Jack liked to imagine himself as a tumbleweed, able to pull up his roots and replant himself in any situation. Occasionally, however, something would happen that would leave him ripped from the earth, and in the pain of that moment he understood how deep his roots really went. The death of his son was one of those moments. A second moment was the day he was forced to leave Daniel to die. That was the day he discovered that, without ever meaning to, he had fallen deep for a man.
It wasn't the man part that was the problem; Jack had started having feelings for men around the time he realized that girls didn't have cooties and had dealt with any issues long ago. The problem was that this wasn't just attraction, this was full, blown out love. Without realizing his realizing it was happening, Daniel had planted his own roots deep into Jack's soul, and for that short time that Jack believed him to be dead, he had known the earth shattering pain of those roots being ripped away, tearing him in half.
Now it was a Friday night, and Jack was feeling a smaller but constant ache as Daniel once again canceled their plans. Jack wasn't as dumb as he pretended to be; he had noticed that Daniel's sudden cancellations always coincided with Major Davis's visits to the SGC. When he had first noticed, a thousand different emotions had warred through him. First was jealousy, an irrational belief that if Daniel was going to suddenly show any inclinclinations towards liking men he should have chosen Jack. This was followed by a strong effort to quelsh his insane anger and jealousy, determined that if Daniel was happy, he would support him. That only lasted until Jack began to realize that Daniel was most definitely not happy. Something was wrong. He knew something was wrong, but Daniel wasn't talking to him; Daniel didn't seem to be talking to anyone these days.
Today, Jack was determined to root out whatever was upsetting Daniel and destroy it. It was early still; if Daniel was going to meet with Major Davis today it was probably going to be later in the evening. Thinking of them together, enjoying dinner, sent a wave of pain through Jack's stomach, but he pushed it back. He wasn't here, sitting outside of Daniel's apartment to try and break up his relationship. Unless, he considered, Major Davis was the problem, in which case all gloves came off.
He had seen Daniel's car and knew he was in, but he still hesitated to approach his door. He knew, on an instinctive level, that whatever was about to happen would end with Jack laying himself bare. His roots exposed, to be shredded or planted anew, all rested in how Daniel reacted. Even if Jack didn't end by making a declaration of love, if he wanted Daniel to open up to him Jack knew he would have to open up himself to at least some degree, far more than he was normally comfortable with. Finally, determined to follow this through, he rang the bell.
After waiting nervously on the doorstep for several minutes, it began to occur to him that Daniel wasn't going to open the door. He tried the bell again, then knocked, shouting out for Daniel. Listening closely now, he heard no signs that anyone was within. Now he was puzzled, and just a tiny bit worried; he had seen Daniel's car and he knew that he was inside. Laying his ear to the door he tried to tell if he could hear a shower, anything to tell him why Daniel wasn't opening his door, but all was silent. Finally, his sense of unease growing and unable to wait any longer, he fished his keys out of his pocket. All of SG1 had a key to each others houses; it made sense with the amount of time each member tended to spend in the infirmary, but Jack had never thought he'd have to use it when Daniel was there.
"Daniel?" Jack called, one last time, then he put the key into the lock and turned it. Without hesitating, he pushed the door open, threat assessing the apartment. Nothing seemed to be out of order, except perhaps that it was messier than the last time Jack had visited. It looked like Daniel hadn't dusted for a while, and he could see dirty dishes in the sink in the kitchen. Jack didn't find anything remarkable in this; after all Daniel did live alone and no one could keep their place spotless all the time. He continued his search for the missing man methodically, moving from room to room until the only place left was his bathroom. Now Jack did hesitate, wondering if perhaps Daniel was in the bath after all.
"Danny?" Jack tried again, but upon hearing no answer his growing unease overshadowed his disinclination to burst in on someone's bathroom, and he opened the door. He half excepted to find that Daniel had fallen asleep in the bath, imagining his look of embarrassed annoyance when Jack came busting in. What he found was Daniel, not in the bathtub but crumbled on the floor, lying in a pool of blood.
Jack just stared for one second in shock, taking in the broken mirror, the bloodied hands and mangled arms, and then he staggered, feeling the sharp sudden pain of deep roots being ripped from a firm ground, turning his world upside down. Even before his brain began to catch up to his heart, his hands were leaping into action, diving for his cell phone. After a rather harried conversation with the emergency personnel, Jack let his training take over, applying pressure to Daniel's wounds, trying to stop the blood from running away, over Jack's hands, down his shirt and finally swallowed by floundering roots, seeking to find purchase upon a tiled floor.
