Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

Epilog - Three months later

Daniel talked during sex. Couldn't get him to shut up. Filthy, arousing, deeply moving murmurings that ripped Jack in half and had him spewing come like a teenager. Jack was sure he'd been proposed to at least once.

But afterward, when Jack was filled with all the eloquence of the well-laid, when he was actually inclined to wax poetic --or at least sappy, and who the hell wanted to be sappy all alone?-- all Daniel wanted to do was sleep. Immediately.

Bastard.

In the weeks following their mutual retirement, Daniel sold his house and moved his personal things into Jack's larger home, donating the extra furniture to charity. They shared the housework, the yard work, and the cooking, the latter occasionally evolving into something very messy that invariably ended in equally sticky sex.

Daniel signed up with a small local company to tutor languages part time, and Jack coached Little League on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. Daniel went along, if he didn't have a student, and always attended their games on Saturday mornings to cheer them on.

They dressed up and went out to dinner and a movie most Friday nights and took golf lessons together during the week. Daniel took up jogging. Jack played with pottery. There were never PDAs, but they made absolutely no attempt to hide the fact that they were a couple.

And at home, there was a lot of show and tell, and Jack was deliriously happy.

He learned the fine art of blowing a man, and that being able to deliver that kind of exquisite torture was incredibly empowering. Managing to keep Daniel on the edge and begging for release, his cock hard and leaking, straining for attention, while Jack tongued his sac with infinite care and patience, carefully applying gentle suction to each smooth testicle in turn, was a skill he was proud to have learned. He was eager to practice and refine his technique with just the barest excuse or provocation, much to Daniel's continuing delight.

It wasn't all that different from going down on a woman, Jack found, obvious topographical differences aside. Through trial and error, you found out where their 'spot' was and then touched on it only occasionally while you worked maddeningly around it until the very end.

Daniel's spot was where Jack's was, along the bottom and just under the head, but since he was uncut, it was usually covered by his foreskin. When Jack skimmed it back, it exposed delicate pleats of skin, and he learned pretty fast that direct pressure there killed him. But he'd also found that tickling the left side of the pleats with broad swipes of his tongue was what got Daniel off the hardest. Jack loved knowing that about him. It was an intimate, proprietary piece of information that made Jack smug to think about.

It'd been shaky the first couple of times, hard to get used to the feel of Daniel's seed on his tongue, much less swallowing. But Jack paid attention when Daniel went down on him, because his enthusiasm for the act was both inspiring and arousing, and he always seemed eager for the swallowing part. Curious how to get around the 'ew' factor, Jack'd waited until Daniel was just nodding off to sleep then asked him why he got off on it. The groggy answer startled him.

"It's the part of you that's only mine," Daniel'd mumbled against his chest.

Which seemed perfectly obvious on closer inspection; after that, Jack had increasingly fewer problems drinking him down.

And when he finally allowed Daniel to come, body gleaming with a fine sheen of sweat earned in the ardent pursuit of pleasure... Jack, oh god please... breath held until the sensations grew too large to contain or ignore, erupting helplessly uh-uhhh... semen expelled with a groan of blessed relief. Afterward, eyes closed, breath rasping, Daniel would kiss him, and in those precious moments before he finally checked out, Jack could taste his love and gratitude in every sloppy sigh.

It nearly brought Jack to tears, whenever he thought how close they'd come to losing it all.

But there was something still out there, something they hadn't done, and Jack was finished being patient about it. They were good together. The comfortable, happy, forever kind of good. Jack thought it was about time for Daniel to put out.

When he heard Daniel's shower turn off, he slid the sandwiches he'd just prepared into the refrigerator and made his way to their bedroom, where he found Daniel already in a pair of jeans and yanking a shirt out of a drawer, glasses safely on the dresser.

Without a word, Jack plucked the shirt out of his hands and push-walked him to the wall.

"You're holding back on me," he accused, mouth on Daniel's neck, hand on his crotch.

"Well pardon me for wanting lunch first," he chuckled, brazenly stretching his neck out for more attention. He grabbed Jack's ass and pulled him closer, encouraging the weight holding him to the wall, "and for wanting to drag it out for a few minutes."

"Not a few minutes. One hundred and two days."

"That's--" Daniel frowned, "really unfair making me do math while you're sucking on my neck." He ran his nails up into Jack's scalp, loving the growl that produced in his lover. "Are you saying we're having a... three months and some anniversary? Don't you think that's a little--"

"If you say girlie," Jack glared, "I may have to spank you."

"Excessive," Daniel countered innocently, liking the feel of Jack's body pressing tightly up against him as he went back to mouthing his throat. "I was going to say excessive. But I tell you what. I'll go out and get you some flowers after lunch, okay?"

"Uh-uh. Got something else in mind."

"Yeah?" Daniel smiled, waggling his eyebrows a little. "Wha--"

"This," Jack said, giving Daniel's groin a healthy squeeze. "Been waiting, Daniel. A long time. Done being patient."

Daniel didn't even pretend to misunderstand. "I thought we'd work up to that," he said levelly.

"We have been. I'm there."

"Jack, it's--"

"Complicated, yes, I know, so you've said." He counted off on the fingers that weren't gripping Daniel's package. "Lube. Stretching. More lube. Penetration. That about sum up the 'complicated'?"

"You've--"

"Been poking around the internet, yes. Dial-up sucks, by the way, but I think I get the gist."

He got right up in Daniel's face and tasted his lips a little, not exactly a full kiss, something closer to aggravating than satisfying. "You wanna guess what I was doing while you were out running this morning?"

"Surfing for gay porn?" Daniel smirked, wriggling his hips a little.

"Uh-uh. Took a shower. Cleaned myself out for you."

Daniel's smirk disappeared in the face of Jack's boast. Based solely on vague comments made in a prison on Hadante, he'd always assumed Jack wouldn't want that, that he'd insist on only topping. "Oh, fuck," he breathed.

Jack grinned. "Now you're catching on. Think you're up to gettin' complicated?"

Daniel watched him for a long moment, gauging his seriousness through narrowed eyes, wondering why Jack was being deliberately provocative; this was almost a dare. On a hunch, he spun them, shoving Jack up against the wall, hands over his head, and nailed him with a thrust of his hips.

"You don't really get the complicated part, Jack," he said dangerously. "Up to now, we've been making love. Hand jobs and blow jobs and frottage are all gentle and nonthreatening. That's not what you're asking for. When I fuck you, it will hurt. I'll be careful, so you don't tear, but it'll feel like my cock is slicing you open, no matter how slow I manage to take it. When you voluntarily take another man's dick into your body, let him fill you with his come, that's about as gay as it gets. No going back from that."

Jack didn't even try to escape the hold; that wasn't what this was about. He appreciated the out, but he didn't want it. "Never going back," Jack said, heart pounding at the reenactment of the Dakara incident. "You're what I want. All of you."

Continuing to hold Jack's body with his own, Daniel remembered Jackson's boast, Jack loves it when I go alpha on him, and he figured maybe there were similarities between the two universes after all. Still, there was reality, and then there was reality, and even in the most loving relationships, anal sex didn't involve puppies and rainbows. He couldn't risk what they had on any more assumptions.

"We've never talked--"

"And we're not gonna," Jack said firmly, shifting his hands a bit in Daniel's grip to bring him back to the matter at hand. "Got nothing to do with us. With this."

Their faces mere inches away, Daniel's gaze bored into Jack's, searching for some sign of fear or indecision, but he found none. Obviously, Jack was looking for something more dynamic than what they'd been engaging in thus far; not necessarily rough, but something a little more... powerful. He'd have to trust that Jack understood his own limitations, and offer him a way to change his mind without losing face along the way.

He dropped Jack's wrists and unfastened his baggy cargo shorts, letting them fall to the floor. He was surprised there were no cotton boxers in his way when he reached for Jack's dick, but schooled his features not to show it. He gripped Jack's package in one hand and the back of his neck with the other as he took Jack's mouth in a bruising kiss, then whispered, "You sure this is what you want?"

"I'm sure," Jack said hoarsely when Daniel released his mouth. "I want you to fuck me."

Jack was already hard in Daniel's hand. Daniel knew that would change.

Daniel stripped off Jack's shirt, leaving him naked, then steered him toward the low chair by the dresser as he stepped out of his own jeans. "Suck me," he said standing between his knees. He cradled Jack's head in his hands and thrust gently into his mouth while he allowed himself to enjoy Jack's service. Letting his head fall back and his eyes close, he ran a hand across his own bare chest, stopping to give each nipple a hard twist. He felt his dick twitch in response both times, causing Jack to gag a little with the sudden change in girth.

"That's it," he said softly. "Take it all. Get me good and hard."

Jack tongued him eagerly, bringing the partially erect organ up to full mast, holding the foreskin back to get at the frenulum, making Daniel hiss from the sharp stimulation.

"That's so good," Daniel said, and kissed him, bending down only a little so Jack would have to crane his neck up to reach. "I love tasting myself on you," he smiled.

"Backatcha," Jack said a little breathlessly.

"You ready?"

"Past ready."

"Let's get you on your knees, then," Daniel replied with a nod of his head as he stroked himself idly and watched Jack arrange himself near the foot of the bed.

Other than some pretty extensive rimming, they'd only done very limited ass-play up to this point; one liberally lubed finger rubbing Jack's hole, exploring his depths, finding his prostate. Daniel would have preferred to expand upon that a lot more before tackling the big event, slender toys and such, maybe started with Jack doing him. But as many times as Daniel had suggested either of those scenarios, Jack had always managed to change the subject.

He was a stubborn man and he knew what he wanted.

Daniel stood back to consider him. "Oh, Jack... if you could see what I see. Your legs spread, your hole still hiding from me. Your bag... my god, how luscious does that look, hanging free that way?" He stroked it with the backs of his knuckles, then turned his hand, cupping the weight of it.

"I wonder if you'd let me shave you sometime? Smooth as a baby's bottom, like mine. You'd be surprised how much more sensitive they are when they're free of hair. Still, you look good enough to eat, don't you?"

Daniel's voice, his words..."Oh, god, Danny," he breathed. He loved this part.

Daniel knelt behind him on the floor and inhaled deeply, then rubbed his stubbly face against one furred cheek. "It means a lot that you'd get yourself ready for me," he whispered. "Clean musk is the most potent aphrodisiac known to man."

He centered a hand on each globe of Jack's ass and pulled them apart gently, exposing his hole to the air, registering the tiny gasp Jack made as he blew gently across it. With the broadest part of his tongue, he licked over the opening, eliciting a deep, needy groan from Jack. "Delicious," he proclaimed, going back for more, each lap less gentle than the last.

Before long, Daniel was growling, and Jack was moaning and pushing back on Daniel's tongue, causing his heavy scrotum to swing with the motion. Daniel scooped it up so he could capture the tightened sac in his mouth, worrying it with his tongue, exerting just a slight suction as he lightly milked his rigid penis with gentle, teasing fingers.

Jack was out of his mind with lust when Daniel abruptly released him. He was so close to the edge, the loss of contact was killing, and he remained rigidly kneeling in place and breathing hard, just trying to get his control back.

He became aware of Daniel off to the side, rummaging in the nightstand drawer for the lube, and then coming to stand close. At this angle, his dick seemed enormous, and loomed threateningly, a single drop of pre cum glistening at the slit. Jack could smell his arousal, felt the dark, coiling need it stirred within him.

"Still want this inside you?"

Jack leaned, and with a deep sigh of satisfaction, took the organ into his mouth. He held it on his tongue reverently as he breathed through his nose, swallowing convulsively. His heart thrummed with joy hearing Daniel's appreciative groan.

"I don't need to fuck you, Jack," Daniel said, his voice richly resonant with unmistakable desire as he stroked Jack's shoulder with loving fingers. "I'd be very happy to use your mouth."

Jack pulled off, placing a gentle kiss on the bare head of his dick as he met his concerned gaze. "I need this," he replied softly, hoping Daniel wouldn't question it further. "Just do it. Please."

He could never tell Jack no. He tipped his face up with a finger under his chin and bent to kiss him, whispering, "I love you so much." Then he moved behind him, running a hand along his side down to his rump, maintaining contact like you would with a frightened horse. "I'll go real slow, okay?"

He applied the lube generously, to both his index finger and Jack's hole, and pushed in slowly, pressing down, down, until he was in deep. Before long, Jack was mewling and pushing back eagerly for what he knew was coming.

Finger still inside, he knelt, grasping Jack's package, bringing his nearly unyielding dick back between his legs, so he could place his mouth over it. Humming as he held the cock still on his tongue, he turned his hand, stroking in and out with his finger, knowing that the extremely exposed position would make Jack climax quickly.

"No--" Jack gasped, leaning away, trying to extricate his cock from Daniel's mouth. "Don't make me come this way. I want--"

"Let me do this first," Daniel said reasonably, finger still slowly caressing him inside. "You'll be more relaxed once you come, more open. There'll be a little less pain."

"No, please--"

"Jack. I don't wanna hurt you--"

"Daniel..."

He couldn't miss the hitch in Jack's voice. He read the reluctant pleading of a man who'd been trained to never allow himself to appear vulnerable, and yet who, Daniel was beginning to learn, seemed to occasionally need the kind of release only submission to another could bring. This wasn't something he'd had a lot of experience with up to this point, but he'd do anything it took to give Jack whatever he needed.

So with a gentle tug, Daniel let go of Jack's cock and stood. He withdrew his index finger and replaced it with the middle two, already slicked up. Keeping his left palm on Jack's hip, he moved his fingers slowly but steadily, until they were sheathed completely inside his body.

"Feel the stretch?" Daniel deliberately stayed away from Jack's gland as he rubbed his back in gentle circles. "This is two fingers. I'm a little more than twice this big."

He could feel Jack's rectum spasming around him, the sweat beginning to form in the small of his back, the tremors running through his frame. Fear. Daniel faltered, reluctant to push him past what he was really ready for.

"This has been a good first step, Jack. Maybe tomorrow we can--"

"Uh-uh, I can take more."

Daniel didn't ask him if he was sure, but withdrew part way and slid the pinky in beside the other two fingers, curling his index finger toward his palm. He reached down with the other hand and wasn't surprised to find that Jack had gone soft.

"Uh, god..." Jack panted, lowering himself onto his forearms, head hanging down, ass still prominently displayed. He knew how he must look. Only for Daniel would he even have attempted this.

"Let me stop," Daniel begged quietly, fingers stilling. Knowing that he was causing pain to someone he loved, his own erection was waning. "Penetration isn't for everybody, you know. There's no shame in changing your mind. Fucking isn't some mandatory brass ring for all homosexual relationships. You won't disappoint me if you decide this isn't what you want--"

"Don't you dare," Jack complained breathlessly, "leave me hanging this way. Not now."

Daniel leaned closer, brushing his cheek across Jack's spine. "You know I won't leave you hanging," he whispered. "I love bringing you off with my mouth. Let's just... call this done, okay? Please?"

Jack's ass muscles clamped down on his fingers, as if forbidding him to leave. "More," he demanded tightly. "Here. Don't make me beg."

Daniel's jaw clenched, and suddenly, he got it. Jack'd known this was going to be bad going into it; he needed for Daniel to take charge of it --of him-- and just get it done. To make him take it.

It wasn't even about the fucking.

"Your ass won't take me as easily as your mouth does, Jack," he warned as he slowly pulled his fingers out.

Gently pressing down on Jack's shoulders forced his ass higher, and he nudged Jack's legs wide with a raised knee. Tucking all four slippery fingers tight, he inched just the tips of them into Jack's reddened opening.

"You'll feel the burn for real now," he stated simply. "Pretty badly at first. It'll help if you clench deliberately and then bear down. I'll move forward on the release. Ready?"

Jack clenched as instructed and then opened, feeling Daniel's hand taking up the tiny space his internal stretching had just made. This pattern was repeated half a dozen more times at more or less regular intervals until Jack thought he'd die from the fire in his ass. He bit his lip against the pain.

With a little more than the first knuckle inside, Daniel breathed, "That's it, Jack, take my hand..."

Jack's breath was unsteady, strained due to the unrelenting agony. "Yeah, so far, I'm not seeing the attraction, though," he panted. "Do ya think you could find--"

Daniel rotated his wrist, nudging Jack's prostate with the pad of his longest finger. "This?"

"Ohfuckyeah," Jack gasped, his back bowing under the stimulation. The resulting spasm allowed Daniel to sink inside another fraction of an inch. "Jesus. Do that again--"

Daniel made sure to bump it again as he removed his hand, wiping the lube off on his dick then kneeling up behind him on the bed. Grasping hold of Jack's hips, Daniel slid smoothly into his slackened hole, burying himself nearly to the hilt with little resistance. Now that they were this far along, he knew the best thing for Jack would be to hurry and get to the good part.

"Ohhh..." Daniel's eyes closed as he savored the feeling of the tight passage hugging his cock. He took a moment to rein in his own need, so he could wait until Jack was ready for him to begin thrusting.

But dear god, it was good... Beyond just the sheer physical sensation of being surrounded and held deep, the heat, Jack's pulse, this single, exquisite, crystalline moment, frozen in time, layered with the soul-deep satisfaction of the complete joining of their bodies.

Slowly, he leaned over, draping himself along the gentle curve of Jack's back, until his lips connected with his neck. "Ease down," Daniel whispered, "your knees have to be killing you." He encouraged Jack to lower his hips so that he was prone on the bed, Daniel settling himself in behind him.

With a groan as his dick made contact with the cool sheets, Jack obeyed, surprised that the cock inside him was less of an issue than Daniel's fingers had been. He was full, nearly uncomfortably so, but the burn had morphed into a warm, insistent need. Daniel's legs lay outside his own, but their hips were nicely stacked up, and Jack loved that the weight of it felt so right.

Daniel was balanced on forearms placed on either side of Jack's shoulders, covering him, boxing him in completely, enfolding him in warmth and safety and care.

Jack strained to hear the whispered words behind him, "...baby, love you so much. So fucking mine, you've always belonged to me. Promise... take care of you, give you whatever you need... always, always, always..."

Gentle words of love and devotion and trust. Filled, held, and serenaded with loving words, Jack didn't ever want to move. He clenched, dragging a needy groan from Daniel's throat.

"Let me enjoy it for a minute, will ya?" Daniel begged from behind him. "I never in a million years thought you'd want something like this."

"I'd want it a whole lot more if you'd get busy back there and do your job."

"My... job..."

"Isn't it your job to keep me sexually happy?" Jack asked, craning his neck around.

"I don't remember seeing a job description of any kind," Daniel replied archly.

"Well, seeing as how you're apparently watching my six at the moment, seems to me you're in charge of making the fireworks happen," Jack announced. He folded his arms beneath his head like a pillow and closed his eyes with a sigh. "So whenever you're ready."

Daniel blinked. Bitching at him one moment and ordering him around the next. It was like being in the field again. "And what will you be doing?"

"Presumably, lying right here and becoming increasingly happy."

Daniel struggled not to smile. "I see."

"C'mon, do your stuff." Jack clenched around him again.

"Don't DO that!" Daniel hissed. "Trying to stay in control here."

"Yeah? Well, trying to get fucked here," Jack griped back, squeezing again. "Get a move on."

With an exasperated grunt, Daniel began to undulate against him, his cock gliding more than thrusting into the slippery channel, the angle causing the ridge of his dick to slide past Jack's prostate on each withdrawal stroke, making Jack whimper continuously. This position was the gentlest one he knew, because the angle left room for only the most shallow penetration, and made up for it with a greater amount of skin contact.

"Ohhh god, you feel so good..." Daniel murmured into the back of Jack's neck. He mouthed the area, nipping the salty skin with gentle teeth.

"Fuck!" Jack gasped. "Right there-- do that again!"

"That?" Daniel asked coyly. He circled his hips and came at it from a different angle. "Or that?"

"Both!" Jack groaned. "Oh god, don't stop!" The feelings were amazing, full and needy and getting more insistent. His dick was bent back between his legs, and he could feel Daniel's sac rubbing against his with every achingly slow thrust. He was just a couple of tugs short of coming; he wanted to, needed to, was desperate to, but couldn't get his hand underneath him to work his own dick.

When Jack started to struggle, Daniel tensed, not moving. "Hurt?"

"NO!," Jack stated emphatically trying to arch up under the heavy man. "God, no, and if you stop, I will kill you. I just need... I can't reach--"

Suddenly getting that Jack needed more then prostate stimulation in order to come, Daniel cooed, "Hey, shhh, not a problem." He withdrew all the way and backed off a little so that Jack could shift around. "Now you're open, we can do it a different way."

"Didn't mind the other way," he grumbled, rolling over onto his back. "I just went down wrong and couldn't reach anything." Jack lifted his legs, holding them back as far as he could. Offering. Ordering, maybe. "Well? What're ya waitin' for?"

Daniel's mouth hung open, the image of Jack O'Neill on his back with his legs in the air, pulled back to expose his reddened hole, slack and slippery with lube, forever seared into his brain. He ground his teeth and gave his balls a sharp tug, wincing as he did so. "Could you possibly look any more wanton?" he growled.

"Well, yes. But I'd probably need a feather boa to do it right--"

The mental image made Daniel chuckle, which made getting lined up to get back into Jack's hole a bit of a challenge. Up on his knees and holding Jack's legs, he shuffled closer, still grinning with amusement.

"You think you could focus, please?" Jack sniped, but there was no heat in it.

"Sure, Jack," Daniel said pleasantly, thrusting into his ass with a snap of his hips. "This focused enough for you?"

The move rocked Jack back onto his shoulders, making him howl. "Ye-ah, that!" He started panting, eyes firmly closed.

Daniel held Jack's calves, spreading him open as he delivered another thrust of similar power and then another, and that's when Jack started chanting, "Yes, yes, yes, yes..." in time with each one.

He scooped his balls up out of the way with one hand, so Daniel could get in deeper, and grabbed his dick with the other. He was nearly bent double, but he couldn't manage to care. Daniel was finally fucking him, and it was way better than any of the porn clips he'd found on the internet.

Using Jack's legs as leverage, Daniel continued to forcefully drive into him. Lips pressed into a firm line of concentration, he asked, "This what you wanted?"

"God, yeah. This position has definite advantages," Jack observed. This was what he'd been after, all right. Not the penetration itself. He'd had no idea he'd actually enjoy it, and the truth of the matter was, it'd hurt like crap at first, and he'd been pretty terrified at several crucial points.

But this was the payoff, Daniel, being this way with him. Strong, determined, insistent. Undeniably male.

And Jack could admit it in the privacy of his own thoughts-- experienced. The colorful history that had made Jack feel so inadequate in comparison was erotic to contemplate, now that he knew Daniel was his.

As Daniel'd talked him through the painstaking process of opening him up, Jack had imagined Daniel's vast array of partners, each adding to the wealth of knowledge he brought to their bed, skills he was using for Jack's benefit now, and to take his own pleasure in Jack's body. Daniel knew what he was doing, because he'd fucked a lot of men; the great part about that was that Jack knew he'd be the last man Daniel ever touched this way.

Jack took a long, firm pull on his cock, now fully hard again and leaking. "Ohhh... yeah, that's got it. Think you can find it, turned around like this?"

"Unless you moved it in the last thirty seconds."

"I thought you were the straight man here?"

"As it happens, not so straight," Daniel observed, thrusting home, tagging his gland over and over. "How's that?"

Jack's back arched as he let out a pitiful moan, tears springing to his eyes. "Yea-ahh," he coughed. "Right there. Exxxcellent," he crooned.

Daniel resumed thrusting, angling for Jack's prostate; he didn't think either one of them were very far off. "You're so beautiful spread open for me this way," Daniel whispered. "So deep inside you now..."

"Ohhh, fuuuuck..." Jack groaned at his words, eyes closed as Daniel continued to stroke into his body. He clenched, loving the feel of Daniel's big dick in his ass, then smiled at the pained sound which emanated from his lover as a result. Daniel had known how good this would be, and he'd held off, not wanting to ask Jack for something he might be reluctant to give. He'd have to give him hell for that later, when it was Jack's turn to top.

The sounds Jack was making were deeply resonant and dripped with sex. Daniel was hard-pressed to stay focused on his task. He arched into another thrust, careful not to push in too deep. "You feel so fucking good all around my cock," he panted. "I'm not sure how long I can--"

"Don't hold back," Jack said. "I'm ready now. Waitin' on you."

"You first," Daniel urged, thrusting up high inside now. "I wanna feel you come..."

His gaze nailed to Daniel's, Jack tightened his grip and let go. His shoulders came up off the bed, his mouth open, breath coming in low, growling pants as his climax began.

Daniel continued to move as Jack's orgasm claimed him, the rippling in Jack's channel threatening to send him over the edge as well. He ground his teeth, waiting for Jack to finish, until the last splash of jizz hit his chest.

When he'd finally sunk back into the bed, panting, arms weak and flung out to the side, Daniel took a moment to feel smug for reducing the bad-ass Colonel to the equivalent of a blissed-out rag doll, then took more measured strokes so that he could catch his breath and enjoy a slow build up for his own climax.

"I've wanted you this way since the first moment I ever saw you," he whispered, thrusting slowly. "So many dreams about you, about us. Sometimes I can't believe we're finally..." his voice broke, eyes stinging with wonder and gratitude. He winced, the pleasure so intense and encompassing as to be nearly painful. He stroked Jack's calf, bringing it up to rest against his chest and turning his face into the warmth, rubbing the warm, hairy skin against his cheek. "I love you so much..."

He felt Jack's warm palm settle heavily on his hip, a gentle squeeze of agreement.

He was grateful Jack had pressed the issue, so that they'd both had the opportunity to be together this way, but that didn't necessarily mean it would ever happen again. He wanted to stop right here, to freeze this moment in time and make it last forever, just in case... But he could feel his orgasm sweeping up behind him, and now that Jack had come, there was no way he could hold off any longer. He bit his lip, and let it overtake him.

He wanted to be careful with Jack, but it had been so long, and his body was taut with arousal and wired with lust and all he knew was the snug warmth that welcomed him, and the staggering need to bury himself as deeply as possible inside his lover's body. A connection unlike any other, leaving part of himself inside another human being. He'd only ever done that with Sha're.

Satiated, Jack watched as Daniel panted through clenched teeth, each breath bottoming out into a low growl, his abs clenched with the controlled effort of each thrust. But he was so far away in this position; the only parts of them touching were Daniel's hands gripping his calves and the place where they joined. He ran his hands along both of Daniel's thighs, just to increase the skin contact, and found him slick with sweat from the exertion of the fucking.

Daniel's face betrayed the onset of his orgasm-- eyes closed, head falling back as he succumbed to the power of it, his hips jerking now with sharp little thrusts powered from the small of his back as he milked it for all it was worth.

After the surge crested, he released Jack's legs and fell forward onto his arms, filling him up, his penis lurching forcefully as it slid through the passage now slippery with his semen. He took another couple of lazy thrusts just for the novel experience of doing it raw. The pleasure was so exquisite, it took his breath away. He rode out the aftershocks, head hanging down, breathing irregular, heart pounding, the blood rushing into his ears, his upper lip going numb.

"You gonna live?" Jack murmured quietly, reaching out to cup his cheek.

"Oh, god yeah. That was..." Words utterly failed him. Christ. There was so much they needed to talk about, so much he wanted to understand in order to give Jack what he apparently needed. But he just didn't have the brain power at the moment to even start a discussion like that.

He bent closer, taking Jack's mouth in a tender kiss instead. "You okay?" he whispered. "Did I hurt you?"

Jack smiled and let his eyes fall closed. The orgasm had been just as good as any other way they'd learned to love one another. But the words and the acts which had led up to this one were filling his head and his heart with stuff that had never been there before, stuff he didn't really understand, but that had finally started to soothe the dark need in his belly. He hadn't known that would happen when he'd started this, but something had notched into place today that he hadn't even been consciously aware had been missing.

He just hoped like hell Daniel wasn't going to make him talk about it.

"Nope," Jack reported sleepily. "M'fine. You're beautiful."

"That's my line." Daniel reached for a small towel from the nightstand and used it to wipe off Jack's chest, then slid it around the back of him to catch the drips as he pulled slowly out.

"I thought for sure I was going to pass out," Daniel said, chuckling weakly. "I don't ever remember coming that hard in my life--" He abruptly stopped talking, when Jack let out a low rumbling snore and rolled over onto his side.

"Jack?" he whispered. "Are you--" he leaned over to look, and sure enough, Jack was sound asleep. "Well, damn."

He dragged the towel across his own groin, then tossed it in the direction of the hamper. Settling in behind Jack, he pulled the covers over them and snaked his arm across Jack's middle. A little nap sounded like just the thing, actually. Talking could wait.

*****

There'd been an unspoken agreement between the three of them, that after seven years spent living in each other's pockets, this new phase of their lives would be taken a day at a time. A kind of social moratorium while they sorted out relationships, and settled into something that resembled real life. But when Sam called a few days after their three-month unofficial anniversary and asked if she could come over, Jack insisted they grill to celebrate.

He and Daniel worked side by side in the kitchen, getting the accompaniments ready, while the steak marinated and the grill warmed up.

"Bet she's gone back to work at the mountain already," Jack said as he checked on the macaroni and cheese bubbling in the oven.

"No way," Daniel replied. "She was really looking forward to seeing if she and Pete could make a go of it." He paused, considering the scallions he was slicing. "Unless..."

"Unless?"

"Well, unless they asked her to come back for a really quick project, something that wouldn't tie her down for too long." Dumping the onions into a large bowl of mixed greens, he shoved it into the refrigerator next to the pitcher of dressing. "Glitch with a piece of equipment or something."

"Nah, she missed the excitement," Jack insisted. He took a slurp of his beer. "The danger."

"Un-uh, that's more your shtick." Daniel folded his arms across his chest. "But yeah, her gizmos, maybe."

"Gizmos then. Take the bet?" Jack challenged with a ridiculous wiggle of his eyebrows.

"Not much of a bet, if I win either way, is it?" Daniel smirked, pressing him firmly back into the counter for a deeply sensual kiss, snaking one hand down inside the front of Jack's jeans.

Gasping at Daniel's cold fingers, Jack complained, "Christ, Daniel, way to cause unnatural shrinkage, there."

But when the cool, insistent digits found their way behind Jack's balls, he started to get with the program and kneaded Daniel's butt as he whispered into the kiss, "If you don't let me put that steak on, we'll have to call out for pizza."

"Hmmm..." Daniel considered, nibbling at the corner of Jack's mouth. "Eating steak or eating Jack..."

"And then you get to explain to Carter why the scrumptious London Broil I promised her is still raw," Jack added smugly.

Reluctantly, Daniel released him, shooing him out to the grill with a swat on the rear. "You promised to call her Sam, remember?" he called after him.

"Yeah, that'll happen."

When the doorbell rang a few minutes later, they were both surprised to find not only Sam, but George Hammond, dressed in civvies and beaming at them, merriment and warmth twinkling in his eyes.

"I asked Major Carter not to tell you. I wanted it to be a surprise."

"It worked, sir." Jack smiled, reaching to shake his hand. "We're flabbergasted. Take your coats?"

"Thank you, Jack."

"You look great!" Daniel wrapped Sam up in a hug, simultaneously reaching around her to shake the General's hand.

"Thanks, so do you. Good to see you haven't killed each other," she added into his ear, pitched just loud enough for Daniel's hearing, making him cough to cover his snort of amusement.

Pleasantries were exchanged and libations poured. No one asked about Pete.

"We're about twenty minutes away from the juiciest London Broil you'll get on this side of the Rockies," Jack announced, perching on the arm of the couch next to Daniel.

Smirking at Sam, he gleefully rubbed his hands together. "Plenty of time for you to drop the bomb."

"Bomb, sir?" she asked innocently.

"Hey!" Jack said with contrived indignation. "I've been practicing not calling you Carter, ever since yesterday. You need to drop the sir."

"Right." She cringed. "Sorry. Jack."

Jack grinned. "There ya go." He turned to Hammond expectantly. "Bombs away, sir."

Chuckling, George replied, "It's not much of a bomb, really, as bombs go..."

Jack turned to Daniel and announced smugly, "I think this means I win."

"Will you let the man finish?" Daniel admonished.

"I'm just sayin'."

"Go ahead, sir," Daniel insisted.

Hammond sighed. "I'm just asking a couple of favors of some old friends, Jack."

Jack opened his mouth to reply, but Daniel elbowed him in the side. "Wait, will you?"

Jack winced, far more dramatically than was strictly warranted. "A favor, sir?" he gasped in a strained voice.

Hammond smiled at their hijinks. "Before I start, I'll tell you what I told Major Carter yesterday. Although both of your security clearances have lapsed, the President has waived the requirement, due to the nature of the discussion we're about to have."

"Oh, that doesn't make me nervous at all, sir," Jack stated with a tiny grimace that accompanied the cold chill now filling his gut. Truth was, he was plenty apprehensive, and comedy was a poorer shield than it had ever been.

"I'm real glad, Jack, because they think they've found Atlantis."

"They?"

"Doctors Weir and Douglas."

Daniel smiled. "They found the rest of the gate address?" he guessed.

"Eight chevrons," Sam confirmed. "Probably somewhere in Pegasus, as near as I can figure it. It's a dwarf galaxy in the local group. I'll know more tomorrow, when I can take a look at the most recent charts."

Daniel shook his head in wonderment. "Wow. That's..."

Jack didn't miss the fact that Daniel was now sitting on the edge of the couch. Jack's hackles were up, big time, but his few months of retirement hadn't dulled his ability to mask his discomfort. "And the favors, sir?" he asked lightly.

"We've asked Major Carter to come back to help us pinpoint the location. And I personally would feel a whole lot better if you, Doctor Jackson, would double-check the accuracy of their translations."

Hammond turned to Jack. "And we'd like to ask you to confirm Major Shepherd's estimation of the Ancient Defense Platform with respect to ordnance and the potency of the ZPM. There have been some concerns that the US is unintentionally in grave violation of the Antarctica Treaty because of the ADP."

Jack's gut response was to tell him flat-out no. There was no way this was going to end well, and he wanted no part of it. He and Daniel were happy, completely, fucking deliriously so, and how dare these two come in here and put a torch to his life this way, after everything? After all the years it'd taken him and Daniel to get onto the same page and into the same bed.

"And...?" Jack prompted sharply, eyes narrowing.

"There is no 'and'," Hammond promised. "We need an honest evaluation of the efficacy of this mission, considering the extraordinary cost, and I've got too many years behind me, of SG-1 watching our backs, to make do with the untried second string. Not for something this important."

Jack just stared at Hammond, while the room went silent, and a thousand permutations of just how badly this could go wrong ran through his mind. Happily-ever-after didn't figure into any of them, and he could feel his control slipping. He tried hard to keep his temper from flaring, but his teeth were grinding together, and he couldn't seem to relax his jaw. "Sir, I--"

"Um, Jack?" Daniel interrupted softly. "Shouldn't you check the--"

Attention briefly broken, Jack took a deep breath, grateful for the reprieve. "Ah, yeah. Excuse me," he said, making his escape to the deck.

After the door closed behind him, Hammond stood. "Give us a few minutes."

To Daniel, the softly delivered request felt just like the order it probably was.

*****

"Something stinks, sir," Jack snapped without bothering to turn around to confirm the identity of the person joining him on the deck, "and for once, it isn't my cooking."

Hammond took up a spot behind Jack and to his left, his back to the glass door he'd just come through. He clasped his hands behind him and tried to keep his manner friendly and nonthreatening.

"Hank Landry's in charge of the SGC, now that Weir's been pulled for the Ancient outpost. I didn't pick him; he wouldn't have been my choice. He's rigid. Old school. A little... hard line, if you ask me. Sort of like I was, eight years ago. He hasn't been there long enough to understand that what we do brings people closer than any other type of service. It's just the nature of the beast."

He pursed his lips and relaxed them, feeling the tension gathering in his shoulders anyway. "His memo landed on my desk at Homeworld yesterday afternoon, demanding you be recalled to active duty for this.

"Just between you and me, I suspect he has another agenda, in addition to his rather public feelings concerning DA/DT. I convinced the President to table the request, at least until I could speak with you."

He stepped closer, so they were side by side in the gathering dusk, the smoky smell of grilling meat wafting in the gentle breeze. "It isn't as bad as it sounds, Jack. With the Asgard beaming tech operational, it's an afternoon, two at the outside. Landry's lobbying hard, but it doesn't have to go that way. That's why I'm here, so it doesn't come to that."

Hands in his pockets balled into tight fists of fragile control, Jack considered Hammond's words. He should've resigned his damned commission after he'd retired; commissary and BX privileges weren't worth this.

As if he were standing watch offworld, his eyes scanned the hedge along the edge of their property and then the slender line of bright blue underneath the rapidly descending evening. He'd never missed the feeling of a weapon in his arms more keenly. He and Daniel were under attack, plain and simple. Made no difference he was standing in their back yard, and the assault was coming from Washington.

"Before Dakara," Jack said quietly, "when I was trying to tell you about the personnel discrepancies in the other universe, and you stopped me... you knew, didn't you, sir?"

"About you and Doctor Jackson? I had a hunch, Jack, that's all."

"Because...?"

"Nothing overt," he hurried to assure him. "But I thought I could see in the two of you..." He chuckled a little. "Don't take this the wrong way, Jack, but you reminded me of my wife and me, when we were first married. Even when you vehemently disagreed with one another about something, you retained a deep connection, shared sensibilities, if you will. Over these last few years, I can't tell you how much I came to rely on the way your differing viewpoints managed to give me a well-rounded picture of any situation.

"You've always been two halves of the same whole, Jack, and that was especially clear when Doctor Jackson came back from being ascended. Even when he wasn't sure who he was, it was clear he knew you, knew he belonged with you."

"That's--" Disturbing. Jack didn't know what to say to that. I'm sorry? Thanks for noticing? We'll name our first kid after you? He wondered if it had been that obvious to anyone else.

He took a deep breath and let it out slowly, feeling the anguish, still there underneath the thin veneer of calm. "Nothing ever happened, sir," he stated firmly to the grill's cover, tracing the edge of the wooden handle with one finger. "Hell, we never even acknowledged it to each other, before Mirror-World. And then afterward... I got stupid. Almost lost him. Twice. It's important to me that you know--" He paused then and swallowed hard. "I never touched him that way, before the ink was dry on the paperwork. You have my word."

"I never doubted it, Jack," George said quietly.

Jack turned toward him now and met his concerned gaze full-on, his heart pounding painfully in his chest, jaw tight and unyielding. "But you should also know that's not the case now. We've been together for three months, and I've touched him plenty. I won't give him up."

They'd recall him over his dead body. He knew people who'd help them disappear; they could be out of Colorado before first light, multiple layers of camouflage between this identity and the next. He'd had half a dozen escape routes mapped out by the time Hammond followed him outside. He'd lose some time explaining to Daniel about the necessity of running--the man was nothing, if not a question machine-- but he was certain he'd come around, once he understood that if the Air Force got Jack again, the two of them were finished.

Hammond nodded his understanding. "I know, Jack. I'm not asking you to give him up."

"Aren't you?" It came out a bit more brusquely than was probably polite.

"No," he said gently. "Just a favor, that's all it is. Unless of course, you want more..."

*****

"I feel like I should apologize for Jack," Daniel said quietly to Sam.

It was still light enough that he could see the rigid, unyielding line of Jack's back, as he seemed to stand guard over the grill. It bespoke of barely a concealed rage that Daniel didn't quite understand. Hammond's request had sounded like little enough; he couldn't imagine what Jack could be reading into it.

"I don't know what he's so strung out about."

"I imagine it was a shock for him, finding the General on his doorstep," Sam said. "But he was pretty firm, when he came to see me yesterday, that he didn't want to give you guys a heads up."

Daniel nodded, still watching the two men out on the deck. "Jack would've found an excuse to say no to the meeting," he said with certainty.

"And then we wouldn't be here, getting ready to enjoy the juiciest London Broil this side of the Rockies."

Grinning, she patted him on the arm, partly as reassurance, and partly just to get his attention. "Have you been losing your mind with all the peace and quiet of retirement?"

Peeling his eyes away from the scene in their back yard, he returned the smile, realizing just how much he'd missed working with her every day.

"Well, I've learned I'm terrible at golf," he offered wryly. He grabbed the wine bottle and refilled her glass and then his own. "And that Jack likes to think he's helping me with that. And you're a fine one to talk, anyway."

He cocked his head to the side. "So how about I put my foot in my mouth, while we're alone for the moment, and ask about Pete?"

She sighed and flashed him what might have been a grimace. "Pete's fine. We're just... taking it easy. He was really gung-ho about the leave of absence thing. Started calling realtors and making plans and--"

"And he asked you to marry him, didn't he."

She frowned. "How'd you know that?"

He took another sip of his wine and shrugged. "Explains why you're so spooked."

"Yeah," she said softly, grateful that Daniel understood. "I guess I'm just really not ready to settle down yet, you know? It's like screaming along for seven years at one seventy-five, and then suddenly slamming on the brakes. Apparently I needed some deceleration time, between fighting the bad guys and the white picket fence, and I was just feeling a little--"

"Hemmed in?"

"Exactly. So we're still friends, still seeing each other, but we're both dating other people too. We'll see where it takes us. Where we are in a year or so."

"That's good," he said honestly. "Don't close any doors, and let yourself have some fun and sow some wild oats, before you settle down."

"That's probably all it is," she agreed. She found she was a little reluctant to tell him she was also dating a woman, in case Chey turned out to be some kind of rebound phase Sam was going through, after having met her counterpart in the other reality. They were still pretty new.

"Oh, by the way, Teal'c sent word through Siler that Bra'tac's firmly seated as head of the council, and that outlying groups of Jaffa are sending representatives to Dakara every day. He estimates they're almost a hundred thousand strong already. I'm going to see if I can contact him for some specifics, once I get to the mountain tomorrow."

"That's great. Say hi for Jack and me. And ask him if he's been able to look--"

The sliding door opened as Jack came in bearing a large platter of meat, followed by General Hammond.

"Dinner is served!" Jack said expansively as he swept into the house and up the steps to the dining room.

Surprised, Daniel looked at Sam as if to say, check out that turnaround. Neither man was carrying an air of anger, so Daniel was hopeful that Hammond had been able to reassure Jack in some way that would allow their first official dinner party to proceed amicably.

As they joined the others, Daniel remembered his interrupted train of thought. "Oh, hey, Sam, did Teal'c say anything about finding drones in the underground bunkers?" He put the macaroni and cheese on the table, handed her a basket of rolls and the pitcher of dressing, and then went to retrieve the bowl of salad from the refrigerator.

Sam trailed along behind him. "Siler didn't mention it, but I'll ask."

"Yeah, good. Y'know, since the place was full of Ancient tech, there might even be a loose--"

"ZPM!" she said excitedly. "Of course! And I can probably rig something for Prometheus to use, to scan for the energy signature from orbit!"

"See," Jack beamed at Hammond as he started to slice the hunk of meat into thin, juicy slabs, "what two great minds in the same room can think of together?"

*****

"So let me get this straight," Jack said over the remains of their dinner, "the chair's out of juice?"

"Not at the moment, no," Sam replied, fingering the stem of her wine glass. "It's still got whatever you said it had after Anubis. But as you know, gating to another galaxy takes a tremendous amount of power. According to all the simulations McKay's run, just opening the wormhole to Pegasus will completely deplete our ZPM."

"And it's a one-way trip? You're sure?"

"Unless there happens to be a fully charged ZPM at the other end, yes," George answered. "But you can bet your ass we're checking Dakara first, thanks to the two of you."

"And if there's not another one somewhere, Earth's left defenseless," Jack stated flatly, looking at the faces around the table in disbelief. "And this is a good idea-- why?"

"Because Earth is safer now than it's ever been," Daniel offered, pushing his plate away. "Thanks mostly to the Mirror Reality, we're Replicator-free, there are no Goa'uld left to speak of, we're armed with two enormous battleships, complete with spiffy Asgard toys, not to mention the little JackShip. We're finally in a position to be able to explore, for knowledge, for cultural alliances-- Jack, these are the Ancients! This isn't just some other civilization we're talking about. These are the gate builders. The potential wealth of knowledge and technology we might encounter there outweighs anything we've come across since we stepped through the stargate."

George and Sam were silent as the two of them debated, but Jack responded incredulously, "You can't honestly expect that after all this time, there's any hope of actually meeting them?"

"Who knows? But isn't just the possibility reason enough to go?" Daniel implored. "The benefit to humanity is far greater than any potential risk there might be."

"Says the man who used to die for a living," Jack said grimly.

*****

Guests gone, table cleared, Daniel poked his head into the kitchen. "I'm gonna hit the shower. You need a hand with anything?"

"Almost done," Jack replied as he slotted another plate in the rack. "Save me some hot water."

He wiped down the counters and turned on the dishwasher, then set about locking up and shutting off the lights.

He headed directly for the bathroom, where he stripped off his clothes and left them in a heap on top of Daniel's own discarded pile. He stuck a gob of Crest on his toothbrush and started taking out the frustration of the evening on his enamel.

"Not sure we can claim our first official dinner party as a resounding success," Daniel said from behind the shower curtain.

Jack shrugged as he pulled the brush out of his mouth to spit. "The steak was good. Mac and cheese was a little dry."

"I'm not talking about the food," Daniel said, "and you know it. Sam and the General practically ran out of here, the minute dinner was over."

Yeah, Daniel was peeved; his voice was several decibels louder than it needed to be to be to be heard over the sound of the running water.

"Told ya we should've had pie for dessert, 'stead of cake," Jack said petulantly once he'd rinsed.

Daniel stepped out of the shower to grab a towel, leaving the water running. "I'm not talking about that eith--"

He glared at Jack as he brushed past him. "What is wrong with you?"

"You made a pretty good case for them," Jack said with an offhand ease he didn't feel as he stepped into the shower and drew the curtain. "For going, I mean. Not sure it really matters what state the chair's in."

"They need to go, Jack. This is important."

Jack began to wash with trembling hands, his belly full of nervous dread. "If anybody goes, it should be you." It was true, but that didn't mean it didn't make him sick to his stomach to have to say it.

"Yeah, like that'll happen," Daniel muttered.

He hung up his towel and scooped up both sets of dirty clothes from the floor, stuffing them into the hamper.

"Wait--" he spun around, staring at the shower curtain as if he could see the man behind it. "Is that what all this is about? Jack, I'm not going anywhere. I made a commitment to you, and I take that very seriously."

Jack took a moment to selfishly let the statement settle into his heart before he replied. "That was before another galaxy opened up, Daniel," he said reasonably, rinsing the shampoo from his hair. "No way you could've known that would happen."

Daniel pulled the shower curtain open with an angry snap. "It doesn't matter. You're my life now. I can't leave you. And I won't."

Jack wiped the water out of his eyes and scowled at the degree of insulted pique he saw in Daniel's bare gaze, giving back some of his own. He had no desire to be Daniel's ball and chain, ever, and if that was the case, he'd cut the chain himself --right here, right now. "And exactly how long will it take, before you start to resent me for keeping you from your destiny?"

"How long will it take before you finally believe that you're the most important thing to me? My destiny," he made little air quotes between them, "is right here, with you. Period. This is not a conversation that even needs to happen. I'll help Hammond with the translation, because he's my friend, and he asked for my help. If this is real, they need to go, and I support that wholeheartedly, but I have absolutely no desire to trade you for Atlantis. None. Are we clear on this?"

Relief started to filter into his soul as Jack turned off the shower and slicked the water from his hair. "Clear."

"Good." Daniel stalked into the bedroom and yanked the covers back, dropping down heavily on top of them.

Jack dried off and then gave them a little breathing room, taking the time to straighten the bathroom and hanging the bathmat over the curtain rod so it could dry, before finally turning off the fan and the light.

He paused in the doorway for a few moments, waiting for some of his vision to come back before he started to move through the room. "Daniel?"

"Jack?" he sighed tiredly.

"Keep talking so I can find you."

"So much drama with you. You want a light?"

"Depends." Jack reached out with one searching hand. "This your foot?"

"No, Jack, I'm just real happy to see you."

Jack crawled up the bed from the bottom, tongue darting out to lick shower-warmed skin as he went. He could see a little now, just the outline of Daniel's form as he lay stretched out with his arms over his head, trying to vent the heat leftover from the shower. As Jack's tongue found his instep, the back of a knee, a rib, a nipple, Daniel's legs gradually fell open in invitation.

When Jack got up close, he suckled an earlobe, and received a contented sigh in return.

"What if... it wasn't... a trade?" Jack whispered as he nibbled. "What if... we could both go?"

Daniel's arms came around Jack's shoulders as he stretched his neck out as enticement. "Mmm..." he hummed, palming the back of Jack's head, guiding his attentions just so. "In the first place, no one's asked me to actually go anywhere. You either, for that matter."

"That never used to stop you," he murmured against Daniel's collarbone, settling in between his legs as though he belonged there. Which he did. "Back in the old days, you'd bully your way in, anywhere you thought you were needed. Make a case for being allowed to go. You even nagged your way onto my team. Three times, in fact."

"Three--?"

Jack balanced on one elbow, held up a hand, and counted off on his fingers. "Abydos the first time, Chulak the first time, and Kelowna the second time."

Point made, he went back to his oral explorations.

Daniel considered that explanation as Jack tongued his skin, decided he was right, and then dismissed the entire argument. "Besides, that was before. Before you, before us. It's all different now."

Jack pulled back to frown at him. "How so?"

Stubbornly, Daniel firmly guided him back down where he belonged. "Because I'm in love with you, that's how so," he whispered against Jack's lips. "So shut up and kiss me."

Jack loved it when Daniel got pushy. He surrendered his mouth, so Daniel could plunder it thoroughly. When he finally broke away to breathe, Jack panted, "In the interest of, ah, full disclosure, Weir asked."

"Weir asked?" Daniel repeated blandly, as if he couldn't make sense of it. "For me?"

"Yep."

"But..."

"She wants you," Jack said, lifting up his hips and resettling his dick more comfortably right next to Daniel's. "Your translating abilities, your tendency to think outside the box, your astoundingly effective nagging-ness, whatever. Probably your body, too, but she's shit outta luck there, 'cause that's mine. The point is, she'll put up with me tagging along," Jack lightly kissed one side of Daniel's mouth, and then the other, "in order to get you."

"That's crazy. Wait, nagging-ness? Is that even a word?"

"You tell me; you're the linguist. Anyway, to Weir, I'm apparently nothing but a big, dumb Ancient gene."

"Well, yes, but you're my big dumb Ancient gene," Daniel muttered absently, patting Jack affectionately on the ass. When Jack didn't have an immediate witty comeback, the patting stalled. "Wait. You're serious?"

"As a heart attack. That's why Hammond was here." Jack cleared his throat in embarrassment. "He'd have, ah, asked you himself, but I'd just finished making an ass of myself, and I don't think he wanted to risk an encore." He planted another light kiss on his lover's mouth and then drew back to wait. "It's up to you."

Jack still couldn't see a whole lot, but he could tell Daniel was blinking. "Pegasus is up to me? You're giving me a galaxy?"

Jack snorted. "The whole fuckin' stargate was your idea, Daniel. I'm not giving you anything you didn't work your butt off for."

"What about our house? Our golf lessons? Our Little League kids?"

Jack would never get tired of hearing Daniel say anything preceded by the word 'our'. "Well, hypothetically, I've got a buddy who'll rent the house out for us, oversee it. It'll be here when we get back. The kids'll get a new coach; kids are resilient that way. And we both know you just humor me with the golf thing."

Daniel sputtered indignantly. "I do not--"

"Aht!" Jack said, punctuating it with a gentle bite to Daniel's neck. "Don't lie."

After a beat, Daniel changed the subject completely. "It could be dangerous."

"Or the Ancients could be running the Pegasus arm of Club Med." Jack's voice took on a dreamy tone. "Mmmm, just think of it-- space golf, alien marlin fishing, massages on the beach, and one of those cute little paper umbrellas in every frosty mug of beer."

"Or they might've all died off," Daniel said earnestly. "Plague, remember? There might be nobody left to put the umbrella in your beer."

Jack shrugged. "We'll take our own then."

"Might be no beer at all," Daniel warned darkly.

"We'll still have the umbrellas," Jack replied reasonably. "We'll learn how to make our own brew. I can be the Atlantis bartender-- hypothetically, of course."

"Of course," Daniel muttered, but then grew serious, pulling Jack more snugly against him, his foot curling around Jack's calf, protectively, possessively, aware that Jack's dick was firming up in response. Daniel ran his hands from Jack's shoulders down his sides, until they grabbed onto his ass and squeezed.

"No," Daniel said decisively. "We've waited so long to be together openly. I don't want to lose that. I don't want to have to start sneaking around and sleeping alone. This-- what we have-- is too important to me to risk losing any of it to stupid military regs. I won't let anyone take you away from me."

Jack felt his heart clutch in some kind of slippery mixture of fealty and gratitude. He thrilled to the touch of Daniel's hands, the feel of his bare skin against his, warm and yielding, but his words shot straight to Jack's soul. How could he have doubted Daniel's feelings for him? Obviously, he was an idiot.

Jack cleared the emotion from his throat. "No sneaking around," he promised. "I made it very clear to Hammond that-- still talkin' hypothetically, here-- I wouldn't go in as military. I'd be the Senior ATA adviser. Whatever the fuck that is." He added offhandedly, "Probably doesn't pay as well as the Director of Linguistics position he has in mind for you. Barely pocket money, really."

Daniel stroked Jack's cheek with his thumb, and Jack could feel him going rigid beneath him. "Guess I'd have to help with that, wouldn't I," he whispered thickly. "Hypothetically speaking."

Jack had no words for why the idea appealed to him so viscerally . He suspected he shouldn't examine it too closely. Grinning, he nudged Daniel's nose with his own and said, "I'd make it very worth your while."

But Daniel was still serious, still wary of the enormity of the 'hypothetical' discussion they were having. "Truth is, we've got no idea at all what we'd be facing. What kinds of danger or hardship we might encounter there."

Jack frowned down at Daniel with fond exasperation and then rolled them, so Daniel was on top. "And this is different from the last nearly eight years of our lives, how?"

"I--"

With both hands, Jack pulled Daniel's head down and planted a noisy kiss on his surprised mouth. "This isn't complicated, Daniel. You want it, we go. You don't, we stay. Your call."

Daniel stared down at him, and Jack was glad his vision had cleared enough so he would always remember the predatory smirk which bloomed on Daniel's face just before he took Jack's mouth in a deep and dirty kiss.

END

Aug 20, 2010