After the Storm
He holds Daniel close, one arm wrapped around his chest, leg hooked over leg, and his head cradled on his arm. It's an intimate position, and the closest he's been able to get to Daniel since they got him back from Adria. And yet Daniel still shudders through the last waking memories of the nightmare that repeats nightly like a B movie.
"Okay?" Jack whispers, letting out a soft sigh when Daniel nods. "Good, 'cause this position is killing my back." It's a lie, and he's pretty sure Daniel takes the comment for what it was worth when he spoons himself in closer.
Jack kisses Daniel's shoulder and rests his chin there. "Still not your fault."
Daniel's body is coiled tight, breath coming in sharp but shallow puffs, and Jack wonders if he's trying too hard to hold onto the vestiges of his nightmare.
After a few minutes, when Jack is sure he's not going to get any further response from Daniel, his lover whispers hoarsely, "Maybe."
"Maybe?" Jack tries to sound surprised, even though, with Daniel's history of occasional self-doubt and recrimination, he really isn't. "No maybe about it. You weren't in control."
"Could see. Feel."
Jack curses Merlin under his breath; it would do Daniel no good for him to say out loud what he's already said a thousand times in the last few days. In his eyes, the old bastard was no better than a Goa'uld.
He has no words to offer, instead running his free hand down the length of Daniel's body until he reached his cock. There's no way he'll initiate any intimacy right now- won't do that to either of them even if he really wanted to. Instead, he cards his fingers through the soft pubic hair in a way that had served to relax a stressed Daniel in the past, smiling sheepishly when, moments later, the sound of soft snores fill the air.
The End