Oops - sorry, I accidentally posted this to The Breeder. If you got an alert about that story, I did not update it - just this story.
So – I'm trying to decide whether to bring this story to a close or to keep going. I could end it at the cabin in the next chapter or two or take it further. I'd love for my readers to let me know what you'd like me to do. Keep in mind I still have my other story to do, plus one that I've started (thanks to my whump-buddy Ev) and will soon be posting.
So – vote 'yea' to continue or 'nay' to come to an end. I'll count the votes and decide. Thanks guys.
Oh – and now for a totally pointless chapter.
"What are Alvin, Simon and Theodore?"
"Chipmunks."
"You are correct O'Neill", Teal'c put the card back into the box. "You may roll again."
"That was so easy!" Daniel rolled his eyes. "Anyone would have gotten that one."
"Come on Daniel, you've had some easy ones too. It all balances out in the end", Sam informed him.
"We didn't have one that easy", grumped Dr. Daniel Jackson, PhD. "I mean, we got asked who Mr. Moto, Lou Thesz, and Big Daddy Lipscomb were."
"Everyone knows who they are Daniel", Jack smirked. "You knew, didn't you Sam?" Jack asked his partner.
"Of course Jack", she agreed.
"You did not Samantha", Teal'c exclaimed. "You are telling an untruth."
"She does too Teal'c", Jack defended his woman. "And anyway, even if she didn't, I did."
"Yeah, you knew three wrestlers but you couldn't name three European countries that started with 'A'."
"I could too. You just didn't give me enough time."
"You had over five minutes and you came up with Australia. It's not even in Europe."
"I meant Austria – it was a simple slip of the tongue. And who knows anything about Andorra – it's almost not even a country – and I would have remembered Albania if you'd given me a chance and hadn't hummed the Jeopardy theme song while I was trying to think! I've even been to Albania."
"You have?" Daniel's eyebrows went up. "What were you there for?"
"Can't tell you", Jack said, reaching over for a handful of chips. "Classified. I'd have to shoot you."
"He met a cute Albanian woman and followed her home", his dearest girlfriend told them.
"Sam – you're supposed to be on my side!" General O'Neill exclaimed. "And I didn't meet any cute Albanian women while I was there – mostly just really fierce looking Albanian men."
"Really? So it was all work and no play?"
"Definitely. Now when I went to Andorra ….!"
Sam laughed. "Come on Teal'c – read us another clue. We only have one more wedge to get and then it's on to the middle. Jack and I are so gonna win this!"
"A little bit competitive there, aren't you Sam?" Daniel said sarcastically.
"As if you're not Daniel", she chided. "You're just jealous because we're smarter than you!"
"Are not!"
"Are too!"
"Are not!"
"Are -"
"Children, children, children", Jack shook his head. "Behave. We're all intelligent here – no one is better than anyone else", he told them, using his teacher's voice. "This is just a fun game, so play nice."
Three pairs of eyes stared at him. It was Teal'c who finally broke the silence. "Play nice? Was it not you who threw the dip covered chip at Daniel Jackson when he correctly answered the question about Babe Ruth? And was it not you who threatened to trade Samantha in for a woman who could 'answer at least one sports question'?"
"Hey – so I take my Trivial Pursuit seriously", he defended. "I don't want to break my winning streak!"
"Oh, and how many games have you won in a row Jack – one?" Daniel said, looking smug.
Jack smirked and rolled the dice. "Why look at that Jackson – we've landed on the blue triangle, the last one we need. So go ahead, ask me the question."
Daniel sighed and picked out a card. Glancing down at it he grinned. "Okay Jack – here's one for you. And if you think you're so good at this game, you have to answer this, not Sam."
"Hey – that's not fair", jack whined. "She's my partner."
Daniel shrugged. "Fine, but then you can't claim to have kept your winning streak. It will be Sam who wins."
"Fine – then this one's just for me. You okay with that Sam?"
"Sure", she answered. "But don't blame me if we lose, Jack."
"Oh ye of little faith! Hit me Jackson."
Daniel smirked. "Okay Jack, just for you. What river flows past the temple of Karnak?" He laughed at Jack's puzzled expression. "He doesn't know this one Teal'c. We're so gonna win!"
Jack sighed, and squirmed and looked at Sam as if hoping she'd give him a hint. He glared at Daniel who again started with the Jeopardy theme. "Daniel – shut up!"
"But does it really matter Jack?" his best friend, brother and pain in the ass asked him. "I mean – we all know we're gonna win", he sang. "Times just about up – five, four, three, two, -"
"The Nile", Jack answered calmly, reaching again for a snack. "The river Nile flows past the temple of Karnak."
There was stunned silence in the room. Daniel gaped at him, his mouth hanging open like the hanging Gardens of Babylon. "Uh – how the hell did you know that?"
Jack waggled his brows as he stuffed a handful of chips into his mouth. "Mmmph", he tried to say around the full mouth of food.
"What? There's no way you could have known that. You had to have cheated."
"I did not!" Jack replied indignantly. "We get a wedge Teal'c – hand it over."
"I shall give it to you when you tell us how you knew that O'Neill", his friend told him.
"What? You're holding our wedge hostage? That's not fair. Come on – we deserve it. We won it – or I won it fair and square."
"How did you know the answer?" Teal'c insisted. The other two players looked at Jack expectantly.
The General sighed. "The Nile's in Egypt, right?"
"Uh yeah – that's where the Nile is", Daniel agreed.
"So – what have we been doing for the last eight years?"
"Fighting to Goa'uld", Teal'c answered.
"Right. And who can tell me what Earth civilization the Goa'uld established?"
"Egyptian", Sam answered, a laugh in her voice.
"And where is the Nile?" Jack asked, his voice sounding extremely patronizing.
"It's in Egypt Jack", Daniel. "We already established that."
"Right – so there ya go!"
"But that doesn't say anything about how you knew the answer", his friend whined.
"Daniel – I don't know how I knew it", Jack finally explained. "All I know is that I have lots and lots of Egyptian facts floating around in my brain – way more than I want to have, actually. The fact is – I knew the answer and I want my wedge!" He glared at Teal'c who, after a short pause, handed over the wedge.
"There!" Jack placed it in the piece. "To the center and beyooooooond", he cried, doing a fair imitation of Buzz Lightyear. "Sam, it's your turn to roll."
Daniel watched as his friend played the game. After his conversation that day with both Sam and Jack he'd been ready to concede that he'd been unfair to his friend. He knew the man was smart – although he'd always thought of him as smart in a strategy kind of way, not in a book kind of way. He knew that Sam must have been telling the truth about how well he was doing in leading the SGC, but truth to tell, he still had some doubts about Jack's intellectual abilities. At least he had until the rousing game of Trivial Pursuit.
There had been a lot of friendly bantering and insults thrown around throughout the evening. They'd laughed and joked and generally acted like kids at camp. But through it all was the fact that Jack had answered more questions than any of them. At one point Daniel had claimed it was because the game was his and he'd memorized all the answers – that was until Sam told them that it was hers and she had brought it with her. Jack had grinned.
The fact was that each of them were good at specific categories, thought Daniel. He himself exceled in History and Geography, Sam was good at Science and Nature and Geography and Teal'c – surprisingly – was good at Arts and Leisure and Entertainment. Since coming to Earth he'd spent a lot of time reading and watching TV while living on base.
Jack however wasn't good at one category – no, he was good at just about all of them! He blew them all out of the water in Sports and Leisure and was really good in History and Entertainment. He wasn't bad at Geography, Austria notwithstanding but probably his best category – to everyone's surprise, was Arts and Literature. Daniel had been bugging him all evening about why that was, although the man would never give a straight answer.
The weakest of his categories was Science and Nature, this time to no one's surprise, but even there he was half-way good. Daniel actually wondered if he'd been faking it and pretending not to know on some of the questions to let Sam have a chance to answer them.
He really wondered how he could have missed the signs over the years. Yeah Jack spent a lot of time playing the fool. He was a master at not paying attention at briefings, seeming to either be bored or not understanding what was said. He constantly got the names for things wrong, let the two scientists on his team come up with all the complex theories and ideas, and generally acted as if there wasn't much in the old O'Neill cranium.
So he'd been a fool – himself, not Jack. The man was smart and obviously well-read. Suddenly he wondered what Jack had studied at university. Sam had said he had to have a graduate degree. He tried to think what Jack would have studied and really couldn't picture him taking much of anything.
He sighed. He was going to find out if it was the last thing he ever did! He'd have to check if any of Jack's records talked about his degrees or where he'd been to college. He'd grown up in Minnesota, so it was logical that he'd done at least his undergraduate here. He could figure out the years based on Jack's age, and go from there. It would be an interesting project and one he was determined to accomplish. If there is anything he knew how to do, it was research obscure facts.
"Uh Daniel – we're waiting for you."
"What? Huh?"
"You have to decide what category to ask us so that we can win."
"You're not gonna win Jack", Daniel challenged him.
"We are so gonna win", Jack sang. "Look, you still have to get two wedges and make it to the middle. Hey Carter, we are going to beat the dynamic duo of Teal'c and Jackson!"
Daniel shook his head. "Teal'c – we can't let them win or we'll spend the rest of our time here listening to Jack gloat."
"Indeed – that would be most painful", Teal'c agreed. "So what category shall we choose?"
"This is hard", Daniel closed his eyes to concentrate. "If it was just Jack I'd definitely go with Science and Nature – but the problem is Sam. She's too good at that one." He sighed. "But Jack is pretty good at the others too. So what will it be Teal'c?"
"I believe we should choose Entertainment or Geography", Teal'c prodded him. "And we can hope for a most difficult question."
"Yeah, if we go with Entertainment with our luck he'll have to name the seven dwarves or say what happened to Bambi's mother! If we pick Geography the question will be 'where is Norad located, or where is the Nile river!" Daniel complained.
"Come on guys, we're waiting." Sam was grinning as she watched her two friends. She had rarely enjoyed a game more and knew that Jack had as well. Even though he and Daniel had worked things out, and Jack was no longer upset, he had taken the opportunity of the game to exact a bit of revenge, and to prove a point.
"Fine – let's go with Geography. Teal'c, you wanna read the card?"
"I shall." The Jaffa reached over and pulled out a card. He read it to himself first and then looked towards Jack and Sam. "It asks, 'What nationality says spasibo for thank you."
Sam frowned. Languages really weren't her specialty. She peeked at the man by her side and wanted to laugh. He knew the answer – she could tell – but he was going to milk it for all it was worth.
"Uh – spastico?"
"No, the word is spasibo, O'Neill."
"Okay spazeepo. Hmm, sounds familiar." Jack pursed his lips and looked as if he were thinking really hard. "Can you say it in a sentence Teal'c?" he asked innocently.
"No', Daniel called quickly as Teal'c lifted the card. "This is not a spelling bee. You have to figure out what language. You already know what it means."
"Fine!" Jack huffed. "So, it's not French."
"No, not French", Daniel smirked.
"Uh – not Spanish?"
"It is not Spanish." This time Teal'c smirked.
"Okay – not German?"
"No", Daniel sighed, "It's not German. You're not going to go through every language are you? And by the way, I'm not going to answer any more questions. You have to pick the right one or it's our turn."
"Okay", Jack sighed and stretched. "Russian."
The silence was deafening and the smirks disappeared. Daniel and Teal'c glowered at their opponent, a look they had often used when trapped by their enemies. This time, the look was focused on their friends.
"I think we beat 'em Sam", Jack said, leaning over and kissing her quickly. "What a team we are!"
"We are indeed", she laughed. "I don't think the guys are happy", she nodded towards the two frowning men. "Maybe I should make some popcorn or something?"
"Hey Daniel, Teal'c."
"What Jack?"
"We wo – on. We beat you. We vanquished you. We bested you. We -"
"See Teal'c", Daniel groaned. "He's gloating."
"I believe I shall make the popcorn", Teal'c stood up, another glower thrown in the direction of the General. "If I remain I shall lose my appetite."
"Ooooh – you guys are sore losers."
"No we're not", Daniel defended. "You're obnoxious winners."
"Hey!", exclaimed Sam. "I didn't say anything."
"No, that's true", Daniel conceded.
"But if I had", she continued with barely a pause, "I would have said – we won, we won, we won", she sang the words and did a little dance as she was seated on the couch.
Daniel stood. "I think I'll help you Teal'c", he said in disgust. "Geesh – what are we going to do now that the two of them are a couple!"
"I do not know Daniel Jackson", Teal'c was shaking his head as he walked away. "But you are welcome to come and live with me on Chulak."
"I'll think about it Teal'c", his friend answered.
On the couch Jack was grinning, his arms clasped behind his neck. He turned to the woman he loved. "Touche!"