Disclaimer: Don't own 'em...

Warnings: Adult themes, language.

Author's Note:

First of all - this is couple of years old. I pulled it off another site where it had died a slow painful neglected death - and decided to put it on here to see if it would get any more attention than it did over there. I did NOT edit it or change it - so if it's out of date or needs updating or whatever - lemme know - and I apologize in advance.

Other than that - here are the original notes for the story.

This takes place just before the season 9 opener "Avalon part 1". I did take a small liberty with the time line, as Daniel's birthday is July 8th, and the episode aired on July 15th. If the extra three week time period mentioned before Daniel is scheduled to leave for Atlantis makes this AU, then so be it. :)

Also, this started out as a songfic, but the song I originally chose did not fit with the time frame. I did have a specific song in mind while I was writing it, but since it was not my original choice, I debated whether or not to include the title in the story, and ultimately chose not to.

Some Things Are Meant to Be.

Jack pulled his truck into Daniel's driveway and turned off the motor. He listened to the rest of the song on his new 5th generation iPod while he tried to decide if he should bring the second package with him. He'd been debating whether or not to give the gift to Daniel since he'd thought of it. Maybe it was too personal. Maybe it was too sappy. Maybe it would say too much about how he really felt about Daniel.

The song finished and Jack chickened out.

"He'll know..." he thought to himself. "If I give this to him, he'll read between the lines and he'll know, and I don't know if I'm ready for him to know or not."

He put the larger gift bag in the back seat of the truck and opened the driver's side door. He stopped the song on the iPod, turned it off, and tucked it away in the glove box. He grabbed the smaller gift bag, the six pack of Guinness, the movies he'd rented, and the bag from Daniel's favorite Thai restaurant and shut the truck door behind him. He was pretty sure Daniel would like the iPod. It was quite an upgrade from the one Daniel had lost on the last offworld mission. Cassandra had bought Daniel the old one for Christmas the year before last and it was only a 10 GB. This one was brand new – released at the end of June, had a color screen, and was a 60GB. Jack had been so impressed with it, he'd bought himself one.

Since the defeat of the replicators and the majority of the Goa'uld, The SGC had gotten back to doing what they'd started doing in the beginning, exploration, observation and first contact with new cultures. Daniel was back in his element and loving it. He'd gotten so involved and excited with studying the ruins and scrolls left behind by some ancient race on the last planet, Carter and Teal'c had to practically drag him home. Just like the old days. Which was odd because the gang wasn't even really together anymore.

Teal'c was spending most of his time on Dakara, Carter had transferred to area 51, and Daniel was preparing to head off to Atlantis. However, Carter and Teal'c had both come back for Daniel's Birthday party. They had all planned on being there, knowing it might be the last time they were all together for quite some time. Carter and Teal'c had been in Daniel's office when he got the call that SG-16 had found some ruins and scrolls that could be important. They seemed to talk about the ancients and ascended beings but the linguist assigned to the team was having a hard time with the translations. General Landry was re-assigning SG-16 to help with rebuilding on Dakara, and help keep the peace while Teal'c was away. Carter and Teal'c had immediately agreed to accompany Daniel to PK3- 649, to help the other linguist retrieve as many of the scrolls as possible and take a look at the ruins.

Daniel had spent the whole day 'playing with rocks and digging in the dirt' as Jack would have said. Carter and Teal'c had taken great joy out of watching him, and Carter had loved relating that story to Jack. Seeing Daniel in his element reminded her of the old days and made her smile, and she knew Jack would appreciate it as much as she and Teal'c had. Unfortunately for Daniel in his haste to pack his things when they had to go, his old iPod had been misplaced or slipped out of his pack.

Jack knew those missions were numbered. The oversight committee was already on his ass about the budget for the SGC. They seemed to think that with the defeat of the Goa'uld there were no more threats out there in the vast universe, and therefore no more need for securing advanced technologies and weapons. Meaning, scale back the SGC. Even the new director of Homeworld Security, who was HIM, couldn't seem to convince them otherwise. Sooner or later it would come to a head and he was afraid that the SGC's days of 'meet and greet' would come to an end.

Jack would do what he could but he lacked Daniel's finesse with 'making nice with the natives', i.e. the oversight committee. In the meantime he'd gotten a new leader assigned to head SG-1....., whoever they may be.....(what Mitchell didn't know wouldn't hurt him, right? Right.) Jack hoped that the other SG teams would see the reinstatement of a new flagship team as a good sign to keep right on doing what they were good at. He also hoped that they wouldn't guess that many of the teams would probably be disbanded soon and re-assigned outside the SGC. For now that's all he could do, fight the good fight in Washington, and wait for the hammer to fall, but first he was going to make a little trip to Colorado Springs.

He'd made sure to threaten the rest of SG-1 with demotions if any of them tried to get Daniel a replacement for the lost iPod. Daniel's birthday had been only a couple days away when Carter had called, and he already had his flight plan booked. He had planned on surprising Daniel by showing up at the party. Teal'c and Carter were the only ones that knew he was coming. After Carter called he took back the singing fish gag gift and got him the new iPod to instead. He was stoked to be going home, and to get a little vacation and spend time with Daniel before he left for Atlantis as well. Then, as per usual, something had come up and he'd had to miss the birthday party. He just hoped Daniel hadn't gone out and bought a replacement himself yet.

Daniel had no idea Jack was in town, so Jack's new plan was to surprise him with his belated birthday present, plus dinner and movies to boot. They hadn't been able to hang out like they used to since Jack had taken the job in D.C., and now Daniel was leaving. He missed the hanging out. He missed Daniel. A lot more than he was supposed to. So he'd taken 2 weeks off to come home and intended to spend as much of it hanging out with his best friend as he could without making a nuisance of himself. Course he had to do some work while he was there, check on the SGC and check up on the new General. Make nice with the Jaffa representatives from Dakara. Paperwork, paperwork and more paperwork, which he loved dearly, not! But he'd have a lot of free time too, and he'd checked with Landry before he submitted his proposal for vacation/work time and made sure that Hank heavily suggested that Daniel take some much needed downtime before leaving for Atlantis. Daniel would be working anyway- but hopefully doing a lot of that from home so that Jack could cajole him into hanging out and catching up.

As he walked towards the front door, arms laden with food, drink, entertainment and gifts, Jack heard a familiar song coming from inside the house. It was the one he'd just been listening to in the car. It was also the one the made him think of Daniel, there were a couple actually, well more than a couple. None of the lyrics seemed quite right, but each and every one reminded him a bit of the linguist that had captured his rusty old heart. The funny thing about it was that they'd all been on Daniel's playlist, the one he'd had on his old iPod. Jack had Carter hack into Daniel's computer at work and download the playlist onto the new iPods when he stopped at the SGC this morning. He'd gotten to see both Carter and Teal'c before they headed back to their respected new homes away from home so it was gearing up to be a great day. Coordinating his schedules with theirs after he'd had to miss his flight the day before, just so he could have carter figure out the playlist thing, had taken some doing. He hoped Daniel appreciated it, but then again, this was Daniel, of course he would.

He set down his armload of goodies on the doorstep and hazarded a peak through the living room window to see what Danny boy was up to. He had been special ops and was not above the occasional peeping tom thing. It was then that he realized that the familiar strains were not coming from a radio but from the piano. Daniel had a baby grand, and Jack new that he played, but he'd had no idea that he played but classical music, or that he sang so well. He'd heard Daniel hum a tune or two in the years that he'd known him and hadn't thought it was anything special, but then again he himself knew a thing or two about hidden talents and how to disguise them and keep them that way.

Back in the day Jack had been the lead singer in a band he'd formed with his buddies in High School. He still played a mean guitar, when no one else was around. It was something he kept to himself.

He'd had his heart set on a career in music, then his best friend, who had formed the band with him, shared his dream and who had been his first love, had been killed by a drunk driver 3 days after graduation. It sucked the life out of Jack, and crushed his dream, and his love for music for a while. When his dad gently suggested Jack follow his grandfather's footsteps and join the military, Jack had decided a complete 180 was just what he needed. He'd left his love for music behind, hidden in a closet, and became the career Air Force officer he was today. But he still played, when he was alone and there was no one around to hear him. It was his dirty little secret. No one knew. Not really. He'd hinted it to Daniel a few times, but was never sure if Daniel caught his hints or not. He bought Daniel an acoustic guitar last Christmas though, and Daniel didn't seem all that surprised in Jack's choice. He'd even jokingly said he'd have to have Jack teach him how to play it. So maybe he'd been listening to all those hints. Who knew.

Now it seemed he'd stumbled onto a similar secret that Daniel kept from the rest of them. The thought of the similarity made Jack smile. He sighed wishing that there were other ways in which he and Daniel were this much alike. He'd learned to hide a lot of things when he decided to go into the military. His feelings for Daniel were something he was accustomed to hiding and would never dream or expect to be returned. He noticed that Daniel seemed to be singing to the picture on the piano in front of him. He was sure that the picture was Sha're, but he'd thought that Daniel was over that particular loss. He knew that Daniel still loved her, of course he did, that would never change, but the emotion Daniel seemed to be pouring into the song and directing at this picture was raw and powerful. If it were Sha're's picture, Daniel was still holding onto a lot of his love for her, which was odd because he thought that after his ascension Daniel had let go of all the hurt and the grief. Maybe he had, but he just never let go of the love. Maybe that was why he'd never moved on.

Just before Daniel hit the chorus he heard the phone ring. Daniel stopped and reached for the cell phone on the piano, as he did he bumped the picture which fell over and in his haste to catch the falling frame Daniel inadvertently knocked the picture to the floor. He bent to pick it up while chatting with the person on the phone and as he picked it up, the picture was turned towards the front window and Jack had a clear view of it. It was him. Not Sha're, not some other girl, him, Jack, Daniel had been singing this song, the one that reminded Jack of Daniel, to HIM. Did this mean what he thought it meant? What else could it mean?

Jack did a double take and turned away from the window, staggering back towards the front door. Maybe he was wrong, maybe he'd misread the emotion he'd seen on Daniel's face and heard in his voice. He took another quick peek to see if Daniel were still in the living room. He was, he had the picture in his hands and was no longer talking on the phone. There was no mistaking the look on Daniel's face as he stared at the picture and caressed the image with his thumb. Jack couldn't help thinking 'Holy Hannah', to borrow a phrase from Carter. He stood there dumbstruck and breathless, unable to tear his eyes away from Daniel. He watched as Daniel flipped open his cell and began to dial, then he finally turned away. He decided that the second gift, the one he'd left in the truck was appropriate after all and was halfway to the truck when he realized his phone was ringing in his pocket. When he checked the caller ID it was Daniel.... oh boy, now what.

"O'Neill", he answered with military professionalism.

"Jack,..... "

"Daniel.......?"

"Sorry, I must have dialed the wrong number. I didn't interrupt you did I?" he heard Daniel ask.

"Nice cover, you're delivery needs work though." Jack thought to himself and laughed.

"Jeez Daniel, no you didn't interrupt, besides which I always have time for you, you know that. Weren't you supposed to call me back anyway? You couldn't talk when I phoned you yesterday to wish you happy birthday. How'd it go?" Jack hoped he sounded nonchalant as he grabbed the bag and did his best to shut the truck door silently.

"Oh well you know, it was a birthday party, it went fine, we had fun. Well, as much fun as we could with you and Janet and Cassie missing. It was just the three of us you know, me and Sam and Teal'c. Anyway, I'll let you go and I'll call you back later on tonight when I know you'll be home."

"You mean at my apartment," Jack stated. "DC isn't home, it never will be."

"Yah, I know what you mean. Talk to you later Jack."

"Yah sure you betcha Danny boy." Jack said as he hung up "sooner than you think."

As he got back to the front door Jack heard the piano melody start again. "Perfect," he thought as he used his key to silently gain entrance into the foyer. He stole into the kitchen leaving his barrage of bags on the table and then snuck into the living room behind Daniel, grateful for the duel entrances to the kitchen. He picked up the acoustic guitar from the stand beside him, he'd bought it for Daniel last Christmas on a whim, and Joined in just in time for the chorus.

Naturally Daniel jumped out of his skin and quit playing, turning around fully shocked, but Jack kept going, urging Daniel to jump back in, which he did when the shock started to reside. They sounded great together. Jack was elated and a bit shocked himself, he was also having the time of his life and wishing they had discovered this similarity a long time ago. The last time he had felt this free and alive through pure enjoyment of playing and singing, he'd been eighteen. As his eyes locked with Daniel's he felt another kind of pure joy and freedom that he hadn't experienced since he was eighteen. It made him feel like the young man he used to be and he beamed at Daniel in a way he'd rarely allowed himself to in the past.

As they finished the song Daniel just stared at Jack as if he were a figment of his imagination. This made Jack laugh. It was a hearty happy carefree and sincere laugh. The kind he didn't often let go.

"Surprise!" he shrugged while Daniel continued staring at him slack jawed. "I brought goodies. Come, eat, drink, be merry. There's presents too!"
This woke Daniel up immediately. "Presents? I like presents. Hey wait! How'd you? I mean weren't you just....? I just talked to you in DC. Did you beam here or something?"

"No...." Jack started, laughing again and shooting Daniel another huge smile. "You talked to me on my cell phone, which I was on... in your driveway. I missed your birthday. I was supposed to be here yesterday, but I couldn't get away. However, I am here now, and I'll be here for a 2 weeks for a little work and a little more vacation, and I plan to make an incredible nuisance of myself. In fact, I didn't even bother to stop at the house, just came straight here from the SGC."

"Wow, what's the occasion?"

"Um...., your birthday. Did you miss that part?"

"I mean the vacation part Jack. You never take time off."

"Yes well things in the galaxy have settled down for the time being, and I decided to take advantage of it."

"Okay, I buy that. But why aren't you in Minnesota, fishing?"

"Jeez Daniel, what is this the Spanish inquisition?"

Daniel shot him that look that meant he was being an ass and Jack immediately regretted the words. Remembering what his new found agenda was he quickly turned off the hard assed attitude and turned the charm back on.

"I go fishing all the time. When do we get a chance to hang out, just the two of us? Teal'c has gone to Dakara, and Carter has some new doodad she's ferreting to area 51 to tinker with. I thought you and I could do some catching up. Since you, well you know, descended, ....things have been , ......in a word, chaotic. Besides I'm not that fond of DC, and I missed home, and you're leaving soon and....well.... I missed you.....okay?" he looked up at Daniel hopefully.

"Okay...more than okay actually, just, surprising, that's all. Wow Thai food for me, beer for you, movies..... Indiana Jones huh?" he looked up smiling as Jack shrugged. "So........where's my presents?"

Jack handed Daniel gift numero uno, the iPod, and watched as he unwrapped it with the exuberance of a five year old on Christmas morning.

"Holy!....Jack how did you know........ I lost mine a few days ago! This is the brand new one with the color screen. 60 Gig! Wow I'll never fill that, hey how did you get my playlist on here already?" Daniel rapid fired as he scrolled through the file names on the screen.

"I wasn't in special ops for nuthin' you know."

"Wow this is fantastic Jack, thanks." Daniel was grinning from ear to ear and Jack couldn't resist swinging and arm around his shoulders and giving his best friend a fierce hug. Now he had to bite the bullet and give him gift number two.

"I'll say your welcome now, before you open this," He said handing the bigger bag to Daniel. "It's not much. I just.....well I saw it in a NASA gift shop a while back, and it made me think of you, and the picture.......well........it....um.....Janet took it, at the barbecue that summer, a few days before.......you know. She um....had left her camera at my house. I didn't realize it until months later. I downloaded copies of the pics into my computer before I gave the camera back to Cassie. This one, was my favorite."

As Jack said all this Daniel pulled the stuffed monkey in a space suit out of the bag and shot Jack one of his famous eye rolls. The one where he pretends to be annoyed with you, but really isn't. Then he looked at the framed picture the spacemonkey was holding as Jack explained where it came from. It was a picture of he and Jack together taken just days before Janet died. She had been quite the amateur photographer and had been elected official photographer for all SGC social gatherings. Most of which were barbecues at Jack's house. The picture was beautiful. They both had an arm slung around the other's shoulder and were preparing to pose cheesily for the official Jack/Daniel barbecue picture, but Janet had snapped this picture before the one they thought they were posing for without them knowing she had.

She had caught a moment between them and frozen it in time. There they were smiling at each other shyly with what could only be described as love. Most people would pass this off as a moment of true friendship between two people who have been through more together in a few years than most people share in a lifetime. Jack had looked at that picture and known that the way he was looking at Daniel was more than just the love of friendship and gratitude of having that friend home again. Now he knew that the look on Daniel's face in that photograph was a look of more than just friendship as well. He watched Daniel as stared at the beloved picture that Jack had kept to himself for so long. He saw the tears brim in Daniel's eyes as he realized what Jack giving him this photo, and showing up here unannounced just to spend time with him, really meant.

He finally looked up at Jack, sniffed and blinked back tears that refused to fall. "She really was a great photographer wasn't she? She really knew how to capture a moment..... I miss her. This is......it's.......I'll treasure it, always, for so many reasons."

"Just as I will treasure my copy........spacemonkey." Jack said ruffling Daniel's hair

"Don't be an ASS and ruin the moment Jack." Daniel laughed, reaching out to hug his friend. "Thank you. I'm really glad you're here, and that you are going to be here for a while, instead of fishing."

"Me too." Jack agreed hugging Daniel close to him and savoring the moment for as long as possible. He stepped back a bit, not enough to release Daniel from the embrace, just enough to be able to look him in the eye. What he saw there was all the love he never dared hope to see in those eyes. His throat went dry momentarily and he swallowed hard. He reached up and removed Daniel's glasses, setting them on the kitchen table and returned his hand to cup Daniel's jaw and caress his cheek lightly with his thumb. "Happy Birthday Daniel," he murmured as he leaned in to kiss Daniel softly.

He brushed his lips gently across Daniel's, savoring the moment. He'd meant the kiss to be nice but light and unobtrusive. He wanted to take things slow. He supposed he was still a little in shock and just didn't want to rush things and ruin it. However, Daniel had different ideas, so what was Jack to do but play along.

Daniel quickly hooked his hand around the back of Jack's neck and pulled him back in closer, intensifying the kiss as he did so. Jack felt Daniel's mouth open and then Daniel's tongue swept against his bottom lip. Jack quickly reciprocated and felt and electric shock radiate through his entire body as their tongues touched for the first time. I was kinda like being zatted, only without the pain. Nice.

Before he knew it, he and Daniel were playing a mad game of tonsil hockey and he had maneuvered Daniel backward and was pinning him up against the kitchen counter. Hands were everywhere simultaneously and it was fantastic. The friction going on was making his loose fit jeans seem very tight all of the sudden. He'd managed to get Daniel's shirt untucked and make skin contact. He ran his left hand up the smooth skin of Daniel's back and made room between them so that he could run the fingers on his right hand over Daniel's rock hard abs and up towards his pecks. This elicited a moan from Daniel's throat that sent a delicious shiver up Jack's spine.

Jack gave a yelp of surprise of his own when Daniel grabbed his ass and thrust his groin into Jack's forcefully. He found himself moving backwards and as Daniel swiftly unbuttoned his shirt and ran a thumb over Jacks nipple, a moan escaped his own throat. He thrust his own hips towards Daniel just as his back collided with the fridge, knocking several magnets and pictures to the tiled floor with a clatter.

"Oh gawd Daniel," Jack managed to get out as he came up for air. He ran light kisses along Daniel's jaw and up and down his neck as he unbuttoned Daniel's shirt.

"No..... just formerly ascended. I was never omniscient." Daniel cracked as he kissed his way down to Jack's nipple. This, combined with the already surging adrenaline made them both giddy with laughter. Once they started they found it hard to stop and were soon sitting side by side on the floor with their backs against the fridge.

Jack looked down at the pictures of SG-1, Cassie, Janet, and General Hammond scattered on the floor beside them. He picked up a snapshot of he and Daniel at a rare Thanksgiving they'd all been able to share together at General Hammond's house years before.

"That was a good day too," he said fingering the picture and leaning into Daniel to steal a couple of light kisses, "but this one's better. On the top of my list actually."

"Mine too," Daniel agreed, stealing a few kisses of his own, "in fact, I was hoping that we might continue it in a more comfortable location," he said motioning towards the bedroom with his head.

"Danny, are you sure about that? I mean I don't want to......rush things...or... I mean, if you think we are moving to fast....or....I mean......aw hell, I don't know what I mean."

"Good thing I speak Jack then, because I know exactly what you mean. I quite frankly Jack, I've been waiting a long time for this already, too damn long," Daniel said taking the Thanksgiving photograph from Jack in order to emphasize his point. "At least this long."

"Wow.....really? Wow..."

"You too?"

"Yah, me too. Guess we've wasted a lot of time then huh? Sorry, I just never thought... I mean I thought you were, ya know."

"Me too. I never dreamed you felt the same way. Nor did I think you'd ever act on it if you did, what with the military regulations and all."

"Screw regulations! Besides, they owe me and you both for saving the planet, hell the galaxy, many times over!"

"I know Jack, I'm just saying.... Anyway, if you really want to take things slow, we can. I just feel like we've wasted so much time already, and I don't want to waste a minute of the time that we have left. I'm..... I'm leaving...for another GALAXY in a month Jack, and you are only going to be here for two weeks. I've wanted this for so long, fantasized about it so many times.... I can wait if you aren't ready Jack, but if you are hesitating to take things further physically on my account, don't. I am ready."

Daniel's emotionally charged declaration brought its point home to Jack. He had already known what he wanted and he had been hesitating because he wasn't sure Daniel was ready. Now that he knew what Daniel wanted there was just one more question to ask.

"So, are you saying that you've done this before?"

"Well no, I wasn't saying that, I was simply stating that I was ready, and knew what I wanted. However, if it's important enough for you to ask about, then yes, I have 'done this before'. Granted it was a long time ago, when I was in grad school. But yes I have had a sexual relationship with a man before. Are you trying to tell me that you haven't? Is that what your hesitation is?"

"No!....No, no, that's not it, no. I just, wanted to be sure we both knew what we were doing here before we rushed into anything." Jack explained. "You know I Joined the Air Force when I was 18, they paid for college, but stayed a reservist during college and never looked back. I had to leave some things behind to do that. So I did. I like women, I do. I guess that makes me bi or something, I don't know. All I do know is that my first time, my first love, was.....his name was David. He died. That's why I joined the Air Force."

"I'm sorry Jack. I didn't mean to dredge up painful memories."

"There's nothing to be sorry for Daniel, it happened a long time ago. Look we've both lost people we loved. You lost your parents and Sha're. I lost David and Charlie. Maybe that's why we understand each other so well, I don't know. What I do know is, if I hadn't joined the Air Force, I never would have met you, and I'm damn glad I did. Everything happens for a reason right?"

"Absolutely Jack," Daniel agreed, drawing him in for a long tender spine tingling kiss, then releasing him and brushing his fingers against his cheek lovingly before continuing. "Absolutely. So does this mean we can take this to the bedroom now?"

"Oh hell yes!" Jack shouted, enthusiastically jumping to his feet faster than his knees should have allowed him to. He helped his linguist to his feet and into his embrace for another long warm kiss. "This isn't just a 2 week stand for me you know.."

"It's not?"

"Nope. I've kind of, sort of, grown to..."

"Jack so help me if you say admire......."

"Love you...my impatient Dr. Jackson."

"YOU'RE impatient Dr. Jackson?"

"Yes, MINE. All mine!"

"I kind of like that, MY crotchety old General O'neill."

"Remember to spell that right, it's two...."

"Two L's. Yes I know. You've pointed that out before. But why do you hold up three fingers when you say two L's?"

"To see if anyone notices of course." Jack stated with a smirk.

"Well I did, and you know what else?"

"What?"

"I love you too Jack."

"Good," Jack said as he led his soon to be lover towards the bedroom, stealing kisses as they went.

"Jack..."

"Daniel..."

"Suddenly the Pegasus Galaxy seems.....really far away"

Jack smiled and shook his head. Could Daniel really love him so much that he wanted him, more than he wanted Atlantis?....... Nah.... but still....huh...who'd have thunk it.

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it Danny Boy. If its meant to be, we'll find a way."

"That we will Jack, that we will...."

Finis?

A/N You tell me - should I continue?