Cursed

Spoilers- The Curse
Disclaimer- None of the following characters or settings belong to me, they belong all those other people who are too numerous to mention.
Note- Thanks as always to GrayMatter.
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Mini 6- Hero

Steven scrambled on all fours to take cover behind the ruins of a temple wall. Bullets peppered the ground behind him. The local natives were far more advanced than they suspected. They just weren't pleased with the foreigners poking around in their past.

Steven pressed his back firmly against the ruins, breathing heavily. He looked up in time to see Colonel O'Neill throw himself behind a nearby half demolished wall. The man had the most insane grin on his face.

"I told you, Daniel," Colonel O'Neill yelled. "Projectile weapons. You owe me $20."

"I'll buy you a beer!" Daniel yelled back from his portion of the ruins.

"Make it two," Colonel O'Neill countered easily.

Steven shook his head in disbelief. These people were crazy, but he voluntarily joined them, so what did that make him? Why was it that every time he went out with SG-1 things like this happened? Steven craned his neck to see over the wall and fired off a couple of shots.

Sam popped her head up from behind her section of the wall just a few feet down from him and shot at the charging natives.

One of the natives shook his gun. It had suddenly stopped firing. He snarled and dropped it, yanking a large curved dagger from his belt. He drew his arm back and let it fly towards the blonde woman.

Steven's eyes widened. "Sam!"

He scrambled to feet and ran, awkwardly crouched, at Sam. Steven tackled Sam, throwing her heavily to the ground. The dagger sailed harmlessly over their heads and buried itself, up to the hilt, into the stonework.

Sam stared at the dagger and then looked back to Steven. "Thanks."

Sam hurried back to her spot and rejoined the fight.

Steven smiled wryly. "You're welcome."

xxxxx

"Brought you a beer." Daniel handed Jack a bottle of Guinness.

Jack looked up from his grill. "You know these don't count, right? You still owe me."

Daniel rolled his eyes. "Yes, Jack."

Jack popped the top off his bottle and took a large gulp. He looked over his backyard, filled with SG-1, SG-13 and SG-11. SG-11 had been the team Steven had joined after his training ended.

Speaking of Rayner… Jack watched as the man laughed and talked with Sam and Teal'c.

"Rayner seems to be fitting in well," Jack commented casually.

"Mmm."

"General Hammond thinks he's doing well." Jack idly pushed at the burgers on the grill. "And he did knock Carter out the way of that knife."

"She would have ducked," Daniel defended his friend. "But I have to admit, Steven has settled into the mountain. And he's stopped throwing subtle insults into everyday conversation."

"That's a plus."

"Yeah," Daniel agreed.

"So, we're keeping him?"

Daniel looked down at his beer and then over at Steven. He hadn't seen Steven this relaxed since… Well, it had been a very long time. Steven looked over and caught Daniel staring at him. With the happy grin still on his face Daniel was reminded of the man who had been his friend all those years ago, before the petty rivalry and the jealousy.

Maybe having Steven around wouldn't be that bad.

"Yeah. We'll let him stick around."

xxx

The End