"I'm bored Daniel."

"I'm sorry Jack. I'd let you go hang out with Teal'c but you wouldn't be useful in hand-to-hand combat training." Daniel looked pointedly at the cast on Jack's leg.

Jack was juggling wads of paper absently. He'd started with a couple of Daniel's rocks but they had been pointedly taken away. "Carter hid my Game-boy." Jack complained.

"In her lab at least, you are technically there to help her finish projects since she's doing your job and her job."

"I could do my job." Jack said in an injured tone.

"Who's the head of Home-World Security Jack?"

"Ah… Homer... something?"

Daniel shook his head.

"Herbert? Harry!" he finished pointing.

Daniel shook his head and went back to his work.

Jack pouted a little. "I'll get it eventually."

"And when you do we'll all be happy to let you go back to being 'the man'. When you remember your boss's name so when he calls you up, you don't call him Homer."

"Do'h."

Daniel hid an amused smile and got back to work. "If you need to do something," he said absently, "The trainee I fired left that catalog a mess." He waved vaguely behind Jack. "Most of it is in Alteran which you can read. You could put it back in order."

"I can?"

"You speak four, no, five languages fluently that I know of, although you lie about at least two of them." Daniel told him absently.

"Why would I lie about knowing a language?"

"At a guess, I'd say it's because you aren't comfortable with people looking at you the way they do Sam." Daniel told him with a shrug, never looking up from his work.

"Well that doesn't make any sense." Jack said in confused exasperation.

"Jack, a lot of things about you don't make sense. It's probably intentional on your part. The only ones who seem to have you figured out are Sam and Teal'c."

"Well that explains a lot."

"Yes it does." Daniel said making notes in his book. "They both also seem to find it amusing."

"Can I ask you a question Daniel?"

"You just did Jack."

"Daniel."

"Jack."

"Daniel." He said more sharply.

"Fine, ask."

"What... do you know what Sam and I had a disagreement about?"

Daniel looked up, confused. "What disagreement?"

"We didn't have a disagreement?" Now Jack was really mystified.

"Jack, I have no idea what you're talking about. You and Sam almost never fight about anything. To the point that I'd have noticed if you had."

"IQ the size of a house, ends sentences with prepositions." Jack muttered.

Daniel chuckled.

"What's so funny?" Jack demanded.

"In half the languages I speak it's perfectly normal to end a sentence with the word 'had', Jack."

"Not in this language." Jack said mutinously but decided to do the filing anyway. There was only so much one could juggle after all.

A couple hours later, the catalog sorted out as Jack found he could read Alteran and quite well at that, he gave his friend another considering look. "So what's up with this guy Sam is dating?" he asked super casually as though it hardly mattered.

"He seems all right. I only met him a couple times. After the first time she brought him around on purpose, she said he told her we weren't really his speed." Daniel shrugged and studiously didn't look at Jack.

"Well, we drink beer in bottles and he drinks rat piss from a box."

Daniel snorted. "That's a bit harsh don't you think Jack?"

"I just - I don't get him Daniel. Why him? Sam is brilliant, sweet, beautiful. She can have anyone she wants."

"Well, she can't have you, so there's that." Daniel pointed out with a little huff.

"That's what I don't get Danny." Jack said plopping into a chair. "I think, I mean it's fuzzy but I think we kind of were together before…" He waved his hand confused. "And then something happened and she's dating this... I don't know what he is but he's not good enough for Sam that's for sure and I'm left holding my dick wondering what the hell happened." He gave Daniel a sharp look. "What do you mean on purpose?"

Daniel stalled by looking through some notes.

"Daniel."

"Look, you're supposed to get your memories back on your own but his screw up nearly cost me someone important. The first time we met Pete he interfered with a mission and the Goa'uld we were chasing almost got away because of him." He left out the part where he'd almost got Sam killed as well.

"Why the hell would he do that?"

"Because Sam told him her job was classified so he had a background check run on her and when it came up scrubbed like all of ours would he followed her."

"He what?" Jack's voice took on a low dangerous tone.

Daniel scrubbed a hand through his hair. "That's why no one said anything. We knew how you'd react."

"Damn right I'd react this way. He could have gotten her killed and everyone has been ok with this?" Jack nearly shouted.

"Keep your voice down Jack! The guy is a friend of Sam's brother. He seems harmless. Just… kind of an idiot even for a cop." Daniel admitted.

Jack fumed. "Has anyone told her what a creep he is?"

"Well, you told us not to." Daniel said to him.

"I told you not to?"

"Believe it or not Jack, you seemed ok with him initially." Daniel looked across the table at him. "Has something changed?"

Jack gave Daniel a hard look. "No. Yes. I don't know Danny. Every time she talks to him he's acting insecure or making demands of her and I get that I've been taking up a lot of her time lately but it's not like I'm doing it intentionally. She volunteered."

"Well, part of that probably has to do with her feeling like it's her fault you got injured in the first place."

"Why would she think that?"

Daniel wrote a couple notes trying to ignore the question.

"Daniel."

Daniel huffed a sigh. "Fine, look, we went to Amoridia to make an agreement about some naquadah and it was a set up. They sold us out to Ba'al and his goons ambushed us."

"I hate that guy." Jack snarled.

"None of the rest of us are fans either. Anyway, you got shot in the head and nearly died. There was swelling on your brain and they kept you in an induced coma for about a month. Sam felt responsible for what happened, guilty even though she couldn't have known we'd been betrayed, and she's been beating herself up since."

"So she's been taking care of me out of guilt and pity." Jack said looking down at his hands in defeat.

"I don't think that's the case."

"Why not? She's dating some turd in a punch bowl because I rejected her for reasons I don't even remember and she's screwing up her relationship with the same guy because I'm pathetic and she feels guilty."

Daniel started to say something, stopped, started to say something else, then frowned. "Jack. I think you two need to talk."

Jack gave him a hard look.

"Look, Jack, this is none of my business but it's pretty obvious you still have feelings for her. Does the reason you told yourself why it wouldn't work really matter in the long run?" Daniel smiled a bit. "I don't think she's that into this guy Jack, but you probably need to prove to her that you aren't going to change your mind on her again."

Jack looked up at the ceiling. "I'm probably going to screw this up again." He admitted.

"Well, it's you, so probably. But Jack?"

"Yah?"

"I kind of like you this way. You're a lot easier to talk to when you aren't trying to disguise your feelings with jokes and acting moody."

Jack gave Daniel the side eye. "Don't get used to it."

"Oh trust me, I won't." Daniel replied with a chuckle.