Oscar
By Neiths Arrow
:-x
Year One
Daniel Jackson carried a steaming hot cup of coffee through the sliding glass door to Jack's well-kept backyard. His year on Abydos had left him with a serious craving for the roasted java concoction. The misplaced archeologist was currently staying with Jack while looking for an apartment of his own. Daniel's first priority had been to go shopping to make sure the airman had coffee – the correct type of coffee – available; the younger man had even purchased a new coffeemaker as a 'gift' for letting him stay at the house. It also ensured a continued mechanism to enjoy coffee at his only friend's home.
Jack made no mention of the fact that he rarely drank coffee. It was enough that he had company in his home again – even though it was the unlikely company of a scientific geek. It just happened to be the same geek who had managed to save his life on Abydos the year before.
Daniel mused about the past year of bliss with his wife, Sha're. She had often accompanied her husband as he explored the ruins on the desert planet. Like anyone who cared about Daniel, she had quickly taken on the role of making sure he ate on a regular basis and got sufficient sleep. His eyes crinkled slightly with mirth as he remembered some of the techniques she had used to entice him home. But his eyes quickly widened in horror and guilt as he remembered her abduction by the Goa'uld, Apophis. Sha're's gentle spirit was currently being subjugated by a sick parasite. Daniel missed her caring ministrations to the very bottom of his soul. The bereft husband closed his eyes against the tears collecting there and lowered his head in defeat. With a start, he straightened and stood up quickly to return to the house. It wouldn't help anyone if he wallowed in a pit of despair. His facial expression hardened into a rigor of determination. He couldn't stay here any longer; they must begin their search before Apophis disappeared too far into the maze of Stargates.
As Daniel started to enter the house, he noticed something that had not been there before. A mostly dead mouse lay twitching on the ground in front of the sliding glass door. The young man's lip curled in revulsion as he involuntarily jumped back in disgust. "Ughhh!" He couldn't help looking more closely at the pathetic creature. Bloody puncture wounds peppered the critter's body making it clear that it would not survive long. It was obvious that it was suffering and should be euthanized, but Daniel didn't think he could handle more killing. What he had experienced on Ra's ship had been enough. Sensing a presence in front of him, Daniel looked up into the quiet, knowing eyes of Jack O'Neill.
The airman was dead silent as he looked into the younger man's face. With a low tone he commented, "I'll take care of it, Daniel. Why don't you go inside for a minute."
Daniel nodded mutely and sidled past the airman through the doorway. He went into the guest room to look at his sparse belongings one more time. When he returned, he found Jack at the kitchen sink washing his hands. He felt guilty for having Jack do the dirty work. "Thank you, Jack. I um!" Daniel crossed his arms insecurely over his chest. "I probably should have . . . you know." He gestured with his thumb toward the patio entrance before crossing his arms more tightly.
Jack met his eyes briefly as he wiped his hands very thoroughly on the kitchen towel. "Not a problem, Daniel."
Daniel frowned. "So what's with the dead animals? That's the second time this week. You need to do something about the stray cats."
Changing the subject, Jack asked, "So, you ready? Carter said she found // double finger quotation marks // the perfect apartment for you."
Daniel risked some sarcastic play. "You trying to get rid of me?" When he received no response, the spectacled young man continued. "Yeah, just give me a minute. I need to get my // mumble mumble //." His voice faded as he walked away.
Jack rolled his eyes after Daniel went to get one more thing. Jeez, he doesn't even have that much stuff with him. Sara could get ready faster than Daniel for crying out loud. He scowled in annoyance and wondered if he really did have problems with women. Captain Carter's comment still ran through his mind. He prepared the house for their apartment-hunting excursion. As Jack clasped the lock on the sliding glass door, he suddenly noticed the battle-scarred gray cat sitting calmly just outside. It had its head slightly cocked in silent question with ears alertly pointed toward the airman. Jack paused momentarily and shared eye contact with his furry friend before turning back to the kitchen. "Daniel, it's getting late. We can always come back for it if it's that important." More quietly he mumbled, "It's not like it's the other side of the galaxy or something."
As the man's voice faded away into the warm shelter, Oscar silently contemplated the past week's events. Twice he had tried to repay the human for his kindness by leaving him fresh kills. But he had witnessed the first offering being flung deeply into the bushes. The cat assumed the man was dissatisfied that the meal was already dead, so he made sure to present the second mouse while it was still alive and twitching. Any fresher and the kill might escape. It was puzzling to the feline when the second offering was expertly dispatched before being placed into the covered, plastic treasure chest. Oscar recognized a fellow killer. Though he envied the efficient manner in which the prey had been dispatched, he disapproved of the quickness even though the meal was beyond being a plaything. The gray Tomcat twitched his tail in consternation and then bounded silently into the woods. He would need to think of another way to repay the human. He disliked this debt hanging over his head.
SG1SG1SG1SG1
Jack sat back gingerly onto the couch in front of the roaring fire. It was his first week back after almost freezing to death in the bowels of Antarctica. He had to admit that the mission had given him more than pause for thought. It was the first time he was confronted with being abandoned on a planet with no way home. It made the danger and isolation of Gate travel much more apparent. Though it turned out that they had been on their home planet after all, they might as well have been on another planet. He and Captain Carter were unable to call for help with the equipment they had. Jack remembered struggling to hold on to life while the freezing temperature, pain, and loss of blood drained the warmth from his body. The airman shivered despite the heat of the fire and tried to pull the blanket over his legs. As he reached for the blanket draped over the distant armrest, his hand was deliberately attacked from beyond his view. "Argh!" He shouted out in surprise and almost fell off the couch. After he painfully caught his breath, Jack cautiously and gingerly rotated to sit near the far end of the sofa. He saw a self-satisfied gray cat contentedly and smugly licking its paw – probably the paw with which he had swatted the unsuspecting human.
Jack contemplated revenge, but decided to bide his time. It wasn't like he was at his best right now. "Hey! How'd you get in here anyway?" Silent, blinking eyes met his puzzled query. Jack thought over the last hour and remembered leaving the door open while he made a painful adventure to empty some trash into the outside trash bin. "Well, you're gonna have to be stuck here for a while. I'm not getting up to open the door for ya." Jack slowly closed his eyes as he sank back to regain control over the deep ache in his side. The cat continued washing unconcernedly in front of the warm fire – his front paw scrubbing over his ear and face. "Suit yourself." Opening his eyes, Jack swallowed before gathering his courage to sit up. Looking over the pain medications and the glass of water he thoughtfully remembered to bring, Jack regretfully downed the pills. He disliked taking drugs of any kind.
The recovering airman winced at the pain as he pulled the blanket over himself and slowly lay back to wait for the medication to ease his discomfort. He probably should have stayed another week in the hospital, but the walls were closing in on him and he needed to recover in the sanctuary of his own home. Janet had kept him in the infirmary for as long as her nurses could take it. She had reminded them that the military frowned on all of them calling in sick at the same time . . . it was called going AWOL. When they looked willing to take the risk, she acquiesced and got his team to agree to watch over him. Jack had skillfully manipulated their babysitting by 'forgetting' to pass on the information that Daniel wished to change his schedule with Sam. Though the Colonel should have felt more pleased with his covert operation, the pain wracking his side and radiating up his leg dulled the edge of his pleasure. Fifteen long minutes later, the pain medications finally took effect and Jack faded into welcome sleep.
He was awakened three hours later by a loud continuous grinding noise. It ceased abruptly at the same time he awoke and closed his mouth. Jack realized he had been snoring. The edge of pain was still dulled and he looked gratefully toward the full bottle of pills. As O'Neill removed his hands from underneath the covers, he was pleased to discover that he was actually too warm. After his stint as an Antarctic Popsicle, he didn't think he would ever feel warm again. With a slight smile of contentment, Jack laid his arms onto his chest. He started to bolt upright when he came in contact with an unfamiliar object, but remembered in time to favor his broken ribs. He looked down toward what had startled him. Dull brown eyes met hooded green slits. Sometime during the nap, Oscar had made a bed of Jack's lower abdomen. While fighting the doping effect of the painkillers, Jack pondered how the cat had managed to climb onto him without waking him. The former Black Ops officer was a very light sleeper and was known to attack people who made the mistake of touching him before he awoke. Jack reached an arm over to snag the bottle of medications from the coffee table. They must be stronger than he thought.
Oscar looked into the sleepy brown eyes of the human. He had climbed onto the belly because he remembered the warmth and pleasantly rhythmic cycling of human breathing. The human also apparently enjoyed the contact because he had been purring . . . quite loudly. It stopped as soon as he woke up. The gray cat added to his store of knowledge that humans apparently could not purr while awake. Oscar closed his eyes trustingly and resumed his own purring to lull the human back to sleep. It was obvious that the man had been injured and Oscar was glad to facilitate the comfort of healing sleep. After all, sleep was always a good thing. The human soon joined in Oscar's contented purrs.
Hours later, the remaining members of SG-1 determined that they had been cleverly outmaneuvered. They arrived at the Colonel's house to begin the arduous task of helping the airman while he recovered from his injuries. Sam was reminded of her father's bouts with illness or injury. Luckily, she had had practice as a young girl with Jacob Carter's military stubbornness and knew to provide the bare minimum of care to the Colonel. She was determined to mostly stay of out of the way.
Teal'c felt the job of nursing was strictly for females, but he missed O'Neill's gruff company. He could not admit this yet because he was uncertain about the customs of this planet. The former Jaffa commander was uncertain how to express friendship outside of a kin or mentor relationship. On this planet, it appeared that affection between males was frowned upon. He had yet to observe O'Neill softening his military persona in voice or action. Teal'c decided he would observe the interactions between Daniel Jackson and Colonel O'Neill for a while before committing his friendship to the Tauri commander.
Meanwhile, Daniel was plain annoyed at Jack's antics. He couldn't understand why his stubborn friend was refusing care. The archeologist had seen the Colonel at his worst and lived to tell about it. They had been through a lot together and Daniel thought they were friends. The younger man had reached through Jack's hardass military demeanor from their first mission together. He knew that underneath that gruff exterior was . . . a gruff interior. But that wouldn't stop him from helping his friend, despite his orneriness.
Sam Carter stopped her teammates at the front door. "Guys! How are we going to get inside?"
Daniel looked at her furtively as he placed his hand on the knob. "He doesn't lock it." Sam looked startled so Daniel explained. "He said they don't lock anything in Minnesota, so . . . ." Knowing that that didn't explain anything, the archeologist shrugged and continued to turn the doorknob. As Daniel opened the door, a gray blur ran past his feet, It startled everyone but Teal'c who had heard the critter's soft vocalizations from behind the thick door. This was further proof to him that humans had inferior hearing ability. He made no comment and took point into O'Neill's home.
Jack was sitting calmly on the couch drinking a hot cup of coffee. "What took you guys so long?" The long, undisturbed sleep in the seclusion of his own home had done wonders for both his disposition and his health. He silently thanked Oscar for his unobtrusive company and mesmerizing calmness, which helped him to sleep. Jack wondered if the cat understood the benefits he had brought. Jack dismissed the thought. However grateful he was to the critter, it was still just a cat. Jack was glad the fur ball had left because he would have had a hard time defending his tough reputation if word got out. He had trouble meeting Teal'c's pointedly curious eyes.