Desert Rose
by elfin
Characters beloved creations of and copyright Jonathan Glassner and Brad Wright.  Story copyright MJHughes 2000 

"He means the Earth to me, you know."
Jack tilted his head to one side, gazing at the archaeologist working ten metres from where he was sitting next to Teal'c on the steps of the Stargate.  "More than the Earth, the universe."  He gestured with his arms to take in the alien planet they'd gated to only half an hour earlier.
Teal'c smiled gently.  "Am I aware of your feelings, O'Neill."
"I know, I know."

Jack sighed, falling silent, content for a time to watch Daniel as he continued to take samples from the sand and the plant life surrounding them.  "I could sit and watch him work all day.  The way he... buries himself in everything that he does - his enthusiasm.  I love taking him to other planets, listening to him communicate with the alien life forms, the... almost naïve innocence with which he greets anything and everything, willing to trust until he's proved right or wrong."  He shook his head.  "How can someone take all the shit that the galaxy shovels on to him and remain so... smiley."
Teal'c's face creased.  "'Smiley'?"
But Jack was in a world of his own.  "When he smiles his eyes light up like stars.  And that smile... makes you feel like the only person in the world that actually matters a damn."  He hummed to himself, articulating with his hands.  "Look at the way the sunlight plays in his hair."  Teal'c's eyes settled on his companion.

Unaware of the regard, Daniel sneezed, wiping his nose on the back of his hand while he pushed his glasses up onto his head and rubbed his eyes with the palm of his other hand.

"Ah, God I love when he does that."
Teal'c frowned.  "When he sneezes?"
"Nah, although it's kinda cute....  I meant, when he puts his glasses up on his head like that.  His hair falls back in that wave behind his ear."  Jack linked his fingers, steepling them in front of his face.  "Remember when that alien thing got me - that Ancients thing that download stuff into my brain?"  Teal'c nodded.  "He stayed with me.  He watched over me.  And I watched him worrying about me."
"You fell in love with him that day."
Jack shook his head.  "No.  That was when I saw him on Abydos, I mean really saw him, standing on the sand, already like he was at home there more than anywhere on Earth.  And then what he did... I never realized I would ever find someone who would give me a reason, a will to live.  But he did."  He grinned.  "My Desert Rose."
"Then why do you not tell him?"
Tearing his eyes from the working man in front of them, Jack looked directly at Teal'c, a smile playing on his lips.  "What, get all poetic on him all of a sudden?"  His smile faded.  "I don't think it's something he's really gonna want to hear, Teal'c."
"Why would you think that?"
Jack frowned.  "Because he's married?  What the hell would he want with someone like me?"
"Perhaps that is something you should ask him.  Isn't it right that to want you or not should be DanielJackson's choice?"
"You are kidding, right?"
"I am not."

Teal'c regarded Jack for a moment before standing.
"Teal'c?"
"I will return, O'Neill."
"Teal'c!"  Jack snatched at the Jaffa's sleeve but he was just out of range.  "Teal'c!"  But it was no use, the big man was striding the ten metres of sand between the steps of the gate and where Daniel was working.  Jack dropped his head into his hands, shaking it.  Yet... he couldn't bring himself to stop Teal'c by any means... shooting him, activating the gate and screaming, 'incoming'... there were any number of ways to distract either or both men.  But a part of him was enjoying the butterflies suddenly fluttering in his stomach.  Make or break time, Jonathan, and it's about time too.
 

Daniel had looked up at Jack's call to Teal'c and seen the Jaffa coming toward him.  "DanielJackson?"
Daniel screwed his eyes up against the glare of the sun.  "Is everything okay?"
"It is."  He crouched down, leaning on the staff.  "I have something to say to you, DanielJackson."
"What?"  The young man was instantly suspicious.  Jack and Teal'c had been sitting talking together for a good fifteen minutes, they could have cooked anything up between them in that time.  "It is something O'Neill should have said to you a long time ago but does not have the courage to do so."
Daniel's stomach flip-flopped.  "Teal'c...."
"Please, I have to tell you this.  If I do not, this strange poetic side you bring out in him will drive me slowly crazy."
Daniel stared.  "Poetic side?"  What the hell was he talking about?
"You must believe me, DanielJackson.  This morning alone he has compared your eyes to the stars and has referred to you as his 'Desert Rose'."

Daniel glanced at Jack.  His CO, the object of his affections since his return from Abydos, was sitting with his head in his hands.  Was he laughing?  Was this some sort of sick joke?  "Teal'c...."
"I understand that you might think I am somehow playing with you.  But I know you return his feelings, perhaps not with the same romanticism, but definitely with the same passion."
"But... why now?  Why here?  I mean..." he looked down at the bagged sand samples, "it's just another alien planet."
"Now because I have heard as much poetry as I can take in one lifetime.  Here because it reminds him of Abydos and of seeing you for the first time."  Daniel couldn't help the smile that touched his mouth.  "Please, DanielJackson.  You would be doing me a great favour."

Daniel put down his spoon and tugged at his gloves.  Another glance at Jack to see the other man still with his head in his hands, moving from one side to the other in a shake of denial and disbelief.  "Promise me this isn't a wind-up."
"A wind-up?"  Teal'c frowned.
"A joke."
"I would not play with your feelings.  I care for you too, DanielJackson."
Daniel raised his eyebrows.  "Right."  He stood, brushing himself off.  "Right."
As Teal'c watched him go, he murmured to himself, "O'Neill is going to kill me."
 

"Jack?"
Daniel stood between the colonel and the sun, waiting for the other to look up.  When he did, Daniel could see instantly that this was no joke.  Jack's cheeks were red, his lips, pursed, his eyes pin-pricks of fear.  "Daniel... whatever he said...."
"He said you were sitting here admiring the flowers."
"What?"
"The Desert Rose."
"Ah."
Daniel crouched down much as Teal'c had done in front of him.  "Jack?"
"Listen, Daniel, I...."  He let his own eyes lock with the stunning blue gazing back at him.  "I...."  He faltered a second time and moved to look passed his friend.  "I'm sorry," he blurted out when he finally found the courage to meet that intense regard again.  "I let myself get carried away sometimes."
There was a grin at the edge of Daniel's lips.  "Poetry, Jack?"
The usually confident colonel shrugged shyly.  "You... bring it out in me, okay?"  Was it Jack's imagination or was Daniel edging closer?
"Is that all I bring out in you?"

Jack watched, transfixed, as Daniel leaned in and kissed him.  Jack pulled his head back.  "Oh my God...."
Suddenly terrified, Daniel also backed up.  "What?  What?  God...."
The fear in the other's expression knocked Jack into action.  He reached out, took Daniel's face in his hands and drew him back toward him.  This time, their arms went around one another, the kiss deepening when Daniel parted his lips to allow Jack's tongue the entrance it sought.  When they parted, Jack pushed his fingers into Daniel's hair, stroking, touching, wanting everything here and now but knowing it might still be a long wait until his heart's desire....
"At least wait until we get back to the base?"  Daniel suggested.  "Perhaps even to your place or mine?"

Daniel's smile was dazzling.  Jack brushed his thumb over his friend's bottom lip, shivering when the tip was taken between gentle teeth and sucked once.
"Danny...."
"You could have had Teal'c say something earlier."  He reached out his tongue and licked a trail up from the base of Jack's thumb to the nail.  "I'm a sucker for poetry."
Jack got to his feet, his arm going possessively around Daniel's waist as the other man also stood.  "He was probably exaggerating about the poetry."
"Comparing my eyes to stars?"
Jack shot a damning look in Teal'c direction, but the expression of satisfaction wasn't going to be worn down so easily.  The Jaffa came to meet them.  "Do not forget your samples, DanielJackson."
"Oh!  No."  Daniel gave Jack a quick squeeze around the waist and then released him, finding himself pulled back for a long kiss before he himself was released.

Jack watched his new lover collecting together his tools and findings with as much care as he would always do.  Never mind that they had a great deal of new findings awaiting them back on Earth, never mind that the exploring Jack had in mind was a hell of a lot more intriguing at that moment than any alien world could ever have been.  Jack hoped Daniel would have the same devotion to him - to 'them' - as he did to everything else.  'Getting all poetic again there, Johnny.'

Teal'c dialled them home, hoping the dopey expression on the faces of his two colleagues wouldn't give anything away.  Sam was waiting for them on the other side of the gate.  She cradled a cup of coffee in her un-bandaged hand.  "You're back early," she greeted them happily.  "Find anything of interest?"
Teal'c glanced at Daniel and Jack, both too caught up in each other to answer.  "I believe DanielJackson collected some fascinating sand samples.  And O'Neill found a rare desert rose."
 

fin
elfin
11/12/00