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1. Old Married Couple
Jack couldn't remember what had started the heated argument—whether it was "regardless" or "irregardless," who took the last packet of sweetener, if the mission had gone south when it started raining buckets or right when they'd stepped through the 'gate—but all over-the-top bickering stopped the moment Teal'c commented:
"You squabble as though you are mated."
Not even Daniel could transcribe the sound Jack made, but, linguist that he was, Daniel sprang to interpret, maintaining his characteristically calm voice. "Teal'c, I think the phrase you're looking for is 'old married couple.'"
Confusion crossed Teal'c's brow in a reminder of how new he was to American slang, and he said, "I was under the impression your relationship was newly formed."
"Relationship?" Jack and Daniel squeaked at the same time. They turned to look at each other, shocked and dismayed by the synchronicity. They had to stop doing that!
It took a moment for their mouths to start working again, but Daniel was there first, practically tripping on the words. "Argue like an old married couple."
"It's an expression."
"Because two people know each other so well they get on each other's nerves. Like in a marriage that has gone on for a very, very long time."
Teal'c's attention shifted between them, following the bouncing explanation from his teammates. "So you are like an old married couple?"
"Sure," Jack said, not wanting to think about the way he and Daniel had basically been finishing each other's sentences. "Like one, but not one."
"And not married," Daniel clarified.
"Not married." He didn't need Teal'c heading back to base and talking about how O'Neill and Daniel Jackson were married. There'd been enough off-world marriages for his team, thank you very much.
"Wait, well." Daniel turned to Jack again, long, rain dampened hair falling over his eyes. "Well, I'm married." He tapped his chest, left hand missing a wedding ring, but they didn't need rings on Abydos.
Jack turned back to Teal'c, praying Daniel's precision didn't make things more confusing. "Daniel is married," Jack agreed.
"To Sha're," they said together, in case Teal'c needed the reminder.
"But not to each other." Jack felt like that point was important to emphasize. "Newly or otherwise."
Teal'c gave them a long, impassive look that had Jack mentally drafting a formal explanation to Hammond. He finally said, "I see."
Teal'c went back to checking the perimeter, and—after one last shared look of horror—Daniel went back to his translation. Not that Daniel wasn't a fine-looking man or that Jack wouldn't be happy to annoy Daniel for the rest of his life, but baiting Daniel and dating Daniel were two very different activities. And while Jack was ready for the former, he wasn't as confident about the latter.
2. Raw
All things considered, Daniel was in pretty good shape after having been kidnapped, bound, and dragged all over a planet by a creature he'd been pretty sure was going to eat him. Of course Chaka had turned out to be something like a friend, more or less. Either way he hadn't eaten Daniel, so that was fairly encouraging.
Sitting on the downed tree, Daniel eased his jacket off his shoulders, carefully pulling at the sleeves to get around his chafed wrists. His arms were peppered with more bruises than he'd expected and he had that intense scratch on his cheek from Chaka's claws, but he was still classifying himself in relatively good shape, especially considering the alternatives.
A shadow fell over Daniel, and when he looked up, Jack's face was backlit by the sun sinking behind him.
"Hey," Daniel said, shading his eyes. "Any chance we're getting off this planet any time soon? I know I'm usually game for working through anything, but I'd really like a nap. In a bed."
"Long way back to the 'gate, but we're doing our best." Jack nodded his chin at Daniel. "How about we add medical treatment to that list?"
"Oh." Daniel covered his right wrist, his watch sliding down to cover the worst damage on the left one. "They're—"
"Raw." Jack squatted in front of Daniel, P-90 forming a table across his knees. He put a finger under Daniel's chin, pushing his face to the side and leaning in to inspect the gash on his cheek. Daniel went rigid at the familiar touch. Jack had been hands-off for weeks. Casual touches replaced by distance and curt words that had left Daniel unsure what to expect. Maybe Jack was finally thawing. "You've got to stop getting kidnapped."
"Stop getting—?" It took a moment for Daniel's thoughts to realign. He tugged his face away from Jack's scrutiny. "Right. Because I've been trying to get kidnapped every time it happens. It's fun for me."
"You always seem to come back with new friends." The emphasis on friends was so skeptical that Daniel immediately decided Chaka was probably a better friend than Jack O'Neill. Chaka had at least been upfront about devouring him.
Jack stood, shouldering his P-90 in the same motion. "It's lucky Teal'c could track you."
He crossed to check on Sam's progress with a campfire before Daniel could compose a response. Just like Jack, dropping shit at Daniel's door and then leaving Daniel feeling annoyed and confused. Like Daniel hadn't been the victim here. Like Daniel hadn't been knocked unconscious and trussed up and still tried to escape and save his own life.
A few minutes later Teal'c approached with some bandages and a medical kit. He held them out before he knelt in front of Daniel. "O'Neill suggested you could use some assistance."
Daniel sighed heavily. "Yeah? Because I can't take care of myself, right?"
Teal'c frowned deeply, his displeasure making Daniel regret his words.
"Sorry, I didn't mean that." Daniel went to push his glasses up, but then remembered he'd lost them somewhere on P3X-888. "Jack just… is being Jack." Not that Teal'c would have any idea what that meant. Jack wasn't icing out Teal'c.
"I have observed the way he has treated you."
Daniel accepted the alcohol-soaked cotton pad Teal'c offered and grit his teeth before dabbing at his wounds.
"I do not believe it is representative of the way he feels."
Daniel paused, and then flicked his eyes up to Teal'c's face. He didn't quite believe him, but he trusted that Teal'c was good at observing and noting behaviors—no one could spot a lie as quickly as Teal'c. If Teal'c said Jack's actions weren't lining up….
"Then what do you think?"
Teal'c wound the bandage around Daniel's extended wrist. "O'Neill is most concerned with your safety and well-being." He cut the bandage and then secured the end with medical tape. "You are the one O'Neill cares for the most."
Daniel's stomach flipped, but he tried to keep his face impassive. He shouldn't get his hopes up. Despite what Teal'c was saying, despite Teal'c's Jaffa powers of observation, Daniel had too many of his own observations contrary to what Teal'c had said. Too many fights, too many times when Jack had questioned Daniel's judgment, too many times when he had shouldered past or flat out ignored that Daniel was there. Some days it was difficult to believe that Jack cared about Daniel at all.
"Hear me," Teal'c said, in that tone that brooked no argument. "The day he fears most is the day he loses you."
Teal'c finished wrapping Daniel's other wrist while Daniel digested that statement. It was a little easier to swallow than the idea that Jack cared for Daniel the most. They'd been through so much together, seen each other at their best and worst. Losing Daniel now would be losing part of Jack's history, losing the person who knew Jack's stories and could supply the other half. Jack had already lost other chunks of his life. His and Daniel's shared memory began on Abydos, a mission that had changed both of their lives.
Okay, maybe. Maybe Jack cared about him more than some other people, but not more than everyone.
"Thanks, Teal'c," Daniel said as Teal'c packed up the medical kit. "Not just for the—" Daniel waved his hands, showing off his newly bound wrists. "You gave me some perspective I hadn't considered."
A scuffed boot step had both Daniel and Teal'c looking up.
"Hey," Jack said. He bounced his fist against his thigh and then shoved it at Daniel. "You missing these? I brought your spare pair from your locker."
Glasses. Daniel's glasses. Which Jack had remembered to bring.
"Thanks," Daniel stuttered, taking them. As he slipped them on he caught Teal'c's indulgent smile. Yeah, Teal'c, okay, maybe Jack did care.
3. Photographs for the Ascended
The darkened locker room was exactly where he expected to find O'Neill. Whether O'Neill had stayed there for the last two hours or returned once he knew the other teams had embarked, Teal'c had known the colonel would be there, sitting in front of the locker that had previously belonged to Daniel Jackson.
No one had yet cleared the locker, though Jonas Quinn had taken up residence in Daniel Jackson's office. He insisted it was temporary when pressed, but it was foolish to deny the space was available, and even more foolish to prevent a refugee from finding his place among Stargate Command. The office could belong to them both for now, and with time the ownership would smoothly transition.
The locker, however, was another story.
O'Neill hunched on the bench in front of the open door. Tapped to the inside were pictures of SG-1. In one, from an official mission file in which the team was in full uniform, O'Neill's cap shaded his eyes and Daniel Jackson squinted behind his glasses, but they stood side-by-side, arms so close they were bumping together. It was not the only picture in which they were so arranged.
Teal'c sat beside O'Neill, willing to take up whatever vigil his friend needed to process their loss. Daniel Jackson had been gone almost two weeks and it was still difficult to remember and understand that he had accepted Ascension at great personal sacrifice.
"Hey." O'Neill's voice sounded like a croaking trakeel. "Hammond asked if I would box up his personal stuff."
"Eventually it will need to be done."
"Eventually," O'Neill repeated. He reached out and pulled one of the photographs from the collection. In it, O'Neill was laughing and Daniel Jackson had a most perplexed look on his face, his tongue pressing against his upper lip. The moment had been captured off-world, the purple trees of P8X-121 visible in the background. Teal'c didn't know what had caused such expressions on his friends' faces, but he suspected O'Neill remembered the moment explicitly.
"I miss my friend," Teal'c said, keeping his voice even. "But I know the choice was not one he made lightly."
O'Neill tapped the photograph against his palm, the image blurring with the rapid movement. "No. Daniel thought this one through. Well, after throwing himself through a window to deactivate a nuclear bomb."
"You would have done the same."
Tired eyes met Teal'c's gaze and for a brief moment he wondered if O'Neill would argue the point, claim that he would not have been as selfless, that he was not a hero in the same way, even though O'Neill had sacrificed himself for SG-1 and the world countless times.
"Daniel Jackson would not have made the choices he did if other options were available." Teal'c inclined his head, saying more delicately, "He knew who he was leaving behind."
O'Neill leaned his head back, eyes rapidly blinking. "Who was he really leaving behind? No family. Just us."
"You, O'Neill, are the one who matters the most." Teal'c knew deep in his heart how much Daniel Jackson would ache to know the pain he had caused O'Neill.
O'Neill's gaze lowered to the photograph once again. His thumb smudged a spot over Daniel Jackson's face. "Do you really think Daniel cared how I feel?"
Teal'c took a deep breath, wishing that O'Neill could hear this, as they said, straight from the horse's mouth. "Your feelings were Daniel Jackson's primary concern. It is why he spoke to you in his final moments before Ascension. He could not leave without telling you goodbye."
"He didn't really say goodbye." O'Neill tucked the photograph into a pocket and then stood up, wiping his cheek on his shirt. "I'll get a box, clean this out tomorrow."
"I would be honored to assist you in this duty, O'Neill."
He met Teal'c's gaze and patted his shoulder. "Thanks, T. But I feel like maybe this is something I should do on my own."
Teal'c bowed his head and let O'Neill lead the way out of the locker room.
4. Making Connections
No matter what everyone said, the office still belonged to Jonas Quinn. Arrom—Daniel—was the usurper here, coming in, kicking out, and taking over. All at the behest of other people. He hadn't asked for any of this and still wasn't entirely sure what he was doing here. Jack told him he fit, that Daniel was in fact "the missing piece," but Daniel Jackson was still a puzzle piece with no defined edges—and he had no idea how he fit among the other pieces.
"Daniel Jackson." The voice startled him, but as soon as he saw it was Teal'c, Daniel relaxed. Teal'c was one of the few people who had accepted that Daniel didn't quite remember everything. After the initial hurt—which Daniel somehow understood through the stoic face—Teal'c had offered nothing but acceptance.
"Teal'c, hey, what, uh, what do you need?" Daniel winced, feeling like he didn't quite nail the delivery of a friendly question. He set the journal he'd been reading to the side, planning to get back to Daniel Jackson circa 2001 later.
"I observed you arrived with O'Neill this morning."
True: Jack had invited Daniel to his house for dinner and it got late enough that neither of them felt comfortable calling for a driver, also Daniel had been enjoying flipping through Jack's photo albums. He didn't find out much about himself, but he liked knowing about Jack and his life before the Program. It seemed a lot simpler than turning into light, fighting an incorporeal being with his energy, and then choosing to be a memory-less human again.
"Yeah, Jack was nice enough to put me up last night. We talked."
A smile flickered on Teal'c's face, true warmth lighting his eyes. "I am pleased to know you and O'Neill have resumed your relationship."
That was an odd way of putting it, but Daniel knew from experience that no matter how fluent you were in a language, some things never quite translated the way you wanted them to.
"Yeah. It, well, I guess it was the most normal things have felt for a while." He hadn't thought about it last night, but it really was the most comfortable Daniel had felt since walking through the stargate. Being in Jack's house, eating the food he'd grilled, sleeping in sheets that smelled like Jack's laundry detergent… it strangely felt like safety.
"I expect things will only feel more normal as you resume your connections."
"Connections. Huh." Again, an interesting way of phrasing it, but Teal'c wasn't wrong. The longer he'd been with Jack, the more grounded he felt. The events in the journal entries still didn't read like memories, but he recognized the man who'd written about them, and was starting to feel a little more like Daniel, and maybe a little less like Arrom. "I guess I am feeling more connected."
Teal'c inclined his head. "All we wish is for you to feel more settled."
Daniel took a deep breath, relaxing as he exhaled. "Yeah, Jack said something like that last night."
"You will excuse me. I am meeting SG-13 to spar." Teal'c smiled once more before he left, a genuinely happy smile that made Daniel want to ensure they renewed their connections too. "I knew your feelings for O'Neill would return in time."
Teal'c left, and it took Daniel a moment to really hear his parting words, leaving him stammering, "Wait, my what?" to an empty room.
5. Indeed
Jack shifted nervously, eyes sliding to Daniel. They'd talked through how to do this, what to say, who to tell, in what order they were telling people, but no amount of planning made this any easier. They were redefining themselves and their relationship to their closest friends, admitting things Jack had been lying about his entire career—it was a big ask. Even if he'd been the one to ask Daniel.
Starting with Teal'c had been Daniel's ask. He wasn't bound by the USAF, had known them for a ridiculously long time, and usually reacted pretty chill to any of the weird shit they'd been through, so he seemed like a good person to start with.
Just… starting was the problem.
Jack cleared his throat and nudged Daniel, hoping he would take the lead since they were in his office and all, but Daniel just looked back at Jack and cleared his throat in return. Man, they were good at this.
Teal'c's eyes flicked between them, the ol' Jaffa hairy eyeball not doing much to alleviate Jack's nerves.
"Teal'c," he said, the word bursting out of his mouth. "How've you been?"
"Fine. As we established earlier." His eyebrow arched inquisitively. "I suspect my health is not what you wished to discuss."
"No," Daniel said, drawing out the vowel and turning to face Jack again. They had another non-verbal argument with their eyes, but this time Jack won and Daniel turned back to Teal'c. "We wanted to tell you about a change in our… relationship." Daniel enunciated every sound in the word, making it sound weirder, not more natural.
Teal'c's expression didn't change, so Daniel proceeded in a rush. "Jack and I—that is the two of us." He looked to Jack, but Jack had no more help to give than a bewildered look. "We, we wanted to tell you that we—" Daniel's hands kept flashing between himself and Jack, as though that would actually help Teal'c understand what he was babbling. "We are an item. A couple."
"Together," Jack helpfully clarified.
Teal'c's gaze fell fully on Jack. His nostrils flared and the little hairs on the back of Jack's neck stood straight up and tried to escape. The glare turned to Daniel next, and Jack was pretty sure he saw a few hairs go gray. Teal'c finally sniffed.
"I am aware." He turned and walked away.
Daniel turned to Jack, eyes glancing to Teal'c's retreating back. "How, how did Teal'c already know?"
"No idea. We were very discreet!"
Daniel scratched the back of his head. "Do you think other people already know?"
Teal'c was almost out of the room, but he must have caught the question because he said, "Indeed."