A/N: This is not slash, just so you know.I was in a very angsty mood and this just came to me, so please tell me whatcha think.
"It's over Daniel"
The marine's stopped outside Colonel O'Neill's office door.
"You can't mean that." Daniel sounded stunned.
The marine's looked at each other. Daniel sounded like he was being broke up with. But then, for Daniel that wasn't unusual. It did however, mean something big was going on. Was Colonel O'Neill breaking up SG-1?
"Actually, I do." Jack's tone was outwardly casual but even the marine's caught the off-tone of something -anger, pain, regret- that belied his nonchalance.
"So this, this 'thing' that's been going on…that's just…"
"Over" Jack supplied.
"I don't believe it."
Okay, that had sounded weird. Man, a guy could get the wrong idea eavesdropping around here if he didn't know better. But of course they did. And there wasn't a damn thing that would convince them that there was anything about Jack O'Neill or even the geek Daniel Jackson that could be construed in such a way that…
"So all the looks, touches, moments…all the waiting for things to change someday. That was all nothing."
"Yup" Jack said firmly.
"I wish I could give up that easily."
"Daniel, right now, so do I."
The Marinesknew this wasn't what it sounded like.
"Just tell me this Jack. What happens years from now, when the jobs over, and the rules, regulations and opinions of people you don't give a damn about are out of the way." Daniel raised his voice. "'What happens when you find yourself all alone with nothing but the memories of something you could have had."
"Daniel" Jack snapped. "Leave me the hell alone."
A silence followed in which neither of them spoke.
"All right" Daniel finally said resignedly. "I just wanted you to know what you're giving up."
Jack snorted. "After all this time, I think I have a pretty fair idea."
"Are you going to tell her?" Daniel asked.
The Marine's looked at each other again.
"She already knows." Jack told him.
The Marine's breathed a mutual sigh of relief. Not that they'd had any doubt, but it had sounded…
"She's the one who told me." Jack finished.
"I don't believe it." Daniel said for the second time in as many minutes.
Jack handed Daniel a slip of paper. "Believe it." and he sat back in his chair behind the desk.
Daniel read….
Dear Colonel,
I know this isn't the way you're supposed to admit you love someone. In a letter saying it's over. You're supposed to have a beginning before you have an end. But sometimes I think we have had something, in our own way. The times when you've held me when I was hurt or afraid and I never wanted you to let me go. I think I should be more careful what I write here. I'm out of line just writing this, and it seems so arrogant to write a Dear John to someone you were never even with. But we have had our times together, and I feel certain you'll understand what I'm talking about. I can't keep things the way they are, the way they have been. I've been in this purgatory too long. And while there have been many times I never wanted it to end, it's time. From now on there's nothing. Nothing but a few select memories I'd be insane to think I could forget.
Always,
Sam
The Marine's sighed again, but this time it wasn't with relief.
Daniel looked up from the letter, not knowing what to say. "I'm sorry" he apologized.
"Sure" Jack said.
"You could have told me you know."
"Whatever." Jack's tone was clipped.
"Jack" Daniel knew he needed to say something more…he just didn't know what.
"What?" Jack asked tersely.
So Daniel didn't say anything. He just set the letter on the table and started in the direction of the door, leaving his friend sitting in the chair with an expression of the desolation that he wouldn't admit to anyone. "Maybe she'll change her mind."
"Yeah" Jack replied. But it was obvious he didn't believe it. And when Daniel thought of how much it must have taken Sam to write that letter…the chances that she'd go back on it…
Daniel opened his mouth once, but there was nothing left to say, so he opened the door instead and left silently. He stepped out into the hall and headed back toward his lab, noticing nothing or no one along the way, with the exception of two marines walking ahead of him. As he walked he noticed their unusually hangdog expressions, and wondered in the back of his mind, if this sense of loss wasn't somehow spreading.