Smaller Victories
Part Two
(Jack’s POV)
Daniel’s a complete distraction. Why hadn’t I noticed this before?
Okay, so I’d taken note of the ass. Everyone has – believe me. He
has these off-white trousers that he wore to the SGC Christmas party last
year – I swore no one’s eyes got above a forty-five degree angle whenever
he walked passed.
In his green fatigues it’s not so bad. They’re slightly too large
for him and so those firm little… well, they’re not so defined. And
that’s good. But then, of course, I have other things to contend with.
From head to foot, starting with the hair.
When we first met, he had that long hair and he looked… I heard Carter
use the phrase ‘adorable’ one time and that seemed to fit. Then Hathor
was of the opinion that he’d believe himself to be living in the future if
his hair was short and she cut it. I’d have killed her for that act
alone. So the first time I saw him with the new style, let’s just say
there were mitigating circumstances. When we were finally rescued,
by people more reliable than Makepeace, Daniel was deeply shaken and I’d
been too busy laying on some comfort touching to really notice how he actually
looked.
Completely gorgeous. Very male, very attractive, very hot.
Everyone and almost everything with a pulse that we come into contact with
notices this.
He has eyes that not even Maybourne is immune to. When he gets that
lost-puppy-god thing going, I swear the president himself would cave.
Daniel’s my weapon against the General when I want to do something that
isn’t officially popular. Those eyes are absolutely the windows to his
soul. Every emotion he ever feels is displayed there for anyone to
see who takes the time to look. Mr Wonderful, for example, loves to
attempt to share adoring glances with my Daniel whenever he can come up with
an excuse to join us at the SGC.
But Danny reserves certain looks, and certain smiles, just for me.
Ohmygod. Getting sappy, getting waaaay too sappy.
Did I mention his mouth?
I hadn’t watched it before, all those thousands of times he’s just talked
and talked about whatever he happened to be talking about. I’d told
him again and again to shut up when I should have been taking the opportunity
to wonder what else that mouth could do….
Jeez! Distracted? Completely.
A week after my personal revelation, a week after the madness with the
replicators, SG1 was reactivated. Easy mission. Samples, plant-life,
photographs. Dull stuff but Daniel was still supposed to be taking
things easy and the rest of us were in need of some seriously stress-free
living for a while.
As usual, things didn’t go quite as they were meant to.
We encountered a life-form and again, just as usual, Daniel had to talk
to it.
Carter got interested when she saw the size of its… pouch. I got
interested when it took us back to its cave system and showed us what looked
to be a highly developed armoury.
Sure, I wanted samples of these things to take home! And the negotiations
began.
Not me, you understand. I don’t do the communication stuff, that’s
why we have Daniel. And on that note, I let myself be distracted again.
I would have sworn that it was only a second before I clocked on to the
fact that my team telling me something, but it must have been embarrassingly
longer. Daniel was looking at me expectantly and, as sometimes happens
– and I honestly don’t know why I do this – I got momentarily annoyed with
him.
I waved my gun at nothing and said, “Just give him what he wants, Daniel,
and let’s go with the goodies.”
I knew I’d made a mistake immediately. Carter rounded on me, eyes
wide. “Sir?!”
Teal’c had taken a step closer to Daniel, who was looking anywhere but
at me, confusion all over his gorgeous features. Did I say gorgeous?
“Erm….”
I’d missed something vitally important. I tried to replay the information
back through my mind but it just wasn’t there.
“Oookay. So… what does the alien actually want?”
Our linguist remained silent. Teal’c glanced at him, then at me.
Daniel?! “It wants to trade Daniel for technology?” I think
I squeaked.
Daniel’s voice was quiet when he spoke. He knew, obviously, that
I hadn’t been listening to him the first time around and he was trying not
to be hurt. Why do I do this to him? “Not exactly, Jack.”
They suddenly had my full and undivided attention. “Not exactly?”
“The alien creature wishes to trade weapons for Daniel’s….”
“…time,” Daniel finished off Teal’c’s statement quickly.
Starting to get with the plot, I hoisted my P-90 around and clicked back
the safety. The sharp sound seemed to interest the alien that had,
up to that moment, simply been watching us with what seemed to me to be an
amused expression. Too many of its eyes were trained on Daniel’s butt
for my liking.
“Time?”
“He wants… wants….”
Carter piped up, saving Daniel. “Think ‘Indecent Proposal’, Sir.”
Okay, so my reaction might have been a little over the top.
Hey, I didn’t kill it! A bullet in the… whatever it had below its
pouch… was less than it deserved. Let’s just say that when this story
gets back to the Pentagon, Mr Wonderful will think twice about whatever proposals
he has in mind.
Daniel wasn’t amused. He wouldn’t let me steal anything more than
a small hand-held thing and he didn’t speak to me all the way back to the
gate.
I need to have a long talk with my kids.
Any trade deals that involve one of my team prostituting themselves is
absolutely out of the question.
Why did they even wait for me to tell them what to do?! Daniel should
have been refusing point-blank, not looking like some shy teenager.
I thought we’d gotten passed all that!
Sam is almost as protective as I am over her adopted brother, why wasn’t
she upping arms? As for Teal’c… I actually have no idea how he feels
about… sex. But I can’t see him condoning rape and he absolutely wouldn’t
let anyone lay a single finger on Daniel.
And then of course there’s me. I need a pep talk more than any of
them. If I hadn’t been as distracted as I had been I’d have shot the
alien a hell of a lot sooner for the mere suggestion.
A complete mess, all said and done.
I went to find Daniel, to apologise to him. He can’t hold a grudge
for long, not against one of us.
~ ~ ~
part three