There’d been a false alarm. Or, rather, Jack is still choosing to assume it had been a false alarm; just some base gossip that had gotten a little closer to the truth than usual. Eminently familiar with the tone and subjects of military chatter and scandal, Jack knew it was nothing and wasn’t concerned. Daniel, more sensitive to those sorts of things after his professional rejection and other experiences, had been upset. They’d fought over it, and he supposes he’d lost since Daniel had retreated to his own home and not yet returned.
Unfortunately, not wanting to admit he’d lost the argument meant Jack was sleeping alone, because outside of work, Daniel isn’t really speaking to him. Something about ‘not until you decide to take this seriously’. It’s childish of both of them, Jack knows this, but right now he’s still determined not to be the one who breaks first, so he’s keeping his distance.
Of course, that doesn’t mean he isn’t still aware of Daniel. Like, all the time. He knows his partner isn’t sleeping well. Though to be honest, Daniel rarely sleeps well, so really, it takes about a week for Jack to decide he’s sleeping considerably less well. Several times he comes in on the tail end of conversations Daniel is having with Teal’c, or Sam, but the other man always seems to clam up before he reaches them, and Jack isn’t concerned enough to push the issue directly with the archaeologist and be the first one to break the silence. When questioned, as casually as he can manage, all Teal’c and Sam will say is that Daniel’s having bad dreams.
Which is nothing new.
But altogether, it means Jack doesn’t get the full story until they’re sitting in a briefing with the General, and if Daniel looked any less exhausted, he might be seriously mad about being left out of the loop this long. It doesn’t matter that they’re having a quarrel - he can’t believe Daniel didn’t tell him the minute they suspected he was being attacked in his sleep. Or Sam, or Teal’c, for that matter!
“Kinky!” he interjects snarkily, just to try and get a rise out of Daniel, who had chosen to sit next to Sam instead of his usual spot next to Jack. They all ignore him, continuing to discuss the issue at hand. Mind probes, Osiris, Goa’ulds with access to Asgard technology...yada yada, but nothing that seems like a plan to solve the problem. He tries to wait patiently, but when he just can’t anymore, he asks directly, “So…what do we do?”
“The Goa'uld are scavengers of alien technology,” Teal’c points out. “They would most likely interface any Asgard system with their own command device.”
“We're hoping the jamming device we've been working on, could prevent Osiris from using the beam technology to escape Daniel's room,” Sam suggest, and Jack is glad at least some of her research that is keeping her here on base for countless hours of overtime while she avoids getting serious with her new boyfriend will get put to good use.
“You want to set up a trap,” the General says, as if just for clarification, but Jack can hear the caution in Hammond’s tone, the same caution currently setting off his own alarm bells. They’re waiting for the other shoe to drop; Daniel and Sam are being too cagey for it to be that simple.
“Yes,” Daniel agrees, leaning forward, “but we don't want to spring it until after she's helped me remember the location of the Lost City.”
The other shoe - there it is. Instead of just setting up a simple operation, spring the trap, get the Goa’uld out of Daniel’s life and perhaps even save the civilian in the process, Daniel wants more. “What?” Jack protests, looking briefly at Hammond’s considering expression before back at Daniel. Maybe the sleep deprivation is taking it’s toll.
“Look, no one wants to save Sarah more than I do, but I mean, I could know.” Daniel finally looks at him, with an earnest pleading expression that asks Jack to push aside the entire last week of cold shoulder and back him up. He doesn’t even bother looking at the General at this point - smart man, already knows it’s Jack he’ll have to convince. “It could be there, somewhere in my subconscious. We have to let her think that she's still operating without our knowledge. At least until I have the chance to try to finish this.”
“And how are we supposed to know when you know if it's all happening in your head while you're sleeping?” Jack stares right back at him, not quite believing he’s willing to let Osiris continue to play around in his head just for the chance to find this Lost City. Sam clearly hasn’t considered this aspect because after a minute she looks at their linguist, silent, leaving Daniel to answer.
“I don't know?” Daniel says hesitantly, still watching Jack, who glares at him. Daniel, you’re going to be the death of me. Thankfully, Hammond interrupts anything else he might have said and regretted.
“You'd better figure it out. We can't risk letting Osiris escape with that kind of information.”
The only serious injury is Sam’s boyfriend; he’s seen enough that after a quick background check and investigation of his personal history, Hammond clears him to know at least the bare bones of what happens under the Mountain. Jack likes his instincts, to have kept digging at the inconsistencies in Sam’s story, even if he doesn’t quite approve of what was essentially stalking. He makes a mental note to take the man to lunch, shake him down a little, but his gut feeling says the guy’s fine. And it would be good to have someone else watching Sam’s back off-base - as this new adventure has yet again shown them, they are vulnerable when they leave the Mountain and try to conduct their civilian lives.
Daniel’s friend is de-Goa’ulded, and handling it fairly well, all things considered. Perhaps better than Daniel, who isn’t taking the rescue of his friend with as much joy as one might expect. He’s currently hunched over his desk, head in his hands, staring at pages and pages of his own notes. Jack crosses the room and perches on the edge of the table, moving a book and some papers rather than sitting on them and risking making this a fight. Or, more of a fight. The one they have had going all week seems really stupid, now. Without speaking, he reaches out and places a hand on Daniel’s neck, firmly massaging at the tension at the base of his skull. They sit like that, silently, for a few moments before Daniel subtly leans into Jack’s touch, which in turn allows Jack to relax, knowing they’re going to be okay.
“I really thought maybe I could remember the location of the Lost City.” Daniel’s voice, when it finally does float up to him, is forlorn. As always, it doesn’t occur to him to celebrate all of the things that did go right today - just to mourn the one thing that didn’t.
“You’ll find it,” Jack responds quietly. “Not today. Maybe not this week, or this year. But you’ll find it.”
“I know it’s out there. What if it has the answers to defeating Anubis?”
“What if it doesn’t?” Jack counters pragmatically. “Sam’s gadget is working pretty well, if we can get it amplified we’ll be set to deal with Anubis. Anything you find or don’t find in the Lost City is just icing on the cake.”
“My head hurts.”
“I’m not surprised. You look like crap, kid. The human body needs sleep, not just sugar and caffeine.”
“I’m too tired to sleep.”
Jack actually laughs out loud. “No, you’re not,” he disagrees. “You’re just thinking too hard.”
“I can’t go back there,” Daniel mutters, and after a moment of consideration adds, “I might sell the house.”
“Don’t make any rash decisions before you’ve slept at least three full nights. You like that house.” It’s his first residence that wasn’t an apartment - and while he doesn’t spend a lot of time there when they’re not fighting, he knows he does like it more than a little. Jack stands up, swiveling Daniel around and pulling him to his feet. “And you don’t have to go back there right away. Let’s go home, Danny.”
Blue eyes study him, hesitating, but the longing is clear. It’s not Daniel’s heart that doesn’t want to go home to Jack’s. The tension that seeps out of hin when he gives in is enormous, his whole body softening. “Yeah,” he murmurs, and gathers up his stuff. He doesn’t speak again until they’re in the elevator, headed towards the surface. “Sorry, Jack. I just...I’m worried about you, you know. Nobody can do anything to me; the most that would happen is I’d end up not being assigned actively to an SG team. But you…” he trails off and shrugs.
“Nothing’s going to happen to me either,” Jack vows, and he means it.
