Fic: Light Dawns Over Marble Head
Dec. 16th, 2004 08:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
galaxysoupFANDOM: Stargate SG-1
RATING: PG-13
CATEGORY: Angst, hurt/comfort
SUMMARY: Jack has an epiphany. Fifth season.
SPOILERS: None.
WARNING: None.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: The idea for this story came to me while I was watching ‘Finding Nemo’ with LimeKid and Flyakate, and is another example of why I will never understand the way my brain works, as this story has absolutely nothing to do with anything in ‘Finding Nemo’. It even mostly takes place in a desert, which is about as un-‘Finding Nemo’ as you can get. Nevertheless, to ‘Finding Nemo’ the credit must go.
AUTHOR'S NOTE UPON REPOSTING: Originally published in the zine Foundations 6
LIGHT DAWNS OVER MARBLE HEAD
All things considered, it was an extremely inopportune moment to have an epiphany.
They were on P86 921, liasing with some tribal desert nomad type people. Jack hadn’t really paid attention to Daniel’s briefing and was starting to regret it a little since Daniel hadn’t actually come on this mission. He had pleaded a mountain of work and begged off, and Jack had been saddled with a Doctor Murphy instead.
Jack frowned. This situation had been repeating itself with increasing frequency lately. It seemed every other mission Daniel was either playing catch-up with his translations or off with some other team, and SG-1 was left with some random academic from the archaeology department.
Jack’s internal clock kicked in and he took a moment from his musings to check out his perimeter. Carter and the big guy were a short distance away, dutifully sampling some unusual minerals brought in by the nomad traders. Murphy was digging a Very Important Hole in search of Very Important Things Jack really couldn’t have cared less about. He wandered to one side and sat down on a short stone pillar that was probably terribly significant and rested one arm on the top of his P90, staring out across the desert towards the Stargate. It was the type of planet Daniel loved to go to, the kind that made him smile a little as he breathed in the arid air and felt the sand sting his face, which all just made it feel even more wrong that he wasn’t there right now.
There was a howl of outrage behind Jack, and the sound of someone rushing at him across the sand. He threw himself off the pillar, guided more by blind luck than any kind of honed instinct, and heard something whistle past his ear. He twisted to land on his back and found himself staring straight up at his attacker.
His assailant was one of the nomads, the one Jack had noticed giving them suspicious looks when they’d arrived. More captivating to Jack’s attention, however, was the large sword the nomad was lifting above his head.
The sword reached the top of its swing and Jack thought, Well, crap. The sword swung down, flashing in the sun, and even as Jack was bringing his P90 up to block the blow his one coherent thought was that he really kind of missed having Daniel along to talk to.
The sword hit Jack’s gun with a dull clang and slid off to one side, missing Jack’s fingers by a hair’s breadth. With detached calmness, he turned the gun from its sideways blocking position until the business end was pointing at the nomad, and let loose.
The sword hit the ground next to his left ear, and the nomad sort of slithered down to his right. Jack rolled smoothly out from under the dead man and came to his knees, gun still held at the ready.
He stared down at the dead man, and thought about how missions without Daniel were really kind of dull and pointless, when you got down to it.
Huh.
“Sir!” Carter’s shout behind him startled him out of his reverie. “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine,” Jack said softly, even if maybe it wasn’t quite true. He ran over the past few weeks in his brain, realizing for the first time that he and Daniel really hadn’t had a conversation worth the name in quite some time. In fact, they hadn’t actually interacted outside of the base since Jack had gone under cover with Maybourne’s goons, and that had all been staged.
“So this whole friendship thing we’ve been working on for the past few years?”
“Apparently not much of a foundation there, huh?”
Oh.
Bloody hell.
He remembered telling Daniel once, in the offhand sort of way one makes such grand pronouncements, that he’d had an epiphany. Daniel had asked him kind of snidely if it had hurt.
That one, whatever it had been, had not. This one did.
He turned to see Carter and Teal’c rushing towards him, their weapons ready. In the background, he could see the other nomads huddled together, staring at him in fear. To one side, Murphy hauled himself out of his pit and stumbled towards them, his face ashen.
Jack glanced back at the nomad, and then pinned Murphy with a look. “Pack it up. We’re going home.”
“But - ”
“Now.”
“Colonel, I still need - ”
“Don’t want to hear it. Pack now.”
He had something important to do on Earth.
The briefing passed quickly. Murphy was pissed with Jack for making them leave early without even trying to find out why the nomad had attacked, but Hammond supported his second’s decision and Jack really couldn’t have cared less what Murphy thought. Carter and Teal’c gave him worried looks throughout the briefing, but they left him alone.
As soon as the briefing was over, Jack went back down to the armory and signed out his P90. He walked straight to Daniel’s office and set the weapon down on the desk on top of Daniel’s translations, the shiny groove where the sword had hit glinting in the dim lighting. Daniel looked up at him, his mouth open to ask Jack what was going on, but Jack held up a finger and he fell silent.
“Daniel, today someone tried to kill me. And it made me realize something.”
Daniel leaned forward a little, frowning with concern but keeping his mouth shut. His eyes looked unnaturally blue behind his glasses.
“You’re my best friend, Daniel, and I miss you when you’re not around. I don’t think I’ve ever told you that and it’s something I want you to know.” He held Daniel’s gaze for another moment, then turned and left.
He only made it partway down the hall before he had to turn back. He sidled up to Daniel’s office door and peeked in. Daniel was leaning back, his elbows propped up on the arms of his office chair, the gun held delicately up near his face. He was studying the sword mark.
As Jack watched, Daniel set the gun gently back down on his desk, and covered his mouth with one hand. Jack could see a tiny smile between Daniel’s fingers.
Jack leaned back, satisfied. Maybe he made a lousy best friend, and maybe Daniel would be better off as far away from Jack as he could get, but for now they were stuck together.
And really, Jack wouldn’t have it any other way.
THE END
RATING: PG-13
CATEGORY: Angst, hurt/comfort
SUMMARY: Jack has an epiphany. Fifth season.
SPOILERS: None.
WARNING: None.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: The idea for this story came to me while I was watching ‘Finding Nemo’ with LimeKid and Flyakate, and is another example of why I will never understand the way my brain works, as this story has absolutely nothing to do with anything in ‘Finding Nemo’. It even mostly takes place in a desert, which is about as un-‘Finding Nemo’ as you can get. Nevertheless, to ‘Finding Nemo’ the credit must go.
AUTHOR'S NOTE UPON REPOSTING: Originally published in the zine Foundations 6
LIGHT DAWNS OVER MARBLE HEAD
All things considered, it was an extremely inopportune moment to have an epiphany.
They were on P86 921, liasing with some tribal desert nomad type people. Jack hadn’t really paid attention to Daniel’s briefing and was starting to regret it a little since Daniel hadn’t actually come on this mission. He had pleaded a mountain of work and begged off, and Jack had been saddled with a Doctor Murphy instead.
Jack frowned. This situation had been repeating itself with increasing frequency lately. It seemed every other mission Daniel was either playing catch-up with his translations or off with some other team, and SG-1 was left with some random academic from the archaeology department.
Jack’s internal clock kicked in and he took a moment from his musings to check out his perimeter. Carter and the big guy were a short distance away, dutifully sampling some unusual minerals brought in by the nomad traders. Murphy was digging a Very Important Hole in search of Very Important Things Jack really couldn’t have cared less about. He wandered to one side and sat down on a short stone pillar that was probably terribly significant and rested one arm on the top of his P90, staring out across the desert towards the Stargate. It was the type of planet Daniel loved to go to, the kind that made him smile a little as he breathed in the arid air and felt the sand sting his face, which all just made it feel even more wrong that he wasn’t there right now.
There was a howl of outrage behind Jack, and the sound of someone rushing at him across the sand. He threw himself off the pillar, guided more by blind luck than any kind of honed instinct, and heard something whistle past his ear. He twisted to land on his back and found himself staring straight up at his attacker.
His assailant was one of the nomads, the one Jack had noticed giving them suspicious looks when they’d arrived. More captivating to Jack’s attention, however, was the large sword the nomad was lifting above his head.
The sword reached the top of its swing and Jack thought, Well, crap. The sword swung down, flashing in the sun, and even as Jack was bringing his P90 up to block the blow his one coherent thought was that he really kind of missed having Daniel along to talk to.
The sword hit Jack’s gun with a dull clang and slid off to one side, missing Jack’s fingers by a hair’s breadth. With detached calmness, he turned the gun from its sideways blocking position until the business end was pointing at the nomad, and let loose.
The sword hit the ground next to his left ear, and the nomad sort of slithered down to his right. Jack rolled smoothly out from under the dead man and came to his knees, gun still held at the ready.
He stared down at the dead man, and thought about how missions without Daniel were really kind of dull and pointless, when you got down to it.
Huh.
“Sir!” Carter’s shout behind him startled him out of his reverie. “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine,” Jack said softly, even if maybe it wasn’t quite true. He ran over the past few weeks in his brain, realizing for the first time that he and Daniel really hadn’t had a conversation worth the name in quite some time. In fact, they hadn’t actually interacted outside of the base since Jack had gone under cover with Maybourne’s goons, and that had all been staged.
“So this whole friendship thing we’ve been working on for the past few years?”
“Apparently not much of a foundation there, huh?”
Oh.
Bloody hell.
He remembered telling Daniel once, in the offhand sort of way one makes such grand pronouncements, that he’d had an epiphany. Daniel had asked him kind of snidely if it had hurt.
That one, whatever it had been, had not. This one did.
He turned to see Carter and Teal’c rushing towards him, their weapons ready. In the background, he could see the other nomads huddled together, staring at him in fear. To one side, Murphy hauled himself out of his pit and stumbled towards them, his face ashen.
Jack glanced back at the nomad, and then pinned Murphy with a look. “Pack it up. We’re going home.”
“But - ”
“Now.”
“Colonel, I still need - ”
“Don’t want to hear it. Pack now.”
He had something important to do on Earth.
The briefing passed quickly. Murphy was pissed with Jack for making them leave early without even trying to find out why the nomad had attacked, but Hammond supported his second’s decision and Jack really couldn’t have cared less what Murphy thought. Carter and Teal’c gave him worried looks throughout the briefing, but they left him alone.
As soon as the briefing was over, Jack went back down to the armory and signed out his P90. He walked straight to Daniel’s office and set the weapon down on the desk on top of Daniel’s translations, the shiny groove where the sword had hit glinting in the dim lighting. Daniel looked up at him, his mouth open to ask Jack what was going on, but Jack held up a finger and he fell silent.
“Daniel, today someone tried to kill me. And it made me realize something.”
Daniel leaned forward a little, frowning with concern but keeping his mouth shut. His eyes looked unnaturally blue behind his glasses.
“You’re my best friend, Daniel, and I miss you when you’re not around. I don’t think I’ve ever told you that and it’s something I want you to know.” He held Daniel’s gaze for another moment, then turned and left.
He only made it partway down the hall before he had to turn back. He sidled up to Daniel’s office door and peeked in. Daniel was leaning back, his elbows propped up on the arms of his office chair, the gun held delicately up near his face. He was studying the sword mark.
As Jack watched, Daniel set the gun gently back down on his desk, and covered his mouth with one hand. Jack could see a tiny smile between Daniel’s fingers.
Jack leaned back, satisfied. Maybe he made a lousy best friend, and maybe Daniel would be better off as far away from Jack as he could get, but for now they were stuck together.
And really, Jack wouldn’t have it any other way.
THE END
