Title: One Phone Call

Author: Morien Alexander

Rating: PG

Pairings: Jack/Daniel

Spoilers: Meridian, Full Circle

Warnings: none

Summary: Supposing that Daniel was given a chance to say goodbye to Jack after the events of Full Circle.

Notes: This is my first real Stargate fic, so I'd appreciate any feedback- particularly if you can help me with characterization. Jack eludes me.

One Phone Call

"Hey."

Colonel Jack O'Neill nearly jumped out of his socks as he whipped around to face the intruder. Technically, he wasn't wearing any socks, but if he had been, they certainly would have been nearly off.

"Hey," Daniel Jackson said again. Oh, pardon, Shiny Daniel said again. It wasn't The Daniel (as Jack liked to think of him); it was Shiny Daniel. Shiny Daniel spoke in riddles and bored holes in him with his eyes and wore that slightly effeminate looking sweater. He didn't like Shiny Daniel very much, but he liked it even less when there was no Daniel around at all.

He stood like The Daniel, though, with arms folded and a faint (rather condescending, Jack thought) smile on his face. And he said "hey" like The Daniel would.

"Want a beer?" Jack offered, as if it was normal for Shiny Daniel to show up in his house every day and nearly scare the socks off him.

"Jack..."

He even had that same whiny tone as The Daniel. How cute.

"I can't. And I... that's... that's not the point." Shiny Daniel hugged himself and rocked back on his heels. Same habits, too. "Look, I-I came here to tell you something. It's important, Jack. So… I need you to be serious."

"When am I not?" Jack swung the refrigerator door closed and gave Daniel a sarcastic grin. "Other than when we're hanging out with snakeheads."

Shiny Daniel rubbed his eyes.

"Sorry," Jack said without meaning it. "What did you want?"

"I need you to hear me out. I need to know that you're not going to just brush this off," Shiny Daniel said irritably.

Jack sighed and plopped himself down in one of his wooden kitchen chairs. He didn't want to talk seriously with Shiny Daniel. He didn't even like talking seriously with The Daniel. Hell, he rarely liked talking seriously at all. It took some of the fun out of life, he felt. Besides, in his line of work talking seriously usually meant that some new threat to either the SGC or the planet was going down. "Fine. I'm listening."

Shiny Daniel managed a smile. "Good."

"So what's so important that you came all the way back here to haunt me?"

"I have a confession to make." Shiny Daniel's eyelids lowered, hiding his eyes from Jack. "I don't know if I'll be able to see you again, so you need to listen now. I'm up for judgment by the Others. Oma didn't exactly say what they were going to do. Cryptic and all that... but-but this doesn't really have anything to do with that... per say..."

"Daniel."

"Hm?"

"You're rambling. Don't ramble."

"Right. Sorry." Shiny Daniel moved his hand to his nose as if adjusting the glasses that he no longer had to wear. "I'm in love with you, Jack," he said abruptly.

Jack had seen many things in his life. He had taken down the ancient gods, had been "beamed up" by little grey men countless times, had seen his best friend turn into a glowing white thing, had experienced the same day for several months, hell, he'd just seen a whole community of people vanish into thin air... but he had never been quite so floored. He leaned back in the wooden chair and it creaked a little under his weight. "I... wasn't expecting that," he said at last, distracting himself with the feeling of the kitchen table under his hand. It was cool and smooth and the same wood as the chair, but felt different. Less worn somehow.

"I- I don't expect you to return my feelings," Shiny Daniel said softly. "I just needed to tell you that. Because I don't know if I'll be able to... to see you again."

"That's a hell of a way to say goodbye." Jack rubbed the table without looking at his ascended friend. "Did you say that to Shau're, too?"

"Jack!"

"Daniel!" The colonel looked up. His eyes were sharp and narrowed in masked confusion. "You had a wife. So did I. You... this is just too weird."

"That's what I said." Shiny Daniel's lips turned upward in a strange smile. "I didn't ask to be in love with you. I didn't mean to be ... I didn't want it to turn out like this. It just sort of happened, Jack." Then his smile became full and real- the kind of sunshine and daisies smile that The Daniel would give when he solved a linguistic or cultural riddle. "It's amazing. I never thought- you of all people. But ... it's kind of nice. Especially telling you this and... knowing it doesn't really matter."

"It DOES matter. It matters because even if you're going off to... to be judged or whatever- meaning I'll probably never see you again- and I'm still going to have to live with it."

Shiny Daniel stopped smiling. "Yes. You will. I need to get rid of this burden before I progress. I'm giving it to you because only you can absolve it."

"I'm not absolving anything. I'm straight, Daniel. And even if I was a homosexual, I couldn't like you. You're a... floating ... glowing... white... thingie thing."

Daniel's lips narrowed. "I'm not asking you to love me. I'm asking you to tell me what you should have told me from the start. That you're a straight laced son of a bitch colonel who loves beautiful women and who... who would never ever think twice about someone like me." He smiled wryly. "I need you to tell me that there is never a chance that I could possibly be with you."

Jack was silent for a moment, and then spoke slowly. "Not a chance?"

"Never."

"Even if you were a woman?"

"Jack..."

Frustrated, the colonel slammed his hand on the kitchen table. "Daniel, you can't just... come barging into my house, freak me out, tell me you love me, and then expect me to solve all your little problems right here."

"What I'm asking you to do is not beyond you!" Daniel replied sharply. "It is, in fact, exactly what I would expect from you. I expect you to say 'Get lost, Danny' ... or something equally patronizing."

"What you're asking is for ME to tell YOU how to feel," Jack snapped back. "You're telling me to decide for you whether or not you love me."

"I'm saying nothing of the kind!" Shiny Daniel was extremely agitated by now and was showing it by hugging himself and leaning forward the way that The Daniel would. "All I need you to do is tell me you wouldn't ever consider me as a romantic partner. That's so easy! Just say it, please! I know that's what you're thinking!"

"How do you know what I'm thinking!" yelled Jack angrily. "Don't tell me what I feel!"

"Jack!" Daniel suddenly looked more like the Daniel Jack was familiar with than he had. He looked wounded, frustrated, and yet still willing to listen to the older man. It was the kind of face The Daniel would make on a mission where he'd just been told he could not interact with the natives because he'd get himself hurt. "Jack... I need you... to... I need you to allow me to go without having any regrets."

Jack was silent. He would certainly like to tell Daniel that he had absolutely no feelings for him. In fact, that's what he'd been about to do until Daniel burst on him that he'd probably not be coming back... now he felt like he had the chance to somehow keep Daniel from disappearing. Somehow, he could onto the elusive man who kept disappearing on him. Besides, love was the kind of thing you gently talked about; it wasn't something you threw in someone's face and then ran away. No. Shiny Daniel would just have to stay.

"Jack, please."

That intense stare. He'd missed it when Daniel was away.

"Jack..."

"I- look. Forget it."

Crap. Shiny Daniel looked pissed. It was a clear sign that he was in for a lecture. "Forget it? I can't forget it! Look at me! I've ascended and I still can't forget it!" He gave an angry little huff. "I've come back for you time and time again. Do you think I would have chosen to speak to you when I was dying if I just thought you were a ... a friend? Do you think I would have tried to get you to ascend even if I knew it was beyond hope if you were just a comrade? Jack- you idiot! I can't forget you! I can't forget this! And-and if you think you're going to make me do it, you're less intelligent than I have taken you for."

"You came back for everyone... for Tealc. Abydos."

"You know that's different."

"How so?"

Shiny Daniel shrugged and then smiled sardonically. "Because it wasn't them I was thinking about every day when I was with Oma. And it wasn't them that I wanted to see before this... happens."

"Yeah, speaking of that- what is this judgment thing anyway?" Jack scowled.

"I'm being judged. Soon. Possibly ...it's possibly connected to Abydos."

"Possibly?"

Shiny Daniel sighed and hugged himself. "I think I'm getting kicked out. I don't know when it will happen. And I don't know what will happen to me if I do... get... kicked out. So... so I just need to tie things up."

"How come they didn't just whisk you away? They can do that right?"

"They... did. Oma did."

"So how are you here?"

Shiny Daniel's lips twitched upwards in a slight smile at this. "You get one phone call?"

Jack sighed. "So you really have no choice. You have to leave no matter what I say, right?"

"Right."

"Can I at least hug you goodbye or something?"

Daniel continued to smile, but it was pained. "Give me what I want, Jack."

"Hug?" Jack stood up, and the chair legs squeaked on the linoleum. He held his arms out and would have smiled, but he felt his face could not move from its current expression.

"I can't."

"Pretend?"

Sighing, Daniel relented and leaned into him. It was wildly different from hugging him as a human. He slid through Jack like he was water. But it was still Daniel. Jack lifted his hands to his friend's face and Daniel tilted it up out of response. "I can give you what you want." He leaned in and let his lips hover over Daniel's. While they couldn't technically kiss, he could at least pretend. He'd never kissed a man before (though this didn't really count as a kiss, he decided) and didn't particularly want to repeat the experience. But this was Daniel. His Daniel. His friend, comrade, the annoying archaeologist who bothered him to death, and the man he held closest to his heart. If Daniel was in love with him, then he'd be damned if he didn't at least try to give him something before the uncertainty of being judged by the Ancients.

Shiny Daniel looked up at him, an almost wounded, almost hopeful look haunting his eyes. "Jack..."

And then he was gone.

His arms filled with nothing, Jack stood barefoot in his kitchen. Slowly, he moved his arms until he was hugging himself.

I may not remember everything, but I remember enough. – Daniel Jackson, Fallen