Title: The Things You Write When You're Dying
Season: After Season 7
Spoilers: Lost City, Divide and Conquer possible season 8 spoilers as in
rumours ect.
Pairings: S/J
Summary: Daniel translates documents Jack wrote whilst under the influence
of the Knowledge of the Ancients, but not all of them are what he expects.
Daniel's POV.
This chapter: Jack's back (don't ask how!) and he's wondering about the fate of a certain letter....
A/N: This is the end people. I've completed my first ever fic! I may do a sorta sequel to explore what was written in the other documents but we'll see. Please R/R. And if anybody can think of better chapter titles please let me know.
Once again, I found myself sitting in my lab translating the documents left behind by Jack. But there was no urgency to the task now and no guilt when I was fascinated by facts that could not help save him. After all, he was back, he was safe, he was...almost fine! He was suffering from a few side effects, but the Asguard had informed us he was doing remarkably well. They had feared that they may not have been able to fully restore him, but now they felt given time he would be 99% back to normal.
I wondered what the 1% difference would be, and hoped he'd loose his ability to find embarrassing nick names for me.
However for the moment he was prone to funny patches of remembering and forgetting things, finding himself doing things and not knowing why, and staring at things in fascination for long, long, long periods of time. He'd spent one lunch time entertained by an apple, but the funniest example by far was when he had spent 2 hours straight staring at Sam in her lab. Mind you, I was suspicious that that may not all be down to "side effects". She had told me she was too relieved to have him back to care about it, but I was also suspicious of that because when I had walked in, she'd been grinning right back at him.
But otherwise he was Col. Jack O'Neill, soon to be General once he was fully recovered. He didn't know that yet and was probably the only one on base that didn't. In fact it looked like he may seriously be considering retirement again. But until he fully got his memory he wasn't going anywhere, much to his annoyance.
"Hey Daniel!" he walked in. "Wanna go fishing?"
I smiled, "Asked Sam yet?"
"Yeah," He replied staring moodily at the floor. "She just reminded me of the fact I'm not allowed to leave the base until the Asguard give me a check up in a week and see if they can get rid of the very minor problems I've been experiencing. Apparently they think they have the answer, but y'know I reckon I'm fine."
"Ok, firstly yesterday you spent 15 minutes talking to General Hammond like you'd never met him, so fine you are not, and secondly if Sam told you that you're not able to leave the base why did you come and ask me?"
"Thought maybe you'd forget," He replied.
Just then the phone rang, making him jump slightly.
"Dr. Jackson," I answered. It was Sam on the other end.
"Is the Colonel there with you?" She asked me.
"Yeah, you wanna talk to him?"
"No, just trying to keep tabs on him. I'm afraid he'll sneak off the base. I swear some of the time it's like trying to look after a two year old with special ops training."
"Isn't he sometimes like that anyway?"
She giggled at the other end.
"Make sure you keep him there!" she said, before hanging up.
I turned to see Jack flicking through the papers he had written himself a few months beforehand.
"That was Carter checking up on me I suppose," he said, as he stared at one particular bundle of pages.
"She was concerned you may have escaped," I said in reply.
"Honestly you'd think she was my mother or something. Aren't I supposed to keep an eye on her and order her around and stuff?"
"She's just worried about you."
But Jack wasn't listening anymore. He was staring at 3 pages of Ancient text, a look of realisation slowly dawning on his face. I knew from here he was holding the letter that he wrote to Sam.
"I'm not dead," He mumbled to himself.
"That's right Jack, well done!" I said sarcastically. He shot me a look.
"Umm, do you know what this is?" He asked, waving the papers in the air.
"Yes, it's a letter you wrote to Sam," I replied, he opened his mouth to speak more but anticipating his next question I cut him off, "Yes I do know what's in it, however you and I would be the only ones who do. Though Teal'c knows of its existence."
He considered this for a moment, "So Carter hasn't seen this?"
I nodded in confirmation. He looked visibly relieved, but still thoughtful. I decided to tell him the whole story, couldn't hurt could it?
"I did actually give her the choice," I began.
"Sorry?"
"I gave her the choice, about whether to read it or not. I had to lie slightly, told her that looking over the first paragraph it was a letter for her from you, but it was meant to be after you were dead, and as so many people have pointed out, including yourself, you were not dead. I told her I would translate it if she wanted me to."
"But she said no?"
"Yes."
"Oh," He said.
Sam had told me the reasons why she didn't want to read the letter, and I was now quickly debating whether it would be breaking any trust to tell Jack them. Oh what the hell why not?
"She said that she would have loved to read the letter, but it would have been like giving up hope, acknowledging that she might not be able to get you back. She said she wasn't going to do that, and that she hoped that maybe one day you'd tell her yourself what was written in there. She thought that holding onto that belief was much better for her then reading the letter itself."
He was looking carefully at the floor. The expression on his face reminded me of Sam's those weeks before when I had first told her about the letter.
"Oh right," He said eventually.
"That's also the only copy; I deleted my translated version," I told him.
He folded it up and put it in his pocket and started staring at the ceiling, "I...um...thanks Daniel."
"What for?"
"Not entirely sure, I guess, how you handled the whole situation was pretty good," He shrugged.
"Teal'c actually came up with the idea to give her the choice," I informed him.
"Oh, well, I'll thank him to later. And you know, thanks for telling me why she didn't want to read it," He said looking extremely uncomfortable. "I guess I'll see you later."
He turned to leave. I knew that this was none of my business, and Sam should tell him, but I couldn't help myself.
"By the way, whilst you were all frozen, she and Pete broke up."
"Really," he said, I could see how much effort it was taking for him not to actually smile. "Is she ok?"
"Oh yeah, probably why she hasn't mentioned it to you yet, didn't take long for her to get over him," I said, just slightly exaggerating.
"Really?" Said Jack, now genuinely looking interested. He snapped out of it, "Anyway, yeah, should be off."
"Where you off to?"
"Think I'll stop by and y'know, see Carter, bring her something to eat," He said all this as he backed out of the door, trying not to hurry. "Blue Jell-O is her favourite right?"
I grinned and nodded.
The End!
Now REVIEW!
This chapter: Jack's back (don't ask how!) and he's wondering about the fate of a certain letter....
A/N: This is the end people. I've completed my first ever fic! I may do a sorta sequel to explore what was written in the other documents but we'll see. Please R/R. And if anybody can think of better chapter titles please let me know.
Once again, I found myself sitting in my lab translating the documents left behind by Jack. But there was no urgency to the task now and no guilt when I was fascinated by facts that could not help save him. After all, he was back, he was safe, he was...almost fine! He was suffering from a few side effects, but the Asguard had informed us he was doing remarkably well. They had feared that they may not have been able to fully restore him, but now they felt given time he would be 99% back to normal.
I wondered what the 1% difference would be, and hoped he'd loose his ability to find embarrassing nick names for me.
However for the moment he was prone to funny patches of remembering and forgetting things, finding himself doing things and not knowing why, and staring at things in fascination for long, long, long periods of time. He'd spent one lunch time entertained by an apple, but the funniest example by far was when he had spent 2 hours straight staring at Sam in her lab. Mind you, I was suspicious that that may not all be down to "side effects". She had told me she was too relieved to have him back to care about it, but I was also suspicious of that because when I had walked in, she'd been grinning right back at him.
But otherwise he was Col. Jack O'Neill, soon to be General once he was fully recovered. He didn't know that yet and was probably the only one on base that didn't. In fact it looked like he may seriously be considering retirement again. But until he fully got his memory he wasn't going anywhere, much to his annoyance.
"Hey Daniel!" he walked in. "Wanna go fishing?"
I smiled, "Asked Sam yet?"
"Yeah," He replied staring moodily at the floor. "She just reminded me of the fact I'm not allowed to leave the base until the Asguard give me a check up in a week and see if they can get rid of the very minor problems I've been experiencing. Apparently they think they have the answer, but y'know I reckon I'm fine."
"Ok, firstly yesterday you spent 15 minutes talking to General Hammond like you'd never met him, so fine you are not, and secondly if Sam told you that you're not able to leave the base why did you come and ask me?"
"Thought maybe you'd forget," He replied.
Just then the phone rang, making him jump slightly.
"Dr. Jackson," I answered. It was Sam on the other end.
"Is the Colonel there with you?" She asked me.
"Yeah, you wanna talk to him?"
"No, just trying to keep tabs on him. I'm afraid he'll sneak off the base. I swear some of the time it's like trying to look after a two year old with special ops training."
"Isn't he sometimes like that anyway?"
She giggled at the other end.
"Make sure you keep him there!" she said, before hanging up.
I turned to see Jack flicking through the papers he had written himself a few months beforehand.
"That was Carter checking up on me I suppose," he said, as he stared at one particular bundle of pages.
"She was concerned you may have escaped," I said in reply.
"Honestly you'd think she was my mother or something. Aren't I supposed to keep an eye on her and order her around and stuff?"
"She's just worried about you."
But Jack wasn't listening anymore. He was staring at 3 pages of Ancient text, a look of realisation slowly dawning on his face. I knew from here he was holding the letter that he wrote to Sam.
"I'm not dead," He mumbled to himself.
"That's right Jack, well done!" I said sarcastically. He shot me a look.
"Umm, do you know what this is?" He asked, waving the papers in the air.
"Yes, it's a letter you wrote to Sam," I replied, he opened his mouth to speak more but anticipating his next question I cut him off, "Yes I do know what's in it, however you and I would be the only ones who do. Though Teal'c knows of its existence."
He considered this for a moment, "So Carter hasn't seen this?"
I nodded in confirmation. He looked visibly relieved, but still thoughtful. I decided to tell him the whole story, couldn't hurt could it?
"I did actually give her the choice," I began.
"Sorry?"
"I gave her the choice, about whether to read it or not. I had to lie slightly, told her that looking over the first paragraph it was a letter for her from you, but it was meant to be after you were dead, and as so many people have pointed out, including yourself, you were not dead. I told her I would translate it if she wanted me to."
"But she said no?"
"Yes."
"Oh," He said.
Sam had told me the reasons why she didn't want to read the letter, and I was now quickly debating whether it would be breaking any trust to tell Jack them. Oh what the hell why not?
"She said that she would have loved to read the letter, but it would have been like giving up hope, acknowledging that she might not be able to get you back. She said she wasn't going to do that, and that she hoped that maybe one day you'd tell her yourself what was written in there. She thought that holding onto that belief was much better for her then reading the letter itself."
He was looking carefully at the floor. The expression on his face reminded me of Sam's those weeks before when I had first told her about the letter.
"Oh right," He said eventually.
"That's also the only copy; I deleted my translated version," I told him.
He folded it up and put it in his pocket and started staring at the ceiling, "I...um...thanks Daniel."
"What for?"
"Not entirely sure, I guess, how you handled the whole situation was pretty good," He shrugged.
"Teal'c actually came up with the idea to give her the choice," I informed him.
"Oh, well, I'll thank him to later. And you know, thanks for telling me why she didn't want to read it," He said looking extremely uncomfortable. "I guess I'll see you later."
He turned to leave. I knew that this was none of my business, and Sam should tell him, but I couldn't help myself.
"By the way, whilst you were all frozen, she and Pete broke up."
"Really," he said, I could see how much effort it was taking for him not to actually smile. "Is she ok?"
"Oh yeah, probably why she hasn't mentioned it to you yet, didn't take long for her to get over him," I said, just slightly exaggerating.
"Really?" Said Jack, now genuinely looking interested. He snapped out of it, "Anyway, yeah, should be off."
"Where you off to?"
"Think I'll stop by and y'know, see Carter, bring her something to eat," He said all this as he backed out of the door, trying not to hurry. "Blue Jell-O is her favourite right?"
I grinned and nodded.
The End!
Now REVIEW!