Cold Lazarus

Jack's mind was feeling like a battlefield. Seeing Charlie and Sara had taken a toll, one he couldn't deal with right now. Daniel knew how much this was getting to him, and despite Jack continually rejecting his offer, he eventually gave into Daniel's idea of 'taking your mind off of things'- which was him and his team going to Daniel's.

He got to the door, with beer, and knocked wondering how Daniel planned on fitting everybody in his flat considering it's never had any room for anything living or from a million B.C onwards. To his surprise Teal'c answered it, he was in a floral top and light chinos which reminded him to note to self that he needed to tell Teal'c what to wear, not Daniel. He then walked in to find Daniel's living room area reasonably clear.

"Special occasion?" He teases.

"Oh- hey Jack! Come, sit down." he glances at the beer, "ah, just put them down on the table, or the fridge, or whatever." Jack nods and places a few on the table then stacking the rest in Daniel's fridge. "I went ahead and ordered the pizzas by the way, where's Sam?"

"Ah not sure, was going to ask you that. Teal'c, how'd you get here?"

"Daniel Jackson brought me here in his vehicle."

"Ah." Daniel takes a seat on the sofa and Jack turns to him quietly, "What did you say to Hammond to allow Teal'c to come?"

"Ah yeah that was tricky, especially as General Hammond didn't really have a valid reason, I just convinced him it would be good team bonding after a traumatic experience, honestly I think Hammond agrees to things just to shut me up sometimes. But hey it works. Teal'c does has a curfew though so he can't stay too long." An unsure knock was put upon Daniel's front door. "It's open!" Sam enters with her hands full of snacks, soda, beer and her purse.

"Didn't know the rest of the SGC were coming Captain."

"Hi sir- Daniel, hey Teal'c." Daniel gets up to help Sam put everything on the table in front of the couch, Jack pats the seat and she sits next to him. They watch a film, last week Teal'c had discovered the Star Wars trilogy, but he hadn't got the opportunity to watch Return of the Jedi just yet so they put that on. By the time the film had ended 3 boxes of pizza were empty and there was one quarter of the fourth box left, Jack and Sam had a growing pile of empty beer bottles beneath them. And, during the film they and Daniel had been playing noughts and crosses on the back of some phone bill Daniel had stashed down the side of his couch a couple of months back. Once the film had finished, Teal'c analysed the film for 10 minutes and then requested that they watch the first film, luckily for them it was almost Teal'c's due time back at the base.

"Don't worry Daniel I can take Teal'c back to the base on my way home." Sam offers.

"Uh-no, you and Jack have been inhaling in those beers like oxygen, I'll drive Teal'c back. You two okay on your own?"

"No I don't think I'll be able to behave myself Daniel." Jack sarcastically remarks, Daniel raises his eyebrows in shock, "it's called a joke. Go- take Teal'c back, we'll be fine." Daniel and Teal'c collect what they need and head for the door, Sam gets up to say goodbye to Teal'c and gives him an unexpected hug, Teal'c pats her back unsure what to do, leaving Daniel and Jack to stare each other in amusement.

Sam runs her fingers through her hair and looks at the Colonel and smiles, he takes a sip of beer and she continues to stare at him carefully. "I never asked you tonight, how are you?"

His eyebrows shoot up and he lowers the beer bottle, "I'm fine Carter, how are you?"

"Well I'm good, sir."

"Well cheers to that then." He taps her beer with his and they both take a sip.

"I know I'm your subordinate, so you won't think of me as somebody to talk to or see on equal terms, but if you'd like talk about what's going on then I'm a good listener. Not so good with advice though, I'd say go to Daniel for that." He nods and gently nudges her knee with the hand holding his beer as if to say thanks, a comfortable silence followed.

"They never train you on how to deal with shit." he says.

"No they don't sir."

"I've had to lose him twice."

"It wasn't really him the second time."

"I know. But still."

"It may not make sense, but I know how you feel. When I was 15 I lost my... it doesn't matter. But I had dreams every night about it, it felt like I lost her time and time again. I couldn't imagine what seeing her again would do to me."

"It's a sickening comfort, you know they're dead but you want them near."

"Yeah." She bites her lip unsure whether she is over stepping boundaries. "How was Sara?"

"Ah. That was hard. We're just... we've drifted. I lost her. I think it's better this way. The only thing connecting us after Charlie, was Charlie. And now... well yeah."

"My grandma used to say, the ones we love never truly leave us."

"She was right about that."

"Yeah."

He clears his throat, "More beer?"

"I think I've reached my limit, I need to drive home."

"There's no way in hell Daniel is going to let you drive home- and nor am I going to, if you want another just have one, we can crash here for the night."

"Well then yes please sir." He grabs two fresh beers and makes his way back to her, they drink it in silence, swapping turns on who gets a glimpse at the other. Jack's head was clearing. He wasn't much of a talker but found himself talking. It wasn't much, but enough to get him through the night. He noticed how relaxed she was, it felt like an achievement as he felt like tonight she wasn't trying to impress him. She was just being herself, and he liked that.

After talking, the Colonel suggested they put on TV. She had no idea what was on, mainly because she was overwhelmingly tired. She drifted off, but when she dropped her head back she hit something hard which made her jump. The Colonel chuckled, he nodded towards his shoulder and said, "try me". Surprised at the gesture, which she assumed must be because of the alcohol, she lent onto him. She instantly felt calm, and fell back asleep.

Daniel came in quietly, he got into his living room prepared to tell Sam and Jack a funny story about Teal'c's conversation with one of the air men when he came to a sudden stop at the sight of Sam and Jack comfortably sleeping on his couch, it made him smile. Two people, you could even push it to say friends, who needed comfort, finding solace in each other. He smiled at the undisturbed scene in front of him, then smugly thought about how his idea of this night was a good one. There wasn't a chance Jack would have had any sleep tonight if he was on his own- he knew him well enough, and if he did sleep it would have been the extremely depressed version of an alcohol induced sleep. He fetches a blanket and covers his two teammates, there was something special about SG1. Something that no other team has, and he couldn't quite pin point what is was. But hey, it's still the early days.