"There's something different about this one." Daniel's confused tone made Jonas look up from the book he had just inches in front of his face, wondering which of the many artifacts he was referring to.
"Which one?"
"This one." Jonas noticed Daniel pointing at a strange shaped piece of rock that looked as if it had just been carelessly thrown into the box it was in, and Jonas could almost see the blood boiling in Daniel's veins. He laughed to himself, knowing that the archaeologist would be positively fuming at the careless treatment of what could possibly be a very important piece of a planet's history.
"What's so different about it? Besides the shape, that is." Jonas placed the book down, his curiosity piqued by what could have even Dr. Jackson confused. He reached over to try and get a better look at it, but Daniel reached it before him. He watched the small piece of rock get turned over in every possible way, and laughed again when Daniel shook it to try and figure out what the hell it was. The small piece was even brought up to his face, and was examined with only one eye as Daniel lifted his glasses up to get a literal closer look.
"Don't... Nevermind. Has it got anything on it?" It was turned over again, and Daniel just shrugged as it finally made its way over to Jonas. He held it tightly to try and guess what it was made of, but it only succeeded in cutting into his palm slightly, leaving only pressure marks. He passed it between his hands, surprised at how light it was even for its size, stopping when he noticed a small engraving on one of the sides. He looked up at Daniel, his trademark smile on his face, which made Daniel look confused again.
"What?"
"I think you need new glasses." He grabbed the magnifying glass, swinging it round so both he and Daniel could see what had been found. Daniel slapped his forehead with his palm as he noticed the small markings that were on the side, and Jonas turned it so he could see the engravings on the other three sides.
"It looks like Ancient." The small piece of rock was rotated again, slower this time so they could attempt to memorize the small pieces of writing. Each side was different, showing what both of them guessed to be different words that in turn had different meanings, and Jonas could already see Daniel inching away to grab a book. Jonas smiled to himself as an idea struck him. He reached out quickly, changing the smile for a grimace and grabbing hold of Daniel's wrist whilst gripping the rock tighter.
"What...?!" Alarm shot through Daniel's voice.
"Wait..." Jonas put on a pained voice, then looked Daniel dead in the eye. "... Until morning." The pained voice disappeared, replaced by the smile that was very much at home on Jonas face, and Daniel playfully punched him in the shoulder.
"I'll just take down what the markings are, maybe I'll find it at home." Jonas shook his head as Daniel rushed around the office, scribbling down the markings and shoving a copy into a satchel he had lying around. "There. Done." He noticed Jonas shaking his head, smile in its usual place. "What?"
"You're not seriously going home, just to keep working?" Daniel looked down at the satchel, then guiltily looked over the top of his glasses. Jonas felt his heart skip a beat at the sight, then wondered where on Earth that feeling had come from.
"No, I'm just going to see if I can find what some of these markings are."
"You're going home to work." Jonas sighed, and Daniel couldn't help but feel as though he had disappointed his friend until struck with an idea.
"You could help, if you wanted. You read quicker than I do, might actually get to do home stuff at home for once." This time Jonas really couldn't help the smile creeping back onto his face, and he felt his heart jump into his throat at the prospect of spending some time with Daniel.
"Sure. Headed there now?" Daniel didn't say anything, just turned Jonas around and marched them both out of his office. Daniel was glad he was behind Jonas, the hairs on his arms involuntarily standing on end as he touched the other man's shoulder, a sigh of relief almost escaping his lips as he breathed in the scent that was faintly metallic - the smell of Naquadria that was very uniquely Jonas and seemed to follow him everywhere. Not that Daniel noticed, no, Daniel was an archaeologist and didn't spend most of the spare time he had watching his friend as though he were an ancient civilization. Definitely not.
The journey back to the apartment was just about bordering on uncomfortable, Daniel pulling into his parking space before it crossed that line. He didn't know why, but he was nervous about Jonas being at his apartment, and was silently cursing himself for suggesting it in the first place. Being in the car, in such close proximity hadn't helped either, the small of Naquadria invading his sense of smell so he could barely focus on driving. Daniel really didn't know that Jonas felt just as nervous, not knowing that he himself had a smell that Jonas was trying to get as much of as possible. Daniel didn't know that he had a dusty, earthy smell that reminded Jonas of the libraries on Langara, where he would spend a lot of his time just taking in the smell. Jonas cleared his throat, drawing Daniel out of his reverie and back to the fact that neither of them had moved out of the car.
"You know, I don't know which apartment is yours." Daniel almost hit his forehead again. Of course he didn't know, it wasn't his apartment.
"Oh, yeah. Come on then, we might get this translated tonight, if we're lucky." He paused. "Then again, when are we ever that lucky?"
"Today could be the day, y'know."
"Has anyone ever told you that you're very... 'Up'?" Jonas smiled in response, and Daniel felt his heart rate increase.
"Yeah, actually. You, many times."
"You're starting to sound like Teal'c." Jonas full on laughed at that, exiting the car at the same time as Daniel and following the archaeologist into the building that housed his apartment, any feeling of being uncomfortable washed away the moment they crossed the threshold. Friendly banter passed between them, erasing all the nervousness that both of them had felt, until they reached Daniel's apartment. Jonas held a hand out for the satchel whilst Daniel fumbled in his pockets for the keys, flourishing them in triumph when he had discarded all the other rubbish from his jacket pockets.
"Is your apartment as cluttered as your pockets?" Jonas enquired, a laugh in his voice as Daniel shrugged.
"Um... I suppose. Just think of my office, but bigger." Jonas laughed again as he followed Daniel into the apartment he called home, and stopped just on the inside of the door in amazement. He didn't think that it was anywhere near as cluttered as Daniel had claimed, but thought it to be more like a museum with all the artifacts that lined shelves and ledges alike. There was an impressive library of books there too, and Jonas's heart leapt into his throat when he realised that this was probably the source of the smell Daniel had. He inhaled deeply, his mind wandering back to the libraries on Langara, and he felt his heart sink at the thought of his home planet. Daniel noticed.
"Hey, you okay?" This shook Jonas out of his memories, and he turned to look at Daniel, who had gained an armful of books.
"Yeah... This place, the smell... Just kinda reminds me of Kelowna, well, more the libraries." He gestured towards the books in Daniel's arms, and generally around the apartment. "Feels homey. Hell, if I didn't know better I'd say we were in Kelowna." Daniel smiled, dropping the books onto the coffee table that was already starting to look pretty cluttered. Now he knew why he compared his home to his office.
"You want some coffee?"
"Sure." Jonas closed the door quietly behind him, feeling the need to be quiet wash over him as if he really was in a library. A clatter from the kitchen drew him out of it, as well as a long string of curses.
"Dr. Jackson? You okay?"
"Ow, ow, ow... Damn!"
"Dr. Jackson?" Daniel made his way out of the kitchen with two steaming mugs of coffee and a dripping cloth over his wrist, still muttering to himself and hissing in pain when his wrist moved. He found space on the coffee table and placed the mugs down before giving Jonas an apologetic look.
"Not usually this clumsy - must just be because I'm tired. Still, we can try find out what those markings are soon, right?" Jonas nodded, picking up one of the mugs and taking a small sip from it. He took another, larger sip, and placed the mug back on the table.
"It's better than the stuff at the SGC, I'll give you that." Daniel laughed, a full laugh that made Jonas smile again, and he all but threw himself onto the nearest chair, grabbing a book in the process. "Where do you think we should start?" Daniel shrugged, grabbing another book and actually threw himself onto his sofa, making the other cushions and the odd book on there bounce up.
"Have you still got that bag? The drawings are in there."
"Oh, yeah." Jonas leaned over the arm and passed it to Daniel, who took it away without looking which direction Jonas was passing it to him. "You'll probably need them more than me though." Daniel looked up as Jonas tapped the side of his head. He felt the very childish urge to stick his tongue out at him, but decided against it as Jonas probably wouldn't understand what it meant. He wasn't even sure how much culture Earth and Langara shared, but he was pretty sure that it wasn't included.
It had been dark for 3 hours before either of them actually noticed that it was dark, and Daniel was almost certain he had run out of coffee. He was struggling to keep his eyes open, and the dim light from just the lamps was doing nothing to help him stay awake. Jonas had already fallen asleep, the book he was reading barely still in his hand, and as he watched, fell to the floor. Daniel shifted himself, pain signals shooting to his brain from his scalded wrist, and he stopped, waiting for the throbbing to subside. He'd get Janet to look at it tomorrow, but now he knew he needed to sleep. He looked over again at Jonas, almost jealous that he had managed to fall asleep, and he laughed slightly as he picked the dropped book up off the floor and placed it on the table. He noticed that the pile of paper and books seemed to have grown without any notice but he left it in favour of going to bed. Glasses placed on the bedside table, he fell straight to sleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.
