At 7:45, Jack O'Neill, Samantha Carter and Teal'c entered "Joe's" and took a look around.
"Interesting place" said Jack.
"I would never have pictured Daniel coming here," said Sam, eying some of the decidedly dangerous looking patrons at the large table near what looked like a dance floor.
"Nope – me neither. Let's get a table near the floor, out of sight, but close enough to the big one to hear what's going on." Jack led them over to a booth that fit his requirements.
"Perfect. We can see everyone who comes in, everyone at that table, but they'll have to be trying hard to see us. Perfect." Jack smiled.
"What can I getcha honey?" A low female voice asked.
"3 beers please, whatever's on tap, and something to snack on – chips? Pretzels?" Jack answered, glancing at his teammates for confirmation.
"Sure thing, sugar. Be right back." The waitress sauntered off to fill their order.
The three talked quietly about the last movie they had seen together as they unobtrusively scanned the bar.
Then Jack said, "There he is." There was a note of wonder in his voice.
"Wha… Wow! Daniel sure looks different!" Sam exclaimed, looking appreciatively at her friend walking through the bar.
Daniel, wearing black tight fitting pants, and loose white shirt, open at the neck and a long dark coat, had walked quietly into the bar and looked at Joe manning the bar. Joe smiled and held up a bottle. Daniel gave a slight nod, then tilted his head and winked. Joe smiled even bigger and tried not to laugh.
Daniel had played this game before, and since most of the bar was full of regulars, Joe nodded slightly to give his blessing. Daniel broke out a huge smile, then faded back a bit into the shadows near the door.
"Where did he go?" Sam whispered.
"I'm not sure…" Jack trailed off then hissed, "Holy shit!"
Six knives had just been flung into the middle of the large table full of people. Before SG-1 could even react, all of them had pulled swords from out of nowhere and were on their feet, frantically looking around for the source.
"Looking for someone?" Daniel said, leaning calming at the table, holding a bottle of his favorite beer.
Cries of "Dan!", "Daniel!", "Hey old man!" erupted as swords were put away and Daniel was surrounded and hugged and slapped on the back by his oldest friends.
Jack, Sam and Teal'c looked at each other in awe, then turned their attention back to the group of obvious friends. Teal'c, who had been observing the other patrons in the bar stated, "This behavior does not seem to be unusual to the others in this place."
Jack and Sam looked around as well, shocked that everyone else in the bar seemed very relaxed and pretty much ignoring what was happening.
"What the hell has Danny been hiding?"
Meanwhile, Daniel had seated himself in the middle of the group with his back to the rest of SG-1 and was currently talking animatedly with his friends.
SG-1 had sat quietly watching the group for close to an hour when Sam suddenly sucked in a breath, "Oh my God!" Jack responded "What? What?!" while frantically looking around for what had spooked Sam. He had gotten a little bored with watching the group at the other table, since all they were doing was talking, laughing and drinking.
He finally spotted her – a petite woman crouched in the doorway of the bar, a knife in her hand, looking intently at the large table of people in the center of the room. Before any of them could react, the knife was flying through the air end over end on a direct path to Daniel's head. The trio of friends were half out of their seats when they saw Daniel, without turning his head, without a pause in his conversation, snatch the knife out of the air by it's hilt, flip it to hold it by the blade and send it back the way it came.
Jack and Sam's jaws dropped in shock. At that moment, Joe stopped by their table to see if they needed anything else, since their waitress had ended her shift already. He chuckled at their expressions. "Yeah, Daniel's caused that reaction quite a few times to newcomers. How's everything? Do you folks need anything else?"
Jack and Sam ignored him and leaned around to watch the lovely young woman launch herself laughing at Daniel. Daniel gently caught her, spun her around, kissed her cheek and set her down.
"Katie! I didn't know you were coming! How've you been? Where've you been?" Daniel fired all his questions at the girl, smiling widely the whole time.
"Hey teach! I've been pretty good. I'm usually in Boston nowadays – I'm teaching High School, can you believe it!" She grinned at her old mentor and hugged him again. "Hey – I learned something new in Japan a few years ago, wanna see?
Daniel eyed her and raised his eyebrows – "New huh? Are you so sure?" He smirked.
"Look, just because you haven't seen anything REALLY new in a long time old man, " she started, exasperated.
"Hey, I keep telling you younger folks – history repeats itself, over and over and over…" he trailed off as the others continued in unison " and over and over and over!" They all broke up laughing.
Daniel smiled indulgently at them and turned back to Katie.
"So Katherine, you think you are ready to teach the teacher, huh?" His eyebrow went up again as he crossed his arms and leaned back against the table.
"Yep" she said, arrogantly.
Daniel tweaked her nose. "You are getting cocky in your old age. Hey Joe!" He called.
"Yes, Daniel?" Joe sighed, long-suffering, knowing what was coming.
"Can we dance?" he looked at Joe expectantly.
"Ummm…." Before he could answer the other patrons shouted out "Yes! Say yes Joe!"
Joe grinned, "Of course – just don't make a mess like last time." He warned.
"Of course not" Daniel said innocently and added under his breath "It will be a completely different mess this time."
"I heard that!" Joe called back good-naturedly.
Daniel chuckled and looked at Kate. "Are you sure you want to do this now?" He asked quietly, remembering what happened last time.
"Yes. I'll be fine. I've grown up a lot since then" She answered, at first seriously, then with a wicked gleam in her eye added, "Scared old man? Afraid I might be better than you since I have some new moves now?"
Daniel just smiled and said as he took off his coat and drew his sword, "Let's dance."
Katherine and Daniel took their places in the center of the floor while the rest of the bar made sure they had a good view of the coming action.
The two combatants bowed formally to each other, then went into a fighting stance and circled each other. At the first clash of metal on metal, it was obvious that the two were both very skilled in swordsmanship. It was also obvious that Daniel was almost entirely on the offensive and that Kate was getting a bit frustrated as she couldn't seem to go on the offensive to her old teacher.
Finally, she got fed up and yelled "Wait a minute!" after blocking another attach from Daniel. She stepped back and panted a bit. Daniel dropped his sword to his side and said "Yes?" calmly and looked at his former student expectantly. "You're doing very well, you know. I'm impressed. You would have let a lot of those get you in the past." Daniel smiled encouragingly at Kate, who scowled in response. "Gee, thanks." Then she almost whined, "But I haven't been able to show you what I learned yet! It's a really cool attack!"
Daniel chuckled a bit. "Okay, fine. Go ahead, attack me!" He taunted her a bit as he smirked, leaving his sword at this side, but ready.
Kate just firmed her mouth and then began her attack. It was actually a very complicated and effective maneuver, and if she had been using against anyone else probably would have guaranteed her a certain victory. Unfortunately, it was against Daniel Jackson, who had a lot more experience than most people at sword fighting, and as he liked to point out, "there's nothing new under the sun." It so happens that he was one who created this particular attack several hundred years ago, and therefore also knew exactly how to counter it.
After letting Kate attack him for a few minutes, Daniel decided he had let her play long enough and counter-attacked fiercely enough to put Kate on the ground and Daniel's sword at her neck.
"Do you yield?" He asked pleasantly.
"Yes." She said grudgingly. He offered her a hand up, and as she stood up, she said, "How did you do that? The master who taught me that said there was no way to counter it."
Daniel leaned forward and whispered in her ear, "I lied." As he pulled back he smirked at her expression, before turning to the rest of the bar and said, "So, anyone else want to take advantage of the fact that Joe's going to let us play tonight?"
Before anyone else could answer, a cold voice said, "Play, Daniel? I do not think what I am going to do to you is considered 'playing'"
Everyone turned to see a tall, distinguished looking man standing at the entryway to the bar holding a sword tightly in his hand.
Daniel calmly said, "Hello Frank. Wasn't expecting you to show up tonight." He added with a slight smile, "It really is a reunion, huh?"
Frank only tightened his hold on his sword and said, "I challenge you, Daniel Jackson. Are you going to accept, or just run away again?" He sneered this last part at the younger-looking man in front of him.
"Frank, Frank, Frank…" Daniel sadly shook his head. "You just don't get it, do you? I had really hoped you might pull you head out of your ass and stop this kind of thing after last time, but I guess you're just a slow learner."
"Do you accept the challenge?" Frank yelled out, knuckles white from gripping his sword, and eyes a little wild.
Daniel looked directly into the older-looking man's eyes and said sadly and quietly, "Yes." He quickly added, "But you may want to wait until we get everyone else out of here, first. You don't want to lose your prize if you win, do you?" He mocked him.
"All right. Clear out of here, now!" Frank barked at the others in the bar.
Daniel nodded at Joe and his other friends. "Please, just get them all out of here." Then, he suddenly turned to the three at the back booth, "Jack, Sam, T – Murray, could you help with clearing this place, please?" He looked pleadingly at his friends, hoping they would do as he asked.
His friends from Stargate Command looked a little shocked at the request, but after a quick, silent look, decided to do as he asked.
"All right everyone, this is a US Air Force situation. Please leave or I will be forced to arrest you or shoot you, and none of us want that." Jack pulled out his sidearm to show he meant business, as did Sam and T'ealc. At this, most of the people left immediately, with only Daniel's friends still in place, although they were obviously ready to battle, if need be.
Joe walked over to the group of people from the center table and spoke softly to them.
Then, as they started to head towards the back of the establishment, Joe strode over to SG-1. "If you want to stay, you can come with me." He said this quietly then went to the door half hidden at the back of the bar the rest of them had went through.
The trio looked at each other then silently followed the barkeep up a short flight of stairs that ended at what was basically an observation deck for the duel going on in the main part of the bar.
One of Daniel's friends, Duncan McCloud, known affectionately as Mac, was looking down at the pair of men fighting below him. "What the hell is he doing? That guy isn't any good – why hasn't he finished it yet?"
Jack walked over to stand next to him and asked "What do you mean?" Then as he watched the two men on the floor below, realized what he was talking about.
"He's just toying with him. I guess he really just wanted to play," Trevor smirked as he watched from the other side of Mac.
"Was that what he was doing to me?" Kate asked, kind of hurt.
"Nope," Mac replied without taking his eyes off the battle in front of him. "With you, he was giving you a more real fight. Now, don't take this the wrong way, but he was still holding back with you, too, but not much. Give yourself a few more years and he'll give you the real deal. He likes you too much to do that when you're not ready." He glanced up quickly and flashed a quick smile at the young lady.
"I know, you're right," she sighed. "It's just frustrating sometimes knowing that he always wins, and he seems to know everything!"
"Well, he has been around the block a few hundred times…" Trevor grinned at his little joke, which caused a small burst of laughter from most of the people in the room, and confused looks from the rest of SG-1.
"Oh no!" Sam exclaimed, pointing at Janet Fraiser, who had unknowingly just walked into the scene.
Joe immediately ran for the stairs to bring her up with the rest of them before the two combatants could see her.
"Why is Frank here? I thought he had agreed to leave Daniel alone for a while after last time…" she trailed off after spotted Jack, Sam and T'ealc gaping at her.
"Janet, what the hell is going on with Daniel? When did he learn the sword thing? How long have you know about this?" Jack exploded at her, frustrated and beginning to get angry because he didn't have a clue what was going on, and the Daniel he was seeing tonight was very different from the man he thought was one of his best friends.
"I can't tell you anything Jack. That is completely up to Daniel. It is, after all, his story." Janet calmly replied.
Joe snickered at bit at her last statement. Janet whirled on him. "Don't think you're blameless in this, buster. I know you probably started this by letting them 'dance' in the first place." She fumed a bit, before stepping up to the window to see for herself how her favorite "old guy" was doing. She visibly relaxed after watching for a few seconds. "Oh, well, I guess you're off the hook this time, Joe."
Joe smiled, and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, before giving her a light kiss on her temple. "I know, sweetie. I'm not stupid enough to endanger your favorite old man."
Jack, Sam and T'ealc looked even more confused after this exchange.
"What are you talking about… did you know Daniel can fight like this?" Sam asked, incredulous.
"Yes." Janet answered simply as she watched the fight going on intently. "Oh, he's getting ready to finish it now – I think he's bored." She said this with a slight smile in her voice.
Down below, Daniel was indeed getting a little bored with the fight he was currently involved in. He decided that he had let Frank do this long enough – it was cutting into his reunion time. Suddenly, Daniel moved almost faster than the eye could follow and disarmed his opponent and had his sword at his neck. "I'm really sorry about this, Frank, I really had higher hopes for you." With that, Daniel quickly swung the sword back and sliced cleanly through Frank's neck. As the lightning of the quickening erupted, Daniel stood still and absorbed it. Afterwards, he dropped to one knee briefly, breathing hard as everyone came back down the stairs into the main part of the bar.
"Oh, hey guys," Daniel said, giving a small smile to the crowd around him.
Standing up and glancing at his teammates he said, "I guess you guys have a few questions for me, huh?" Before they could respond, he hurried on with, "I will talk to you guys, really, but can it wait for a little bit? I would like to spend a little more time with my other friends. How about we go back to my place when we're done here? That'll give me more time with my friends, and I promise I'll answer any questions I can." Only Janet noticed how he phrased that statement, and the meaning it implied.
Reluctantly, the other members of SG-1 nodded, then walked back over to their table to finish their drinks and try to comprehend what was going on.
Meanwhile, all the others gathered back at the large table, a bit more subdued. Then someone cracked a joke, and the entire table erupted in laughter and things were more cheerful after that.
Daniel, for his part, was back to his original place in the table, right in the middle of everything, talking and laughing with his oldest friends.
As she watched them, Sam noticed something. "Do you see how everyone always seems to stop what they're doing to listen whenever Daniel says anything? It's like he's their leader, no… more like the patriarch of the group." She mused almost to herself.
"Huh? What do you mean?" Jack asked, looking closer at the group in the middle of the bar.
He sat and observed for a few minutes. She was right. Everyone would be talking in little groups, and Daniel sat in the middle of it, mostly just watching and listening. But when he decided to talk, everyone just turned and listened intently to whatever he had to say, even if it didn't have anything to do with what they particular conversation was about, or if it was pretty meaningless. They even did this when he ordered another round for everyone, including the trio at the other table, or when he just made little aside comments aloud to himself.
After a while, Daniel rose and made ready to leave. He received hugs, handshakes or kisses from everyone there as he made his way out of the bar. He met up with Jack, Sam and Teal'c at the door. He smiled a little, at them staring at him, then opened the door and sighed. "Okay, let's go."