Title: Strain
Author: Sokerchick
Season: Before Daniel goes glowy probably around season 4
Spoilers: Cold Lazarus, teenie tiny one for Point of No Return
Category: Romance/Humor
Summary: Jack hurts himself doing some extracurricular activities.
Content Warnings: Implied sexual situation
Disclaimer: Don't own 'em, so don't sue please.
Author's Notes: Big thanks to Allie for the beta! She's my hero!
Colonel Jack O'Neill hobbled into the infirmary at eight o'clock on Monday morning. "Heya Doc."
"Colonel," replied Janet amiably. "What can I do for you this morning?"
"Well, umm…" Jack stuttered. "I pulled a muscle in my back this weekend."
"Mhmm." The petite doctor was not making this easy on her patient.
"Well I was wondering if you could give me some Tylenol or something." He continued silently wishing for something a lot stronger. He had really wrenched his back.
"I see. And how, may I ask did you manage to pull your muscles." Observant as ever of her patients Janet did not miss the scarlet coloring that crept up into O'Neill's neck.
"Heavy lifting." He mumbled in return.
"Fine Colonel. I'll get you something for it. I will also bring you a heating pad. I expect you to sit in your office and heat it 20 minutes on 20 minutes off for the next few hours. Now wait right here."
Reluctantly Jack eased himself up onto the bed. When the doctor returned he smiled. "Thanks Doc." Taking the items from her proffered hand. "I don't have to come back later do I? For the pre-mission medical? I mean I've already been here once today. There's no reason to see me again later. Right?"
"No Colonel. There is no reason to see you later. There is also no reason to see your team later. I can not in good conscience send you out into the field at less than one hundred percent."
"Come on Doc. It won't be that bad. I just have to sit around and baby-sit Daniel while he looks at some rocks. I swear I'll let Teal'c do the perimeter checks and everything. I can just sit there and watch Daniel look at his rocks."
"And what do you think sleeping on the ground will do to your back? Nothing good, I'll tell you that right now. No. I'm sorry Colonel. You'll just have to finish the paperwork that I'm sure is sitting on your desk piling up as we speak." Jack mumbled something unintelligible under his breath. "What was that Sir?"
"Nothing Doc."
"Did I hear the words power monger? Colonel, it would do to recall that while you may outrank me, I hold the needles and can dictate whether you get your inoculations in your arm or in other, more cushy locations."
The big bad Colonel looked mightily frightened and conceded immediately. "Yes Ma'am. I'll go write 'there is no such thing as a power monger' a hundred times if it makes you feel any better and will keep your needles out of my six." A glint of humor was reflected in the eyes of both officers as they bantered back and fourth. Both were well used to this routine now.
Jack slid off the bed and winced to which Janet replied, "Go. Heat it. It'll inform the General that you will be in your office and have him reschedule the mission."
"Thanks Doc." With that the injured Colonel hobbled once more out of the infirmary and towards his office.
Just as Jack clicked on the heating pad and slid into his chair Daniel came into his office. "Hey Dannyboy."
"Hey Jack. Are you OK? The General said that we would be postponing the mission to P5G-282 because you were hurt."
"Nothing big Daniel. Just pulled a muscle doing some lifting this weekend."
"Oh, okay. Just wanted to make sure that it wasn't anything serious."
"Nope. Nothing a little heat and rest won't fix up right away." He replied waving the now warm heating pad in the air.
"Alright. Well you better get to that mess" Jackson said indicating the papers which were supposed to be in the inbox, but which seemed to have escaped their confines and spread themselves over the whole of Jack's desk.
"Yeah. I guess I'll finally have to do the report on M62-135."
"Jack. That was due last week! We went on the mission two and a half weeks ago."
"Well then I better get cracking." Jack turned to the monitor of the computer half buried under more of his paperwork and set himself to composing his latest overdue report.
Sam, Daniel and Teal'c sat at the table eyeing their respective lunches.
"Pork."
"Beef."
"Macaroni and Cheese."
Bravely the three each took a bite. Pulling a face Daniel conceded. "I think Sam's right its macaroni."
"Indeed. I too believe this meal to be noodles covered in cheese. Why is it brown in color?"
Sam frowned. "Don't ask." She pushed her laden plate away in favor of the banana and Jell-O she had also taken from the lunch line. "at least we know the Jell-O won't kill us. Otherwise the Colonel would have been dead years ago."
"Indeed." Intoned Teal'c. "Where is O'Neill? I have not seen him exit his office in many hours."
Daniel grinned in return. "He's under house arrest."
Teal'c raised an eyebrow. "Has his home done something wrong?"
"No." Sam smiled. "He's required to stay in his office. Apparently the General finally caught up with him and decided that since we can't go on our mission for a few days that this would be the perfect time for the Colonel to catch up on his paperwork. He's not allowed to leave today until he gets most of it turned in."
Daniel continued the conversation. "Yeah. And he's been rushing to get out of the mountain lately so I would assume that he's working through lunch or something like that."
"I had noticed that too. Any particular reason anyone know about?" inquired Sam.
"I do not know of the reason for his speedy exit." Stated Teal'c succinctly
"Oh well. Maybe we could bring him a pizza this evening and see if we can get any information from him." Daniel said thoughtfully.
"Sounds like a plan."
"I too concur with this course of action."
"Cool. We can leave the base at around six. I can drive you if you want Teal'c."
"That would be most helpful DanielJackson. I shall call the Pizzadeliveryman and inform him of our intentions so that we may collect our food items from him at the appropriate time."
Sam grinned at her alien friend. "Sounds good Teal'c just don't threaten him this time. The poor kid was scared witless by the time I took the phone from you last time."
"Indeed MajorCarter as O'Neill would have said he was witless to begin with and could not seem to correctly recite a simple request for pizza correctly."
The trio arrived at Jack's house to find a old blue car sitting in the driveway. The car looked like it had seen better days. Shrugging and not willing to retreat from their information gathering mission so readily, the team continued toward the door.
Knocking, the team waited patiently on the front porch of their commanders home. The door opened but instead of finding their silver haired friend they were confronted by a blonde woman who Daniel immediately recognized despite the fact that it had been more than two years since he had last saw her. "Sara. Hi. I'm Daniel. I don't know if you remember me. I was at the hospital with Jack a few years ago. I work with him. I hope we didn't interrupt anything. We brought pizza." He held up the boxes in his hands as if to verify the last of his rapid fire statements.
"Oh Daniel!" She glanced back to the interior of the home. "No, no you weren't interrupting anything. Come in come in. You're Sam and… Murray?" She questioned hesitantly. At nods from the appropriate team members she continued. "Jack talks about you all of the time. I've been dying to meet you all."
A voice from within called out as the trio entered the foyer. "Sara who is it?"
"Its Daniel and Sam and Murray"
"WHAT?" Jack tried to get up off of the sofa where he had been laying and his back protested the action. "Shit." He muttered.
He managed to gain his feet just as the small group entered his family room. "Hey guys. Whatcha doing?" He eyed his friends warily.
"We brought pizza, Sir." His second responded.
"I figured that it would work out because we had just been discussing what to order for dinner." Sara said by way of explanation for allowing the group in.
"We brought your favorite Sir."
Sara smiled. "Pineapple"
"Yes, Ma'am"
"Call me Sara please. I insist."
"No problem, Ma'am." Sam replied to Sara's grin.
Jack tried to act nonchalant about the situation. "So kids. You going to open the pizza or are we just going to wait till I waste away." He smirked as he slowly lowered himself onto the corner seat of the sofa, but no one missed the way it turned into a grimace.
Sara deftly ignored it as she sat directly next to him under his arm which rested on the back of the sofa. She gently reached over and pinched his side. "I think it might take a little more than five minutes for you to waste away."
Daniel laughed openly at Jack's obvious discomfort at the show of affection. Sam giggled under her breath and Teal'c performed a customary lift of the eyebrow. While Jack merely grumbled under his breath about no giggling and slowly reached for a piece of pineapple pizza. "Hey Danny go get me a beer. And Sara would like…" He glanced at the woman at his side, "a glass of red wine. Its up in the cupboard."
After asking the others about their drinks of choice Daniel, with the help of Teal'c handed the correct beverages to the right people.
The small group sat around and talked for some time. Until finally the topic of the couple on the couch came up. It was Daniel who was brave enough to bring it up. "So. Er… Um…" He stammered. "When did you two. You know… Get back together."
Jack Sighed and Sara replied. "Actually. We got back together because of my car."
Daniel looked incredulous. "Your CAR?"
Jack smiled at the memory. "Ya. A couple of weeks ago Sara's car broke down. She tried calling Mike, her father" he clarified, "but he wasn't around. She didn't have time to fix it because she was already running late to work. So she gave me a call. I was just leaving for the mountain anyway so I drove by and picked her up. She doesn't live that far from here. I dropped her off at work and agreed to pick her up in the evening."
"Was that the day you were late for the briefing?" Sam interjected.
Daniel smiled. "The General was soooo mad at you." He laughed at the memory of the briefing. It was just a cursory meeting with the Tok'ra to catch up on any new information but Hammond was sure that the wayward Colonel was absent just to annoy him. "I didn't think anyone could turn that red. We could hear him bawling you out through the glass between his office and the briefing room." Sam joined in Daniel's laughing.
Sara picked up recounting the story. "That's Jack for you. The ability to piss off anyone of significantly higher rank than him in about three seconds flat." She smiled up at the man who's arm had drifted from the top of the sofa to down around her shoulders. "Well anyway, after he picked me up we decided to go out for dinner. We were both hungry, and from there it just sort of…" Her hand waved in the air in a familiar gesture that the team usually saw from their CO.
"Well kids its time I get to bed." Jack said as he pulled himself to his feet.
"Get to bed?" Daniel repeated questioningly. Jack and Sara's necks both flushed red.
"Yes Daniel. Go to bed. As in sleep" Jack asserted in his most commander-like voice.
Daniel didn't think that he pulled it off to well with his collar still crimson, but conceded not to torment his friend to much. "G'night Jack. Sara. Have a nice night." He grinned at this last comment.
The trio trooped out of the door and towards their cars. Teal'c would probably stay at Daniel's to save the younger man the drive to the mountain at the late hour.
As the group stepped off the porch, though, Daniel turned to his companions and grinned knowingly. "Heavy lifting?"
Teal'c lifted his eyebrow, and Sam smirked in return, "I didn't think she looked that heavy."