up. With an erection so insistent it hurt. Feeling mad as hell with Daniel. The erection could usually be disposed of with some rapid self-help, but the anger persisted. The anger felt like it was never going to fade.

***

Jack didn't know why he'd cracked. What it was that had pushed him over the edge when he'd managed to come back from it so many times before. Why had his sense of humor deserted him? His good temper? The things that made him a good leader and stopped him doing…

Carter had said it, after all: it wasn't like the man was doing anything he hadn't done a hundred times before, and maybe that was the problem, the previous ninety nine times laying down such a dangerous gunpowder trail that the hundredth had caused him to explode.

He'd told Daniel they were leaving. Now. The chamber was getting too damned unstable, the air-seal they'd broken causing all kinds of fissures to begin to emerge on the glassy black walls. Which Daniel – being Daniel – had interpreted as meaning that they were leaving some time in the next ten minutes when he'd had a chance to finishing videotaping the inscription on the rock walls. The trouble was, Jack hadn't realized that was Daniel's interpretation until he was twenty yards away. He'd looked back and seen the anthropologist still blithely videotaping despite the crack opening up in the stone behind him.

Even dropping everything, including his MP-5, and sprinting flat out, Jack barely made it back there in time to drag Daniel out of the way of that great chunk of rock that would have left him flatter than a hooked skate.

That was when something inside Jack snapped. Daniel was pale with shock, mouth open as the rumbles faded and the dust billowed up around them. Realizing he still had hold of the front of Daniel's jacket, the fingers of his left hand still clenched around the green cloth, Jack felt an overwhelming desire to shake the archaeologist until his teeth rattled; a feeling he'd had before but which he'd always resisted. Until now.

The next thing he knew he was not just shaking but also screaming at the younger man. Some of it he remembered. "What the hell did I tell you, Daniel? What?…Are you deaf as well as stupid?…Didn't you hear me tell you we were leaving?…You ever disobey another order of mine I swear to God I will beat the crap out of you, have you got that straight?" But there had been a lot more; a lot more; all kinds of unsayable half-truths spilling out like lava after an eruption, burning, destructive; about what a danger Daniel was to the rest of them, how it was a miracle he didn't get himself and everybody else killed on every mission, how he was too flaky to contemplate; and all the time he'd been shaking him to keep Daniel focused on what he was being told, make sure he didn't miss a syllable of the tirade aimed at him.

It probably hadn't lasted that long; only long enough for Carter and Teal'c to realize that he wasn't in control of himself, that he was trembling with fury and Daniel retreating further and further into shock, not having had time to get over so nearly being crushed before this new avalanche had fallen around him.

"Sir!" Carter grabbed him by the arm and almost wrenched his grip loose from the front of Daniel's jacket. Her blue eyes were angry as well as concerned. "Sir, you're way out of line."

"O'Neill, I agree with Major Carter, Daniel Jackson does not deserve this." Teal'c's voice and expression were equally grave.

Oddly, his anger still didn't abate. He pulled loose from both of them furiously and pointed towards the Stargate, snapping, "Get your ass over there, now, Daniel. The second your feet hit that ramp you're suspended, you got that straight? Indefinitely."

Daniel was always an arguer so Jack stood with anger and contempt fixed on his face, waiting to hear the argument he would come up with this time. But Daniel just stared at him, white in the face, his red mouth with its unexpectedly full lower lip quivering a little. Daniel's blue eyes looked huge as he stared at Jack, and as he waited impatiently for what excuse the younger man was going to come up with this time, Jack almost didn't realized what Carter obviously already had – that Daniel was hurt right to the core. She said quickly, "Daniel, it's all right. The Colonel didn't mean what he…" But Daniel had hurried away from them towards the Stargate and as he reached the DHD and began to input the chevrons, Jack realized why he was pausing in between each symbol to angrily wipe his eyes with his arm.

That was when the first insane wave had passed and he became aware of Carter saying reproachfully, "Daniel didn't mean anything by it, Colonel. He was just being…Daniel."

His rage evaporated as suddenly as it had arrived and he wished he could claw it back, be borne upon those red wings of righteous indignation for a little bit longer; coming down to earth was painful and contact with it hurt. The Stargate billowed blue and Daniel stood waiting with his arms folded protectively across his chest, eyes suspiciously bright, trying to look at him with resentment and defiance but succeeding only in looked unutterably wretched. It came to Jack with a sense of shock that what he'd just said and done was literally unforgivable. And yet he knew that if he went to Daniel and said that he was sorry, the man would forgive him.

Without a word Jack marched past Daniel and into the chill blue light of the Stargate. As they emerged at the other end, he found the others all deliberately not looking at him and he did the same with them. Hammond was there waiting for them. "Well, Colonel?"

Jack collected himself. "The chamber we began to investigate became unstable, General, and we gated back home. Daniel got some of the inscriptions on videotape. There may be something of interest there."

"Debriefing tomorrow morning at 0700 hours." Hammond noticed Daniel's pallor and said, "You okay, son?" Daniel just nodded, evidently not yet in control of his voice. He walked out of the 'gateroom without a glance in Jack's direction. After a nod in the direction of the General, Carter went after him.

Left standing on the ramp with Teal'c's disapproval like a wave of particles beaming towards him, Jack felt terribly alone.

***

"Colonel O'Neill?"

It was three hours since they'd got back and he'd been thinking wearily that perhaps he ought to go home when the call came from Hammond to please come up to see him, now. Hoping the general hadn't expected him to write up his report already, he went to the man's office and found Hammond's face unreadable. The man motioned him to a seat and then pressed the 'play' button on his VCR. Expecting to be shown the footage Daniel had shot, it was a shock to see film from one of the security cameras instead. Daniel, in a storeroom somewhere, sitting on the floor with his back pressed against the wall, banging the back of his head against the wall, one arm wrapped across his eyes in a vain attempt to disguise the fact that tears were trickling down his face.

Jack had seen Daniel cry before, of course, in sorrow, pain, remorse, the fearful confusion of what appeared to encroaching insanity, but these latest tears seemed to have been shocked out of him, ones he couldn't control or even begin to understand; angrily wiping his eyes at each new overflow, saying fiercely, "Stop it! Stop it! Stop it!" to himself savagely, scrubbing at his face with the back of his knuckles like a child. "You deserved it! Christ, he'd despise you even more if he saw you sniveling like this. Stop it!"

Jack felt ice settle inside him and closed his eyes. When he opened them the screen was blank and Hammond was looking at him. "Well?"

"Well, sir?"

"Would you like to explain the reason for Doctor Jackson's behavior? Did he have some kind of psychotic episode on that planet…?"

"No, sir, that would be me, sir."

"Would you care to explain?"

"I lost control, General, completely. Daniel didn't obey an order as fast as I wanted him to and almost got crushed by some falling masonry. I totally overreacted and started yelling at him and shaking him. Carter and Teal'c had to pull me off of him. I have no idea why I did it but I swear I will go and apologize to him immediately and it will never happen again."

"It had better not, Colonel." Hammond looked scandalized. "I don't care how…trying Doctor Jackson's lack of military skills might occasionally be, there is no excuse for losing your temper with him."

"I know that, sir. I honestly don't know what came over me."

"Perhaps I should temporarily reassign Doctor Jackson to…?"

"No, please don't do that." Jack couldn't stop the distress breaking out in his voice. "He's already blaming himself for something that was my fault, that will just make it seem…official that he's in the wrong. Reassign or suspend me if you like, but there's nothing wrong with the rest of my team."

"Am I to understand that Doctor Jackson makes it a habit to disobey orders?"

"No, General, I swear, Daniel doesn't disobey orders, he just…doesn't obey them as fast as a soldier would, that's all. He always does what he's told eventually." Seeing that 'eventually' cause Hammond to look thoughtful, he said, "Please don't punish Daniel for my mistake. It isn't his fault the rest of us get anxious about him. Half the time he's never in any danger anyway, we just assume he is."

"And the other half of the time, Colonel?"

"The other half of the time it's my job to keep him safe, General. I don't always succeed, but that's my fault, not his." Jack swallowed, "I have no idea what came over me on the last mission. I can't even begin to imagine what I was thinking of. I had no possible right to talk to him like that or treat him like that and I will tell him that as soon as I can."

Hammond looked at Jack and sighed. The man wasn't lying to him. He was genuinely bewildered by his outburst. Hammond wondered if someone didn't ought to tip O'Neill the wink but then decided against it – there were some things a man just had to realize for himself, and of course it made life a damned sight easier for him if Jack just blundered on in his present ignorance. However, it really wasn't doing a lot for Daniel Jackson's mental health.

In some ways Hammond was relieved. He had been afraid, after seeing the video of Doctor Jackson sobbing in self-hatred that an entirely different scenario had played out on that planet: one in which something irretrievable had been done. O'Neill had clearly buried some things so deep as to be practically inaccessible, as his current astonishment at his actions proved, so it wasn't beyond the realms of possibility that he might have lashed out if something was…offered to him, that he wasn't yet ready to accept. Accepting and wanting were two entirely different things, of course. But just because O'Neill might want something didn't mean that he recognized that he did.

Treading carefully, Hammond said, "I think you know how much Doctor Jackson respects your opinion and needs your approval. Any criticisms you may have made of him on that planet he's going to believe unless you make sure that he realizes they weren't true. I think you owe it to yourself, Doctor Jackson, and SG-1 in general to be pretty damned nice to that boy over the next week, Jack. And you're not going out on another mission until you've got this sorted out."

"Yes, sir." Jack was glad the other man was taking it as seriously as he was. He knew as well as Hammond how much harm he'd done with his inexplicable fit of temper. And he'd not only forfeited Daniel's trust with his insane outburst, he'd alienated Teal'c and Carter as well.

First things first. He squared his shoulders as he left Hammond's office, mentally thinking that a firing squad would be easier to face than the archaeologist right now. He still couldn't believe he'd done something so…despicable. After years of defending Daniel's right to remain who he was, he'd blamed a civilian for not acting more like a soldier; he'd used the fact that he was Daniel's commanding officer to humiliate him in front of people whose good opinion he rated higher than…. Damnit that wasn't why it was despicable and he knew it, nothing to do with Daniel being weaker, younger, or less military than himself; Daniel was his friend: you didn't do that to your friends.

There was another thought just circling on the edge of that one that he couldn't get a grip on: something else you didn't do to your friends, but he couldn't pull it into focus, it was more like white noise at the edge of a clear transmission: buzzing, insistent, but for the moment incomprehensible. Jack pushed it from his thoughts and concentrated on the task at hand: apologizing to Daniel, no, groveling to Daniel, no, damned well getting down on his knees and begging Daniel to forgive him for acting like such a total asshole.

He knocked quietly on Daniel's office door. "Daniel, it's Jack. Can I come in?"

There was a pause before Daniel said in a muffled voice, "Not right now, Jack, I'm…tired."

Jack closed his eyes. "It can't really wait, Daniel, but it won't take a minute and then I'll be out of your hair, I swear." As there was only silence, he added softly, "Please, Danny?"

Daniel was too kind-hearted to resist that crack in his voice or that nickname which only the older man ever used. Jack heard him shuffling forward, the bolt being drawn back…. He'd had a whole speech prepared but the sight of Daniel's face knocked it straight out of his head: those red eyes, that white skin, god, the poor guy looked so unutterably miserable. "Oh, Daniel," Jack said helplessly. "What did I do to you?"

Daniel turned away so quickly Jack guessed those traitorous tears must have welled up again. Suddenly becoming aware of curious soldiers in the corridor behind him, Jack hurriedly went into the office and closed the door. He put his arms around Daniel, hugging him apologetically. "I don't know what came over me. I have no idea what I was thinking of. I must have gone temporarily insane or something. I just…I thought you were going to die and I was so fucking scared…it's like seeing your kid run across a main road, you just get this rush of blood to the head that's fuelled by terror, because you know if anything happened to him, you'd…never get over it." Jack winced and held Daniel closer, saying very gently, "I've already lost Charlie and Skaara, Daniel, I couldn't survive losing you as well. You've got to have some pity on my poor old heart."

Daniel pulled away from his embrace abruptly then looked at him with an unreadable face. At least, Jack knew that expression but he couldn't work out quite what it was… Oh yes, he did recognize it now, the look of a man who'd just been slapped. What? Something he'd just said had hurt Daniel more?

Jack frowned. "Daniel, did I say something wrong? I didn't mean to. Please believe how sorry I am for what I said and did back there. I just want to make everything right between us."

"You have, Jack," Daniel returned. "I'm sorry too. I should have come when you told me to."

"I had no right to yell at you like that."

"It's okay, Jack, really." Daniel managed a rather shaky smile. "We've all been under a lot of strain and let's not forget that you did save my life today."

Jack knew he could leave it like this. He'd apologized, Daniel had accepted his apology, but it wasn't quite enough. "Can I sit down?"

Daniel looked surprised, clearly thinking that the conversation was over and Jack would now leave. "Of course – here." He pulled out a chair, noticed belatedly it was covered in books, cleared them off, then offered it to him.

Jack turned it around and straddled it, resting his chin on the back of the chair. Daniel sat down by his desk. He looked nervous, Jack noticed, still trembling a little. Not afraid of him, just…nervous. Jack said, "Do you want to tell me what it was I said that upset you? When I was talking about Charlie? I said something wrong?"

"No…it's just. I didn't know that was how you saw me, that's all – a surrogate son." Daniel darted him a quick look then that Jack couldn't quite categorize. "I don't think of you as a…father figure."

"I should hope not. How old do you think I am?"

A real smile from Daniel at last. That was something, at any rate.

Jack tried to explain but it wasn't easy when he wasn't that sure of what he meant himself. "I only meant that I care about you that much and it would be as hard for me if you got yourself killed as it was when Charlie died, that's all."

"That's a hell of a lot, Jack. Thank you. I don't know what to say." Daniel darted him another sideways glance. "So you don't think of me as a son?"

"No. You're a friend. My best friend, Daniel."

"Because I'm like thirty four and you're only, what forty- forty-something? So unless you began really really young then…"

"Definitely not a son, okay?" Jack looked at the other intently. "Are we going to be okay – after what I did? I don't want you to think I'm going to start shaking your fillings out of your head every time I raise my voice."

"We're going to be fine."

"I'm sorry."

"I know, Jack, you said. I'm sorry too. I don't blame you. I just didn't realize I was fraying your nerves so much. I'll try not to do it again."

"Just try not to get yourself killed, Daniel, because I swear to God, I think you'd be taking me with you."

Daniel looked into the older man's eyes and evidently saw that he was absolutely serious. "Yow! Hell of a guilt trip there, Jack."

"I mean it."

"I can see that." Daniel got to his feet and did a passable imitation of a salute. "Promise to be a better soldier from now on, Colonel O'Neill, sir."

Jack smiled at him, relief in his dark eyes. "Nah, just be you, Daniel, but be a you that doesn't get killed, that'll suit me fine." He reached out and ruffled the other man's short hair gently. "I mean, why change perfection?" And then he was gone, leaving Daniel suddenly very still and thoughtful, still feeling the heat of the man's hand touching the top of his head.

Jack found Teal'c and Carter in her office and tapped tentatively on the open door before stepping inside. He began without preamble, "I just want to apologize to the two of you as well, apologizing doesn't usually come easy to me, but I have to say I'm happy to eat crow on this. I was way out of line and I'm grateful to the two of you for stopping me when you did. I have no idea why I acted that way to Daniel but I can promise you it will never happen again."

"Have you spoken to Daniel, sir?"

Jack nodded. "Oh yeah. And I think we're okay now. But I need to go the infirmary, get myself checked out, make sure it's not some kind of bug that made me go off the deep end."

"I do not think that you were suffering from any illness, O'Neill," Teal'c observed.

"It would almost be a relief to find I was." The man ran a hand through his graying hair. "Can't believe I lost it with Daniel like that."

"Maybe it's been a long time coming, sir," Carter put in. "Daniel is kind of scary sometimes. The way he doesn't notice danger."

"He's absolutely terrifying sometimes, but that's still no excuse. So, that was all I wanted to say – I'm sorry, it won't happen again, and thanks for hauling me off him before I did something even worse. Still can't think what the hell I was thinking of."

After Jack had nodded to them and left, still shaking his head in bewilderment, Teal'c said thoughtfully, "For an intelligent man, Colonel O'Neill is not very astute at times."

Carter shrugged. "Guess it's just something they have to figure out in their own time, Teal'c."

Jaffa and Captain exchanged a glance, both saw that the other was definitely on the same page they were, and they exchanged a brief nod of recognition. Perhaps Daniel and O'Neill weren't quite there yet but it was good to know that at least half of SG-1 knew what the hell was going on.

It was only when Jack awoke at three in the morning that he remembered what he'd said to Daniel as he left. He'd ruffled the anthropologist's hair and then said…which was a bit of an odd thing to say to another man, really, but then his relationship with Daniel had always been a bit odd. And the other was so much younger than him, he was practically a…except no, not a child; not some stepson he'd had dumped on him from whom he received an affection he wasn't sure he'd merited, over whom he had to assert an authority he wasn't sure he'd earned the right to exercise. It wasn't until Daniel had asked him outright that he'd ever tried to figure out how exactly he did see the younger man. So, not exactly a surrogate son, no; friend, yes, definitely; younger-brother-figure, sort-of; except Skaara had definitely been the son substitute; Teal'c was a damned good friend; Carter was practically the unnecessarily pretty sister he'd never had. And Daniel resolutely didn't slot into any of those categories as neatly as the others did. He was just…Daniel. Inimitably, maddeningly, lovably and sometimes disturbingly himself. As he rolled over and went back to sleep, Jack wondered why it was that when they knew everything there was to know about one another, some aspect of Daniel, or his relationship with Daniel still felt unclear to him, like a jigsaw puzzle in which a few crucial pieces were missing. He drifted back to sleep, still pondering.…

The next two missions went so smoothly Jack had to pinch himself to be sure he wasn't dreaming. He deliberately cut Daniel as much slack as possible and Daniel equally deliberately didn't take any of it up. Given leave to spend as long as he liked looking at ruins, Daniel had videotaped them in double-quick time and made sure he never strayed more than twenty feet from another member of SG-1. And even when Daniel had started enthusiastically describing the markings on some clay pot he'd found, Jack hadn't interrupted him once – although that had kind of back-fired because Daniel had become so disorientated by not being told 'Whatever' or to give them the short version that he'd started to gabble and then come to an abrupt stop, saying, "You don't want to hear about all of this now."

"No, really, Daniel, I'm interested."

The linguist had given Jack one of those sideways smiles of such sweetness that unsuspecting members of Doctor Fraiser's nursing staff had been known to visibly stagger from the impact. "Now I know you're lying, Jack."

Jack had grinned back at him. "You should take advantage of my moment of weakness, Dannyboy, and, who knows I might actually learn something."

"Except you're right," Daniel put down the pot, "and you don't need to know this. I do because it's my job, but you don't. You just need to know all the stuff you know that I don't – the keeping-us-all-alive-and-getting-us-home-in-one-piece stuff."

"Well, the way I see it, you're part of that process too, Daniel. So's Carter, so's Teal'c, because the fun thing about these trips of ours is that we never know what the hell we're going to need to get us all home: knowledge of the Goa'uld, brute strength and ignorance, astrophysical number crunching, or someone who knows how to talk so many languages it makes my head spin just to think about it. We all have a part to play in the process and that's why we make such a great team. Now, if your morale isn't all boosted after that I don't know what I can do with you guys."

As Jack walked over to fetch more kindling from the fire, Daniel watched him go thoughtfully and then turned to Carter. "You know I think Jack's biggest fear is that one day the rest of us are going to realize just how many hidden depths he has and that bluff Air Force Colonel disguise he puts on is going to be blown for good."

"I won't tell if you won't," Carter returned.

He grinned at her and then returned to translating the signs on the edge of the pot.

From time to time as he warmed his hands by the fire, Jack looked over at the anthropologist and smiled. It was good to see Daniel happy doing his stuff. It was good to see him looking happy. Hell, it was just good to see him. Gotta love that kid, he thought. He thought that often. What he never thought was what he meant by it.

***

It had just been dumb luck –whether good or bad they hadn't yet decided – that their next mission landed them right in the middle of what appeared to be some kind of Intergalactic Peace Convention. Of course, as Carter explained to Jack as the welcoming party nodded and bowed to them before politely but firmly directing them to where they were expected to go, that was not the kind of thing the probe could be expected to pick up.

Jack turned to their linguist after the man had finished an exchange with the representatives which seemed to involve a lot of bowing and words with no vowels. "Daniel, tell me what's going on here?"

"Okay, as well as I can understand it, representatives from other planets agree to come to the neutral planet of Talos – here – and submit themselves to the Talosian customs to prove that they've come here genuinely in search of peace, and then they get to negotiate with one another. Now the Talosian customs seem to be more of a problem than the negotiations – I think the negotiations themselves could actually be a very good thing for us to get in on. None of these people are Goa'uld and yet some of their planets may well have been enslaved by the Goa'uld and be in need of our assistance in defeating them, or they may have got rid of them by themselves and be able to share information with us about how they did it. However, to be permitted to get around the negotiating table, each party has to show their good faith by submitting to the aforementioned Talosioan customs. It's to do with turning up at the conference table with a 'pure heart' and a 'clear mind', having to know yourself before you can attempt to communicate with others. Basically there seems to be some kind of ritual the leader of each party goes through – which I'm not very clear about to be honest because although I kept asking them what it entailed, if it was a test or an ordeal or whatever, they kept telling me it was something that goes on within the leader himself, that the test depends upon the character of the man."

"From which you deduce…?"

"I'm thinking maybe similar to some Native American or aboriginal ritual, Jack, like a drug you take so that you can get in contact with the spirits of your ancestors. It doesn't appear to be horrible, and yet some of the words used to describe it on the markings on those pillars suggested that it was."

"Well, if they're going to give the Colonel the local equivalent of mescaline or LSD then they wouldn't be able to predict how it would affect him," Carter pointed out. "He might have a good trip, he might have a bad one. They're not going to know."

Daniel looked at Jack with worried eyes. "Jack, I do think it could be a good thing for us to get round that negotiating table but it's not worth risking your health or sanity to do it."

"Go and find out as much as about this 'ritual' business as you can, Daniel." Trying to lighten it, Jack added, "Tell them we didn't get the information pack they usually send out to delegates and we need to know what we're getting into before we commit ourselves." As Daniel obediently headed off, Jack looked around at Carter and Teal'c's anxious faces. "Look, there's no obligation here, we can walk away from this one if we want to, but as Daniel says, if there's a way to get into those negotiations that's – relatively – painless, I think we should go for it."

Teal'c frowned. "Even to gain a tactical advantage over the Goa'uld or to help fan the flames of revolt in others would not be worth risking your health, O'Neill."

"Sir, why don't we go back and fetch Doctor Fraiser – get here to come and analyze whatever it is they want you to drink."

"It's not an option, Carter. The Stargate is locked down for the next twenty-four hours so that no unexpected visitors arrive halfway through the ritual stage of the proceedings. Didn't Daniel fill you in on that little detail? We barely got through before it was shut down. To be honest, I don't blame them. All the delegates are here and if I do decide to drink their wonder potion I'd like to know the Goa'uld aren't going to wander in while I'm stoned. We can sit this one out or we can get involved with it, but what we can't do is go home yet."

It was an hour before Daniel came back, his notebook looking even more crumpled than usual, as he had clearly been making copious notes. "Okay," he rifled through the pages, much of it, Carter noticed, not written in English. "Everyone says there's no physical danger to the subject and the stuff you drink can't hurt you, however what can hurt you is your psychological reaction to what is 'revealed' to you while you're in your state of…trance. Basically, it seems to be a truth drug."

"What like extra-terrestrial Sodium pentathol?" Jack said in disbelief.

"No. I mean more of a 'truth about yourself' drug, Jack. It reveals to you – " Daniel flicked through his notebook. "Um…here it is…your sort of innermost self, I think it means, or maybe…something about yourself you haven't yet realized. It's not a very exact language, to be honest."

Jack shrugged. "That doesn't sound too terrible. I don't think I'm such a bad guy. I can probably bear to look myself in the eye for a couple of hours." Remembering some of the things he'd had to do for the United States Government over the years, he did wonder if he was being a little cocky there but shrugged. "And if not, tough. I'll just have to get over it."

"You're sure?" Daniel looked at him anxiously.

"Yeah. No problem." Jack wished he felt as confident as he sounded. What the hell was he thinking of, agreeing to this? Was he nuts? "And anyway, how's it going to look if the only guy who wimps out on this ritual business is the representative from Earth? We're not exactly going to make a favorable impression before all these potential new allies, are we?"

"No, I guess not." Daniel was still looking at Jack. "Um, one of us is allowed to stay with you, so I think maybe that should be me."

Carter and Teal'c exchanged a look and then Carter said, "I'm not sure that's such a good idea, Daniel."

Daniel frowned. "Why not? If anything does go wrong I'm the only one who can communicate with the Talosians to ask them for medical help anyway."

As Carter and Teal'c still looked decidedly worried, Jack said to them, "Is this because of that stupid flare-up I had all those weeks ago? What, you don't think Daniel is safe with me?"

"No, sir, that's not what we're saying."

"Well, what are you saying?" Daniel demanded.

He and Jack both had their arms folded and were staring at her belligerently. Like father and son, she thought. No, in fact, more like some old married couple that has been together so long they've stared unconsciously mimicking each other's behavior. Carter sighed. "Well, it's just if it puts you in touch with your…innermost desires…I mean, if it reveals your true self to you, wouldn't you – " She was floundering now, and knowing she'd said too much or too little, her nerve failed her and she quickly changed tack. "I just think that's the kind of experience someone would probably rather go through alone, that's all."

"Well, I'd feel a hell of a lot better knowing Daniel was around to monitor the situation and make sure I wasn't trying to stab myself in the head or whatever," Jack returned. "And if I act like a jerk, well, I guess he's probably one of the very few people in the world that I don't mind seeing me do it." As Teal'c shook his head, Jack said. "Look, just what do you and Carter think my true self is, for crying out loud? What do you think I'm going to do to Daniel?"

There was a breathless silence in which Carter and Teal'c didn't dare to look at one another before the Jaffa said reluctantly, "We do not fear that you will…injure Daniel Jackson, O'Neill. I apologize if I seemed to suggest that he was in any danger from you."

"Well, okay," Jack looked slightly mollified. He glanced at the anthropologist. "You sure you're up for this, Daniel?"

The younger man nodded determinedly. "You?"

Jack found a smile with difficulty. "Ready as I'll ever be."

***

They'd been shown to a tent, not like an army tent, more like some nomad's tent. Daniel had given it a fancy word he couldn't remember now. Anyway, it was kind of comfortable, all rich dark fabrics and cushions on the floor, some pretty inviting looking red-covered pallets all strewn with gold silk for them to sleep on – very Arabian Nights-ish, like you should be saying 'Open Sesame' or eating halva out of some dark-eyed concubine's belly button. Their hosts had left them food and drink, plenty of sumptuous coverings, and then they had politely handed him the gourd containing the ritual potion.

It hadn’t tasted that bad, not as mind-altering alien ritual potions went; he wouldn't actually be asking for a bottle to take home but, on balance, really not that bad. Apart from making him feel a little warm and drowsy it didn't seem to have had much effect, which was a relief in some ways but kind of a disappointment in others after getting himself all geared up for the big revelation.

Even without drinking the potion, Daniel looked pretty warm and drowsy too, over in that corner half-asleep over his notes. He'd taken off his boots and socks, leaving his bare feet to scrunch into some goatskin rug and already looked completely at home. Give him a day and Daniel would be stripped out of that uniform and wearing the native costume, Jack thought.

Stripped… Something flickered at groin level, faint but definite.

That was interesting. He was feeling just a little horny now. Was that the big revelation? He liked sex? Hell, he could have told them that.

As Jack followed the anthropologist's example and removed his own footwear, he noticed that Daniel was almost nodding off now. Daniel was… Daniel was looking pretty good. Funny the things he'd never really noticed before. Such long legs. Long and slim and those narrow hips his equipment belt was almost sliding off. Surprisingly broad shoulders tapering to a slender waist. For a geek the guy had a great figure. And he'd never really noticed that before, the way the lantern light was gilding his hair; revealing all those different colors in Daniel's hair; he'd just thought it was sort of brownish, light brown maybe, well, to be honest, he couldn't remember ever thinking about what the hell color it was before. But now he looked at it, it was so many colors: gold, and hazel, and he thought he glimpsed even some chestnut tones in there. Great hair, really. How come he'd never really touched it properly when it clearly cried out to have fingers run through it, especially now it was so invitingly short? And what an amazing mouth Daniel had, small and red and with that pouty lower lip that kind of made you want to bite it, not cruelly, just little nibbles, before you kissed it so hard you….

Whoa, maybe he shouldn't go there, except, God but that was a beguiling mouth. Impossible to look at that moist pink little opening and not start trying to remember if he'd ever seen Daniel eat an ice cream, or a French stick, or a Snickers bar, or ever put anything over a certain size into that mouth, and if he had then why hadn't he come right there? And impossible too not to start thinking about Daniel's other moist pink little… Whoa! Definitely maybe shouldn't start going there.

Okay. Look somewhere else, but damnit nowhere else was a quarter as interesting as Daniel was right now. Daniel was suddenly fascinating. How the hell could he never have noticed those elegant wrist bones; just look at the way he was holding the pen in those long piano-player's fingers – sheer poetry. And that line from hipbone to knee. He looked so damned cute in those military issue pants. They didn't fit him at any point. In fact, now he came to think of it, none of Daniel's clothes fitted him, the sleeves too long, the waist too baggy. They all seemed to be made for some soldier much broader and taller than he was. Perhaps some packages were so special you couldn't even get them gift-wrapped.

Jack found that he'd crawled closer, just wanting to drink the younger man in. Daniel was still writing in his notebook, pausing every now and then to thoughtfully suck the top of his pen as he contemplated a sentence…. God, but he was cute, Jack thought. And God but he envied that pen. Daniel moistened his lips, the pink tip of his tongue flicking across that inviting lower lip. He tapped the pen thoughtfully on his teeth; small, white, even teeth, Jack noticed. Daniel became aware of the older man then and looked up. "Jack? You feeling okay?"

Stiff as a board actually. Jack tried to act casual. He took off his cap and dropped it on the floor then ran a hand through his graying hair. "Fine, Daniel."

"Your innermost yearnings coming to the surface at all?" Daniel had the pen poised ready.

Typical. He'd be making notes in a minute. Well, actually, Daniel, I don't know if this has anything to do with the glop they just gave me but right now all I really want to do is rip the clothes from your firm young body and ravish you right here.

"Jack?" A gentle prompt, pen still poised.

Jack sat back against the tent pole. Great, he thought, an erection behind me and in front of me. "Feel a little bit…hot, Daniel."

Daniel immediately took off his glasses, folded them carefully, put down his pen and notebook, put his glasses on top of his notebook then leant across and put a hand against Jack's forehead. "You do seem a bit…"

That was when Jack grabbed Daniel by the jacket and pulled him into a kiss. First contact was clumsy, he was over-eager, Daniel was unprepared; their mouths bumped and bruised together, but as Daniel made to yelp in surprise, Jack's tongue found the opening the exclamation left and dived in. So hot and wet and delicious, he never wanted to leave. He clasped a hand to the back of Daniel's head and kissed him deeper, demanding, exploring, probing. If he hadn’t needed oxygen, he probably would have stayed in there forever. But at last he had to reluctantly withdraw his tongue. Daniel was gasping with a mixture of breathlessness and shock. Grabbing some air, Jack pressed his mouth against Daniel's more gently this time; such sweet, soft lips, the sweetest softest lips he'd ever tasted. He couldn't resist nibbling that pouty lower one and it was as delectable as it looked. God but Daniel was so edible. How could he never have noticed before? Why the hell had he wasted so much time?

Daniel recovered enough to push Jack off, scrabbling backwards a few feet, blue eyes huge and shocked... Good God but Daniel had beautiful eyes. Look at those eyelashes: they had to be an inch long.

"Jack! What are you…? I mean…why did you…?" Daniel tentatively put a hand up to his mouth as if to confirm that it was indeed still moist from the other man's kisses.

"God, but you're gorgeous. Come here." Jack leant forward and caught Daniel by the front of his jacket again, pulling him back to him. You just had to be firm with Daniel, he remembered that now. You could quell him with a look as long as you put your mind to it. He just had to be really…definite. Daniel was still staring at him open-mouthed, incoherent with confusion. Actually, that was encouraging, for a small mouth it opened quite a long way. Good, that would definitely be useful later. Jack fixed Daniel with his best Air Force Colonel stare and barked out, "Daniel, kiss me! Now!"

Daniel melted like an ice cream left out in the sun. Jack hadn't thought he could get more desirable than he already was, but suddenly he'd gone all submissive and tentative and it was the sweetest thing Jack had ever seen. With his eyes lowered, Daniel lent over and kissed him, very gently, on the lips, a pressure so delicate it was like having someone whisper poetry against your mouth. Then he glanced up at Jack like he was scared of the man's reaction, checking it was okay for him to have done that and not sure what to do next; looking to the older man for guidance out of those big blue eyes. Jack could feel those long eyelashes actually brushing against his skin. He groaned aloud.

Jack had thought he was already harder than it was possible to be without exploding; he now realized he had only been halfway there.

"Oh God, Daniel," he breathed in awe, "do you have any idea how totally fucking desirable you are?"

As the younger man simply looked even more confused. Jack stroked his short hair back from his forehead, simultaneously reveling in its silkiness against his fingers and admiring that wonderful bone structure. Only good idea that bitch Hathor ever had, he thought to himself. Gotta love a haircut that let's you see more of a face this beautiful. Then he ran a thumb down Daniel's left cheekbone and jaw, before tilting his head back a little so he could lean across and steal another kiss. He tried to make this one as soft as Daniel's but that mouth was so irresistible he couldn't resist pushing in harder, letting his tongue lap back to that warm cavern. This time Daniel's tongue tentatively entwined with his, then he was plundering Daniel's mouth, deep flickers the younger man was welcoming in.

Then Jack found he was lowering Daniel onto the rich pallet that made up one of the beds and he was on top of him, kissing all of his face, those eyes, those cheeks, that jaw, that long delicate throat, God but he could feast on that neck forever, but no, there was so much of Daniel that needed to be tasted; a whole new and beautiful continent to explore. Jack suddenly realized that there were way too many clothes on Daniel and began to tug at them impatiently. First zip undone. Second zip undone. Damnit…!

"Buttons, Jack…" Daniel panted breathlessly, "have to…undo…buttons…"

With Daniel supine between his legs, Jack was eight impatient inches away from just whipping the knife out of his belt and cutting these damned clothes off of him, but the one part of his brain that wasn't currently lodged in his groin reminded him that Daniel's clothes being slashed to ribbons might take a little explaining not just to Carter and Teal'c but also to General Hammond.

There were so many goddamned buttons! He wondered what kind of sadist had ever designed this uniform. Then it struck him that this wasn't the uniform. Under that one-zip-and-it's-outta-here green jacket, Daniel was wearing a non-issue shirt.

"Why have you got this shirt on?" Jack roared in frustration.

Lying on his back between the other man's legs, Daniel gave him another of those big-eyed looks that made it feel like someone was using a ribbon device on Jack's midriff, everything churning and twisting over inside. "I was cold, Jack. I didn't think anyone would mind."

"Well, I mind." Jack tugged off the multi-pocketed impediment to his desires that some fool in the military had seen fit to dress Daniel in and threw it across the tent. The green jacket, previously unzipped with one downward tug, quickly followed. Only two layers to go now before he could taste bare flesh. "Is this a favorite shirt?" he asked huskily.

Daniel swallowed, eyes fixed on Jack's face. "Not…not especially."

"Thank God for that!" Jack whipped out his knife and began to slice through the cloth. Buttons pinged in all directions as the shirt tore with a satisfying rip. He felt like an implacable sheik with a struggling concubine. Damn, but he could do with a moustache to twirl right now. Not that Daniel was struggling, of course, more like…shocked into submission, lying there on his back, gasping faintly, that delectable mouth half open, tongue occasionally flickering across the now kiss-swollen lips. His eyes were fixed on Jack's face, those huge blue eyes, half-astonished, half-aroused, pupils dilating to bigger and bigger black velvet rings. He hardly flinched as his shirt was ripped off and thrown into the corner, still gazing dazedly at Jack.

Just the t-shirt now. Jack pushed the black cloth up impatiently and buried his face in Daniel's abdomen, ribs, chest. God but his skin was so perfect, so smooth and warm, like hot satin under the tongue, you just had to kiss it and kiss it and lick it a little and then kiss it some more. Daniel was moaning faintly and Jack couldn't resist looking up to see the younger man with his head thrown back, that long neck so exposed and vulnerable, mouth open, eyes closed. Jack tongued his nipples and the moans got much louder much quicker. Daniel's hands were making vague motions towards him. At first Jack thought the younger man was trying to push him away but then he realized Daniel was blindly trying to get a hold of his clothes, wanting to feel bare flesh against his own.

Swearing, Jack reared up and pulled off his own jacket. What idiot had ever invented clothing in the first place anyway? He threw the jacket into a corner and then pulled his t-shirt over his head in one movement. He was back down on top of Daniel gently biting his throat before the younger man had even opened his eyes.

Daniel's fingers touched the graying fuzz on Jack's chest tentatively and then he was reaching for his face, making a soft mewing noise as he ran his fingers through Jack's short-cropped hair that was without a doubt the sexiest thing that Jack had ever heard in his life. He had to go in for another kiss, couldn't help himself. This time Daniel even tried to do some tonguework himself; very tentatively pushing it into Jack's open mouth. Jack sucked on Daniel's tongue and felt the other quiver underneath him. God, Daniel was such a waking wet dream, so innocent and trusting, so inexperienced and yet so open to each new idea Jack was tossing him. That these very emphatically were new ideas was obvious. Daniel was clearly pretty clueless about all of this but then again…with a sense of satisfaction, Jack remembered what a quick learner the linguist was.

He felt Daniel's fingers fumbling at his belt buckle and realized that the kid was a step ahead of him here. God yes, he definitely wanted out of these damned restricting pants and those confining boxers but even worse was that there were still clothes on Daniel. That couldn't be right. Daniel definitely needed to be naked. He could think of nothing more pressing or important at the moment than getting Daniel naked. A.S.A.P.

Jack reluctantly used his tongue to push Daniel's out of his mouth, still savoring the flavor of him even as he regained the use of his lips. "T-shirt. Pants. Underwear. Ten minutes ago."

Daniel gazed up at him, eyes all dreamy and dark with passion. "What?"

Interesting really: the guy still couldn't follow orders even when they were in the bedroom instead of on the battlefield.

Jack bent forward and whispered in Daniel's ear, "Get out of those clothes now, Jackson, before I'm forced to rip them from your gorgeous body with my teeth." He was unbuttoning his own pants as he spoke: always the sign of a good officer, of course, one who led by example.

And yes, Daniel was indeed a quick learner, or else this was just an idea he could really relate to because he was quickly sitting up to pull the t-shirt over his head and throw it to one side and then unbuckling his belt, unbuttoning his pants. Already out of his own, Jack obligingly caught hold of the green cloth and dragged it down from Daniel's narrow hips. Interesting bulge in those boxers, he noticed, good, he'd've hated to think he was the only guy here with a hard-on; down over those slender but shapely thighs with their dusting of fine fair hairs; dear God, wouldn't you know it, Daniel even had delectable knees; damnit the boy was flawless. A quick kiss for those knees, and actually those thighs were pretty tasty, his inner thighs were downright…up, up, no too much distraction lay thataway, had to get back to getting the damn pants off him. Another quick tug and Daniel was wearing only a pair of strained silk boxers.

Jack tossed the pants over his shoulder, eyes fixed on that slender yet muscular body that was literally quivering on the ground in front of him; quivering with…anticipation. That was so like Daniel, he thought fondly, had no clear idea what this old-established native custom entailed but was willing to try it out anyway. He held Daniel's gaze and noticed again that Daniel's eyes weren't really blue anymore, his pupils had expanded so much his eyes were almost black with desire, with only a thin disk of blue left around the edges: total eclipse of the heart indeed.

Jack stripped off his own boxers, tossing them over his shoulder in the fond hope that he wouldn't have to don them again for hours…damnit days. That was when Daniel emitted a faint gasp; a tinge of color stained his pale cheeks and his eyes, if it were possible, got even bigger. His jaw actually dropped. On another day Jack might have taken it as a compliment but given the circumstances he wasn't happy to see Daniel looking quite that shocked. "Come on, Danny – nothing here you haven't seen before."

"But not like that, Jack."

Jack looked down at his cock and wondered when it had gotten so monstrous. It was showing off, damnit, puffing itself up like, didn't it know this wasn't a good time to scare the kid off? But regret settled in him as his conscience waged a brief but decisive battle with his libido. No way can you do that to him with that on your first date, his conscience said and even though his libido was jumping up and down in frustration going Wannawannawannawanna he knew it had lost this battle.

And anyway, he told himself firmly, he wanted their first time to be perfect. Wine, dinner, candlelight: the whole nine yards. He was going to prove to Daniel that he could be tender, considerate, romantic…all of that stuff. But in the meantime, he just had to have a little appetizer…

He quickly knelt down astride Daniel and planted another kiss on him, gentle and sweet, murmuring his name. Such a beautiful name. How had he never realized in all the times he'd said it, called it, downright yelled it, how beautiful it was? He kept kissing him, red lips, cheekbone, temple, cheekbone, jaw, quick diversion to that moist sweet mouth again, god but it tasted so good. And Daniel was melting again, going boneless beneath him, deliquescing into the cushions in a way that just made you want to lick him up like vanilla ice cream. Kissing Daniel's stomach, Jack reached up and took hold of those boxers, sliding them down. Daniel was helping, trying to kick them off. Good boy.  Yes, they were on one ankle, they were off. Daniel was finally and deliciously naked.

For a few minutes, Jack just reveled in Daniel's uncovered skin, the warmth of it, flavor of it, texture of it, so smooth and edible. He dropped butterfly kisses all over him and when that made Daniel moan and clutch at the cushions in a very satisfactory manner followed up with licks, nibbles and then little bites. One thing about initiating someone who had clearly never been properly introduced to his own erogenous zones, you made the voyage of discovery together. If anything it was more of a surprise to Daniel than it was to Jack to realize that there was that place just behind Daniel's right ear that sent a deep shudder of pleasure straight through him, or that a hot tongue actually inside the ear made him yelp and gasp in a most gratifying manner. And the women Daniel had dated (presuming Sha're hadn't been the only one which Jack was frankly starting to wonder) had obviously never tongued the anthropologist's nipples before because that made him writhe and clutch even more gratifyingly. Given how much of a reaction he was getting from these PG-Rated zones, O'Neil couldn't help thinking that introducing Daniel to his prostate gland might have been a hell of a lot of fun, but he dismissed the traitor thought quickly.

Jack tortured Daniel sweetly, delighting in every surprised gasp, those moans and weird growling noises that came from so deep within his chest, those little whimpering sounds that were so incredibly arousing he wished he'd brought some recording equipment with him so he could preserve them for posterity. But then he just had to taste that erect cock, had to swirl his tongue around the leaking head, lick the underside, follow that vein, suck on those balls, and then finally, as Daniel was moaning and clutching at his hair, murmuring, "Jack…! Jack…!" had to swallow it up to the root.

Daniel's first blow job if he wasn't very much surprised. Christ, what had he and Sha're actually done in bed? The inevitable problem of two innocents together, perhaps. Daniel had all that curiosity buzzing around inside him yet he'd never wondered what it felt like to have someone do this for him? As Daniel bucked underneath him, fingers twisted in Jack's hair, moans getting louder and more frenzied, Jack realized that it would never have occurred to poor innocent Sha're to offer and that Daniel would, of course, have always been too gentle – and gentlemanly – to ask.

Jack had never done this before either, but unlike Daniel he'd had it done to him many a time and he knew what worked for this flyboy probably held good for your average archaeologist; exactly when licking and mouthing needed to become rhythmic deep-throating to make him come like…Well, pretty much like that really.

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

He'd heard Daniel yell his name before, of course, but never quite like that. Daniel yelling his name was usually the prelude to something terrible occurring: savages leaping out at them, Daniel disappearing, energy pulses splattering dangerously by their heads, roofs collapsing on them, Daniel being zapped by something. He liked this occasion way better than any of the others. Daniel could yell his name like that anytime.

Daniel's body jerked ecstatically at the moment of orgasm, head thrown back, mouth open, eyelids fluttering like he'd just received a million volts of pure pleasure through every nerve in his body. Jack swallowed Daniel down, damn near coming himself in the process and then looked up to find Daniel gasping wildly, arms and legs akimbo, entire body sheened with sweat, shuddering with the aftershocks of what had clearly been the orgasm to end all orgasms.

"Oh God, Jack, that was incredible, that was… Oh God…" Daniel was gasping for air and Jack had to admit that he felt pretty damned smug. It was a hell of a long time since he'd gotten that kind of a reaction from anyone.

Jack crawled up him and kissed the younger man tenderly on the mouth, wanting Daniel to taste himself, how deliciously bitter and salty and yet still sweet he was. He lapped his tongue into Daniel's mouth while the other panted dazedly, eyes still glassy from his clearly shattering climax.

"So, Daniel," Jack whispered slyly, between kisses, "did the earth move for you?"

Daniel blinked and focused on him. He said breathlessly, "I swear…you just scored a ten…on the Richter scale."

"Flattery will get you everywhere," Jack purred, kissing him again.

Daniel's desire-darkened eyes held his. He caught Jack's hand and pulled the man's index finger to his mouth, licking it deliberately before moistening his lips, that little flicker of tongue across his lower lip impossibly arousing to Jack's already near-bursting cock. "Want…more…Jack." It was an appeal and invitation in one.

Although there was nothing he would have liked more himself than to take Daniel up on what he was offering, Jack regretfully knew he was going to have to decline. After all, there was inexperienced and then there was Daniel Jackson. And, anyway, it had to be perfect, right? Perfect setting. Perfect timing. Perfect in every possible way. He bent and kissed the other tenderly. "Just let me rub up against you, Danny boy, I swear what's good enough for matches, is good enough for me. I promise you, a little friction from your luscious body and I will burst into flames."

"No, Jack, please, I want you to…"

Stopping Daniel's mouth with a kiss, Jack quickly matched the action to his previous words, slowly rubbing his erect cock against Daniel's flaccid one. As Daniel began to protest, Jack kept kissing him, stifling his complaints. He continued to rub himself against the younger man, and as his rhythm increased, Daniel's cock got harder and harder, their hips bucking together as they thrust and groaned. But despite the concord of their bodies, Daniel was still arguing with him, Jack having to keep kissing him deep and hard to stifle his protests. Now and then he had to come up for air and was fascinated to find that Daniel's famed ability to go for ten minutes at a time without needing to breathe, so often demonstrated when he was in 'lecture mode', worked just as well during sex.

"But I want to…want to feel you inside me…Jack…please, Jack…let me…Oh God…Jack…Jack…Jack!…Jack!"

God yes he could definitely get used to Daniel yelling his name like that. In fact it was the sound of Daniel shouting that last 'Jack!' that finally did it for Jack and he came with a deep-groaned 'Danny!' of his own before sinking down onto the younger man and kissing him senseless, holding his head between his hands this time so that he couldn't escape the sweet bruising of his mouth.

Daniel was practically swooning in his arms, wiped out with sensory overload and Jack felt more like a dashing sheik than ever. Daniel was so simultaneously innocent and irresistible he should have had a Born To Be Ravished tattoo on one shapely ankle.

The archaeologist was whispering something and Jack bent to hear him better. "Still…want you…inside me, Jack."

Jack kissed him on the ear. "Not gonna happen, Danny. Not here." He let his tongue explore the delicate lobe, remembering how the younger man had quivered and shuddered from the pleasure of it last time.

Daniel shuddered now, eyes closed as his throat gulped convulsively. "Please, Jack."

Still nuzzling his ear, Jack murmured, "Not the time or the place, Daniel."

Daniel opened his eyes and looked up at him, sadly. Jack's heart missed a beat at the look of hurt in those beautiful blue eyes. Daniel said wretchedly, "Don't you want me, Jack?"

"Oh God, Danny!" Jack swept him up into his arms to kiss him tenderly on the mouth. "Do I want you? How the hell can you ask me that? I want you more than anything in the world. I would like nothing better than to bury myself in your gorgeous ass for a fortnight but it ain't gonna happen here."

"Why not?" Daniel's eyes were downcast, the long eyelashes sweeping down to send shadows across his pale cheeks.

"Because it would hurt you and I don't want to hurt you."

"You'd never hurt me, Jack."

Jack looked at Daniel's eyes fixed on him with such unwavering trust, the lower lip trembling a little. He kissed him again. "No, Daniel, I wouldn't. And I'm not going to start now." Seeing his disappointment he kissed him again, over and over, gentle and sweet. It was an odd thing about kissing Daniel, you'd really think you'd done it enough to last you for ten minutes and then you found you needed to dive back in and grab some more of that beautiful mouth after thirty seconds or less. "And anyway, I want our first time to be perfect."

"But Jack…"

More kisses. Had to. Only way to shut him up. Daniel was like a kid asking for a dangerous toy, unable to believe it would hurt him until… No, he wasn't going to go there. And he wasn't going to go there either, despite the fact that somehow in sweeping Daniel up into his arms to comfort him he'd inadvertently sat him down on his lap. Becoming aware of its close proximity to its desired target, his cock was traitorously hardening again. Damn thing was like a homeless Goa'uld larva sniffing out a Jaffa's pouch. Jack shifted uncomfortably. When we're home, he thought, on a real bed with lots of time and privacy and lubricant and when I'm not so incredibly turned on that I can't trust myself to be gentle.

Daniel turned on his lap and draped one arm around his neck, laying his head on Jack's shoulder to gaze up at him out of drowsy blue eyes. Orgasmed out, Jack thought. Disappointment or not, Daniel was going to be asleep in five minutes anyway. They'd never even tasted the food. They ought to do something about getting their clothes sorted out, untangled, work out where the damp patches were and try to avoid sleeping on them. Sleep.

Daniel's eyelids were closing; he was practically unconscious in his arms. Jack reached out and grabbed a piece of gold-colored silk he didn't think either of them had come on and wrapped it around Daniel before gently easing him down onto the sleeping pallet and covering him with another piece of embroidered cloth. The archaeologist murmured, "Jack…" sleepily, but contentedly too. A bit dazed and confused by the speed and turn of events, Daniel might be, but unhappy he clearly wasn't.

Jack thought about collecting all their clothes up, concealing the sliced up shirt, and folding their retrieved garments into neat little piles, then he thought about just sliding under those covers next to Daniel and the second idea was so much more appealing than the first he'd given into before he'd barely had time to think.

When he fell asleep it was with Daniel's head on his chest, his hands tangled in Daniel's soft hair, Daniel's breathing a rhythm to lull him to his dreams.

***

When he awoke, Daniel was still lying on his chest. For a few seconds, Jack just enjoyed listening to the sound of Daniel breathing, the comforting weight of him on Jack's chest, Daniel's body rising and falling in rhythm with his. And then memory arrived like a train wreck.

He'd… My God. He'd actually… They'd…The truth potion had clearly done its stuff and then some… So that was what he'd always wanted…?

Jack looked down in the dim rose-hued light and tentatively touched Daniel's hair. Just as soft as he remembered it. That wonderful scent of pinecones. He could feel the younger man's breath against his skin. He remembered the flavor and taste of his mouth. That was soft too. Those drowned cornflower eyes gazing up at him with such trust and…love.

It occurred to Jack that Daniel hadn't drunk any of the Talosian ritual potion. Perhaps Daniel had just allowed himself to be swept along by the strength and conviction of Jack's sudden passion in much the same way he got swept along by an interesting set of old ruins. Yow – didn't like that analogy. Just for a moment Jack worried that he might have used coercion or force. He was Daniel's Commanding Officer…sort of, and yikes, he had ordered Daniel to kiss him after all…but then he comforted himself with the memory of Daniel gasping out his name, begging him for even more: definitely not the sounds of a man acting against his will.

Perhaps – Daniel was a smart guy after all – the archaeologist had worked out that they should have been getting naked together a whole lot earlier than Jack had, which, given how much fun they'd had last night, begged the obvious question – why the hell hadn't Daniel said anything before?

Because he thought you'd deck him, dickhead. Because you were so ludicrously out of touch with your own innermost desires that you went ballistic with Daniel for nearly getting himself killed and still didn't click. And what would you have done if he'd said 'Jack, I sense there's something more than friendship between us?'

Jack shuddered. He'd have either laughed, sneered, or lashed out. Anyway you looked at it Daniel would have been hurt, possibly even permanently damaged. God, what kind of a guy did that make him? An incredibly stupid one. Ashamed of himself he bent down and kissed Daniel's forehead.

Those long lashes flickered, lifted, drowsy blue eyes gazed up at him; eyes still full of love and trust and…uncertainty. Damn, Daniel was waking up with all kinds of doubts in his head. And the more awake he was getting the less certain he was feeling.

"Hey, sleepyhead," Jack said. This was no time to stand on his dignity. He could blow this in an instant if he tried to play it cool and whatever else happened he knew he didn't want to lose the right to have Daniel gaze up at him dreamily and lovingly; wanted to hear a lot more of the right kind of 'Jack!'s being shouted out loud.

Daniel swallowed and sat up, twisting around to look at the other man. Uh-huh he was hugging the sheet to his naked body, a faint flush of color staining his pale cheeks. His hair was all tousled and Jack just wanted to grab him by it and pull him in for the deepest sweetest kiss…

"Morning, Jack. Uh – how do you feel?"

Okay he could read that one. What the hell do you remember about last night? How do you feel about it? And are you going to blame me?

Just for a second some devil in Jack toyed with the idea of barking out 'Daniel Jackson, you absolute slut, you are off the team!' but sanity prevailed. Not a joke Daniel was likely to laugh at right now. Instead, he leant forward and looked the younger man in the eyes before saying gently, "Like the luckiest guy in the world, Daniel."

Daniel emitted a sigh that was definitely of relief. God but he was so fucking edible. Jack couldn't believe how much time he'd wasted being stupid. Stupid? He must have been blind. Daniel had been right there in front of him all those years and he'd never once wondered how he tasted? What the hell had he been thinking of? Then Daniel's gaze strayed uncertainly to the empty gourd that had contained the Talosian potion. Oh so that's what he was thinking: that Jack was still under the influence.

"I ought to ask the Talosians for the recipe." Jack tried to keep it casual, like he'd never read that thought. He stretched. "Tastes pretty good, puts you in touch with your true feelings, and doesn't even leave you with a hangover."

"Oh…" Daniel's mouth formed an irresistible little 'o' of its own as he made the sound softly. Definitely a hint of hope in that quiet murmur, but not wanting to get too ahead of himself. Someone used to disappointment. Christ, yes, all those nights under alien starscapes when they'd been in adjacent tents, sometimes even the same tent when the weather was so bad it was easier to huddle together. Jack groaned mentally for all those wasted opportunities.

Daniel darted him a sideways look. "So you feel…okay?"

"Actually I feel like a guy who's been carrying a diamond around in his pocket for the last three years and only just realized that it wasn't a pebble, Daniel."

"Oh…" A lot more hope in that murmur. Daniel sat up a little straighter.

"Okay, so tell me the truth," Jack urged him.

Another of those irresistible sideways glances. "About what?"

"Well, here we are: it’s the morning, do you still respect me?"

Yes! Success! A smile. Such a sweet smile too. Daniel really didn't smile anything like often enough – well from now on, he was going to change all that. He was going to make his job to put a smile on that beautiful face at least once a day and twice on weekends. Jack moistened his lips, he was going to have to feel that mouth against his any second or he was going to burst.

Daniel's smile got wider. "In fact, Jack I have a whole new respect for you." He let his gaze drift meaningfully towards Jack's groin.

Jack reached out and wrapped his fingers in Daniel's mussed hair, pulling him in for a kiss. Yes, definitely the softest, sweetest mouth he'd ever tasted. But however many times he confirmed it, he still needed to go back and just check his data again. As they separated for much-needed oxygen, Jack murmured, "You know, Daniel, you really are going to have to learn that size isn't everything."

"You going to teach me, Jack?"

My God, Daniel was actually flirting with him. He could definitely get used to this. Jack ran his thumb tenderly across Daniel's kiss-swollen lips before tasting him again. "Daniel, there are so many things I want to teach you."

"Am I going to need to take notes?"

"Well, let's just say you might need to do some of it more than once to really fix it in your head."

"So we might need to…practice?"

"Oh yeah."

"I can do that." Daniel's blue eyes were already going dark and drowsy with the thought of repeating some of last night's lessons.

Jack almost said then, 'Daniel, you and Sha're, did you do like anything except the missionary position?' but decided against it. The last thing he wanted to do right now was to remind Doctor Daniel Jackson that he was a widower and spoil the mood.

Instead he said, "I'll expect you to do lots of homework."

"Do I have to do it by myself or am I allowed outside assistance?"

"Only from your designated tutor. Definitely not from anyone else."

"And you're…?"

"Your designated tutor, Daniel." That really couldn't be said too firmly.

Daniel smiled at him shyly. "I can live with that."

Jack pulled him in for another long kiss; tongue demanding entrance that it was immediately granted. Just as well no one had got to Daniel first, that was all he could say, the kid was a fast learner and he couldn't have borne it if someone else had got the chance to start pushing all these shiny new buttons. As he reluctantly resurfaced for air, Jack murmured, "God, Daniel I can't wait to get you back on Planet Earth and in my bedroom. Let's pack up and get the hell out of here and then I swear you're not getting off my bed for a week."

Daniel reluctantly disentangled himself from Jack's grip. "Uh – Jack: the conference?"

"What?" Jack's mind was moving much too far ahead and his groin was unfortunately keeping pace every step of the way. Daniel, naked, on his bed; Daniel making those delicious little whimpering moans; Daniel calling his name at the moment of climax…

"Jack?"

"Uh?"

"The conference. The United Aliens Against the Goa'uld Conference thingy you drank the Talosian potion so you could attend? It starts today."

Stuff the conference, was Jack's immediate reaction. Damnit, there were men with pressing erections here. Let Inter-Galactic Diplomacy go play with itself as long as he got to play with Daniel. He groaned in frustration. "Damnit! Damnit to hell. Aw, Danny come over here and kiss me again, will you?" As Daniel happily obliged, Jack groaned again. "If I make it through the day without bursting into flames of frustration it'll be a miracle."

Daniel snuggled in against him, kissing Jack's neck tenderly. "Promise to make it up to you, Colonel O'Neill, sir."

Jack wrapped an arm around his shoulders, hugging him. "Well, you've already given me quite a lot on account, Doctor Jackson. Guess I shouldn't be greedy."

"Not as much as I wanted to," Daniel told him softly.

Jack looked down at the face of the man he realized he damned well loved and said drily, "Danny, you in any pain this morning?"

Daniel frowned. "No, Jack."

"No aching? No bruises? Don't feel like you’ve been kicked in the lower abdomen by a horse? No need to wince when you sit down suddenly? Don't feel like someone took an eight inch lump of gristle and rammed it right up…?"

"Okay. Okay. Smartass, Jack."

"Better than a sore ass, Daniel. Take it from me."

"I kept trying to, but you wouldn't let me."

Oh! No way should words that dirty be coming out of a mouth that innocent: it was just too damned sexy. Jack tried to look stern. "Trust me on this, Daniel. There are some things you just have to take slow or else they're no fun at all. Course," he gave the other a sly smile, "done right they're a whole lot of fun. Whole lot of fun."

Daniel shrugged and sat back. "Well, I'll have to take your word for it, won't I? Seeing as how you wouldn't let me find out for myself." He stretched and said casually, "Wonder if Teal'c would care to…?"

Jack grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him in for another passionate kiss. Then he whispered in Daniel's ear exactly how big the big Jaffa was and had the satisfaction of seeing Daniel's jaw drop again. Yep, for a small mouth Daniel could definitely get it open plenty wide enough. Just another endearing trait amongst millions of others, and God, but how he hated this damned conference.

Then he looked down at Daniel and reminded himself about that night he and Daniel were going to have together when the conference was over that was going to be so damned perfect, and couldn't help smiling. After all, if last night had taught him anything it was that some things really were worth waiting for and that the longer you waited, somehow, the sweeter they were.

***

Jack had realized quite quickly that he and Daniel were going to have two entirely different reports to make on the Anti-Goa'uld Conference they were attending: he thought it was a big fat waste of time, whereas Daniel thought it was the most fun you could have with your clothes on. So many languages, so many races, so many points of view; it was like the United Nations on a really bad hair day and he was so unbelievably bored. What made it worse was that Teal'c and Carter weren't allowed in so he didn't have anyone to share his boredom with. Daniel had been granted some kind of honorary capacity as a translator and was smoothing the path of Galactic peace for all he was worth, finding common languages for people who didn't even look as though they had common ancestors.

The Talosians were clearly impressed with Daniel. They had translators, of course, a few of them ones who could speak six or seven different languages, but they were not in the same league as Daniel. Jack couldn't help feeling proud of him. He even felt proud of the way Daniel was so utterly oblivious of his existence. Ten short hours before, the guy had been gasping his name in ecstasy and right now Jack wasn't sure that Daniel would have remembered who 'Jack' was without a couple of heavy hints, he was so caught up in the act of helping others to communicate. And although it was maddening it was also kind of admirable and endearing. It proved that Daniel was still Daniel; he hadn't been irretrievably altered just by the fact of having sex with his best friend.

For himself, Jack was finding it a lot harder to concentrate. Being a very minor league member of this conference he'd quickly been palmed off with a decidedly second rate translator while Daniel was ushered over to the big important people – i.e. the ones most likely to wage bloody war upon each other without some outside intervention – so Jack didn't understand very much of anything that was being told him and the part of him that wasn't pleased to find that Daniel was still so very much unchanged by their great love-making the night before, really wanted Daniel to sit down next to him and whisper sweet nothings in his ear rather than be springing around the table like a bunny on speed forcing aliens who clearly hated the sight of one another to engage in meaningful dialogues.

Jack much preferred to spend his time either surreptitiously watching Daniel or else planning their 'proper' first time. The first time that he was going to make sure was so damned perfect that Daniel would never forget it. No nomad's tent on some alien world for Daniel. And not just one of their apartments either, with last week's unwashed socks under the couch cushions. No. Somewhere perfect – well, for Daniel that would probably be under the shadow of the Sphinx or something but he was damned if he was getting sand in his ass at his age. His cabin! Yes! Of course, his log cabin in Minnesota, a roaring fire, wonderful food, great wine, beautiful music playing, and then to hell with his back and his knees, he would sweep Daniel up in his arms and carry him into the bedroom…and oh boy did he wish this conference was over.

Every time there was a refreshment break one of the Talosians would wander up with one of their inferior translators and have him tell Jack what an asset Daniel was to the conference. And Jack would force out a smile and a meaningless platitude, but it was getting harder and harder not to retort that Daniel had a whole lot of other assets and the sooner the damned conference was over the sooner Jack got to explore them properly.

Every now and then Jack would remember that General Hammond was going to be expecting him to file a detailed report on this and he'd make some effort to concentrate on the matter in hand, diligently writing notes on the paper the Talosians had provided about who the other delegates were and what anyone had said about the Goa'uld. But at the back of his mind he knew it was a futile exercise. What was the point him in saying, "Um think the big guy in the red might have been a Thrakasian or something and um I think they're holding the Goa'uld off by some kind of tribute system they'd like out of but I'm not quite sure…" when Daniel was going to be able to tell Hammond everything about where these people had come from, when exactly their ancestors had been stolen from earth and by which Goa'uld and whether their language suggested an Indo-European, Thraco-Phyrigian or Indo-Iranian etymology and why?

Watching Daniel was much more pleasurable than paying attention to the other delegates anyway and Jack kept finding himself doing little else. He loved it when Daniel got enthusiastic like that, the way his eyes shone behind his spectacles, the way he effortlessly switched from language to language to include more races in the dialogue like someone juggling seven different oranges at once, and not even seeming to notice that he was doing it. Jack wondered what language Daniel dreamt in. Something old perhaps, velvet-draped and faintly perfumed, the kind of language Coleridge had almost reached when he'd taken all that opium and thought up Kubla Khan.

Jack almost blushed for his own fancifulness. This was him? Jack O'Neill? Sitting here mooning over Daniel like some dumb teenager with a first crush? But the trouble was that now his eyes were opened he couldn't help thinking about just how damned special Daniel was. How often did you get a mind so brilliant accompanied by a nature so sweet, good, and trusting, wrapped inside a body that was so delectable? Okay, maybe in a perfect world, Daniel would have been female and not working for the military, but hell, no one could be absolutely flawless and Daniel still came the closest Jack had ever found to perfection. And…

And who was that guy and why was he looking at Daniel? And especially why was he looking at Daniel like that?

Jack had never been a jealous lover but he had become an extremely protective commander of his team and those protective instincts were still working full blast where Daniel was concerned; making Jack realize that anyone who so much as looked at this new found object of his desire was someone he wanted to punch, hard. Which was crazy, of course. Lots of people were looking at Daniel. He was being kind of dazzling, like an anti-tornado: anywhere he passed through went from chaos to a kind of dazed calm; races who'd always hated the sight of each other suddenly finding themselves having achieved a kind of concord. Daniel was probably the star of the conference and anyway it was unreasonable to expect that no one else in this vast chamber was going to have a set of fully functional hormones that didn't start jumping when that slender-but-perfectly-proportioned body darted past. It just so happened that right now Jack didn't like the thought of Daniel's narrow hips giving anyone an erection except him. And that guy was looking at Daniel way too often, for too long, and in all the wrong places. Kind of lazily, with an arrogance about him, like there was no question about Daniel's availability only whether or not he wanted to…avail himself of it; like he'd half made up his mind to pay the purchase price but wanted to take a little longer to make up his mind.

Get your fucking eyes off of him! Jack thought savagely and irrationally. The guy was big, Teal'c-size, looked as though he knew how to handle himself, something vaguely military about him. If the other guy had been from Earth, Jack would have put him down for a mercenary. Damn. That was probably more or less what he was. Two words kept coming to mind here: Arris Bock. And the word that came right after those two was 'crap'. A bounty hunter of great strength, low cunning, and very few morals, with all kinds of fancy weapons and force fields who on the last trip out had run rings round the whole of SG-1 and laughed as he was doing it. At the time, Jack had thought Bock was a one-off; he'd certainly hoped he was, but this guy was looking so similar Jack had half a mind to whip out a zat gun right now and see if it worked on him. He settled for letting the guy see that he'd seen where he was looking and didn't like it and with an equally arrogant glance in Jack's direction the Bock-alike did go back to scanning the other delegates with apparent unconcern.

For himself, although Daniel was excited by the thought of forging a peace treaty between the Carthaginians and the Devori, he was finding it a lot harder than Jack realized to keep his mind on the conference. He was still buoyed up by a warm glow inside from the realization that the man with whom he had fallen in love six months before had actually done the wonderful and unthinkable thing of reciprocating his feelings. Daniel had been horrified when he'd realized that his feelings for Colonel Jack O'Neill had undergone a shift from that of fraternal love for one's best friend, to romantic love. He hadn't even known what had triggered it; all he'd known was that he couldn't change things back, however hard he tried, on mission after mission, to replicate carefree behavior that had always been done without thinking in the past, he could not make himself fall out of love with Jack.

Falling in love with Sha're had been wonderful. Despite the turmoil and madness that had surrounded their first meetings: married without him even realizing that it had happened, she thinking him dead, he seeing her die, both of them revived by their enemy's technology, as soon as he had been left alone with her on Abydos there had been that blissful period of simply being 'in love' with the beautiful woman he had been lucky enough to marry. It had all been wonderfully uncomplicated.

And as long as Sha're was alive he would never have looked at Jack in 'that way'. But he hadn't realized he had been using her as shield against other feelings for his best friend and commanding officer until that shield was gone.

By comparison, falling in love with Jack O'Neill, or at least belatedly realizing that that was what he had been dumb enough to been and go and do, had been like getting a bucket of ice water down the back of his neck. If he'd had a rational thought as he found himself trembling in quite the wrong way from a casual slap on the back from his C.O., it probably would have been, "Fuck, no!" It had felt like such a betrayal of Jack's friendship, of his trust, of those times when Jack had hugged him in the past, called him 'Danny boy', ruffled his hair, comforted him, protected him, humored him, listened to him. All things that Jack had done in the belief that Daniel looked at him in the same way he looked at Daniel – as a friend, a good friend, his best friend even, but nothing more than that. Daniel had hated himself for having these new feelings for Jack not because he felt there was anything intrinsically wrong with them but because he had known they weren't reciprocated, which made them feel dirty and deceitful – the mental equivalent of spying on Sam in the shower.

When Jack had started shouting at him and shaking him after the rockfall, Daniel had honestly believed it was because the older man's unconscious mind had registered the way Daniel had been looking at him in unguarded moments; a deep-rooted disgust of something Jack wasn't prepared to acknowledge that had manifested itself in an open display of hostility and rage.

So when after drinking the Talosian potion, Jack had grabbed him by the jacket and kissed him, Daniel had thought at first it was a test; that the man was trying to work out if Daniel was attracted to him on the quiet and was springing a surprise on him to see how he reacted. When he had first dared to kiss Jack back he had half-expected the man to start slapping him again while shouting, "I knew it! I knew it!"

The realization that Jack did genuinely find him desirable had been so wonderful that Daniel had almost fainted from it. He was a little embarrassed by the way he'd been so passive, submissive, and generally far too much like a virgin on her wedding night during the ensuing activities, but the sensations flooding his nervous system had been so new and so amazing that he had found himself for the most part incapable of any coherent thought. That wasn't how he'd fantasized about their first night together going, he had to admit; he'd always pictured himself being the one in control, kissing Jack with cool aplomb and a humorous one-liner, not gasping dazedly on a mattress like a beached fish while Jack took total command of the situation. However, the way Jack had taken command had typically been so damned…efficient. And it had been kind of maddening but also – given the circumstances – kind of pleasurable that this was another physical activity in which Jack turned out to be so much better than him. Who would have thought that Jack O'Neill could kiss like that? Or do those…other things…like that?

It almost scared him that there was nothing he wouldn't have done for Jack during their night of passion. Jack could have tied him to the bedpost and he would probably have just gazed up at him adoringly. God, what the hell was the matter with him? This was so…adolescent. Wasn't he a bit old to be swooning over Jack like this? He was frankly grateful for the distraction of the peace conference, for the level of concentration necessary to translate one language from another diplomatically, sweetening each reply a little so that some progress could be made without either realizing that it was not only the other party who was giving some ground. Had there not been the fortunate distraction of the conference, Daniel was very afraid that all he would have wanted to do all day was sit on Jack's lap and have the man whisper affectionate nonsense in his ear before introducing him to yet more of those amazing nerve clusters in his body that Daniel had never realized he had before.

Sex with Sha're had been wonderful because they had been so much in love, not because either of them were particularly good at what they were doing; but when you loved someone that much just touching them and having them touch you was enough to set that firework display off in your body. But sex with Jack had been literally mind-blowing – Daniel couldn't remember having a coherent thought from when the man had first kissed him until the following morning – better than anything Daniel had ever experienced, or even dreamt of. Not only was Jack – Jack: the man Daniel had learnt to respect and admire more than anyone he had ever met and someone he'd been despairingly in love with for months, Jack was just so damned good at it.

Daniel blushed a little remembering how…wanton he'd been the night before, practically begging Jack to take him now. But the trouble was he still wanted it; wanted to feel Jack's fingers close around his cock, then slip between his butt cheeks and…

To disguise the fierce flush of red coloring his face, Daniel hastily bent his head and sipped some of the water the Talosians had left for him. He would have really liked to catch Jack's eye and then go outside for five minutes of those wonderful kisses Jack was so skilled at. His skin was still tingling from the memory of Jack's mouth licking and nibbling him…but he forced himself to stay focused on the job in hand, determinedly not looking in Jack's direction.

And, of course, he was just a little concerned that Jack might still be under the influence of the Talosian potion. He kept telling himself that Jack's sudden rush of blood to the groin the night before might have been nothing more than a reaction to some kind of hallucinogenic, that even though Jack thought he was acting out of his own volition, he might not be at all. That was the most dreadful thought of all – that he might turn around to Jack with an adoring smile on his face and find the man looking at him with horror or contempt…hatred even.

After all, Jack had been 'under the influence' when he'd grabbed him and Daniel had taken advantage of it…hadn't he? Looking back, Daniel didn't think he'd done anything except acquiesce to Jack's suggestions – well, orders, really. And he could always tell Jack that he'd thought it might be dangerous to thwart him in his affected state. Yeah right, that he was such a good self-sacrificing friend he'd multiple orgasm all over an alien bed – because whatever the textbooks might tell you about women being the only ones who could multiple orgasm he couldn't believe anything they'd ever experienced could have been better than what he'd had last night – just to keep his friend happy. Sure, everyone was going to buy that, no trouble at all.

He imagined Teal'c looking at him in mild perplexity and saying, "But, Daniel Jackson, why did you not simply call out for assistance so that we could restrain O'Neill and prevent him from doing something he would clearly regret later?"

Sam saying, "Daniel, why on earth did you let the Colonel do that to you? Surely you must have realized he'd only hate himself when the drug wore off?"

Perhaps it was just as well Jack hadn't actually…fucked him. Groaning inwardly, Daniel darted a glance across at Jack. The man was watching him…but no, definitely no disgust there, no disapproval, no dislike. He looked a little like a starving man staring at a steak that was almost done. As he watched, Jack licked his lips and Daniel found himself unconsciously echoing the action. Oh God, but fascinating though this conference and these people were he really just wanted to be doing…stuff with Jack right now.

Daniel went outside to try and clear his head. The Devori and the Carthaginians were definitely getting along a lot better now, other progress had been made; races were finally sharing some of their anti-Goa'uld technology. Great. Mission accomplished. But could they please go home now? Quite apart from the fact that he was getting a humdinger of a headache from first getting very little sleep and then having to concentrate so hard all day, he really wanted some time alone with his commanding officer. He just hoped that Jack had been serious when he'd said he wasn't letting Daniel out of his bedroom for a week, because right now Daniel couldn't think of any place he'd rather be.

He could smell flowers, faint, not enough to make him sneeze, a pleasant smell. And fountains playing. Very Arabian Nights. Lucky for him that he didn't have to play the part of Scheherazade: in fact trying to tell Jack a bedtime story when the man had other things on his mind would probably be the quickest way to get himself killed. No, not killed, but maybe yelled at. Or…no, more likely Jack would just shut him up with another one of those kisses. Those amazing kisses. Given how loud Jack could yell when he was in a temper who would ever have dreamt his mouth could feel so wonderful against yours; hard and dry and yet tender and gentle and…

Daniel groaned aloud. "God, but I want to go home," he murmured.

"Doctor Jackson?"

Daniel jumped at the sound of the other voice. He wheeled around his with his heart beating quickly to find a stranger smiling at him. A big man, with slate-colored eyes that smile wasn't reaching. He had that look Daniel had learnt to recognize a long time ago: the one that meant things would go better for you if you did what people who looked like that said. There were a few guys at the SGC who looked like this and they were the ones you really didn't want to bump into in the corridor and you definitely didn't want to drop an artifact on their foot or make them feel stupid if they got something wrong. College had been full of them; guys on football scholarships who were just looking for a chance to take offence at something a boy might say who was younger than them, half their width, and yet already had two degrees. Daniel had long since learned that guys who looked like this were people that guys like him had to humor. So, although his danger radar was twanging a little he tried to keep his face bland and only vaguely curious. "Yes?"

The man was holding out a meaty hand. Just the type to have a bone-crushing handshake, Daniel thought. The kind who liked to squeeze until your knuckles were white and your knees starting to give out, just to prove how much stronger than you he was. Still, ignoring the proffered hand would be stupid as well as rude. He took the other man's hand.

"It's a real pleasure to meet you, Doctor Jackson." The man was still smiling and it had reached his eyes now; there was mockery in them – cat playing with a mouse arrogance – this was the kind of guy who only had fun at other's expense.

Something stung Daniel's palm. As he yelped and tried to pull his hand away the other man's grip tightened, holding him against that wasp sting pain. As Daniel vainly tried to pull loose, the corridor began to swirl and dissolve around him; his knees were going weak just as he'd feared. As he crumpled, the other man dipped his shoulder to meet him neatly, like he'd done it a hundred times before. Daniel found himself swung over the man's shoulder. He just had time to register his captor giving him a light slap on the ass, heard the man murmur, "Time for good little boys to go bye-byes, Doctor Jackson," and then his eyes closed and darkness claimed him.

***

Jack had noticed Daniel leave the room, of course. He was aware of everything Daniel was doing at the moment. So he noticed Daniel leave and he noticed Daniel not come back. And not come back

And not come back.

After half an hour exactly, he couldn't bear it any longer and although he knew he was just being paranoid, decided he wasn't going to be happy until he had seen Daniel.

That was when he discovered Daniel was nowhere to be found.

Hampered by his inability to speak the language, Jack had several frustrating and ultimately fruitless conversations with passing delegates to whom he mimed Daniel's glasses with varying results. Some seemed to recognize who he was describing but indicated with shakes of their heads that they had not seen him, others looked at him as though he was mad, others were clearly mortally offended. Wondering if he'd just set back the cause of Inter-Galactic peace by a couple of hundred years, Jack decided to do what he now realized he should have done straight away and send out for reinforcements.

He found Teal'c and Carter waiting for him back by the campsite they had set up close to the Stargate. They looked jumpy but alert and were clearly immensely relieved to see Jack alive and well.

"Colonel! How's the conference going?"

"It is good to see you, O'Neill. I trust you are suffering no ill-affects from the Talosian potion?"

"Hey, Carter. Teal'c. You haven't seen Daniel have you?" It took him a few seconds to realize that he had just ignored both their questions. He collected himself. "Sorry, sorry. The conference is about as much fun as a PTA meeting and the Talosian potion was fine. But I can't find Daniel. He went out of the conference room about – well, exactly, thirty nine minutes and seventeen seconds ago and no one's seen him since."

Carter and Teal'c exchanged a glance, then Carter said carefully, "Uh – sir, maybe it would help us find Daniel if we knew a little more about what went on last night?"

" 'Went on'?" Jack made his face as blank as he could.

"After you drank the potion?" As Jack continued to look at her expressionlessly, Carter sighed. "Between you and Daniel, sir? Did you – argue at all?"

"No. We got along just fine."

Another glance shot between Carter and Teal'c. She cleared her throat. "So you can't think of any reason why Daniel should be avoiding you, sir?"

"None whatsoever. In fact I'm sure that's the last thing Daniel would be doing right now."

His face was still a wonderful blank but Carter thought she was reading him right. "So, it was – okay? The 'true self' revelation? It wasn't anything horrible?"

"Oh, ye of little faith, Major. Don't worry. It's okay. I'm officially a nice guy. Nothing nasty lurking back there at all. But right now I'm more interested in trying to find Daniel. There was this guy I really didn't like the look of and I can't find him anywhere either."

Seeing Teal'c and Carter exchange another glance, Jack almost said, 'Look this isn't jealousy, believe me…' But then he realized that they weren't thinking that at all as Teal'c said, "O'Neill, we also saw someone going into the conference who did not seem like the other delegates. A man who bore a resemblance to – "

"Arris Bock?"

"Yes, Colonel." Carter nodded, "And it occurred to Teal'c and I that if he was of the same race as Bock then the Talosian potion might not have any effect on him. So, the Talosians would think he'd been through their 'true self' ritual, when he hadn't."

"Hell!" Jack slapped himself on the forehead. "Why didn't I think of that?"

"But, sir, that doesn't mean he…"

"You didn't see the way he was looking at Daniel. Believe me, this was not a man with his mind on higher things."

"You mean, you think he might have wanted to…?"

"Well, I don't think he wanted anything translated, Carter, and if he had any artifacts he wanted dated I'd be very much surprised. We have got to find Daniel and I mean – half an hour ago." Now that he had something to do, Jack oddly felt better. "Carter, you stay here and guard the Stargate – make sure no one goes through it carrying anything larger than a penknife. Teal'c, you come with me, see if you can't make yourself understood by the damned Talosians a bit better than I can.…"

***

Daniel woke up lying on a couch. His hands were tied behind his back and the clothes he was wearing were ones he'd never seen before. He hated them straight off – they were some sort of open-weave cotton-type material in a pale cream and they reminded him painfully of the clothes he'd had to wear when he'd been locked in that padded cell. His feet were bare. No underwear. So someone had undressed him and then dressed him like this. The thought of someone stripping him, handling his naked body, dressing him in their choice of clothing made anger spark inside him.

Daniel blinked and tried to focus. He was aware of movement, a vague tremor, like an engine turning a long way off – he was in a vehicle of some kind? This was a light chamber, large and airy and yet simultaneously claustrophobic, something about the oxygen felt artificial to him. Okay. Movement. Engine noise. Reconstituted air. Daniel's heart sank. He was pretty sure he was on a spaceship. This was not good news. The last time he'd been on one of those he'd damned near died.

"You know your picture doesn't do you credit, Doctor Jackson – you are so much prettier in real life."

Daniel twisted his head round, trying to see who was speaking to him, but he was only getting a blur. The blur got closer so fast he flinched, but the man only grabbed him by the shoulders and hauled him up into a sitting position before putting his face close enough that even Daniel could see him clearly. The man in the corridor with the smug smile and the wasp sting handshake.

Daniel really hated that smile.

The mercenary said, "I was sent your picture by a Goa'uld who wants to chat with you and your little friends like badly. But, like I said, it doesn't really do you justice."

"Which Goa'uld?"

"Lady by the name of Nirrti. Ring any bells?"

Daniel winced.

"I'll take that as a yes."

"Where are my friends?"

"Oh, right where you last saw them I should think. Or, no, they're probably running around looking for you by now. I guess O'Neill is going to be springing a heart attack any time soon. Old guy like that, can’t be good for his stress levels."

"Jack isn't old." Daniel's blue eyes added And he could whip your ass anytime but he swallowed the words before he was tempted to say them aloud.

"Oh I figured there was more than just friendship between you the way he was looking at me back in that jaw-factory. You been snuggling up in your C.O.'s sleeping bag on chilly nights, pretty boy?" There was a slight note of puzzlement in the other's tone that Daniel couldn't quite understand.

"Don't. Call. Me. That."

"You should take it as a compliment. I'm generally hard to please."

Daniel looked at the other with loathing. "Well, I'm very hard to please and I can tell you right now, you don't even come close."

He'd half expected a backhand but the man just laughed. "Spirited. I like that. But just between you and me, sonny, you ought to be making real nice to me round about now. I've got plenty of offers on the table for your cute little butt and let me tell you some of them are a lot friendlier than others. I've got Nirrti, Heru'Ur and Sokar all meaning you nothing but harm, but then I've got those very civilized people than Tiresians who just want a little bit of translating done. Well…their entire history since the dawn of time translated, so I'm not saying you'd be home in a week or anything, but they'd treat you real well while you were working for them. And then since I sent out those pictures to the auction rooms, I've had all kinds of…other offers coming in, which, if you and O'Neill are playing the kind of games I think you are, you might quite enjoy following up." His gaze swept meaningfully to his captive's throat and Daniel had a sudden hot rush of memory of Jack tenderly biting his neck. God, he must have all kinds of tell-tale bruises there. And elsewhere. Jack had done a lot of nibbling last night.

Determined not to be rattled, however, Daniel said casually, "Isn't there anywhere else you have to be right now? Dead, for instance."

The man threw back his head and laughed. "I can see you and I are going to get along just fine. Jarek Mudd by the way."

"Jarek? Jarek…Mudd? What as in silt you get at the bottom of stagnant water?"

The man's smile only got wider and he ran a hand through his grubby fair hair. "You know if you keep flirting with me, I'm really going to have to act on it."

"Flirting?" Daniel stared at him in disbelief. "Flirting? Look, how can I make it any clearer that I hate the sight of you?"

"Nah, you're just playing hard to get. That's okay. I can wait. I'm sure you're worth it."

Daniel had always wondered what exactly 'flabbergasted' meant and now he knew. He was definitely it. He gritted his teeth. "Is there any language you speak better than the one we're communicating in right now?"

"Oh, I'm fluent in body language." Jarek ran a thumb down Daniel's mouth.

Daniel jerked his head away furiously. "Well, can you explain to me what you think the movements are for: 'Get the hell away from me and never touch me again'?"

Jarek smiled. "You know there is so much chemistry between you and me I think we might just have added some new elements to your periodic table."

Daniel kicked out with everything he had and had the satisfaction of feeling his bare feet connect with Jarek's groin. As the man went down like a wounded water buffalo, Daniel was up and kneeling beside him, his bound fingers groping desperately for some kind of knife or gun in the man's belt. It took him by surprise when Jarek reached up, grabbed him, flipped him over and yanked him down onto the floor on his back. Daniel couldn't entirely repress a yelp as his weight came down on his bound arms. In a second, Jarek was straddling him, his groin pressed down onto Daniel's. Jarek was still smiling as he bent over him and said, "You know, Doctor Jackson, if you don't behave a little better I'm going to have to put you over my knee and spank you."

"Get off me, you son-of-a-bitch!!"

"I might just do it anyway. I think we'd both enjoy it."

"Touch me and I swear to God I will kill you."

"Wow but you're beautiful when you're angry." Jarek slid a hand behind Daniel's head and pulled him up to meet him, kissing him passionately.

Daniel furiously spat the man's tongue out of his mouth and then wiped his mouth on his shoulder, spitting disgustedly. Jarek had already stood up and was laughing again. He flung himself down on the couch and looked Daniel over. "Maybe I should just keep you myself. Let Nirrti go whistle."

Daniel sat up cautiously but couldn't help wiping his mouth on his shoulder again. His arms ached and he was now very aware that Jarek was considerably stronger than he was. The man had tossed him onto the floor like he weighed nothing at all. So far Jarek was prepared to play harmless games with him, but there was nothing to say the games might not get nastier. And Nirrti was not a threat to be trifled with. He remembered the way Cronus and Teal'c had looked after she'd attacked them, faces scored, internally injured by the ribbon device. This was a Goa'uld who was practiced at inflicting pain and Daniel certainly wasn't a masochist.

He climbed gingerly to his feet, saying conversationally, "You know she's a double-crosser, don't you? She won't pay what she's promised you, she'll just take me and kill you. It's what she does."

"I'm hurt," Jarek said conversationally. He patted the couch beside him. "Sit."

Confused by the non sequitur, Daniel did sit down but as far from the man as he could get without actually defying him. "What?"

Jarek reached out, grabbed a handful of the thin linen of Daniel's overshirt and pulled him along the slippery couch to sit beside him. With his hands tied behind his back, Daniel could only submit to being slid along the couch. Jarek continued evenly, "Well, you weighed it up – whether to appeal to my better nature or my sense of self-preservation. You obviously don't think I have a better nature."

"You knocked me out and kidnapped me. Your better nature isn't something I've seen a lot of so far."

"I didn't just knock you out and kidnap you, buddy. I also stripped you naked, examined you very thoroughly, filmed you, sent pictures of you to every auction house in the galaxy, and then put you into these clothes." As Daniel scowled furiously, Jarek reached out and caught Daniel by the hair, wrenching his head around to make him look at him. There was no humor in his eyes now as he said flatly, "What I didn't do was stick my dick into that tight little ass of yours. But I could have done. I sure as hell wanted to and there was nothing you could have done to stop me. There still isn't."

Daniel swallowed. He wanted to say something crushing but with the smell of the man's sweat in his nostrils, the recent memory of his weight pushing down on him, with the taste of him still lingering in his mouth, he knew the bounty hunter was speaking the truth: Jarek could rape him if he wanted to and there was nothing Daniel could do to stop him.

Jarek continued evenly, "You keep pissing me off you're going to be bouncing on my lap any minute, you got that straight? And the next thing I stick down your throat won't be my tongue. Do you get what I'm telling you?"

Daniel nodded.

"I want to hear you say it, Doctor Jackson. I want to know that we understand each other."

"I understand."

"That's good." Jarek let him go. "Now, if you've got any sense you'll dig out some of those diplomatic skills and give them a good polish. You be nice to me and who knows, I might be willing to be nice to you, but if you go all out to make an enemy of you I'm going to make you wish you'd never been born."

"I won't sleep with you." Daniel couldn't help the words spitting out like adder venom. "Not willingly. I won't. It's true that I can't stop you raping me but you can't make me agree to have sex with you either. Anything you want from me you're going to have to take and I swear I'm going to fight you all the way."

"Not very diplomatic, Doctor Jackson."

"I just want us to understand each other as well."

"We'll just see how things go, Blue Eyes, because if it's a choice between a night of passion with me or a dozen nights of torment with Nirrti, I might not look so terrible."

Daniel shuddered and Jarek shook his head. "You really know how to hurt a fellow's feelings. Look, when you get to know me you'll realize I'm not such a bad guy."

In a low intense voice, Daniel said, "You just tried to blackmail me into having sex with you – despite the fact we both know the thought of it makes me sick to my stomach – by telling me you would sell me to a Goa'uld who will torture me to death if I won't. How does that make you 'not such a bad guy'?"

"You know, you're not worth as much as your friends. They actually have a much higher price tag. Especially the Jaffa. Even the lovely Nirrti would rather have your O'Neill or Major Carter than you. But you have broader appeal. I've got three separate markets for you: Goa'uld you've pissed off, people who need ancient texts translated by a scholar who knows all the old Tau'ri languages, and people who just really like the look of you in your birthday suit. There are planets out there at the same stage of development as your Ancient Rome in the time of a guy called Caligula. Do you get what I'm saying?"

"It's not a subtle point you're making."

"I am going to sell you to someone.  But it doesn't have to be a Goa'uld and it doesn't have to be someone who's going to torture you or rape you. It's really up to you how much my conscience bothers me about where you end up."

"Why don't you contact the SGC? I'm sure they'd be willing to buy me back."

Jarek snorted. "I'm sorry, sonny, but that's the funniest thing I've heard in years. Go to the Tau'ri? Do you even know what a crappy little planet you come from? That rock was mined out a millennium ago. You guys have nothing I want."

"Please," Daniel said abruptly.

Jarek darted him a quick look and stretched out a hand and stroked Daniel's fringe back from his face. "Damn but you must have the biggest bluest eyes I ever saw."

"Please let me go home. Don't do this to me. Let me go."

Jarek moistened his lips. "Hell but if you keep looking at me like that I just might." He leant across and kissed Daniel. Daniel bore it, although misery coursed through him he managed to stop himself from shuddering. When Jarek pulled back his face was bleak. He was angrier than before. Daniel shivered despite himself.

The mercenary said, "I've got a few questions for you, Doctor Jackson. Answer them accurately and maybe I won't make you lap-dance."

Thinking of the codes to the base, Daniel closed his eyes. He'd known it would come to this sooner or later. The man's first question took him by surprise.

"Are you and O'Neill an item? The truth, remember? One lie and your ass is mine."

If it hadn't been for the hickeys all over his neck, he might have tried to brazen it out, but as things were Daniel felt the truth was his only option. Swallowing, he nodded. "Yes."

"Okay. So how come you haven't seen any traffic yet?" Jarek looked at him intently. "I mean, come on, sweetheart, I checked you out when I was undressing you and I swear you are pure as the driven snow. So does O'Neill have some potency problems or something? Because if he does, let me tell you, I certainly won't have any trouble getting hard for you."

Playing for time, Daniel said, "What was the question again?"

"Okay. Let's spell this out for you: have you ever had a man's cock up your pretty little ass?"

Humiliated and furious, Daniel flushed, but snapped back, "Not that it's any of your goddamn business, but no."

"Why not?"

Through gritted teeth he said, "Jack didn't want to rush things. He didn't want to hurt me."

"Oh, isn't that sweet? And they say chivalry is dead." But despite the sarcasm, he could see Jarek's mind working over-time. Daniel wondered what the relevance was. Stirrings of conscience? No, he didn't believe Jarek had a conscience. Something else then? Superstition? Custom? Bad luck to rape a virgin on a moving ship? What?

"Damn," Jarek murmured, "don't know whether to be pleased or sorry." He went over to the console and started tapping into the keyboard.

Without his glasses, Daniel had no chance of seeing what the man was doing but it looked a little like he was transmitting some kind of message. To whom? Nirrti certainly wouldn't give a damn about his sexual experience or lack of it. Nor would the people who wanted texts translated…. That was when Daniel worked out what was going on: the third category of bidders the man had mentioned – Jarek would get more money from them for Daniel if he was untouched and unspoiled; right now the man's lust was warring with his greed and so far his greed seemed to be winning. Although angrier than he had possibly ever been in his entire life, Daniel still had to side with Jarek's greed. He was all for Jarek's greed winning this particular battle.

The man came back over to him and stroked Daniel's hair back from his face saying conversationally, "I just told those bidders you don't come cheap – trouble is the reason I'll get a higher price for you is the same reason you suddenly got even more attractive than you were before: ain't nothing like an initiation to get a guy hot and hard."

"Why do something that will only cause me pain and lose you money?"

Jarek looked Daniel over admiringly. "Not just a dumb blond."

The mercenary reached into his pocket, palmed something. Daniel couldn't see what it was but could only hope it wasn't the alien equivalent of a condom. He couldn't read Jarek right now but he knew the man was incredibly turned on by him, could see the heat in his eyes, feel the desire emanating from him. Being wanted by Jack had been a fantasy come true. Being wanted by a man he didn't find even remotely attractive just made him shrivel up inside with fear and disgust.

As Jarek leant forward to kiss him again, Daniel couldn't help turning his head away, shuddering with revulsion. That was when the man grabbed him by the hair and jerked his head back round. "So, Blue Eyes," Jarek said softly, "I guess O'Neill's the only one who knows the combination to unlock your hot little safe, is that right?"

Daniel faced him unflinchingly. "That's right."

"A one man boy, eh? O'Neill doesn't want to give it to you up the ass in case he hurts you and you don't want to give it up to anyone but him. Isn't that just the sweetest thing I ever heard?"

The anger sparked right through Daniel but with his hands tied behind his back there wasn't a lot he could do. Kicking the man again had a lot of appeal, but on the other hand, getting pounded, raped, or both, really didn't. He suspected that Jarek didn't need much of an excuse to pounce and looking into the other man's eyes, Daniel's heart sank like a shipwreck. No way was Jarek going to leave him alone for the rest of the journey. As he thought it, Jarek let go of his hair and caught him by the jaw instead, squeezing a thumb and forefinger each side of his face to make him open his mouth.

Daniel had expected to be kissed, to have a tongue thrust in where he certainly didn't want it, but instead the mercenary revealed what was in his hand: a small phial of milky white liquid which he promptly emptied into Daniel's mouth. Then there was a hand holding his mouth closed, his head was tilted back. As he spluttered and coughed, fingers massaged his throat, forcing him to swallow.

He swallowed. Everything span again; everything shimmered. A strange heat spread through him…

He was on PC5876. And it was such a relief because for a while he'd thought he was somewhere else entirely. Somewhere Jack wasn't. He'd been looking at a vast ruined temple all day, forgetting to eat, hardly stopping even to wet his lips with water, so excited by the pictograms that covered every wall. An Olmec civilization with a written language. He'd barely taken the time to breathe he was so absorbed. But when nightfall came it was as though someone had pulled his batteries out because he suddenly found to his surprise that he had nothing left. Completely wiped, he was too exhausted even to eat the food Teal'c put into his hand, and slumped against the person next to him – Jack – his heavy head resting on the man's shoulder.

He wasn't completely asleep, just much too tired to open his eyes, to move or speak, but he was aware of Jack's comforting body heat, the scent and sound of the man beside him. Despite his exhaustion he was utterly contented.

Jack murmured mockingly, "Danny boy, I'm not just here to be your damn pillow. I'm supposed to be an Air Force Colonel, you know. Tough military guy, savior of the Universe: ringing any bells? I mean, where's your respect…?" But even as he made fun of him Jack let his head stay where it was, wrapping a blanket around him as he said, "I guess running around looking at rocks all day really takes it out of you, eh, Daniel?"

Sam in the background, saying, "He looks so sweet…"

"Oh, grow up, Carter."

"I'm sorry, Colonel, but he does."

"Daniel Jackson appears to be greatly fatigued…"

"Wish he wouldn't stick his bony little elbows into me… Do you think he should stay here by the fire or should we try and get him into a sleeping bag… Hope he isn't getting a temperature… Feels too damned cold if anything…"

And all the time the scent of Jack so close by, the rasp of an unshaven jaw against his cheek, a strong arm around him, fingers pressed gently against his forehead. "…He still feels cold… Have we got another blanket around…? Should have made him eat something… He's always doing this to himself… Deliver me from dozy scientists who don't know when to call it a day…."

Much later he woke up to find himself being carried to the tent, Jack and Teal'c lifting him up so easily between them, making him feel simultaneously small and insignificant, yet cherished and protected. He wanted to pull them into the tent with him and snuggle up between them.

"O'Neill, should we not remove Daniel Jackson's boots…?"

"God, Danny, go on a diet, will ya? Damn, I bet I've put my back out… So, I'm putting you to bed now, am I? What did your last slave die of? Rhetorical question, Teal'c. Yes…You do the boots, I'll get him out of his jacket… Let's stick him in the damned sleeping bag, see how he is in the morning… No, probably just over-tired…he never knows when to call a halt… Honestly, Daniel, I swear to God it's like being in charge of a five year old some days…"

Then after they put him into his sleeping bag, Jack hesitated, lingering behind after Teal'c had gone, stroking Daniel's hair back from his forehead gently, saying in a tone he wouldn't use when anyone else was listening, "You'd better just be tired, Daniel. Don't you dare try getting ill on me, you hear…?"

Daniel woke up with tears pricking his eyelids at the memory. The scent and feel of Jack so real he could almost… But this was Jack here with him now, wasn't it? He knew it was Jack and yet at the same time something was wrong. Missing. He wasn't getting the things he usually got: that feeling of absolute safety. Didn't feel that familiar heat from Jack's body eliciting an answering heat from him. There was a certain feeling he got when he was around the man, a tingling that made his heart beat faster; dry throat, sweaty palms, it was like having stage fright twenty four hours a day, one long adrenaline rush that he just wasn't feeling now. But on the other hand it was so good to be with Jack again. Even though he was so tired all he wanted to do was go back to sleep, it was a great relief to know that Jack was here with him.

And Jack certainly seemed to like being with him. Jack was kissing him and touching him all over. He could just snuggle into Jack's caresses and everything would be okay… He whispered the name softly, wanting to hear it: "Jack…"

Except there was no strength in his body and he couldn't seem to focus. No, now he realized, he couldn't seem to open his eyes, so this swirling pattern must be what the inside of his own eyelids looked like. Someone had drugged him. That was why he was so tired. But it was all right because he was with Jack now and Jack would take care of him. Jack always took care of him. He could go to sleep and know that he was safe. Except…Jack really didn't seem to want him to go to sleep right now.

The growing feeling of unease made him all the more determined to cling to Jack. Something was wrong everywhere else but the one place everything was always right was between him and Jack, so even though Jack's fingers were less gentle than before, his mouth more demanding, less tender, and Daniel was so tired, Daniel willingly submitted and responded as well as he could. He wished it wasn't such a terrible effort to open his eyes – hoped Jack would understand that it wasn't that he didn't want to see the man's face, but it was as though someone had glued his eyelids shut.

Jack kept telling him to relax. He sounded a little cross, which Daniel hated. The last thing he wanted was to make Jack angry. Especially now, when everything was so confusing. He tried very hard to relax, but it was no good, there was still something wrong, a feeling of unease he couldn't shake off.

"You got to open up, sonny. Open your goddamn legs and let me in."

Daniel frowned and tried, really tried, to lift his eyelids. He managed to let in the barest sliver of light before the weight became too much. He was lying on his back on a couch of some kind, he thought, with Jack on top of him. Jack's tongue was in his mouth and Jack's hands were…everywhere. That hadn't sounded like Jack's voice. There must be someone else nearby. Were they prisoners?

"Okay…Okay… don't rush him…kid's not convinced yet…take it slow…"

That felt more like the way he remembered Jack's mouth against his. These kisses were gentle, tender, lips brushing against his eyelids so lightly, on his forehead, his cheekbone, his jaw, his neck, down his chest, tonguing his nipples. Daniel's spine arched reflexively, pushing himself up to meet that mouth.

"Okay…much more like it…"

Not Jack's voice. Wanted to hear Jack's voice. Needed to hear it. Except, Jack didn't talk much, did he, when they were…? Daniel felt that warm blush of pleasure and embarrassment spread through him. He only had that one time to go by so he couldn't be sure but Jack certainly hadn't spoke much then. But all the same, he needed to hear it now. He tried to wet lips that felt as though they hadn't tasted moisture in a week. "Jack…?"

The kisses stopped. No, paused, then resumed, quickly, heading downwards.

"Jack?" Daniel could hear his own voice and it didn't sound very familiar either: hoarse, plaintive, a little panicky. "Say something, Jack."

A mumble, something incomprehensible, smothered by skin, his skin that a demanding mouth was still kissing, nibbling, licking. Oh, that felt good. Despite the feeling of weirdness, the exhaustion, the cotton wool with which someone had stuffed his head, the way his eyelids seemed to have been turned to lead, it was good to feel Jack's mouth nibbling him like that. But he was so tired… Little bolts of electricity were shooting through him it was true, but not enough, not nearly enough to make him hard.

He whispered it apologetically, "Sorry, Jack…so tired…very tired…"

"No you don't…" A shake. Not too rough but still a bit of a shock. "You're not going to sleep on me now, kid…you and me have unfinished business."

He was trying so hard to make that sound like Jack, but it just didn't. The panic spasmed. "Jack!"

There was a sharp pain on the inside of his left arm. A needle. He was being injected with something. He tried to pull away, but he was being held down. Someone was muttering, "Damn stupid species. Can't ever get the dosage right with them."

Then the weight on Daniel's eyelids got even heavier, the tiredness washed over him like he was driftwood before an incoming tide. He sank down into somewhere dark and hot and strange, someone's mouth still burning against his skin, a tongue against his cock, someone's slicked fingers just beginning to probe inside him. Sensations shivered through him, pleasurable, frightening. At the back of his mind was the insistent thought that Jack was nearby. Fighting it determinedly, like a boxer going down for the last time, was a thin scream of remaining sanity telling him that Jack was light years away and he was about to be fucked by a total stranger….

***

"So, O'Neill," said Teal'c calmly, "did the Talosian potion enable you to understand your true feelings for Daniel Jackson?"

Jack swallowed quickly and then said, "I don't know what you mean."

The Jaffa said with a regretful shake of the head, "Ah, if that is so then when we discover his whereabouts Daniel Jackson will be in need of comforting. I will see what consolation he is willing to accept from me."

"Consolation? What sort of…?" Jack darted the Jaffa suspicious glance. "Are you fishing, Teal'c?"

"No, O'Neill, I am walking by your side towards the Talosian palace."

"Daniel doesn't need consolation, especially not the kind you're offering."

"You do not think that my sympathy will be welcome to him?"

Jack looked at him narrowly. "Look, I know you have different customs on Chulak."

"That is correct."

"I mean, you told me way back when that having a…you know, not just a wife, wasn't a big deal out there."

"Are you referring to the custom of warriors finding pleasure amongst themselves, O'Neill?"

Jack gritted his teeth. "Look, maybe no one else can read you, Teal'c, but I know when you’re winding me up. Yes, damnit, that is what I was referring to."

"And so?"

"And so get your Jaffa mitts off Dannyboy!"

"Given that you have rejected him, from what other quarter is he to receive consolation?"

"I never said I rejected him."

"Then you and Daniel Jackson did find satisfaction in each other's embrace?"

Jack was determined that no one was going to make him blush at his age but he did have to take his cap off and fan himself with it for a second. "None of your damned business," he growled, however he couldn't help shooting Teal'c a sideways smile. "And how, Teal'c."

The Jaffa smiled calmly. "I am greatly relieved, O'Neill. It was not before time. And I must warn you that had you not done something soon I would have been forced to take action myself."

Jack gave him another quick glance. "So you'd noticed that Daniel was so…?"

"Desirable?" Teal'c raised an eyebrow. "Not suffering from any deficiency of the senses, I had. And on Chulak there is a saying about ripe fruit being left too long upon the tree, O'Neill…"

"Don't want to hear it. And you'd better remember he's mine now." Jack's face clouded as he remembered the reality of the situation. "Actually, for all I know he's that bastard bounty hunter's by now, but I swear if he's touched one hair of Daniel's head…"

"I concur." And if Teal'c had been smiling before he was grim now. "If he has injured Daniel Jackson in any way then I give you my word we will not rest until we have hunted him down and claimed retribution."

***

The shock of the thought that a stranger was trying to have sex with him made Daniel's stomach contract and he vomited, something vile tasting burning his throat all the way up before he expelled it.

Then there was a lot of swearing and furious mutterings, "…could this kid be any more trouble… Now he stinks as well as being half asleep…Yeah, this is really romantic, I don't think…hate this stupid species…now I've got to start all over again…" Someone was lifting him up with more muttering and swearing, "…you smell disgusting, buddy, you know that? Disgusting…" carrying him somewhere…

…the sound of water running, someone peeling sodden, vomit-scented clothes from his body, more swearing, then water lapping at his skin. He was being lowered into a bath, water splashed at him, tipped over his head, he coughed and spluttered, but the smell of vomit was receding. His eyes still felt glued shut, but he was aware of someone scrubbing at his skin irritably with something that felt like a sponge, lathering something into his hair that smelt vaguely like shampoo.

He wanted to believe it was Jack who was bathing him but Jack had a whole different set of swear words he used and Jack would be gentler than this. It was someone stronger than Jack, too. Jack had staggered after he'd picked him up off the floor on P3R233 then made dark mutterings about his knees. Through the whirling in his head at what he'd witnessed in that alternate universe and the pain in his shoulder from the staff weapon burn, Daniel had wondered vaguely why Jack was carrying him at all instead of leaving it to Teal'c, but he'd realized much later that it was something Jack needed to do; needed to hold Daniel in his arms to convince himself he'd really come back after his inexplicable disappearance, was solid, and real, and alive.

This man didn't stagger when he lifted him out of the water, just slipped one hand beneath Daniel's knees and another behind his back and hefted him out as though he was lifting a child. It might have been Teal'c – Daniel would so have liked to think that this was Teal'c, but that warm wonderful Jaffa scent was painfully absent. And Teal'c carried him with a peculiar gentleness that was missing here. Definitely not Teal'c. Could it be Jack after all? But Jack always complained about having to carry him whereas this man wasn't saying anything. Not a word about his ligaments or why Daniel needed to go on a diet, despite the fact that the rest of the time Jack was always telling him to stop missing meals for crying out loud. Daniel wanted to cry out loud with misery now but instead he whispered as fiercely as his still burning throat would let him: "You're not Jack. You're not Jack. I want Jack. Where's Jack? I won't talk to anyone until you let me see Jack…"

"Jack's coming back real soon, sweetpea, and to be honest talking wasn't really what I had in mind…"

He didn't believe him. Whoever this was he was a liar. Someone who was going to try and trick him into revealing the access code. Everything was misty, he still felt sick and he wanted to sleep and sleep and sleep but Daniel knew this man was lying to him. He needed to stay awake, needed to keep listening, to try and learn enough to make sense of all these conflicting messages in his mind.

"…as soon as I get this damned treatment right, Jack's going to be right here with you…and then you'd better put out or else Jack's going to get real angry with you…understood?"

A shake that jolted Daniel back to some level of consciousness. He said faintly, "What?"

"You heard me. You don't want to make Jack angry with you, do you? If you don't give Jack what he wants he's going to go away and leave you here, you got that straight?"

"No…" He felt even sicker. "Jack wouldn't… Jack won't…"

"Jack will if you won't give it up, buddy…and you'd better be worth all this or…"

It was no good, despite his nausea and confusion Daniel couldn't stay awake any longer. Darkness closed over him.

***

"Colonel Jack O'Neill and Teal'c, once First Prime of Apophis, now a warrior of the Tau'ri."

They both wheeled around from yet another unsuccessful interview with the Talosians to find a man of medium height and chiseled features standing in the corridor.

"You know us?" Jack pressed.

The stranger nodded, "I am Te'rak of the Tok'Ra. You are looking for Daniel Jackson?"

"Yes!" Jack sprang forward. "Have you seen him? Do you know where he is?"

"Come with me. Your companion, Samantha Carter, should hear this as well." Seeing how distraught Jack looked, the Tok'Ra frowned and put a hand on Jack's arm, "Do not despair. The Tok'Ra owe SG-1 much, O'Neill, and we will retrieve Daniel Jackson for you."

"We suspect he may have been captured by a bounty hunter of the same race as Arris Bock," Teal'c explained.

Te'rak nodded. "I fear you are correct. Jarek Mudd managed to mislead the Talosians into allowing him to attend the conference in the hope of capturing me. Like Korra – who sends you greetings and continuing thanks, Teal'c – I was working for Sokar when I feared that my identity had been uncovered. My ship was damaged in my escape and I was forced to seek the assistance of the Talosians. Luckily for me, I saw Jarek arrive and managed to evade him. But I had not realized that SG-1 were also attending the conference. Robbed of his first prize, I suspect Jarek took your teammate instead."

Jack ran a hand through his hair. "So he's going to sell Daniel to Sokar?"

"Unfortunately, your valiant stand against the Goa'uld has won you no shortage of enemies. I fear there are many Goa'uld who would pay handsomely for any member of SG-1… Ah, Samantha Carter!"

Jack waited impatiently while the Tok'Ra formally introduced himself to Carter and brought her up to date with current events. She said, "Tell us what you know about this Jarek Mudd, Te'rak? Do you think we might be able to get through to him the way we did with Arris Bock?"

"He is unscrupulous and greedy, and there is more…but we will speak of that later. For the moment, we must return to my ship – which the Talosians have kindly repaired for me – and contact the other Tok'Ra. But do not fear. We will retrieve your companion."

But in what condition…Jack thought. He felt sick at the thought of Daniel being traded to Sokar. Was ill with the realization that this bounty-hunting bastard must have grabbed Daniel while Jack was only a few feet away. If only he'd done what he'd wanted to – got up and followed Daniel when the guy had gone out to grab some air – walked up behind him, taken him by the shoulders, spun him round and kissed him… Oh God but he was never again going to resist temptation and call it a virtue. Life was so damned short and he didn't even want to think about all the minutes he'd squandered not being with Daniel.

The Tok'Ra led them to his ship; Te'rak and Carter having a conversation about chemical compounds that Jack didn't even try to understand. He was aware of Teal'c beside him, a comforting presence exuding silent sympathy and determination. Teal'c was so sure they'd get Daniel back but damnit, Jack had been so sure they'd get Sha're back and Skaara back… How could he have let this happen to Daniel? How could he have lost him when it had taken them so damned long to find each other?

He vaguely registered that Te'rak's ship looked like a lump of scrap metal, nodded dumbly as the Tok'Ra assured him that appearances were deceptive and that thanks to the modifications the Talosians had made the hyperdrive or some damned thing was now firing on all crystals….

He didn't care. Daniel was gone. He'd let that guy take Daniel.

Jack didn't feel able to take the lead for once, too stunned with anxiety and unable to believe he'd let Daniel slip through his fingers so easily. After they were in orbit, Te'Rak left Teal'c at the controls and came and led Jack out of earshot of Carter to the cargo hold. "O'Neill – I did not want to speak of this in front of your companions for Daniel Jackson's sake, but as you are his commanding officer I think you must know what manner of man has taken him prisoner."

Jack roused himself from his misery. "What?"

"Jarek Mudd is not a man of honor."

"Yeah well the 'bounty hunter' on his passport kind of tipped me off about that."

"I mean – he may have – O'Neill there is no easy way to say this. Jarek Mudd has been known to take advantage of those he captures for his own pleasure."

It was odd, because he hadn't thought he could feel any sicker. "You're saying that this bastard is probably going to rape Daniel?" He looked at his watch and said dully, "Probably already has raped Daniel."

The Tok'Ra looked at him sympathetically. "I know it does not make it any better, O'Neill, but it may not be 'rape' as Daniel Jackson will experience it. Jarek Mudd experiments with and sells many chemicals; he uses some of these chemicals upon those he captures to alter their perception of reality. He then takes advantage of their confusion to…seduce them."

Jack frowned. "No, actually, that does make it better. That makes it a lot better. I mean I'm not ready to throw a party or anything, but at least if Daniel thinks Jarek Mudd's – thinks he's someone else – he won't fight back and the guy won't have any reason to hurt him."

The Tok'Ra looked at Jack with surprised approval. "I had not expected you to be such a pragmatist, O'Neill."

"Look, I hate the thought of some guy injecting Daniel full of pixie dust so he can paw him around, okay? I'm not pretending I don't. But I hate the thought of Daniel being forced to have sex with someone against his will and knowing it's happening a hell of a lot more. That guy was a lot bigger than him; if Daniel fought back he could get badly hurt. I don't want Daniel getting hurt." He faced Te'rak and didn't care if the Tok'Ra read every bit of the truth in his eyes. "I want Daniel back alive and undamaged and I will pay any damned price that guy asks. If the Tok'Ra have something he wants then please God give it to him but don't let him sell Daniel to Sokar."

"Do not distress yourself, O'Neill." Frowning at the depth of the man's feelings, Te'rak began to explain what the Tok'Ra could do to help Daniel. Jack tried to listen as the Tok'Ra told him about the Roshnar, something about that damned blue juice Arris Bock had kept sucking on; how Bock had given a sample to Carter; she'd passed it onto the Tok'Ra, they'd synthesized some compound….

He'd told Daniel he wanted his first time to be perfect. So much for moonlight and roses. No champagne and no candlelight, just some bastard alien pretending to be someone he wasn't, fucking Daniel for his own satisfaction before he sold him to a Goa'uld who'd happily torture him to death just for the fun of it. Oh God. So much for carpe diem. Why the hell hadn't he done what Daniel wanted when he'd asked him to? Perhaps it wouldn't have been perfect but at least Daniel would have been with someone who loved him. Christ, at least Daniel would have been with someone he knew.

Daniel was being fucked by a total stranger probably right this minute. Jack put his head in his hands and groaned, wanting to pull his own hair out by the roots just so that he was hurting too. Or maybe the guy's chemicals were so good that he could persuade Daniel it was Jack he was with; God at least that would be something. Perhaps Daniel would never have to know….

Jack wondered which would be worse. If Daniel found out he'd been raped by Jarek Mudd or if he thought the guy thrusting into him so selfishly and with so little consideration for him was Jack O'Neill.

"O'Neill…?"

He jerked his head up. "What?" He hadn't even noticed the Tok'Ra go and now here he was coming back again. Christ, he was really starting to lose it here. This wasn't helping Daniel. Time to get a grip.

Te'rak looked at him anxiously. "Your concern for your teammate does you credit, O'Neill, but you must not despair. I have contacted the Tok'Ra and they will communicate with Jarek Mudd. We will match any bid made for Daniel Jackson, I give you my word."

When the Tok'Ra had left him, Jack took a moment to look at his surroundings. The ship might have a good engine but it was still a wreck. This seemed to be some sort of cargo hold and he'd never seen so much space crap in his life. There were some dirty sacks on the floor, a whole pile of crates, unidentified bits of metal lying around everywhere, some half empty tins with green gloop in them, a bunch of tools whose purpose he couldn't even guess at. Miscellaneous junk rolling around loose everywhere you looked. Hey, how about that: an untidy Tok'Ra. This place looked like every garage Jack had ever owned. He half-expected to see a disused car battery and some old fuse wire lying in the corners.

"Guess Te'rak missed out on his spring cleaning this year, sir."

He turned around to see Carter looking at him compassionately. She held out a cup of something wet and hot. "Try to drink this, Colonel, you look wrecked."

He found a smile for her, grateful for her concern when one look at her told him she was worried sick about Daniel herself. He collected himself, slipping back into Commanding Officer mode. "Were going to get him back, Carter."

"I know we are, sir. I know we are."

***

The world was spinning and swirling around him and he was wrapped in a warm, red heat. Every nerve in his body was tingling with wanting; skin sensitized to every sensation; a butterfly alighting on his skin would have made him buck and lunge towards orgasm right now. It didn't matter that he couldn't open his eyes because he knew everything he needed to know by touch alone. Knew how much he wanted Jack to fuck him right now and right here, and oh God…

This isn't Jack.

A tongue running across his skin like spilled honey, slicked fingers probing him, opening him up, he had to give into this, had to be part of this fiery shadowdance of sensation…

Not Jack.

He wanted Jack inside him so much he thought he'd die if he didn't get it…

But this really isn't Jack.

Daniel groaned with frustration and slammed his thighs closed, felt the fingers that had been reaching inside him withdrawn with an angry word he didn't even recognize.

Not Jack, you see, definitely not Jack.

He tried to hang onto that one small sliver of his mind that wasn't completely befuddled by drugs. Okay, he knew what this was, this wooziness, shifting, shimmering all around and through him, this was a lot of chemicals in his bloodstream that had no business being there. Even this heat coursing through him wasn't natural. How come he was so turned on when the foreplay had been perfunctory? Why the hell if he was safe in Jack's arms, would he be full of drugs? Why, given that he was full of drugs, would Jack be trying to have sex with him anyway? This wasn't Jack. He might know on one level, know absolutely, that this was Jack, but he was wrong.

As someone grunted with frustration, as a body pressed down on top of his, fingers fumbled at his cock, a mouth sucked at his neck like it was starving, Daniel focused on how it felt to be hallucinating. Okay. Stargate event horizon in his closet. Pin clear, wasn't it? All shimmering and blue and spectacular, and It was never there, Daniel! It was never there, like that Goa'uld he'd seen slither into Jack; like the dead Linvris he'd seen standing behind Teal'c. None of it true. None of it real. And this wasn't Jack.

"You're not Jack." He managed to enunciate it quite clearly despite the cotton wool in his brain. He was pleased with how it sounded. Like he was in full control of his faculties. Not at all like he couldn't open his damned eyes, move his body, like the world was spinning and he was being sucked down into the center of it.

Another word he didn't recognize. And you didn't need to be a linguist to know that wasn't a happy word. Someone was seriously pissed with him. A jab of pain into his arm. More damned drugs. Fast-acting too, he could feel that stuff going straight along the veins into his erogenous zones, like a buzz of color swirling into his bloodstream… God, was it possible for him to be any more turned on than he was already? Shit, he couldn't hold out much longer. One blow-job and he was anyone's right now. Christ, one well-placed lick and he was anyone's right now. Think about Jack.

Think about Jack standing there with his cap on and his fingerless gloves and his MP-what was it? MP-5? MP-6? MP-nine hundred and forty three? Why didn't they give their damned weapons a name a guy could be expected to remember? Although, come to think of it, why was Jack holding a weapon in his fantasy anyway? Too Freudian. Never mind. Worry about that some other time. Graying hair he wanted to run his fingers through. Brown eyes he wanted to gaze into forever. God, but Jack had beautiful eyes. Okay. Think Jack. Keep thinking Jack. Jack looking pissed with him because he was late for the mission briefing; Jack standing there on some alien planet with his hands on his hips, totally exasperated, yelling, "For crying out loud, Daniel!" Actually, maybe he should be thinking of something more romantic. Okay. Cap off. Gloves off. Oh damnit, everything off. Jack naked and sweaty and kissing him so tenderly as he said, "Because it would hurt you and I don't want to hurt you..."

Ow, fuck it, that did hurt. Big clumsy fingers fumbling around inside him again. Definitely not Jack.

It was working, whole slivers of his brain were coming back to him. And he was damned if he was going to have sex with some bastard who was drugging him when he could be having sex with Jack. He couldn't work out what he had to do to move each limb. Did that move his right hand? No. Didn't seem to move anything at all. Damnit. He had to hang onto who he was. A body with a brain inside it not just an interlocking bunch of neurons all screaming for release. He knew things. Whole languages. Lots of them. He was Doctor Daniel Jackson and he was not going to be fucked by anyone but Colonel Jack O'Neill.

But linguist or not, it was difficult assembling words in order now; he could cope with one word at a time but they didn't seem to want to link up; the whole world was swirling and he was flipping over and over, like someone tossed on a high sea. Oh God, there was a tongue tracing a line up his thigh; those fingers were between his legs again, still clumsy but who the hell cared? He was on fire where those fingers were feeling, wanting to be filled up, thrust into, pumped full of…

Not Jack! Not Jack! Not Jack!

"Off get me!!"

Damn. That didn't sound right. Time for actions to speak louder than words perhaps. That tongue on his thigh was at least reminding him where his right leg was, sending a warm impulse all the way up to his brain. Well, two could play at that game and he could follow that nerve-thrumming all the way back down to... Wiggle a toe, Daniel. Right, yes. That was how you made connection with that leg. Okay. And you moved your knee like this….

"You little shit!"

Fuck! That hurt! He couldn't work that out. He jerked his knee up and his face hurt? How did that happen? Actually, no, that was good. Pain was very good. Daniel moistened his lips. Blood. Blood on his mouth. Cut lip. Nice, clear, sharp, brain-cleansing pain. The fucker had hit him. Yes! He'd kneed the guy somewhere that obviously hurt and the man had hit him in retaliation. Yes! Yes! Yes! That was logical. That actually made sense. And he wasn't anything like as turned on as he had been. And the chances were the son-of-a-bitch who'd been feeling him up for the last five minutes was probably a lot less turned on as well.

Lots of swearing in a language he didn't recognize. Oh yes, he did know that phrase actually: what was it, 'a person who excites without accepting the genitalia of honest men'. Oh, a prick-teaser.

Prick-teaser!

"Off fuck!" Daniel retorted indignantly.

Someone was grabbing him by the ankles, pulling him along some padded surface, pushing up his thighs. No. This wasn't good. This was not a good position to be in. He tried wriggling and felt another stinging slap across the face. Ouch! Okay, was one way to clear the brain certainly but there had to be an easier method than this. His legs were being hooked over someone's shoulders. No. No. No! He tried to bring his heels down hard onto the man's back, but he was still too uncoordinated and they landed without any real power. He desperately tried to pull back but the guy just grabbed him harder by the hips and yanked him forward. He could hear heavy breathing, determination. The sounds of a man more than prepared to be ruthless. Ohshitohshitohshit. He really didn't want this….

***

"It is arranged."

"What?" Wrapped in memories of Daniel with which he was vainly trying to warm himself, Jack looked up in surprise. He was still in the cargo hold. He was almost growing to like the cargo hold. He'd been thinking of Daniel so constantly since he'd been in here that it was as though the younger man was starting to leave some part of himself in the atmosphere; when he really concentrated he could even remember the pine scent of his hair. Essence of Daniel. But when he opened his eyes, it evaporated. All he could smell was some kind of fuel and the musty tang of old sacking rotting quietly to itself.

"The purchase of Daniel Jackson from Jarek Mudd?" Te'rak prompted him. "It is arranged."

Hope flared inside him and Jack tried to damp it down quickly because if he let himself believe they were getting Daniel back and then something went wrong… He tried to sound matter-of-fact. "How do you know you can trust him?"

"We have something he wants, O'Neill. We have offered him not only a large quantity of the Roshnar but the formula itself. To one of his race that is the key to freedom. He can release himself from his dependence upon the Goa'uld. And he knows that is something Sokar would never be willing to grant him."

Jack wrapped his arms around himself. "How long until we meet with this guy?"

"Not long now," the Tok'Ra assured him. "You should try to rest. You look tired."

"Yeah I didn't get too much…" He broke off. Didn't get too much sleep last night. Jack closed his eyes. It was such a short time before that he'd had Daniel warm and safe in his arms. He remembered him so drowsy and smiling, those long eyelashes sending shadows down his pale face, that beautiful kiss-swollen mouth… No way would that bastard bounty hunter have managed to keep his hands off Daniel. He just hoped Daniel had shown sense enough not to fight back, but Daniel was so stubborn – and so brave; he'd meet anyone halfway if he thought their culture deserved his respect, more than halfway even, but that didn't mean he didn't believe in standing up for what he thought was right. There was no way in hell Daniel would have given in without a struggle and when a guy like Jarek Mudd lost his temper he did serious damage….

"Christ, how the hell could I let this happen?" Jack pulled off his cap to run a hand through his hair. "How could I let that guy take Daniel?"

"It was not your fault, O'Neill." That familiar calm voice soothed him despite himself and he looked up to see Teal'c looking at him with concern. Te'rak was gone and he guessed he must have lost some more time. No wonder everyone kept looking at him like he was losing his mind. He was losing his goddamned mind: but why not when Daniel was gone and had taken all possibilities of happiness with him. He knew that if they never got Daniel back, he would never get over it. There were only so many times the human heart could keep coming back from the dead. The Jaffa continued evenly, "We will retrieve Daniel Jackson very soon."

"Te'rak says this Mudd character likes to sample the goods he trades. What if this guy's raped Daniel, Teal'c?" He hadn't meant to dump this on anyone else but it was so at the forefront of his mind he couldn't help the words spilling out.

Teal'c didn't even blink, showed not a flicker of surprise, he just said quietly, "Then we will help Daniel Jackson recover from his ordeal, O'Neill. And then you and I shall hunt down and kill Jarek Mudd."

Jack felt as though someone had lifted a weight off his chest. Teal'c was right. Even if the worst had happened there would still be a point in the future when Daniel would be okay again – and a time when Jarek Mudd would be very definitely dead. "I like the way your mind works, Teal'c."

The Jaffa added imperturbably. "And do not distress yourself unduly, O'Neill. Daniel Jackson is intelligent and resourceful. We may yet retrieve him unscathed. As you yourself have pointed out in the past – he is surprisingly difficult to kill."

Jack shook his head as Teal'c went back into the cockpit. The Jaffa always had so much faith in Daniel. Jack had faith in Daniel himself, just a different kind of faith: faith in Daniel to do what was ethically right and to hell with the consequences, not faith in Daniel to do what was going to keep him breathing in and out. He closed his eyes again and said quietly, "Oh, Danny, just be okay. Just be alive and okay and I swear to God I will never let you out of my sight again."

***

Jack was trembling with rage and anxiety as they landed at the rendezvous point. He could see the other ship already there waiting for them, purring quietly on standby like a sleeping lion. Daniel was in that ship! The fucker who had taken Daniel was in that ship! He had to be physically restrained by Te'Rak from ripping open the cockpit door and diving straight over there.

"You must remain here, where you cannot be seen," the Tok'Ra told him firmly. "Jarek Mudd will definitely know you all by sight and if he suspects that SG-1 are nearby he may take-off without trading Daniel Jackson back to us. You must be patient, O'Neill."

"You are going to let me kill this guy, right?" Jack demanded dangerously.

Te'Rak frowned at him. "I have given Jarek Mudd my word that we will make this exchange peaceably."

"Well, you didn't give him my word."

"Nor mine," Teal'c rumbled ominously.

Carter put a restraining hand on Jack's shoulder. "Sir, the main thing is that we get Daniel back. We can always go after this guy another time."

Jack swore under his breath. All he wanted to do right now was wrap his fingers around that guy's throat and keep squeezing until his eyeballs popped straight out of his head, but… "Okay! Okay! But if he's hurt Daniel…" He left it there. No one needed the dots joined on this one.

"Absolutely, sir."

Hearing the steel in her voice, Jack darted Carter a fond look. She was just as pissed off as he and Teal'c were – the difference was her brain was still working properly. He knew she was right. The main thing was that they got Daniel back. He sighed and nodded to Te'rak. "All right, you go give the scumbag his drugs and we'll just watch quietly from in here."

They all clustered around the grimy porthole – Jack impatiently wiped at it with his elbow – God but this ship was a dump and then some – in time to see a doorway slide open and a ramp drop down.

Daniel!

Jack's heart leapt so high he was amazed it didn't pop straight out of his mouth and go walkabout. He felt Carter grip his arm so tightly it went numb, Teal'c was resting a massive hand on his shoulder and squeezing. He didn't know if they were holding him back, trying to stop him from yelling out, comforting him, or just needing to share their relief.

He recognized the bounty hunter guy. Bastard, he thought darkly, if you've hurt Daniel you're going to be so damned sorry you were ever born…. The guy had a hand on Daniel's elbow. Daniel's hands were tied behind his back and he was wearing his SG-1 uniform, or parts of it anyway: the t-shirt and pants, but his feet were bare and his jacket was gone. Daniel was staggering as he came down the ramp, but there was a determination about him that Jack recognized. Daniel was putting every ounce of concentration he had into staying on his feet, and – Oh boy, Jack certainly recognized that expression – Daniel was seriously pissed. He was saying something to Jarek and Jarek was saying something right back and these two were not looking much like a honeymoon couple.

Carter was fiddling with some dial on the side of the ship and then suddenly they were getting sound. Not that it helped because Jack didn't recognize the language. The tone was pretty clear though. As he watched, Jarek yanked Daniel along and Daniel snapped something at the guy that Jack really didn't need translated although the way Teal'c's eyebrow shot up in surprise did kind of confirm that he was guessing right.

"What did Daniel just say, Teal'c?" Carter enquired, frowning.

Teal'c said carefully, "It could be translated as a quotation from your Earth Bible, Major Carter."

"Something about 'going forth and multiplying' by any chance?" Jack suggested.

Teal'c nodded, "Just so, O'Neill."

"Way to go, Danny," Jack grinned in relief. Okay, Daniel was clearly mad as hell and looked like shit but he certainly wasn't crushed. Whatever crap this guy had put him through, Daniel was still fighting back.

Jarek was snapping back at him now, grabbing Daniel by the shoulder and practically dragging him down the rest of the ramp, calling him a word as he did so that didn't sound any too pretty.

Teal'c's eyebrow went up a little higher. "It seems unlikely that Jarek Mudd succeeded in his efforts to have intercourse with Daniel Jackson, O'Neill."

"What makes you say that?"

"The name he just called Daniel Jackson would seem inappropriate if he had done so."

Daniel had come to an unsteady stop at the bottom of the ramp, he was swaying like a sapling in a high wind and Jack couldn't see what was keeping him upright except innate stubbornness. He was even trying to pull loose from Jarek's hand on his elbow, despite the fact that if he exerted too much weight in any direction, Daniel was going to fall flat on his face. As the man tightened his grip and yanked him back again, Daniel said something to Jarek that made Teal'c's eyebrow leap skyward again "Daniel Jackson's vocabulary has expanded considerably since he left Abydos, O'Neill," the Jaffa observed.

"Well, it’s always a good thing to keep up those foreign languages." Jack was grinning insanely. Yes, Daniel looked terrible: white skin, awful shadows under the eyes, a couple of bruises on his face, cut lip; he wasn't focusing properly and looked like he'd smoked half a kilo of cannabis before downing a bottle of whiskey, but he sure as hell wasn't acting much like a victim.

Jarek was turning to Te'rak in clear relief. "You want him? Take him! If I'd known the little son-of-a-bitch was going to be this much of a pain in the mikta I would have grabbed one of the others instead."

"Yeah, well, it was my mikta you were interested in, wasn't it, you felnek?"

" 'Felnek'?" Jack turned an enquiring eye on Teal'c.

"It is not complimentary, O'Neill."

"Ooh but that guy must have made Daniel really really mad."

"You want to come get this little bastard before I change my mind and hand him over to Nirrti?" Jarek yelled.

Te'rak approached calmly, pushing forward a large container before holding out something that looked a little like a computer disk. "Here is your Roshnar and the formula, Jarek. Now please release Doctor Jackson."

"Take him and welcome." Jarek shoved Daniel forward and Te'rak caught the linguist before he fell, steadying him gently but allowing Daniel the dignity of at least appearing to stand upright unaided. Jarek snatched the disk and glared at his erstwhile captive. "You know that little bastard isn't worth a tenth of the price you just paid for him."

"A human life does not carry a price tag, Jarek."

Jarek bent and hefted the container up onto his shoulder. "Well, that isn't how it looks from here." Jarek gave Daniel a last glare. "Next time you see O'Neill you can tell him from me – he's welcome to you!" He turned on his heel and stamped off.

Daniel shouted a word after him that made Jarek pause in mid-stride, quiver with indignation, and then march back up the ramp.

Turning to Teal'c for enlightenment, Jack saw a hint of a smile playing around the Jaffa's mouth. Teal'c said imperturbably, "I think it is safe to assume that Jarek Mudd definitely did not succeed in having intercourse with Daniel Jackson. It seems that he was not…physically capable of doing so."

"Yes!" Jack grabbed Carter, hugged her tightly and then planted a kiss on her forehead.

"Oh great. So glad you missed me, Jack."

He turned to see Daniel swaying in the doorway, still looking like shit, but grinning faintly.

"Daniel!" Jack was over there in a millisecond, flinging his arms around Daniel before crushing him to his chest. "Oh Danny, I thought I'd lost you for good. Oh Daniel. Danny…Daniel…"

"Gee, Jack," Daniel gave him a blurry smile, "and I thought I was the one with all the alien drugs in his system."

Jack hugged him tighter, grabbing a handful of Daniel's hair and pulling his head in against his shoulder, needing to feel that body against his, feel that heart against his and know Daniel was alive and back with him again. He rocked him in his arms, eyes closed, fighting back tears that wanted to squeeze out from under his lids. "Oh Danny…"

"So you did miss me, eh?" Daniel breathed into his neck, but despite the mocking words, Jack could feel the moisture on Daniel's cheek and knew the linguist was as relieved to be back in his arms and he was to feel Daniel within them.

"Like breathing, Daniel. Like my own heartbeat."

He heard Daniel's breath catch in his throat but then the linguist had recovered and was talking matter-of-factly, "Uh – Jack, do you want to untie me?"

"God, I'm sorry." Jack quickly released the younger man, spun him round and cut through his bonds.

"Shit!" Daniel hissed as the life throbbed into his arms.

At the sound of an engine humming, Daniel staggered over to the porthole and looked out, still rubbing his wrists. "Good riddance," he growled.

"Are you hurt, Daniel?" Carter asked anxiously.

He shook his head and then swayed as the action obviously made him dizzier. "Whoa – hate these damned drugs. No, not hurt, Sam, just full of chemicals, but incredibly glad to see you guys again. Thought the next face I saw was going to be Nirrti's – really wasn't looking forward to that little reunion much."

She examined his left arm, wincing as she saw all the needle tracks. "What did he give you?"

"No idea," Daniel responded. "Strong stuff though."

Teal'c laid a hand on his shoulder. "It is good to see you back, Daniel Jackson."

"Good to be back, Teal'c. Really missed you guys." Daniel put out his arms to grab Carter and Teal'c into an embrace. Carter squeezed him tightly in return while Teal'c gently patted his back.

After a moment, the Jaffa disentangled Daniel from their arms and said, "We will leave you to the care of O'Neill, Daniel Jackson, while Major Carter and I assist Te'rak in piloting this craft."

Carter stroked Daniel's hair back from his forehead. "So glad you're okay, Daniel."

"Thanks for getting me back before I wasn't, Sam."

And then the door of the hold was closing gently and he and Jack were alone. Unable to help himself, Jack swept Daniel back into another embrace, hugging him tightly. "Oh, Daniel, I was so fucking scared I was never going to see you again."

"Ditto, Jack."

Jack looked around in the grubby hold. "We need to find you somewhere you can lie down and rest. Let those drugs get out of your – "

That was when Daniel clasped both of his hands to the back of Jack's head and pulled the man in for a breath-stealing kiss.

For a moment Jack could do nothing but blindly respond to those eager lips against his, but then he pulled back to snatch a breath and remembered that Daniel was an invalid. "Daniel, shouldn't you be…?"

His protests were stifled by an even fiercer kiss. Jack felt his tongue sucked so hard it seemed a miracle it managed to stay in his head. Then Daniel was pushing him away and saying hoarsely, "Fuck me, Jack. Right here. Right now."

Jack gaped at him, not used to being the one at a loss. "What?"

Grabbing Jack by the jacket and pulling him back for another kiss, Daniel panted, "Jack, those drugs the guy kept putting into me…? They were aphrodisiacs. Really, really strong ones, I mean…never mind, just take it from me, they were strong. One more needle-load and I would have let a table lamp fuck me. And the only way I got through it was by thinking how much better it would be with you. Now, I have had more foreplay and less action than mortal man can bear, so if you don't do something…penetrative in the next ten seconds I am probably going to explode."

Jack looked around at the dingy cargo hold; the glowing ideal of that log cabin slipping away from him. "You want to do it here?"

"Jack, please," Daniel breathed it into his neck, swaying on his feet. "I want it now, here, with you. You've still got your gear, haven't you? That means you have sunblock. Sunblock will do fine, just go grab some and let's get busy."

"Daniel, you're still full of drugs and…"

Daniel grabbed Jack by the hair and pulled his face down to meet his, devouring his mouth with his own then eagerly lapped at the tongue that instinctively lunged forward into the wet cavern of his mouth, sucking on it hungrily. He pulled away breathlessly, gaze fixed on Jack's. "Damnit, Jack, don't make me beg – quite apart from anything else it's so undignified."

"But you're…I…" The spirit so wanted to do the right thing and the flesh was so incredibly hard.

Daniel grabbed Jack by the jacket and pulled him down into another sense-dizzying kiss, releasing him only to breathe huskily, "Fuck me, Jack, or I swear to God I'm going up in that cockpit and sitting on Teal'c's lap."

That did it. Daniel might think he was kidding – at least Jack hoped that Daniel thought he was kidding – but he suspected that Teal'c probably knew stuff about erogenous zones that he and Daniel couldn't even guess at and the last thing he wanted Daniel to find out was that there might be a male member of SG-1 who was even more inventive and considerate in the sack than his C.O.

Before Jack's mind had made the decision to give in to Daniel, his body had already hauled Daniel down onto the floor and was making determined efforts to shed both their clothes in three seconds flat. The only thing that stopped him having Daniel naked in an eye-blink was his overpowering need to keep pressing his lips against that gorgeous pouting mouth. It was bruised from the bounty hunter's kisses and cut from what had obviously been a backhand, but Daniel didn't flinch as their mouths met, he just gasped with pleasure, spasming, opening his legs in clear invitation, his whole body utterly relaxed, receptive and aroused. Daniel's fingers were fumbling at Jack's shirt, belt, buttons, zips, still murmuring, "Please, Jack, God please…you have no idea how much I need you to do this."

"You have no idea how much I want to," Jack admitted, hurling both their clothes to all corners of the cargo bay in between kisses. And it was true, that there was something primordial about his need to prove to himself that Daniel really was back with him, safe and his own again. He desperately wanted to stake his claim to this person he loved so much who someone else had so nearly succeeded in taking from him. But it was so damned…basic.

He must have said it aloud because a panting Daniel, now naked, eyes closed but jerking his hips feverishly at him in invitation, said, "Nothing wrong with basic human instincts, Jack. I need you to do this. You need you to do this. For crying out loud will you get on and do this!"

Biting Daniel's neck, Jack murmured, "You say the most romantic things, Doctor Jackson." But with his right hand he was already reaching for the sunblock

Groaning with impatience, Daniel yelled, "Jack!"

Jack poured the sunblock onto his fingers and slipped them between Daniel's open thighs.

"Ohmigod!" Daniel arched instinctively but then determinedly pushed his hips down, trying to wriggle further onto those fingers, impaling himself. He was so relaxed with wanting that Jack couldn't kid himself this was not something Daniel was ready for him to do. Daniel so wanted this.

"Do it, Jack," Daniel breathed softly, as he pushed down onto Jack's skilful fingers, grunting with pain and yet with a smile of pleasure flickering across his face. "Oh God, Jack, please just do it."

Fumbling with desire, mouth so dry with his own wants that he felt like he'd swallowed the Sahara, Jack needed no second invitation. He smothered his cock in sunblock and slid up between Daniel's long splayed legs.

Daniel bucked as he went into him, back arching sharply; Jack saw a flicker of pain cross Daniel's face and felt a momentary stab of concern, which Daniel immediately dispelled by opening his eyes and gazing straight at him. "Do it, Jack," he repeated. He smiled as he arched his back luxuriously, like a cat stretching in the sun, grinding his hips down to take more of Jack's cock inside himself. "Do it."

Jack did it. And it was so not how he'd planned it. On a couple of torn bits of sacking in a dirty fuel-flavored cargo hold, Daniel's bloodstream still full of alien drugs, Daniel's body all grubby and bearing faint bruising, no proper lubricant, and himself so turned on he couldn't have taken things slowly if a holy choir had appeared in front of him and told him it was the will of the Angel Gabriel that he took this one step at a time. And it was so good. So unbelievably fucking good.

"Yes, Jack! Yes!"

Daniel wasn't coming he was just loving it. Flinching from it and loving it and needing it so much he was never going to get enough of it. Jack was so in tune with Daniel in this instant, so physically, psychically and spiritually connected to him that he knew his cock was sending a lance of fire deep inside Daniel, that hurt so much he couldn't take another thrust, and felt so good he couldn't bear it ever to end, all bound together and scrambled up inside him in this crashing symphony of sensation. Daniel wrapped his long legs around him and pulled him in deeper and Jack was thrusting quicker now, unable to resist being so wanted or his own primal urge to be inside Daniel as hard and deep and fast as he could. Daniel was gasping with the shockwaves, arms thrown back behind his head, hitting his elbow on some nameless bit of metal, body jolting ecstatically in rhythm to Jack's increasingly frenzied thrusts.

This was everything he hadn't meant it to be: savage, animal, out of control, his body slamming into Daniel's as Daniel opened up to him, trying to pull Jack even deeper, deeper, not a cell in his body resistant to this incredible assault upon his senses. He had to grab Daniel by the hair to hold him still, knew Daniel needed to feel Jack inside him right now just as much as Jack needed to be inside Daniel, needed it like this. It felt like Daniel was not bones and muscles and tendons, but liquid, melding himself around that fiery spike, welcoming it so much his whole body chemistry seemed ready to transmute itself if it was necessary to lure it in further.

"Harder, Jack, harder…" Daniel gasped. "Deeper…"

Blindly responding now because his own body was screaming with encroaching orgasm, Jack thrust so hard he lifted them both off the ground, making Daniel grunt and gasp, legs splaying to take him in even further; each jerk of Jack's hips moving them six inches along the floor, until as his climax grew he forced them off the sacking, sent them jolting across the metal floor, their bodies colliding with unknown objects which they sent protesting tinnily away, and then finally just before orgasm overwhelmed him, sent them both crashing into that unwieldy metal wall.

Daniel howled in ecstasy and Jack yelled a word he didn't even know the meaning of as sensations beat over them like waves smashing against a cliff-face, spume flying in the salt-scented air. There was no breath, no thought, no possibility of separation, they were one and they were here, a place where orgasm enveloped them like the sea and they drowned in it deliriously together. Then they collapsed, panting madly, heaving air back into their lungs, bodies reverberating with aftershocks that faded slowly to allow their new bruises and scratches to make their presence known.

"You see…" Jack snatched a breath with difficulty, raising himself up from Daniel's body, "Told you I wanted everything to be perfect for our first time." He realized he had his elbow in some kind of fuel can and pulled it loose with difficulty.

Daniel put a hand to the back of his head and felt a bump coming where they'd slammed into the wall. He had sacking burns on his back, had whacked his elbow on something so hard it was still vibrating, and ached all over. He smiled. "Felt pretty damned perfect to me, Jack." He gave a small, satiated sigh as Jack eased out of him gently.

Jack bent down and kissed Daniel on the lips. "To me too." He looked around at the dingy interior. "Couldn't have been the setting so I figure it must have been something to do with the company."

"Oh," Daniel gazed up at him tenderly, "take it from someone who nearly got fucked by the wrong guy today, Jack, it had everything to do with the company."

"Are you hurting?"

Daniel smiled at him. "System full of alien drugs, Jack. Feeling no pain of any kind. In fact feeling pretty fucking wonderful to tell you the truth."

"Didn't know you swore, Daniel."

"Something else I picked up from you, Jack, right along with that orgasm."

They got dressed slowly, not sure whose clothes belonged to whom in the dim lighting and not much caring, breaking off for long leisurely kisses as they untangled their t-shirts together. "So, tell me," Jack had only just got his breath back and every time he looked at Daniel it got knocked straight out of him again with the sheer relief of having him back in one piece, "what was that guy's gripe with you? Tel'rak said he'd try and screw you."

"He did. Try I mean."

Jack looked at Daniel sideways, "So how did you stop him?"

"A variety of methods really. Most of them admittedly unintentional but still pretty damned effective." Daniel ran a hand through his sweat-streaked hair. "Let me think, first, I think I blacked out, then I threw up on him – that didn't thrill him overly – then I think I blacked out again – might have fallen asleep at some point too, I'm not very clear about the order of events – then I worked out it wasn't you and told him so. Oh yes, then I kneed him in the groin, which was round about when he decided that he was going to have me whether I was willing or not – then the Tok'Ra called him up just as he was about to have his evil way with me and offered to buy me from him – by which time the damage my knee had done had really started to kick in and he was too bruised to get it up. I don't think we should tell the Tok'Ra, but by that point I think you could probably have bought me from him for a lot less than day's rations. In fact he probably would have paid you to get shot of me."

"Clearly a man of no taste," Jack leant across and stroked Daniel's hair off his forehead. "But God I'm sorry you had to go through that, Danny."

"It was fine, Jack. Chalk it up to life experience. Want to know how – despite all the mind-blurring drugs in my system – I still knew he wasn't you?"

"Okay."

"His blow-job sucked."

As Jack grinned, Daniel leant across and kissed him again, eyes serious now. "I knew it because he didn't make me feel safe, Jack, because he didn't start the fire inside me that you do, because I didn't know when I was with him that this was someone I could trust with every cell in my body to always do the right thing, because…"

Jack put a finger across Daniel's lips, "You don't need to say it. I know everything you feel for me, Daniel, because I feel it for you too. Before I met you I was full of holes: there were so many parts of me that had died every time I took a life, failed to save a life, had someone that I loved die, and you're all the missing bits of me I thought were lost forever. But you're better than even the best of me could ever have been because you're you, Daniel, and you're perfect, just like I told you."

Daniel stared at him for a moment and then leant forward and brushed his lips very gently against Jack's. "I couldn't have come back from where those drugs took me for anyone but you, Jack. You were my lifeline in there. I'm only here because of you. I'm only sane because of you." A smile flickered at his lips then. "I'm only not full of alien come right now, because of you."

Jack laughed. "Daniel, you really do say the sweetest things."

Daniel smiled in contentment and snuggled up against him, wrapping Jack's arms around him like a blanket. "Really have to get some sleep now, Jack."

"Okay, Daniel. I'll be right here when you wake up."

Jack inched back, tugging an already sleeping Daniel with him until they were wedged into a corner of the cargo bay, his arms still tight around the man he loved. He could still smell fuel and musty sacking, but he could smell Daniel now too, not a memory this time. He bent his head and there was Daniel's hair so soft against his mouth. Pinecones. Just like he'd remembered it.

And they could still go to that log cabin, sit in front of that fire, drink that wine, he could still pick Daniel up and carry him into the bedroom. It wouldn't be the first time. It probably wouldn't even be perfect. But it wouldn't matter because it would be him and Daniel and that was all that counted.

Jack smiled. "I got you back, Danny. I thought I'd lost you for good this time and I got you back. And now I've got you I'm not ever letting you go."

When he craned his neck to look at the younger man's face he saw that Daniel was smiling in his sleep.

The End