Author's Note: I'm getting better…
Jack stepped out of the tent that he and Daniel were now sharing and approached a friendly-looking campfire. Not without warrant, Daniel had been more than a little confused when the colonel appeared at the site, but the initial shock had worn off, and he was now, Jack imagined, back to crawling around in the dirt looking for whatever it was that he always looked for.
While Jack hadn't exactly explained why he had come, he had to admit, if only to himself, that he didn't particularly want to be alone over the holidays, and so had come in search of Daniel. Even though he might be bored out of his mind, being with a friend and being bored was much preferable to being alone and bored. Daniel of course, suspected this, but he himself seemed a little more at ease since Jack had arrived, so it seemed that it had turned out well for both of them.
"Mr. O'Neill." Jack pulled his gaze from the orange glow of the fire as a french-accented voice came from the vicinity of another tent, to his side.
He smiled as the diminutive woman, probably only a few years older than himself, approached. "Ms. LaVoie."
Bernadette returned the smile and took a seat in a folding canvas chair, indicating with a hand that Jack should do the same. "Please, call me Bernadette."
Jack complied and took the chair next to her, leaning back comfortably. He waited, allowing her to be the first to speak.
"You've known Daniel for some time, have you?" Bernadette once again resorted to weighted questions, and Jack immediately recognized it as more than just small talk.
"Couple years now, anyway." He answered.
"And you work together?"
"We do."
"You and Daniel have been rather clever about avoiding the question." The woman leaned back comfortably in her own chair as she realized he was onto her ruse.
"What question would that be, ma'am?" Jack plastered on the most innocent-looking face he could muster, which of course, wasn't terribly convincing. The question itself was practically oozing with sarcasm, much like almost everything else he said.
"What is it exactly that you do?" Bernadette still attempted disinterest, staring at the fire instead of the man next to her, as she very much wanted to do, hoping to catch some flicker in his eyes or some other thing that might give him and Daniel away.
Jack narrowed his eyes and leaned toward her, lowering his voice. "We work with –"
"Yes?" She couldn't help herself any longer; Bernadette turned to face O'Neill eagerly.
"Magnets." He stated, leaning back and resuming his normal tone of voice.
"Magnets." The older woman re-stated, letting out the breath she'd been holding.
"Yup." Jack nodded self-satisfactorily. "Great, big ones." He held out his hands wildly, indicating size.
Bernadette leaned in closer, eyeing him critically, hoping it would be enough to break him, though seriously doubting it. "Daniel works with magnets?"
"You bet."
"Alright." She also resumed her reclined position, mentally switching tactics and berating herself a bit for being caught so easily. "You're not going to tell me. It's fine." The gears in her brain had shifted. "You have to understand, Mr. O'Neill, we haven't heard anything about Daniel in years." Bernadette casually turned her head toward him. "As a matter of fact, last we had heard, he was dead. You can imagine our surprise when Kurt told us he'd gotten a call from a dead man." She softened her voice. "But is he – doing well?"
"Well, he's definitely not dead." Jack replied easily enough.
Suddenly, Bernadette found herself not caring about their little game anymore. "Mr. O'Neill, please." She'd noticed the subtle, but significant changes in Daniel, and she now realized that this man, his friend, was her way back into the young man's life… to know what it was that made him look like he was now under the strain of carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. "I see you make jokes and avoid serious discussion, but I know Daniel." She sighed, "At least I used to, and quite well. He values your friendship and he trusts you with that same friendship. That doesn't come easily with him." Jack faced her before she continued. "If he's let you in, you must have something special."
He turned back to the fire, something other than flippancy in his eyes and voice. "Truth be told, I probably don't deserve that level of trust."
Bernadette sighed again. "He does tend to see the best in people, doesn't he?"
"Gotta love that damn naiveté." The offhanded tone was back, but not like before; it was laced with something much like sadness.
"And he's happy?"
"Yeah… sure." Jack paused and tried his best to regain his composure, but found he couldn't quite bring it back around. He let his own sigh escape before answering cryptically. "He's lost a lot." He turned back to Bernadette and grinned; no matter how much she cared for their mutual friend, he wasn't going to give away the store. "No one comes back from death quite like Daniel, though." Jack found it quite ironic that telling this woman something so near the truth that she obviously wanted was exactly what would put her off.
"Right." Bernadette clipped the word, but tried not to be terribly frustrated: apparently, this man and Daniel had their reasons for their secrets. "Well, good night, Mr. O'Neill."
Jack watched her head back to her tent.
Author's Note: It's very important to me that I get the character personalities right: especially SG1, since their characters are already so established. I want to stay true to that, so review and specifically address whether you think I've erred in that regard – it's extraordinarily helpful. I'm a little worried about making Jack and Daniel into caricatures, putting too much emphasis on one certain trait or characteristic. Again, please let me know.