Mysterious Distance

Part 4

Teal'c was standing in the hallway preventing in eavesdroppers from hearing the conversation in the holding cell. Jack had in his pocket a handy-dandy little device Thor had gifted him with that scrambled recording devices. Jack didn't really want this conversation on official record. The speculation would be bad enough about the fight as it was.

"What the hell was that about?" Jack demanded. Daniel just stared at him, sitting in his chair with his arms across his chest and his eyebrows doing that little incredulous raised thing. Okay. That was a stupid question. Jack had a real good idea why Daniel felt the need to beat the crap out of him. The same thing he'd been beating himself up about all morning. "Okay. I know what this is about. The question is then: why are you so worked up about it?"

"Why am I so worked up about it?" Daniel asked very slowly enunciating each word carefully. "Well, let's see. I just found one of my best friends lying naked on her bathroom floor, hungover and crying her eyes out because one of my other best friends can't keep his dick in pants and then leaves her alone like some two bit whore when he's done. That's what I'm so worked up about."

Jack ground his teeth as he tried to hold back his outrage. "It wasn't like that, Daniel."

"Tell me how it was then, Jack. Tell me you didn't take advantage of a drunk woman, a woman under your command, a woman who's your friend, a woman you're supposed to be in love with. Tell me!"

"I didn't mean to." Jack said and as soon as it was out of his mouth he knew how ridiculous it sounded.

"You didn't mean to? Were you drunk too?"

"No."

"Under alien influence?"

"No."

"Then how can you soberly accidentally fuck someone?"

"Shut up, Daniel and let me talk. It wasn't like that."

"Fine. Talk."

Jack scrubbed a hand through his hair and took a moment to gather his thoughts before relating his story. "After I got her home, she didn't want to be by herself. So I stayed and watched 'Singin' in the Rain' with her. She fell asleep leaning against me. I picked her up and carried her to bed. I was gonna leave after tucking her in but I couldn't resist just kissing her on the forehead. That was all I was gonna do. Honest. But she woke up and kissed me and one thing led to another. I just kinda forgot about her being pretty drunk. I was weak I'll admit it. And I didn't want to leave her this morning, but SG 5 and 13 were coming in this morning. I had to be here."

Daniel studied him. He knew that Jack was telling the truth and the man was in pain at the thought of having hurt Sam. "So what now, Jack? You've finally broken the regs after however many years of doing the so-called 'honorable thing'?"

"For the moment, it's status quo, but hopefully soon that will change."

"It's always tomorrow isn't it, Jack?" he asked in exasperation. "What about today? Sam needs you today. Here," Daniel withdrew an envelope from his pocket and threw it on the table in front of Jack. "That's a ticket for a plane that to San Diego leaving in three hours. Sam rented a beach house there. She was supposed to spend her down time with Pete and her brother's family, but she's there by herself now. She said she need to get away to think. You need to think too. You need to be with her now."

"You know I can't leave right now. The Joint Chiefs are coming in the morning."

"Tomorrow doesn't always come, Jack. Trust me."

"Don't you think I know that?"

"I don't know if you do sometimes, Jack. You could have had her all these years. No one had to know. No one has to know if you get together now."

"Someone always finds out, Daniel."

"It's possible. I know."

"How do you know?"

Daniel took a deep breath. He didn't want to tell Jack what he was about to, but he needed to. He need to make him see it was possible. "Jack, Sam and I have been sleeping together, off and on, since you did that undercover sting five years ago. No one has ever found out."

Jack stared at his best friend in disbelief and saw the truth in his eyes. He reacted the only way he possibly could. He socked the archeologist solidly in the jaw, hard enough to knock him out of his chair. "Explain."

"It's not what you think, Jack," he told the man towering over him. "I would never try to take her from you. I couldn't if I wanted to. She loves you."

"Explain," Jack repeated glowering down at the man still sprawled on the floor.

"When you went undercover you said and did things that hurt us both badly. I had just lost Sha're and Sam was pining for you. She was still hurting from that Laira thing too. Anyway, we were both lonely and hurt and it just kinda happened. It wasn't about the sex. It was just about needing to be with someone when things got to be too much. To know you're not alone. It was about comfort. I knew I could never replace you in her heart and she knew she could never replace Sha're in mine. I'm sorry, Jack. Don't hold this against Sam. I just wanted you to know that you can still be together without anyone knowing."

"Daniel, sex is easy to hide, it's all the stuff that really means something that isn't. I don't want to sneak around with Carter. I want it all." Jack right the overturned chair and sat down heavily in it, his head in his hands.

"So you won't go to San Diego?" Daniel asked quietly.

"I can't now, Daniel. This base doesn't run itself. I can't leave this week. Carter will understand."

"Yes, she will and that's the sad part." Daniel stood up and looked down at his friend in obvious pain. Pain that he'd caused. "Jack, I won't say I regret anything with Sam, I don't. We both needed it, but we never meant to hurt you."

"Get out of here, Daniel," Jack told him unable to look at him.

"Jack…"

"Go. Please."

"I'm sorry for earlier."

"Yeah. Whatever."

Daniel left Jack sitting by himself. Jack couldn't remember feeling this utterly alone and betrayed since… He didn't know if he'd ever felt like this before.

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TBC

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What do you think? Is this becoming to Soap-operatic? More angst is definitely ahead.