AN: After Moebius

Daniel had never been a particularly early riser. As a kid, he was barely on time for school most days. When he was living on Abydos, he had been the only one in the village to sleep in defiance of the rising sun. Within his first year with SG-1, Jack had learned not to give him the last watch. That's why he was a little surprised to be sitting at the kitchen table in Jack's cabin with only Teal'c for company and a game of Jackals and Hounds between them.

Everyone had parted ways early last night so the fact that Jack and Sam were both still sleeping was a little unbelievable. They were chronic early risers. As if his thoughts had summoned an explanation, he heard a door creak down the hall and saw Jack appear dressed in boxers, an undershirt and inexplicably, in his baseball cap.

"Good morning, Campers!" Jack positively exclaimed, to Daniel's great annoyance as he wove his way through the cramped kitchen. Daniel felt his hair being tousled as Jack passed him, and he tried to hide his disgust. Jack pulled down a coffee cup and filled it before retrieving a Gatorade out of the fridge and chugging half of it.

"Nice, uhh... nice hat," Daniel offered, still confused by the ensemble. Jack just smiled and filled a second cup with coffee. Grabbing both mugs with one hand, he tugged the brim of his hat down low.

"Thanks. My girlfriend loves it," Jack added, before collecting his half empty Gatorade and returning down the hall. Daniel watched him leave with a crinkle setting firmly on his brow.

"Did he just say what I think he said?" Daniel didn't want to jump to any conclusions, however, this didn't seem to be much of a leap.

"Indeed," Teal'c answered as he moved his Jackal across the board.

"And did he just..." Daniel paused and looked around the cabin, assessing his surroundings. "Teal'c, you've been here before. How many bedrooms are down that hall?"

"It does not seem wise to count, Daniel Jackson," Teal'c answered with an easy nod and a twitch of the corner of his stoic mouth.

"Indeed," Daniel replied, "It does not."

Daniel watched from across the flames as Sam stood from her place at the fire pit. She stretched upward and wiped some dirt off of her butt from where she sat on the ground next to Jack. She walked behind Jack, dropping a casual hand onto his shoulder, and let it drag across his back from one shoulder to the other on her way into the cabin.

Jack just sat there in his camp chair with a serene smirk that seemed to have been on his face since they had arrived, and a lazy ankle propped on the opposite knee. It wasn't as if what Sam had done was in any way wrong. Sam had done the same thing to him on numerous occasions, and even sometimes Teal'c. She was just affectionate with the people she cared about. But Daniel had spent seven years with Jack and Sam, and he had never seen that kind of interaction between them. It looked easy and comfortable, as if the rubber band that had been pulled too tight had finally snapped.

Daniel hadn't counted the bedrooms this morning, but it was starting to seem pretty undeniable. Jack and Sam were together, and until now, Daniel had never realized how much distance they had kept from each other. He had just thought it was their dynamic, but now when she dropped her hand easily against Jack's shoulder, Daniel could tell. When she came back from the cabin carrying a second mug, and handed it to Jack with soft smile, Daniel could see it. When she sat back down on the ground next to Jack's chair and rested her temple against his knee, it was obvious.

Daniel's grin grew to a smile, and he propped his chin against his fist to watch his friends. Jack sipped from the mug Sam had given him in one hand and settled his other hand on her shoulder. His thumb extended a few times, brushing against Sam's neck.

"So, this is..." Daniel began, but he paused, knowing that he should just keep his mouth shut and let it happen.

"What?" Jack asked.

"Nothing. Nevermind," Daniel brushed him off, and stared back at the fire.

"It's never nothing with you, Daniel," Jack argued. Sam smiled, and lifted her head up off of Jack's knee, but Daniel could see that Jack's hand stayed firm, refusing to let her move away.

"It's nothing, I've just... I've never seen the two of you like this before," he explained, being intentionally vague.

"Like what?" Jack persisted.

"You know, like this," he repeated with a little twirl of his finger toward them and a smile. "You just look happy, that's all."

"Indeed," Teal'c added from beside Daniel.

"I don't know what you guys are talking about," Jack dismissed. "I'm always happy." But Daniel could see his surly friend's smile growing and his fingers flexing against Sam's shoulder. And Daniel knew. Jack had never been this kind of happy.

Sam stepped outside onto the front porch, looking for her friend. Jack and Daniel had just had one of their typical arguments about Daniel's plan to request a place on the Atlantis expedition.

"Are you okay?" Sam asked sitting next to him on the top step. She knew how much it meant to him to go to Atlantis, and the fact that Jack was still fighting him on it stung her for Daniel. But she knew how Jack felt about it too.

"Why is he so stubborn about this?" Daniel asked, drawing a hand down his face and replacing his glasses.

"You know how he is, Daniel," Sam wasn't trying to make excuses for Jack, but they had all been family for years. They all knew each other's ugly parts. "He's not going to say it."

"Say what, exactly?" Daniel asked, still letting his annoyance creep into his voice.

"That you're his... I don't know, his primary emergency contact." Daniel looked up to see Sam give a little shrug.

"For now," Daniel argued, bumping her shoulder with his.

"And he's yours," she explained hoping that Daniel would understand. "Let me talk to him. A lot of things are probably going to be changing anyway, so maybe it's the right time."

"Things? Changing?" Daniel asked, trying to pull a proper confession from her. Sam smiled and dropped her head onto his shoulder.

"Yeah, things." Daniel grinned and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, giving a tight squeeze. It was hard to stay mad when he could feel the optimism seeping out of her pores.

"You look happy, Sam," he observed. "Really happy."

"I am happy, Daniel."

"But I have to know. How in the world did you two ever get together without actually talking about it?"

"He told me he loved me in his hat," Sam answered, making Jack take the blame for their awkward confession.

"Oh, that explains the... no, that explains nothing at all," Daniel finished in confusion. Sam just smiled. She knew she and Jack had to get better at being honest with each other. They had practiced subterfuge for too long. But for now, it was enough.

"It does to me."