As much as he was enjoying himself – and he had to admit that he was, despite the fact that he didn't want to be where he was in the first place – Jack couldn't dance the night away. He didn't have the knees for it. He danced for an hour or so – almost exclusively with Sam, although a few of the women asked for a dance once they were sure he was familiar enough with the moves that he wouldn't be uncomfortable with a different partner – and then was forced to sit for a while.

"Are you enjoying yourself?" Jamal asked, coming over and sitting beside him while Jack watched Sam dance with one of the others.

"Yeah. Do your people do this every night? Or is it a special occasion?"

"You mean, are we doing it to impress your people?"

O'Neill smiled.

"Something like that."

"We don't dance every night, but we do it often enough that we're not going out of our way to make a show for you. If we were interested in trading with you, then we might be guilty of trying to do something like that, but once we receive word that the fluxations in the gravitational field around our Stargate are back to minimum levels and we get you and your friends back to your home, we're most likely not going to see you again."

Which meant they had no reason to try and impress them. But that didn't mean they weren't doing it, anyways, because Jack had pretty much decided that these folks were about the best hosts he'd ever had the opportunity to meet.

"Well… it's good of you to allow us to join in…"

He looked back over to Sam, and Jamal followed his gaze.

"She appears to be enjoying herself."

"Yeah."

He had a feeling Jamal was going to ask him a question about Sam – maybe another personal question – and to stop that from happening, Jack looked around.

"I should go check on Daniel…"

"He is upstairs copying the drawings."

"Can you show me?"

It just made Jack nervous to have Daniel out of sight for too long – although he did have Teal'c with him this time.

"Of course."

He stopped just long enough to gesture to Sam where he was going – which he managed to do without interrupting her dance – and then he and Jamal left the room, walking back towards the huge staircase.

"So did your people build this?" Jack asked, looking around as they walked. "Or did you just inherit it from the Ancients?"

"We built it – but the building is very old. One of the oldest in the city."

"You've been around a long time, then?"

Jamal nodded.

"More than a million generations…"

Before Jack had a chance to wrap his mind around that large of a number, they reached the top of the stairs, and he found that it wasn't the same wing that they had rooms in – despite the fact that he'd been pretty sure that was where they were going to end up. Somehow he'd managed to get turned around or something.

"This isn't where we're sleeping…"

"No. This is where Daniel and Teal'c are, however."

He walked with Jack to the end of the hall, where they turned left. Sure enough, right there in the middle of the corridor was Daniel, his head down as he copied something onto a piece of notebook paper. Teal'c looked over when they rounded the corner, and nodded to O'Neill. It wasn't so much a greeting as it was a confirmation that everything was going fine and they were unharmed.

Jack walked over, looking down at what Daniel was doing. As near as he could tell, Daniel hadn't even noticed his arrival.

"How's it going?"

Sure enough, Daniel jumped, startled, at the sound of Jack's voice so close to his ear. He jerked his head around, almost losing his glasses.

"Gah. Don't do that! Are you trying to give me a heart attack?"

Jack gave him an innocent look.

"I just came to check on you."

"I'm fine."

He started to turn back to his copying, but Jack didn't move.

"Are you almost done?"

"I haven't even scratched the surface, really."

"You're missing the dancing…"

Daniel looked up.

"Are you dancing?"

"Yeah."

"Really?"

Jack scowled.

"Yes."

"Huh."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Daniel shook his head.

"Nothing."

"Hey…"

"It didn't mean anything, Jack. I'm just surprised, is all…"

"I can dance."

"I know."

"Then wh-"

"Jack. I'm really busy here. There's a lot to do and I don't know how much-"

"Hey, if you don't want to dance, don't let me stop you."

"It's not that I…" Daniel trailed off, shaking his head again. He didn't have time to get into the fact that he'd rather do what he was doing than dance. "You learn the dances, and you can show me, later."

"I might be busy later," Jack told him.

"Sam can show me, then."

"She might be bus-"

"Jack…"

Daniel sounded annoyed. Which meant Jack's work there was finished, really.

"Fine. How about I leave you alone so you can get this done?"

"Thanks."

"Don't mention it."

Secure in the knowledge that Teal'c and Daniel were okay – as opposed to being tortured in a dungeon somewhere – Jack looked at Jamal, who had watched the exchange with amusement.

"How about more dessert?" he asked him.

"Of course. Come, we'll stop by the kitchens on our way back to the great hall."

O'Neill started to tell Daniel goodbye, but the archeologist already had his head back down, trying to figure out the next symbol he was going to copy. Jack looked at Teal'c, instead.

"If you get bored, come find us."

The Jaffa nodded.