On Edge

Third in the "On and On and On" Series

Based upon Stargate: SG-1

- . - - - . -

"Daniel, you seem . . . apprehensive."

It took Daniel a moment to respond. He was still getting accustomed to Teal'c referring to him by his first name and first name only. "What? I'm fine."

Teal'c merely gazed at him with an expression that indicated he didn't believe him.

"I'm fine," he insisted.

"Jackson, you're not fine," Mitchell said, looking up from his smart phone.

"What makes you think I'm not fine?"

Mitchell shrugged. "You're just off."

"Am not."

"Darling, you're on edge," Vala said, sitting down next to Teal'c and offering him some of her french fries. "We can all tell."

Daniel folded his arms and harrumphed. "Fine, I'll admit that I'm a little . . . excited about this weekend."

"A little excited?!" Vala exclaimed. "I couldn't be more ecstatic about this weekend!"

"Okay, you're right, I'm a little nervous too."

"Why?" Mitchell asked.

"'Cause it's Sam and Jack," Daniel made a frustrated gesture. "They've been dancing around this for years. And then they finally got together and now they're rushing into the wedding . . ."

"You are concerned their relationship will end poorly," Teal'c supplied.

"No, of course not. They're perfect for each other," Daniel insisted.

"Yet, you are concerned," Teal'c repeated.

Daniel made a pained face. "Yeah . . . "

"And you are concerned you would have to choose between them if the relationship ended."

Daniel's head bobbed back and forth, "yeah."

Vala made a large worriless gesture, "Stop being such a worry-wort, Daniel." She looked like a kid in a candy store. "The wedding is going to be perfect! Samantha is going to look like an angel!"

Mitchell smirked. "General O'Neill is a lucky lucky man."

Daniel smiled. "Yeah, he is, isn't he."

"Flight 2-9-7 to St. Louis with transfers to Detroit, Atlanta, Washington, D.C., and New York, now boarding."

They all stood up and grabbed their carry on bags.

"Alright, Kids, are we ready to go the wedding of the century!?" Vala's smile was about to break out of her face.

Daniel shook his head. "Sure am."

- . -

They took a cab from the airport to Sam and Jack's place. Daniel lead the way up the stairs and was about to knock on the door, but paused when he heard something.

A moan.

He heard a moan from inside. A deep moan. . . Jack was moaning.

A horrified look crossed Daniel's face. Why the hell was Jack moaning?

"Ow!" Jack shouted from inside.

Daniel's expression quickly went from horrified to confused. Just what exactly was going on in there?

"Oh, quit complaining, you baby," Sam scolded.

And the horrified expression came back.

"Ow! That hurts!" Jack again.

Just what in the hell were his best friends in to?

"What are we waiting for?" Vala asked, pushing past Teal'c and Mitchell. "I texted Sam on the way, she said they'd leave the door open." In half a second, she opened the door and shoved Daniel through.

He then saw what he never ever wanted to see ever in his life, ever. Jack was flat on his back, Sam was straddling one of his legs with his other leg on her shoulder. All he knew was that there was a lot of skin and a lot of sweat. He clenched his eyes shut before he saw too much.

"Oh, hi guys!" Sam said.

"Teal'c!" Jack cried out. "Save me!"

Due to the lack of concern in their voices, Daniel peeked one eye open. Correction: there was a lot of skin, but they both appeared to be wearing shorts. Jack had a t-shirt on and Sam was wearing some kind of tight sleeveless shirt. And yes, they appeared to be covered in sweat.

"Ooohhh," Vala said, "just what kind of fun are we having here?"

"Sam's torturing me," Jack said. "OW!"

"We're almost done," she said to him in that scolding tone again, before turning her head towards them. She moved Jack's leg a little and leaned into his chest, pushing on his leg with her own chest. He cried out, but she ignored him. "We just got back from a run and Jack's doctor said that he needed to stretch out properly after running instead of just flopping on the couch."

"I happen to like flopping," Jack said.

"You keep saying that, General Knee-Replacement."

Everyone moved into the apartment, Teal'c shut the door behind them. Daniel couldn't help but staring - with a somewhat disturbed expression - at Sam stretching Jack's leg on the floor. This was going to give him nightmares for weeks.

Finally, thankfully, Sam got up and helped Jack to his feet. Vala threw herself at Sam, "I'm so excited for Sunday!"

"What's happening on Sunday?" Jack asked in his typical joking cluelessness.

"Jack, Sunday is the day Samantha has chosen to tether herself to a lesser individual in social practice and legal contract." Daniel was still hung up on Teal'c use of first names to acknowledge the joke. He understood that Teal'c was make an effort to socialize himself more to Tauri culture in order to seem less alien to the public when the Stargate program would be announced in three weeks, but it was still weird.

He couldn't believe after all these years Sam and Jack were getting married the day after tomorrow. After so long, his two best friends were getting married. Well . . . They had practically been married for years now, the way they interacted with each other, but still . . .

He couldn't believe Sunday was the day. It was going to be official.

"Yup," he said with a forced smile. "Sunday's the big day." He wasn't sure why he wasn't more excited about it.

- . -

It was Saturday afternoon and they had just gotten back from a day of sight-seeing. Jack went to put a few thing away in his room, and Daniel followed. Daniel had noticed that he hadn't seen any of the tuxes anywhere. "Hey, Jack," he said, "were are the tuxes?"

"What tuxes?"

Daniel forced a laugh at Jack's joke. "You know, the tuxes for the wedding."

Again, Jack seemed to feign ignorance. "What tuxes for the wedding? Who's wearing tuxes?"

"We are."

"No we're not. We're wearing button down shirts and slacks, that's what I told you to bring."

"What? We're not wearing tuxes? Why not?"

"Because it's a court house wedding, Daniel. Sam and I didn't want to do the whole white-dress-tuxedo-church-weddin' thing."

"She's not wearing a white dress?"

Jack shrugged, "Well it's white, but it's got other stuff on it."

"You've seen it?!"

"Yeah."

"I can't believe this." It was like they weren't even getting married tomorrow, that they were just doing some business at city hall.

"Daniel, what is wrong with you? You've been weird all day."

"I have not been weird."

"Yeah, you've been antsy and on edge all day. What's going on."

"Nothing's going on, Jack," Daniel had to admit to himself that he didn't even believe what he had just said.

"Aren't you happy about this?"

"Of course I'm happy!"

"Then why are you acting this way?!"

"Because what if you hurt her?!"

There was silence. Daniel couldn't believe he just said what he said.

"I'm never gonna hurt her, Daniel," Jack's tone was very sober.

"But what if you do?"

"I won't."

"What if she hurts you? What if something unthinkable happens and you split? Who do I choose?"

"Nothing's going to happen Daniel. We're not gonna split."

"I bet you said that same thing about your first wife." Daniel realized how harsh that had sounded, but only regretted it a little. "Something unthinkable happened and you got divorced."

"Daniel . . ." Jack said in the most understanding tone Daniel had ever heard him use. "Sam and I are going to be together until one or both of is dead, you know that, right?"

"But -"

"No, buts." Jack paused. "Do you know how Sam and I got together?"

Daniel shook his head.

"Neither do I. We just realized one day that we were living our lives together. We realized that we'd been living our lives together for years without knowing. I don't know how to live my life without her anymore."

There was silence. Daniel didn't know what to say. Instances of candor like this with Jack were few and far between.

"And as for picking a side: pick hers every time. No matter what happens, I want you to pick her side. Because no matter what happens, I'm gonna trust you to take care of her if I can't."

"Sam doesn't need anyone to take care of her," Daniel said, looking at her shoes.

"Yeah, she does. Some times."

Daniel nodded. "Okay, Jack I promise I'll take care of her."

Jack smiled. "Good. Are we good?" Daniel nodded. "Let's go back before they think I'm getting cold feet."

Daniel smiled and followed Jack back towards the living room. Jack was right. He and Sam were going to be together forever.

- . -

"So what was with Daniel?" Sam asked as Jack crawled into bed with her.

"We was worried about what would happen if I hurt you or we split up."

"He knows that's never gonna happen, right?"

Jack nodded. "Yep, that's what I told him."

"'Cause you're stuck with me 'til you're dead, you know that, right?"

Jack smirked. "I told him that, too."

"I don't know how to live by myself anymore, and you probably wouldn't last a week without me."

He smirked again. "Great minds think alike. I told him that too."

They were quiet for a minute, Sam continued to read her book. Jack just gazed at her.

"You told him to pick my side, right?" Sam asked, glancing at him from behind her book.

"Yes, Ma'am," Jack replied without missing a beat.

Sam grinned from ear to ear. "Good boy."

- . - FIN - . -