Stargazing

A missing scene from 'Hell'

Teal'c woke form his Kel'nor'reem with a start, and it took him a few moments to figure out what he roused him. Then he heard it again, a thud of a limping walk on the roof. It sounded slow and painful, and he knew who it was.

The Jaffa climbed out of bed, pulled on a pair of sweat pants and made his way out of the bedroom onto the landing. He glanced out of the window there to see the roof ladder resting in it's normal spot, and shook his head ruefully as he jogged down the stairs to the outside. Jack was supposed to be resting his damaged leg, not climbing up ladders and walking on roofs.

It was a warm, balmy night and he climbed up to the viewing platform without a problem.

As he had thought O'Neill was sitting on the platform, his eye glued to the telescope in front of him, a star chart on his lap, his lap top nearby. "Where is it?" he murmured, and made a small adjustment to the view finder. "I can't…"

Teal'c walked over to him and laid a hand on his shoulder. And was extremely surprised when Jack almost leapt out of his skin and off the roof in fear. He stared up at Teal'c, his whole body trembling, his eyes wide with shock.

Teal'c, concerned now, knelt beside him and enfolded him in his arms in a tight, hopefully soothing embrace. "Hush." He said to him gently. "It is I. You have no need to fear me."

Jack continued to shake but snuggled as close as he could against him, seemingly trying to burrow under his skin. "I can't find it." he said to T in a quiet voice after a few moments of silence. "I can't find his star."

His lover frowned and looked up. It was a clear night, the vista of stars above him was very impressive, even if he hadn't learnt to appreciate it from his human lover. Jack was an accomplished astronomer, he knew most, if not all of the constellations arrayed above them. For him to tell Teal'c he couldn't find one was very concerning to the big Jaffa.

He held him tightly got a moment and gently pressed a kiss to his temple. "I will aid you." he assured him. "To which star are you referring?"

"Charlie's." Jack told him quietly and looked up too. "I can't find it. Normally I can find it straight away." He shuddered and clutched one of Teal'c's large hands with one of his own. "That asshole Apophis used him to try and get some information from me." he said acidly in a bout of sudden anger. "He couldn't have taken his star away from me too, could he?"

Teal'c shook his head. "No my love." he reassured him. "He could not do that. Charlie's star is still there. We have only to find it." He smiled at him and kissed his temple again. "Hand me the chart." he instructed, and reached for it with his free hand. Jack handed it to him, his hand shaking a little, and not from the fright he had just received.

Charlie's star was clearly marked on it in the Colonel's small, neat script, and the Jaffa had been shown it before. He did not recall the constellation it was in, but he did know the area of sky. And what the notations meant. "I will read the positions to you." he told him firmly as he let him go with his other arm. "You adjust the telescope."

Jack nodded and allowed himself to be let go. He settled again in front of the telescope and waited patiently while his partner checked the precise readings before he started to read them out to him in his deep, smooth voice.

Soon, quicker than Jack had feared, their combined work found the star he had thought he'd lost. He had felt raped when Apophis had used the Tok'ra memory device to search through his memories on Netu, especially when he had used Charlie to get some information from him. The Colonel had recognised something was wrong before he had parted with any sensitive information, but using his dead son's memories against him had hurt him more than any staff blast could ever do.

Now though, with T's arms back around him and the right star photographed, programmed into his laptop and clearly visible through the telescope, he at last felt as if he had escaped Hell.

Eventually Jack shivered with cold rather than something else and T let him go. "Shall we return to bed?" he asked him gently. "Doctor Fraser will not appreciate it if you catch a chill."

Jack smiled up at him sardonically. "You may be right." he agreed dryly. "She wouldn't let me out of the Infirmary for a month."

Teal'c smiled secretively and buried it in his neck. The Doctor had almost begged him to take Jack home as soon as he was well enough since almost three quarters of her team had threatened to call in sick, and the rest had applied for permanent transfers to the Academy hospital if he had to stay an hour longer, let alone another day. She would only tolerate him there for a month if he was sedated for most of it. Teal'c did not understand their reactions, a simple raised eye brow and steady gaze seemed to work for him. And the threat of celibacy worked too.

Hmmm he thought to himself as he helped Jack pack up the scope and lap top: that may not have the same effect on Doctor Fraser as it did on Jack O'Neill!

T went down the ladder first, waited for Jack to hand the items down to him, and then made sure he could get down without too much trouble. Then he made sure they put everything away so the Colonel could not think of anything else he could do rather than go back to bed.

But there was none, and the former First Prime decided to take some time making sure that Jack was tired enough to sleep until the next morning…… gently and thoroughly.