A Candle in the Window
Title: A Candle in the Window
Author: poohmusings
Rating: PG-13
Warning/Spoilers: Everything through "Abyss" (S6, ep 6).
Prompt(s): 1) Fishing; 2) During Jack's capture by Baal.
Summary: Jack: So ... you wanna be my Oma?
Jack's died and been reborn twice by the time Daniel first appears in his cell. Even though Jack isn't entirely convinced he's not losing his mind, he's grateful for Daniel's company.
*
Two more deaths and resurrections later, Jack's decidedly less grateful.
"You could put an end to it," he says, trying to sound matter of fact to hide his burgeoning desperation.
"I won't do it" is Daniel's response.
Jack expected him to say as much so he isn't surprised or disappointed. But.
"I'd do it for you, and you know it."
He doesn't mean for it to come out as an accusation, but it does and the words linger in the ensuing silence. They don't, however, succeed in changing Daniel's mind.
Jack can't help but be annoyed that, even in incorporeal form, Daniel is as stubborn as ever.
*
Another encounter with Baal, another cycle through the sarcophagus, another less than delicate return to his godforsaken cell, and Jack decides to exact a little revenge.
"Jack? Are you okay?"
Silence.
"Jack?"
Nothing.
"Are you-- Are you ignoring me?"
The exasperation in Daniel's voice -- oh, how he's missed that -- makes Jack's lips twitch upwards. But he still doesn't say a word.
"Really mature, Jack. I know you don't see it, but I am trying to help you. If you'd only let me."
Jack wants to tell him that his (and Oma's) idea of helping isn't actually oh so helpful, but he's finding it difficult to make his mind form complete, coherent sentences. And lifting his head to meet Daniel's gaze feels too physically taxing. And, of course, talking to Daniel would dilute his revenge.
"You're unbelievable," Daniel mutters.
If Jack didn't happen to feel like crap, he'd laugh.
*
He should've known. Considering his recent run of luck, he should've known karma would get him back for his pettiness. But, honestly, when he'd decided to give Daniel the silent treatment, Jack hadn't expected the guy -- ghost -- whatever -- to stop showing up.
"Daniel?"
He's not begging, Jack insists to himself. But the shit-eating grin that materializes on Baal's face tells him he's not fooling anyone.
"Daniel?" he pleads once more, no longer caring how pathetic he sounds.
Baal lets loose a short bark of a laugh and Daniel doesn't appears.
Then later, when he's back in his cell, his brain feeling like mush, the pain of the knives still slicing through his body even though all the wounds are now physically healed, Jack again mumbles "Daniel" -- just to say the name, to remember the person, to connect to something, someone, any--
"Sir?"
Jack's eyes fly open and his breath catches in his throat. Standing in front of the wall opposite from where he sits cross-legged on the floor is Carter. Carter in jeans and a T-shirt, with tousled hair and a worried expression on her face. He wonders if he's seeing an angel.
"Sir?" she asks again, walking towards him before falling into a squat when she's a foot away. "Can you hear me?"
Is she really there? Is she real? Is she ...
Jack reaches out to touch her knee, his hand quaking, but he stops himself. If his hand goes through her like his shoe did with Daniel, he's not sure he'll be able to keep himself together, to continue battling Baal without spilling Kanan's secrets, his secrets, everything. He may be succumbing to delusions as his mind goes to hell, but he doesn't need to come face to face with empirical evidence of all that. So he instead drops his right hand to his side and pats the floor beside him with his left.
His eyes follow Carter as she settles in next to him, rests her head against the wall like his is, and turns to ask, "How are you doing, sir?"
The chortle escapes from his chest before he can stop it. "Please tell me you're here to break me out," he says. His voice sounds dull to his ears, almost vacant.
"I'm working on it," she assures him.
He chuckles again -- suddenly everything seems vaguely amusing -- then asks, "Really?"
"You of all people should know how good I am at multitasking."
Jack smiles and closes his eyes. Yes, of course. Carter's here, helping. Daniel was here, helping. Everyone's just so damn helpful. It's a wonder he hasn't escaped yet.
"I am working on it," he hears Carter insist. "We all are at the SGC."
"I know." And he does. It's just ... "I'm tired. I don't think the sarcophagus is working any more."
"It's probably losing its effectiveness as your body builds up an immunity to it. Kind of like what happens if you take antibiotics too often; they become less effective and aren't able to fight off infections as well as they should."
"Right." Delusion or not, Jack finds comfort in Carter's company and accompanying scientific babble.
"Besides breaking you out, is there anything else I can do to help?"
"Don't leave. Please," he manages to get out. What remains of his ego doesn't want him to say anything, but the truth is that if he's going to die, he really doesn't want to die alone. "Daniel was-- Never mind. I just ... I don't want to be alone."
"I won't leave you alone, sir. I promise."
"Thank you."
Several seconds of silence tick by and Jack begins to wonder if Carter's vanished, if his brain has forced him to return to reality. But when he cracks an eye open to see if Carter's gone the way of Daniel, he's relieved to see her staring back at him. Grimacing, she says, apologetically, "I don't feel very helpful, sir, just sitting here. Which I'm sure isn't what you want to hear. Sorry."
He laughs and discovers it doesn't hurt as much as it had moments earlier. "Talking to me helps, trust me. Tell me ... anything."
"Anything?"
"Sure. Like, what'd you do this morning?"
"Honestly?"
That leads Jack to raise his eyebrows, intrigued.
"I might've been, uh, cursing you. Sir."
Jack's eyebrows shoot up even higher. "Your concern for me is overwhelming, Carter," he says dryly.
"It was before General Hammond called and told me Thoran had contacted him about you and Kanan. I was in a mood before the call because I ... didn't really want to go fishing."
"Fishing?"
"Yeah. The four of us -- you, Teal'c, Jonas, and I -- were going to spend the weekend fishing at your cabin. It was supposed to be a celebration of your recovery from Ayiana's virus. But then, well ..." Carter's voice trails off and she grimaces again, no doubt finding some way to blame herself for how Kanan screwed Jack over.
But Jack's not concerned about Kanan at the moment. "You agreed to go fishing at my cabin, Carter?"
She fixes him with a look of mild disbelief. "You don't have to sound so surprised. We were planning to celebrate. I wanted to be there."
"Do you know how many times I've invited you to go fishing?"
"Sir--"
"And how many times you've said no?"
"Sir--"
"So I have to almost die to get you to go fishing with me? Is that it?"
"No, sir, that--"
"Or did I trick you this time? Did you hit your head before you agreed?"
"I was happy to go, sir!" she yelps.
"That's not what you said a second ago," he points out, feeling halfway normal for the first time since he died four or five deaths ago.
"You're unbelievable," she mutters under her breath, and Jack smiles.
"You're not the first to say so, Carter. Not even in this cell."
Closing his eyes again, he waits for her to hit him, perhaps punch him in the shoulder, but she doesn't. Instead she says, now sounding more mischievous than annoyed, "So, I should talk about anything?"
"Sure."
"Cassie has a boyfriend."
"I know," he responds, relaxing into the sound of her voice.
"You already know?"
"Mm-hmm."
"She told you?"
"Uh-huh."
"On her own? Without bribing? Or guilt-tripping? Sir? Jack?"
Opening his eyes, Jack looks to his left and discovers Carter's no longer there. He doesn't remember being hauled out of his cell to face another round with Baal, but a quick scan of his shirt reveals holes that hadn't been there before and a vague something involving Kanan and love bumping around in the recesses of his mind.
"Jack?"
"Daniel?"
"I'm here."
Jack sighs, then almost laughs. Good ol' Carter. She promised she wouldn't leave him alone, and she hadn't; she somehow got Daniel to come back. It all makes sense to him in a completely nonsensical way.
"You were gone," Jack points out as he tries to remember what he and Carter talked about.
"I know. I'm sorry. There was something I had to do, but I'm back now and I promise I'll stay with you till this is over."
"It'll never be over."
"Yes, it will."
Cassie. Jack remembers now talking about Cassie. He never wants to mention her name to Baal. He won't. "Daniel, you have to end this."
"Jack, you just have to hang in there a little while longer."
"No," Jack shakes his head, as if doing so will somehow shuffle all his thoughts and memories into proper order. "I can't go back there."
"It's almost over, Jack."
Jack looks at Daniel's smiling and serene face, alarmed. "What?"
"You just have to hang in there a little while longer."
"You've already said that," Jack whispers. For the first time since Daniel began appearing in his cell, Jack wonders if he should be wary of his delusions. Maybe Baal put them in his head. Maybe they're not delusions or ghosts or whatever, but agents of--
"All you ever wanted was a fighting chance, Jack," Daniel tells him, pointing at the doorway to the cell. "Now you have it."
"What? I don't--" Struggling to his feet, Jack steadies himself against the wall and tries to stagger towards Daniel. "You have to help me end this, Daniel."
But Daniel only steps away as he continues to smile. "Your journey isn't over, Jack. Not yet."
"Daniel--"
"Jack--"
"Sir? Sir? Can you hear me?"
It's harder this time for him to open his eyes, but when he does, he sees Carter and, standing behind her, Teal'c and Jonas. Jack really hopes his delusions aren't multiplying.
"Colonel O'Neill!" a voice chirps from the other side of his body. By the time he's rolled his head in that direction, Doc Fraiser's whipped out her penlight and is blinding him with it, one eye at a time. "Glad to see you awake, sir."
"Mmm" is all he's able to say in response. He's pretty sure she's not a delusion.
"Don't try to speak. I have you on a nice cocktail of some very happy drugs, so you'll be in and out of sleep for a while. Enjoy the dreams."
Jack nods and tries to say he will, but his eyelids are heavy and very insistent.
"We'll be here waiting for you, sir," he hears Carter say.
With every ounce of energy he can muster, he seeks out her face and manages a weak "Fishing."
She leans toward him, pressing an ear to his mouth. "What was that, sir?"
"Fishing. Four. Party."
"You want us to have a fishing party?"
When he nods, she smiles and says, "Sure. We'll all go fishing when you're back on your feet, sir."
Jack finally allows his eyes to close and feels himself drifting back to sleep as Carter's voice, growing distant, asks, "Did I just agree to go fishing?"
-the end-
Author: poohmusings
Rating: PG-13
Warning/Spoilers: Everything through "Abyss" (S6, ep 6).
Prompt(s): 1) Fishing; 2) During Jack's capture by Baal.
Summary: Jack: So ... you wanna be my Oma?
Jack's died and been reborn twice by the time Daniel first appears in his cell. Even though Jack isn't entirely convinced he's not losing his mind, he's grateful for Daniel's company.
*
Two more deaths and resurrections later, Jack's decidedly less grateful.
"You could put an end to it," he says, trying to sound matter of fact to hide his burgeoning desperation.
"I won't do it" is Daniel's response.
Jack expected him to say as much so he isn't surprised or disappointed. But.
"I'd do it for you, and you know it."
He doesn't mean for it to come out as an accusation, but it does and the words linger in the ensuing silence. They don't, however, succeed in changing Daniel's mind.
Jack can't help but be annoyed that, even in incorporeal form, Daniel is as stubborn as ever.
*
Another encounter with Baal, another cycle through the sarcophagus, another less than delicate return to his godforsaken cell, and Jack decides to exact a little revenge.
"Jack? Are you okay?"
Silence.
"Jack?"
Nothing.
"Are you-- Are you ignoring me?"
The exasperation in Daniel's voice -- oh, how he's missed that -- makes Jack's lips twitch upwards. But he still doesn't say a word.
"Really mature, Jack. I know you don't see it, but I am trying to help you. If you'd only let me."
Jack wants to tell him that his (and Oma's) idea of helping isn't actually oh so helpful, but he's finding it difficult to make his mind form complete, coherent sentences. And lifting his head to meet Daniel's gaze feels too physically taxing. And, of course, talking to Daniel would dilute his revenge.
"You're unbelievable," Daniel mutters.
If Jack didn't happen to feel like crap, he'd laugh.
*
He should've known. Considering his recent run of luck, he should've known karma would get him back for his pettiness. But, honestly, when he'd decided to give Daniel the silent treatment, Jack hadn't expected the guy -- ghost -- whatever -- to stop showing up.
"Daniel?"
He's not begging, Jack insists to himself. But the shit-eating grin that materializes on Baal's face tells him he's not fooling anyone.
"Daniel?" he pleads once more, no longer caring how pathetic he sounds.
Baal lets loose a short bark of a laugh and Daniel doesn't appears.
Then later, when he's back in his cell, his brain feeling like mush, the pain of the knives still slicing through his body even though all the wounds are now physically healed, Jack again mumbles "Daniel" -- just to say the name, to remember the person, to connect to something, someone, any--
"Sir?"
Jack's eyes fly open and his breath catches in his throat. Standing in front of the wall opposite from where he sits cross-legged on the floor is Carter. Carter in jeans and a T-shirt, with tousled hair and a worried expression on her face. He wonders if he's seeing an angel.
"Sir?" she asks again, walking towards him before falling into a squat when she's a foot away. "Can you hear me?"
Is she really there? Is she real? Is she ...
Jack reaches out to touch her knee, his hand quaking, but he stops himself. If his hand goes through her like his shoe did with Daniel, he's not sure he'll be able to keep himself together, to continue battling Baal without spilling Kanan's secrets, his secrets, everything. He may be succumbing to delusions as his mind goes to hell, but he doesn't need to come face to face with empirical evidence of all that. So he instead drops his right hand to his side and pats the floor beside him with his left.
His eyes follow Carter as she settles in next to him, rests her head against the wall like his is, and turns to ask, "How are you doing, sir?"
The chortle escapes from his chest before he can stop it. "Please tell me you're here to break me out," he says. His voice sounds dull to his ears, almost vacant.
"I'm working on it," she assures him.
He chuckles again -- suddenly everything seems vaguely amusing -- then asks, "Really?"
"You of all people should know how good I am at multitasking."
Jack smiles and closes his eyes. Yes, of course. Carter's here, helping. Daniel was here, helping. Everyone's just so damn helpful. It's a wonder he hasn't escaped yet.
"I am working on it," he hears Carter insist. "We all are at the SGC."
"I know." And he does. It's just ... "I'm tired. I don't think the sarcophagus is working any more."
"It's probably losing its effectiveness as your body builds up an immunity to it. Kind of like what happens if you take antibiotics too often; they become less effective and aren't able to fight off infections as well as they should."
"Right." Delusion or not, Jack finds comfort in Carter's company and accompanying scientific babble.
"Besides breaking you out, is there anything else I can do to help?"
"Don't leave. Please," he manages to get out. What remains of his ego doesn't want him to say anything, but the truth is that if he's going to die, he really doesn't want to die alone. "Daniel was-- Never mind. I just ... I don't want to be alone."
"I won't leave you alone, sir. I promise."
"Thank you."
Several seconds of silence tick by and Jack begins to wonder if Carter's vanished, if his brain has forced him to return to reality. But when he cracks an eye open to see if Carter's gone the way of Daniel, he's relieved to see her staring back at him. Grimacing, she says, apologetically, "I don't feel very helpful, sir, just sitting here. Which I'm sure isn't what you want to hear. Sorry."
He laughs and discovers it doesn't hurt as much as it had moments earlier. "Talking to me helps, trust me. Tell me ... anything."
"Anything?"
"Sure. Like, what'd you do this morning?"
"Honestly?"
That leads Jack to raise his eyebrows, intrigued.
"I might've been, uh, cursing you. Sir."
Jack's eyebrows shoot up even higher. "Your concern for me is overwhelming, Carter," he says dryly.
"It was before General Hammond called and told me Thoran had contacted him about you and Kanan. I was in a mood before the call because I ... didn't really want to go fishing."
"Fishing?"
"Yeah. The four of us -- you, Teal'c, Jonas, and I -- were going to spend the weekend fishing at your cabin. It was supposed to be a celebration of your recovery from Ayiana's virus. But then, well ..." Carter's voice trails off and she grimaces again, no doubt finding some way to blame herself for how Kanan screwed Jack over.
But Jack's not concerned about Kanan at the moment. "You agreed to go fishing at my cabin, Carter?"
She fixes him with a look of mild disbelief. "You don't have to sound so surprised. We were planning to celebrate. I wanted to be there."
"Do you know how many times I've invited you to go fishing?"
"Sir--"
"And how many times you've said no?"
"Sir--"
"So I have to almost die to get you to go fishing with me? Is that it?"
"No, sir, that--"
"Or did I trick you this time? Did you hit your head before you agreed?"
"I was happy to go, sir!" she yelps.
"That's not what you said a second ago," he points out, feeling halfway normal for the first time since he died four or five deaths ago.
"You're unbelievable," she mutters under her breath, and Jack smiles.
"You're not the first to say so, Carter. Not even in this cell."
Closing his eyes again, he waits for her to hit him, perhaps punch him in the shoulder, but she doesn't. Instead she says, now sounding more mischievous than annoyed, "So, I should talk about anything?"
"Sure."
"Cassie has a boyfriend."
"I know," he responds, relaxing into the sound of her voice.
"You already know?"
"Mm-hmm."
"She told you?"
"Uh-huh."
"On her own? Without bribing? Or guilt-tripping? Sir? Jack?"
Opening his eyes, Jack looks to his left and discovers Carter's no longer there. He doesn't remember being hauled out of his cell to face another round with Baal, but a quick scan of his shirt reveals holes that hadn't been there before and a vague something involving Kanan and love bumping around in the recesses of his mind.
"Jack?"
"Daniel?"
"I'm here."
Jack sighs, then almost laughs. Good ol' Carter. She promised she wouldn't leave him alone, and she hadn't; she somehow got Daniel to come back. It all makes sense to him in a completely nonsensical way.
"You were gone," Jack points out as he tries to remember what he and Carter talked about.
"I know. I'm sorry. There was something I had to do, but I'm back now and I promise I'll stay with you till this is over."
"It'll never be over."
"Yes, it will."
Cassie. Jack remembers now talking about Cassie. He never wants to mention her name to Baal. He won't. "Daniel, you have to end this."
"Jack, you just have to hang in there a little while longer."
"No," Jack shakes his head, as if doing so will somehow shuffle all his thoughts and memories into proper order. "I can't go back there."
"It's almost over, Jack."
Jack looks at Daniel's smiling and serene face, alarmed. "What?"
"You just have to hang in there a little while longer."
"You've already said that," Jack whispers. For the first time since Daniel began appearing in his cell, Jack wonders if he should be wary of his delusions. Maybe Baal put them in his head. Maybe they're not delusions or ghosts or whatever, but agents of--
"All you ever wanted was a fighting chance, Jack," Daniel tells him, pointing at the doorway to the cell. "Now you have it."
"What? I don't--" Struggling to his feet, Jack steadies himself against the wall and tries to stagger towards Daniel. "You have to help me end this, Daniel."
But Daniel only steps away as he continues to smile. "Your journey isn't over, Jack. Not yet."
"Daniel--"
"Jack--"
"Sir? Sir? Can you hear me?"
It's harder this time for him to open his eyes, but when he does, he sees Carter and, standing behind her, Teal'c and Jonas. Jack really hopes his delusions aren't multiplying.
"Colonel O'Neill!" a voice chirps from the other side of his body. By the time he's rolled his head in that direction, Doc Fraiser's whipped out her penlight and is blinding him with it, one eye at a time. "Glad to see you awake, sir."
"Mmm" is all he's able to say in response. He's pretty sure she's not a delusion.
"Don't try to speak. I have you on a nice cocktail of some very happy drugs, so you'll be in and out of sleep for a while. Enjoy the dreams."
Jack nods and tries to say he will, but his eyelids are heavy and very insistent.
"We'll be here waiting for you, sir," he hears Carter say.
With every ounce of energy he can muster, he seeks out her face and manages a weak "Fishing."
She leans toward him, pressing an ear to his mouth. "What was that, sir?"
"Fishing. Four. Party."
"You want us to have a fishing party?"
When he nods, she smiles and says, "Sure. We'll all go fishing when you're back on your feet, sir."
Jack finally allows his eyes to close and feels himself drifting back to sleep as Carter's voice, growing distant, asks, "Did I just agree to go fishing?"
-the end-