The cup was lightweight, made of cheap metal, like a soup can. It clearly had been dented and banged back into place many times. It rested on the uneven surface of the crude wooden table, and Daniel gazed down into it. It was half-full of gritty water, small orange dirt particles sunk at the bottom like silt.
"Daniel."
He looked up, realizing somebody had been repeating his name. Sitting across from him, Sam watched expectantly.
"I'm sorry, Sam, what did you say?"
"I asked what you planned on doing tomorrow."
He frowned, giving his usual confused face.
"The same thing I do every day?"
Jack bounced in his seat next to him and shouted helpfully,
"Try to take over the world!"
Daniel cast him a momentary glance that asked "What is wrong with you?" as Jack practiced his evil "mua ha ha ha," causing the other tables to momentarily stare at them.
"Daniel, tomorrow's Free Day. "
His gaze snapped back to Sam.
"What? No it's not."
She smiled,
"Yeah it is."
Daniel shook his head,
"No, no, that's not possible. It couldn't have been four weeks already."
"Time flies when you're havin' fun, Daniel," Jack quipped, but Daniel was distractedly counting off days in his head. He concluded,
"It's only been two weeks. Two and a half, tops."
"Daniel, I'm telling you, it's been exactly four weeks--"
"Do you wish to see the record, DanielJackson?"
Daniel nodded and gestured,
"Yeah, yeah, hand it over here."
Sam looked around cautiously, taking note of all the other tables. Once she was satisfied the other slaves were all busy with their dinner affairs, she pulled the small object from her robes, a simple parchment of animal hide, and handed it over to Daniel. He squinted at the crude marks made on the hide.
"I have kept faithful track, DanielJackson," Teal'c assured.
Sure enough, the tallies added up to three weeks and six days. At least, Daniel was pretty sure they did, as they were awfully smudged with dust. He shook his head and handed the 'record' back over.
"I'll have to take your word for it."
"I've been talking to Galan and Tenron a lot lately and I think I'm making leeway." Sam put the parchment away and leaned over the table eagerly, to speak in a hushed voice,
"Galan's ninety-percent sure her contacts have access to at least three hablos carts. The trouble's getting them smuggled across the River. Most people aren't crazy enough to do it."
"Wait, what happened to plan B? I thought we were still on that."
She looked to her CO,
"Well, we are. But I think I might be able to get to plan C sooner."
He looked serious a moment, and then nodded slightly.
"Do what you can, Carter."
"Yes, sir. Daniel, I was going to do some serious wheedling tomorrow while Galan's feeling generous. You want to tag along? Most people find you pretty persuasive."
Daniel raised his brows, opened his mouth to respond, and stopped. Felt trapped. Made a few strange sounds.
"Daniel?"
"Aahm, yes, well. Me and Jack sort of already had plans."
Shut his mouth and swallowed, suddenly wondering if his face was heating up. Sam looked curious.
"Oh, really? What're you guys doing?"
"Ahm . . . w- . . . well, sort of a . . . experiment . . ."
Jack suddenly cleared his throat next to him and coughed urgently, sounding a little startled. But Daniel couldn't find any other word at the moment and he needed to stall, needed to think damnit--
"Ok . . . so we've established this feeling's mutual?"
"Yeah. "
"Whatever feeling it might be."
"Yeah. "
Jack sounded shocked, so utterly shocked, as if still hanging in disbelief. He finally asked,
"What would this experiment entail?"
Daniel easily brought the question back over to Jack,
"What would you like it to entail?"
"I don't know!" Jack said suddenly, confusion and upset evident in his voice. He waved a frustrated gesture,
"Daniel, this is entirely crazy for me. I've never--with another--not even--well, what about you? Please tell me you--"
"Um. Well. No."
"No?!"
"No."
"No," Jack repeated, just to be sure.
"You're not alone here, Jack. This is . . ."
Daniel looked out over the river that they both hung above, watching the currents vanish down the bend, seeking the right wording.
"Uncharted waters for us both."
Jack stared at the river along with him, letting that sink in.
"Great, " he commented sarcastically.
"Which could be a good thing," Daniel observed optimistically.
"How?" Jack sounded skeptical.
Daniel looked down at him and smiled slyly,
"Neither one of us will know if we're doing it horribly wrong."
Jack's eyes widened momentarily in surprise, and then he laughed, really laughed. With relief. With nervousness. With excitement.
If anybody had been passing by, they would have found it mighty strange to look up and see two naked men laughing like maniacs in the canopy.
"What kind of experiment?"
Daniel blinked, snapping back to reality, horrified to realize he had drifted off in thought and still hadn't answered.
"Uh . . ."
Jack shouted in a triumphant voice,
"Fishing!"
Of course, this caused Daniel to yelp and leap about ten feet into the air. Jack looked slightly sheepish and mouthed 'sorry' as Daniel, wide-eyed, tried to catch his breath.
Sam's gaze went from Daniel to Jack. And back again.
"O-kaaay. Fishing?"
Jack chattered,
"Yeah, yeah. There's a river-- well, we thought, fresh food supply, possible trading goods, yadda yadda, fashion some sort of makeshift tools, give things a shot, isn't that right, Daniel?"
Daniel paused and stared at Jack, who stared back, waiting for a reply. Wondering if maybe he was serious, and really did mean fishing-- but, wait, no. Slowly, very slowly, his gray brows lifted. Meaningfully.
"Right. Yes. Fishing."
He looked to Sam.
"The, uh, river." Shrugged. "Worth a shot."
She nodded. "Uh-huh. I get it."
Daniel frowned slightly as it occurred to him Jack's code wasn't the most difficult to decipher.
"Is that-- all right? I mean, you're still the best person to talk to Galan, matriarchal society, the male of the species seen as subdominant--"
"Well, yeah. She says you're not bad, though. For a guy."
"--already well established friendship you've been developing--"
"--yeah, I know."
"I could, uh, tag along sometime later, if you still think you need help getting through to her."
"That'd be fine."
They lapsed into quiet, the dull murmur of tables' conversations going on around them. Jack's voice came strangely gentle from beside him.
"We don't have to go fishing if you don't want to."
The sun was nearing the horizon's edge as their laughter subsided and absorbed into the breezes. There was a slight coolness that was slowly gathering, signaling dusk's approach.
"It's getting kind of late already, isn't it?"
Daniel nodded.
"It is."
Daniel could picture the invisible arc in the sky that was the sun's path; after this much time here he had a good sense of what time it was by its position.
"Jack . . ."
His companion stayed obediently quiet, listening.
"Maybe we should . . ."
"Forget this whole conversation ever happened?"
Daniel blinked, and looked confusedly to Jack. The man was perched nervously, worry-lines creasing his face, and his eyes were flicking about restlessly. As if he was about ready to bolt.
"I was going to say we should continue this conversation next time."
Jack sunk back down a little.
"Oh."
The wind set a single green leaf free from the bows, and Jack watched it spiral down to the ground. He started suddenly, words tumbling out,
"Daniel I'm not even sure what's going on with me I don't even know what I'm wanting here and I can't even--"
"Shhh," Daniel hushed, and Jack stopped immediately, blinking up at him in wonder.
"If we're still around next Free Day, we'll come here. We'll both have time to think it over. If we still feel the same . . ."
Daniel bobbed his head, as if the sentence didn't need finishing, but then finished anyway.
"We can figure out what to do about it."
Jack looked hesitant.
"Yeah?"
Daniel smiled a little and answered decisively,
"Yeah."
Jack looked down at the river below, a glimpse of a smile on his face.
"Ok."
The sunlight caught the specks of silt in the water, as Daniel gazed meditatively into his cup. He could feel Jack's gaze on him, quietly waiting for a response. For some reason, it felt comforting. To be the object of Jack's attention.
Gripping the tin cup in his hands, giving it a slight crinkling sound, he looked up and met his observer's eyes.
"I'd still like to try it."
~~~~~~~~~~