Author Website: http:orrymain. Category: Slash, Humor, Romance, Established Relationship Pairing: Jack/Daniel ... and it's all J/D Rating: PG-13 Season: 7 - May 16, 2004 Spoilers: None Size: 18kb, ficlet Written: January 23, February 9,11,23, 2005 Summary: Katie takes a liking to Daniel's favorite bandana!
Disclaimer: Usual disclaimers - not mine, wish they were, especially Daniel, and Jack, too, but they aren't. A gal can dream though!
Notes: 1) Silent, unspoken thoughts by various characters are indicated with in front and behind them, such as Where am I
2) This fic stands alone, but it does reference my other fics, "Unspoken Fears" and "Daniel Meets His Match" 3) Thanks to my betas who always make my fics better: QuinGem, Claudia, Linda, Kat, Pepi!
Katie and the Bandana by Orrymain
"I swear, Jack, if I have to translate one more hieroglyph, I may scream."
Jack stopped his forward momentum and went to one of the phones in the corridor of the SGC. Picking it up, he pretended to dial.
"Code Red: someone is impersonating Doctor Daniel Jackson."
"Very funny," Daniel responded dryly.
Jack returned the phone to its hook and laughed.
"You have to admit that's something no one ever thought they'd hear you say."
"I was exaggerating, O'Neill. Geez." He heard Jack chuckle as the two continued towards the elevator. "For days, I've been studying those photographs of the pillar on PR9-819 that SG-13 brought back. I know it's not true, but I feel like I've been stuck in my office for a month."
"That's because you bury yourself in your office when you get wrapped up in something."
"And there have been so many distractions, here and ... at home, lately," he said softly.
Jack made a covert glance of the area and observed that no one was around. Then he placed his hand on Daniel's back and rubbed gently for a moment. Daniel turned his face to look at his husband. His mouthed curved upwards into a closed smile as Jack's eyes bore into his with love and understanding.
The couple had just endured a traumatic few days when Daniel's nightmares had escalated to new heights, his fear of losing everything he loved consuming him during that time. They had finally figured out that it was due in great part to the alien drug that was still in his system after having been abducted earlier in the year.
"Life is never boring," Jack stated matter-of-factly.
"That's for sure," Daniel said lightly, adding, "and at least I finally made some progress."
"You always do," Jack said confidently.
The translation had proven to be a difficult task, but after a breakthrough yesterday, Daniel had finally solved the puzzle, so now, the lovers had the weekend to themselves.
As they approached their vehicles in the parking lot, Jack asked, "Want to do anything special tonight?"
"Nothing I can admit to here," he answered, winking at his husband, and then getting into his racy sports car.
Geez, I love him.
Jack climbed into his truck and followed his husband home, eager to start their weekend together.
Daniel paced the living room, something he'd been doing almost from the moment they arrived home two hours ago.
"Danny, relax."
"Jack, I feel like I've been in prison. I mean, I've been staring at nothing but those gray walls and black and white photos. I need air."
Jack stood from his spot on the sofa and walked to Daniel who was by the fish tank. He put his hands on his lover's upper arms to still Daniel's movements. The older man was concerned. Not only had they just survived Daniel's recent spat of nightmares, but his soulmate had been a little antsy, off and on, for a couple of months. It wasn't anything regular, but Daniel's behavior sometimes shifted dramatically from his norm. Jack was afraid this was one of those times, and he wanted his lover to simply relax for a while.
"I've got an idea."
"I hope it's a good one."
"You're wired, and you're very tired, so why don't we make this an early night. I'll give you one of those special O'Neill family rubdowns."
"Mmm," Daniel moaned in happy contemplation of Jack's hands running all over his body. "I'd like that."
"Your wish is my command, Angel, and then tomorrow, we can get up early and do the spring cleaning."
Daniel laughed, "You mean for once in our lives we'll actually clean in the spring and not in the summer?"
Jack chuckled as well. Normally, they put off the chores until summer had already arrived when they simply couldn't avoid it anymore.
"Which means we'll be ahead of schedule this year."
"What will we do when summer arrives?" Daniel asked, teasingly.
"Relax!" Jack answered with a smile.
The younger man sighed happily as he said, "The sun; air against my skin. It sounds wonderful."
Jack took his lover into his arms and held him.
"I thought you were used to spending weeks in the dark," Jack said.
"It's ... different now."
Jack's soul smiled. He'd helped make that change, a change wherein Daniel no longer was content to live his life in books and holes, digging for artifacts. His lover had discovered the sunshine, and for Daniel, that meant Jack O'Neill.
Make that Jackson-O'Neill, Jack thought happily.
After having a pleasant, but late, dinner and then taking their beagles, Bijou and Katie, for a walk, Jack and Daniel settled in on the roof deck. Daniel was still too fidgety to snuggle in bed, so they decided to enjoy some cheese and crackers, along with beer, under the stars.
"Jack, wine goes with cheese and crackers, not beer," Daniel had whined when Jack grabbed the beer.
"Beer goes with anything, Dannyboy," Jack had responded in his best Irish accent, causing Daniel to smile.
Jack's Irish brogue was almost as sexy as his Irish smile, and both turned Daniel into Jell-O.
"Woof!"
"Did you hear something?" Jack asked only ten minutes after they had settled in against the wall, their shoulders touching.
"Woooooof!"
Daniel stood up and walked to the railing. He looked down and saw Bijou and Katie, both standing and looking up at the roof.
"Woooooof! Woof! Woof!" both dogs said.
Daniel looked at Jack.
"Jack ..."
"Oh, for crying out loud. They're spoiled rotten."
"Fine, you tell them," Daniel said, folding his arms and backing away from the railing.
Jack got up, intending to quiet the two demanding dogs.
"Listen up, you mutts, you ..."
"Woooooooooooof! Wooooooooooooof!"
"Oh, for ..." Raising an eyebrow, Daniel stared at Jack. Jack grunted. He plodded over to the food stash and packed it up. He moved to the ladder and made a sweeping motion with his left arm. "After you."
Daniel chuckled, said, "Thank you," and climbed down. He was immediately greeted by the beagles. "Lonesome?"
"Woof!" both girls answered.
"Okay, how about we have a picnic on the lawn?"
"This is so insane," Jack muttered as he sat down in the middle of the lawn a minute later.
"Woof!" Bijou said, immediately jumping on Jack and besieging him with a slew of kisses.
Jack laughed, "Oh, okay, I love you, too. Mutts!"
Daniel picked up Katie and began petting her. He watched Jack playing with Bijou.
"I said it before, but ... this is it, Jack. You, this house, the girls. I'm just ... gawd, I'm happy. I don't want to spend my life in tombs. I want it to be part of my life, not all of it."
"I love you, Angel."
"That means everything, along with this, of course," Daniel said, smiling as Katie licked his hand. "Oh, and I love you, too, my Silver Fox," Daniel added just before passionately kissing his everything.
Early the next morning, Jack was cooking breakfast while Daniel was taking a shower and getting dressed. As he so often did, the older man had let his husband sleep in a little longer.
When Daniel walked out of the bathroom, he had a towel wrapped around his waist.
"Hey, Girl," he said with a smile, seeing Katie lying on their bed. He sat down by her for a moment, petting her belly when she rolled over. "We have a birthday coming up. You want anything special?"
"Woof!" she barked.
He stood up and selected his attire of the day, lying it out on the bed.
"Woof," Katie said again, rubbing her ears against the bandana he'd just laid out.
"Hey, that's mine," Daniel proclaimed. "Jack gave this to me a couple of years ago, and it's super soft. Katie ..."
Katie rolled over, wriggling her entire body over the bandana.
"Katie!"
"Woogrrroooof!" she retaliated as he pulled the bandana out from underneath her.
"Sorry, Girl, this is not one of your toys. Besides, what would you do with a bandana? You wouldn't be able to see."
Katie stared at him, then hopped off the bed, and ran downstairs.
"Oooookay."
Fifteen minutes later, the lovers were enjoying their breakfast at the table.
"Danny," Jack said as he held a spoonful of oatmeal in his hand.
"What?" the archaeologist responded and then ate a bite of his waffles.
"Did you and Katie have a little disagreement?"
"Katie? No, why?"
"She's staring at you."
Daniel twisted his body around and saw the beagle in question lying on the carpet, her eyes intensely focused on Daniel.
"Hey there," Daniel said.
"Wogrrrooof!" Katie said in a sulking tone before she got up and ran through the dog door.
A confused Daniel looked at his husband and shrugged.
"Maybe she's just having a bad day," Jack said.
"Maybe."
The couple began their outdoor tasks shortly after nine-thirty in the morning. They had many chores to accomplish: putting a new lock on the gate, trimming the hedges, pulling weeds, mowing the lawn, washing the windows, patching one section of the fence that had a few boards repeatedly coming loose, cleaning the outdoor furniture as well as the barbecue grill and equipment, and hosing down and cleaning away twigs, dirt, and other debris that had lodged between the boards of the patio porch.
It was late in the afternoon, an extremely warm day for Colorado Springs as the thermometer hit eighty degrees. They had worked hard, non-stop, since the morning, only taking a few minutes for a snack at noontime. At the moment, Jack was cleaning the grill while Daniel was finishing up the weed pulling.
Sweat was running down the archaeologist's face. He paused, moving his body upright as he sat on his lower legs. He released a breath and ran the back of his right hand across his forehead.
Gawd, it's hot.
Trying to relieve the warmth, he took off his bandana, placing it on the ground to his right. He took a swig out of his water bottle and then leaned forward to continue his work.
A few minutes later, he sensed movement. Slowly, he turned his head, just in time to see Katie slink in alongside him, snatch the bandana, and take off.
"KATIE, PUT THAT DOWN!"
Daniel got up and began to chase the beagle. Jack was about to look up when Katie ran right through his legs. Shocked, he finally looked up and got out "Daniel, wha..." when he felt his husband breeze by him with, what Jack hoped, was more force than anticipated. Jack lost his balance and wobbled for several steps before landing on his butt on the lawn, his cleaning material falling out of his hand.
"Oh, for ... what is going on?"
"She has ... she's got ... KATIE, PUT THAT DOWN ... NOW!"
Bijou awoke from her nap, running out of the large doghouse Jack had built for the beagles. Seeing all the action, she began to chase Daniel as he chased Katie, the three of them zigzagging all across the yard.
Katie was growling lightly, Bijou was barking, and Daniel was yelling. Jack was laughing as he watched from his spot on the lawn.
"I'm gonna get you, Katie," Daniel threatened as he was half hunched over, staring her down in a face off.
The young beagle had a firm grip on the bandana, but was growling through her teeth. Her tail was wagging furiously. She pranced to her right, then to the left, and again to her right. Each moved was checked by Daniel. Bijou ran over to Jack and sat in his lap. She barked, urging Katie on.
"Hey, don't let Danny hear you," he said as he rubbed her ears.
With a loud growl, Katie burst forward, running through Daniel's legs as she had done with Jack's earlier.
"MISS KATIE JACKSON-O'NEILL, YOU STOP RIGHT WHERE YOU ARE!" Daniel yelled.
"Wooooooooof," slightly muffled by the bandana in her mouth, was her only response as she ducked behind a bush.
Daniel pulled back the bushes, but Katie backed away closer to the fence. She shook her head violently, the bandana flapping against the bushes and the fence. Daniel panicked, seeing it catch on a sharp edge of the bush. He tried to reach for it, but Katie tugged at it, beating Daniel to it. The bandana snapped back, and Katie moved backwards behind an even thicker bush.
Just then, Daniel heard snickering.
"And what are you laughing at?" he asked accusingly but without shifting his position.
"Nothing, Babe. Not a thing!"
Daniel extricated himself from the bushes and glared at his husband. He walked quickly to him.
"You should be doing something, Jack. This is so not funny. Look at you, just sitting there, playing with Bij, while Katie is making mince meat out of my favorite bandana."
"No," Jack said calmly with a smirky smile on his face.
"No? NO WHAT?"
"No, Love, she's not making mince meat out of it."
"It was a FREAKIN' FIGURE OF SPEECH."
"I just wanted to be accurate."
"Fine, she's absconded with my bandana and is hiding behind a bush with it. Is that accurate enough for you, Jack?"
"Uh, no." Jack saw the glare. "You're wrong."
"What are you talking about?"
"She's not hiding, Danny."
"She's not?"
"She's burying it."
"She's ..." In horror, Daniel turned around and saw the beagle filling up a hole in her play yard, a play yard muddied due to their cleaning and watering efforts earlier that very day. "No, not my favorite bandana."
"Woof!" Katie said victoriously, sitting down, her tail wagging wildly.
"Katie ..."
Daniel was beside himself, having no words left except for the youngest beagle's name.
Jack scooted Bijou off his lap and rose to go join his lover. "Katie, give Danny back his bandana," he instructed.
"Grrrrrr ..."
"Katie, now please," Jack spoke seriously, causing Daniel to look at him with murderous eyes.
"Right, Jack, like she's ..." Daniel stopped, seeing Jack's once-again smirky smile. "No?"
"Yes."
Daniel looked over as Katie cleaned out the freshly filled hole. She retrieved the bandana and carried it to Daniel, dropping it at his feet.
"Good girl, Katie," Jack exclaimed, earning him another look of 'alone on the sofa tonight' from his spouse. "Well, she did what I asked," Jack said defensively. He bent down and picked up the dirty and soggy item, flipping it over in his hands. "Daniel, you have vents in your bandana now," Jack chuckled, referring to the teeth marks and the tear from the bandana's run-in with the bush.
Daniel took the bandana and sighed.
"My favorite bandana." He looked down at Katie, who seemed clueless. A sad smile on his face, Daniel leaned over, extending his hand with the bandana. "Here you go, Katie. Happy ... early birthday. Go ahead, bury it."
The beagle took it gladly and ran around the yard with it, shaking it as she flipped her head all about. Bijou ran over and grabbed one end of the green head wrap, and for a few moments, she and her puppy played tug-a-war with it. Then Bijou released her grip, and Katie ran around in another victory lap before running to the play yard and burying the bandana one more time.
Daniel took a deep breath as he watched. With sad, drooping eyes and a pouty lip, he walked over to where Jack now stood, by the grill. Jack had already picked up the cleaning cloth he had dropped when he wobbled to the ground and was about to continue his cleaning chore when he saw Daniel's endearing expression.
"Aw, Angel," Jack said, taking Daniel into his arms. "I'll buy you a new bandana."
"You bought me that one."
"This one will be better."
"Better? Better how?"
"It'll be blue," Jack said, grinning.
Daniel pulled out of Jack's embrace.
"Gawd, Jack, isn't there any other color in your vocabulary besides blue?"
"There are other colors?"
"Red, green, purple, orange, black, tan, persimmon, cranberry, beige, tan, cinnamon, fuchsia, gray ..."
Jack interrupted his lover's list, countering with, "Navy, sky blue, midnight blue, slate blue ..."
"White, maroon, chartreuse, yellow, goldenrod, peach, violet, ..." Daniel refuted.
Not to be outdone, Jack added, "Royal blue, steel blue, dark blue, cobalt blue, turquoise ..."
"Gawd, Jack."
"And my absolute favorite," Jack said, pausing to kiss Daniel. "Cerulean blue, my Danny blue, for your eyes."
"Gawd, Jack," Daniel said softly as he melded into his lover's strong hold.
"I love you, Angel."
"I love you, too."
"Woof!" Katie said, nudging Daniel's foot.
He leaned over and picked her up. She placed several kisses on his face, causing him to laugh.
"And I love you, Katie, very much."
"Woof, woof!" she replied, giving him even more kisses.
Laughing, Jack and Daniel returned to their day, happy, in love, and facing life together, as husband and husband with dog and dog.
Finis - Finished - Done - The End - But is it ever Really?