Parallel Worlds
"Daniel? Is that you?"
There. It was Jack's voice. He had found him finally.
Daniel stood up quickly and left the desk, where he had spent the last few hours in front of the computer to learn a lot of new and interesting things.
He went to the mirror in the office's corner right above the washbowl.
Jack was staring at him out of the mirror. In one hand he carried the device for controlling the Quantum mirror; with the other hand he pointed a P90 at Daniel.
Daniel raised his arms carefully and said,
"Whooo, Jack! You can see that it's me, can't you. Please, lower your weapon."
"Of course I know that you are Dr. Jackson.", Jack said impatiently, "But the question is: Are you my Daniel? I mean: are you the Daniel who belongs to my reality?"
"Jack, if you are talking about the Daniel you sent to an alternate universe exactly..." he had a quick look at his watch, "seven hours and 34 minutes ago, just because you preferred playing with the device instead of tidying up: Yeah, that's definitely me. Can I finally come home now?"
Daniel was able to see, that Jack put away the gun and stepped aside. He turned off the pc, had a last glimpse through the room to make sure that he had not forgotten anything and touched the mirror then.
A moment later he was back in the fund in the SGC, where different devices and artifacts from various missions were stored.
Daniel had no time to take breath, because Jack hugged him rather stormy immediately.
"Damn, Daniel! I'm so glad, that I've found you. Good to have you back!"
Wondering about this behavior Daniel tipped Jack's shoulder and murmured,
"Uhm, yeah, thanks, Jack."
Then he looked at him frowning. What was going on with Jack? Daniel was in his reality, wasn't he!
Obviously Jack noticed his confusion, because quite quickly he said,
"General Hammond would have killed me, if I had had to tell him, that I sent our best archaeologist..." he waved around with his hand, "...on a very, very, very long trip."
Daniel was relieved. That definitely was his reality, since that behavior was so typical for his Jack. The hint of cynicism, the usual grin and absolutely no idea about the way the mirror works.
"So, Dannyboy. How was the trip then? Oh by the way, you are fine, aren't you?"
"Everything's all right. I'm fine. However, it's five o'clock in the morning and I've been awake all night long. What I do need right now is a shower and then a bed. And after that I'll have much to tell. Probably even you will find that stuff interesting; and Sam and Teal'c, too, of course."
Yawning he rushed towards the door and Jack just cried,
"At 1200 Carter and Teal'c will be back with SG4. So we will meet at seven tonight; at my place."
Daniel waved his hand to show that he was OK with that idea and shuffled away once and for all.
He didn't drive home for sleeping, but rather stayed in the SGC right away, so that he could go on with his current translation in the afternoon.
However, the work did not go that well, because Daniel was just not able to concentrate. His thoughts wandered off the subject all the time: off to strange incidents of late, off to those things he had experienced last night, and off to the meaning they could have for him, if he just would get involved in it.
Moreover, he was dying to tell the others of the alternate universe, and especially, he wanted to see their reactions.
Consequently, he rang the doorbell off the wall at Jack's house around half past six.
"Aah, Daniel. That's you already!" he greeted him, "What the hell has happened? Why such a turmoil? Are you starving?"
"Eh, yes. I mean: no. Am I too early?"
Grinning Jack went to the kitchen and Daniel followed him.
"Doesn't matter. Over there." Jack pointed at a seat at the kitchen table and Daniel sat down.
"Wanna beer?"
Daniel grimaced a little and Jack said laughing,
"Of course you don't, because it's not your preferred kind of drink. Nevertheless, you won't get any coffee until we have finished dinner. So, what about some red wine?"
"Sounds great." Daniel replied thankfully. He was quite pleased, yet, at least to the same degree surprised, that Jack has thought about such a tiny little detail, like his preferences in drinking.
"Smells fine." Daniel said, "What is it? By the way, can I be of any help?"
"It would be great, if you could set the table. Well, actually we'll just eat ready-to-serve lasagna and in the freezer there is a box of your favorite ice-cream. But at least I did the salad on my own." Jack grinned and stirred in the bowl, in which he had just put some weird-looking salad dressing.
Daniel was wondering why Jack knew about his favorite ice-cream, when the doorbell rang and Jack fetched outside to open the door.
Daniel could hear, that both Sam and Teal'c had arrived and when they entered the kitchen, Sam was muttering,
"...that ridiculous Captain of SG4. I hate it when Hammond splits up SG1 and makes us join the other teams. Oh, hi Daniel."
And with these words she planted herself on a chair.
Jack answered Daniel's confused look by shrugging his shoulders and saying,
"Well, obviously it is not everywhere as easy and harmonious as it is with us all the time."
A "Haha" came from Daniel and Jack served dinner, before he sat down next to Sam and directly opposite Daniel.
Teal'c said,
"No, indeed. It has not been very harmonious with SG4, but at the moment that does not matter. O'Neill has mentioned that there is something you want to tell us, Daniel Jackson!"
Three shining pairs of eyes looked at Daniel expectantly.
"Curious?" he asked and took a mouthful of lasagna, so that he was not able to speak for a moment.
"Don't keep us on tenterhooks, Daniel." Sam said, "In the SGC rumors went around about you going through the Quantum mirror last night. If that's true, then I'm wondering why for heaven's sake."
Daniel swallowed and looked at Sam, Teal'c and finally at Jack quite surprised.
"Didn't he tell you that it actually was his fault more or less?"
Sam and Teal'c shook their heads and Jack murmured something like,
"Oh, didn't I mention that?"
"Well then. Let's start at the very beginning." Daniel said with a sigh and he and Jack began to tell what had happened the evening before:
When Sam and Teal'c had gone off world to support SG4 on their current mission, Daniel and Jack had taken advantage of the given time to write some reports that needed to be finished.
Sometime in the evening they had decided to eat something in the cafeteria and on their way had started a discussion about mythology.
Daniel was not able anymore to tell how they had got to that topic again and he had to agree, that neither he nor Jack could actually still have appropriate arguments, when Sam mentioned that.
Unfortunately, they had decided to come to the climax of their discussion – the part in which they usually entitled each other with not very nice swearwords or other kind words quite loudly – right in front of General Hammond's office.
Now Jack described Hammond's entrance to the scene perfectly,
"Colonel O'Neill! Dr. Jackson! What is going on again? You do not get paid for behaving like infants! We are not in a kindergarten here!"
Everybody laughed and Jack added,
"Wasn't in the best temper yesterday, our homeboy George."
"Absolutely! You can say that again." Daniel reinforced that statement and reported how Hammond had made them sort all the artifacts and check the indexing immediately.
"I guess we looked like stunned mullets." he finished.
Sam giggled into her glass and even Teal'c raised the corners of his mouth a bit.
"What happened next?" he asked.
"Easy to explain." Daniel went on and looked at Jack half reproachful and half amused.
"I struggled with tidying up, while Jack was quite bored actually, and had no better idea than playing with the mirror's control device. Suddenly, I stumbled over his feet and just fell through the mirror."
Teal'c asked,
"But why did you not come back immediately?"
And Sam supported him,
"Yeah, true. If the adjustment doesn't get changed, that can't be a problem. The same dimension just stays."
Daniel explained,
"Well, when I realized, what had happened, it was too late already. The reality wasn't the right one anymore, as I was not able to see Jack anywhere."
Now everybody gave Jack a questioning look. He picked at his plate intensively, until he could not ignore the silence any longer.
Just then he looked up, but Daniel realized, that he tried not to look at him directly.
Jack groaned and waved his hands through the air making defending gestures.
"I've no idea how that damn thing works. So I've just tried a few buttons."
Sam rolled her eyes, yet unimpressed by that Jack continued,
"I tried to find the right reality for hours, but it just didn't work. Sometime then it occurred to me, that you make notes on everything, Daniel. In your office I found the essay with the mirror's operating instructions and finally, this morning, I was able to get you back."
"Yeah, well. And it did not at all take long." Daniel said, however, he gave Jack a friendly smile. After all he was really glad, that Jack had found him in the end.
Sam poured out another glass of water – so she obviously had come by car – and asked Daniel to tell about his experiences.
"Ok, listen: I came out in an office. It was locked, so that I had no chance to have a look around, but, I guess, I still was in Cheyenne Mountain. At least the office looked like one of ours. There was no remote control for the mirror, and since it hung just above a washbowl, I assume, that those people do not even know about the mirror's special function. I had no other choice than waiting for Jack to do something to help me."
"Just a second." Jack interrupted him, "If you were locked in that office all the time, more than seven hours at any rate, you didn't meet anybody. What the hell did you do, that could have been so exciting?"
Daniels answer came promptly,
"I read scripts and did some research on the internet. Because...and possibly you won't believe it. The Stargate-program does not exist in the reality I've been to. People are light-years away from travelling through space like we do. Many of them do not even believe in the existence of extraterrestrial life. There Stargate is just a series on TV."
Daniel looked at the others triumphantly.
There they were. All the unbelieving faces and questioning glances, he had expected.
Jack was the first one, who found his speech again,
"Daniel, for an April fool's trick you're just six month too late."
"I'm absolutely serious about it, Jack. And those people seem to be unbelievably imaginative. We've truly experienced what they think to be the made-up plot of a TV-show and in the scripts we're described nearly perfectly. As if it was actually us. By the way, can I really be that defiant and irritating when it comes to my excavations?"
But nobody answered that question. In contrast, Sam dug deeper by asking,
"So, there the Stargate does not exist, but they just pretend it? And what about us? Are we all actors in that world?"
Daniel thought about it for a moment, before he answered,
"Yes, you're right. The gate, the SGC, space ships, planets, Goa'uld: everything has been invented for the show. And we do actually not exist. We're only fictitious characters, which are portrayed by actors."
"What about the entropic cascade failure?" Sam asked.
"There was none. At least not in such an extreme way, Dr. Carter experienced at that time. I just felt a light tickling. I guess, that is, because on the one hand the actors aren't us, yet, on the other hand..."
Sam completed,
"...on the other hand, in a way they are still us. How interesting. That would possibly mean that..."
"Eh, eh, eh!" Jack interrupted her a bit irritated, "Right now I don't wanna hear any discussions about physical, technical or whatever phenomena, all right!"
Surprisingly it was Teal'c, who supported Jack,
"Indeed I would also prefer to learn more about those actors."
And so Daniel reported,
"Well, of course I can only tell you those things I've found on the internet in reports, videos and interviews. I had the impression that they really like each other and are rather good friends."
"Just as we are." Sam mentioned and everybody nodded in agreement.
Daniel continued telling,
"It was very interesting and even a bit strange to see your actor, Teal'c. His name is Christopher Judge. He has been a football player and his laugh is so infectious. He's a funny guy."
Teal'c raised an eyebrow and shook his head lightly.
"What about Junior?" Jack asked.
"No symbiont, Jack. They are nothing more than imagination there."
"Cool."
"What about me?" Sam inquired curiously and Daniel rethought what he had read about her. Frowning he rubbed the root of his nose and he could feel that Jack was observing him.
"You... no! Actually she is named Amanda Tapping. She's an actress for TV and stage, a director, and a producer. Oh, and she's married and has a daughter." he explained.
"Wow.", Sam said smiling. Apparently she quite liked that idea.
"Let's talk about you, Jack." Daniel said with a big grin, "Richard Dean Anderson."
"Cool name."
"Yeah, well. I prefer Jack O'Neill, but that doesn't matter. Anyway, you've had big success with a TV-show called MacGyver and you're kind of the face of Stargate. Additionally, you do also produce the show."
Jack did not comment on that any further, but just nodded and thoughtfully asked,
"And you, Daniel?"
"Oh, that actually was the biggest surprise for me. Just imagine: I've portrayed Hamlet! Well of course it hasn't been me, but Michael Shanks. Yet anyway, isn't that just fanta..."
Jack interrupted him,
"You've been Shakespeare's Hamlet?"
"No, Jack. Oscar Wilde's Hamlet." Daniel said and rolled his eyes.
Sam and Teal'c exchanged amused glances and Daniel continued enthusiastically,
"Moreover he has three children and in his spare time he loves playing ice hockey."
"Ice hockey?" three different voices repeated.
Daniel leaned back very satisfied and listened to the others' discussions: How similar would they and the actors be and in how far could that be an adequate job for them? Would they ever be able to do without the Stargate? Would the world be a better place if everything – especially the Goa'uld – were pure imagination?
Sometime Teal'c asked,
"And people do really watch that series, DanielJackson?"
"Oh yes. The fan community is huge. There are quite a few seasons and even conventions take place. The fans make collages and videos; they discuss on the internet and analyze each new episode. And...They even write stories about us."
"Pardon? Stories?" Jack cried in astonishment.
"Yes, fan fiction. I've read some of them. Whole platforms for them do exist on the internet."
With an expectant expression Sam said,
"Why do I have the strange feeling, that those stories do consist of much more than just our missions, Daniel?"
Surprisingly it was Jack, who answered that question,
"It's his expression. Daniel always looks and grins like this, when he still has information up his sleeve which probably will come as a real bombshell."
Daniel had a quick and astonished glance at Jack, who just shrugged his shoulders and cocked his head.
Daniel frowned and came back to the real topic,
"Indeed most stories are supposed to pair us off with each other or otherwise." Daniel grinned at his company.
"Lemme guess, Daniel. In many stories Carter and I are a couple!" Jack asked and when Daniel nodded, Sam mumbled,
"Why doesn't that surprise me?"
"Indeed." Teal'c said and Daniel continued telling,
"Yes, there are all thinkable variants on both of you: in love, engaged, married and probably a lot more. Sometimes you also have a crush on Teal'c or on me, Sam."
"Nothing I couldn't live with." she grinned.
"Thanks, Sam. So, you both" Daniel waved with his hands from Sam to Jack, "seem to be the unchallenged favorite couple. However, there are still two further...uhm...let's call them combinations, which are really competitive. At first it's your turn again, Sam."
She gestured capitulation, but nevertheless continued smiling.
"By many people you are seen very happy with..." Daniel paused "...Janet."
For a moment it was absolutely silent, then Teal'c stressed,
"Dr. Fraiser."
Sam turned red and Jack grinned,
"Hell, Carter. That's pretty steep! So you mess around with our doc. Who would have thought that?"
"Sir!" Sam cried outraged, "I definitely do not mess around, as you like to call it, with Jan...Dr. Fraiser."
"Hee, hee, 't was just a joke, Carter." Jack appeased.
Sam seemed to collect herself and then said smiling,
"Yeah, Sir. I know. Sorry. But Daniel, now I'm dying to get to know about the last couple you wanna tell us about."
Daniel looked from Sam to Jack, straight into his eyes and said,
"It's about you once more, Jack."
"As long as General Hammond isn't the dream of my sleepless nights." Jack joked and took a drink from his bottle of beer.
"No, Jack. It's me.", Daniel said as neutral as possible, yet he didn't let Jack out of his sight, who was just swallowing the wrong way, coughing and struggling for air. Sam patted him on the back.
"You OK, Sir?"
"Bathroom.", Jack uttered with difficulty, stood up and disappeared quite quickly and still coughing.
"Ups.", Sam said, "Apparently that information indeed came as a real bombshell."
When Jack came back a little later, Daniel looked him in the eye concerned.
"Are you all right, Jack?"
Jack put the by now empty plates into the sink and started to serve the dessert. In the meantime he said,
"Jep, everything's fine. I've just choked and wanted to spare you the sight of me arranging myself again."
Daniel wondered, if Jack truly just had to rearrange his air passages, or if he maybe just had needed a few minutes to sort his thoughts and emotions.
Yet, he seemed to have everything under control again, and between two spoons of ice-cream he grinned,
"For God's sake, Daniel, and people do really pair off the both of us? Fancy that: if we spent, apart from our missions and the work in the SGC, our whole free time together: the discussions would be endless and probably you would bore me with your lectures just before breakfast on a regular basis."
Daniel thought that this sentence just sounded as if Jack had constructed it rather carefully in his short absence.
"Oh yes. That would of course be terrible." he said, but smiled at Jack, who apparently tried to avoid his gaze.
For a while the four of them chatted around about everything you can think of, but then, after stifling a yawn and having a quick look at her watch, Sam finally said,
"I'll better drive home now. It's Saturday tomorrow; so Cassie and I will play a game of chess. And if I fall asleep during it, I'll probably have no chance of winning."
Daniel looked at Sam baffled,
"Well, tell me: is Cassie already..." he caught Sam's insistent glance, 'back from her school trip' he had actually wanted to ask. Sam has told him something about it, hasn't she! Yet right now she looked so strange, that he just decided to switch his words into:
"...is she already so good at chess, that she could defeat even you?"
Daniel was thinking quite amused that perhaps he should talk about Janet with Sam another time, when she said relieved,
"Yeah, she gets better every week. I really have to be on my guard. What is it guys? Can I give somebody a ride? Daniel, Teal'c?"
Teal'c accepted the offer with pleasure, but Daniel answered in the negative,
"No, Sam. Thanks. But I think I will help the Colonel tidying up, so that he won't have to chisel the rests of the lasagna from the plates in a few months."
In the meantime they all had arrived at the front door, and Jack made a grimace towards Daniel as he heard that utterance, before Sam and Teal'c said goodbye.
Jack closed the door with a sigh, and then fixed a point somewhere right above Daniel's head.
"Daniel, you really don't have to..."
"Of course I do. It's absolutely no problem. By the way: actually you've also promised me a cup of coffee, if I remember that correctly."
"Oh", Jack said after a short break, "That might be true."
They cleaned up Jack's kitchen nearly in silence. The garbage was disposed of, the dishwasher was filled and everything else was put onto its original place again.
Daniel knew Jack's house very well, because of his many visits there, and he noticed, that they understood each other without words, didn't get in the other's way, that they were quite well used to one another. Like always.
And so it didn't take much time, till they sat at the kitchen table again and directly opposite to each other once more. Yet this time, in front of them stood two cups of hot coffee.
"Can we talk, Jack?" Daniel asked carefully.
"Of course we can. And I think we proved it very well the whole evening, didn't we."
"Jack!"
"Sorry. So: what do you wanna talk about?"
Actually Daniel wanted to think of an appropriate wording, but for some strange reason his mouth was much faster than his brain.
"About us. Probably."
A quick glance of Jack.
"Probably?" he repeated mockingly.
Daniel shortly screwed up his eyes, before he said,
"I'd like to know why you just did react...so...strange."
"I definitely did not react strange, I've just..."
"Jack, you fled completely shocked!"
"That's just your imagination."
With one hand Jack was clutching his cup, the other one, clenched to a fist, and was lying next to it on the table.
"Really? That's my imagination? Well then, all right. If that's the case, then of course it is also wrong that recently you..." Daniel waved his hand through the air, looking for the right words. "...pay much more attention to me than usually. The hugs, that do always last a few seconds too long, all the glances you give me when you feel unwatched, the exact observing and registration of things concerning me, which actually is not like you. Nothing more than pure imagination. And the fact that I like it very much, I do probably also just imagine."
Actually Daniel hadn't planned to blurt it out that way; however, he had talked himself into a rage. He wasn't able to understand why Jack made it so difficult for the both of them, why he kept silent instead of seeking the dialogue.
"Well, I guess, I can go now." Daniel said and stood up energetically.
"Daniel." Jack looked up and straight into Daniel's eyes. "Please stay."
His voice was rather quiet.
Daniel sighed and sat down again. Above the table he took hold of Jack's hand and said insistently,
"Then please, after all, talk to me, Jack."
"Damn, Daniel! There is nothing left to talk about, is there! The last secret, you didn't know about, is out now. What else do you want me to say? You know that I...care about you. Much more than I'm supposed to."
Jack looked at Daniel challenging,
"And now you can explain to me in many words, why it doesn't work, that you're my best friend and that that will never change. And then in fact our friendship can never be the same again, just because now you know."
Jack had jumped up and had folded his arms. Daniel began to think that Jack must have missed an important sentence. And the fact that I like it very much, I do probably also just imagine. Jack just continued talking,
"You could never again hug me without questioning my motives, if we've just survived on a mission. You would feel uneasy about any of my glances at you, and in the evenings you could never again eat, watch TV, play chess or do anything else with me without fearing that I eventually could fall all over you."
Daniel just thought that he probably should think twice, before he ever again asked Jack to talk. However, actually Jack's considerations moved and honored him.
He had thought things through that much and Jack, who actually was so spontaneous, did not do that, if it would not be about anything that really meant something to him.
Daniel especially appreciated that Jack was that open and honest.
Although it fitted quite well to him, that he now, once he had started talking, got everything off his chest, it probably was not at all easy for him.
And nevertheless Daniel had to grin when he said in passing,
"Actually falling all over me sounds rather nice."
But Jack seemed again not to understand the words.
"And despite the fact, that I didn't want to put our friendship at stake, it's not such a big advantage that I'm a Colonel of the US Air Force and that we work togeth..."
Suddenly Jack faltered. He looked at Daniel with his eyes wide open.
"Just a sec. What have you just been saying? Sounds rather nice...But Daniel...I...Why?...?"
Totally confused Jack stared at Daniel.
"Jack. Last night, when I read all those stories about us, many things became quite clear to me. I'm actually wondering how I could have been that blind. How I couldn't have noticed and classified your behavior towards me much earlier. And suddenly I understood that strange feeling I'm carrying with me for such a long time. There has always been something missing. And now I know that it must have been you."
"Oh.", said Jack and made one step towards Daniel. He seemed to be indecisive about his next deeds or words.
Yet, finally, he obviously made a decision, as he said with the hint of a grin on his lips,
"You're such a damn idiot, Daniel! Why the hell didn't you say a word, when you came back from that fucking parallel universe this morning?"
Daniel got up and moved nearer to Jack.
"Actually, my impression is that you have been the one who made me wait weeks or maybe even month..."
"About a year, I think." Jack murmured frowning.
Daniel put his hands on Jack's shoulders. He wanted to hug him, but Jack stopped him. He looked straight into his eyes and said,
"Daniel, are you aware of what you're getting involved in here? It will be complicated and it'll mean absolute secrecy. Forever in fact, since I don't want... a short affair or something like that, but you. Completely, on the whole and only you! And if..."
"Jack!" Daniel interrupted him, "Just shut up! For today we've covered even my need for talking. I think I know what is a great deal better now, since there is as well only one thing I want: You!"
Warm brown eyes looked at Daniel. Dearly and full of desire. Daniel knew all kinds of glances from those eyes, but this was better than anything he has seen so far. For a moment it just felt as if time had stopped.
Daniel bent forward a bit, just in the same moment as Jack, and then – finally – their lips met for a first, careful kiss.
Daniel stood there with his eyes closed and his hand still on Jack's shoulders.
He was nibbling at Jack's lower lip now and bridged the last few centimeters, which still divided their bodies.
Jack wrapped his arms around Daniel, laid one hand on his back warmly and strongly, and stroked up and down on it. His other hand he ran over the hairline in Daniel's neck.
Daniel put one hand on Jack's cheek and ran his thumb over his lips, just to seal them with another kiss, which made Jack sigh throatily.
Pleasant shivers rushed through Daniel's body, when Jack allowed his hands to slip under Daniel's shirt, and Daniel followed the other man's lead by drawing little circles with his fingertips on Jack's naked back.
Daniel was not able to tell for how long they have stood in the kitchen closely embraced, and he began noticing his environment again just when he bumped against the kitchen table not quite gentle.
Despite his assumptions they obviously have not remained on the spot so attached.
One of the coffee cups fell over, rolled over the table and ended up on the floor, where it smashed into thousands of cullet.
Jack made a little step backwards and looked at Daniel out of breath. Wondering he glanced at the cullet and whispered,
"Maybe we should relocate that...us..." he made a gesture enclosing himself and Daniel, "...out of the kitchen before we wreck everything in here."
"Oh yes" Daniel replied grinning, "otherwise it wouldn't have been any use that I stayed for tidying up."
Jack smiled at Daniel, took his hand and interlaced their fingers to kiss them very gently.
He put his hands on Daniel's hips and kindly moved him out of the kitchen.
Halfway towards the bedroom, Daniel turned around in Jack's arms to make their lips meet once more, to look at him, to understand that it really was his Jack he could embrace, snuggle, kiss and feel.
"Jack", he whispered and the only answer was a murmured, "Daniel", before Jack, with a well-aimed kick, closed the bedroom door behind them.