SG-1 fic Divergence Part Four
Previous parts here: Part One,
Part Two,
Part Three,
The others were waiting for them in the 'gate room. The two Jacks in close conversation. Daniel could see no hostility between them now. The Jack he knew was just nodding every now and then while the other O'Neill talked. Jack still looked a little pale, like someone had slapped him hard before showing him a lot of photographs of a particularly grisly traffic accident. And he'd put his sunglasses on, despite the fact they were indoors, and were 'gating to an indoor chamber from which they would be 'gating home. The sunglasses being worn indoors was always a bad sign.
The other O'Neill seemed to be explaining something. Teal'c and Teal'c were standing near each other in respectful silence. The two Carters were talking incredibly fast and Daniel wondered if they would have to tow Sam gently up the ramp to drag her away from this clearly fascinating conversation about extra-dimensional astrophysics.
"Poor Sam," the other Daniel said beside him. "The only person who can follow her thought process at the same kind of speed and it's theoretical astrophysics which won't let them be in the same space together for any length of time. When you're a theoretical astrophysicist that has to really hurt."
"Nice for our Teal'c to find there are other Teal'cs who've left the service of Apophis," Daniel offered.
"Is your Jack going to be okay? He looks a bit peaky?"
Damn, Daniel thought, trust another Daniel to notice how even a Jack from a different dimension was less than happy. "Maybe it's the entropic cascade failure thing?" he offered.
The other Daniel looked concerned at once. "Jack?" he called across. As the other O'Neill turned to look at him, he pointed at his watch.
The other O'Neill nodded. "Daniel's right. You should be going before you start feeling ill."
Before Jack could protest his perfect health, Daniel said quietly, "You don't look so good, Jack. And it might hit you first because you're the oldest."
"Teal'c's older than I am."
"But he's got a symbiote. It might not even affect him."
The other Daniel blinked in surprise. "I didn't know Teal'c was older than you, Jack."
The other O'Neill said, "What? You didn't know that? The guy is like…ninety or something. Why do you think he shaves his head? It's nothing to do with being a Jaffa tradition, you know, it's just to hide the gray hair."
"That reminds me," the other Daniel turned to his counterpart. "Talking of old Jaffa - has Bra'tac ever said word one to you?"
"He told me could snap me like kindling once. I think that was about it. He usually just ignores me."
"See?" the other O'Neill put in. "I told you it was nothing to do with me and you."
"Great, he despises me in every dimension, that's really comforting."
"Just think how much more impressed he's going to be when he finally realizes the truth about what a great little warrior you really are."
Jack drew Daniel a little to one side and murmured, "If I ever start saying stuff like that to you, shoot me, will you?"
"Gladly," Daniel assured him. "In fact if you ever so much as think about calling me a 'great little warrior' I will definitely shoot you, without needing any prompting."
Daniel tentatively shook hands with himself. He could see how his other self was overflowing with compassion for him; seeing Daniel as someone trapped in his loveless world with no Sha're and a Jack whom the other Daniel clearly considered inferior to his own. There wasn't enough time to explain the truth and even if he did there was no guaranteeing the other Daniel would understand what he was telling him. Deciding that being pitied was just something he was going to have to put up with, Daniel gave the other a fond smile of farewell and then turned and headed up the ramp. He was aware of Jack at his elbow, the way Jack was always at his elbow.
He said quietly, "You okay, Jack?"
There was a pause before the other man said, "Are you talking about that cascade…?"
"No."
"Then I'll tell you later." Jack paused and looked over his shoulder. "Come on, Carter. The second you get home you can work out how to e-mail through alternative dimensions, right now we need to get back to our own universe."
The two Carters embraced in farewell and then she was hurrying up the ramp after them, Teal'c striding along behind her.
Just before he stepped through the wormhole, Daniel paused and looked back. The other O'Neill had his arm around the other Daniel's shoulders and the other Daniel was looking after him anxiously.
Jack said quietly, "Don't look back."
"I'm not Eurydice, Jack," Daniel protested. "Or Lot's wife."
"Okay, I have no idea what you're talking about now."
"What were you talking about?" Daniel demanded. As Jack stepped through the wormhole, he stepped after him, hardly noticing the now familiar sensation of being poured down a funnel and dissolving into light before being jammed back together and hurled through the 'gate the other end. As Daniel staggered on landing, Jack's hand was on his elbow, holding him up. "What were you talking about?" Daniel repeated.
Jack gave him a sideways look. "Well, it's Friday night so I figured the second our backs were turned those two would be excavating each other's tonsils, and there's no way either you or I want to be seeing that."
"I thought what you liked doing on a Friday night was watching hockey?"
"Not when I was married, Daniel. Which they kind of…are."
Daniel shrugged. "Yeah well, you're right. Apparently the other me likes hockey about as much as I do, so he tends to try and keep the other Jack's mind on…other things come Friday night."
"I bet the other O'Neill lets him think he needs to be tempted away from the TV as well. That's what I always used to do with Sara."
Daniel darted him a quick sideways glance. "You mean…?"
Jack gave him a pitying look. "Daniel, believe me, no one likes hockey that much." He stepped back as Carter and Teal'c came through the wormhole, Carter talking animatedly about something astrophysical while Teal'c nodded gravely.
As Carter pulled up level with them and opened her mouth to speak, Jack said, "Carter, you do remember which Jack O'Neill you're talking to right now, don't you?"
She looked puzzled. "Sir?"
"I mean you do remember that I don't know zip about any of the stuff you just said to Teal'c and, what's more, I don't want to."
"Well, according to the other me, sir, the other you is just the same."
"Oh, really? Mr Perfect has a flaw?"
"Not really a flaw, Colonel. I think both Major Carter and myself just think of it as an endearing eccentricity."
Jack gave her a narrow look. "You are so close to being pushed into the next puddle we come across, Major."
" 'Laid back'," Daniel murmured. " 'Good tempered'."
Jack frowned, "What?"
"Nothing," Daniel said at once.
Jack gave him a suspicious glare and then walked over to where the mirror was sitting on its plinth, shimmering quietly, the others following him. Jack looked at the mirror without liking. "And they're going to come and pick this thing up, right?"
"In an hour, sir."
"Because anyone could wander into our dimension right now."
Daniel prompted gently, "Including us, Jack."
"Oh right." Jack looked around at his team-members to see if they were ready. "Okay?" As everyone nodded, he counted to three and then they all reached out and touched the mirror.
***
Daniel tapped tentatively on Jack's office door. It was Monday morning. There was no mission scheduled for another three days so he and Sam could input the data they'd learned from those conferences with their other selves. But it was what Jack had carried away with him from the alternative dimension which was worrying him right now. The man had taken off as soon as they got back to the SGC and his machine had been fielding all calls throughout the weekend. Daniel had thought about going around to Jack's place but had decided against it. He didn't know himself if it was because of the thought in the back of both their minds of what that other Jack and Daniel would be doing over at the other Jack's place in the alternative universe, but he thought it had a lot more to do with not wanting to invade his best friend's personal space than it did that…other stuff. He'd left three messages on Jack's answer phone and the man hadn't called him back which had seemed like a pretty clear indication that any thinking Jack wanted to do, he needed to do by himself.
"Jack?" Daniel tapped again, still gently. "Are you in there?"
"Come in, Daniel."
Jack sounded both weary and resigned and Daniel's heart sank a little, but he opened the door and went inside. "Just wondered how you were?"
"Fine. You?"
"Fine."
Daniel tentatively sank onto a chair and looked across at Jack. The man was sitting at his desk shuffling papers about. He could be writing reports, of course, but he looked more like someone who was just pretending to be writing reports to give himself something to do with his hands.
"So," Daniel cleared his throat. "Friday was pretty weird, wasn't it?"
"Pretty much, if only because I like to think of myself as unique, then suddenly I find Jack O'Neill's are a dime a dozen. And I'm not even the deluxe version."
Daniel darted him a quick look. "Meaning what?"
"What?"
"What do you mean you're not even the deluxe version?"
Jack shrugged. "You know."
"No, Jack, I don't know. I've met three Jack O'Neill's from three different universes now and I know damned well which one I like best."
There was a long pause before Jack said: "I let them put you in a padded cell."
"Jack, you and I aren't sleeping together."
Jack looked around pointedly. "Daniel, are you talking to the wastepaper basket or something? Because I think you and I both know that, don't we? Or is there a really wild party I don't remember which has left some kind of doubt in our minds?"
"I'm just pointing out that our relationship is not the same as theirs. The Jack O'Neill in that dimension is the Daniel Jackson in that dimension's next of kin. He's his…life-partner. That gives him the right to kick up a stink when they try and stick the guy he's sleeping with in a padded cell. They had to consult him. Did anyone consult you? Did anyone say 'Here's where you sign to pack Daniel off to a padded cell?'"
"No, but I could have…"
"You could have what, Jack? You could have been there when I woke up? You could have asked to hear my version of events? You could have told anyone who would listen it was just stress? You could have kept me company to try and stop me going loco and called for medical help when I did? You could have come and visited me when I was in the padded cell and tried to get me to tell you when and how it had started so you could maybe think of what had caused it? You could have come and got me the second Doctor Mackenzie said I might be cured? Given the fact you and I are not 'doin' it' and you therefore had no power and no authority over what Janet and Mackenzie decided to do with my medical treatment, what else could you have done that you didn't do?"
"I could have told Mackenzie to stick his stupid medical orders where the sun doesn't shine, told Teal'c to pick you up and carried you the hell out of that place. I stood there while they held you down and stuck you full of drugs, Daniel. I just stood there and watched them do it."
"I stood there and watched Hathor put a Goa'uld in you, Jack. I'm not exactly proud of that myself but I can live with it because you don't blame me. But where in our friendship contract does it say we always have to be right? That we always have to do the right thing? That we're never allowed to screw up? I've got it wrong just as often as you have."
Jack ran a hand through his hair. "Daniel, Mr Perfect over there never got it wrong. He made the right decision every time when I made the wrong one. We both know that."
"I don't know that."
"Then you weren't listening."
"You know those two may have the perfect romance going over there but they don't have what we have."
"Meaning?"
"See, I know that you have always been the best possible friend to me, that you could be, Jack. Because when I disobeyed your orders and went through the mirror and damned near got myself killed, I remember the look on your face when I came back. At the time I was so full of what I'd seen I didn't think about it that much. But I've remembered that look a lot since. And all you were was glad I was alive. And I remember the same look on your face when I came around in the infirmary and started telling you we had to go through the Stargate and save the world. And there are all those other things about you that other Daniel doesn't know."
Jack raised an eyebrow. "Um, Danny - Daniel, I really don't think you and I know each other better than those two do."
"Don't you?" Daniel returned his gaze levelly.
"No, to be honest, I definitely think they have the jump on us there."
"Well, as the other Daniel's Mr Perfect never makes any mistakes, the other Daniel doesn't know how much it would tear the Jack he knows up inside to have to leave him to die. He doesn't know how he'd be so happy to see him alive again that he'd hug him in front of a whole bunch of macho marines. He doesn't know that even if he lost all humanity and decency and self-respect and betrayed their friendship and tried to kill the Jack he knows, the guy would still forgive him, in an eye-blink, completely and absolutely and never utter a word of reproach afterwards even though, God knows, he deserved to get his head chewed off for acting like such a total jerk. And he doesn't know that the Jack he knows would leave a dying friend's bedside to drive all across the city with his foot to the floor to come and get him out of a padded cell even though the Jack he knows didn't think the theory that Daniel was spouting made any more sense than the total crap he'd been talking when he was hallucinating." Daniel met Jack's gaze then. "And what he especially doesn't know is that the guy would do all that for him only because he cared about him, and was his friend, and for no other reason. And he's never going to know that, because they are sleeping together which makes everything they do for each other something they're doing for themselves as well. And I think that Daniel missed out on a hell of a lot, because those 'mistakes' you made, Jack, they add up to some of my best memories."
"And your worst memories, Daniel," Jack protested quietly. "Knowing what it's like to be left alone to bleed to death on a ship that's about to blow up is not a good memory."
"Coming back to that welcome is a very good memory though."
"Getting addicted to the damned sarcophagus and going through all the pains of hell is not a good memory."
"You being there for me when the world collapsed around my ears is one of the best memories I have, Jack."
"The padded cell?"
"You got me out."
"You got yourself out."
"But you came back for me."
Jack ran a hand through his hair. "I wouldn't have had to come back for you if I hadn't left you there in the first place."
"All I know is I wouldn't change the Jack O'Neill I know for anyone and I'm very proud to call him my friend."
Jack had to stare fixedly at the papers in front of him for a moment as they became disconcertingly blurry. He hastily wiped his eyes and looked up in time to see Daniel blinking quickly, those blue eyes suspiciously bright as well. Jack swallowed hard then said gruffly, "Damnit, Daniel, now we're being as sappy as they were."
Daniel quickly scrubbed at his eyes with his sleeve. "Rubbish. We could never be as sappy as those two."
Jack wiped a stray droplet from his jaw before saying conversationally, "You know it's no wonder that other me is so damned 'laid back and good-natured' - he's got a sex life."
"Good point. Unlike you and me who haven't been getting any in…"
"Way way too long."
Daniel sat up straight. "Incidentally, did the other Jack tell you how they knew they were…you know? And is it just me or was that a really dull story?"
"Tell me about it. Four hours chewing over how they felt about each other. I mean what the hell was that about? If someone I had the hots for turned up on my doorstep at three in the morning with only an overcoat on over his jammies and told me we needed to talk I'd be able to work out I'd just got lucky without needing to bend the guy's ear until dawn."
"I know! I figured all the other me needed to do was ring the damned doorbell then throw his arms around the guy's neck and kiss him. What does that take? Thirty seconds? But that other me was definitely none too quick on the uptake."
"Really?" Jack turned and looked at him curiously.
"I think the other you has him right where he wants him. It's obvious that every time the other me starts talking about archaeology the other Jack just drags him off to the bedroom to shut him up."
Jack sat up straight and slapped his hand on the desk. "See! Something, I have never done, however boring you were being."
"Exactly!" Daniel frowned. "What?"
"I meant to say - however far over my head the conversation got."
Daniel looked slightly mollified. "Right. And that other Daniel seemed a bit kind of…passive to me."
"Oh, definitely. Very passive. You could see he'd just wait around on missions for the other me to do all his thinking for him - no initiative. I don't think they had what anyone could call a really equal relationship."
"I thought that too. And the other Daniel told me they never argued about anything, well, that isn't normal, is it? People need to have disagreements sometimes, it tests their boundaries."
Jack nodded. "You know who I think that Daniel was - that was the Stepford version of you."
"Yes!" Daniel got up and went over to where the coffee jug was. "Exactly. And he had that other Jack up on such a pedestal I'm amazed the poor guy didn't have vertigo."
"And let's face it, we're talking about a pretty big age difference. When that Daniel's forty that other me is going to be…what? Fifty? Fifty one? With those knees? The other you's still going to be wanting to make Friday nights special when the other me really does just want to watch the hockey game."
"And I think they have a fundamental…" Daniel broke off and frowned into the empty coffee jug in his hand. "Damnit, Jack, you never have any coffee."
"There was enough for one mug. I didn't know I was going to be having visitors."
"What, it was too much trouble to walk all the way over to the sink and turn the faucet?" Daniel matched the action to the words as he said them.
"Daniel, why don't you just get Janet to give you a caffeine drip and be done with it?"
"All I wanted was one cup of coffee." Daniel turned the tap off with a jerk of the wrist and carried the jug back over to the hot plate.
Jack heaved a long-suffering sigh and gave him a sideways look. "Okay, so I was wrong about how and why those two got together. What was your theory anyway?"
Daniel shrugged and went and sat back down as the coffee began to drip through the filter. "I figured it was the other Daniel's idea."
"Why?"
"I thought he was probably just trying to stop the other you telling him about the rules of hockey for the hundred and fiftieth time and was willing to try anything to distract him."
Jack darted him a glance in time to see one of those maddening little smiles playing around Daniel's lips. He said pleasantly, "How about the next time we meet up with Bra'tac I tell him what a 'great little warrior' you are?"
Daniel said equally pleasantly, "How about I kill you right now, bury your lifeless body under the Stargate, and tell General Hammond you've retired to Florida?"
Jack grinned and sat back down. "Now I bet that other me never gets any snappy comebacks from the Daniel in his dimension. See, me - I'd miss that."
Daniel bowed his head to hide another smile. "Jack, are you telling me that you wouldn't swap me for a Daniel Jackson who always obeys orders, never argues, and thinks the sun shines out of…the back of your head?"
"Actually I think that could get very old very quickly. As would I if I had some hot young geek wanting me to tie him to the damned bedposts every five minutes and lather him in whipped cream. So, no, Daniel, even though you do argue constantly, seem to have no grasp of following orders whatsoever, and have never shown any signs of wanting to afford me the hero-worship I deserve I will still choose you over Stepford Daniel Through The Looking Glass every time."
"Gee thanks, Jack." Daniel went and picked up the coffee jug, pouring himself a mug before automatically refilling Jack's cup. As he sat back down, he held up his coffee in a mock-toast. "Here's to us - two screw-ups together."
Jack leaned across and clinked his mug very gently against Daniel's. "To friendship," he said.
"To friendship," Daniel echoed quietly.
They drank their coffee together in companionable silence.
The End
The others were waiting for them in the 'gate room. The two Jacks in close conversation. Daniel could see no hostility between them now. The Jack he knew was just nodding every now and then while the other O'Neill talked. Jack still looked a little pale, like someone had slapped him hard before showing him a lot of photographs of a particularly grisly traffic accident. And he'd put his sunglasses on, despite the fact they were indoors, and were 'gating to an indoor chamber from which they would be 'gating home. The sunglasses being worn indoors was always a bad sign.
The other O'Neill seemed to be explaining something. Teal'c and Teal'c were standing near each other in respectful silence. The two Carters were talking incredibly fast and Daniel wondered if they would have to tow Sam gently up the ramp to drag her away from this clearly fascinating conversation about extra-dimensional astrophysics.
"Poor Sam," the other Daniel said beside him. "The only person who can follow her thought process at the same kind of speed and it's theoretical astrophysics which won't let them be in the same space together for any length of time. When you're a theoretical astrophysicist that has to really hurt."
"Nice for our Teal'c to find there are other Teal'cs who've left the service of Apophis," Daniel offered.
"Is your Jack going to be okay? He looks a bit peaky?"
Damn, Daniel thought, trust another Daniel to notice how even a Jack from a different dimension was less than happy. "Maybe it's the entropic cascade failure thing?" he offered.
The other Daniel looked concerned at once. "Jack?" he called across. As the other O'Neill turned to look at him, he pointed at his watch.
The other O'Neill nodded. "Daniel's right. You should be going before you start feeling ill."
Before Jack could protest his perfect health, Daniel said quietly, "You don't look so good, Jack. And it might hit you first because you're the oldest."
"Teal'c's older than I am."
"But he's got a symbiote. It might not even affect him."
The other Daniel blinked in surprise. "I didn't know Teal'c was older than you, Jack."
The other O'Neill said, "What? You didn't know that? The guy is like…ninety or something. Why do you think he shaves his head? It's nothing to do with being a Jaffa tradition, you know, it's just to hide the gray hair."
"That reminds me," the other Daniel turned to his counterpart. "Talking of old Jaffa - has Bra'tac ever said word one to you?"
"He told me could snap me like kindling once. I think that was about it. He usually just ignores me."
"See?" the other O'Neill put in. "I told you it was nothing to do with me and you."
"Great, he despises me in every dimension, that's really comforting."
"Just think how much more impressed he's going to be when he finally realizes the truth about what a great little warrior you really are."
Jack drew Daniel a little to one side and murmured, "If I ever start saying stuff like that to you, shoot me, will you?"
"Gladly," Daniel assured him. "In fact if you ever so much as think about calling me a 'great little warrior' I will definitely shoot you, without needing any prompting."
Daniel tentatively shook hands with himself. He could see how his other self was overflowing with compassion for him; seeing Daniel as someone trapped in his loveless world with no Sha're and a Jack whom the other Daniel clearly considered inferior to his own. There wasn't enough time to explain the truth and even if he did there was no guaranteeing the other Daniel would understand what he was telling him. Deciding that being pitied was just something he was going to have to put up with, Daniel gave the other a fond smile of farewell and then turned and headed up the ramp. He was aware of Jack at his elbow, the way Jack was always at his elbow.
He said quietly, "You okay, Jack?"
There was a pause before the other man said, "Are you talking about that cascade…?"
"No."
"Then I'll tell you later." Jack paused and looked over his shoulder. "Come on, Carter. The second you get home you can work out how to e-mail through alternative dimensions, right now we need to get back to our own universe."
The two Carters embraced in farewell and then she was hurrying up the ramp after them, Teal'c striding along behind her.
Just before he stepped through the wormhole, Daniel paused and looked back. The other O'Neill had his arm around the other Daniel's shoulders and the other Daniel was looking after him anxiously.
Jack said quietly, "Don't look back."
"I'm not Eurydice, Jack," Daniel protested. "Or Lot's wife."
"Okay, I have no idea what you're talking about now."
"What were you talking about?" Daniel demanded. As Jack stepped through the wormhole, he stepped after him, hardly noticing the now familiar sensation of being poured down a funnel and dissolving into light before being jammed back together and hurled through the 'gate the other end. As Daniel staggered on landing, Jack's hand was on his elbow, holding him up. "What were you talking about?" Daniel repeated.
Jack gave him a sideways look. "Well, it's Friday night so I figured the second our backs were turned those two would be excavating each other's tonsils, and there's no way either you or I want to be seeing that."
"I thought what you liked doing on a Friday night was watching hockey?"
"Not when I was married, Daniel. Which they kind of…are."
Daniel shrugged. "Yeah well, you're right. Apparently the other me likes hockey about as much as I do, so he tends to try and keep the other Jack's mind on…other things come Friday night."
"I bet the other O'Neill lets him think he needs to be tempted away from the TV as well. That's what I always used to do with Sara."
Daniel darted him a quick sideways glance. "You mean…?"
Jack gave him a pitying look. "Daniel, believe me, no one likes hockey that much." He stepped back as Carter and Teal'c came through the wormhole, Carter talking animatedly about something astrophysical while Teal'c nodded gravely.
As Carter pulled up level with them and opened her mouth to speak, Jack said, "Carter, you do remember which Jack O'Neill you're talking to right now, don't you?"
She looked puzzled. "Sir?"
"I mean you do remember that I don't know zip about any of the stuff you just said to Teal'c and, what's more, I don't want to."
"Well, according to the other me, sir, the other you is just the same."
"Oh, really? Mr Perfect has a flaw?"
"Not really a flaw, Colonel. I think both Major Carter and myself just think of it as an endearing eccentricity."
Jack gave her a narrow look. "You are so close to being pushed into the next puddle we come across, Major."
" 'Laid back'," Daniel murmured. " 'Good tempered'."
Jack frowned, "What?"
"Nothing," Daniel said at once.
Jack gave him a suspicious glare and then walked over to where the mirror was sitting on its plinth, shimmering quietly, the others following him. Jack looked at the mirror without liking. "And they're going to come and pick this thing up, right?"
"In an hour, sir."
"Because anyone could wander into our dimension right now."
Daniel prompted gently, "Including us, Jack."
"Oh right." Jack looked around at his team-members to see if they were ready. "Okay?" As everyone nodded, he counted to three and then they all reached out and touched the mirror.
***
Daniel tapped tentatively on Jack's office door. It was Monday morning. There was no mission scheduled for another three days so he and Sam could input the data they'd learned from those conferences with their other selves. But it was what Jack had carried away with him from the alternative dimension which was worrying him right now. The man had taken off as soon as they got back to the SGC and his machine had been fielding all calls throughout the weekend. Daniel had thought about going around to Jack's place but had decided against it. He didn't know himself if it was because of the thought in the back of both their minds of what that other Jack and Daniel would be doing over at the other Jack's place in the alternative universe, but he thought it had a lot more to do with not wanting to invade his best friend's personal space than it did that…other stuff. He'd left three messages on Jack's answer phone and the man hadn't called him back which had seemed like a pretty clear indication that any thinking Jack wanted to do, he needed to do by himself.
"Jack?" Daniel tapped again, still gently. "Are you in there?"
"Come in, Daniel."
Jack sounded both weary and resigned and Daniel's heart sank a little, but he opened the door and went inside. "Just wondered how you were?"
"Fine. You?"
"Fine."
Daniel tentatively sank onto a chair and looked across at Jack. The man was sitting at his desk shuffling papers about. He could be writing reports, of course, but he looked more like someone who was just pretending to be writing reports to give himself something to do with his hands.
"So," Daniel cleared his throat. "Friday was pretty weird, wasn't it?"
"Pretty much, if only because I like to think of myself as unique, then suddenly I find Jack O'Neill's are a dime a dozen. And I'm not even the deluxe version."
Daniel darted him a quick look. "Meaning what?"
"What?"
"What do you mean you're not even the deluxe version?"
Jack shrugged. "You know."
"No, Jack, I don't know. I've met three Jack O'Neill's from three different universes now and I know damned well which one I like best."
There was a long pause before Jack said: "I let them put you in a padded cell."
"Jack, you and I aren't sleeping together."
Jack looked around pointedly. "Daniel, are you talking to the wastepaper basket or something? Because I think you and I both know that, don't we? Or is there a really wild party I don't remember which has left some kind of doubt in our minds?"
"I'm just pointing out that our relationship is not the same as theirs. The Jack O'Neill in that dimension is the Daniel Jackson in that dimension's next of kin. He's his…life-partner. That gives him the right to kick up a stink when they try and stick the guy he's sleeping with in a padded cell. They had to consult him. Did anyone consult you? Did anyone say 'Here's where you sign to pack Daniel off to a padded cell?'"
"No, but I could have…"
"You could have what, Jack? You could have been there when I woke up? You could have asked to hear my version of events? You could have told anyone who would listen it was just stress? You could have kept me company to try and stop me going loco and called for medical help when I did? You could have come and visited me when I was in the padded cell and tried to get me to tell you when and how it had started so you could maybe think of what had caused it? You could have come and got me the second Doctor Mackenzie said I might be cured? Given the fact you and I are not 'doin' it' and you therefore had no power and no authority over what Janet and Mackenzie decided to do with my medical treatment, what else could you have done that you didn't do?"
"I could have told Mackenzie to stick his stupid medical orders where the sun doesn't shine, told Teal'c to pick you up and carried you the hell out of that place. I stood there while they held you down and stuck you full of drugs, Daniel. I just stood there and watched them do it."
"I stood there and watched Hathor put a Goa'uld in you, Jack. I'm not exactly proud of that myself but I can live with it because you don't blame me. But where in our friendship contract does it say we always have to be right? That we always have to do the right thing? That we're never allowed to screw up? I've got it wrong just as often as you have."
Jack ran a hand through his hair. "Daniel, Mr Perfect over there never got it wrong. He made the right decision every time when I made the wrong one. We both know that."
"I don't know that."
"Then you weren't listening."
"You know those two may have the perfect romance going over there but they don't have what we have."
"Meaning?"
"See, I know that you have always been the best possible friend to me, that you could be, Jack. Because when I disobeyed your orders and went through the mirror and damned near got myself killed, I remember the look on your face when I came back. At the time I was so full of what I'd seen I didn't think about it that much. But I've remembered that look a lot since. And all you were was glad I was alive. And I remember the same look on your face when I came around in the infirmary and started telling you we had to go through the Stargate and save the world. And there are all those other things about you that other Daniel doesn't know."
Jack raised an eyebrow. "Um, Danny - Daniel, I really don't think you and I know each other better than those two do."
"Don't you?" Daniel returned his gaze levelly.
"No, to be honest, I definitely think they have the jump on us there."
"Well, as the other Daniel's Mr Perfect never makes any mistakes, the other Daniel doesn't know how much it would tear the Jack he knows up inside to have to leave him to die. He doesn't know how he'd be so happy to see him alive again that he'd hug him in front of a whole bunch of macho marines. He doesn't know that even if he lost all humanity and decency and self-respect and betrayed their friendship and tried to kill the Jack he knows, the guy would still forgive him, in an eye-blink, completely and absolutely and never utter a word of reproach afterwards even though, God knows, he deserved to get his head chewed off for acting like such a total jerk. And he doesn't know that the Jack he knows would leave a dying friend's bedside to drive all across the city with his foot to the floor to come and get him out of a padded cell even though the Jack he knows didn't think the theory that Daniel was spouting made any more sense than the total crap he'd been talking when he was hallucinating." Daniel met Jack's gaze then. "And what he especially doesn't know is that the guy would do all that for him only because he cared about him, and was his friend, and for no other reason. And he's never going to know that, because they are sleeping together which makes everything they do for each other something they're doing for themselves as well. And I think that Daniel missed out on a hell of a lot, because those 'mistakes' you made, Jack, they add up to some of my best memories."
"And your worst memories, Daniel," Jack protested quietly. "Knowing what it's like to be left alone to bleed to death on a ship that's about to blow up is not a good memory."
"Coming back to that welcome is a very good memory though."
"Getting addicted to the damned sarcophagus and going through all the pains of hell is not a good memory."
"You being there for me when the world collapsed around my ears is one of the best memories I have, Jack."
"The padded cell?"
"You got me out."
"You got yourself out."
"But you came back for me."
Jack ran a hand through his hair. "I wouldn't have had to come back for you if I hadn't left you there in the first place."
"All I know is I wouldn't change the Jack O'Neill I know for anyone and I'm very proud to call him my friend."
Jack had to stare fixedly at the papers in front of him for a moment as they became disconcertingly blurry. He hastily wiped his eyes and looked up in time to see Daniel blinking quickly, those blue eyes suspiciously bright as well. Jack swallowed hard then said gruffly, "Damnit, Daniel, now we're being as sappy as they were."
Daniel quickly scrubbed at his eyes with his sleeve. "Rubbish. We could never be as sappy as those two."
Jack wiped a stray droplet from his jaw before saying conversationally, "You know it's no wonder that other me is so damned 'laid back and good-natured' - he's got a sex life."
"Good point. Unlike you and me who haven't been getting any in…"
"Way way too long."
Daniel sat up straight. "Incidentally, did the other Jack tell you how they knew they were…you know? And is it just me or was that a really dull story?"
"Tell me about it. Four hours chewing over how they felt about each other. I mean what the hell was that about? If someone I had the hots for turned up on my doorstep at three in the morning with only an overcoat on over his jammies and told me we needed to talk I'd be able to work out I'd just got lucky without needing to bend the guy's ear until dawn."
"I know! I figured all the other me needed to do was ring the damned doorbell then throw his arms around the guy's neck and kiss him. What does that take? Thirty seconds? But that other me was definitely none too quick on the uptake."
"Really?" Jack turned and looked at him curiously.
"I think the other you has him right where he wants him. It's obvious that every time the other me starts talking about archaeology the other Jack just drags him off to the bedroom to shut him up."
Jack sat up straight and slapped his hand on the desk. "See! Something, I have never done, however boring you were being."
"Exactly!" Daniel frowned. "What?"
"I meant to say - however far over my head the conversation got."
Daniel looked slightly mollified. "Right. And that other Daniel seemed a bit kind of…passive to me."
"Oh, definitely. Very passive. You could see he'd just wait around on missions for the other me to do all his thinking for him - no initiative. I don't think they had what anyone could call a really equal relationship."
"I thought that too. And the other Daniel told me they never argued about anything, well, that isn't normal, is it? People need to have disagreements sometimes, it tests their boundaries."
Jack nodded. "You know who I think that Daniel was - that was the Stepford version of you."
"Yes!" Daniel got up and went over to where the coffee jug was. "Exactly. And he had that other Jack up on such a pedestal I'm amazed the poor guy didn't have vertigo."
"And let's face it, we're talking about a pretty big age difference. When that Daniel's forty that other me is going to be…what? Fifty? Fifty one? With those knees? The other you's still going to be wanting to make Friday nights special when the other me really does just want to watch the hockey game."
"And I think they have a fundamental…" Daniel broke off and frowned into the empty coffee jug in his hand. "Damnit, Jack, you never have any coffee."
"There was enough for one mug. I didn't know I was going to be having visitors."
"What, it was too much trouble to walk all the way over to the sink and turn the faucet?" Daniel matched the action to the words as he said them.
"Daniel, why don't you just get Janet to give you a caffeine drip and be done with it?"
"All I wanted was one cup of coffee." Daniel turned the tap off with a jerk of the wrist and carried the jug back over to the hot plate.
Jack heaved a long-suffering sigh and gave him a sideways look. "Okay, so I was wrong about how and why those two got together. What was your theory anyway?"
Daniel shrugged and went and sat back down as the coffee began to drip through the filter. "I figured it was the other Daniel's idea."
"Why?"
"I thought he was probably just trying to stop the other you telling him about the rules of hockey for the hundred and fiftieth time and was willing to try anything to distract him."
Jack darted him a glance in time to see one of those maddening little smiles playing around Daniel's lips. He said pleasantly, "How about the next time we meet up with Bra'tac I tell him what a 'great little warrior' you are?"
Daniel said equally pleasantly, "How about I kill you right now, bury your lifeless body under the Stargate, and tell General Hammond you've retired to Florida?"
Jack grinned and sat back down. "Now I bet that other me never gets any snappy comebacks from the Daniel in his dimension. See, me - I'd miss that."
Daniel bowed his head to hide another smile. "Jack, are you telling me that you wouldn't swap me for a Daniel Jackson who always obeys orders, never argues, and thinks the sun shines out of…the back of your head?"
"Actually I think that could get very old very quickly. As would I if I had some hot young geek wanting me to tie him to the damned bedposts every five minutes and lather him in whipped cream. So, no, Daniel, even though you do argue constantly, seem to have no grasp of following orders whatsoever, and have never shown any signs of wanting to afford me the hero-worship I deserve I will still choose you over Stepford Daniel Through The Looking Glass every time."
"Gee thanks, Jack." Daniel went and picked up the coffee jug, pouring himself a mug before automatically refilling Jack's cup. As he sat back down, he held up his coffee in a mock-toast. "Here's to us - two screw-ups together."
Jack leaned across and clinked his mug very gently against Daniel's. "To friendship," he said.
"To friendship," Daniel echoed quietly.
They drank their coffee together in companionable silence.
The End