A/N - For those who have waited, thanks for your patience...

Chapter 27

Breakfast the next morning was a lavish affair. Teal'c, dressed in an apron emblazoned in bright, bold letters "Live Dangerously - Cook Naked," had set up a spread of epic proportions. Waffles (obviously for Daniel), sausage, bacon, omelets loaded with peppers, onions, mushrooms and cheese, toast with butter and jam and several pots of hot, fresh coffee - Daniel's blend.

Jack sniffed suspiciously at the omelet and raised an eyebrow, "T? Did you forget the secret ingredient?"

The big Jaffa turned and seemed to almost…almost look down his nose. "Indeed, I did not "forget," O'Neill."

Jack glanced left and right. Sam was failing miserably to hide her grin around a mouthful of waffles and Daniel was smirking into his coffee cup.

Jack gave in and tasted the omelet. It was good, he admitted to himself with some reluctance, but still, it lacked. Jack harrumphed softly, swallowed, hoisted another bite to his mouth, and managed to say around his fork, "Tastes like you forgot, T."

Predictably, Teal'c's eyebrow rose and he cocked his head, "The last of your "secret ingredient" was imbibed last night, O'Neill."

Jack stopped. Another bite of omelet hung precariously from his fork, half way to his mouth. His fork made a slow and careful retreat to his plate. "We're out? How is that possible? We weren't out when I went to bed." After all he'd seen and done in his life, not much horrified Jack anymore, but being out of beer while fishing at the cabin qualified.

Daniel turned, grinned wickedly, and was about to answer when Cassie chimed in, her voice full of insincere innocence. "I had difficulty sleeping, Uncle Jack. There were a lot of….weird noises last night…must have been some, ah…animals outside."

She locked eyes with Daniel, who said, "Yes, animal…ss." Daniel's grin widened, but he schooled his features before he turned to Jack, "Yes, definitely animals. Not sure what kind; heard lots of grunting noises. You don't wild hogs around here, do you Jack?"

Cassie was doing her level best to not to burst into a maniacal grin, "So Uncle Daniel, Uncle Teal'c and I stayed up playing cards. We drank the last of the beer, sorry."

Jack swiveled his head. Daniel had a smirk worthy of the record books, Sam was blushing to the roots of her hair and ducking her head in quiet mortification and Teal'c gazed back, as impassive as ever, but for the slight twitch at the corner of his lip. When his gaze again tracked back to Cassie, she was chewing the inside of her mouth to keep from laughing, but couldn't contain the soft snort that forced its way out her nose.

"Bless you," Daniel's gracious benediction was almost a beat ahead of the joke, but he kept up the front as he reached across to take the box of tissues Teal'c was passing down, pulled one, then another, and passed them to Cassie.

Cassie grabbed them and buried her face in the tissues, snorting loud now with suppressed laughter.

Jack sighed and caught Carter's eye. She was still flushed a rosy red that had spread down and across her chest, just like last ni - Jack caught himself before his mind dove straight to the gutter. He forced his eyes upward to again catch hers. Sam was glaring at him, but then she shrugged, they'd been caught, dead to rights.

Best to just move the conversation along, O'Neill. Jack took a deep breath, centered himself and pretended to ignore the entire subtext of the last few minutes. There was just no way in hell he was pursuing the wild hogs comment. Aside from that fact that he did not want to spend the rest of his vacation cut off from sex with Sam, he was still struggling to wrap his mind around the fact that Daniel had said it. Moving right along… "So who's makin' a beer run? Can't fish without beer. It's sacrilegious."

Teal'c's eyebrow again rose upward, toward his hair. Even though it had been more than a year since Teal'c stopped shaving his head, Jack still found himself adjusting to the look. "I'm just sayin'…beer and fishing. Can't have one without the other." Jack surveyed the group. "Who's makin' a run to the store?" Clearly, not him. He had fishing to do.

Sam cleared her throat and made an abortive attempt to talk, but the only sound to escape was a squeak. She flushed again, but cleared her throat with a hard expulsion of breath, soldiering on. That's my girl, Jack thought, but didn't voice. Even his small smile was likely to incur Carter's wrath, but Damn, he just couldn't help it! They'd maneuvered around each other for eight years and in the course of a few days, he'd turned into a Giant Sap, unable to suppress his emotions, unable to keep his hands off her, and apparently they were both unable to contain their joy. In the course of a few short weeks he'd gone from skirting the edges of a hollow existence if she'd married Shanahan to the absolute ecstasy of having everything he'd ever dreamed. Lord knew she deserved so much more than him…That thought sent an involuntary and harshly suppressed shiver down Jack's spine. Sam meant everything to him and while the world might possibly go on without her, his world would not. To the untrained eye, Jack's expression never wavered, but the slight flicker and dim of his eyes, the sudden and fleeting tension in his jaw, was as obvious to his Team as a beacon in the night.

While Jack glanced down at the remains of his omelet to reschool his expression, Daniel and Teal'c made instant eye contact and decided - Daniel would talk to Jack. Sam nodded minutely. She didn't like it. She'd rather talk to Jack herself, but since she suspected the problem had to do with her…

Sam blinked and shoved the mouthful of forgotten omelet into her mouth and pulled her stomach up from where it had sank somewhere underneath her chair. She'd think about that later. "Cassie and I were planning on going into town. Do a little shopping. We can pick up beer while we're there."

Before Jack could reply, Teal'c leaned forward, "MajorCarter has asked me to accompany her and CassandraFraiser on their outing." Teal'c's expression was as neutral as ever.

Jack blinked and experienced an instant waive of déjá vu. Why do I feel like I've been here before?

Apparently he wasn't the only one. Sam was blinking and looking in question at Teal'c, "I did?"

Realization caught her before Teal'c could intone "Indeed," and she turned to Jack, a smile broadening her face. She barely even stammered, "I did. Yes. That's right. I asked Teal'c if he would mind coming along. He didn't get to see much of the area last time you brought him. And besides, he can act as our security force and carry our bags."

Sam looked pleased with herself and she smiled broadly at Teal'c. Teal'c had a beautific smile, both corners of his mouth were cocked just the barest hint upward and he bowed his head in her direction before they both turned to gaze at Jack.

First Rule any commander learns: when to execute a hasty retreat. Second Rule? When to shut up and ignore that your troops are planning to commit mutiny. Jack allowed himself a long, suffering sigh. At least he'd gotten them all up to the cabin, and Cassie was a bonus. He turned toward Daniel, "You draw the short straw?"

"Humm?" Daniel managed to look confused, though he was anything but. Even after all the years they'd known each other, Jack still didn't know how he pulled it off. He watched as Daniel laid on the protest, hands waiving.

"What? No! No short straw. I want to fish." Daniel saw the skepticism clearly written on Jack's face and forced himself not to blanche. Two options, push forward or execute a hasty withdraw, "Really, Jack. You've fished with Teal'c and Sam. My turn." But his smile was just a little too bright and he knew it. Even so, he wasn't giving in and he knew Jack could see it. Question was, would Jack give and let it slide or would he throw it into one of their never-ending battles of will?

Jack snorted, paused, snorted again and shook his head. Sometimes there was no winning, but he'd have the last laugh. "Okay, Daniel. Dock in 30." Out of long habit, they both looked down to synchronize watches before they realized the ridiculousness of the action. Both men chuckled and grinned.

Jack glanced over at Sam, Cassie and Teal'c, who had followed the byplay between the two with open amusement. Well, as open as T ever got. "Okay kids, home by 1700. Dinner's at 1800. Call if you'll be late."

Cassie snapped a sharp salute, "Yes sir!" while Sam just rolled her eyes.

Teal'c had already turned and was taking off his apron. "I leave you to clean up our repast." With that and a little bow and nod of his head toward each, he intoned, "O'Neill. DanielJackson," and left the room, with all the dignity of a Former First Prime. Jack shook his head and wondered for the 100,000th time just how he did it.

Jack watched as half his team retreated down the hall to gather their things, then mentally shook his head and glanced over at Daniel. If he was doing KP, he wasn't going to do it alone. "C'mon, Daniel. Let's get this cleaned up."

Contrary to popular belief, Daniel had learned that there were some battles never to pick. He fell in to cleaning without complaint. But as he scrubbed, his mind was free to work over the look he'd seen pass over Jack's face, and the reason he was going to be stuck fishing with his best friend. Fishing was a good analogy, he realized. Jack would be fishing for fish and he'd be fishing for information from Jack. Nothing new there, but the man could be more closed off than a steel trap when he wanted to be. All their years together and close association hadn't changed Jack that much. Still, Daniel hadn't Ascended and Descended twice without learning some things. And this last Ascension had been a doozey. He'd played in the mind of RepliCarter and had been able to control her and every Replicator everywhere. Daniel took a moment to look hard at Jack. Even with that experience, he'd never get Jack to crack an inch if he didn't want to. Daniel would have to be delicate, but the thought occurred to him that maybe, subconsciously, Jack wanted to talk. The man was just too good at schooling his facial expressions, even in the face of deeply felt emotion. The times Daniel had seen Jack's mask slip were few and the circumstances had all been intense and related directly to Sam. This instance met none of those criteria, with the exception of Sam. No, if Jack allowed his face to betray him now, it was likely because he wanted to talk, whether he realized it or not.

Daniel puffed his cheeks as he washed the last pan and handed it off to Jack to dry. A part of him felt like drawing in and wrapping his arms around his chest, a subconscious gesture he hadn't used in quite some time. He'd gone to Jack once to find out what was bothering the man and the result had been disastrous. While the intervening years and the knowledge that Jack had been on a mission and had played the part because his house had been bugged had helped to heal the gaping, ragged hole Jack's words had burned, it had taken Daniel much longer than Teal'c, or even Sam, to get over that mission's fall out. Daniel had never shared fully with anyone everything Jack had said to him that day and he hadn't wondered over it in years, but now, preparing as he was to go once more into the breach of Jack's defenses, he couldn't suppress a shudder at how totally and utterly Jack had torn him to shreds.

He's not on a mission this time. We're a team. We're family, Daniel reminded himself. Subconsciously, he wants to talk. The part of him that had connected to a higher plain of existence and had his consciousness opened and his essence hardened over time and with experience knew he was up to the challenge, but the boy who still lurked inside shivered at the prospect of the talk to come. Daniel mentally shook himself and dried his hands, Nothing to it, but to do it.

He slapped Jack lightly on the shoulder as he walked past the older man, "C'mon Jack, show me how to fish." If he'd been turned toward Jack at that moment, he would have seen the huge and dopy smile spread across his friend's face.