1+1+1+1

[brainofck]

Title: 1+1+1+1
Author: muck-a-luck, posting in brainofck
Pairing: Teal'c/Daniel Jackson/Jack O'Neill/Samantha Carter
Rating: NC-17
Summary: Jack can't take it any more
Content/warnings: Well, het content, obviously.
Spoilers: Season 4.
Words: 10,634
Disclaimer: If anybody is planning a script like this for SG-1, I'm certainly not going to claim any rights to it. However, I'd be delighted to work in a co-writing/consulting/first-reader/advisory-type capacity, with my fee to be negotiated at that time. :D
Archive rights: Absolutely none. My journals only. muck_a_luck and brainofck
The Matrix: Teammates The Matrix is located here.
Author's note: Gateworld spells it Kelnorim, and capitalizes it, making it a proper noun, as the name of a ritual mediation practice.

I entered this project thinking I would write a stranded piece. But surrealphantast requested Sam/Jack/Daniel. First time. A developing relationship on Earth, not stranded off-world. And this got me thinking, what would it be like? How would it come about? So this is me, thinking about that. Though not exactly, because if the three of them did something while the team was still a team, I don't think Teal'c could stay out of it.



Jack O'Neill left Cheyenne Mountain pissed. He hadn't cared who noticed and had been very happy to brush though the halls past half-terrified airmen, bemused civilians and annoyed fellow-officers alike. Nobody had the balls to stand between him and his truck, and that was exactly what he wanted today.

He had killed Daniel. It was only dumb luck that Daniel hadn't died.

And he'd made Sam his accomplice. Ordered her to build a bomb for him, in almost-defiance of a not-quite-direct order of General Hammond. And she'd done it. Jack tried to imagine how he would have ever been able to look her in the eye again, if it hadn't been for dumb luck.

But that was the problem, wasn't it? He slammed through the gears and took the turns much too fast. He would have looked her straight in the eye and she wouldn't have looked away. They both knew the mission objectives. They both knew how to take loss and grief in stride.

Salute and move on.

He was sick of this.

He knew what he wanted, but he was surprised to see it just as soon as he walked into the little neighborhood dive. She stood at the bar, all long legs and gentle curves. The golden hair a little too long, the graceful hands a little too manicured. But her blue eyes sparkled when he turned on the charm. It was easy to attract her attention from the boy already beside her. To be funny, serious, gentle, wry by turns. A little world weary, a little sweet. Saying all the right words 'til she was inviting him back to her place.

She was easy to fuck. The hard part was keeping the wrong name behind his teeth. Not to drown in those perfect blue eyes and say Sam.

Or Danny.

Wouldn't do to give the game away under the influence of his dark musings and baser instincts.

In the morning it was just as easy to slip away. His body was sated, but his whole self felt empty, as if he were a shell with nothing inside except a dull hatred of her and them and his life and the universe in general.

He went back to his comfortable, empty house and tried to stop thinking that he had killed Daniel.

They sat in his living room and drank his beer. Except Teal'c of course, who was drinking sparkling water with an orange.

Watching them sprawled all over his personal space, he hated them with a new passion for the space they took in his life. That space was supposed to be empty. Or filled by someone who didn't matter as much. They mistook his glare for the same glazed fatigue they were all feeling. They didn't even notice.

The movie had ended and none of them had the will to figure out what to put in next. Even Teal'c seemed exhausted.

"I hate this job," he heard himself say.

"No, you don't," Daniel replied easily. "You get to run around the universe shooting things and blowing stuff up with impunity and you don't even have to pay for the C-4."

Sam nodded solemn agreement.

Or the handmade prototype naquidah generators, either, Jack could almost hear Sam and Daniel thinking in unison. How could he blame them when he thought it, too?

Sam was watching him wide-eyed, as always. It was pissing him off. Probably hoping for some scrap of affection or approval, as always. Well, not always. It was no-nonsense killer officer mode with her on a mission and hopeful pretty girl mode when they got back home. Nothing in between and never the twain should meet. She was sprawled loosely across the couch, bottle resting on her stomach, arranged so she could see all of them. She looked tired and beautiful and a little drunk. Watching him with that damned annoying hopefulness. What did she think he was going to say to a junior officer he valued and respected as much as he did her?

"Okay," he agreed, letting his malicious streak get the better of him. "I don't hate my job. Here's what I hate: I went out last night and picked up a clone of our good major here and fucked her 'til she screamed."

He stared directly into those wide surprised eyes. That obviously hadn't been the words she expected. He smiled in self-mockery, realizing as wide eyes got even wider that perhaps it looked like cruel mockery of her, but she had been asking for it for years now. Maybe he was being cruel. But maybe she deserved what she got.

"And I know you want me," he continued remorselessly. "You ever put on your leathers and go out and get yourself someone tall and thin, older, going a little gray, and just pretend?"

Imagining it put a sneer in his voice and a twitch in his dick. Maybe she deserved what she got. But maybe he did, too.

The flush in her cheeks in reaction to this sudden crude and brutal acknowledgement of their mutual attraction made it hard to rip his eyes away from her.

"O'Neill." A warning rumble from Teal'c.

"You don't have to defend me, Teal'c," she snapped. Surprise had gone to hurt and anger in the space of a heartbeat. Eyes narrowed, she stared him down.

"You want me," he repeated, meeting hot anger with bitterness. "If I were some overpaid civilian analyst - no offense guys," he said, not looking at them, "If I were some overpaid civilian analyst, I would have taken you up on it years ago, at the very beginning. We'd probably be married with two kids, a dog and three cats by now. As it is, I so much as look at you the wrong way and the best I can hope for is an invitation from Hammond to resign. Again."

"And what makes you think I'd want anything like that with you?" she asked pointedly. "Throw away a front line posting and probably all my chances of further promotion just to play house with a guy who finds my life's work marginally useful but mostly boring as hell? Smart girls don't go for the asshole jocks, no matter what you learned from The Simpsons or whatever the hell crap TV you watch," she growled.

"Oh, please," Jack said dismissively, rolling his eyes, "The wistful looks. The big puppy eyes. The eagerness to impress. Half the base knows what you think of me."

"And would that be the same half of the base that knows you already have a thing going with Daniel?" The words dripped venom. Jack wondered how long she had been waiting to bring up the subject of him and Daniel.

"What?" Daniel asked, startled from an uneasy silence by the mention of his name.

Jack took a careful, calming swallow of beer.

"Major," he said warningly.

"Oh. So it's 'Major' now? You're lucky General Hammond's got such a sweet spot for the two of you. Not every CO would be so understanding."

"You can't tell me you actually believe the rumors?" Jack asked incredulously.

"What rumors?" Daniel said, a little louder.

"I just can't believe nobody's made an issue of it. One day some homophobic airman is going to complain and you'll be out on your ass. Not to mention the fact that you know the kind of shit that can land on a queer in our line of work. I can't believe you'd expose Daniel to that."

"WHAT?" Daniel finally yelled. The two combatants finally noticed him.

"Jack and I have 'a thing going?!' Sam, are you completely out of your mind?!"

"It is true, DanielJackson, that it is widely believed within the SGC. And indeed, I have been asked by both Tokra and Jaffa what relationship exists between you and Colonel O'Neill."

Daniel just stared at Teal'c like he'd grown a second head.

"Okay," Daniel said slowly. "I was married. Jack was married."

"Means nothing," Jack replied. His statement hung in the air.

"Jack, you're straight." Daniel sounded like he was trying to reassure himself.

"The hell you say," Jack said.

Sam put her hands over her ears.

"I did not just hear you say that, Colonel."

"Of course you did, Major," Jack insisted. "And if I weren't so caught up in the super-macho, homophobic bullshit that the Air Force thinks it needs to carry out its mission, maybe it wouldn't have taken me years to figure out that I want Daniel as much as I want you. Sometimes more."

He smirked at her. Oh, she hated him right at that moment.

"No, you don't," Daniel denied, with certainty. He stared at Daniel in disbelief. Denial. Not just Daniel's favorite river in Egypt, apparently.

"Yes, I do," Jack practically spat the words.

Daniel shook his head, completely unaccepting.

"I don't know what's going on in your head right this second, Jack, but I think somehow you've confused friendship with..." he swallowed hard, the ramifications of what Jack was saying playing out with almost comical clarity over his expressive face, "...something," he finished lamely.

"Nope. No confusion. Particularly considering the wood I get after a really nasty, no-holds-barred fight with you."

Daniel blushed at that. Daniel never blushed. Jack didn't realize the man could achieve that shade of red.

"We have different world views and conflicting professional missions. Of course we fight. There's nothing sexual about it."

"That's bullshit, Daniel. I have professional disagreements with people all the time and it doesn't get my pants tight. The reason we can't be civil to each other? We're lovers who never get any and it makes us pissy as hell. Maybe if we fucked once in a while, the whole professional relationship thing would go a little more smoothly."

"So it's me one day and Daniel the next, then?" Sam snarled. Daniel turned to stare at her. He felt the heat of her anger now. He looked shell-shocked. It was like a slap in the face to Jack, the sudden realization that Daniel really hadn't known - hadn't understood what had been going on between the two of them all these years.

But Sam had.

And she was furious and Daniel was terrified.

"Maybe it should be," he answered her, trying to stay calm for Daniel's sake, but not wiling to back down, either.

"Then what? Is Teal'c next?"

Teal'c was frowning at all of them.

"Major Carter, I do not wish to become involved in this disagreement." Teal'c had never sounded more forbidding. The frown had become a full-on scowl. Teal'c was pissed, too, then.

Which made Jack feel like he had to say something. Obviously he had never quite lost that suicidal urge.

"What about you, T?" he asked.

"There is nothing to discuss about me, O'Neill."

"Oh, yes there is. 'Cause I think you're in the same boat with me, here, big guy."

"Jack?!" Daniel sounded like he was choking.

"O'Neill, that is enough," Teal'c growled, leaning forward to set his glass of water on the table. "I believe you have exceeded your tolerance for alcohol.

The one empty bottle by Jack's chair made a liar of him.

Jack snorted.

"Don't tell me that you wouldn't cuddle up to either one of them, if you thought Tauri custom would allow it. And what about me, T? I'd bet a month's salary that given the choice you'd fuck me first. Wouldn’t you?"

Teal'c leaned back in the chair and crossed his massive arms.

"Thought so," Jack muttered.

"So," he announced to his rapt audience. "I make a move on Sammy, it's goodbye career. I make a play for Danny and it's Leavenworth - even more fun. Sam tries to get what she can't get from me by making googly eyes at every eligible alien that comes through the wormhole. Teal'c hides out in a 20 x 20 concrete cell trying to Kelnorim his sexual frustration out of existence. And Daniel can't tell the difference between raging lust and friendship and works himself into oblivion."

"So what is it you hate, exactly?" Sam demanded. "You hate that we can't come home on downtime and have wild four-way orgies?"

Huh. He hadn't really thought this argument through before. What an interesting idea.

"Wild four-way orgies would go a long way toward making me feel better." he answered thoughtfully.

He shocked them all into momentary silence.

Daniel was the first to recover.

"This is about Enkara, isn't it?" Daniel said, trying to get his head around it. "How would orgies make you feel better about Enkara? It seems like it would just make it harder for you to make the right decisions."

"Indeed, O'Neill. You accepted the warrior code of your people a long time ago. It clearly prohibits exactly the behavior you are suggesting." Teal'c, strangely, didn't seem angry anymore. Just curious.

"Yeah, well. On the other side of 30 years of service, the view's a whole lot different."

Jack suddenly felt drained. He lacked the energy or the willpower or the edge or whatever to even be angry anymore. He just felt old and tired and alone. He couldn't believe how much he suddenly wanted them to take him up on this crazy, stupid idea.

"Daniel's right. We're a field unit, sir. Chain of command issues aside, the unit dynamic is too important in a combat situation to jeopardize it by…" she flapped her hand vaguely.

Huh. Sam didn't sound pissed anymore, either. She sounded like she was looking for an excuse.

He shrugged.

"It wouldn't. SG-1 has its own logic. We know the stakes. We do what has to be done. It would just be an extension of what we already are. It wouldn't change anything."

As he argued with Sam, he watched Daniel. Sam was a good officer and had kept her feelings to herself. But if she wanted to be persuaded, then he was pretty sure she would follow him in this as she did in so many other situations, if he gave her the opportunity.

But Daniel was sitting there looking stupidly dumb struck. He was too quiet and too pale. Jack hadn't predicted this. He hadn't expected his revelation to be any more surprising to Daniel than it had been to Sam.

"What is it you are proposing, O'Neill," Teal'c asked.

Jack made himself focus on the Jaffa.

"All of us," he said.

Teal'c stared at him for a long moment. Then seemingly he came to a conclusion. He nodded and rose from his seat, knelt over Sam and kissed her.

The bright flash of jealousy Jack felt was almost obscene.

"Guys, I'm not sure…" Daniel stammered. The kiss went on. Deepened as Sam recovered from her surprise and stared kissing Teal'c back with gusto. Daniel tore his eyes away from his two teammates and turned to Jack.

"I'm not sure I can go along with that," Daniel stated.

Teal'c finally paused.

"For one thing," Daniel said, swallowing nervously, "You know Kinsey's NID friends are watching us. We'd never be able to keep this under wraps."

Sam drew her legs up to make space for Teal'c on the couch. Both of them turned to Jack.

They were the team they always were. Sam and Teal'c waiting to follow his lead. Daniel wandering off in his own direction.

Sometimes it made Jack want to hit something.

"Little present from Thor last Christmas," he said instead. "This place is unsurveillable."

Daniel blinked at him.

"Wow. Nice present."

"I thought so," Jack agreed

Another blink and a headshake.

"Well, my place doesn't have that kind of protection. And neither does Sam's. And Teal'c lives under the Mountain. It won't work."

"Sure it will, Daniel. 'Cause the rule will be that everything happens here. Nothing happens anywhere else. No whispers on base. No clandestine meetings in hotels. No storage room kisses. No nookie off world. The whole thing stays right here, in this house, where we could dance naked in front of the open windows and the NID wouldn't be able to see us."

Daniel's fingers were twined together in his lap. He stared at his hands.

"Even if we could make that happen," he said quietly, "I'm still not sure I can be part of this."

Jack couldn't believe it. Daniel was going to be the one who hung this up.

"I'm sorry," Daniel said.

Jack fought a new wave of anger. Kept his face neutral. He took a breath to speak. Say something.

"If Daniel isn’t sure, we can't do this," Sam said first.

Though Sam didn't sound certain at all.

"We should go," she said, standing suddenly, her voice shaky. Who knew Major Carter would cut and run so easily?

Jack didn't get up. He stayed right where he was and pinned Daniel with his eyes.

"It can be done, Daniel. It won't change anything, except we might all be happier."

Daniel wouldn’t look at him.

"Think about it." It came out somewhere between an order and a plea.

Sam held her hand to Teal'c in a clear invitation for him to join her in leaving. Teal'c didn't budge.

"I don't now what there is to think about," Daniel replied. "You've gotten this wrong somehow, Jack. We're not starcrossed lovers. At least not from where I'm sitting."

"Then perhaps you should try a new perspective, Daniel," Teal'c rumbled softly. "Do you not agree, Samantha?"

When Sam and Daniel stared at him in surprise, Teal'c just raised an eyebrow.

"Listen, if Daniel's not interested, he's not interested," Jack said quickly, cutting her off. If he sounded bitter, well that was because he was.

Teal'c rose to stand next to Sam and Daniel slowly picked himself up from his place on the floor.

They were leaving. Jack felt like sitting there in his chair and sulking while they let themselves out.

But he had promised that nothing would change. And one thing he knew about Daniel - the man would think about this. He would probably think about almost nothing else for days. Jack had to show Daniel that this could work.

He stood and followed. As he made to step past Sam to open the door and wish them goodnight, she turned.

"I'm sorry, Daniel, but I can't leave without doing this."

And thank God, she kissed him. He had her in his arms and was drowning in the scent and taste of her. So different from the stolen kiss in the time-loop, when she had been taken by surprise and uncertain before the eyes of the entire control room. Here she was all confidence and desire and he went from zero to hard in thirty seconds flat.

They might have gone on that way much longer, but a strong hand caught him behind the neck and then he was kissing Teal'c, with Sam still pressed against him.

He found himself holding them both, Sam in the circle of one arm, Teal'c in the curve of the other.

Head swimming with lust, he thought they had agreed not to do this. Hadn't they just decided not to do this?

Daniel stood hesitating in the doorway, eyeing them like the dangerous, reality-bending three-headed monster that they were.

"Daniel," Teal'c said gently. He held his arm out to him expectantly.

"T," Jack said, his voice a little too gruff, but there wasn't anything to be done about that, "Daniel said he wasn't sure. There's not going to be any pressure."

Tealc' shook his head, arm still extended.

"You asked Daniel to 'think about it.' He should have something to think about."

"T," Jack repeated warningly.

Daniel came a few steps into the hallway.

"Okay," he said simply, and closed the distance.

Jack wanted to reach out for him, but his arms were tangled around them. Instead, Teal'c and Sam drew Daniel into their circle, pressing Jack and Daniel together and wrapping their own arms around Daniel's waist.

The seduction of Daniel Jackson was apparently to be a team effort. How appropriate.

He was unhappy to feel Daniel trembling against him. Shaking like a leaf. Eyes dark. Face pale.

Surely Sam and Teal'c could feel it, too?

"Daniel, you don't have to..." he began.

Daniel caught Jack's face between two clammy hands and kissed him.

Then he was kissing Daniel. Something he had actually fantasized about more than kissing Sam. Because Jack knew what to expect when he kissed Sam, and Daniel was a whole other universe.

He was as soft as Sam, but he was stubble and teeth and aggressive tongue. Frightened as he might be, Daniel was masterful. Jack was grateful to have Sam and Teal'c's strong arms wrapped around him to keep him on his feet.

It went on a long time.

When Daniel finally pulled away his cheeks were pink not ashen and his cock against Jack's hip was more than half hard.

"Okay. That?" Sam breathed in Daniel's ear. "That was hot."

"Yeah, well," Daniel muttered with a self-deprecating chuckle, disengaging from the tangle of arms, "You and Teal'c could sell videos."

Sam snorted, then laughed, then collapsed against them giggling. Teal'c seemed reluctant to let them go, a tiny smile playing at the corners of his mouth as he watched Sam laugh.

"So," Teal'c finally declared. "DanielJackson will think and we will revisit this issue the next time we are able to assemble here together."

"Okay," Daniel said. He was acting a little dazed, not meeting any eyes as he slipped his jacket on and dug in his pocket for his keys.

"We should do this as a team guys," Sam said, her hand resting on the doorknob. "Whatever we do, we do together." Her eyes lingered on Daniel in a way that made Jack wonder if she resented him, despite her giggling.

"Agreed," Teal'c said. "Whatever needs to be said, we should say it now. Daniel..."

Daniel just nodded absently and set off down the sidewalk without a backward glance.

Jack went to bed with their kisses on his lips. It only took a few strokes before he blew his wad the first time. And he stayed hard. The second time took a while, but it was so good. He came to a fantasy that involved lots of arms and legs.

Being back at the Mountain was harder than Jack expected.

He ought to have been walking on air. Sam and Daniel in one night. He was still getting used to the idea of Teal'c, but he had to hand it to him, the guy could kiss.

But instead of feeling happy and relaxed, he found that he was almost as wound up and angry as he had been when he left.

Sam was happy. Really too cheerful. With nary a wistful sigh nor a needy glance his way. He figured her colleagues would put the change down to some other guy, not him, and that was okay, great, whatever. Perfect, actually. But he was used to Sam pining a little over him and after practically being shooed out of her lab he felt hurt and lonely.

So he hit up Teal'c to join him for a late breakfast. That wasn't the answer either. Teal'c, almost always annoyingly self-satisfied, was entirely too smug. Or maybe Jack was just reading too much into it.

It took him hours to work up the nerve to stroll down to Daniel's office.

Once there, however, Jack couldn't help himself.

"So anything interesting happen over the weekend?"

Daniel finally looked up at him. He was annoyed and irritated, like any day when Jack dragged him away from his books and rocks to talk about something trivial like, oh, real life.

"Actually, yes," Daniel said.

"Do tell?" Jack prodded him.

Daniel frowned.

"Well, I got some completely unexpected news from someone I used to consider one of my closest friends. But based on what he said to me, I can't help wondering if I ever knew him at all."

"If he was such a close friend, how could it be completely unexpected?" Jack asked. He still couldn't believe that Daniel had never had a clue.

"Exactly what I've been thinking," Daniel agreed.

Not what Jack wanted to hear.

"Okay. Fair enough," Jack said, even though it wasn't. Not fair at all. "But sometimes people are good at keeping secrets if they think it's important enough. Maybe it was that kind of secret. What do you think about what he said?"

"Jack, I thought the first rule of Fight Club was nobody talks about Fight Club?"

"Humor me. Surely a friendship that important is worth a little soul-searching."

"Right," Daniel said. He stared at Jack thoughtfully and for an odd moment Jack wondered whose soul Daniel was contemplating.

"I'm confused. Very worried. About him and the people close to him - and myself, actually. Angry. Hurt."

"Angry" and "hurt" were not words Jack had been expecting. He couldn't believe that he was actually embarrassed. His face was hot.

"That's a lot of negative emotion, toward a guy you thought of as your closest friend. You're not the least bit curious about what he said? Maybe intrigued?"

Daniel's eyes slid to the open doorway. He shook his head.

"There are rules. I'm not talking about this. We brief in an hour for P3R-118. I've got other things to think about right now."

"Yeah, me, too," Jack reluctantly agreed.

Freed from Fraiser's evil clutches, Jack climbed wearily into his truck and that was about as far as he thought he could go tonight. He slumped forward and rested his head on the wheel.

Who knew that a couple of weeks of industrial slavery on short rations would be so hard on a guy?

A short rest, and he sat up again. He had to get out of the garage. He really ought to be spending the night here, as he knew Daniel and Sam were both doing, but he just couldn't face another night underground.

As he drove slowly and carefully home, he could feel Jonah lurking just beneath the surface, the memory of being someone else fresh and disturbing.

He wondered how long they could take this kind of abuse. Brainwashing and alien manipulation and Ancient databases, and zats and various head injuries of more pedestrian nature. How much of that kind of thing could the human brain absorb, anyway?

He parked and let himself in and put on the softest sweats and old t-shirt he could find and drank a beer and lay on the bed and stared at the ceiling.

Didn't think about Jonah and Thera and the things Karlan and Tor didn't know. Didn't think about Karlan and Kegan or whoever the fuck she was and what Jonah didn't know. He rested the empty beer bottle on his forehead. And when you lie in a hammock, please! Rest your beer on your head or your genitals! Ah, The Simpsons. A quote for any occasion.

Annnnd. The doorbell rang. He shut his eyes. It absolutely couldn't be. They were all tucked up safe and sound in VIP rooms somewhere on Level 22.

It rang again. Fuck.

"Daniel," he said, the flicker of irritation at being disturbed dying under the weight of his sheer exhaustion.

"Jack," Daniel replied, standing in the doorway, looking as tired as Jack felt.

They stared at each other under the porch light.

"Can I come in?" Daniel asked, shifting his weight forward in an unsubtle hint that he was planning to come in whether invited or not.

Jack didn't move.

"I was just heading for bed," Jack said. "I'm not really ready for guests."

"Too bad," Daniel said roughly, giving up on subtle and pushing past Jack into the house.

Jack was gritting his teeth and about to shut the door when Sam's old junker pulled up in the drive. He scrubbed his hand over his eyes and muttered a curse under his breath.

So, the very first night back after a mission gone to hell, here they were, to hash it all out? He watched Sam get out of the car, rummage through the backseat, coming up with a couple of grocery bags, and thought, yeah, he could do that. Take her to bed and have uncomplicated sex and pass out on top of her and wake up and do it again.

But he eyed Teal'c warily. He was too tired for a round one with T tonight, and he was far, far too exhausted to try to hold Daniel's hand and lead him tenderly through the garden.

Still, as Sam brushed past him, day pack over her shoulder, arms full of brown bags, he felt the familiar heaviness in his belly, heat in his thighs, undeniable lust. He wondered if Sam was the kind of woman who could cum from a thorough pounding, though he was suddenly so starved for cunt he thought he could always fall back on that after the fact if absolutely necessary.

Teal'c eyed him in passing. Jack wondered if T was having the same series of thoughts Jack was having about Sam, only thinking them about Jack.

He smiled his most insincere smile of not welcome before scowling at Sam's back. Teal'c remained as inscrutable as ever.

Sam dumped her bags in the kitchen and spotted Daniel in the living room.

"You're not dressed," she announced, sounding annoyed, though Daniel clearly was.

Daniel shrugged.

"I didn't go home," he said.

Sam had him by the arm and was leading him down the hall. He shuffled along behind her in tired surrender.

"Daniel came here as a personal favor to Samantha," Teal'c informed him, from the living room. Jack began unpacking the bags. Ice and frozen items into the freezer. Booze and blender on the counter.

"This couldn't wait until tomorrow?" he asked. "None of us is in a fit state to run a blender."

Teal'c returned to the kitchen in nothing but a pair of silk boxers. Ignoring Jack's startled gaze, he said, "Samantha believed this was the best way to insure that Daniel did not leave before the conversation was complete."

"Not fair feeding the cheap drunk rum in girly drinks, Sam," Jack said as she came back into the room.

He figured it must be a pajama party. She was now wearing soft black cotton pants, sitting low on her hips, with a simple white top. He turned to see Daniel trailing down the hall behind her, faintly pink-cheeked, wearing a pair of Jack's own sweats and his favorite ratty old USAF tee.

"You don't have to get me drunk to keep me here," Daniel said.

"Yeah? Then why did I have to dress you in the col - in Jack's clothes just now?"

"I told you, I didn't go home first," he said weakly.

"So you're telling me you weren't planning to say 'no' outright?" she challenged him, picking up the conversation almost exactly where they had left off nearly a month ago.

"If I were, I wouldn't have come at all," he muttered, not meeting anyone's eyes.

"You're thinking about this seriously?" she asked him. Her expression was cheerful and teasing, but her voice had taken on a sharp edge, and Jack could see anger in the tension around her eyes, the quirk of her lips.

"Yes. Of course," Daniel began.

She cut him off.

"Kiss me."

Jack never tired of the gulping fish expression. Daniel looked confused. Flummoxed. Jack thought with two words Sam had put an end to the whole proceeding as far as Daniel was concerned.

But then, just as he had done the last time, Daniel did what Jack hadn't expected him to do. He stepped up, wrapped Sam's slight figure in strong arms, and did what she asked. From the looks of it, Sam was just as out of her depth as Jack had felt. Daniel had her off balance, carrying her whole weight in his arms as he tipped her back and kissed her senseless.

It was worse than when she had kissed Teal'c. They were so beautiful together that Jack's mouth watered. But he was a jealous, possessive bastard by nature and watching them was causing something in his brain to short out.

"Jesus," he mumbled, physically turning away only to stumble into Teal'c broad, bare chest. Teal'c caught him and held him firmly. His own arms came up by reflex, returning the embrace.

"You are the one who proposed this arrangement," Teal'c reminded him softly. "Perhaps you did not consider the ramifications."

"Of course I didn't," Jack said in exasperation. This close, and this lightly dressed, Teal'c was all warm skin, and Jack could smell him, spicy, like the incense he burned during meditation. Before he could think the better of it, Jack kissed Teal'c, letting his awareness of the couple behind him fuel his own desire, trying not to think too hard about the whole thing, his earlier fatigue falling away.

"Okay," Daniel's voice shattered the not-quite silence. "I think I could use that drink now, after all."

The big man remained glued to his side, thick arm draped around him. Jack found it annoyingly clingy, strangely comforting, and subtly sexy all at once. Instead of following his first instinct to shrug him off, Jack had relaxed into it, letting Teal'c prop him up as he drank first one piña colada, then two.

Across the kitchen island, Jack watched Daniel watch them. He was nervous and uncertain, clearly trying to get his bearings. Sam was oblivious, measuring ice and mixer and booze into the blender. Daniel took a few deep breaths and sidled up to her, wrapping his arms around her waist, pressing his nose into her hair, batting her hands away and running the blender for her. Jack felt a rumble of approval deep in Teal'c's chest. The arm around his waist drew him in tighter.

For some reason, Jack expected her to react with annoyance to the encroachment on her personal space, but instead she melted back into her helper, and they awkwardly made the drinks together, pouring them out and making as much mess as if they were drunk already.

"I hope you people are planning to clean that up when you're done," Jack said testily.

Daniel ran his finger through a spill on the counter. He smiled up at Jack through his lashes, and Jack was sure it was a shy gesture, though it came off as wicked. Daniel reached his fingerful of sweet, alcoholic ice across the counter.

"You really ought to try this, Teal'c," Daniel said conversationally, offering his finger to Teal'c.

Then smeared the melting concoction over Jack's ear instead.

"Hey!" he yelped, but he couldn't get a hand free to wipe it away, as Teal'c was suddenly crushing him mercilessly. He squirmed and growled.

Sam giggled, sipping from her glass.

"Indeed," Teal'c said. His less certain expression, where he drew out the word as if considering the proposition.

Oh.

Teal'c's tongue on his ear was hot.

Breathless didn't cover it. He wasn't even forty-something anymore, he was just on the cusp of fifty. How could he be this out of control just from T sucking his earlobe.

He managed not to stammer.

"So how do four people get comfortable and make out? Is this a problem for the physics genius or the cultural anthropologist?"

Daniel wasn't meeting anyone's eyes, but Sam was thrusting the open bottle of rum at him. She handed the unopened bottle to Teal'c, who took it like it was a poisonous snake. She rolled her eyes at him and grabbed Daniel by the hand, dragging him along behind her as she caught Jack's wrist, leaving Teal'c to trail after them down the hall.

She practically shoved Daniel onto the bed, and Teal'c loomed around to follow him, all of them anticipating Daniel's skittishness now. Teal'c didn't give him a moment to think, just settled himself between Daniel and the edge of the bed and pulled Daniel down onto his chest. Daniel obviously considered struggling and decided against it. Satisfied, Sam gave Jack a shove next, then followed him.

"Samantha has declared there should be rules this evening," Teal'c said, a smile in his voice.

"What kind of rules?" Jack said warily, settling onto his back beside Teal'c, letting his brain play games with the pairs - apparently whoever was with Teal'c got to be the girl. Whoever was with Sam got to be - he almost laughed out loud. Stupid and complicated. No point in trying to simplify it. Especially watching Daniel devouring Teal'c like a particularly good piece of steak. Why waste time trying to think?

Sam poked him, then climbed on top of him, sitting on his hips and prodding Daniel's ass, too.

"This is mostly for your benefit, straight boy, so pay attention," she ordered, grinning down at the three of them. Daniel broke off kissing a smiling Teal'c and just rested their foreheads together. Jack could see that he was blushing furiously.

She started ticking her rules off on her fingers.

One finger.

"Everybody's clothes stay on."

She mock-glared at Teal'c.

"And didn't I clearly say bring pajamas?"

"This is what I wear to bed every night, Samantha," Teal'c protested mildly.

"Yeah, well, I went to the trouble to bring clothes, anyway. You could have, too," she retorted smartly. Daniel perked up at that. So did Little Jack. Teal'c suppressed a smile and raised an eyebrow.

Sam blushed, realizing what she had just said.

"Moving on," she grumbled.

Two fingers.

"Kissing..." Teal'c obligingly nuzzled the side of Daniel's head. Daniel shivered.

Three fingers.

"Touching..."

Jack reached out and got a decent handful of breast.

"Did I say 'groping'?" she asked with mild curiosity.

"Nope. I heard 'tickling'," Jack replied and lunged up for her, flipping her and digging in his fingers mercilessly.

Then it was a wild struggle as Daniel fought to come to Sam's aid, but Teal'c caught him and held him, muscles bulging to match Daniel's strength, mapping light marks with his mouth over his captive's throat and shoulders. That pretty well left Sam at Jack's mercy, but she played dirty. Shrieking with laughter, she squirmed under him. He was half hard and getting harder when her hand found his dick and squeezed. That was the end of tickling as she stroked him roughly a few times through his sweats.

Then she rolled him and she was back on top, grinding down against his stiffy, flushed and panting, but back in lecture mode.

Four fingers.

"And that's all, boys. A nice, friendly trip to first base. Then we can all sleep in a big puppy pile."

Daniel and Teal'c weren't listening. Jack wasn't sure that Daniel was even in the same room with them anymore. Teal'c had him pressed into the mattress with this shirt pushed up and his hands feathering across he sensitive skin of Daniel's back.

Jack groaned and reached for the forgotten half-bottle of rum and scowled up at her.

"Considering you had rounded second and were well on your way to sliding into third just now I think more rum is in order."

She smiled at him sweetly.

"C'mon, T! Live a little!" Jack goaded, holding out the bottle again.

"I do not understand your insistence that I consume alcohol, Jonathan," Teal'c replied, raising a stern eyebrow.

Though stern eyebrow had less impact when a giggling, tipsy Daniel was cuddled in one arm, and a soft, sexy Sam was wrapped in the other.

"Welcome to high school, Teal'c," Daniel said.

Jack scowled. When had Teal'c gotten both of them? He pushed himself up on his elbows and took a mouthful from the bottle. Then he climbed over all of them to straddle Teal'c, leaning over to share a wet, rum-soaked kiss.

Sam followed right behind him, taking over where Jack left off.

Teal'c watched them both through wide eyes, somewhere between startled and accepting.

Jack took another mouthful and turned to Daniel.

Daniel, who had managed to elude him all evening, hiding behind Teal'c, only occasionally slipping into Sam's arms before turning away again to the Jaffa. Jack saw a brief flash of panic on the archaeologist's face before Daniel met him boldly, sucking the rum from Jack's lips and tongue, breathing heavily, reaching for Jack though Teal'c's body was still between them.

Sam and Daniel lay smashed together in the middle of the bed, Teal'c's head rested on Daniel's chest, Daniel's long restless fingers moving in patterns over the smooth curve of skull. Jack was pleasantly drunk, propped on an elbow above Sam, looking down into rum-hazy blue eyes.

"You know," he started. She smiled at him. He was such an asshole. "The other night. Things were said." Her smile turned a little harder, some of the softness left her eyes. "Things were said in anger," he pushed forward. "Mean, bad, nasty things."

He was being stupid. Stupid, stupid, stupid. But he was just drunk enough, and she was just drunk enough, and if he could talk about sex in anger, why couldn't he talk about other things in a moment of peace and happiness?

He stroked his thumb down the soft planes of her cheek and jaw. Her expression had changed to something thoughtful. Hopeful. Expectant. That look she sometimes got that usually made him irritable and short-tempered because what the hell was he supposed to say?

"I do love you, you know," he murmured.

She broke into a dazzling smile and pushed up onto her elbows to kiss him happily.

"You are such a sap!" she shouted with glee, but he could see she was thoroughly pleased.

"No! Wrong!" he spluttered, letting the moment go, knowing he had finally said what needed to be said and they didn't have to acknowledge it any more than they already had. "You're supposed to say," he put on a falsetto, "'I love you, too, sir!'"

The ensuing wrestling match carried them both to the floor. Good to keep in mind that the woman in your life is rated almost as highly as yourself for unarmed combat.

When they finally dragged themselves back into bed, Daniel and Teal'c had reversed places and were having a low, heated conversation in Chu'lan. It didn't sound like pillow talk, but the soft furious flow of it was beyond Jack's limited ability to follow.

Daniel fell quiet mid-sentence as Sam crawled back over the edge of the bed.

When they finally called it a night, it was clear the bed was far too small for three adults and one hulking Jaffa, but somehow they had managed it, with himself balancing on the edge of the bed, more or less sleeping on top of Sam, Teal'c with his back to her, spooned around Daniel, who was in absolutely no danger of falling with that arm wrapped around his torso.

"We can't possibly sleep like this," he grumbled.

"So buy us a bigger bed," she replied, already falling asleep.

For a moment he hated her, with her stupid rules about how they would do this. All three of them in his bed, sleeping for crying out loud. With all their clothes on, though admittedly in Teal'c's case not so much with the clothes.

All of them in this bed, and all pretending they could fall asleep after doing nothing but a little kissing and drinking. Nothing.

He wanted to pinch Sam when her breathing evened out after only a few minutes. Teal'c, too. Jack knew it wasn't sleep, just a modified version of Kelnorim, but it was as annoying.

Daniel didn't fall asleep. Even after all that rum, he lay still in Teal'c's bear hug, not sleeping.

Years of sharing tents with Daniel told Jack he was not sleeping.

Jack was almost certain he was not sleeping even as Jack drifted off.

In the morning, when he peeled himself off Sam, eyeing the damp drool-y marks he had left on her white shirt with some satisfaction, Teal'c was sitting in the usual meditative posture on the other half of the bed and Daniel was gone.

They broke every rule, after their little unscheduled holiday excursion to Jupiter.

Daniel had been as desperate to get them back as Sam. Just as relieved. Jack had caught the terror on Daniel's face as he ripped the mask away to find a living breathing Jack underneath.

But when Sam dragged them out into the parking garage Daniel shook his head and ran and Sam obviously didn't care.

And when she shoved the two of them, Jack and Teal'c, into the back of her car all they did was check that the security cameras didn’t have a direct angle before they were one frantically rutting mass.

In retrospect, Jack was shocked that Teal'c had caved so easily, but it was there in the way he pressed into the kisses, sought their mouths with his and gasped when Sam's hand plunged into the waistband Jack had opened. She was humping him and jerking Teal'c 'and they came with stifled noises, nearly silent and in sequence, the damp heat of his cum startling her shuddering climax. Her erratic pulls and sharp gasp drawing Teal'c's.

They huddled together in the shocked aftermath.

"Whoa," Sam said.

"Indeed," Teal'c drawled.

"Fuck," was all Jack could think of to say.

"You don't talk about Fight Club," Daniel said testily.

"Yeah, well, how are we supposed to work this out if you never come to the meetings?" Jack asked, prowling Daniel's loft, doing an obvious and pointed surveillance sweep.

"It's clean, Jack!" Daniel called from the kitchen. "You told me to check, remember? I taught them how to say 'Go fuck yourselves" in fourteen different languages before I pitched it out over the balcony."

"That was the one they wanted you to find," Jack replied.

Daniel reappeared with a refilled coffee mug. No cup to offer Jack, though. Bad sign.

"No. The one they wanted me to find, I dropped down the garbage disposal with no warning. How can I help you, Jack?"

"You bailed on us. What's up with that?"

Because after that night, Daniel had absolutely refused to come to Jack's house. Under any circumstances.

"I never thought it was a good idea," Daniel said calmly. "And I still don't. But it's good to see you happy. You deserve it. It doesn't bother me. Though if it ends badly and one of you tries to exploit the relationship in some sort of sick power play, you can definitely expect me to choose a side."

Prepared speech. Another bad sign. Jack knew there was something Daniel wasn’t saying. He just couldn’t figure out what.

"Well, in case you haven't noticed, nobody's particularly happy at the moment. Teal'c called it off when you backed out. Sam says as far as she's concerned, it's all or nothing.

Daniel shrugged.

"Tell them you got my blessing."

"Daniel," he said. He had intended for it to sound friendly. Concerned. An invitation to Daniel to confide.

Instead, it sounded hostile and exasperated.

Daniel stood abruptly, eyes hard.

"You're all consenting adults. Work it out. But I'm not going to be involved. I have a funeral to go to tomorrow and my flight leaves insanely early. Good night, Jack."

Sam was right. It was a great opportunity to do nothing.

Normally Jack would be all over it, the doing nothing, but doing nothing while going through withdrawal was not his idea of a good time. Easier than morphine. At least as bad as cigarettes. Actually, it was probably good he didn't have any - cigarettes that was - or he'd probably start again under this kind of duress.

He paced the halls of Ye Olde Goa'uld-e Pleasure Palace and indulged in a good wallow. Self-hatred and self-pity, O'Neill style.

It had been weeks since Sam had said "No more." Jack had accepted her terms. When Daniel gave them his little blessing, Jack hadn't even mentioned it to her.

He had kept it to himself at the cabin with Teal'c, too, despite the fact that Teal'c's twitchy boredom drove him batshit crazy. Made him restless and unhappy on what should have been a treasured weekend of freedom and calm. Or else the dirtiest dirty weekend on record. Knowing what he now knew about Teal'c, Jack suspected one of the things that had made the big guy crazy was the fact that when he had accepted Jack's invitation, Teal'c thought he was agreeing to the dirtiest dirty weekend. Jack had felt sorry for the big guy.

So now, here, with nothing to do, nothing to think about, nothing to shoot at, nothing but the irritation of the withdrawal, Jack couldn’t stop trying to figure out what Daniel hadn't told him.

Jack pretended not to notice that his feet were carrying him directly to Daniel's favorite hidey hole. He pretended to himself that he was surprised when he arrived outside the little library. ("Only light fiction," Daniel had said dismissively, before he picked up a tablet and delved in.)

Jack opened the door.

Daniel was folded up in a comfortable, overstuffed chair, reading. He looked calm and content. Only the tapping of the fingers of his free hand and the jittery twitching of his foot showed that he must be in as much discomfort as Jack was at the moment.

He looked up.

"Hey, Jack."

"Do you..." Jack gestured to another chair.

"No, no," Daniel said with a tense smile. Fingers and foot didn't stop. He dropped his eyes back to the tablet.

"I didn't tell her," Jack said, not even realizing he was going to say anything 'til the words were out of his mouth.

"Didn't tell her what?" asked Daniel, looking up in mild confusion.

"I didn't tell Sam about your blessing. Teal'c either."

Daniel took a deep breath.

"And why not?" he asked, in a voice that said he knew he was going to regret asking.

Jack shrugged.

"She had already said no, and I promised that nothing would change. She made you a condition of any relationship. I figured begging her to sleep with me when I couldn't meet that condition was stepping over the line. And telling Teal'c and getting him to help persuade her would be even worse. So I didn't say anything."

He wondered if that was hatred in Daniel's expression just before he put the tablet down and took his glasses off to rub his eyes. He tipped his head back wearily against the chair cushions and licked his lips.

"But begging me is somehow status quo?"

Lips. Neck. Eyes. Restless fingers. Jack was suddenly so horny his mouth was dry and his palms were sweating and what was Daniel saying to him? God, he hated withdrawal.

"I want to know the real reason you called it off."

"I told you. I never thought it was a good idea."

"That is a lie, and you know it. If you didn't think it was a good idea, why did you come to my place at all?"

Daniel lifted his head, lips pressed in a thin line. His body tensed. Jack was sure he was going to get up and walk out. He promised himself, he would salvage whatever pathetic shreds of dignity he had left and never bring up the subject again with any of them. If they didn't want him...

Daniel didn't get up. He looked off somewhere to Jack's right. Fingers tapping. Foot twitching. Jack held himself still by force of will and waited.

"I shouldn't have kissed you," Daniel finally said. He swallowed, staring into the nearsighted distance.

"Why did you?" Jack asked. His voice sounded cold and flat. His own poker tell. The more excited you are, the more you clamp down on your reactions.

Daniel shrugged.

"You all wanted me to."

"Liar." No reaction from Daniel.

"You never do anything just because somebody else wants you to."

Daniel made a dismissive sound.

"You obviously haven't been paying attention. I do lots of things just because you ask me to."

"No. You make a value judgment, then decide whether you're going to do it or not."

Daniel said nothing. Just stared at the spot on the shelves.

Jack had never seen Daniel behave this way in an argument before. Just shut his mouth and hope Jack would go away. Wishful thinking wasn't Daniel's usual style.

"So that's why you kissed me, huh? And that's why you came back the next time?"

"No." Another long, dead pause.

"I think you were curious. And I'm pretty sure you liked it. So what's the problem?"

Suddenly Daniel was on his feet, jamming his glasses back on his face, prowling the small room in a big, frustrated circle.

"Well, one problem is that the whole thing is so completely unexpected and weird."

"I told you..."

"No! Not your part. I thought about you and I got it. I did. The pet names, disguised as jokes and insults. The constant invasion of personal space. The touching. The 'team nights.' What you said about super-macho military culture? I just didn't look past that until you pointed it out to me."

"So your problem is..."

"My own reaction. Exactly. I've never even thought about it before, and then I'm suddenly having some sort of polyamorous bi-sexual affair with Sam? and Teal'c?!"

Huh. What about me?Jack wondered.

"Okay. So it's unexpected. It's weird. That doesn't explain why you have a problem with it."

Daniel paused in his circuit around the room, and pursed up his mouth, obviously considering what to say next.

"You remember Shifu's teaching dream?"

Who could forget? Yet another alien headfuck. Jack nodded.

"You haven't said much about it," Jack prompted.

"In the dream, I killed Teal'c."

"Huh," Jack replied. "Well, you were channeling your inner goa'uld. I could see T being high on the death list of Daniel Jackson, Evil Overlord."

Daniel swallowed.

"Maybe," he agreed. "But I also completely destroyed Sam. By the time I woke up she was in a cell in a maximum security prison awaiting execution for treason."

Wow.

"Me?" Jack figured he must be in there somewhere.

Daniel laughed. It didn't sound like he was amused, though.

"You? You, I kept," Daniel said.

And, goddamned withdrawal, Jack's dick twitched.

"So," Daniel continued before Jack could come up with some snappy reply, "I'm pretty sure that I'm carrying around a lot of negative emotions and anger related to this whole foursome idea." Daniel waved his hands vaguely to emphasize the foursome part. "And that's completely weird and unexpected and I just think the whole thing is a bad idea. I honestly want you to be happy, Jack. And I meant what I said before. If the three of you want to, I'm okay with that. I just can't be part of it."

Jack sat quietly, thinking. He sat there for long enough that Daniel, after some more restless pacing and fiddling with the tablets and books in the room, finally settled back down in his chair with something new to read and tried to pretend he wasn't watching Jack out of the corner of his eye.

Jack had put two and two together, but it kept coming up the wrong number.

"I sort of get that, I guess," he finally ventured. "You have this dream that is supposed to reveal to you the evil in the heart of man, and you find out you are jealous and possessive and the object of your desire is me."

Daniel looked up from his book, with flushed cheeks. His obvious embarrassment made Jack want to kiss him.

"But you turned us down weeks before Shifu made his appearance."

He was watching Daniel closely, or he might have missed it - the subtle tightening of his jaw - the flash of raw fury, quickly masked.

"Look. This is pointless. You said it yourself, Jack. 'Things were said in anger. Mean, bad, nasty things.'"

Daniel stopped suddenly. Jack knew him so well. Knew that he had cut himself off in mid-explanation and hadn't completed his thought out loud.

"I just can't, okay? If you want, I'll talk to Sam for you. But I can't be part of this. Now get out and let me deal with my DTs in peace."

Daniel went back to his pretend reading. Jack continued to sit quietly in his comfortable chair.

Mean, bad, nasty things. Mean, bad, nasty things? Jack suddenly realized Daniel was quoting him. Suddenly remembered exactly when he had said those words. Finally put one and one and one and one together and got four.

"You're in love with me?!" It burst out of him before his better judgment could keep it in. Daniel flinched.

"You kissed me out of curiosity and because everybody wanted you to. You came back because you couldn't stop thinking about it. I make that lame comment to Carter to apologize for being such a complete and utter bastard... And you think you are one of the mean bad nasty things I said?"

"Well, aren't I?" Daniel demanded, on his feet again, this time towering over Jack. He was close to shouting. "You never would have said that, if she hadn't provoked you! The two of you were going at it, and you reached for the most hurtful thing you could say, and it was me."

Jack stood suddenly and for a brief moment was right in Daniel's personal space. He caught Daniel around the shoulders and he kissed him.

"Jack, stop this!" Daniel managed to say through tongues and lips. He pushed against Jack and stumbled backwards, only to go down into the overstuffed chair.

Jack followed, holding him down with his full weight, letting him feel just how horny Jack was at the moment.

"What do you want me to say, Daniel?" he murmured seductively in the other man's ear. Daniel stopped fighting and went very still, holding his breath.

It was amazing what body parts a Battle Dress Uniform could hide. Daniel was pretty damn horny under there, too.

Jack kissed the lobe of Daniel's ear. The side of his neck. Took a deep breath of his hair.

Daniel's breath whooshed out in a huff.

"Jack, don't," Daniel said softly. Jack ignored him. Instead he rocked experimentally. Daniel hissed and squirmed under him in response.

"Do you want me to say that even though I'm truly madly deeply in love with Sam, you're my conscience, the part of me that makes life worth living, my soul, my redemption?"

He continued to kiss and lick and nuzzle at Daniel's neck. Let his lips play across the skin as he spoke. Rearranged himself so their dicks were just so. Rocked again.

"Jack, please." Barely a whisper.

"And then do I go tell Teal'c that on the days when I can't afford a conscience or redemption or a soul I know that if he's there at least one person understands lack of salvation and for that I'd do anything for him?"

Daniel was breathing heavily. Jack decided it was time to set up a rhythm. Daniel whimpered.

This was one way to beat withdrawal symptoms.

Daniel's head lolled back against the soft back of the chair and Jack bit him. With a shudder that shook them both, Daniel was cumming in his pants. Jack tightened his thighs hard on Daniel's hips and willed himself to follow. It was worth the disgusting mess in his shorts just to see the momentary surrender on Daniel's face, the shock in his eyes. He rested his forehead on Daniel's and just breathed.

"Get off, you're crushing me," Daniel finally said.

"Such a romantic," Jack sighed, unfolding himself and getting his feet under him again.

Daniel stood and ran a shaky hand through his hair, his posture and stance showing he must be suffering the same sticky discomfort Jack was.

He was blushing. Embarrassed.

He opened his mouth as if to say something. Then shut it again and left.

"Fifteen fucking minutes late," Jack fumed. He was sitting in the penthouse suite which they had found and appropriated on their second night. It had a great view, was easily defensible while offering many escape routes, and had a bed that would sleep four, as well as many luxurious sleeping couches.

They had all taken couches.

He finally keyed his radio.

"Daniel," he barked. "You were due to check in at 1800. Where the hell are you?"

His voice echoed around the big room on Sam and Teal'c's radios. Sam looked tense. Teal'c looked annoyed.

"He is avoiding you, O'Neill. You should not have let things get so out of hand."

It had been glaringly obvious to both of them why Jack had needed a change of underwear when he arrived back at the suite. He hadn't tried to hide it.

He pressed the button again.

"Dammit, Daniel, I'm not playing around here. Report, or you can spend the next six months catching up on all the backlog you are always whining about. In your office."

More silence.

Until the door opened, and Daniel himself walked in.

He was shedding clothes already, leaving a trail of belt and vest and shirts. He bent over half-way to the bed and unlaced his boots, pulling them off and leaving them. One sock off. Step. Other sock off. Step. Pants, underwear. Glasses dropped on a low table near the bed.

He lay down on his side and watched them.

He didn't look particularly happy about it. In fact, it was less "come hither" than grim determination.

Still.

It didn't take Jack long to join him, pressed skin to skin, getting hard. He felt Teal'c and Sam join them. Teal'c's bulk pressed against his back, urging them farther onto the bed. As the three of them jostled and adjusted, Sam snorted, then blushed as three appraising gazes turned.

Sam looked good in the late afternoon light flooding the room. Jack held out a hand to her and she climbed onto the bed over and round their feet, until she lay cuddled against Daniel.

Daniel who was moving restlessly already.

Sam looked pleased. Teal'c reached out to touch her smiling face and Jack looked up at him, to find the big man was smiling back at her. Warmly. Tenderly.

It made him want to kiss somebody. His eyes were drawn back to Daniel, who was watching him closely.

"You're sure?" Jack felt the need to ask, because Daniel's eyes were so solemn when they ought to be something else.

"No," Daniel whispered against Jack's mouth. "This changes everything. But it was too late to go back."

"It is nearly always preferable to move forward in any case," Teal'c rumbled agreeably, then Sam was climbing over them to Teal'c, all elbows and knees, leaving Jack to woo their reluctant fourth.

Jack didn't try to argue with him. Persuasion was better.

He was surprised when he found that Daniel in the middle was his favorite thing. He expect his inner, possessive bastard to fixate on Sam, but Daniel fucking her with Jack's cock up his ass was almost like doing them both at the same time, and if Jack was a little stretchy and walked little funny on his next circuit of the perimeter, well, Teal'c had said such breathy flattering things in an old man's ear, like 'beautiful' and 'tight' and 'perfection.'

Jack sat propped against the headboard next to Teal'c, watching over them as they rested, and wondered how long they could make this whole slow withdrawal thing last. He twined the fingers of one hand in Sam's hair, the fingers of the other in Daniel's, and stared out in to the grey dawn light of the windows listening to Teal'c's deep, rhythmic breathing.

If you're interested, all my stories, in order, from one page. Also, my fiction recommendations.

Final note: Sorry. I decided that the way real life is going for me these days, I needed to post now, or I might belabor this indefinitely and never get it posted at all. It's long and I've only given it one edit. It probably needs a couple more. If you spot typos, please let me know. I'll take another run at cleaning it up tomorrow.

All my love,
CK