Title: Four-Thirty Epiphany
Summary: An early morning phone conversation between Jack and Daniel provokes the usual banter, and helps Daniel make a decision. Takes place after the defeat of the Ori.
Season: post Ark of Truth (because the Ori and their followers have been defeated, but there are no spoilers, since that's all I know), a small hint of Unending
Category: Friendship, Humor
Author's Notes: I promise that I'm not dead. I just feel like it. This was written on the drive to work after a mostly sleepless night. It's one of the few times when the story composed in my head looks almost identical to what came out on paper. Anyway, I thought I'd offer an explanation for Daniel's conspicuous absence from Atlantis after the defeat of the Ori. Oh, how I wish my job problems were as easy to solve as Daniel's.
Jack rolled over, grasping blindly for the phone on the bedside table. He caught a glimpse of the clock and swore under his breath. He hoped that it wasn't the joint chiefs with some pressing matter of intergalactic political crap, because that was not the kind of conversation he wanted to have after being woken from a dead sleep.
He picked up the phone and held it to his ear, trying not to bury his head back in his pillow.
"O'Neill."
"Jack. I don't want to go."
Jack groaned. "What?"
"Atlantis. I don't want to go."
Rubbing his face tiredly, he took a moment to think of a suitable response. "Have you been drinking?"
"Jack, I'm serious." He heard the poorly hidden exasperation.
Jack glanced at the clock again, groaned, and flipped over so he was lying on his back.
"Daniel, call me back in the morning when we're both thinking clearly."
"Jack, I am thinking clearly."
"No, you're not. If you were, you'd be begging me to let you go."
"Jack."
"Daniel. It's 4:30 in the morning."
"2:30," Daniel corrected.
"Yeah, in Colarado. In D.C. it's 4:30."
"Shouldn't you be getting up soon anyway?"
"Thank you so much for reminding me."
"Hey, it's not my fault that the military turned you into a morning person."
"Why am talking to you again? Why are you calling me? You should be sleeping."
"Sleep is overrated."
"Not, it's not."
"Okay, you're right. It's not. But I couldn't sleep. I have too much on my mind."
"Daniel, you always have too much on your mind. It's an occupational hazard." Jack paused. "How much caffeine have you had?"
"Enough. But that's not the point."
"Oh, yes. The point. What was the point again?"
He heard Daniel mutter in frustration and thought that at least the feeling was mutual.
"Jack. Focus. At-lan-tis." Daniel enunciated clearly, drawing out each syllable.
"Yeah, see, that's what I don't get, Daniel. You've been begging to go to Atlantis since we, uh, well, since you first figured out how to get there. According to Teal'c, you were ready to smother Vala in her sleep for making you miss the Daedalus. Now, the Ori are gone. Vala won't kidnap you again…"
Daniel snorted. "You hope."
"…Landry is willing to approve your transfer. Carter would be thrilled to have you over there… I don't see any problem here. And now you're telling me that you don't want to go?"
"Yes! I mean no, I don't want… well, yes, I want to go, just not now, not permanently, not…" Daniel paused, clearly trying to collect his thoughts into something coherent. Apparently, with minimal success. He sighed heavily on the other end of the phone. "It made more sense when I thought about it."
"Okay," Jack replied carefully. "So, explain it to me. Slowly," he emphasized. "And no more caffeine."
Daniel chuckled.
"Okay." Another deep breath. "Yes, I do want to go to Atlantis, but I don't want to transfer there, not on a long term basis. Maybe just a visit or two, you know, every now and then? I could visit Sam, do some research, poke around the city… I already review every report that comes out of Atlantis, checking for information on the Ancients, so it's not like I'm out of the loop back on Earth."
"True."
"And… things are just starting to fall into place here."
"Things?" Jack questioned. "Vala type things?"
"What? N-noooo… Who have you been talking to? Did Teal'c say something?"
"Teal'c?"
"Yeah. He keeps giving me these weird looks. Well, weird for him. It's like he knows something, but I have no idea what he thinks he knows. It's a little disconcerting." Even from his house in D.C., Jack could hear Daniel shake his head in confusion. "But that's neither here nor there. This isn't about Vala. We were talking about Atlantis."
"And not going there, I've got it." Jack let out an inward sigh. He had assumed that this was all somehow related to Vala, and he wasn't sure whether to be relieved or disappointed to find that he was mistaken. Jack still wasn't sure what was going on between the alien woman and his best friend, but Teal'c had hinted…
"Jack, I don't want to go to Atlantis because it seems like jumping into the frying pan as soon as we put out the fire."
"Have you been learning metaphors from Teal'c? 'Cause I gotta tell you, it's not working so well."
"Jack." Daniel's tone held slightly affectionate exasperation.
"Daniel," Jack replied with a smile in his voice.
He heard another sigh before Daniel continued. "We just, finally, resolved the Ori situation. There are no Goa'uld, no Replicators, no fleet of ships about to destroy us, no impending doom ready to descend upon the planet at any given moment. I've spent over ten years of my life fighting those battles. I don't want to jump into Atlantis just to deal with the same crap all over again. The Wraith… well, they're Atlantis' problem. Let them handle it, and any other bad guys that might emerge."
Jack found it hard to keep the surprise from showing in his voice. "So, trying not to take on responsibility for the whole universe?"
"Something like that."
"Well, good for you. And it's about time."
Daniel graced him with another light chuckle. "I'm not saying that I won't ever go to Atlantis," Daniel warned. "It's just that, well, I want to… I mean, I…"
"You want to get back to doing what you actually love?"
"Yeah," Daniel sounded amazed at how easily Jack explained it, how simple it seemed when he heard someone else agree with him. "The SGC still has plenty of clean up to do from the Goa'uld and the Ori. Whole civilizations have been drastically affected by the Ori crusade, and many of them were just recovering from Goa'uld occupation. We can't ignore the destabilizing effect the Ori had on our galaxy, but our goals are more humanitarian now. We can provide aid for those people, and still get back to exploration and technological research…"
"The stuff we should have been doing all along."
"Exactly. And even if the IOA tries to slash our budget or limit our actions…"
"…which we would fight tooth and nail."
"Yes, we would. But even if they do, they realize now that they can't shut us down. The galaxy is too big to ignore. And I'm sure we'll still have our fair share of problems and conflicts, but at least we won't be dealing with a full-scale war."
"There is that."
"Jack?"
"Yeah?"
"Are you saying you agree with everything I've said?"
"Pretty much."
"Oh. Okay. That's different."
"Yeah, well, don't get too used to it."
There was a comfortable pause and Jack wondered if Daniel was going to reply, or if he'd finally managed to talk through the issue.
"Jack?"
The general rolled his eyes fondly at the tone. "Yes, Daniel?"
"Sorry I woke you up."
"No problem. I was just getting up anyway."
"No, you weren't."
"You're right. I wasn't." Jack stretched experimentally, feeling muscles protest slightly before loosening. "Go back to sleep, Daniel. I'll talk to you later."
"Yeah, okay. Thanks Jack."
"Anytime."
As Jack hung up the phone, he glanced longingly back at his pillow before turning to the clock. He really did have to get up soon if he was going to have time to review those files on his desk before his morning meeting. Jack pushed himself up slightly, rubbing a hand over his face. Then he smiled, silently congratulating himself. This time he'd managed to keep Daniel from Atlantis without doing a thing. Jack's grin widened. It wasn't such a bad way to start off the morning after all.
Author's end notes: This is listed as incomplete because I am considering adding more vignettes that deal with SG-1 after the defeat of the Ori. I have a few ideas, so hopefully those will be coming along… at some point. I make no promises about timeliness.