In a daze, Jack wandered down the corridor and into the elevator, aware only of Daniel's presence at his shoulder.

'I'll, uh, just grab a few things from my office,' Daniel said, punching the button for his floor.

'Yeah, good idea...' Jack did the same, then looked down at his feet, avoiding looking at his friend. 'Meet you there in ten?'

'Sure, sure...' Daniel stared at the elevator doors. As soon as they opened, he took off down the corridor. Briefly, Jack wondered about the feasibility of locking himself into a storeroom, or maybe a dash through the gate to P3X-anywhere-but-here. With a groan, he headed down the corridor towards his own office. Orders were orders; even weird-assed orders like these. Besides, George had probably got the 'Gate locked down by now, anyway, and it wouldn't take too long to search the base. Best just to think of it as a two-day lock-down. Or better yet, not think of it at all.

Jack grabbed his yo-yo and a novel from his desk drawer, then swung by the locker room for a change of clothes. After a moment, he raided Daniel's locker too, finding the pile of clean t-shirts, underwear and socks he knew his team-mate kept stashed in case of emergency. Then, with the air of one going to his own execution, he walked somberly down the corridor towards the VIP suites.

He'd had time to set up Thor's doohickey, verify that the cameras in the suite had been disabled, check the refrigerator, which was fully stocked with beer, white wine, and even a couple of bottles of champagne, and find the condoms and lube in the drawer of the bedside table, by the time Daniel opened the door. He struggled through, arms full of books, papers and his laptop, which he immediately dumped on one half of the bed. The only bed.

'There's a tray outside,' Daniel said distractedly, ordering the clutter into piles. Jack rolled his eyes, but fetched it in.

'Smells tasty. Leave that and eat it while it's still even moderately close to lukewarm,' he said, putting the tray down on the small table and opening one large polystyrene box.

'In just a minute. I want to make sure I've got everything.' Daniel shuffled through a handful of paper.

'Now, Daniel. All that crap will still be there in a minute, but your dinner will definitely be cold by then. Besides, once we've eaten, you can spread it all out on the table.' He crossed to the fridge and pulled out two beers, then put one back and retrieved a bottle of white wine.

'Is that wise?' Daniel asked, finally taking a seat at the table.

'Given what we've been ordered to discuss? I'd say yes,' Jack said lightly, deftly uncorking the wine. He poured a large glass and set it in front of his friend, then uncapped his beer and sat down. He raised the bottle in salute. 'Cheers.'

Daniel picked up his glass. 'To us.' With a smile that was closer to a grimace, he took a large sip of wine.

'Yeah, whatever that is...' Jack swigged from the bottle, set it down, then picked up a fork and poked cautiously at the slab of steak. 'It seems wrong, somehow, eating steak out of a carton.

'Mm. Think there are real plates in here?' Daniel asked, getting up to search the cupboard in the corner. 'Aha!' he returned triumphant, sliding one plate in front of Jack as the older man lifted up his boxed meal, then settled down to take care of his own.

The men ate in companionable silence. When Jack had finished off his beer, he grabbed another, and when Daniel's glass emptied, Jack refilled it.

'Planning on getting drunk?' Daniel asked, forking up the last of his mashed potatoes.

'Planning on talking sober?' Jack countered, spearing Daniel's last carrot.

'Hey!'

'Should eat faster,' Jack mumbled.

'I don't believe you just did that!' Daniel protested, then stopped as he caught sight of the mischievous twinkle in Jack's eye. 'Bastard,' he grinned.

'Back atcha, Dannyboy. Think there's pie?' Jack scraped up the last of the gravy.

'On a day like today? Who knows?' Daniel shrugged. He dropped the cutlery on his plate, stacked Jack's plate on top, and put them back on the tray along with the boxes the meals had come in. Jack put his empty beer bottle on the tray too and took it to the door. He listened a moment, then pulled the door open rapidly, checking up and down. The backs of two SFs were just visible, standing on guard at either end of the corridor. There was no one else in sight. Jack put the tray on the floor, then closed and locked the door.

'No pie,' he said sadly, going to the fridge for another beer. He topped up Daniel's glass again while the younger man moved his books and papers to the table. He sat on the bed and unlaced his shoes, tucking them at the side where he knew he'd find them even in the dark in an unfamiliar room. He stretched out, leaning back against the headboard, and fiddled with his beer, his attention firmly on the label. 'So... We talking?'

'Not until I've had a chance to look through that data,' Daniel said, flopping down onto the other side of the bed. He opened up his laptop and inserted the CD. 'Later.'

'They could at least have left a TV,' Jack groused. When Daniel ignored him, he fidgeted, finished his beer, got another, then settled down to read his thriller.

By the time Daniel had finished reviewing the survey data, he had also finished the bottle of wine, thanks to Jack topping up his glass every time he retrieved another beer from the fridge. Jack had gone from reading his book, to pacing, to playing with his yo-yo and back to reading. 'So?'

'Looks right,' Daniel said, closing his laptop and placing it on the table. He lay back on the bed with a sigh. 'So.'

'So.'

'Drunk enough?'

Jack dropped his book on the floor and lay down too. 'Never.'

'Me neither. Think we could get drunk enough to pass out for the whole two days?' Daniel glanced over at Jack, who was staring at the ceiling.

'Nope. Hammond would be pissed and Janet would have an excuse to stick needles in us. Again.'

'Big needles,' Daniel agreed, gloomily.

'So.'

They lay side by side in silence. Jack cleared his throat, glanced at Daniel. 'Hey! Are you going to sleep?'

Daniel hastily opened his eyes and blinked. 'No!'

'Shit.'

'Yeah.'

There was another silence. Jack rolled his eyes. 'So... Wanna fuck?'

'No. I have a headache. You?'

'No!' A longer pause. 'Think this'll convince Hammond we talked?'

'No.'

Jack rolled onto his side, propping his head on one hand. 'All right, Daniel. Let's talk. Have you ever thought of me in a sexual way? Ever wanted to bump uglies with me? Ever thought about, oh, I don't know, waking up with me every morning for the rest of your life? Because that's what's on the cards here, make no mistake.'

Daniel dropped his arm over his eyes and groaned. 'Open another bottle of wine, would you? I'm definitely too sober for this conversation.'

'I'll take that as a hell no, shall I?' Jack heaved himself off the bed and opened the other bottle of wine. 'Here.' He filled Daniel's glass and left the bottle beside the bed, then pulled another two beers out of the fridge and set them at his side of the bed. 'If it's any consolation, I never thought of you that way either.'

'Are you sure that isn't simply because you've been conditioned by spending your adult life in the military?' Daniel asked, moving his arm to snag his glass. He sipped and grimaced.

'What?' Jack snapped.

'It's a little sharp,' Daniel said, sitting up carefully so as not to spill any. He took another sip, larger than intended when Jack dropped onto the other side of the bed, jostling him. 'Watch it!'

'Yes, dear,' Jack snarked, setting to work on his next beer. 'You know, I'm finding it a little hard to believe that the President, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and my CO are telling me to fuck my best friend.'

'Lie back and think of Earth, huh?' Daniel commiserated. 'So what makes you think you'd be doing the fucking?'

Jack shrugged. 'I don't know, I hadn't thought about it. And that's the point, Daniel! I hadn't thought about it! Ever! You're my buddy, my best friend, my frequently annoying team-mate, my in-subordinate.'

'I'm not your subordinate. You're my boss. In military situations. In the field.' Daniel fell easily into the old argument. 'You're not my commanding officer because I'm not in the military.'

'See?' Jack snorted in disgust.

After a while, Daniel piped up again. 'Of course, we are pretty much married already.'

Jack choked on his beer. When his coughing fit had subsided, he glared at the younger man. 'What the hell do you mean by that?'

'Think about it, Jack. Neither of us is dating. We're not getting laid, or at least I'm not and judging by your temper, you're not either. We've been friends for years, even when we didn't like each other very much, even when we pretty much stopped talking. We've been doing the in sickness and in health, till death do us part bit since that very first mission. You know me better than anyone else ever has, and you talk to me where you wouldn't dream of letting anyone else in. You've given me more of yourself, more of your heart than you've given anyone since Sara. And this happens to be by far and away the longest relationship I've ever been in. Just because we've skipped the whole having sex part doesn't mean this isn't a significant relationship. Face it, Jack. We're already married in all but name.'

Jack opened his mouth to refute Daniel's outrageous claim, then closed it again. He scowled and picked at the label on his beer bottle. 'I get laid,' he said finally.

'When?'

'When I actually get some downtime that isn't filled with recovering from injuries from the last mission, or trying to get all the jobs done around the house that keep on piling up because I'm never there because I'm always off-world, or being pulled back into work because some other team needs rescuing, or because there's some new threat to Earth, that's when.' Jack ran out of breath and pouted.

'And the last time would be...?' Daniel calmly sipped at his wine.

'Okay, so it's been a while! The point is, I could if I wanted to! Lots of women find me attractive.' Jack slammed his beer down on the bedside table. 'Lots!'

Daniel shrugged. 'Good for you,' he said quietly. 'I'm sure that's the case. I don't... It just seems like hard work, you know?'

Jack stared at Daniel, caught as Daniel raised his blue eyes to lock with Jack's.

'There's so much to do here, always more than I can ever catch up on. And there's so much out there, too, through the 'Gate. I get back to my apartment and I don't have the energy to get dressed up and go out, hit the bars, find some woman who might just be interested, lie about my job and spend all that time and energy on trying to get her into bed. It all seems a little... futile, I guess.'

Jack's face softened. 'Yeah. I know what you mean.'

'It doesn't mean we don't like women, just that...'

'It's too much effort?' Jack said, then barked a short, harsh laugh. 'God! That's so pathetic! You're right. We might as well be married.'

They sprawled in companionable silence and drank. A short while later, Daniel yawned. 'I think I've had enough.' He stumbled loosely off the bed and crossed to the small bathroom, shutting the door behind him.

Jack finished his beer, put all the empties into the small metal waste-bin and found a couple of square inches of space on the table for Daniel's glass. He fished two bottles of water out of the fridge, placed one on each bedside table, and rummaged in the cupboard. Emerging triumphant with a bottle of aspirin, he shook out three tablets and placed them beside Daniel's water bottle, exactly where he knew his friend would be able to find them when he woke up in the morning with a hangover.

Then he stopped, stared around the room, and slumped onto the bed with a loud groan, covering his face with his hands. 'Damn it! We are married!'

Eventually, Daniel emerged and Jack took the opportunity to use the bathroom. There was a toothbrush still in its wrapper waiting for him by the side of the sink, along with a new tube of toothpaste. The toothbrush Daniel had used lay at the other side of the sink, next to a couple of new disposable razors. Jack unwrapped the toothbrush and cleaned his teeth, idly wondering what it would be like to share bathroom space with Daniel on a daily basis. Then again, he already knew the brands of soap and shampoo his friend preferred, knew that damp towels usually ended up hung over the door rather than dumped on the floor. He knew every face Daniel pulled while shaving, knew which aftershave he sometimes used. Nope, there really were no surprises any more in Daniel's bathroom habits. He spat into the sink and rinsed out his mouth, held the toothbrush under the tap.

'Married,' he muttered in disgust.

With the lights off, the room was pitch black. The quiet sounds of the ventilation system combined with the occasional hum of the refrigerator, and over it all lay Daniel's quiet huffing breaths. An occasional snore testified to the effect of the wine and to the state of Daniel's allergies. Jack quietly shucked off his trousers and socks and slid into bed, letting his friend's breathing lull him to sleep as he'd done a thousand times before, on and off world.