Lesasaur at Large

Title: Man Down
Words: approx 2100
Pairing: Jack/Daniel
Genre: trite little number
Season: 7
Rating: pg
Notes: A little bit of spare time created this answer to prompt J/D Image Prompt #60: Man Down at jackdanielpromptfic. Trying to write something not from anyone’s point of view. Don’t know what you call it.
Thanks to Kayla for a quick beta but all mistakes are my own.

Man Down

“So where are we off to today, campers?” Jack asked jovially as he entered the control room.

“Well, someone’s in a good mood,” Daniel proclaimed.

“Aren’t I always?”

Sam caught Daniel’s glance and rolled her eyes. He grinned in return while Teal’c merely raised an eyebrow. “P3C247, sir,” she replied. “It’s another from the Ancient data base you input.”

“Yes, well...still don’t remember a thing. Standard recon, mon generale?” Jack queried in Hammond’s direction.

Hammond nodded. “You leave in one hour. Dismissed.”

“Thank you, sir.” Jack turned to his team. “Well, you heard the man...”

As they exited the room to gear-up, Daniel sidled up to Jack. “So what gives?”

“What do you mean?” Jack asked, the picture of innocence.

“You got lucky last night, didn’t you,” Daniel asserted.

“Daniel, I have no idea, ‘what’ you’re talking about,” Jack returned blithely.

“Anyone I know?”

Jack smiled in a mysterious fashion. “I have to pee,” he announced as they entered the locker room, and he immediately headed for the appropriate area.

Daniel stopped and stared after him through slightly narrowed eyes.

“So?” Sam queried, materializing at Daniel’s side.

“Ah, I believe Jack’s got a girlfriend.”

“We figured as much.” Sam threw a meaningful glance at Teal’c who had joined them. “Did you get a name?”

Daniel shook his head. “He’s not saying anything...yet.” He grinned, although not with his eyes.

Sam matched the grin as she patted his shoulder. “Keep us apprised.”

“What are you lot still doing chinwagging?” Jack admonished as he headed back in their direction. “We have a mission pending.”

“We do indeed,” Teal’c declared softly.

Sam laughed, and Jack glared at her as he drew level with them. “What’s so funny?”

“What, we’re not allowed to be in good moods too, sir?” Sam queried with a false air of innocence.

Jack eyed them all suspiciously. “As long as you’re not late to the gateroom. Carter, you’re supposed to be setting the example here.”

“Yes, sir. Gearing-up right away, sir.” She threw the others a final grin and hurried towards her locker. Jack made a show of glaring at her retreating back, but no one saw the hungry gaze that followed Daniel’s trek to his locker.

***

“Leave me,” Jack instructed tersely. “Get to the gate. That’s an order.”

“We’re ALL getting to the gate, Jack,” Daniel shouted over the cover fire Sam and Teal’c were providing.

“You have to get word to the SGC. Now go!”

“Not without you. Now let me help you.” Daniel fisted the front of Jack’s shirt and tried to drag him to his feet but Jack struggled against him.

“Daniel! I’ll only hold you back and none of us will make it.”

“Jack!”

“Sir, I don’t know how much longer we can hold them off,” Sam yelled.

“So GO! I’m giving you an order.”

“Not happening, Jack. Now get up!” Daniel tried again to drag a resisting Jack to his feet.

“I CAN’T!”

“You can! You have to!”

“Daniel?” Sam yelled.

“You go. I’ll stay with Jack.”

“You will NOT! TEAL’C, get him the hell out of here will you!”

“If you’re staying so am I,” Daniel declared doggedly.

“Daniel!” Jack screamed impotently, trying to push Daniel away. “TEAL’C!”

“We have to go NOW!” Sam shouted urgently.

“Daniel Jackson, if you would provide cover,” Teal’c ordered loudly.

With complete understanding, Daniel released Jack, raised his P-90 and began firing, moving into the position beside Sam, which Teal’c vacated to unceremoniously haul a struggling Jack to his feet then hoist him over a shoulder.

“I have him!” Teal’c yelled and began to run toward the stargate.

Sam and Daniel followed, turning every few steps to fire a volley of shots at the now advancing Jaffa.

Arriving at the stargate first, Teal’c immediately dialled Earth, sent the code and carried Jack into the safety of the wormhole with Sam and Daniel hot on his heels.

Once in the gateroom, Teal’c called for assistance and lay Jack on the ramp as Sam shouted loudly for the iris to be closed then headed for the control room to make a report on the impending Goa’uld invasion to an obviously concerned General Hammond who had witnessed their arrival.

Daniel knelt beside Jack and asked solicitously, “How are you doing?”

“I’ve been better!” Jack glared at Teal’c. “You could have been killed!”

Teal’c smiled indulgently. “You are welcome, O’Neill.”

Daniel also smiled although the smile did not reach his eyes. “We wouldn’t have wanted you to miss out on your next hot date now, would we?” he said pleasantly.

Jack frowned. “What?” But then his expression rapidly changed. He was saved from further comment though by the arrival of the medical personnel.

“What have we got?” Janet asked.

“Staff weapon blast to the thigh,” Teal’c replied.

“Easy, Colonel,” Janet said as she knelt to take a look. “He’s lost a lot a blood,” she decreed a few moments later. “Get him to the infirmary,” she ordered her assistants as she rose.

“OW!” Jack declared loudly as he was lifted carefully onto the trolley.

“How is he, doctor?” Hammond asked over the microphone.

Janet turned toward the observation window. “He needs surgery, but he’ll be fine, sir.”

Hammond nodded. “Good. Keep me apprised. Teal’c, if I could have a word...”

Teal’c inclined his head and followed the medical procession from the gateroom while Daniel followed at a slower pace wearing a thoughtful and somewhat troubled expression.

***

“Baal was not a happy camper, sir,” Sam said with a grin of smug satisfaction.

“Indeed!” Teal’c agreed.

“Sorry I missed it,” Jack declared. “Shame he got away.”

Sam pulled a face. “Yes, sir. It-“

Jack immediately cut her off. “I’m not blaming you, Major. He’s a slippery customer. Actually, in a way, I’m glad. Means I still get the chance to take down that slimy snakehead myself. I owe him big time.” He glanced at an unusually quiet Daniel. “BIG time. Wouldn’t you agree, Daniel?”

Daniel nodded but said nothing, and Jack’s eyes narrowed. “Carter, if you wouldn’t mind finding the Doc for me. She said I’d probably be able to blow this popsicle stand today.”

Sam nodded and immediately departed. Daniel also made to move but Jack forestalled him. “Assuming she says yes, would you mind giving me a lift, Daniel?”

“Actually...”

“You’re supposed to be on down time, Daniel,” Jack admonished sternly, “not holed up in your office working on God only knows what.”

Daniel glared. “For your information-”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever, but I really need someone to drive my truck home, and I don’t exactly trust those marines.”

“I would be happy to provide this service for you, O’Neill,” Teal’c proclaimed.

Jack glanced at Teal’c then focused back on Daniel. “Please.”

A smile found its way to Daniel’s face while Teal’c raised an eyebrow expressively. “And how exactly am ‘I’ supposed to get home?” Daniel queried.

Jack waved a hand airily. “Details,” he declared dismissively just as Sam arrived back with Janet.

A short while later, Daniel, at the wheel of Jack’s truck was driving carefully toward Jack’s house.

“So what gives?” Jack asked quietly.

Daniel kept his gaze on the road. “What do you mean?”

“You’ve been avoiding me.”

“No, I haven’t.”

“Yes...you have,” Jack enunciated clearly.

“I visited you every day.”

“With Sam and Teal’c for five minutes.”

“I’ve been busy.”

“That’s not what I heard.”

“From who?”

“From whom?”

Daniel turned with a glare.

Jack grinned smugly, licked the end of his finger and made a mark in the air.

Daniel rolled his eyes and returned his focus to the road. “Your source is wrong.”

“Sources...plural.”

“Then they’re both wrong.”

“I don’t think so.”

“Jack-”

“Daniel. Look, let’s just cut the crap, shall we. I know you. Something’s obviously going on. Now you can tell me or not but stop trying to pretend everything’s fine when it ‘so’ obviously isn’t.”

“Something’s going on with ‘me’?” Daniel snarked. “Quid pro quo, Jack. I’m not the one with the secret girlfriend.”

Jack’s expression turned blank. “I don’t have a girlfriend, secret or otherwise.”

“Now who’s full of crap!” Daniel snapped. The truck suddenly accelerated, and Jack let out a cry of pain as they hit a bump in the road that jarred his injured thigh.

Daniel immediately lifted his foot a little and glanced in Jack’s direction. “Sorry,” he said curtly.

“And to think I gave Teal’c the flick,” Jack intoned dryly.

Daniel said nothing but continued to drive with a set jaw.

Jack studied his profile. “So are you ticked that I supposedly had a girlfriend or that I didn’t tell you about it?” he asked quietly.

Daniel let out a sound of irritation. “I’m not ‘ticked’ at anything, Jack. You accused me of holding out on you. I simply pointed out that YOU have been keeping secrets yourself.”

“So you ARE keeping secrets,” Jack declared triumphantly.

“Jack,” Daniel groaned.

Jack laughed.

“What’s so funny?” Daniel demanded irritably.

Jack shook his head, smile firmly in place. “I don’t really know. It’s just...” He stopped, continuing to shake his head slowly from side to side.

“Just what?” Daniel demanded although with only a hint of the earlier annoyance.

“Us,” Jack finally said.

“Us?”

“Yeah,” Jack nodded. “I don’t have conversations like this with anyone else.”

“Like what?” Annoyance had crept back into Daniel’s voice.

“Like ‘this’.” Jack gestured between them with a hand.

“This?”

“Yeah. You know.”

“Not really.”

“Oh come on. You have to know what I’m talking about. Like-”

“This?”

“Exactly! It’s so-”

“Us?”

Jack beamed. “See, that’s my point. I’ve never had conversations like this with anyone else.”

“Never?” Daniel queried, a smile ghosting his features.

Jack shook his head emphatically. “Not sure what that means exactly...”

It was Daniel’s turn to laugh. “We’re both nuts maybe?”

“Could be. Has to be your fault, though. I was perfectly sane till I met you.”

“That’s not what I hear.”

Jack’s smile was saccharine. “Well, since you were considered to be completely...” he made a circular motion with his index finger pointed toward his head, “wacko when I met you, obviously what sanity I’ve lost has been transferred to you.”

“You think?” Daniel queried with a twinkle in his eyes.

“In the words of someone we both know...indeed!” They both laughed.

They drove in companionable silence for the remainder of the journey, and when Daniel pulled the car up in Jack’s driveway, Jack said quietly, “I ‘have’ been keeping secrets, Daniel. Obviously you have too. I’d like to clear the air if you’re willing.”

Daniel shook his head. “There’s no need, Jack. Your private life’s your own and so is-”

“That’s not exactly true,” Jack cut in quietly, “is it.”

Daniel’s eyes narrowed. “Jack?” Their gazes locked for an instant before Daniel’s slid away. “I don’t know what you mean by that.”

“Yes, you do,” Jack stated quietly. “You know exactly.” He reached for the handle of the door. “You can take the truck home, or...” He shrugged then pushed open the door.

Daniel sprang immediately into action and was quickly beside the passenger door to assist Jack from the vehicle. Once Jack was upright, he retained his hold on Jack’s arm demanding eye contact. “Are you sure?” he asked quietly.

“Ever since I turned down the beautiful red head,” Jack stated with a wry expression. “The night before our last mission.”

Daniel raised his eyebrows. “You turned her down?”

Jack smiled ruefully.

“And you were happy?”

Jack said nothing but his eyes spoke volumes.

“Completely nuts!” Daniel declared before releasing Jack’s arm and reaching into the vehicle for the crutches. He handed them to Jack who accepted them with quiet thanks and began making his way up the driveway.

Daniel closed the door of the truck then followed, joining Jack on the front porch. As he took the keys from Jack’s hands and began to unlock the door, he said in a casual tone. “You ordered us to leave you.” He turned to look at Jack as he pushed the door open. “There was no way in hell.”

Jack nodded as he hobbled inside. “And you called me nuts?” He waited till Daniel had closed the door then leaned forward and wetly licked the inside of Daniel’s ear. “Last one to the bedroom gets to be on top,” he declared before ‘crutching’ his way to his bedroom at hyper speed!

Daniel’s jaw dropped as he automatically raised a hand to wipe inside his ear, but then he lifted it and grinned. “We really ‘are’ nuts?” he said softly, before sauntering down the hall in Jack’s wake.