Earth
"What's bothering you?"
Jack looked up from the breakfast he wasn't eating and saw Daniel coming over to sit across from him. The archeologist was looking at him with worried blue eyes, and Jack scowled.
"Nothing."
"Yeah, right."
He scowled again – or maybe the first scowl never faded.
"Mind your own business, Daniel."
"Is it Sam?"
"What?"
"Is that what has you so annoyed?"
"No."
Jack didn't want to talk about Sam. He was still putting off that heart to heart that he'd been told to have with her, and for the same reasons as before. But that wasn't Daniel's business – even if he was Jack's friend.
"Then it's Melony."
Jack's scowl deepened. How the hell did he know these things?
"It's not-"
"I'm sure she's fine."
He sighed, and gave up the act.
"We don't know she's fine, Daniel. We don't know anything."
And that was the heart of the problem. He was so frustrated and worried that it had been eating at him day by day and week by week since Mitchell had left. He didn't know she was okay. All he knew was that she had Talon and that they hadn't heard from her, yet. It'd been months, now, and he was about to blow up. And everyone around him knew it – and everyone avoided him, now, except for Daniel, Teal'c and Sam.
"Fuglier is still intact, Jack," Daniel told him – for about the millionth time.
"That doesn't mean anything."
"It means everything." Daniel objected. "You know if she was dead that ship would explode, too. She told you that."
"It could just be too far away from her to know…"
Since this was an argument he and Daniel had already had a dozen times a month they both knew how it was going to end, so they just both fell silent, brooding.
"We've got to figure out a way to get to her. To them."
"We're still waiting to hear from the Asgard."
Jack's scowl returned. The Asgard had been absolutely no help at all to them, and they both knew it. Of course, they also both knew the Asgard were fighting a battle with something else, somewhere far away – although the little gray aliens wouldn't tell them what or where – and wouldn't unless they ended up needing help.
"I'm tired of waiting. Send word to the Tok'ra – and to Tao. I want to hold a conference with both and see if they can think of anything we can do – or if they know where any of the ZPMs might be."
Daniel shrugged; it was as good an idea as any – if Tao would accept a summons from O'Neill. Of course, Melony's First Prime was hard to read sometimes – all the time – so you never knew how he would react to something.
"I'll do that."
Jack nodded, and looked down at his cold breakfast.
"Do it."
OOOOOOOOO
Talonopolis"I'm not playing chess with you."
Come on…
"No, you cheat."
I do not
"You read my mind to see where I'm going to move…"
That's not cheating
Mitchell snorted in disbelief.
"What do you call it, then?"
Taking advantage of opportunity
"Whatever."
She was supposed to be spending the day trying to relax. It was impossible to relax if you were losing at chess – or trying to keep your moves out of your mind while at the same time trying to figure out your strategy so you wouldn't lose.
She could feel Talon pouting, but ignored it, knowing he was just trying to make her feel guilty for not wanting to play.
"I'm going to bed."
You're not tired
"Yes, I am."
Why don't we go see the Mok?
Talon never got enough of the Mok, and now that he and Mitchell were the only two on the planet with them, he didn't think she should mind too much spending a few hours looking at them – and maybe running her hands through their soft fur. They were supposed to be relaxing, after all. Getting ready for the Wraith hunt, but unable to do anything until the next day, since they didn't want to go to A-14 when it was the middle of the night there.
Melony smiled, and shrugged.
"Sure. Why not?"
She liked the creatures as much as Talon did – even though they were far more legendary to him than they were to her.
Good!
And the hike down the tunnel would give her something to do to keep herself occupied and not allow her to dwell on the next few days – or weeks.
Even better.