Jack led the way back to the truck, his arm around Daniel's shoulder. He climbed into the driver's seat and keyed on the engine. He was not looking forward to getting back to the files that awaited him on his desk, but it didn't look like he was going to be getting out of working on those files. What could he do?
Teal'c was beginning to regret his choice in dessert already. It perplexed him how a Jaffa could have a sort of weakness that involved so much pain after devouring a delicious treat. He ruminated on this, eyebrow risen, as he climbed into the backseat of the pickup truck.
Daniel climbed into the passenger seat and buckled up. He leaned his head against the truck window. This day had been good. The young and old Daniel in his head wanted to start arguing about what their definition of a good day was and what that meant. Both voices were shut down as Daniel fell asleep.
Sam glanced over at Teal'c and saw the look on his face. "You ok Teal'c?" she asked. She glanced up front and smiled almost motherly at Daniel sleeping. "Sir, when we were leaving earlier, did... did I see Daniel do what I think I saw him do? Did he really cringe from you?" she asked quietly not wanting Daniel to wake and hear her.
Jack looked over and smiled fondly at Daniel as he put the truck into drive.
"I am fine," Teal'c said and then grimaced out his window. He was hoping the pains ice cream caused him was a one time thing. He was wrong.
Jack glanced back at Sam in the rearview mirror. "You did," he said hesitantly. He wasn't sure why he felt guarded. He trusted his team with his life, so he elaborated, "He's gonna be ok. Daniel just needs some time to feel safe and make new associations this time around, ya know?"
Sam looked over at Daniel. She leaned up as far as her belt would let her and reached a hand over to gently brush some of his hair out of his face. "Why would someone... how could someone?" she tried several more times to formulate what she wanted to say and failed. Sam eventually sat back and stared sadly at Daniel.
She glanced slightly over at Teal'c, patted his arm and went back to silently watching Daniel.
Jack watched Sam out of the corner of his eye as he drove. "Boy, you said it," Jack said in agreeance. He gripped the wheel a bit tighter, "I'd like to get ahold of whoever mistreated him."
"As would I, O'Neill," Teal'c said. He looked over and nodded at Sam in recognition of her pats to his arm. "As would I."
Daniel awoke a little while later as they were pulling up to the base. He looked around, blinking owlishly. "I fell asleep huh?" he asked and smiled sheepishly.
"You sure did. Do you wanna come hang out with me at the lab? Maybe work on something?" Sam asked as she took off her seat belt.
"Nah, I mean I would, but I think I'll keep Jack company for a while. If that's okay Jack?" he asked.
"Always okay," Jack said. He smiled fondly at Daniel. "I like your company, Danny." Jack climbed out of his truck. "Let's get to it," he said and began walking into the base.
Daniel smiled and followed Jack into the base. Sam followed wanting to hopefully persuade Daniel into hanging out with her a little later.
Teal'c hung back and groaned slightly as his stomach began to cause him more significant pain. He felt a certain rumble in his gut and distanced himself further. He didn't want to offend his friends with what Jack called, "the smell".
After they all signed in, Jack pressed the button to the elevator and the door opened.
"Here," Teal'c said, handing the bags of desserts to Jack. "I will take the next one."
"That bad?" Jack asked.
"Indeed," Teal'c said.
Daniel followed Jack in.
Sam gave Teal'c a sympathetic look and said, "Maybe Janet can help you. Why don't you pop in on her and ask."
"I will do that," Teal'c agreed. He nodded as the elevator door closed.
As they rode down, Daniel leaned against Jack without thinking . A moment later he jerked away, wondering what was wrong with him. 'I can't get too, comfortable. Things have been good so far but there's been people around all day. I'm sure I've done something wrong today. I'll find out tonight. I have to stay on guard. I have to.' Daniel thought to himself as he waited to get to their floor.
"Falling asleep?" Jack asked Daniel with a warm grin, thinking his little archeologist had been trying to doze again. "You can nap if you want."
"Uhm yeah. Don't know why. Maybe we should try to get a hold of the Ganthas and ask if they go through periods of sleep after being made young again," Daniel suggested.
"That's a good idea Danny. I can stop by the General's office so you and Colonel O'Neil can get back to his office, if you'd like?" Sam asked.
Jack nodded, "Your body has been through a lot, it doesn't surprise me." Jack nodded when Daniel agreed with Sam. "Thanks Carter, that'd be great."
Jack noticed they were getting close to their floor, and began digging in the desserts bags to divvy up the goods. "Here ya go," he said, handing Sam her's. "And here ya go," he said, handing Daniel's his.
He peeked at his own, and grinned. "Excellent," he breathed comically. He was very happy with choosing the chocolate toffee pizza. It looked delicious.
Sam grinned when Jack handed her her box. "Thank you sir," she said a little surprised that Jack didn't offer to go to the General himself to get out of his paperwork. She thought about it for a minute, then realized that Jack probably wanted to avoid the General right now, seeing as the General wanted some of that paperwork.
Daniel happily accepted his box from Jack, then peered over to look at the other man's dessert. "Wow that looks really good!" he exclaimed.
Sam bid Daniel and Jack goodbye as she headed in the direction of General Hammond's office.
"It does, doesn't it?" Jack smiled at Daniel, "so that's a chocolate toffee pizza. Maybe I'll share some if ya'd like." Jack closed the lid on his dessert and headed for his office. Daniel's company and desserts considerably brightened his outlook on doing his most hated part of the job: paperwork. But, he needed to make a least a noticeable dent before the General happened by again.
Daniel blinked at Jack. He was going to share his dessert if Daniel asked him to? Was this a trick? Thirty-year-old Daniel tried to reassure the fifteen-year-old Daniel that Jack was sincere and that he could trust him. Daniel nodded slightly, "O-Ok Jack if you want to," Daniel said hesitantly. He trailed after Jack to his office and winced at all the paperwork still littering Jack's office. He went over to the couch that was still paperwork free, sat down and opened his dessert box. The cinnamon puff were still slightly warm and smelled amazing.
Sam tapped on the General's door when she reached it and waited to be invited in.
General Hammond sat at his desk, filling out paperwork and keeping on top of all the many projects, teams, and issues that were involved in running Stargate Command in Cheyenne Mountain.
"Enter," he said, and when he looked up to see who was at his open door, he smiled. "Captain, what can I do for you?"
Meanwhile, back in Jack's office, Jack had just sat down at his desk and looked at the piles and piles … and piles of paperwork. Dessert. Dessert would be much more interesting. It was just the thing to give him the sugar high that would enable him to do some files. He couldn't be expected to work on such a boring task without sufficient sugar. …and…
"Hey Danny, wanna go grab some coffee to go with these desserts?" He asked brightly.
Sam walked into the office and said, "Well sir, it's about Daniel. He's noticed he's been more tired than usual and he's asked if we could get in touch with the Ganthas and see if it's a side effect of being made young again, sir." She sat in one of the chairs in the General's office.
Daniel was just about to dig in to one of the cinnamon puffs when Jack said something about getting coffee. He thought about it a moment and then shook his head. "I don't really want any right now Jack, but if you want to get some you can," Daniel said as he opened the chocolate ganache first, dipped a small part of his cinnamon puff in and took a bite. "These are really good," he said and took another bite.
General Hammond nodded, "That sounds like a fine idea, Captain, but I would like to know why Colonel O'Neill didn't bring this to my attention."
Jack smiled at Daniel enjoying dessert. "Okay Danny boy, I'll be back in a flash," he said, and he hopped up from his desk and out of his office, eager to acquire fuel to see him through his horribly boring task.
Sam was caught off guard at first, but finally said, "Well sir I believe Colonel O'Neil is working on paperwork right now. Daniel just brought it to our attention and I volunteered to speak to you about it so the Colonel could continue to work."
Daniel nodded at Jack and opened the container of sugar icing and dipped the next bite of cinnamon puff in it. He finished off the last bite with the icing again and then dug out the next puff after closing the sugar icing container. He was halfway through the puffs when Jack came back. "Do you want one?" Daniel asked figuring it was only fair that he offer one to Jack if the man was gonna give him some of his.
General Hammond gave Sam a small smile and nodded. He had hoped to hear this as a response, and had meant the question as a way of indirectly checking in on his Colonel's progress on the files. "Very good. We will go over the details of contact during this afternoon's meeting."
Jack set two mugs of coffee on his desk, along with packets of sugar and little sealed cups of creamer. He smiled at Daniel's question, "Well thanks Danny, I'd love one. Brought you some coffee in case you changed your mind." Jack walked over and gazed at the cinnamon puffs. "Which dip is best?"
Sam nodded. "Ok sir. I'll let Daniel and Colonel O'Neill know." She got up, saluted and then headed back to Jack's office.
"Thanks Jack," Daniel said. "The chocolate ganache is. I like it a lot better than the sugar icing." He was glad the dip cups were so large. Normally when restaurants gave you a dip of any kind the cups were rather small. He left Jack with the cinnamon puffs a moment to go and doctor up one of the cups of coffee.
Jack peered at at the cinnamon puffs, "Ya know, I've always been a sugar icing guy." He took a puff and dipped one end in the sugar icing and took a bite, then leaned his head back and smiled. "You chose wisely, Danny. And they'll go great dipped in coffee," he said, then walked over and dipped the other half in his coffee before popping it into his mouth. "Yup," he said around the dessert in his mouth. "Good with coffee. Let's try mine," he said, sugar speeding him up as he was at Daniel's side and popping his dessert open in a flash.
Daniel was startled when Jack suddenly appeared next to him, and accidentally spilled some of the hot coffee on himself. "Ow! Dammit Jack," he growled, then his eyes instantly went wide when he realized what he had said, and began to back away holding his hand against him. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it."
Sam reached Jack's office at that moment, and instead of knocking like usual, walked in and stared first at Daniel and then at Jack. "Uhm, what's going on guys?" she asked as she started towards Daniel.
"Hey, it's alright, Danny," Jack said. He held his arms up in a gentle manner. "Sorry about that, buddy, you ok? I kinda popped outta no where, didn't I?" He looked at Sam, "You know how I get on sugar…add in hot liquids, not good."
"Oh, are you okay Danny? Did you get hurt?" she asked as she continued to move slowly towards Daniel. "Can I see?" she asked holding out her hand wanting to look at the hand Daniel was still holding against him.
Daniel eyed Jack first as he held up his hands and stayed where he was. He saw how Sam came slowly towards him and relaxed a little. He finally held his hand out to Sam and said, "I accidentally burned it."
"I see that. Let's show Jack, ok Danny? See if he thinks we need to see Janet," Sam said as she gently led Daniel over to Jack.
"I'm so sorry, Danny," Jack said, inspecting Daniel's hand. It was red, but didn't look too bad. "Wanna go see Janet and get some salve for it? …maybe an ice pack?"
Daniel twitched a little at Jack's touch, but visibly relaxed a moment later. He nodded and said, "Yeah I'd kind of like to put something on it. Hey Sam, could you watch our desserts for us?" Daniel asked.
Sam smiled motherly at Daniel and said, "Sure Danny, I'll be right here when you get back."
Jack smiled gently at Daniel, scared of spooking his little archeologist and feeling terrible about causing him to burn himself. 'Geez O'Neill,' he thought to himself, 'way to go!' He opened the door for Daniel, "C'mon buddy, let's get ya fixed up."
Daniel walked past Jack and headed for Janet's office knowing Jack would catch up. He paused outside Janet's office, not willing to go in without someone with him.
Jack proceeded Daniel into Janet's office, thinking Daniel probably was now remembering all of Janet's needles. "Hey doc," Jack called out, "we need something for a burn."
Daniel walked in behind Jack cautiously looking around. He spied one of the nurses and stepped closer to Jack trying to stay away from her and out of her sight.
The nurse happened to spy Jack and Daniel and began to march over. "Ahh here to see the doc? I can handle a burn. Come here young man let's see it," she said trying to grab a hold of Daniel from behind Jack.
"Whoa, now hold on," Jack made easy sport of blocking her from getting to Daniel. "He's a little skittish, stop grabbing and slow down," Jack said sourly. "Geez, you medics," he added for good measure.
Janet walked in at that moment. "Oh surely we medics aren't all that bad. Suzanne I have this, you can go back to what you were doing," Janet said as she walked over to Jack and Daniel.
Suzanne grumbled softly to herself as she walked back over to her desk to finish her paperwork.
Daniel peered out from behind Jack as he saw the other woman go back to her desk. He snickered softly as he watched her grumble at the paperwork much like a certain Colonel he knew.
"What happened here?" she asked as she saw Daniel appear from behind Jack still clutching his hand to him.
"I accidentally burned my hand," Daniel said letting Janet take it in her hands and look it over.
Jack had been glaring at the nurse, but immediately softened when Daniel spoke. He'd thought Daniel was angry with him and was expecting to be blamed. So instead, he implicated himself, "It was my fault, I was hyped up on sugar and caused the whole thing." Jack looked over Daniel's shoulder to look at the hand as well. "Can you save it, Doc?" He quipped.
Janet heard the small laugh and looked where he was looking and smiled at her grumbling nurse.
"Well this doesn't look too bad. I'll just put a little burn cream on it and then lightly wrap it with gauze. How does that sound?" she asked as she led Daniel over to one of the cots.
Daniel nodded, followed Janet and said, "That sounds ok." He sat on the cot and waited.
Janet looked at Jack when she went to get the items and said, "He'll be fine Jack. How did his hand get burned?"
Jack visibly relaxed when he heard Daniel would be fine, then tensed again at her question. "I surprised him when he was fixing up his coffee - you know how I get with sugar. He didn't see me come up next to him and jumped when he saw me." Jack was going to mention that Daniel seemed like he was in shock, and then recalled that Daniel had cursed at him when it happened. Did he think he was in trouble for that? Jack wondered. "He sorta let me have it over it, which I deserved," he nodded at Daniel and gave him a small grin.
Janet quirked an eyebrow as she passed Jack with the items. When she got to Daniel, she saw him biting his lip and glancing sideways at Jack. "Good for you Danny," she said as she tended his hand, "he needs to be told off when he does things he shouldn't, like touching medical equipment that doesn't belong to him. There, all done."
Jack had just been about to touch an interesting medical thingy-ma-bob when he heard Janet talk about his propensity to touch her medical equipment. He quickly pulled his hand away and into his pocket and turned on his heel away from her things. He quirked his mouth in humor at her agreeance that he needs to be told off, because, well, she wasn't wrong.
Daniel flexed his hand a bit. "Thanks Dr. Janet." He glanced at Jack again and bit at his lip again. He was startled when he felt a tap against it.
"Don't do that. It's ok," she said softly and gave Daniel a hug. A little louder she said, "You let me know if Jack is bugging you too much. I'm sure I can find something along with his paperwork for him to do."
Daniel nodded. "Ok, I will." He backed away and headed over towards Jack.
Jack winked and grinned at Janet, then held a hand out for Daniel. "Better?" He asked gently, concern filling his eyes as Daniel walked over to him.
Daniel nodded at Jack's question as he stood next to him. "I'm ok," Daniel said softly.
"Alright I guess I'll see you gentlemen later," Janet said as she went about cleaning up.
Jack nodded and smiled in answer to Janet, then looked back to Daniel. "Danny, you know you aren't in any trouble, right? I know you yelled at me, but you were hurt and I was in the wrong," Jack said.
Daniel stopped and looked at Jack in surprise. "Really? You aren't mad at me?" he asked.
"I'm not mad at you," Jack said. "Not at all. You did what anyone've done. Heck, what I'd of done. You were hurt and surprised, Danny."
"O-Ok," Daniel said a little eagerly. He was grateful and a little surprised at being forgiven so easily. 'See, you can trust Jack. I told you he won't hurt you,' Thirty year old Daniel explained to the younger version.
'I'm still scared. What if this is a trick? We're still on base, around other people. He could change once we're back at his house.'
'I promise you, it's not a trick. Trust me, trust Jack.'
While the conversation played in his head, Daniel followed Jack slowly worrying his bottom lip.
When they got back to Jack's office, Jack turned and saw the worried expression on Daniel's face and the lip biting.
He wrapped an arm around Daniel's shoulders and pulled him in for a one armed hug. He tapped Daniel's lip as Janet had and said, "No lip biting, you're gonna hurt yourself. Whatcha thinking' about that has you worried?"
Sam looked up when Jack and Daniel came back in. She watched the interaction and waited to see what Daniel would say.
Daniel released his lip and said, "Just thinking really." He looked towards his dessert that was still on the couch waiting for him.
Sam wasn't sure she bought that explanation. She wondered what Jack thought of it.
"Care to share? I'll listen," Jack pressed Daniel. He knew Daniel wasn't being forthright, but figured it had something to do with some of the stuff Daniel wasn't quite ready to share. He smiled at Sam and said, "Got'em all fixed up."
Daniel shook his head. "Do I have to?" he asked. He pulled away from Jack and went to the couch. He curled in the corner of it and drew his dessert close to him but didn't try to eat any.
"Would you guys like more coffee?" Sam asked wondering if Daniel would be more open if she left.
"No, you don't have to, Danny, but I think it'd make you feel better if you did." Jack said. He looked at Sam and answered, "I'd love some coffee. Daniel?"
Daniel looked at Sam. "Yeah I'd love a fresh cup please. Can you please grab a lot of cream and sugar?"
"Sure Danny. I'll be right back," Sam said as she left and closed the door behind her.
Daniel looked at Jack and sighed, "Jack I'd rather not say anything right now. It's something I'd rather think about for a bit and then maybe ask questions if I need to." He looked up at Jack and stared at him.
"Ok," Jack said. "You got it, that's a good plan. And I'm here if you need anything, ok?"
Daniel nodded. "Ok."
Sam walked in at that moment, carrying two cups of fresh hot coffee. "Here we go guys fresh, hot, energy giving coffee," she said giving a meaningful glance at Jack's desk still covered in paperwork.
Daniel reached a hand out in a give me gesture. "Thanks Sam. Cream and sugar?" he questioned.
"Here ya go Danny," she said as she dug in her pocket and produced the requested items with a smile.
"Thanks Carter," Jack said meekly. He had the grace to slightly blush at Sam's insinuation. He sunk into his desk chair and looked at the piles of files, then at his dessert. "Hey Danny, wanna split the chocolate toffee pizza?"
Sam looked over at Daniel and winked as Jack sat down at his desk.
Daniel smiled and doctored up his coffee, inhaled the aroma and sighed happily. He looked over at Jack's question. He was a little surprised that it would still be offered but nodded. "Yeah if you want to," he said uncurling from the couch.
Sam crooked an eyebrow. "Am I in on the invite sir? I mean I did just go get you fresh, hot coffee." She glanced at Daniel and gave him a quick smile to let him know she was giving Jack a hard time.
Jack smiled and nodded at Daniel, and tore the lid off his dessert to serve as a sort of plate for his little archeologist to take back to the couch. His brow went up at what Sam said, and Jack replied, "You know what, you're right! Help yourself, Carter." He completely missed out on the fact that Sam was giving him a hard time.
Daniel looked and saw there were six slices, he took one and turned to head back to his seat.
"Where are you going Danny? Here take another one. Jack doesn't need all that sugar. See I'm gonna take two as well. Two is plenty for Jack," Sam said as she placed another slice in the box lid for Daniel.
"You sure Sam?" Daniel asked.
"Sure, I've still got cheesecake to eat, too," Sam said with a smile. She looked over at Jack and said, "No more stalling. Paperwork, sir." As she walked out the door, she suddenly turned around. "Oh I almost forgot why I came in here in the first place. General Hammond said we'd talk about making contact with the Ganthas at this afternoon's meeting."
Jack had been mumbling under his breath about pushy subordinates while flipping open a file when Sam had mentioned the meeting. He had completely forgotten their daily SG-1 meeting had been moved from that morning to 15:00 hours and he balked at the mention of it. For a moment he sat with mouth hanging open and eyebrows scrunched together looking at Sam before he caught himself and said as suavely as he could, "Meeting, this afternoon, right….soooo, Ganthas, huh? Good. Good good good." He pointed the pen he was holding at Daniel and with a smile added, "Because Danny wanted to ask them about needing more sleep after de-aging."
Sam bit the inside of her cheek to keep herself from smiling at Jack's antics. "Yeah I mentioned that to General Hammond that you wanted to speak to him about it, sir," she said and gave a small smile. "I'll let you get to your paperwork. Danny I'll see you in a bit at the meeting." She smiled and left the office.
Daniel had been watching the exchange as he took a bite of the pizza. He closed his eyes a brief moment not catching when Jack initially pointed the pen at him. The pizza was good and when he opened his eyes, they widened slightly at the pen pointed in his direction. He saw the smiles though and relaxed especially when Sam said she'd see him later at the meeting about the Ganthas.
"Pizza's good. Thanks Jack," Daniel said as he finished off the second piece and started in on his own dessert again with his doctored up coffee.
Jack was already lost in a file, and gave a long blink before looking over at Daniel. He smiled warmly, "You're welcome, Danny." He glanced at his remaining two slices of dessert and then at his watch. Gah. He had an hour before the meeting. An hour. He groaned, ran a hand over his face and through his hair and slumped in his chair. He had completed seven files. Seven, in a sea of probably a hundred. And this was his one task for the day. He knew Hammond would not be pleased with his lack of progress, and so he took a gulp of coffee and buried himself back in the file that sat open on his desk. "Yup. Yes. That's true," he said to himself as he read the file, scribbling on it as he went where needed. Finally he signed his name, closed the file, and tossed it on the tiniest pile on his desk…which, of course, was the Done Pile.
He was already bored.
With a hefty sigh, he grabbed a slice of his dessert pizza and took a bite, which immediately perked him up. "This is good," he said to Daniel before flipping open another hated file.
Daniel looked up at Jack's mutterings and shook his head. He finished off his dessert and coffee, then decided to go grab a book from his office. He looked up and saw Jack digging into his pizza.
"Hey Jack, I'm gonna head to my office and grab a book. Be right back," he said standing at the door.
Jack looked up, winked and gave him the thumbs up with one hand while holding a slice of his dessert pizza in the other. "You comin' back here to read?" Jack asked hopefully.
Daniel stared at Jack a moment and blinked at the question. "Uhm yeah, hence the Be right back, geez Jack is that paperwork affecting your hearing?" Daniel asked a little of the snarky teenager coming through. He left Jack's office without waiting for a reply.
Jack blinked hard and looked back up from the file he'd already gone back to, but Daniel was gone. He frowned at his doorway, where Daniel stood just a moment before, and his frown deepened as the snarky comment finally rolled over him in full. He dropped his slice of dessert back into it's container, grumbled to himself and readjusted the file he was reading.
Daniel browsed through his books and then found one that he hadn't looked at in a while and headed back to Jack's office. "I'm back," he said as he walked in as if nothing had happened, then flopped on Jack's couch and opened his book.
"Yeah, caught that," Jack said offhandedly as he scribbled his signature on the last page of the open file before flipping it closed and dropping it on the Done pile. He grabbed another file and glanced over at Daniel, "Whatcha reading there?"
Daniel snorted slightly at Jack's words. He looked up a little startled when Jack asked about his book. "Oh uhm, it's about the Mayan culture."
Jack nodded and smirked, "Step pyramids, chocolate drinks." He flipped open the new file and grimaced. It was twice as thick as the last few he'd worked on.
Daniel rolled his eyes and shook his head at Jack's comment. He happened to look up as Jack was grimacing at the thick looking file. "Couldn't you skip that one and do a thinner one?" Daniel asked.
"Danny Boy, you read my mind," Jack said, flipping the file close and tossing it back onto the tall pile. He pursed his lips as he looked at one of the piles, and carefully slunk out the thinnest he could find.
Daniel watched Jack swap out the files. "How much do you have to get done?" he asked, hoping they wouldn't have to stay much longer after the meeting that afternoon.
"All of them," Jack said. "The General wants them soon, but he's not unreasonable. I'll be ok as long as I make a good dent each day." He opened the thin file and grimaced. It was thin because he hadn't typed up his account of the mission yet to add to the file. All it contained was the tag file. He looked at Daniel and said pitifully, "This sucks."
"Oh," Daniel said with disappointment. He went back to his book for several minutes, then looked up again. "How many more are you going to do today?"
Jack shrugged as he got his typewriter set up. He looked over at Daniel with a sardonic grin, "However many I can get done before it's time to go home." He fumbled with getting the paper into the typewriter and gave a humorous 'BAH' before finally succeeding. At that point he beamed a successful grin at Daniel and then went about singly-finger typing his report.
"Is that before or after the meeting? I mean how many you'll get done. Or do you have to do it after the meeting, too?" Daniel asked.
He was anxious to just get the day done with. With the museum and the pizza place and burning his hand, he just wanted to go home and be by himself for a while.
That stream of questioning was enough to finally pull Jack away from his work and focus on Daniel. The kid looked worn out and yet had that special Danielesque frantic energy that Jack had become only too familiar with during their time working together.
"What's up, Danny, wanting to cut school early?" Jack quipped.
Daniel slowly looked up from his book. He shrugged and said, "We have the meeting and I don't want you to get in trouble for not getting your work done. You know, I can go in my office until the meeting. That way I don't bother you," Daniel said as he got up.
"Alrighty, but you're not bothering me," Jack said as he looked for the correct letter on the typewriter. He found it and jabbed his finger onto it, then went looking for the next letter on the typewriter.
Watching Jack slowly type the report made Daniel cringe. An idea popped into younger Daniel's mind and older Daniel immediately popped up and cautioned, 'Don't do it.' 'Why? Will I get in trouble?' the younger one asked. 'No,' was all older Daniel got out before young Daniel spoke out loud to Jack, "Hey Jack, I could type it for you. You just tell me what to put and I'll type it. We could leave quicker after the meeting?" he asked.
He figured if he did something for Jack it would keep him in the man's good graces, plus he could type faster and get them out of there sooner.
"Really?" Jack asked and looked up with an extremely eager look on his face. "You'd do that?" Daniel's offer came as a big surprise, and honestly Jack wasn't certain the teen wasn't just pulling his leg. Jack had many talents. Many talents! But typing was not one of them. Neither was doing paperwork or writing reports. But he could talk well enough, and if Daniel was willing to type out what he said… well, that just might work.
The look on Jack's face made Daniel smile. Yes this was exactly how to make Jack happy with him. "Sure Jack. You just tell me what to type and I'll type it up," Daniel said, his smile getting bigger. He put his book down on the couch and walked back over to Jack's desk.
"Thanks, Danny," Jack said warmly, hopping up from his chair so that Daniel could sit at the typewriter. He sat on the only free edge of his desk and then quipped, "You must be very bored to want to do this, eh?"
Daniel sat down and looked at Jack. Was that the right answer? He wasn't sure so instead he said, "You're not boring, I just want to do something nice for you so you don't get in trouble and you get a lot of your paperwork done."
Jack grinned and shrugged, "Well this is real nice, Daniel - but I won't get in trouble. The amount of files I've done today will make the General happy." He pursed his lips and gave that a thought, "I think. Won't be in trouble, I know that." He looked back at Daniel, "You can still get out of this, no hard feelings."
Daniel bit at his bottom lip as he contemplated Jack's words. "Well how about just this one? That hunting and pecking you do is gonna drive me crazy," Daniel admitted.
Jack feigned an insulted look at the quip about his typing, then quickly smiled so that Daniel would know he was joking. "Deal," he said.
Daniel was a little worried when he saw the look on Jack's face, but when the man smiled, Daniel relaxed. He turned to the typewriter, positioned his hands and looked at Jack. "Ready when you are," he said.
Jack flipped through the sparse notes in the folder one last time, set it down, and cracked his knuckles. He folded his arms and said, "It all started a long time ago in a galaxy way far from here, Danny Boy - ah, don't type that."
Daniel had put a fresh piece of paper in the typewriter and was ready to type when Jack started talking. He gave Jack a look when he heard what the man said. "Ha ha very funny," he said and gave Jack a smirk.
Jack's eyes shone with mirth as he regaled Daniel with the factual story needed for the report. He watched Daniel type easily, his fingers veritably flying over the typewriter with ease. It was impressive! "Look at you go, Danny," he said. "No wonder I was driving ya nuts with my typing."
Danny ducked his head slightly at the compliment and said, "Yeah well you'd drive anybody nuts with that typing of yours." He finished typing up the last thing Jack had said for the report, then looked at Jack again. "Is that it?" he asked.
Jack smirked at Daniel's jibe and then leaned forward to inspect the report. "Yup, that's it. All finished, thanks Danny." He looked at his watch, "Time for the meeting."
Daniel got up and stretched. "I just can't wait till we get to go home," he said, as he headed towards the door.
Jack was surprised Daniel wanted to leave for the day, considering how normally it was difficult just to get the kid to stop working long enough to eat a meal. …and to leave at the end of the day. …and the fact that Daniel was typically one of the first people on base in the morning, something not lost on and that often impressed Jack. If Daniel didn't want to be there, there was a good reason for it.
"We can duck out after the meeting," Jack said nonchalantly as they walked down the hall. He covertly kept giving Daniel the side eye, trying to determine if the kid was feeling alright or if anything were wrong.
After a moment, Jack asked in a soft, guilty voice, "Hand bothering ya?"
"Really?" Daniel asked happily. Daniel looked at his hand when Jack mentioned it and flexed it a little. He winced at the pain that coursed through his hand, he kept walking and didn't look at Jack as he said, "It's fine," he lied not wanting Jack to feel worse.
Jack caught the wince and internally kicked himself. The poor kid was being so brave. "We sure can," he said. "You wanna go do something after the meeting or head on home?"
Daniel stopped and looked at Jack. He began to try to work out in his head what it was Jack wanted him to say. 'He wants to do whatever you want' The older Daniel tried telling him. "We can do something if you want Jack," Daniel said, though the look on his face said he'd really rather go home and sleep.
Jack stopped and looked at the kid. He knew that look on Daniel's face so he shrugged and said, "Kinda tired, really. Might be nice to go home and barbecue. Look at the stars." Jack shrugged and started walking again, hoping he'd given Daniel enough of an out.
Daniel nodded. "That sounds great Jack," he said trying not to sound too thrilled about it. He was quiet for several minutes as they walked then asked quietly, "Do you think maybe I could have a beer tonight, too?" He kept his head down as he walked and didn't set his hopes too high on Jack saying yes to that.
Jack kept a smirk off his face at Daniel's enthusiasm and subsequent question. "I'd say there's a good chance," he said in regards to the beer. They reached the door for the conference room where they'd be having their meeting, and Jack turned and gave Daniel a quick wink before opening the door.
Daniel perked up a bit at Jack's answer and gave him a small smile as they entered the conference room.
Sam was already there and stood when Jack and Daniel entered the room. "Colonel O'Neil," she said and saluted Jack. "Hey Danny, how you doin'?" she asked casting a glance at his hand.
"I'm fine," Daniel said not wanting to draw attention to his injury.
Jack caught Daniel's reaction, and gave a nod at Sam and a humorous salute to General Hammond who was sitting at the head of the table. "Bet he'd be even finer if we could figure out why he's so sleepy lately," he said good-naturedly, patted Daniel on the back and then took a seat.
Teal'c walked in and gave his normal respectful nod, and took his usual seat in his typical silence.
"Alrighty, looks like we're all here," Jack said and then looked at the General expectantly. "So, Ganthas…"
General Hammond looked at Daniel when he sat down and noticed the bandaged hand. He tried to make light of the injury as he asked, "What happened Daniel? Jack spilling that coffee of his again?"
Daniel cast a side glance at Jack, then shook his head. "No sir, I spilled my own coffee on myself. I'm fine." He went quiet after that.
General Hammond raised an eyebrow at that, then looked at Jack. "We're still working on making contact with the Ganthas. We haven't been able to establish contact yet."
"Yeah, probably busy with plenty of snooty things," Jack griped. He glanced at Daniel and took a deep breath, he felt over protective of his archeologist anyways and had become even moreso after the change. The fact that Daniel had just lied - to the General - in attempt to protect him made Jack even more desperate to get the answers Daniel wanted. "Well, let's get everything we want to know set out now for whenever we can get ahold of them. ….and when are we going to be trying to get ahold of them again, sir? Danny's handling all this like a champ, but he deserves answers."
Daniel saw the looks he received from both Jack and the General and sunk slightly in his seat. He just wanted to get through the rest of the day without causing any more trouble. He caused trouble at the museum, he had caused Jack to have to take him to the clinic to get his hand wrapped cause he wasn't paying attention to where Jack was. He just wanted to go home so he could hide out for the rest of the night in his room with Quart. Hopefully, Jack wouldn't see Quart before Daniel could hide him again.
General Hammond gave Jack a nod and said, "That sounds like a plan. So we want to know if the aging process can be reversed and if Daniel's sleepiness is a side affect from being de-aged. Is there anything else any of you would like to know?"
Daniel kept his head down and shook it slightly. He didn't want to keep bothering everyone with his questions, not that he had anymore at the moment.
Sam shook he head as well, then said, "Maybe we could write stuff down though, if we think of something to ask."
"I'll leave that to you, Carter," Jack said brightly, then shot an approval-seeking look at General Hammond, "y'know, in case Danny and I aren't on base whenever the Ganthas decide to answer their phone."
"Of course sir," Sam said as she produced a pad of paper and a pen seemingly out of nowhere. She began to scribble down the two things that they wanted to know and tucked it away again.
The General nodded in Jack's direction as he looked at Daniel. The boy seemed down trodden and almost upset. "You alright there son?" he asked Daniel.
Daniel didn't bother looking up as he nodded.
Jack reached over and ruffled Daniel's hair. "Brave even as a teen," Jack said proudly. "But ya know, Daniel, being brave doesn't mean not talking. …if you wanted to. If not, that's alright, too. But it can help - and we're all here for ya."
Seeing everyone staring at him, made Daniel squirm. "I'm fine!" He shouted, his eyes widened, when he realized he had just shouted at Jack and the General. He flew out of his seat and was ready to bolt out the door once more.
Sam quickly grabbed Daniel's wrist and said with a gentle smile, "Danny , it's ok. Having everyone asking you and telling you the same thing over and over is frustrating, isn't it?"
Daniel ducked his head, his cheeks red as he nodded. He continued to stand there, unsure if he should or wanted to return to his seat.
Jack had been about to yell and to show his displeasure on the seat of Daniel's pants, but Sam's actions brought him up short. It was in that moment that Jack realized the enormity of Daniel's feelings and how out of his league he really was in dealing with all of what Daniel was going through.
Charlie, Jack's son, never reached his teen years. The thought put a lump in Jack's throat. He had no experience other than his own teen years, and that was quite a long time ago, and was from a different vantage point. Jack briefly put his head in his hands, feeling like he was failing as a father all over again. He couldn't take it if he did fail this time.
But, internally berating himself wasn't going to help things, and so Jack scrubbed a hand over his face and bit down on the fear and pain welling inside him and focused on smoothing any feathers that may have been ruffled by Daniel's outburst.
"I think we're all stretched real thin right now," he said, and looked at the General, "and for good reason. I wonder if it'd be alright if Daniel and I went home for the day? We could really use some down time, sir."
General Hammond had been wondering how long it was going to be before Daniel burst. He'd seen the signs when he and Jack had walked in. He watched everyone to see how the matter would get settled and nodded to himself several times as things played out how he thought they would.
"I think that would be alright. How about you young man? Does that sound alright to you?" General Hammond asked, wondering how Daniel would act.
Sam released Daniel's hand and gave him a nod.
"Yes sir. Thank you and I'm sorry I shouted like that sir, it's just that, everyone keeps telling me it's ok or asks how I'm doing. They keep telling me how great I'm doing and that they're working on a solution. Sir, I know everyone is working on a solution, but sometimes I just want to scream and yell and cuss about the whole dang situation," Daniel said not daring to cuss just yet and wiping furiously at the frustrated tears forming.
"I can imagine so," General Hammond said kindly and honestly. "Take all the time you need, gentleman, but keep me informed," he said, looking to Jack at that last part. "Dismissed."
Jack gave the General a small smile as he saluted, then he stood and turned to Daniel.
"Wanna get going?" Jack asked.
Daniel nodded. "Yeah, " he said. He was more than ready to get going.
Sam reached over and gave Danny's hand a squeeze. "I'll see you guys tomorrow?" She made it a question, not knowing if they were coming in tomorrow.
Jack shrugged in answer, though he was thankful he had her phone number. He might need it if things kept going for the worse today.
"Alright buddy," Jack said, keen on letting Daniel know he wasn't in any trouble. "Let's head out." In his mind, if someone got spanked every time they yelled in a meeting, he himself would likely never sit comfortably.
Sam nodded at Jack and rose up to leave as well.
Daniel calmed slightly at Jack's words, but there was still that voice in the back of his head that said, "It's a trick. Just wait till you get home, you'll see." Daniel began to worry his bottom lip slightly waiting for the other older voice that usually calmed him. He didn't hear it this time and he began to worry his bottom lip even more as he left the room.
Jack saw the worried look on Daniel's face, as well as the fact that Daniel was going to chew his lip raw if he wasn't careful, and ruffled the little archeologist's hair then patted him on the back.
He walked to the elevator not saying anything, because he wasn't sure exactly what would set Daniel off. Take on a team of angry Jaffa single-handedly? Sure, Jack could handle that without much of a sweat. Delicately balance the moods of an upset and clearly abused teenager? …well, that particular talent wasn't yet in his wheelhouse. But Jack was confident he'd get the hang of it. Mainly because he had to, and Jack was all about succeeding in situations where his back was up against the wall.
He playfully punched the button to the elevator and then bounced on his heels while they waited.
Daniel flinched slightly at the touch and then followed Jack to the elevator. The fact Jack wasn't saying anything, made Daniel shudder. He kept worrying his lip until he tasted the metallic tang of blood. He then began to suck on his lip trying to stop the bleeding.
He regarded Jack as the man bounced in the elevator. Daniel sucked his bottom lip a couple more seconds then, not tasting any blood, asked, "Why are you bouncing?"
Jack stopped bouncing on his heels. He glanced over at Daniel playfully and shrugged, a little embarrassed that his nerves were showing.
But then he saw a thin red line on Daniel's bottom lip, and realized the kid had bitten through.
"We can get you one of those squeeze balloons on the way home if ya like," he said. "They sell'em at the gas station. That way way you get your nerves out while building muscle instead of busting your lip," he started bouncing on his heels again. "Or you can always use my method. Apparently it's also good at confusing the people around you," he smiled conspiratorially.
Daniel smiled slightly at Jack's response. He rubbed lightly at his lip, winced then said, "I - I guess we could get the balloon."
Watching Jack begin to bounce again. Had Daniel shaking his head and smiling slightly.
Jack beamed at Daniel, and walked out of the elevator happily when the door opened.
Daniel smiled slightly at Jack's response. He rubbed lightly at his lip, winced then said, "I - I guess we could get the balloon."
Watching Jack begin to bounce again had Daniel shaking his head and smiling slightly.
"You got it, one balloon coming up," Jack said as they walked towards the parking lot. "But would you rather go home and get it later or get it now? I know you were pretty keen on getting home," Jack said.
Daniel didn't think twice and said, "Home, please."
"You got it," Jack said pleasantly as they walked to his truck. He got in and started it up and headed towards home. Traffic was light, and Jack quietly hummed to himself as he drove.
Daniel lay against the window and listened to Jack hum. He felt calmer and was surprised that the little negative voice stayed away this time.