Love Potion #9:
Fortunate Mistake
by zoodenizen

Prologue

Colonel Karen Lacey stood just inside the doorway of the ancient stone building SG17 was investigating. It was, according to Dr. Jackson, similar to ancient Tibetan structures and he'd been eager to explore it ever since the MALP had taken its picture.

Unfortunately, SG1, even in its current incomplete state was far too important to waste on a mission that likely had little or no strategic importance. So, the geek squad had been sent in.

Karen sighed and adjusted her cap to better shade her eyes from the sun, tucking a strand of shoulder-length brown hair behind her ear at the same time. She looked out over the grass filled field between the Stargate and the temple. If she strained a bit, she could just make out the 'gate in the distance.

It was beautiful here and she knew the archeologists she commanded were thrilled by this discovery, but she was starting to get frustrated. SG17 wasn't exactly the assignment she'd been hoping for when she'd joined the SGC. It wasn't even the command she'd hoped for when she'd been promoted. It felt...sexist. Like she couldn't handle command of a real team.

Confident that no one would see her, she sighed and rolled her eyes. She sounded like a whiny, spoiled brat. Commanding scientists is so boring; Why can't I be where the action is; Boo, hoo, hoo; woe is me. Puh-leeze. She was a professional and she'd act like one. Someday in the future, once she'd proven herself, she'd get command of one of the first contact teams. Hell, how long had it taken Carter to get her command? Almost ten years longer than Karen, that was for sure.

Besides, the geeks in her unit were interesting people, even if Dr. Tavish's obvious crush was getting a little old. She'd tried, for both their sakes to discourage him subtly. Neither one of them needed official intervention. She knew the male dominated military well enough to hear the snide comments and whispered innuendo already. And Dr. Tavish was a sweet young man. She didn't want to open him up to the inevitable teasing that he'd get.

"Karen," she heard a breathless voice call out from within the cool confines of the building behind her.

She turned with a scowl and glanced down the gloomy corridor, knowing who she would see.

"It's Colonel Lacey or just Colonel, Dr. Tavish."

The tall, skinny, dark haired Scott Tavish grimaced and pushed his glasses back up to rest on the bridge of his nose. "I don't see why we have to use military formalities. I'm a civilian."

"Humor me," Karen said impatiently.

Tavish huffed in annoyance and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Was there something you wanted to say?" Karen asked after several long seconds of silence.

"Oh, oh yes," Tavish said and blushed. "We were mapping out the structure and realized that the outside of this building is about twenty-five square feet larger than the inside appeared to be."

Karen frowned slightly. "Are you saying there's a hidden room somewhere?"

"Yes, ma'am, there is." He paused for a moment and grinned self-consciously. "We found it."

"Don't tell me," Karen said. "You opened it."

"Yeah. I know, I know," Tavish said raising his hands in a defensive manner. "You always say not to do stuff like that until we've had a chance to thoroughly check it out. But this place has been abandoned for centuries, possibly millennia. There's nothing to worry about."

"Except a hidden booby trap of some sort left behind all those millennia ago."

"Nah, couldn't be. Anything like that would have fallen apart a long, long time ago."

Karen gritted her teeth and worked very hard to not go off on the man in front of her. How could he, after everything they'd seen and read about in reports, think that there was nothing to worry about. Granted, SG1 seemed to be the stupid bastards that stumbled across most of the trouble out here, but still...They'd amply proven that shit happens -- no matter how prepared you are.

Had she been thinking that SG17 was a dull, easy command?

"I'm not going to lecture you -- again -- about proper protocol and the reason for it, Tavish. Not now anyway. But you and the rest of the over eager, reckless fools on this team will be taking another refresher course on how to behave while off-world. And if this happens again, you just might find yourselves reassigned to the labs."

"Karen," Tavish began, voice carrying a distinct condescending tone.

"Enough," Karen said, cutting him off. She let the use of her first name go un-remarked this time, having bigger things to worry about.

"Did you find anything in this hidden room?"

Tavish smiled. "Actually, we did. The room had some writing on one wall -- Dbu can, a type of Tibetan script, which fits with our initial assessment of the culture responsible for building this temple. There was also an altar with a small glass bottle sitting on top of it."

He raised his hands to demonstrate the size of the bottle. "It was about the size and shape of one of those expensive perfumes you'd buy at a department store." He grinned at her and wiggled his eyebrows.

"I wouldn't know," she said, failing to add that she didn't wear perfume. Another one of the many girlie things she'd never developed an interest in, like Barbies and make-up. She'd always preferred GI Joe and dirt-biking.

Tavish looked slightly non-plussed by her curt remark, but continued gamely. "Um, yes, well...there was something etched into the glass, although it was too dusty to make out."

"I'm assuming it's been bagged and is ready to be brought back through the 'gate with us?"

"Yes, of course."

"Good. Is there anything else that needs to be done here? Or can we pack up and head back home? I'm sure you'll want to get working on that little perfume bottle."

Tavish hesitated for a moment, obviously torn between exploring the temple even more thoroughly and doing the kind of checking on the contents of their unexpected treasure that could only be done back at base.

"I think we've done all we can here. We've got vid of all the rooms and there's no indication of any other hidden areas."

"Good," Karen said and activated her radio. "OK, guys. Let's pack it in and head on home. You've got fifteen."

She paused, then added, "and that's minutes not hours."

"Roger that, boss lady," she heard an amused voice respond. "But we're way ahead of you. We'll be ready in five. Minutes not hours."

She chuckled at Megan Tanner's antics, but sobered quickly when she heard Tavish say, "So, how come she doesn't have to call you colonel?"

"You know why," she said with a severe look. Would he never understand that she wasn't interested? Maybe she could talk to Dr. Jackson about Tavish. He was practically the second-in-command now that O'Neill had been promoted to General. He was also good with people and civilian enough to keep whatever she said between the two of them.

Hopefully, he could offer some guidance on how to handle Tavish's unceasing crush or deal with Tavish more effectively than she. She really, really didn't want to do what seemed, more and more, like the only choice -- an official request for reassignment, which would, by necessity, include a reason for the request.

Chapter 1

Without pausing in his writing, Daniel reached behind him. His fingers were searching for the volume on cuniform that he'd placed on the table there. But instead of finding old leather or smooth paper or even unyielding metal he encountered an unyielding object of a different sort.

The unexpected feel of rough fabric covering a warm, firm body, snapped Daniel out of the private world he usually inhabited when working on an archeological puzzle -- or any puzzle for that matter.

He turned his head and peered over the top of his glasses at an olive drab torso. His eyes lifted, trailing upwards from the flat stomach to a chest covered by crossed arms and finally to the scowling face of his friend and frequent pain-in-the-ass, though not in the way he'd like, Jack O'Neill.

"What?" he asked abruptly, irritated by the interruption, and tried to peer around the newly minted general to retrieve his book.

Jack shifted to stay between him and his goal. "Hey, I'm the one who should be annoyed," Jack said, uncrossing his arms so he could point to himself in case Daniel wasn't sure which "I" he meant.

"Why?" Daniel asked, genuinely confused. As far as he knew they didn't have any plans that he could have failed to show for. And, after a quick look at the clock, he knew that he hadn't worked through the night again; it was barely past noon.

"Why" Jack parroted. "I'll tell you why."

Daniel sat back, looking mildly up at Jack. "Please do."

Jack glowered at him. "Don't get pissy with me, Daniel. I'm the one who's been ignored here."

"When, exactly, did I ignore you," Daniel asked, needing clarification because Jack had the tendency to dredge up old affronts at random moments and act like they'd just occurred.

Jack leaned across him, reaching for something on Daniel's desk, and Daniel found his nose buried in Jack's neck. He sucked in a sharp breath of air and tensed. Having Jack so close was incredible and terrifying and painfully hard -- often literally. The position he was in now allowed him to not only take in Jack's spicy, masculine scent, but he could also feel the man's skin brushing lightly against his mouth. All he had to do was slip his tongue out between his lips and he could taste...

It was the closest he'd ever come to kissing Jack and it left Daniel feeling shaky and resentful.

He didn't know when he'd fallen in love with his closest friend, but he did know when he'd realized it. It was in the split second before the Ancients' Repository of Knowledge had trapped Jack in its grip for the second time. The realization that he could lose Jack had shocked him into seeing the truth about his feelings.

He'd almost said something in the days that followed. But, in the end, he'd kept his silence -- partly out of fear, but mostly out of concern for Jack. He couldn't burden someone he loved with another, probably unwanted, complication while he was dying.

Jack hadn't died, thankfully, but neither had Daniel's feelings. And now he was living with a terrible secret that he knew was hurting his friendship with Jack.

He found it impossible lately to spend time with Jack now that he couldn't stop his heart from pounding and his palms from sweating. He'd taken to avoiding Jack as much as possible (which was surprisingly hard considering the fact that they weren't really working together anymore) out of fear that he'd reveal his feelings.

It was almost like Jack was going out of his way to keep Daniel close, which only made things worse because he didn't know whether that meant something or not. It was all just too confusing and left Daniel hiding in his office most of the time.

"This is a telephone," Jack said.

Daniel blinked stupidly at the receiver being waved under his nose and tried to remember what was going on and whether he'd missed something important.

Jack snorted derisively and tapped Daniel on the head with the receiver. "Don't look at me like you've never seen a phone before, Daniel, because I know you have. I also know that you're fully conversant in the workings of said phone. Including the fact that when it rings you need to answer it."

Thinking back, Daniel had a vague recollection of the phone ringing earlier, but, "I was busy."

"You're always busy, Daniel," Jack said and slumped down onto the edge of Daniel's desk. He looked...tired all of a sudden and Daniel was worried.

"Jack," he asked and reached out to lay a tentative hand on Jack's thigh. "Is something wrong?"

"That's what I was going to ask you."

"I don't understand," Daniel asked nervously.

"Sure you do," Jack said, almost kindly.

This was not a conversation that Daniel wanted to have, ever, but he especially didn't want to have it on base.

Daniel leaned away from Jack and focused his attention on the pen in his hand. He fiddled with it while he spoke. "There's nothing wrong, Jack. I've just been busy."

"For close to three months?"

Daniel shrugged.

"Daniel..."

"Dr. Jackson?" A voice called out as a young man stepped into the room. Taking in the occupants, Dr. Tavish flushed and said, "I'm sorry; I didn't mean to interrupt."

"You're not," Daniel said immediately, eager to take advantage of the unexpected arrival. He stood, being careful to not brush against Jack, and motioned for Dr. Tavish to enter.

"Are you sure? Because I can come back later," he asked uncertainly.

"Actually...," Jack started to say with a glare that was guaranteed to strike fear into the stoutest hearts.

"No need, Scott. Jack was just leaving anyway."

"No, Jack wasn't," Jack said turning his glare on Daniel who, thanks to long years of practice, ignored it.

"I just wanted to know if you could take a look at these. I know you know Dbu can and I was hoping you could read the writings we found on P3X-227." He kept glancing nervously at a still glowering general, but was obviously eager enough to get Daniel's help that he was willing to risk Jack's wrath.

Daniel held out his hand for the photos in Scott's hand and Scott darted forward to pass them to him.

"Thanks. I really appreciate this."

Jack moved so that he could peer over Daniel's shoulder at the video stills in his hand, reaching out to grab one for closer study. Daniel, intimately familiar with Jack's brand of fidgeting, moved the photo out of the reach of Jack's hand.

"Hey, as CO of this facility I have..."

"Not now," Daniel said mind already focused mainly on the words in front of him.

"It's definitely Dbu can," Daniel said. "It looks like a parable or the recounting of a myth," Daniel said absently, flipping through the handful of photos. "It's nothing that I've heard before, but that doesn't mean much. I'm not too familiar with Asian mythology," Daniel added apologetically.

"So, nothing that can't wait," Jack said.

Scott looked over at Jack, distress clear in his expression. Daniel knew what he was thinking; it had happened to him often enough. He'd find something fascinating to study only to be told that it had no strategic importance. It would then be shipped off to area 51 for further study or stored in some filing cabinet somewhere, likely never to be seen or thought of again.

He hated it and so did the other scientists.

"It might help us figure out what the substance in the bottle is," Scott said.

"What substance in what bottle," Jack asked, instantly alert.

"We don't know what substance," Scott impatiently explained. "The bottle is something we found in a hidden room. It had some kind of liquid in it. Colonel Carter's analyzing it as we speak."

"Good," Jack said then turned to Daniel. He tilted his chin towards the photos Daniel still held and asked, "Those tell us anything?"

Daniel shrugged and began to read out loud.

"Nyima asked of Mara 'Am I  loved?' and Mara replied 'Do you really wish to know?' 'Certainly' was the reply. Mara smiled and Nyima shivered at the sight of the demon's gleaming teeth and open scorn. 'Then I will grant your wish' Mara said and gifted Nyima with a small bottle.

"'Give a single drop of the tonic contained within to the one you desire and he will reveal his heart. But, beware. Once tasted, it can not be un-tasted and if another soul owns his heart, forever will he seek that soul -- knowing no other lovers, no peace, until they are one."

"Wait, are you telling me that stuff is some kind of ancient love potion?"

"Apparently," Daniel said with a shrug. He flipped to the lone sheet of paper. "What's this from," he asked.

"It was written on the back of the bottle. I copied it down, since the techs didn't look like they were going to be done with the bottle and its contents any time soon."

"Hmm," Daniel said, translating the words in his head. "This appears to be directions on administering it. Add one drop to any liquid and drink. A single sip is all that is needed to prevent the continued hiding of the heart's truth."

Jack sniggered. "Good work, kid. You've found an intergalactic aphrodisiac. You think we could use this to turn the goa'uld into love struck fools?"

"Jack," Daniel said, repressively.

"He's right, though. It's not exactly..."

"A weapon of mass destruction?" Jack finished for him. He plucked the photos from Daniel's hands and walked to Scott's side. He handed everything back to Scott and patted him on the back before steering him towards the door.

"You can't win them all, kid. So, you didn't find a cure for cancer or an explosive liquid that could level a mothership. There's always next time." He gave Scott another pat and a slightly condescending smile before pushing him out the door. "Now, I think it's time for you to run along. Dr. Jackson and I have important matters to discuss."

Scott turned back towards the door. "B-b-but they haven't finished testing the liquid maybe it is a, um, weapon or something."

"Well, then run off to the lab and check on Carter's progress," Jack said making an impatient shooing motion with his hands. "She loves having an audience."

"Oh, well, I guess I could...," Scott said looking over at Daniel for a moment and then, seeing no indication that he should stay, turned and walked away.

"You were a little rude," Daniel said and sat back down in his chair, pulling his notebook back in front of him and retrieving his pen.

"Oh, no you don't," Jack said and snatched the pen out of his hands. "We weren't done talking yet."

"Really? I thought we were," Daniel said with feigned innocence and collected another pen from the holder on his desk.

Jack grabbed that one too and growled out Daniel's name.

Deciding that discretion was the better part of avoiding unwanted questions, Daniel changed tactics. He stood up and headed for the door. "You know, those photos Scott showed us have me intrigued. I think maybe I'll go see Sam, find out what she knows about the contents of that bottle."

"Bullshit," Jack called out from behind him.

Daniel ignored him and sped up his pace, hoping Jack would just let him go. Seconds later he realized that his hope was in vain when he felt Jack's presence beside him.

"It won't work, Dannyboy. I'm sticking to you like glue until quitting time and then I'm dragging you back to my place, kicking and screaming if need be, and we're having this out."

"There's nothing to have out," Daniel said, trying one more time to dissuade Jack. "Besides, don't you have important work to do?"

"Nothing more important than you," Jack said.

Hearing that, Daniel stopped and stared at Jack, mouth open in shock. "Wh-wh-what?"

Amazingly enough, Jack was blushing. He stuffed his hands into his pockets and shrugged his shoulders, not quite looking Daniel in the eye. "You heard me."

He finally met Daniel's eyes and continued. "Your...friendship means a lot to me, Daniel. You know that. I just want to find out what I did wrong, what I did to drive you away."

Heart breaking over his friend's distress and feeling like a complete and utter shit for being responsible, Daniel said, "You didn't...It wasn't you, Jack. I..."

Daniel sighed and looked away. There wasn't any way around it now. He couldn't leave Jack feeling like he was responsible for the distance between them. It was too much like the blame Jack already shouldered for the end of his marriage.

"I don't want to talk about this here."

"My place then. I'll grill some steaks and we can talk."

Daniel nodded his head in agreement and felt his stomach clench into a painful knot. The moment he'd been dreading for months was almost here. He wasn't entirely sure he'd be able to get the words out. The idea of telling Jack...

Not that he was worried about Jack lashing out at him; he knew Jack better than that. But he knew that nothing would ever be the same between them. After tonight their easy, comfortable relationship would be gone forever.

The knowledge of Daniel's feelings would always be there between them, causing awkwardness and discomfort. Every gesture and comment that Jack made would be censored for fear of leading Daniel on or hurting him. Every word or move Daniel made would be scrutinized. Was he acting out of friendship or something more?

He hated it -- hated feeling this way, hated having to admit to it, hated his life, and even, in this moment, however unfairly, hated Jack for pushing him to it.

"1800 good for you?" Jack pulled him out of his melancholy thoughts by asking.

"Sure," Daniel said and resumed walking towards Sam's lab. He might as well try to distract himself with work and it would be nice to spend time with Sam. Something had been bothering her lately, but she wasn't talking. Maybe he could finally get her to open up.

The two of them could commiserate over the sorry state of their lives.

***

Sam stared at the screen in front of her, not seeing a thing. Instead, elbows on the desk and chin resting on her hands, her thoughts drifted the way they often did lately. She was screwed. Truly and royally screwed and she knew it. Only problem was, she couldn't seem to change it.

She'd thought Pete was the answer for a while. He was such a sweet, kind, funny man and she honestly enjoyed being with him more than anyone else she'd ever dated.

Except, there was no spark. No pop of electricity when she was near him. Her eyes weren't drawn to him when he entered the room. Her heart and body didn't ache for him when they were parted. In short, he was a very dear friend that she had a mild attraction for, but she doubted that she was actually in love with him.

She fingered the engagement ring on her finger and wondered for the millionth time if she'd done the right thing. Was she settling for what she thought she could get instead of what, or rather who, she really wanted? She wasn't getting any younger after all and her biological clock was finally starting to tick.

Pete could give her everything she'd never thought she wanted until she saw the other side of forty and realized that a whole realm of possibilities were rapidly slipping out of reach. Only problem was, she couldn't get her heart to surrender to Pete in the same way her mind had.

Her heart seemed to be set on someone else entirely, someone that she couldn't, wouldn't ever have. Right?

There was no way. He didn't return her feelings or he wouldn't break his oath to act on them. Or maybe he was simply staying silent, like she was, and for the same reasons.

God, she'd become one of those drippy, pathetic saps that she'd always sneered at while growing up. She was Scarlett O'Hara sobbing over Rhett or that chick from Casablanca pining for Humphrey Bogart.

It was humiliating.

"Hey, Sam, am I interrupting anything?"

She whipped her head around and saw Daniel standing in the doorway looking apologetic and not a little depressed.

Recognizing a kindred spirit, though not knowing why, she beckoned him in. He tugged a chair over and slumped down onto it with a sigh.

"You look about how I feel," Sam said with a twisted grin.

"I know; that's why I'm here."

Sam gave him a questioning look.

"Misery loves company?" he said with a sad smile.

She snorted and raised her clasped hands above her, stretching muscles abused by too many hours bent over tables and hunched down in uncomfortable chairs. After a moment's thought, she said, "I'll show you mine if you show me yours?"

Daniel pinched a fold of cloth from his pants between his index finger and thumb and fiddled with it. "Something like that."

Sam shook her head. "We're pathetic."

"I know," Daniel said in a mock mournful tone. "IQ's as big as the planet and we can't seem to figure out this personal life thing."

"No kidding; though, I, myself, have an IQ the size of the galaxy, I'll have you know."

"Then you're even more pathetic than I am," Daniel said with a grin.

She kicked his booted foot with her own and said, "You jerk."

"That's Doctor Jerk to you."

She decided sticking her tongue out at him would be just too childish, so she simply grinned back at him. Although, by the look on his face, he knew what her true first impulse had been.

"I'm glad you came by," she said.

"So am I. Do you want to talk about it? You know I'm here for you."

"I don't know." Sam hesitated. She really did need to talk to someone, but she wasn't sure...It was times like this that the quiet ache she still felt over Janet's death turned into a sharp stabbing pain. They'd always been able to share anything and everything and Janet had been the only one to know about her confusing, distressing feelings for her CO.

Daniel had always been a good listener, though, and she knew he'd never judge her. But, in the end, she just couldn't do it. Not yet.

She shook her head. "Some other time maybe. What about you?"

Daniel tipped back in his chair and stared off into the distance for a long moment. Eventually he shook his head and offered a wry grin. "Some other time."

She rolled her chair closer and threw an arm over his shoulders, resting her cheek on his shoulder she sighed and said, "We really are quite the pair."

He returned the affectionate gesture with a one armed hug and changed the subject. "I understand you've got an exciting new brew to test."

She lifted her head and looked at him, confused. "Huh?"

"Dr. Tavish came to see me earlier. He said SG17 found a mysterious liquid in a pretty glass bottle and that you were checking it out."

"Oh," she said, the light dawning. "Yeah." She shrugged, a little embarrassed. "I, um, appropriated it from the techs. Needed something...I don't know, simple, routine, to distract me for a while."

"Rank has its privileges, huh?"

"Something like that."

"So, what was it? Colored water?"

"No, actually. I'm not sure what it was." She rolled back in front of her computer and clicked the mouse, closing one screen and opening another, quickly bringing up her analysis of the unknown liquid from P3X-227.

Daniel moved closer to peer over her shoulder at the graph filling the monitor. "What exactly are we looking at?"

She pointed at the series of peaks displayed on the screen. "These represent the various substances that were detected by the liquid chromatograph. There is water and a few recognizable minerals, but the rest...It's nothing I've ever seen before."

"Is it goa'uld?"

Sam shrugged. "I couldn't say, but there's no trace of naquada and I'd usually find some in anything goa'uld related."

"Hmm, I wonder..."

Sam turned to face Daniel. "Wonder what."

Daniel grimaced and sat back. "It's stupid. Forget it."

"Daniel, we're scientist's. No idea, no matter how bizarre, is stupid."

"Yeah, well, this one is." He paused, but, when Sam simply looked at him, he continued. "The writings on the walls in the chamber where the bottle was found, and some writing on the bottle itself, seem to indicate that it was a, um..."

Another pause, then he mumbled out what sounded like "love potion."

"What? I don't think I heard you right? Did you say it was a love potion?"

Daniel shrugged and avoided her eyes. "See? I told you, stupid."

Sam blinked a few times then looked back at her computer screen as if she'd actually find understanding there this time. "I..."

She turned back to face Daniel, seemingly confident and unruffled. "It's not stupid. Maybe it is a...love potion," she finished without too much difficulty.

Daniel rolled his eyes, unconvinced by her attempts at reassurance.

Sam grinned. "We could always try testing it. I've been thinking...Siler seems awfully lonely since he lost his wrench."

Daniel chuckled. "You're right; he has been. You think the general would approve our little experiment?"

"We could tell him it was a humanitarian effort."

"Or we could just give him the appropriate form to sign. I don't think he ever reads those things."

"Ooh, very sneaky, Dr. Jackson. I like the way your mind works. We could..."

"Col. Carter?"

Sam looked up to see one of the techs standing just outside the door. "Am I interrupting? I have the test results on the device from P2Y-664."

"Oh, yes. I've been waiting for those." She motioned for the man to come in and looked over at Daniel, an apology already on her lips. But he beat her to it. Rising from his chair, he said, "I'll leave you to your work."

"Thanks, Daniel," she said, meaning it on several levels. She felt a whole lot better after spending some undemanding, quality time with one of her favorite people.

Daniel smiled. "Same here," he said then waved goodbye and walked out.

She had obviously helped him too and was gladdened by it. She had a feeling she hadn't been a very good friend to Daniel, or Teal'c, or anyone else for that matter, lately. She'd been too wrapped up in herself and her problems.

Well, that was going to change.

But, it would have to wait; right now she had work to do.

Chapter 2

Jack stepped into the briefing room and headed straight for the coffee. He hated these things, hated them even more when they came first thing in the morning. Luckily, he'd managed to put SG17's briefing off until the late afternoon and, thanks to Dr. Tavish's visit to Daniel's lab earlier, he had a pretty good idea of what was going on. It should make for a nice, short bore-fest, anyway.

And he needed it to be short. Tonight he was going to find out what was going on with Daniel, why he'd seemingly ended their friendship. He was both anticipating and dreading it in equal measure, because, despite what Daniel said, he couldn't help believing that it was his fault.

After all, hadn't he been the one to withdraw first?

He wasn't too macho to admit that he was scared to death about tonight. Daniel was...he meant the world to Jack. Whatever it took to make things right Jack was determined to do it. Provided he could make it right.

And tonight he'd find out.

He finished pouring his coffee and finally turned to acknowledge SG17. Then, after returning Colonel Lacey's salute, he sat at the head of the table.

It was days like these that he really wished he hadn't let Daniel talk him into this promotion.

Do anything I wanted, my ass. More like never get to do anything I want because I'm too busy filling out paperwork and listening to other people talk.

Setting his mug down on the table, he decided to get things started. The sooner begun the sooner done, or something like that. "So, what's on the agenda for today?" He asked and looked around, expectantly, at the various people in the room.

Colonel Lacey, sitting on his left, slid a file folder over to him, moving her own coffee mug farther to the right so it wouldn't be knocked over. He gathered up the file and flipped it open.

"That's my preliminary report on P3X-227," Lacey said.

"Nothing of any military or scientific value and, unless something unexpected turns up in the translations of the writing on the walls of the temple, I would have to say that there's no reason for a return visit."

Jack closed the folder and reached for his coffee. "Isn't this the planet where you found that love potion," he asked and sipped from the mug.

He heard a soft gasp and looked over at the culprit. "Something wrong?"

"No, uh, Sir," Dr. Tavish said, sounding less than certain of that and looking over at Lacey.

Lacey ignored the look. "There's no evidence of it being a love potion, Sir."

Jack reopened the file in front of him and looked through it again. "What did the techs have to say about it?"

"Colonel Carter finished analyzing the substance a few hours ago, Sir. The report should be in there. But, I understand she wasn't able to determine exactly what it was."

Jack nodded his head. Spotting a technical looking document full of lots of little numbers with decimal points and big words that he neither knew nor could pronounce, he figured he'd found the report in question.

Suddenly his vision dimmed, narrowing to almost nothing, then returning to normal. His head started to feel too heavy for his neck and his skin began to tingle. "Woah," he said and raised a hand to his head, spilling the coffee that he still held all over his shoulder and chest.

"General," he heard from what sounded like a very long way off. He pushed backwards in his chair, attempting to stand and nearly landed on the floor. He felt hands on his upper arm, holding him upright, and then his vision dimmed again. This time it didn't return and he began to panic.

He struggled against the hands gripping him, or tried to anyway. He felt as weak and uncoordinated as a newborn. Then everything went black.

Jack opened his eyes then quickly closed them again. He'd seen enough to realize he was in the infirmary, but couldn't yet remember why.

Wincing from the light and the killer headache he was suffering from, he said, "Did anyone get the license of the mothership that ran me over?"

"Sorry, Sir, but we didn't," he heard Sam say from somewhere to his left.

Thinking back, he finally pieced together what had happened. He'd felt like shit and then keeled over in the briefing room.

He raised a hand to his head and rubbed at his temples. Whatever had happened he felt fine now. Other than the headache; and that was actually easing.

He didn't like not knowing what had happened, though. His mind went into over-drive, thinking on all the various life threatening ailments he could have contracted. He wasn't as young as he used to be. Maybe...a stroke?

Although, everything seemed to be working properly. He wiggled his toes and clenched and unclenched the hand that wasn't pressed against his forehead. His speech hadn't been slurred. At least, he didn't think it had.

"What the hell happened? Where's Daniel?"

"Daniel?"

"Yes, Daniel. Tallish fellow, brown hair, glasses, gorgeous blue eyes and the hottest, most perfect ass on the planet? Daniel." He was just the slightest bit worried here and he wanted his archeologist. Was that really so much to ask?

He heard sputtering off to his right and then, "Gorge...tight...Jack!"

"I think he's delusional," Sam said in a choked voice.

He ignored her, realizing that the sputter had come from the very man he'd been wanting. He rolled onto his side and opened his eyes. Seeing a wide-eyed, gape-jawed Daniel standing beside his bed he smiled brightly.

"Daniel," he said, sounding and feeling breathless. The man was just so fucking beautiful.

He reached for Daniel and Daniel responded, apparently without conscious thought, if the expression on his face was any indication, enveloping Jack's hand in a gentle grip.

"Jack?" Daniel said in a quiet, shaky tone.

"S'okay," Jack replied, patting the hand that covered his with his free hand and closed his eyes. "It's going to be fine. I'm going to be fine."

How could he not when he had so much to live for?

***

Daniel stared at their clasped hands, shocked and not a little horrified. He glanced up at Jack's face and, seeing that he had drifted off again, tried to separate their hands. Jack's grip tightened and he subsided, looking up helplessly at Sam.

Only to look away when he saw her expression. She looked horror-struck.

His apprehension began to turn to terror. So he took a deep breath, then another, and another. When he felt the panic retreating he said, as calmly as possible, "He didn't know what he was saying." Hoping he sounded surer than he felt.

Hoping he sounded like he wanted it to mean nothing. Because for a few seconds, before reality set in and he realized that he wasn't dreaming, he'd thought his fondest desire had finally come true.

"Of course," Sam said, but she didn't sound or look very convinced.

Before he could decide whether to say something or just leave well enough alone, Dr. Carmichael arrived. Daniel watched as his eyes moved down to Jack and Daniel's joined hands and wondered why the base never came under attack when you wanted it to.

"He, uh," Daniel began only to stop when he realized there wasn't really any way to explain the two of them apparently holding hands. "He woke up."

"Apparently," Dr. Carmichael said, but didn't comment on the hands. In fact, he didn't seem all that surprised. But, then again, Very Strange Things happened here on a regular basis and, even though he hadn't been a part of the Stargate program for long, he'd obviously learned that already.

"Did he say anything? Was he in any pain?"

"He seemed...," Daniel started, but hesitated.

Sam came to his rescue. "He asked what had happened and he was rubbing his head, like he had a headache. Then he," she looked down at Daniel and Jack's still joined hands, "Well, he...said he was going to be alright and then drifted off."

"Hmm," Carmichael said. "We got the results from the tests we ran and, other than slightly elevated blood pressure there doesn't appear to be anything wrong."

"Nothing wrong?" Daniel asked, incredulous. "He passed out."

Dr. Carmichael shrugged. "We'll wait until he wakes up again, but it looks like simple exhaustion to me."

"Exhaustion," Sam said.

"Yes."

Sam and Daniel exchanged looks, weighing the pros and cons of telling the doctor about the other things that Jack had said. Both quickly decided that it would be better to wait and see. Maybe he'd just been confused. Or maybe he didn't mean it the way it sounded.

Though, how describing Daniel's ass as perfect could mean anything other than the obvious kind of escaped him at the moment.

***

Sam couldn't help it. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't stop herself from staring at Jack's hand. And Daniel's hand. In Jack's hand.

They were holding hands. Jack and Daniel.

She really wanted to be shocked and she was, but not as much as she should be. Because, somehow, for some reason, she felt...like she shouldn't be shocked. Daniel had always been the one person who could reach Jack when he was hurting or angry, the only person that Jack opened up to. It's why Daniel had been the one to talk to him when they'd thought he'd gone rogue, but had really been working undercover to flush out traitors. If anyone could find out why it would be Daniel.

Against her will her eyes drifted back to their joined hands and she sighed. There was a part of her that wished she was the one Jack was holding onto.

She tore her eyes away from the clasped hands and looked over at Daniel. He was currently slumped down in a chair at Jack's side looking for all the world like he was about to be executed for a crime he didn't commit.

"Daniel," she said and startled Daniel, who'd obviously been lost in thought. "I'm sure he didn't...He'll be fine," she finished lamely, not quite sure what to say to make this easier for all of them.

"Of course he will," Daniel said with a small smile that didn't quite reach his eyes.

He sat up a little straighter and, without looking at her, said, "Do you, uh...," then sighed.

A long pause, then, "Someone should talk to Colonel Lacey about what exactly happened before he collapsed. This isn't just exhaustion."

"We don't know that, Daniel. There could be a perfectly logical explanation for his earlier behavior."

Daniel gave her a look that clearly said she was nuts if she actually believed that and she couldn't disagree. She was only trying to ease both their consciences, because if something was really wrong with Jack then they could be putting him at risk by not telling Dr. Carmichael everything.

On the other hand there was no telling how much trouble could come of an official report that involved homosexuality. Their Earthbound enemies could easily use it to destroy Jack's career, whether it was true or not.

Hearing footsteps approaching, she looked up to see Teal'c. He inclined his head in greeting and looked over at Jack lying on the bed.

"How is O'Neill," he asked, showing no surprise at seeing Daniel and Jack holding hands. Daniel, however, reacted with a start, pulling his hand out of Jack's grip.

The sudden movement disturbed Jack who mumbled something unhappy sounding and then opened his eyes. "Daniel?" he said, sleep-dulled eyes catching Daniel's. "C'mere," he said and raised the thin blanket that covered him in an obvious invitation.

Daniel blushed scarlet and looked nervously over at Teal'c and Sam.

Sam felt her own face get red. She so did not want to be here. Teal'c merely raised an eyebrow. "I was under the impression that Tau'ri military organizations frowned upon same sex relations."

"They do," Sam said.

"Then why are Daniel Jackson and O'Neill showing such open affection?"

"Jack can't help it," Daniel said. "He's...," sick? Delusional? "Not quite..."

"O'Neill often uses feigned ignorance to allow him to act in whatever manner he wishes. Perhaps he feels that it is safe to be so open with Daniel Jackson now that he is the one in charge?"

Teal'c shifted his stance and turned unhappy eyes on Daniel. "I was unaware that your relationship had progressed to the physical. Did you not trust my discretion?"

"No," Daniel said, aghast, "We didn't...we're not..." Giving up, Daniel covered his eyes with his hand for a moment, took a deep breath, and then removed his hand.

After looking around to ensure that they had privacy, he said, "Jack and I aren't together that way Teal'c. I don't know why he's acting the way he is, but we need to find out."

Sam nodded her head in agreement, although her mind was in turmoil. This wasn't something she wanted to know about. In fact, she was getting the feeling that this was one of the last things she ever wanted to hear, because Teal'c sounded so damn sure that Jack and Daniel had...feelings, romantic feelings, for each other.

Her stomach clenched into a painful knot when she realized that her own earlier thoughts seemed to support that idea as well.

"I think," she waved her hand in a vague gesture, "I'll go talk to Colonel Lacey, see what she has to say." Then, feeling like the disloyal coward she was, she bolted from the infirmary, hoping that her face wasn't as red as she thought it was.

***

Teal'c watched, face impassive, as Sam ran off. Daniel wasn't sure what was going through his mind, but he figured it wasn't the same gibbering panic that Daniel was experiencing.

He'd been through a hell of a lot in the past eight years, and yet, this felt worse. Sort of like the mental and emotional equivalent of being broken down to his component molecules and flung through the vastness of space.

Only, this time he wasn't sure he'd be put back together on the other side. He knew that Sam had feelings for Jack, strong feelings. They all did. How could they not have strong feelings for each other with everything they'd been through? He'd even known about her one time crush on Jack, but he'd believed she'd gotten over it years ago.

Now, though, he was coming to the painful realization that her crush might have grown instead of fading. And what was he supposed to do with that? He certainly couldn't blame her for loving Jack. Not when he loved the maddening dope, too.

"Perhaps," Teal'c interrupted his thoughts, "O'Neill is behaving in such a way because he loves you. As you love him."

Daniel looked down at the once again sleeping Jack and sighed. He wanted to deny Teal'c's statement, say that he only loved Jack as a friend, but he couldn't. He wasn't even surprised that Teal'c knew, not really. Teal'c was an incredibly astute man. He was also loyal and discrete.

"I wish I could believe that."

He felt a strong hand grip his shoulder. "You can."

Well, if Teal'c could read him that easily, maybe...

"Whatever he's feeling, whether it's real or the result of some alien or chemical influence, he can't be quite so...open about it. He could get into a lot of trouble, if anyone besides us sees him like this."

"Agreed. We will protect him."

Daniel nodded his head in acknowledgement. He had no doubt that they would keep Jack safe from their enemies. But, looking out over the infirmary, in the direction that Sam had disappeared earlier, he couldn't help worrying.

What was this going to do to them -- as individuals, as a team, and as friends?

Chapter 3

Colonel Lacey sat at her desk and flipped through the report on the unknown substance discovered on P3X-227. Her talk with Colonel Carter had led her to a disturbing conclusion.

Right before he'd passed out, Jack had drunk some coffee. Not that unusual, but Tavish's reaction had been. At the time she'd dismissed his surprised exclamation as a reaction to General O'Neill knowing about the "love potion". A lot of the eggheads at the SGC had the impression, lovingly fostered by O'Neill himself, that the SGC's new CO wasn't all that bright.

It wasn't true. A man didn't get as far in the military as O'Neill had by being dumb. He even had the degrees to prove it. But, still, it was an open secret that O'Neill wasn't too bright, so that could have been why Tavish reacted the way he did.

Or so she'd thought at the time. Now, after going over every second in detail with Carter, she'd started to believe otherwise.

Partly because Carter seemed to think there was more to O'Neill's collapse than the exhaustion that the doctors apparently believed it to be. Partly because of the sequence of events. But, mostly because the coffee cups that had been in front of herself and O'Neill hadn't been on the table after the medics had taken O'Neill away.

She closed her eyes and once again replayed those moments. She could see the table, see O'Neill and her team. And she could see him picking up and drinking from a coffee cup that had, until she'd moved it to the side, been sitting in front of her -- a cup that had been brought to her by Tavish.

The man who believed himself to be in love with her. The man who had access to something that purported to be a love potion.

Closing the file, she scrubbed her hands over her face and then pressed the heels into her forehead. And stayed that way until she heard a knock on her door.

***

Jack stretched out his legs, feeling the rasp of the sheet along his skin, and sighed. Opening his eyes, he recognized the place, the infirmary, and the person seated beside him, Daniel, and smiled.

Daniel was slumped down in the uncomfortable plastic chair, long legs stretched out and crossed in front of him, elbow on the chair's arm, and head in his hand. His eyes were closed, but Jack didn't think he was asleep -- his body wasn't relaxed enough.

He couldn't stop his eyes from drinking in the slim, inviting frame and wondered what it would feel like to have that body pressed full length against his own. He licked his lips and felt his body react to the image of the two of them entwined in Jack's bed, naked and sweat slicked. He could almost taste Daniel's skin on his lips and tongue...

A breathless, "Jack," brought him back to reality to find himself wrapped around Daniel, lips pressed against the warm, supple skin of his throat. He breathed in the musky scent of the man he loved and shifted, trying to get comfortable.

"Jack," Daniel said again, quietly, but with an underlying urgency that Jack couldn't ignore. So, he reluctantly pulled away and settled back on the bed he'd unknowingly left seconds earlier.

"Why is it that you always have to spoil my fun?"

"Because," Daniel hissed. Looking rumpled and out of sorts, he straightened in the chair and looked around. "You can't do that."

Jack, too, gave the room the once over and realized the wisdom in Daniel's words. This was neither the time nor the place.

He looked down at the hospital gown and grimaced. "What happened to my clothes?"

More importantly, "What happened to me?" he asked, remembering his earlier collapse. He also remembered a few other things, like, for example, the fact that he and Daniel were barely on speaking terms lately -- something that they had planned to rectify that night. So, climbing into Daniel's lap and, shit, nuzzling him was more than a bit out of line.

Especially, since he didn't remember ever having the inclination towards nuzzling at any point in the past.

He looked over at Daniel, hoping that he didn't look as mortified and gobsmacked as his archeologist did. Although, he looked really adorable with his glasses all crooked and a red mark on his cheek from where he'd been leaning on it.

His eyes drifted over well-known features that were suddenly unfamiliar and settled on full, moist lips. He bet Daniel was an incredible kisser. He remembered the kisses he'd seen Daniel and Sha're share and the blissful look on her face. Definitely an incredible kisser.

He wanted to experience that bliss for himself and he didn't intend to stop with just a kiss. If he was one hundred percent honest with himself, he'd admit that the barest hint of a random, idle thought about that mouth had, occasionally, crossed his mind.

But, he had made his decision years ago when he'd joined the Air Force that it was women only for him, so he'd kept those thoughts well hidden, even from himself. Only, now, the Air Force regs and "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" didn't seem half as important as Daniel -- as being with Daniel, holding him, kissing him, loving him.

"We don't know what happened, Jack. You passed out while debriefing SG17."

"Well, that's one way to get out of those God awful things," Jack said with a smirk that was more habit that honestly felt.

Daniel ducked his head for a moment. "I'd...we'd rather that you found another way, Jack, any other way," he said, raising his head to look Jack straight in the eye.

Jack saw the worry for him in those crystal clear eyes and reached out to stroke his hand along one smooth cheek. "Not my choice."

"I know," Daniel said and let out a shaky breath. He shifted away from Jack's hand and stood up, wrapping his arms around himself. "Dr. Carmichael said that it was just exhaustion, but we aren't sure... With the way you've been acting..."

"Acting?" Jack frowned, trying to figure out what was wrong with his behavior.

Daniel stared at him for a moment, then dropped back down into the bedside chair. "Last I checked, Jack, you don't normally, um, say that I have, uh," Daniel blushed then continued, "You were holding my hand and," he waved his hand at his neck and Jack got the hint.

Thinking back on it he did have a vague recollection of holding Daniel's hand, but, "I've held your hand before."

Daniel looked suspicious and disbelieving. "When?"

"That time on Euronda. When I apologized for being an ass."

Now Daniel looked incredulous. "That was for all of five seconds and wasn't..."

"Was," Jack interrupted. His unconscious mind at work. Like always, he realized, when he remembered how often he touched Daniel.

"Oh," was Daniel's brilliant reply. Then, it was his turn to frown.

"O'Neill, it is good to see you awake."

Jack took his attention from Daniel and turned to see that Teal'c and, oddly enough, an uncomfortable looking Carter had arrived.

"Why are you all acting like I'm sick or something? It's just exhaustion, the doctor said so. I've been working too hard, is all." He turned back to Daniel. "And it's all your fault."

"My fault? How do you figure that?"

"'You can do anything you want', sound familiar? You're the one who talked me into taking this job and now I'm buried in paperwork, day in and day out. I hate paperwork. And, now I can't even relieve the horror of it with some action and adventure. I'm stuck behind a desk while the three of you have a grand old time out there." Jack finally subsided, mock glaring at Daniel.

"All your fault."

Daniel's lips twitched. "So, it's my fault that you allowed your hunger for power to blind you to reality?"

"Indeed, O'Neill. The decision to accept the promotion offered was your own, not Daniel Jackson's. You have only yourself to blame," Teal'c said, taking Daniel's side, the traitor, and handed Daniel the cup of coffee he'd been carrying when he arrived.

Calmed by the normalcy of bitching at each other, Jack grinned. Daniel and he had a date that night that he didn't plan on missing. Hopefully, they could get the necessary talking out of the way and make his earlier fantasy reality.

He just had to get sprung from this joint.

"So, where's the doc? I'm ready to go."

Carter, who still looked like someone had starched her shorts, said, "Sir, are you sure? You weren't," she looked from him to Daniel and back, "quite yourself, earlier."

"According to Daniel, I just need a little break. How about I give myself the rest of the day off?"

"Jack, it's three thirty in the afternoon. Taking a couple hours off is hardly a rest."

"With my schedule lately, leaving at 1530 is more like taking several hours off. I haven't left here before 2100 since I took this job."

"I will retrieve Dr. Carmichael," Teal'c said and disappeared around the curtain that provided a bit of privacy to Jack's corner of the infirmary.

Turning to Carter, Daniel asked, "Did you talk to Karen?"

"Karen?"

Daniel glanced over at him then back to Carter. "Colonel Lacey."

"Oh." Trust Daniel to be on a first name basis with the commander of SG17. "Friends, are you?"

Daniel looked back at him again, face registering disbelief. "Yes, we are. Does the military prohibit being friendly with someone you work with on a regular basis?"

"Of course not. That would be ridiculous."

Daniel didn't reply, but the look in his eyes spoke volumes about his opinion on the military and its rules and regs.

"Just because..."

"General?"

Jack gave Daniel a look that said they'd finish their discussion later and turned to Dr. Carmichael with his most winning smile. "Ready to release me?"

"Yes, provided you agree to go home and rest for at least twenty-four hours."

"Twenty-four hours? No can do."

"Jack," Daniel said, tone repressive.

Screw that. He was fine with leaving for the day. Hell, he'd even be fine with the need for supervision, since he intended to volunteer Daniel for that job. But, he couldn't be out of commission tomorrow, too. As much as he joked and bitched about his workload, he did have serious responsibilities. He couldn't just abandon the place for a couple days.

"I doubt the base will fall apart without you, not in a single day. And, if there are any emergencies, you will be notified and allowed to return," Dr. Carmichael said. "But, as of right now, you're relieved of duty for medical reasons. I don't want to see you back here before Thursday at 0700, General."

Jack scowled and tried to figure the angles. Carmichael didn't look like he was going to budge on the twenty-four hours thing, at least, not today. He could always slip in unnoticed tomorrow morning. He'd even come in a little later, at, say, 0900.

"Fine, if that's what it takes."

He stood up and started to walk out, only to grab at the flapping back of the hospital gown he was wearing. He sat back down on the bed. "Go get my civvies from my locker, would you, T?"

Teal'c inclined his head in agreement. "I will," he said.

Jack looked over at Carter, a little worried by her continued unease. "So, Colonel Lacey?" he asked her, as a distraction from what seemed to be unpleasant thoughts.

"Oh," Carter said, startled, "Yes. Colonel Lacey." She shrugged her shoulders and tucked her hands into her pockets. It was then that Jack realized she hadn't really looked at either him or Daniel since she'd walked over and he had a feeling he knew why.

He never would have pegged her as a homophobe and maybe she wasn't. It had to be a shock to see someone that she regularly risked her life with and who had, up until a few hours ago, seemed one hundred percent straight holding hands with another man.

And not just any man, but Daniel Jackson, one of her closest friends. He wasn't sure if she knew that Daniel was bi. It was in his file, so Jack had known from the beginning, even though it wasn't exactly something Daniel advertised. But, Daniel and Carter were close, almost as close as Daniel and him, and Daniel had told him ages ago.

Whatever she knew or didn't know, Carter wasn't too good with surprising developments. Chaos theory very definitely wasn't her thing.

Or maybe she was trying to think of a respectful way to warn him about inappropriate PDAs -- a much more attractive possibility than his first thought. He'd give her the benefit of the doubt. For now.

But, if she did anything to hurt Daniel, he'd make her regret it.

"She didn't notice anything out of the ordinary."

"Except me dropping like a rock."

"Yes...Sir, except for that. You didn't do anything or come into contact with anything unusual." She once more glanced quickly from Daniel to him and then away. "Maybe it is just exhaustion."

"See? You're both worrying over nothing." He looked a still troubled Daniel directly in the eyes. "I'm fine. Really."

Daniel bit at his lip, eyes locked with Jack's. "We'll see."

Jack let his breath out in a huff. "And you're always saying that I'm a mother hen." He tried to sound exasperated, but wound up sounding pleased. He loved it when Daniel showed he cared.

"That's because you are."

"It's a commander's responsibility to look out for the personnel under his command."

"I do not believe it is Air Force policy to bring chicken soup to one's subordinates when they are ill."

"Sure it is. Paragraph three of section II of Directive 1333.4 specifically mentions soup."

Teal'c arched his eyebrow in an eloquent and particularly appropriate response.

"Weren't you going somewhere," Jack said.

"Was I?" Teal'c asked, mouth twitching upward in the hint of a smile.

"You should probably go get his clothes, Teal'c," Daniel said, coming to the rescue, "before Jack decides to leave the mountain dressed as he is now."

Teal'c got a wicked gleam in his eye that immediately put Jack on guard. There was no way. If Teal'c refused then he'd send Daniel for his clothes. The poor guy could never resist him when he begged.

"I'll go," Sam said out of the blue.

"To the men's locker room?" Daniel asked.

"Oh, um, no, I guess not," Sam said, flustered.

Jack took pity on her and said, "You don't have to hang around here, Carter. Take T down to the locker room and then go back to doing whatever it is you do. I'm fine."

"Well, Sir, I...," she looked back and forth between him and Daniel. "Are you sure? I could stay, if..."

"I'm sure. Go on," he said and made a shooing motion with his hands. "Both of you."

Sam nodded and Teal'c inclined his head, after flashing what was, for him, an ear to ear grin at Daniel, and they both left.

"Finally, alone at last," Jack said.

Daniel just sighed.

Chapter 4

Daniel jingled his keys nervously as he followed Jack towards the elevators. He didn't know exactly how he'd wound up agreeing to take Jack home (Dr. Carmichael hadn't wanted Jack to drive), but he suspected that he hadn't so much volunteered as been shanghaied.

He knew that Jack still planned to have things out between them and that would have been fine. Well, not fine so much as necessary, but things had changed. Or, rather, Jack had changed.

Suddenly, Jack was acting like Daniel was catnip and he was a particularly horny tomcat, which would have thrilled Daniel, if he'd ever shown any interest prior to his fit this afternoon.

Daniel couldn't help thinking that Jack had hit his head when he'd hit the deck and was delusional.

And, Daniel wasn't the kind of guy who would take advantage of someone like that. Damnit. So, he'd have to suck it up, fight Jack off, and find a way to convince his pig-headed friend that he didn't really want to jump Daniel's bones; it was just his head injury talking and he'd thank Daniel for his discretion sometime in the near future when he was his old self again.

No problem.

Right.

"Dr. Jackson," a female voice called out from behind him and Daniel turned, breathing a sigh of relief. He felt like he'd just gotten a stay of execution.

"Karen?"

Karen smiled weakly at him, eyes shifting to Jack, who had stopped at the sound of her voice, and back to Daniel. "I'm sorry about this, but I need to talk to you."

"Sure," Daniel said. "Let's..."

"Hey," Jack said. "You're taking me home remember?"

Then, he turned to Karen and said, "I'm sure this can wait."

Karen swallowed visibly, but, despite her obvious nervousness, continued. "It can't, Sir. It really can't." She turned her attention back to Daniel. "I wouldn't have bothered you otherwise, not now."

"Jack, why don't you..."

"No," Jack said. "I'll wait. You've got fifteen minutes then I come looking for you." He made a point of checking his watch and signaled, with his chin, for Daniel to do the same.

Daniel rolled his eyes and glanced at his watch, not bothering to check the time. "Fifteen minutes, fine, I'll meet you up top."

Jack glowered at him, then at Karen, said, "Fifteen minutes," again to make sure they got it and stalked off to the elevator.

Daniel started walking back the way they'd come earlier. Karen caught up, then took the lead, guiding him back to her office, which was closer. When they got there, she closed the door behind them and collapsed into the chair behind her desk.

Daniel sat in the visitor's chair and cast a worried look in her direction. "What's wrong?"

Karen shook her head and said, "I fucked up."

"How?" He didn't try to deny her statement, having too much respect for her intelligence and judgment, if she said she'd screwed up then she had. He just didn't know why she was telling him.

"One of the scientists under my command, Scott Tavish, has a crush on me."

"Uh, oh."

Karen snorted. "That, Daniel, is the understatement of the century."

Leaning forward, she crossed her arms and rested them on her desk. "I thought I could handle it on my own. I told him it couldn't happen, quoted the regs at him, told him I didn't feel the same way, and none of it made a damn bit of difference. Still, I kept it to myself because I thought it would be worse if I came forward."

"It could ruin your career."

"Yeah."

Even though she hadn't done anything, she'd still take the blame, because she was a woman. The men in charge would, no matter how enlightened they claimed to be, believe that she'd done something to lead him on and hold it against her from that point on.

"It wouldn't have done Tavish much good either. For all his book smarts, he's still a pretty naive kid and he wouldn't hold up well to the inevitable teasing.

Daniel flushed in angry, embarrassed remembrance of his own experience with the rank and file at the SGC after his episode with Hathor. Hearing the jeers and pornographic comments about his non-consensual encounter had only made a horrible situation worse. It had taken all he had to hold it together, to not show any weakness, after being raped by a goa'uld. Adding in the boorish behavior of the men on base nearly pushed him over the edge.

Thank God for his friends, though. If Daniel hadn't had Jack and Sam and especially Janet to talk to, he wasn't sure he would have survived it all with his sanity intact.

He wouldn't wish that on anyone, least of all a confused kid.

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Because it's gone beyond an innocent, if inconvenient, crush. Tavish decided to do something about it."

"Do what?" Daniel asked, picturing the young scientist making a pass or stealing a kiss.

"He stole some of that alien substance we found on P3X-227 and slipped it into my coffee at this afternoon's briefing."

Daniel's mind went blank with shock. He couldn't possibly have heard what he thought he heard. There had to have been some kind of mistake. No one would be that reckless, that stupid.

"Did you just say..."

"Yeah."

"What makes you think that," Daniel asked mind racing, hearing Jack complimenting his ass, feeling Jack's lips on his skin.

"General O'Neill drank out of my coffee mug right before he collapsed."

"Still..."

"I confronted Tavish. He admitted it."

"Shit."

"My sentiments exactly."

"Have you told anyone else about this?"

"Not yet, but I'm going to have to."

"I know, but...wait."

"Wait? Daniel, I can't. The only reason I told you was...I was hoping for a little advice. I don't think there's anyone here that's better at handling tricky situations. How do I do my duty without losing everything I've worked so hard for?"

"You wait for Jack to come back from his medically prescribed leave and tell him."

"'Medically prescribed leave'? Is he alright?"

"According to the doctor." This put a whole new spin on Jack's behavior and whether the doctor needed to be told about it. But, he figured he should take his own advice and tell Jack before he did anything else.

"I don't know..."

"I do," Daniel said. "You came to me for advice and I'm giving it to you. Wait for Jack."

Karen frowned. After a moment, "All right. I'll wait."

"Good," Daniel said and stood. "Our fifteen minutes are probably up any way. It's going to work out. You'll see," he said as he turned to leave and hoped he wasn't being stupidly optimistic.

***

Jack dropped his keys on the hall table and watched Daniel twitch. It had been mildly amusing for about ten seconds until Jack had realized Daniel's agitation was a little too...agitated.

This wasn't simple nervousness, this was a hell of a lot more and, considering the timing, Jack had a pretty good idea that he knew its origin.

He went into the kitchen and grabbed a couple beers out of the fridge. He offered one to Daniel, who declined with a shake of his head. Jack shrugged, replaced one of the bottles, popped the top on the one he still held, and after taking a long swallow said, "So, what did Colonel Lacey have to say."

"I think we should sit down," Daniel said. Jack noted the lack of surprise at his question and was warmed by it. Whatever was going on between them, they hadn't lost that instinctive understanding of each other. It was a good sign.

Jack settled onto the sofa and Daniel perched on the edge of one of its cushions. There was a long, uncomfortable silence and Jack was about to tell Daniel to get on with it when he started talking.

"You remember that unknown liquid that SG17 found on their last mission?"

"Sure," Jack said and wondered how that related to Daniel's discomfort. SG17 was back on base safe and sound. The mission had come off without a hitch, so there was no reason for Daniel to be so upset.

"It, um, Doctor Tavish thought..."

"Just spit it out already," Jack said, beginning to get a very bad feeling that he knew where this was going.

Daniel glanced up at him and caught his eye. Seeing Jack's dawning awareness there, he sighed. "I think you know what I'm going to say."

"Yeah, I think I do. He doctored my coffee with some of that gunk."

Daniel nodded.

"He come clean?"

"After Karen called him on it," Daniel said. "She started to suspect him once she realized that the cup you drank out of right before your collapse was hers."

"He tried to poison his CO?" Jack asked and then could have smacked himself when he realized that one and one equaled, "He's in love with her."

"Yeah."

"That stupid, thoughtless son-of-a-bitch." They had no idea what was in that little vial. It could have done anything up to and including killing someone. So, not only had he stolen top secret, government property, he put lives at risk as well.

All because he wanted Lacey to return his feelings? How twisted was that?

"I agree," Daniel said and there was an unexpected fierceness in his tone that drew Jack's attention.

"You sound like you're ready to bring the rope for the hanging," Jack said. The "you're not usually like that" remained unsaid, but implied.

"He could have killed you, Jack. I won't, I can't, simply brush that aside. As it is," Daniel paused and then continued in a much quieter tone of voice. "As it is, I think it worked."

"What worked?"

"The love potion."

"Huh?"

"Don't play dumb with me, Jack. You know as well as I do that you're not prone to holding hands and necking in the infirmary. That's the potion talking."

"Ah," Jack said and did a quick internal assessment. Had his feelings changed between the time he entered the briefing room and the moment he woke up in the infirmary?

A more cowardly man would just say yes and leave it at that. God knew it was the easier way to go. But, it wasn't the truth. He'd already noted his attraction to Daniel had been simmering just below his surface consciousness for a long time, maybe from the very beginning. And there was no denying the intensity of his feelings for Daniel.

It would be too easy to dismiss their bond as born of extreme circumstances. And, again, it would be a lie. He'd gone through hell with other people and not opened up to them the way he had with Daniel. Hell, a few days after they met, he was telling Daniel things that he hadn't told his supposed best friend at the time.

It had felt right, more right than anything else in his life back then.

And it still did. There wasn't anything he wouldn't do for Daniel, no line he wouldn't cross.

Was he in love with Daniel? You betcha.

Was it the result of some funky alien chemical? No way in hell.

"Maybe the PDA was the potion talking, but the emotion behind it was all me."

For one intense, timeless moment, Daniel stared at him in shock. Everything stilled except the pounding of his heart as he willed Daniel to believe him – willed even more fiercely for Daniel to return his feelings.

Then, it was over and Daniel was moving away from him in a hurry. "No," he said as he walked away. "It's not."

Afraid that the object of his affections was about to bolt, Jack followed him. Grabbing onto a shoulder he turned Daniel and, without conscious thought, leaned in and kissed the lips he now knew he'd been hungering for for years.

It wasn't what he'd planned on doing, not that he'd really had a plan beyond stopping Daniel, but he was sure as hell glad he'd done it. Daniel's mouth was warm and full. He felt a startled puff of air against his lips and, taking advantage of Daniel's parted lips, he swept his tongue into the moist cavern.

Daniel responded splendidly -- mouth opening wider, tongue tangling wetly with Jack's. He felt strong, slender fingers curl around his jaw, angling his head so Daniel could deepen the kiss further.

Losing himself in the overwhelming pleasure, the final realization of a long held dream, Jack wasn't at all prepared for Daniel to suddenly break the kiss and push him away.

Swearing under his breath, Jack opened his eyes, fully prepared to tell Daniel to get his sweet little ass back over here ASAP, but he stopped dead at the stricken look in Daniel's eyes.

"Jack, I...we shouldn't...You're not."

"I am," Jack snarled. "How many times do I have to tell you? I'm not hallucinating; I'm not being forced against my will. I've wanted you for a long time now."

"Then why didn't you ever say anything? Why is this the first hint I've had that you felt this way?"

"I could ask the same of you," Jack said. "Because, unless I'm very much mistaken, you kissed me back and you don't have the excuse of having taken an alien love potion."

Daniel blanched. "You're right."

"Of course I'm right," Jack said with an internal sigh of relief. From the moment he'd woken in the infirmary with the unshakable desire to make Daniel his he'd wondered if he was alone in what he was feeling.

It seemed inconceivable. After all, Daniel, who kept himself at arms length with everyone else, not only let Jack reach out and touch, but did just as much reaching of his own. He had to love Jack as deeply as Jack loved him. He had to.

And, he'd proven Jack right with that kiss. Not only had he not pulled away, he'd responded. Daniel loved him too and he'd be damned if he'd let the action of some reckless punk ruin this.

"Listen, that little fairy tale you translated said straight out that whatever was in that bottle wouldn't create feelings that weren't there. So, if it does work then all it did was cut through the bullshit."

Jack saw Daniel's eyes widen in stunned realization. Then, a smile began to work its way free as Daniel moved back towards him.

He felt a matching smile on his own face. Daniel was done fighting this. It was really going to happen.

Tired of waiting, body already primed, Jack took the final necessary step and once again took Daniel's mouth in a heated kiss. This time, though, there was no hesitation, no resistance.

All uncertainty obliterated, clothes were torn away from heated bodies as they stumbled towards Jack's bed and fantasy became reality for them both.

Epilogue

Daniel looked up from the translation he was working on when he heard a knock at his door. He wasn't surprised to see Jack there, leaning against the door frame.

"How did it go?"

Jack shrugged and stepped into Daniel's office. He settled onto the edge of Daniel's desk, hands in his pockets, eyes down, and absently scuffed the toe of a boot against the floor.

"Tavish took it like a man, no whining or begging. At least he had the sense to know that he fucked up."

"He should consider himself lucky that all he's getting is discharged. He could have been prosecuted."

Jack studied him for a moment, face serious, before a slight smile appeared. "Still pissed, huh?"

"Of course I'm pissed, Jack. What he did..."

He was cut off by Jack reaching over to ruffle his hair.

Daniel twitched away, flabbergasted. "What are you doing?"

"Distracting you," Jack said with a grin.

Confused and well aware that his confusion was written all over his face, Daniel pinched Jack's leg.

"Ow," the annoying pain-in-the-ass, unfortunately not just in the way he liked, said and jumped up like he'd been stabbed then began to rub at the offended bit of anatomy.

Daniel rolled his eyes. "I didn't pinch you that hard."

"Yes, you did. This is abuse, spousal abuse."

"Jack," Daniel hissed and looked furtively around.

"For crying out loud, Daniel, you look like you expect Kinsey to jump out from behind a bookcase and shout 'Ah, hah'."

"Excuse me, if I don't want to risk you getting court-martialed."

Jack settled back onto the edge of Daniel's desk and smiled. Daniel leaned back in his chair, wary, because he knew that smile.

"Aw, Daniel, I didn't know you cared."

Daniel scowled up at Jack then grabbed at his pen, intent on getting back to work. "Go away. I'm busy."

Jack clutched at his chest, hamming it up, and pretended to swoon.

Daniel couldn't stop the grin that Jack's antics inspired and he realized how much he'd missed this -- their friendship.

So, maybe Scott's actions weren't all bad and maybe he could understand Jack's willingness to be lenient. He was glad, though, that Karen had only gotten a reprimand. She'd made a mistake, but she couldn't have know what Scott would do. The very idea that an intelligent adult would behave in such a foolish, dangerous manner just because he believed himself to be in love with someone who wouldn't love him back...

He'd been in that very same position just a couple days ago and he never would have put Jack at risk like that.

He felt knuckles tapping against his forehead and focused back in on Jack. "You alright," Jack asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine, just thinking about what happened."

"All's well that ends well," Jack said.

Daniel shook his head, "Maybe, maybe not," he said, thoughts drifting to another person affected by recent events -- and not in a good way. Sam... Was she in love with Jack? Or was Daniel seeing things that weren't there?

"Come on," Jack said and hauled him out of his chair.

"Hey what are you doing?" Daniel said, but didn't put up any kind of struggle.

"You're doing way too much brooding, so I'm taking you to the commissary."

"Why?"

"You need some pie."

"You mean you need some pie."

"Whatever. Daniel," Jack paused and looked Daniel straight in the eye. "We've faced some nasty situations in the past few years and we've gotten through them all. This isn't any different. We'll be all right. Hell, we'll be better than all right, because whatever happens we've got each other. Remember that."

Eyes locked on Jack's he heard and felt the sincerity in Jack's words. More than that, he agreed with everything Jack said. There was no sense in worrying about what might happen.

Instead they should enjoy the gift they'd been given.

"I will," he said with a warm smile, wishing he could kiss Jack.

"Good," Jack said and proceeded to manhandle Daniel out of his office. "Let's celebrate with some pie."

Daniel allowed himself to be hustled out down the corridor, laughing at his lover's antics.

Oh, yeah. He was definitely going to enjoy Jack. For the rest of his life.

The End