Chapter Seven – Grunts

Daniel sat back and wiped the sweat out of his eyes. They'd accomplished a lot in the first several days, and he was just as glad Jack wasn't there. It was nice not to have someone standing over his shoulder saying, "Wow, so now you've strung out a bunch of strings in squares. Guess it's Miller time."

He looked out across the dig site. Robert was on the other side explaining to Lt. Sanchez how to dig so as not to disturb possibly brittle fossils. Hawkins was walking the perimeter. Loder and Phillips had gone down to the river to fetch water. Jefferson and Arkin were working on plots catty corner from each other, shoveling dirt out into sifters.

Jack would be bored out of his mind.

Daniel got up and took a swig from his canteen. They had six five by five plots laid out neatly, and Robert had set the men to digging through them methodically. Daniel took up his shovel and began to carefully lift the first layer of ground out of the plot next to Jefferson's. He placed every shovelful into the sifter and when it was getting full, he started shaking it into the bin below. Nothing in the first layer. Sighing, he returned to work.

Jack would be making remarks about how weird it was to get a degree in digging. How many men dug ditches their whole lives without that little piece of paper, never knowing it was necessary?

Daniel sifted through the next layer and found nothing, then started digging again. Suddenly, Robert called out, "Hey, everybody, stop for a minute." Daniel looked up curiously. "Not you Daniel. I want them to watch you because you're doing it right."

Resignedly, Daniel started back to work. After a moment of silence, he said, "Robert, I'm shoveling dirt into a sifter. There's not that much to watch."

"You're doing it right, Daniel," Robert said.

Daniel sighed, standing up and leaning on his shovel. "You stick the shovel in the ground and lift."

Rolling his eyes, Robert said, "You're doing it in layers."

Daniel glanced around at the other plots, some of which had fairly deep holes in one side and nodded. "Point." He looked at the guys, who all looked confused. "Think of it like eating a layer cake from the top down, one layer at a time, not mixing up the layers."

He got several thoughtful nods, and Sanchez returned to work, paying close attention to how deeply he was putting his shovel in the ground. The others did likewise and Robert nodded with satisfaction. He came around to Daniel's side. "When did you learn to speak grunt?" he asked.

Daniel grimaced because he saw both Jefferson and Hawkins turn at the question. He shook his head. "I had to, to explain things to Jack," he said facetiously.

Robert nodded sagely. "Good point." He glanced around. "I'm going to go get the camera."

Abruptly, Hawkins let out an odd grunting sound. Jefferson turned and grunted back, clearly a question. Hawkins responded with a definitive sound. Robert looked affronted, and stalked off out of sight. Daniel managed to keep his reaction inside until his friend was out of sight, then nearly collapsed with laughter.

Later in the evening, after dinner, Daniel retired to his own tent to write up his observations on the dig that day. He picked up his pen, but his mind was caught by wondering what Jack was doing. It was Wednesday at about six p.m. back home, he thought, glancing at the clock on the crate next to his bed. The Simpsons was on in syndication, so unless Jack was actually working, he was probably on his couch with a beer, watching Bart sass adults in a way that Jack would never tolerate from a real child and laughing.

How could this have happened? How could Jack have become so convinced that he was . . . Daniel's mind shied away from the words Jack had used. Love just . . . how the hell could Jack have fallen in love with another man, much less Daniel?

He couldn't fathom it, yet there had been definite lust in Jack's eyes on several occasions. It was crazy. Jack was demonstrably heterosexual. Daniel doubted he'd ever even experimented with guys. He just didn't have that feel to him. And women of all ages gravitated towards him. He had a strong aura of masculinity that seemed to draw them in. Not to mention his rugged good looks.

Daniel shook his head. It was a phase. It had to be. When he got back, Jack would be dating some hot babe, and Daniel would be able to forget all about this little aberration. Jack would stop behaving like a neanderthal who hated Daniel, but he'd be over this notion that he loved him in any way other than as a friend.

That night, Daniel dreamed of Sha're, that she was telling him something, but by the time he woke up, just what she'd been trying to say was gone. Sighing, he glanced at the solitary photo he had of her, taken by one of the guys on that first trip to Abydos. Reaching out, he picked it up and gazed at her sadly. So much happiness, so much promise, gone past recall.

He put the photo back on the crate and got up. Pulling on a robe, he went out to the shower and cleaned up. Another day at the dig, another day of watching Robert annoy people without entirely realizing it, or caring much when he did. Daniel had forgotten just how much of a people person Robert was not.

The fifth or sixth time a 'Jack comment' wafted through his mind, he wanted to throw something. Here he was, a million light years or so away from Jack, on another planet, and the other man might as well be standing at his shoulder, whispering sly sarcastic comments in his ear. Damn the man, anyway! He kept seeing Robert through Jack's eyes, which was really irritating, and not at all fair to Robert.

He was struggling to keep from jabbing the tip of his shovel through the dirt to vent his frustration when a cry came up from the plot Sanchez was working on. "Dr. Jackson! Dr. Rothman! I think I found something!"

Daniel tossed his shovel aside and ran to join Robert at the edge of Sanchez's little square. Daniel caught sight of a spectacular and sinuous form beneath the dirt. He turned to Robert who was turning to him with a wide grin. Sanchez backed carefully away and climbed out of his pit. "I don't want to do anything else. I might screw it up."

"Right," Robert said. "Good work. We'll take it from here." The effect of this speech was somewhat spoiled by the fact that Robert never took his eyes off the specimen, but Sanchez seemed pleased by it anyway.

Daniel followed Robert into the pit and they knelt reverently. Robert blew as much of the dust and dirt away as would move, but it was still hard to see the details. Daniel turned to get up and grab his tools only to find that Loder was ready with them. He took them with a smile of thanks and pulled out the brushes. Together they bent and started uncovering the fossil Goa'uld.

When they had the full shape of it uncovered, Robert sat back on his heels. "Brutus," he said abruptly, and Daniel looked at him in surprise.

"Brutus?"

"His name."

"His?" Daniel looked down. "You're right, there's no sign that this is a queen, but for the most part the Goa'uld are gender neutral."

"And in a gender neutral situation, English uses the masculine pronoun," Robert said. "'It' just doesn't convey personhood, somehow."

"No, I guess not." Daniel gazed down at the incredible find. A whole, intact, Goa'uld fossil. He wished Jack could see it. Even more, he wished Jack could understand his reaction to seeing it.