Beautiful Disaster

Sequeal to: Blades
Rating: PG-13 or Teen (to be on the safeside for later naughty language)
Disclaimer: I own nothing related to Stargate. I write this for my own pleasure only

It was a day like any other in the SGC. Lt. Cols. Mitchell and Carter were in a meeting with General Landry in the briefing room, Teal'c was instructing the latest crop of new recruits in Jaffa hand-to-hand combat techniques and Vala had just finished her report (two hours late because she had been in Daniel's office for the past three). And Daniel? Daniel was in his office, the same place he's been for weeks now except for the odd jaunt out to get food and/or coffee (mostly coffee), rest for a few hours or use of the facilities. The rest of the time he spent practically buried by translations left by the Asgard that were either finished, unfinished or almost finished. Daniel looked at the three piles sourly almost wishing for some sort of distraction, although he knew if he was it would take him even longer to get his work done. He glared and grunted at the three piles of work before he dove back into the Asgard database translations headfirst. He'd get the rest of this mess on his desk done even if he had to lock himself in here for the rest of the day and into the weekend.

Meanwhile a pair of very familiar visitors exited the elevator and headed straight for General Hank Landry's office. At the sight of the both of them together they looked terrifyingly imposing, everyone knew their faces be they a new recruit or someone who joined the SGC years ago, froze in place to salute the duo as they passed by. Both of them sharing equally amused looks with each other, once they passed their prey. The silver-haired one gave them his patented 'I'm the General damnit. You will salute me or I will bust your ass all the way down to Private!' look that sent the rookies running for cover once the imposing men had cleared their path. That never got old to the most senior officers now on base (one retired, one not). They weren't here on official business but rather a more personal one. When the pair reached the briefing room (having somehow to have completely managed to avoid Walter, for once) they saw who they were looking for along with two other officers the silver-haired General was very familiar with.

Lt. Cols. Mitchell and Carter were discussing their plans for the evening with Landry in case either of them needed to be reached when a familiar voice called out the General's office doorway. "Hey kids." Immediately Col.'s Carter and Mitchell turned on their heels and saluted. "General O'Neill, sir!" Jack just looked at them with a little bit of a smile on his face. "Please don't make me say this more than once kids; At ease. I'm not in uniform for cryin' out loud! I'm not even here on business as you very well know." Once they relaxed in their poses and greeted him with smiles but before either of them could say anything the other General in the room spoke up "Hello Jack, Feretti, good to see you two here." Hank Landry gave them both a genuine smile, "Jack gave the other man a small grin, "Nice to see you too Hank. The kids haven't been giving you too much trouble I hope?" Landry just smiled "Not all all Jack. In fact I think you gave Hammond a lot more trouble in your first two years at the SGC than these two have." With that Landry turned and went to find Walter. "So when did you two get in Sir?" Sam asked as she folded her arms behind her back as she stood. "Oh me and Lou got in yesterday afternoon. Since then we've been sleeping off the lag and making...arrangements amongst other stuff for tonight." Louis Feretti piped in "Speaking of which everything is all set for tonight. The owner of the rink assured us that the place wasn't booked for anything and tonight's just a regular admission night. Not to mention we've already paid for everyone ahead of time to all we have to do is show them our tickets and we'll be let right on through."

"So the plan is a go. Think Jackson will go without a fuss?" Then Mitchell tilted his head in realization. "Nevermind. I forgot who I was talking about here for a minute." Jack chuckled, "Damn right, it's happening. Just don't let him know what we're doing. Last time he hit the ice, he literally hit the ice. Butt first every time he tried to stand on his own. Wobbly as a baby giraffe. I think at the end of the night though he was finally starting to get the hang of it." Sam just clucked her tongue, "Vala just thinks this is just to get Daniel out of his office for one night doesn't she? I mean it would kill the point of doing this if she knew. She'd be throwing herself at him all night and would scare him off even more." Jack just smirked a little. "Honestly I may not know her as well as the rest of you. But from what I've seen personally and heard from Danny-boy himself, she's come a long way from being the pain in Daniel's mikta she once was."

Cam looked up at O'Neill thoughtfully "Yeah I gotta admit she's come a long way. More than anyone here would've thought possible. From the second she came though the 'gate she demanded to know where 'Her' Daniel was. Got under his skin so bad he wanted to wring her neck at times, but at the end I think he was starting to used to having her around before she got sucked into the black hole. If you ask me they way they were hanging out before the beachhead you wouldn't have thought they had to stay together so neither would get sick. They just...clicked. And then when we were on the Prometheus the old Jackson came back and closed off, not letting her though like he had before. He just got so snippy almost as if he was tryin' to cut ties to her or somethin'. But since she came back he's changed, they both have and don't think I have ever seen Jackson so desperate before like he was when she was taken by the NID right from under his nose like that. He barely ate, barely slept, and went through every possible lead we could find refusing to give up on her even when the rest of us had. He was so tired I caught him dozing off in his office more times than I have fingers and toes combined. Hell I didn't once have the heart to wake him, knowing that the second I did he'd just go back to work all over again callin' hospitals, chasin' down leads until Weaver told us what we needed to know. He even told me once that he never gave up hope on finding her alive after she destroyed the first beachhead. Told me then that he wanted to be right about her again and he was." Cam looked over to everyone else there as he remembered this.

Feretti just gave Mitchell a small smile. "It sounds like to me the Doc's got it pretty bad for her then. What you just said, that last bit, reminds me of the way he was when he was looking for Shau'ri. He never gave hope of finding her, not once. Not even when the odds were stacked so highly against the both of them ever being in the same place at the same time." Before another word could be spoken edgewise, however, two more members of the SGC's flagship team made their way inside the briefing room. Jack turned to greet them himself but then his jaw dropped at the sight of Teal'c before looking at Mitchell to ask, "Are you sure he's fifty years older? Cause other than the hair I'm just not seein' it. And for cryin' out loud he's older than Bra'tac now for Pete's sake!" Cam just grinned and Teal'c well to Jacks surprise Teal'c did too. Well as much as Teal'c usually did, the quirk of his lips a bit broader than Jack last remembered it being. Breaking his train of thought Vala thrust into the conversation "Well for one thing he doesn't have the reflexes he used to." she said as she hopped up on the briefing room table and sat "I mean I've watched him and Mitchell sparring on the way home on the Odyssey. Seems to me they're more evenly matched now, although Muscles still has the skill and years more studying Mitchell's weaknesses." She winked at Cam who is turn just glared at her for pointing that out. "So Jack, have any idea how were going to get Daniel out of that musty, stuffy old crypt he calls an office?"

The General pretended to look thoughtful for a moment. "Well, what we really need is a distraction. Someone to keep his back to the door while the rest of us sneak in so he won't try to escape. If he does he sure as hell won't get too far." Vala gave him her biggest grin. "I'm sure I can keep him busy at least that long." But even as Vala turned to exit the briefing room Jack called out after her "Not yet. First get dressed in warm civvies and then we'll meet just outside his door in about an hour." She turned to leave but before she did she stopped in the doorway to ask, "And what will the rest of you be doing?" "Us? Uh, we'll be figuring out a way to actually keep Jackson from his office once we drag him out. The man could use some fresh air after all." With a smile she nodded and turned away, her mind immediately went through her closet trying to decide what would be best to wear. As soon as she made it past the door and out of their sight they all took a collective breath.

"You knew she'd fall for that didn't you?" SG-1's current commanding officer smirked at O'Neill. "Oh yeah. We don't need a distraction before we're ready. We give him warning and he'll barricade himself in." "What makes you think, that after this, he won't?" Sam folded her arms across her chest as she eyed the men sceptically. Cam just rolled his eyes a little and then explained it from his own point of view. "Because those two are inseparable where one is you'll usually find the other. It's not a matter of the bond the bracelets left them, or even a thing between the teacher and his apprentice but something that goes way deeper. They may be complete opposites but they're more alike than they'd like us or themselves to believe." Jack just raised an eyebrow in a very Teal'c-like way but said nothing before Mitchell continued. "That and the way Sunshine and the Princess have been making goo goo eyes at each other for quite a while now. It's kinda hard not to notice. Except, that somehow, they do miss those looks from the other!" "And yet oddly enough neither have taken the first step." Teal'c just barely slipped O'Neill a small glimpse of approval as he said this. They talked for a short while longer before Jack assigned them their duties. "Alright listen up people! Once everyone gets changed, this is what I want all of you to do..." One by one he gave them their 'assignments' and almost immediately they all went their separate ways to do what they had to before their night out.