CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Jack O'Neill woke early the next morning to the tinny sounds of tinkling glass.
As he hazarded cracking one eye open, his already pounding head protested violently and a groan escaped his lips involuntarily.
"Morning, sunshine."
Jack's other eye opened to give Daniel Jackson a look that would have set wet moss on fire.
Daniel stood across the room with a broom in one hand and a dustpan full of glass shards in the other. He looked only a tiny bit apologetic as he spoke again.
"Sorry. Figured it'd be best to get all this glass picked up before we walked around too much. Otherwise, it'd only be a matter of time before one of us gets cut."
Jack grunted in response and rolled over on the couch.
As he did so, his gut decided to let him know that it was just as displeased as his head with his recent choice of beverages. As a wave of nausea rolled in and then out, Jack groaned again.
Daniel couldn't help smiling a little bit at his friend's plight. He sympathized, but only so much. Jack had done this to himself, so it was hard to feel too bad for the guy.
"Bit hung over, huh?"
"A bit."
"You think you're gonna want breakfast?"
"That would be a no, Daniel."
"Well, too bad. Teal'c's on his way over now with some food."
"Food? I figured I'd just have a beer if I had anything at all."
"Jack, you've had enough beer to last a lifetime in the last week. You're having some food."
"Don't mother me, Daniel."
"Then stop acting like you need one. Now go get cleaned up. You smell terrible, and it'll make you feel better. I'll take care of the rest of this." Daniel gestured at the mess of Jack's living room as he spoke.
Jack felt the briefest surge of anger at Daniel's words at first, but it was quickly replaced by a sense of gratitude. Not everyone had a friend who would care enough to take care of them in a time like this, especially not when their only thanks was sarcasm and a shiner.
As Jack remembered the previous night, he looked around his living room and nodded slowly. He made a small snorting noise, then looked up at Daniel with an unreadable expression.
Daniel furrowed his brow back at his friend. "What?"
"Nothing...it's just...well...thanks."
"No problem. Now go get cleaned up. I got this. Go on."
"Thanks."
Daniel nodded and went back to his cleaning as Jack ever so gradually sat up. After the room stopped spinning, the hung over general made his way slowly to the bathroom.
XXX
A shower and shave did help. Although he still felt way less than human, Jack's headache had subsided to a dull roar and his nausea was only a moderate irritation as he struggled into a faded pair of jeans and pulled a large sweatshirt over his head.
When he was dressed, Jack ran a hand through his spiky hair in a losing battle to tame it, then brushed his teeth to remove the stale beer taste from his mouth.
As he finished and emerged from the bathroom, Jack nearly turned right back around as the smell of scrambled eggs caused a new wave of nausea hit him, but he pushed the feeling away and continued on to the kitchen to see what was going on. There was no telling what Daniel was up to in there.
Jack entered the kitchen just in time to see Teal'c whispering quietly to Daniel. When he entered the room, both men immediately quieted and began to look around innocently.
"What are you two up to?"
"Nothing."
"Daniel Jackson and I were merely discussing which of the breakfast food that I purchased on the way here would be preferable for you this morning."
As he spoke Teal'c's eyes were teasingly merry, and Jack sneered back at him.
"Yeah, I'll bet. Ok, wise guy. What did you bring?"
"Taquitos and burritos."
"Oy. I think I'll just have coffee."
"Indeed."
Daniel was enjoying Teal'c's teasing of Jack, but he thought he would let Jack off the hook.
"Actually, we made you toast, Jack. You can eat it if you want, but I'm starving. The Mexican is for me and Teal'c."
"Ah, I can handle it."
"Whatever you say, Jack. Food's behind you on the table. I'm going to eat."
"As am I, O'Neill."
Jack turned around then and noticed for the first time that two bags of breakfast take out and a plate with two slices of toast were sitting at three places on his kitchen table.
It was very domestic, and Jack laughed out loud.
Daniel was afronted. "What?"
"Nothing. It's just been a pretty long time since somebody made me breakfast."
"Well, we thought you might need it."
"Yeah...you're probably right."
The three men ate then, in silence. Teal'c and Daniel were too hungry to talk much as they packed away several taquitos and burritos each, and Jack's head hurt too much for talk as he forced himself to eat a few bites of toast.
When the eating slowed down, Daniel looked pointedly at the big Jaffa sitting across from him. Jack didn't miss the expression, and he knew something was going on.
"What?"
"I believe Daniel Jackson thinks it is time that I revealed to you why I am here."
"You didn't just come to bring breakfast?"
"I did not."
As Jack looked from Teal'c to Daniel, a sinking feeling began to build in the pit of his stomach.
"Why do I get the feeling that you guys are up to something?"
"There is indeed more going on here than appears at first look, O'Neill."
"Great." Jack's voice was sarcastic.
Both Teal'c and Daniel ignored Jack's response and looked at one another briefly. At Daniel's encouraging nod, Teal'c removed a legal sized yellow envelope of papers from his lap and set them on the table in front of Jack.
"What's this?"
"Samantha Carter does indeed still carry an emergency locator transponder, at the insistence of General Landry. She is likely still a potential target for our enemies, who will not know of recent events here, so she is still granted full protection of the SGC. I took the liberty of locating Colonel Carter yesterday evening...out of concern for her welfare, of course."
Teal'c didn't bat an eye at his statement, but Jack's eyebrows hit the roof.
"WHAT?"
Daniel decided now was a good time to join this conversation.
"Jack, calm down. Teal'c and I just thought that this might be useful information."
"Indeed. Daniel Jackson phoned me last night. He told me of the current situation with Colonel Carter, and I agreed with his decision to break protocol in this case."
"I can't believe you guys did this."
"We did not. Sergeant Harriman was most helpful."
"Jesus, you guys brought Walter in on this?"
"His assistance was required."
Jack sighed, and put his head in his hands.
"I am so screwed."
Teal'c spoke again, making this morning notable for Jack. He had never seen the Jaffa quite so wordy or Daniel so quiet. "Your situation is indeed unenviable, O'Neill, but I believe your choices are limited and the decision is an easy one. You must find Colonel Carter and settle this matter between yourselves."
Daniel nodded his agreement. "Go get her, Jack."
Jack sighed again and glanced at the clock. This little breakfast chat had occurred quite early. It was only just now 0800. Suddenly, Jack remembered Daniel's first words from the previous night and he jumped up from his chair. "Shit! I can't do this! I have to work!"
Daniel stood, too, and laid a restraining hand on Jack's arm. "No, you don't."
"What? My leave ended today. I'm supposed to be back in Washington tonight."
"Let's just say that a certain General Landry arranged otherwise. Jack, you've earned the time. Take it. Fix this. You'll never forgive yourself if you don't."
Jack knew defeat when he saw it. Between Daniel's unwavering blue eyes and Teal'c's certain brown ones, he knew there was only one thing he could do, even if it was something he was most definitely NOT looking forward to.
"Alright. I'll think about it, ok? Now, don't you guys have jobs to do?"
"Actually, I do have a nine o'clock meeting with Dr. Lee. He wants me to look at something SG-13 found on P8X-453..." Daniel trailed off as he lost himself in thought about the Ancient artifact he was supposed to study. A cloudy look came into his eye, and both Jack and Teal'c knew he was in his own world.
Jack chuckled, but Daniel didn't notice, and Teal'c merely inclined his head to Jack.
"I, too, must be going, O'Neill. I need to meet Colonel Mitchell to discuss a new training regimen we are developing for SGC personnel."
"Guess I'm flying solo again, huh?" Jack looked down at the papers in front of him coincidentally as he spoke, and as he did, he was struck by the irony of his words.
Solo, indeed.
Daniel came back to reality at Jack's words and looked thoughtfully at his friend.
"Maybe not, Jack. But I think that's up to you."
Teal'c agreed. "Indeed."
Daniel and Teal'c stood then and made their goodbyes. Daniel was still a little nervous about leaving Jack alone, but he knew that Jack would never actually leave if he and Teal'c stuck around, so he left, throwing one last long look over his shoulder as he followed Teal'c to the driveway and shut the door behind him.
Jack sighed.
The noise of it was loud in the now empty house.
Long fingers drummed nervously on the yellow envelope full of papers on the table.
Brown eyes stared at the tapping digits.
The drumming stopped.
Jack moved, and hands tore into the envelope.