Part 2

Daniel glared at Jack, who was fidgeting once again with the collar under his bow tie as well as checking his watch for what had to be the thirtieth time, and wondered how the man managed to fidget that much and still keep a full glass of champagne from spilling.

He decided, finally, that it had to have something to do with Jack's military training.

Given that, as usual, there was no reaction from Jack to his glare, Daniel did the now "tried and true" count-to-ten in his head, regrouped mentally, and then tried to give Jack the benefit of the doubt before he actually gave in to his inclinations and starting articulating his annoyance at Jack's behavior.

So... they were at probably most elegant soirée that they'd been at for the last eight years, and yeah, Jack was a military type and not used to "soirees", and yeah, he couldn't imagine Jack doing this type of thing well.

But on the other hand, Jack was a two star general now, and that meant he was going to have to deal with "social" on a regular basis. And when Daniel thought back on other social occasions they'd been at throughout the years on other worlds, Jack had usually come through when needed, although always with his own unique style.

Uhh, yeah. Sure. Sure he had. Daniel sighed and decided his own mental wiring needed some reworking.

But at least this time Jack had kept his mouth shut at appropriate moments, and had agreed politely when he had to some of the time.

It was Jack after all.

Still, something was up. It wasn't just that they were at a reception. Jack just didn't like this scene. It wasn't the dress that was bothering him; and it wasn't the formality; there was some sort of military thing going on.

Daniel sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose, and moved his glasses higher on his head and then back down. What was confusing him was that fidgeting just wasn't Jack's normal style when he thought a situation was dire. Under dire conditions, Jack was perfectly, scarily, calm and in control.

But when the situation was less than dire, just annoying or bothering Jack for unfathomable reasons, he fidgeted. At the other extreme, when the situation was so grim that they all thought they were going to die, Jack usually started delivering asinine jokes for his own, and mostly no one else's, well, maybe Sam's, amusement.

Daniel summated the statement of issue and current question. Jack was fidgeting; the question was why. The only time Jack fidgeted was when he didn't have control and there was a 'not dire but potentially dangerous' problem. So... Jack thought there was a problem and he was unhappy that he wasn't in control of solving it but as far as Jack could tell none of it was life-threatening.

Daniel watched as Jack scowled and gestured away a waiter who came up to them.

As evidence for Jack's annoyed state and irritation, it was pretty good. He grabbed a canapé before the waiter left and started with the obvious.

"You really don't like this particular party, do you."

Jack shrugged. "Did I say that?"

"Not in so many words, but, yeah."

"Well, then. Why ask?"

"Jack, it'll be ...never mind."

"What? It'll be what?"

"Over soon. And quit doing that."

"Doing what?"

"You know what. That... Fidgeting." Daniel gestured towards Jack's neck where he was once again trying to strangle his tie.

"I don't fidget."

Daniel tried again. "Look, at least the receiving line part is over. And you were in the front so you weren't waiting around for thirty minutes."

Jack smirked, diverted for a moment. "Yeah, I love that protocol stuff; Ambassadors, then Generals; then linguists and other various and sundry riff raff."

"Oh for ... look, I am not playing this game. And stop fidgeting."

Daniel sighed in relief when Jack temporarily abandoned strangling himself and the tie. He looked around the room carefully, trying compromise. "Jack, for the last time, everything seems to be in order."

Jack seemed to consider his statement, and then apparently rejected it, given the current state of his tie.

"Yeah, sure. Still, I wish we could have brought Teal'c along. He loves a good party."

Daniel's imagination couldn't quite wrap around the idea of Teal'c blending quietly into the background of a party that was composed of Washington at its stuffiest best, as far as he could tell. Teal'c being here making a statement as an impressive Ambassador; yep, that he could imagine; as background - well, nope, not a chance in hell.

"Teal'c wouldn't enjoy this. And anyway, you've got eight of the SGC's finest; Chekov's team is here and the FBI is crawling all over the place and I'm here as requested. Jack, it'll be enough."

"Oh yeah, you betcha."

Daniel groaned, defeated, knowing that Jack in his "you betcha" phase meant that the conversation was closed, his mind was set, and that Daniel wasn't going to get anything more out of him. He sighed in exasperation as he watched Jack start fidgeting again, and then decided the hell with it and gestured a waiter towards them in order to score another canapé and another glass of champagne.

Jack just scowled.

TBC…