Mortal Faith - Part One
Equilibrium
Author's Note - Many thanks to Tomolas, for betaing this for me, and debating the finer parts of grammar with me for two hours. As ever anmistakes aremy own. I don't own stargate that belongs sadly to someone else. Sorry it's taken a while - i'll try and do better next time!
Disclaimer – Stargate SG-1 does not belong do me and I am making no money from this whatsoever.
Intent upon her prey the young woman studiously ignored her companion's attempts to distract her, brown eyes narrowing as she made her move, she lent back waiting for his reaction. She smiled leaning forward as he stepped right into her trap, neatly moving her last piece into position, taking his last knight.
"Check-mate, I win." Her brown eyes shone with triumph as she met her companion, and victim's gaze, giggling as he pretended to search the chessboard for inspiration. She always enjoyed her time with him. He wasn't like the other men that she had met. He always seemed willing to follow along with whatever she was doing, never wanting to dominate her life.
Holding up his hands he laughed, presenting her with a shy look from under his eyelashes, "I surrender! You play like a professional, dear heart."
She blushed, ducking her head and pretending to tuck a stray piece of hair back behind her ear. She liked how comfortable her evenings with him were, evenings full of him letting her beat him at chess and easy laughs. He didn't expect the same things from her that the other men did. He had never chosen a football game over her, or tried to talk her into a trip to the pub, or a quick drink from his supply of wine. He did not pressure her.
Smiling she returned his look, quickly starting to clean up the odds and ends that had gathered on her coffee table through out the evening, careful not to spill any of the now cold coffee from her cup as she picked it up.
Stepping past she jumped slightly as his hand closed gently around her wrist stopping her from getting any closer to her kitchen door. The feel of his warm breath on her neck made her gasp.
"Leave them love, they'll still be here later."
She shuddered at the undertone to his voice, mutely letting him take the cups out of her numb fingers to replace them on the table, before allowing herself to be gently led towards the bedroom, her heart beating ever faster at the thought of what he had in store for her.
Weathered hands cupped the beer as the man lent back in the deck chair silently examining the night sky, enjoying the easy company of his elder friend.
"You know, I love Carter, don't get me wrong, but she just isn't capable when it comes to this sort of thing." Jonathon O'Neill, gestured at the night sky with his beer vaguely, ignoring his companion's barely disguised snort, "I mean she just can't relax and watch the stars, she always ruins it. I mean I do know that only a hand full of that lot have stargates on, but it's nice to think, if even just for the hell of it, that I can see all the planets we've been to from here."
"Or, alternatively to just look at the stars and not have each one described scientifically." Daniel Jackson idly provided, cupping his own choice drink, a vanilla latte, between his knees as he watched his friend down his fourth beer. "But I understand your point, it's good to finally have some time that it's just the two of us, after everything."
Dumping his now empty bottle next to the others O'Neill nodded solemnly. "Yeah, look, Danny, don't get me wrong, it's still gonna be weird for a while."
Daniel smiled faintly. "I realise that, what I mean is, it's good to know that we can still do stuff like this, despite everything, I mean I wouldn't have expected to be doing this with you now a month ago. It means a lot to me Jack."
Brown eyes met blue for a moment before O'Neill returned his gaze to the sky above. "It means a lot to me too. You know me, a lot better than more or less anyone that I've ever known, finding out that it wasn't a two way thing, well it was kinda..."
"Scary? Annoying?"
"I felt betrayed, Daniel, I mean I thought that you were Daniel Jackson, the innocent, always seeing the best in people, archaeologist, and you weren't."
Jackson blushed faintly. "I know, and I hated it, every time that I lied to you about it, but I didn't have a choice Jack, I've spent so long lying to protect people from what they don't know, it's almost second nature to me. I mean some times, I wonder if I really know myself anymore."
Jack glanced at his friend, watching silently as he examined his coffee cup, realising that what his friend was saying was costing him a lot, and he could, at least on some level, understand how that felt. "It was hard Danny, I mean you're what, five millennia older than me?"
Jackson smiled, "And some."
Jack rolled his eyes. "Plus there's that whole 'Alastair' thing, I mean sometimes I wonder which name to call you by."
Blue eyes firmly met brown. "Daniel."
Jack snorted, "As I guessed, but anyhow, yeah, it is good to know we can still do". He gestured around them at his terrace, "all this stuff, it's really good."
Daniel nodded. "Good to know that the foundations are still here huh?"
O'Neill met his friend's gaze solemnly. "Yeah, and they're solid as ever."
Daniel grinned, draining his mug before leaning sideways to grab another beer to offer to his friend. "Ok, so that's the whole male bonding thing done, how about we spend some time destroying all of Sam's hard work."
Jack returned the grin as he reached for the offered beer. "Ahh yes, spot the stargate, the best non-scientific game there is..."
The man ran a hand over his companion's still arm, sighing as he did. It had been a good conclusion to the months of chess games and coffees, one that he would treasure for the rest of his life, just like so many others. He smiled, leaning forward to gently place a kiss on her forehead, careful not to disturb her. She was beautiful, laying there in the early morning sunshine. Casting one last heated gaze over her body he gently moved off the bed and silently collected his clothes, dressing carefully before stepping out into her living room. Brown eyes brushed casually over the dirty cups left on the table from the night before as he walked calmly over to the chess game. Smiling he bent over it, moving each piece with practised ease until his black pieces held her white king in check-mate, opposite to the position they had been left in the night before. Stepping away towards the door, careful not to disturb anything, he turned a single chess piece over in his hand, hesitating by the front door of the flat for a moment, whether to place it on the telephone table, before stepping out into the hall way and heading out into the cold morning air without looking back.
The icy cold pull of the void in front of her made the woman shiver as she stood watching the events unfolding, knowing that no matter what personal doubts she might have about what she was about to do, it was what needed to be done. She had been lax in her duties for far too long and had allowed it to continue to a point that years before she never would have. She was supposed to remain emotionally detached, it was the only way that she could carry out her duties as she was expected. Her family trusted her to do what was necessary, to follow her mother's orders to ensure that order remained and she was so close to failure. Her mother had given the order months ago, making it clear that she was to carry them out instantly.
She sighed heavily, closing her eyes to block out the crime that she had just witnessed. The picture of a clean white chess queen laid on top of a blood red rose petal fading from her mind's eye. She had to act now, she couldn't afford to wait any longer.
Taking a deep soothing breath, she opened her eyes and waved a hand over the void, changing its focus to enable her to do her duty. Black eyes fixed on the subject of her orders, she drew a vial out of her belt pouch, she didn't need to look at it to know that it was the right one, the warmth of the glass was enough to confirm her action. Muttering in her native language she up-ended the vial over the void, watching mutely to ensure that her work was done before returning to her normal duties, safe in the knowledge that she had done her duty, and was free of any further guilt.
Daniel frowned sitting up in the bed, something felt wrong, but he just couldn't put his finger on it. Sighing he glanced sideways at the clock, wincing when he saw that it was barely 7 in the morning, on a Sunday. Shaking his head in disgust he pushed himself out of bed and changed into clean clothes, knowing full well that if he didn't move quickly Jack would most likely come to get him, not something that he really appreciated first thing in the morning.
Running a hand through his hair he stepped out of the small guest bedroom and headed towards the kitchen and the tempting smell of fresh coffee. The only place besides his own home that offered any kind of decent coffee was Jack's house, mainly because Jack knew better than trying to wake Daniel with just any coffee, in such instances it took at least three cups to defeat the immortal's sunny morning personality.
Stepping through the door he automatically accepted the cup, dropping into one of the chairs next to the table as he did so.
Draining the cup in one go, he mutely returned it to Jack's waiting hands with a muttered thanks before examining the breakfast offering. Daniel's eyebrow rose as he reached out to poke at the charcoaled bacon, glancing sideways at his host.
"It's cooked."
Daniel rolled his eyes. "It's charcoal."
"Don't complain unless you're willing to do something about it."
Daniel pushed himself upright, plate of charcoal in hand, "more than willing." Dumping the remains into the dustbin he brushed past his friend to get to the cooker, gingerly examining the frying pan. "More charcoal. Do you have any..."
Jack dropped the packet into Daniel's waiting hand a smug grin plastered across his face.
"Thanks, right, spare frying pan." Digging around in his friend's cupboards he smiled pulling the spare utensil from its hiding place. "Now oil…"
Jack slid into one of his chairs watching silently, enjoying the opportunity to see a side of his friend that he knew all too well, knowing that he would be getting the better half of the deal as always. Daniel's bacon rolls were some of the best he'd ever had, especially after three days off-world with nothing but MREs to eat. It was a sad fact that while they provided for all that anybody could need; they didn't present a very satisfying meal. There was just something wrong about meals that always tasted like something other then what they advertised themselves to be, even the coffee seemed to be somewhat lacking in the, coffeeness, that coffee provided.
Closing his eyes he smiled as the smell of cooking bacon filled the kitchen along with the sizzling of fat.
"Mushrooms?"
Jumping, Jack opened his eyes, fighting back the blush that was trying to appear. "Fridge."
Daniel nodded mutely before returning to his task, expertly turning each piece of bacon over, wincing as the hot oil spat on his bare hands. Stepping sideways he pulled the fridge open and searched for the mushrooms, smiling with satisfaction as his hand closed around them. Dumping them on the chopping board he swiftly pulled the frying pan of the heat and dropped the bacon onto the plate Jack had used earlier, replacing the pan on the heat and tossing in the tomatoes he upturned the small carton of cleaned mushrooms and neatly sliced them up before tossing them in with the tomatoes.
"Jack do you think you could sort the rolls for me?"
Jack held up the bag mutely as he pulled the margarine out of the fridge. "Got it".
Turning back to his own duties Daniel flipped the tomatoes over, idly poking at the mushrooms to see if they were ready for turning or not.
Glancing sideways as Jack offered him his second coffee he winced, jerking his hand back from the pan as he spilt some of the oil onto it. "Damnit". He cursed under his breath, before calmly pushing the tomatoes off onto the plate, ignoring the pain, knowing that it wouldn't last long.
Glancing sideways at Jack he smiled reassuringly. "I'll be fine Jack."
His eyes narrowed faintly. "Healing huh?"
Daniel sighed nodding. "Yeah". Sometimes it was hard to remember that they weren't quite back on the same level as they had been before, especially when they shared moments like that, working well together to do something simple.
Wincing again he frowned at his hand confused, before his attention returned to the pan in front of him and the mushrooms that needed to be turned before they burned. His eyes flicked between the pan and his hand as he waited for the mushrooms to cook, his frown deepening. Spilling the mushrooms onto the plate a few minutes later, he wandered over to the sink to run the pan under cold water, subtly holding his injured hand under it at the same time, taking more time than was needed, determined not to let Jack see that something was bothering him.
The hand on his shoulder a few minutes later made him jump, he glanced sideways at his friend, feeling himself flush.
"Danny?" Jack's voice held a tiny note of concern, his eyes solemn.
"It's nothing, it just helps burns heal you know, stops any swelling that would lengthen the process."
Jack's eyes narrowed. "Which needs to be done sooner rather than later. Something's wrong here Daniel, something's bothering you, I can tell."
Daniel turned away, dropping the frying pan into the sink and focusing the water on his hand. "It's nothing." He forced himself not to look at his friend, intently staring at his hand willing something to happen for the throbbing to stop.
"Daniel! Don't lie to me."
Daniel mutely kept his attention on his injury, ignoring his friend.
"Danny, oh for crying out loud! ALASTAIR, tell me what's going on!"
Daniel closed his eyes ducking his head, the sting of Jack's tone hitting hard. "It's not healing."
Jack rolled his eyes. "That's it? It isn't healing? Jesus I thought it was serious."
Daniel stiffened. "You don't understand, it ISN'T healing."
Jack stared at his friend. "Look Danny don't get me wrong but, you haven't healed any minor injuries in a long time, maybe that's the problem, you've been suppressing it for so long that it doesn't automatically happen like it used to."
Daniel shook his head. "That isn't it."
Jack groaned. "Oh come on! How arrogant are you really, Alastair?"
Daniel swung round his eyes blazing. "This isn't about arrogance Jack! Arrogance is about as far from this as you can get. I'm scared, hell I'm damn near terrified. Immortal healing doesn't work that way, for minor injuries you have to concentrate to make it heal, it doesn't need to be repressed because it automatically does that it's self. I mean what would happen if in the middle of some big situation where it's important that no one knows you're immortal you get a paper cut and it automatically heals its self? You'd be in big trouble. No matter what I do right now it just isn't healing."
Jack took a deep breath. "Of course there's no arrogance involved here, none what so ever."
Daniel stiffened again glaring at his friend opening his mouth before stopping, the colour draining from his face. His eyes turned distant for a minute before Daniel swayed, reaching numbly for some kind of support, expression haunted.
Jack stopped frowning at his friend. "Danny?"
Daniel shook his head mutely. "It's gone."
Jack took a step closer to his friend fear gripping his heart instantly replacing the anger. "Daniel? What's gone?"
Daniel shook his head mutely, his blue eyes wide and haunted "I know why I can't heal."
"Why?"
"Because its not there anymore."
"What are you saying?"
Daniel stared intently into his friend's eyes for a long moment before taking a deep breath. "It's over, I'm not immortal anymore."