to fall from the skies

To Fall From The Stars
by elfin

Xmas 2001

“Everyone who ever held you, would tell you the way I’m feeling
Anyone who ever wanted you, could try to tell you what I’m feeling inside…”

Disclaimer: characters are copyright Jonathan Glassner and Brad Wright. It's a shame that they DON'T TAKE CARE OF THEM!!!! Really, they shouldn't be allowed to keep them any longer....

Daniel had been trying for years to get the General to at least allow them to have a tree in the briefing room. And then, when he’d finally caved in and the tinsel had gone up last year, it had set several alarms off in the early hours of the first morning. Two hours later it all been torn down by order of the president, who’d been awoken at 2am by his chief of staff who’d reported a foothold situation.

This year… this year a great deal of care had been taken to honour Daniel’s wishes.

Why, Sam wondered as she padded through the quiet corridors, did he have to leave for them to realise how precious he was?

The question plagued her mind, keeping her from making wild guesses at what she was doing here at four am on Christmas Day. Her brother had wanted to know where she’d been going, of course, and whether she’d be back in time for church, or lunch. The General had promised her this wouldn’t take too long when he’d called. Personally.

“I think you’ll want to be here,” he’d said with no inflection in his voice at all. And here she was.

Climbing the stairs to the briefing room, she glanced into the gate control room. Something was happening, definitely. Three technicians were watching the computer monitors, but no one was touching anything.

Janet caught Sam’s gaze and glanced over at the long window that overlooked the gate room.

Colonel O’Neill was sitting with one ass cheek on the narrow ledge, one foot on the floor, head turned, looking down at the gate. He was wearing his standard civies; jeans, leather jacket, cream-coloured sweater, and his shades tucked into one pocket.

Jack turned to look at her as Hammond invited her to take a seat. She let her eyes linger on her team leader for a moment. It looked like he’d been crying, but the smile on his face was more serene than she’d seen there since Daniel… left them.

Sam took the seat next to Janet, smiling across at Jonas. Daniel had been gone almost eleven months. Jonas… hadn’t had an easy time with them. Or rather, with Colonel O’Neill. Someone whose people had built the weapon that had almost killed Daniel… that had taken him from them… the colonel couldn’t help but feel a certain level of animosity toward him.

“Merry Christmas, everyone,” he bade them softly. There were murmurings of it being repeated back to him. “Sorry to drag you all out here at this hour, on this day, but we felt you’d want to be here.” He glanced at Jack who bowed his head, still smiling.

The General continued. “At zero-hundred hours this morning, there was an off-world activation. The SG1 iris code was sent and… a Christmas card dropped through the wormhole onto the ramp.” He paused. “Colonel O’Neill was still on the base. He was woken because the envelope was addressed to him.”

Four pairs of questing eyes fell on their team leader. Jack held up the card that his fingers were grasping as if it were the most precious thing in the world. Two folds of off-white, textured paper with the imprint of tiny stars embedded into it. There was some writing at the centre of the folds that they couldn’t make out from the table.

“It’s from Daniel,” Jack told them finally. He caught each of their reactions and committed them to memory. Sam’s wide-eyed excitement, Janet’s startled curiosity, Teal’c’s single raised eyebrow and warm smile, Jonas’s puzzled look. “I’ll read it word for word,” he said quietly, glancing at the General who nodded once.

“‘Nmyxrd, I think there’s a way I can keep my Christmas promise to you after all - Danny.’”

“What was DanielJackson’s promise to you?” Teal’c asked, cutting through the quiet in the room.

Sam was sure she saw their colonel blush. “He promised… he wouldn’t ever leave me.” Taking a deep breath, he confessed the exact same thing he’d admitted to Hammond four hours ago. “Daniel and I were… together.”

Janet looked long at Sam, before turning back to Jack. “Together, as in….”

Sam opened her mouth to speak but the words wouldn’t come. It explained everything so clearly she couldn’t understand why she hadn’t seen it before. That first time they’d stepped through the gate with Jonas in Daniel’s place, Jack had aborted the mission after three minutes. He’d asked Daniel to accompany him on a sweep of the area. Simple slip of the tongue, but as they’d stepped back through the gate to a surprised General Hammond, she’d been sure she’d seen tears in his eyes.

The General cleared his throat. “At zero-hundred and twenty-seven, the gate dialled up an outgoing wormhole and we sent… a sprig of mistletoe through.” He paused to keep the sappy grin from his face. It had been amazing at that moment to see the expression of pure joy touching his colonel’s features. “The gate disengaged and a timer started on the dialling computer, counting down four hours. We believe that in…” he checked his watch, “…fourteen minutes, the gate will dial out again.”

Sam suddenly realised why they’d been called onto the base. “You’re leaving!”

Sighing softly, keeping the card close to him, Jack moved to sit on the corner of the table between Sam and Teal’c, his back to Jonas.

“Listen, kids….” He paused, trying to think of a way to explain why he was giving up everything to be with a man he’d once described as a ‘geek’. “You know I’m not great at the ‘talking about my feelings’ thing?” Sam nodded. She knew first hand. “The first night we got back from Abydos – with Daniel in tow – I found him standing in the corridor just outside the locker rooms, just… leaning against the wall, wearing green fatigues someone had found for him, two sizes too big. I asked him what he was up to and he said, ‘they don’t know what to do with me. And I don’t know what to do with me.’”

Jack smiled at the memory. “I took him home, he had nowhere else to go. He had one beer and got squiffy. I remember telling him he was a cheaper date than my wife. He asked when he was going to meet her and I told him never. And… he just listened and I talked. More than I’d done in years. By the time I’d finished talking, he was sitting next to me, we were leaning against one another. He said, ‘If I’d known she was going to leave you, I’d have never stayed on Abydos.’”

Jack was surprised to find tears stinging his eyes and he blinked them away. Lowering his voice, he continued. “I just looked at him. And he kissed me.” He shrugged. “Seemed like the most natural thing in the world for both of us.” He chuckled a little. “Of course, the other stuff was far from it.” He sneaked a smile at both of them, gauging Teal’c’s easy expression and Sam’s hard one.

“That ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ thing is a real bastard,” he told her seriously.

Sam shook her head. “I can’t believe we didn’t know! So… so what about now?”

Jack glanced at Hammond, who and said softly. “At zero-hundred and forty minutes, Jack resigned from the SGC and the US Air Force.”

Stepping back from the firm hug, Jack caught Teal’c’s smile. “Take care of the planet for me, big guy.”

“…but every day you are apart from DanielJackson is another piece is torn from your heart.” Jack wasn’t the only one to stare. “You told me that one night, after a great many alcoholic beverages. I should have listened and I did not.”

Jack couldn’t hide his blush. “What you said, Teal’c.” He turned to Sam, and after a moment’s pause, they wrapped each other in a tight embrace.

“I know.” There was no ego in his words. “And I’m sorry about all that… I had to lie. If they thought you and I…. I couldn’t put Daniel at that kind of risk.”

She nodded against his shoulder. “It’s okay, I know. You really love him.”

A hug for Janet, a hand-shake for Jonas, and a reaffirmation of his earlier sentiments shared with Hammond. Jack stopped at the stop of the stairs leading down to the control room.

On hearing the phrase ‘incoming’, the briefing and control rooms emptied. They’d been planning on watching from there, waving goodbye without having to go through the emotional upheaval yet again. But ‘incoming’ could only mean one thing.

The event horizon sprang out into the gate room, and Jack watched, heart pounding, as a couple of seconds later Daniel, dressed in loose white trousers and a long white shirt, stepped through onto the ramp.

For the best part of a year, he was the only thing Jack had wanted to see. Each and every time the gate opened, he’d hoped….

Jack felt strong arms wrap around his neck, hands on his back, lips against his skin. “I’ve missed you.”

“Danny….” All the wonderful things he’d had rehearsed should this day ever come… and Jack found himself speechless. He didn’t seem to be able to talk passed the lump in his throat.

Behind them, the gate deactivated, and redialled. Daniel moved them, down the ramp, out of the way of the wormhole as it formed. A moment later, he was engulfed by three pairs of arms attached to warm bodies that threw themselves at him.

He let it happen, viciously culling his natural instinct to pull away from such an intense physical situation. Even ascending to a higher plane hadn’t driven that horror from his subconscious. But these were his friends. He loved them, they loved him.

He couldn’t tell who was who for a moment. Possessive arms came around his waist from behind and he knew that was Jack. He must have told them, because as Daniel leaned back into the embrace his mouth was captured in a long, deep kiss.

“Hey! Do we all get one?” Freeing himself, Daniel turned his head and grinned at Sam. “It is so good to see you!”

Letting her go, he was surprised when Teal’c picked him up and almost crushed him to his hard body. “Your absence from this base is unsatisfactory,” the Jaffa told him certainly.

“No choice, Teal’c, not yet.” He was vaguely relieved to be let down to the ramp, and turned to the third person. “General….”

“Welcome back, Dr Jackson, even if it is for too short a time.” Daniel felt warmed by the smile in Hammond’s voice. These people had become his family. Whatever happened, that wouldn’t ever change. They’d always be here for him, no matter how long he was away for.

As they gave him a little breathing space, Daniel looked up at the gate room for the first time, and saw the tree in the corner, and the decorations hanging over the glass panels in the far wall.

Pulling him back into his arms, Jack kissed his lover’s neck. “Of course they did, Danny. They love you. I love you.”

Finally, Daniel really looked at Jack, his heart in his eyes. “Are you… coming back with me?”

Jack smiled incredulously. “Jeez, Danny…. You think I’ve been living these last ten months? Think I haven’t missed you every single second of every single minute of every single….” Smiling, Daniel pressed his finger over Jack’s lips. Jack kissed the tip, sucking it between his lips. “Of course I’m coming back with you.”

The others stepped back from the ramp, not wanting to let go, not wanting to say goodbye. But knowing they had to, and not wanting to make this any more difficult for Daniel than it already was.

Sliding his hand down to hold Jack’s, Daniel gave them a little wave and Jack blew them all a kiss before they turned their backs on the SGC and started toward the gate.

Daniel’s expressive brows rose an inch into his forehead. “You replaced me?!”

Gazing at his beautiful lover, Jack shook his head slowly. “No, Danny, we couldn’t ever replace you.”