Way #76 -- Staring Rarities

It was raining.

A gentle sort of morning pitter-patter. Daniel could hear it tap against the window pane and the shingles on his roof. The air outside his bed was sweet and cool, but the heavy comforter maintained a bubble of built up body heat from the night. Sunk deep into the covers and the poofy feather pillow, Daniel was quite pleasantly remaining. Being able to sleep in was one of life's greatest luxuries, as far as he was concerned. One of the things that made it so special was its genuine rarity. With the job Daniel had he certainly didn't get this luxury very often. Especially with the way Jack had been doggedly waking him up lately. But Dr. Jackson was officially off the clock today-- yessir. It was blessed Saturday morning. He figured he'd get up around noon time and eat breakfast. He probably would stay in his bathrobe and slippers all day, reading.

Mmm. Daniel savored the thought of merely lounging around the house all day. With nowhere in particular to be, or anything in particular to do. He was so insanely busy during the week, that usually he felt like completely and totally zoning out on the weekends and do as little as humanity possible. Just in order to give his brain a much-needed break from thinking.

The shower outside beat a steady rhythm on his roof and was very hypnotic, providing a soothing white noise for his ears. That had always been something Daniel had found comforting. White noise was able to put him to sleep like magic, no matter what the sound was. The purring of electrical equipment, the distant hiss of cars, the humming of a fan, the crackling of a fire, just about anything would do it for him-- especially the persistent pattern of rain. Somehow, the presence of background noise did something to Daniel's mind that made it so easy to drift off. By turning all his conscious focus on the sound, his subconscious mind was open and free to flow. He would watch it drift by like an outside observer standing next to a river, fascinated by its fluid motions, the way it would snake and glide and twist to change directions. It felt like he could never predict its random motions and yet something about it was always so graceful and logical somehow. Standing there by the river brought him closer to that creative energy . . . that was simply fun to sit and watch. He got some of his best ideas from this realm. It wasn't often he had the time to ponder on its shores.

However, Daniel's all-too-rare moments were interrupted by a strange feeling. It was a twinge of discomfort-- some little warning bell way at the back of his head going off. He tried to ignore it but it increased with time and became a distinct sense that something was off, though he couldn't fathom what. In his mind, he groaned at himself, knowing that it this rate, he would eventually wake. It seemed like such a pity to leave so soon, but Daniel didn't seem to have much of a choice. Once it began, the disturbing little warning tugged at him and pulled him up like a buoy rising to the surface. It didn't take long after that. Daniel started to twitch and wriggle under the covers, like a cat reluctant to leave a pile of warm laundry. Sounds sharpened and came into clear focus as Daniel found his senses coming alive, and a rumble from his stomach added its two cents on what Daniel should be doing. Daniel sighed, relinquishing the battle to stay asleep.

He stretched out on the bed and gave a huge yawn, turning over in bed and blinking cautiously at the ceiling. The light was dim and a vague reflection of grey shadows from his water-streaked window reflected off the wall. He gave a pleased "hmm" sound at that and was momentarily distracted at the thought of breakfast. He should start with some coffee and orange juice, and wondered if there were any eggs left. Some shredded cheddar and scrambled eggs might be nice. Toast with jam, too . . .

Daniel stiffened, suddenly, as the warning bell that had been so quiet before suddenly became a strong and alarming sensation now. What . . . was it? He felt nervous and self-conscious, almost as if . . . he felt like he was being watched. He inhaled a sharp breath and glanced around his bedroom, but noticed nothing out of the ordinary. Everything was in its place and the same as he had seen it the night before, so he really didn't need to--

Daniel sucked in a shocked breath and tried to yelp at the same time, so the noise came out as a breathless squeak. He jolted upright in bed immediately, hearing his heart pounding in his head and feeling a cold sweat instantly hit his body, utterly freaked upon seeing the pair of eyes staring into his mere inches from his face. He gasped for stolen breath and his jaw gaped wide and he stared back, and his lagging brain struggled to catch up and identify the aspiration in front of him. All he could see were black pupils at first and the peripheral did not sink into focus until what felt like forever-- far too long for him to escape, if it had been someone dangerous. But the familiar face was already split in a wide grin and a disarming chuckle by the time Daniel saw it. Daniel huffed and found his voice,

"Jack! For God's sake, I nearly wet the freaking bed! What are you doing?!" He gasped afterwards and fought to regain his breath, heart still pounding in his throat and now cold from the sweat. He did not receive any replies, however, because the man was perfectly quiet where he sat. Daniel fought to sit up in his bed and darted his gaze wildly about Jack, trying to find some sort of explanation.

"What's wrong? Why are you in here? Did something happen?"

Jack shook his head calmly. "No, nothing happened."

Daniel exhaled in relief, but was still uncertain what the emergency was.

"Are you okay? What . . . what are you doing here?"

Jack gazed back at Daniel with his usual serene, neutral expression, innocent and clueless to the untrained eye.

"Watching you." He finally answered, in a simple tone.

Daniel's brow wrinkled in confusion and he stared hard at Jack, as if he could somehow better understand him that way.

"What? Watching me? Why?"

Jack took a moment and then gave a tiny shrug.

"Just . . . watching you."

Daniel paused, staring at Jack and thinking. Gauging the man's state of mind. Daniel decided the man was being honest. He really was just watching him.

Daniel glanced Jack up and down-- the man was sitting on Daniel's desk chair, which he had dragged over next to the bed. Nothing else was out of place, not a single thing. It was just Jack on his chair, in his usual civilian clothes, with an innocent blank expression.

Suddenly Daniel gave a short laugh of disbelief. He said,

"Tell me you're just jerking my chain. You really have been sitting there, haven't you? How long have you been there?"

Jack casually looked down at his watch.

"Hm. About an hour by now."

Daniel stared.

"An hour. Just sitting there."

"Yeah."

Daniel raised a brow. Then he gave a self-conscious glance about his room, as if looking for any damning evidence lying around he didn't want anyone to see.

"So let me just get this straight. You got up this Saturday morning, looked out at the rain, and said to yourself, 'I think I'll drive over to Daniel's house, sneak in his bedroom, and watch him sleep for an hour.'"

"Sounds about right, yeah."

Daniel gave Jack a serious stare. The Colonel didn't back down from his position. Daniel finally broke the quiet, speaking matter-of-a-factly.

"Jack, you're very strange."

The man grinned affectionately.

"Thank you."

Daniel sighed, leaning back in bed.

"Okay, Mr. Stalker. Have you had breakfast yet?"

"No, I haven't."

"Would you like something to eat?"

Jack tilted his head to the side just a little.

"You'd ask your stalker to breakfast, Danny?"

Daniel pressed his lips together in thought.

"I suppose in this case I would."

"Than I graciously accept. Thank you."

"You're welcome."

Daniel waited for Jack to say anything more but the man was quite content to remain comfortably perched on the chair, smiling lightly, as the rain drizzled down the window.

"Jack?"

"Hm?"

"Was this…a wake-up call thing from your…current obsession?"

Jack nodded, "Mm-hmm."

"Aah. I see." Daniel paused.

"It is Saturday, you know."

"Yes, I do."

"Okay. You know."

Daniel watched Jack watch him a little longer. Daniel laughed at the sheer ludicrusy.

"You never fail to make me wonder, Jack."

Jack looked quite pleased with hearing this fact.

"I'll do my best to keep things that way, Daniel."

A/N: Thanks to all the reviewers-- I really liked some of your ideas. Don't be surprised if they show up in the future! Sorry for the delay, I've had a busy weekend with school. Hopefully I'll be back on track now, I'm working on an actual plot for this story. Still with plenty of Jack's tricks, though. And worry not, for Danny will get his eventual revenge. ;o)