ARCHIVE: last line meme fics
Two fic snippets from the 'last line' meme that went around a while ago:
From Sid's list -
"This is boring," Jack grumbled. Daniel ignored him, didn’t even bat an eye, and Jack reached for the notepad he’d stashed in his pocket, leaned in until their shoulders brushed, close enough that he could murmur beneath the sing-song chat of the high priest. “Do you want Xs or Os?”
“This holiday is equivalent in importance to Easter or Yom Kippur, now sit up and look interested.”
“That so?” Jack said. “Cause it’s mostly seemed like four hours of bell ringing and the shakey dance, to me.”
Daniel cast him a sidelong glance (and Jack was counting that as a win - made him look) and then turned back, mouth tight around whatever it was he decided not to say. “Yes, Jack, I’ve been sitting here the whole time.”
“Oh, look, I was wrong. Four and a half.”
“We were honored to be invited.”
“Half of their people are sleeping,” Jack said. In the center of the room, the priest had taken up his hand bells again and was shimmying around erratically, jingling and jangling with every step. “Look, that girl’s doing her laundry.”
He watched as Daniel glanced over to where one of the locals was darning her socks, scanned the daydreaming crowd, the kids passed out under the benches. Saw him finally look directly across the circle where Carter was staring off into space with her head tipped sideways and her thinking face on, probably running square roots in her head or something, and Teal’c was, by all appearances, kel no’reeming. Saw him look back to where the priest was still doing his thing, gyrating before the altar, oblivious. Knew the exact second he gave in.
“We’ll just tie all night on tic-tac-toe,” Daniel said, finally, and produced a pen from inside his vest. “Squares. I’ll set it.”
“Finally,” Jack sighed. He took once last glance around while Daniel laid out of the rows of dots, shook his head in disbelief up towards the front of the hall. The priest was stomping, stretching out his hands, shaking them up to his forehead. So the Macarena wasn’t just an Earth thing. Who knew?
--
From Paian's list -
Jack snatched irritably at the bedside phone. "Yeah."
It was third period. The call went to his private line, not the work line, which let him know immediately that it would at least theoretically be someone on the other end who he would actually want to talk to (if, for some unfathomable reason, Jack were to ever want to talk to anyone with six minutes to go on the clock and the Blackhawks on the ice.)
He had considered just letting it go to voicemail - except, probably, it was Daniel. Carter hated the phone; it was always email with her, quick one line notes or several page manifestos depending on her mood and how interesting she found whatever it was currently occupying her lab. And Teal’c liked to call the work line, which went to an answering machine in the office, rather than voicemail, so that he could leave booming messages that echoed through the whole apartment. So, Daniel, who would have whole conversations by himself until he ran out of time and the recording cut off mid-word if Jack didn’t answer and head him off. He regretfully dialed down the volume with one hand, shifted to pin the phone between his ear and shoulder.
“You busy?”
“You know it’s hockey night?”
“You have Tivo.”
Jack stretched back against the headboard, slipped a hand behind his neck. “It’s about the experience.”
“Hi, Jack,” Daniel said, so brightly Jack could almost hear him rolling his eyes.
“Well, good evening, Daniel, how are you?”
“Hungry.”
“Eat something?”
There was a muffled sound over the line, hesitation from Daniel, a low voice in the background. “That one,” he heard Daniel say, mouth not quite on the receiver. Then he came back, said, “No, that would be rude.”
Jack started to say, “Why, where are - ” but then the buzzer rang, and rang again. And after a pause, rang and kept ringing, long, the sound of someone deliberately holding the button.
“Better open the door,” Daniel said, almost lost under the grating noise. “Teal’c’s getting bored.”
Teal’c only took his finger off the call button when Jack threw open the door, still holding the cell phone, and stared at the two of them, side by side in the hallway, loaded with bags that looked (and smelled) like Chinese. “O’Neill,” he said. With the voice, the real solemn, dignified one. Like he wasn’t wearing a bright red cowboy hat and a t-shirt from Waffle House.
Daniel flipped his phone closed, barreled his way into the apartment, kicked the door shut once Teal’c was in behind him. “Thanks. We were starting to freak out your neighbors a little, I think.”
“Mm. Yeah, so…I have a few questions,” Jack said.
Daniel nodded. “Yes, but do you also have napkins?” Then his phone lit up, started ringing a second later, and Daniel shoved one of the bags into Jack’s arms, popped the cell with his thumb. “Hey Sam. Yeah, we’re in.”
“What, she’s parking the car?” Jack glanced into the bag, took a sniff. Egg drop soup. So there was a plus.
Teal’c looked sideways at him, raised an eyebrow, and he - it looked like he grinned for a second. “She is indeed.”
“Okay,” Daniel was saying. “Ready when you are, then.”
Jack blinked at Teal’c, blinked at Daniel, knew he was missing something, but before he could say anything his skin started to itch, prickle, like static. “Are you kidding me?” he asked, but the words were swallowed up in the beam.
When the light faded they were in the bridge of a Al’kesh, Earth filling the top half of the window, Carter at the main controls. “Okay,” she said, tapping a few keys on her laptop. “So that worked.”
There were…Jack had questions. A lot of questions. He started with, “These things can beam, now?” because it was the first thing that popped into his head, but oh. There were others.
“I’ve been trying to retrofit one for a while,” said Carter. They had gotten a table up somehow, chairs, and she took one of Teal’c’s bags and started digging through. “In my free time.”
“So Landry knows you’re up here?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Huh.” Jack put his bag down on a chair, watched for a minute as Carter set the table with paper plates and beer, and Teal’c sorted through the food, and Daniel stacked up the bags on the side. He shook his head and turned, wandered over towards the window, stared out at the stars. He was sure they had done weirder things in the past, they had to have, but he was having a hard time thinking of any.
Daniel came up behind him. “You’d better not be wondering about the game.”
“More wondering about how Carter got service on her phone in space.”
Daniel grinned, knocked Jack with his elbow. “Don’t think about it too hard.” He glanced over his shoulder, back towards the table, and the nudged Jack again, caught his eye. “Hey. Happy Birthday.”
Jack turned around. Teal’c had swapped out for a bright orange cardboard party hat and Carter had gotten a balloon from…Jack didn’t know where the hell she had gotten it from. Boxes, wrapped, stacked on one of the chairs. Jack couldn’t… well, there was really only one thing to say, so he swallowed, cleared his throat. Grinned. “Sweet."
From Sid's list -
"This is boring," Jack grumbled. Daniel ignored him, didn’t even bat an eye, and Jack reached for the notepad he’d stashed in his pocket, leaned in until their shoulders brushed, close enough that he could murmur beneath the sing-song chat of the high priest. “Do you want Xs or Os?”
“This holiday is equivalent in importance to Easter or Yom Kippur, now sit up and look interested.”
“That so?” Jack said. “Cause it’s mostly seemed like four hours of bell ringing and the shakey dance, to me.”
Daniel cast him a sidelong glance (and Jack was counting that as a win - made him look) and then turned back, mouth tight around whatever it was he decided not to say. “Yes, Jack, I’ve been sitting here the whole time.”
“Oh, look, I was wrong. Four and a half.”
“We were honored to be invited.”
“Half of their people are sleeping,” Jack said. In the center of the room, the priest had taken up his hand bells again and was shimmying around erratically, jingling and jangling with every step. “Look, that girl’s doing her laundry.”
He watched as Daniel glanced over to where one of the locals was darning her socks, scanned the daydreaming crowd, the kids passed out under the benches. Saw him finally look directly across the circle where Carter was staring off into space with her head tipped sideways and her thinking face on, probably running square roots in her head or something, and Teal’c was, by all appearances, kel no’reeming. Saw him look back to where the priest was still doing his thing, gyrating before the altar, oblivious. Knew the exact second he gave in.
“We’ll just tie all night on tic-tac-toe,” Daniel said, finally, and produced a pen from inside his vest. “Squares. I’ll set it.”
“Finally,” Jack sighed. He took once last glance around while Daniel laid out of the rows of dots, shook his head in disbelief up towards the front of the hall. The priest was stomping, stretching out his hands, shaking them up to his forehead. So the Macarena wasn’t just an Earth thing. Who knew?
--
From Paian's list -
Jack snatched irritably at the bedside phone. "Yeah."
It was third period. The call went to his private line, not the work line, which let him know immediately that it would at least theoretically be someone on the other end who he would actually want to talk to (if, for some unfathomable reason, Jack were to ever want to talk to anyone with six minutes to go on the clock and the Blackhawks on the ice.)
He had considered just letting it go to voicemail - except, probably, it was Daniel. Carter hated the phone; it was always email with her, quick one line notes or several page manifestos depending on her mood and how interesting she found whatever it was currently occupying her lab. And Teal’c liked to call the work line, which went to an answering machine in the office, rather than voicemail, so that he could leave booming messages that echoed through the whole apartment. So, Daniel, who would have whole conversations by himself until he ran out of time and the recording cut off mid-word if Jack didn’t answer and head him off. He regretfully dialed down the volume with one hand, shifted to pin the phone between his ear and shoulder.
“You busy?”
“You know it’s hockey night?”
“You have Tivo.”
Jack stretched back against the headboard, slipped a hand behind his neck. “It’s about the experience.”
“Hi, Jack,” Daniel said, so brightly Jack could almost hear him rolling his eyes.
“Well, good evening, Daniel, how are you?”
“Hungry.”
“Eat something?”
There was a muffled sound over the line, hesitation from Daniel, a low voice in the background. “That one,” he heard Daniel say, mouth not quite on the receiver. Then he came back, said, “No, that would be rude.”
Jack started to say, “Why, where are - ” but then the buzzer rang, and rang again. And after a pause, rang and kept ringing, long, the sound of someone deliberately holding the button.
“Better open the door,” Daniel said, almost lost under the grating noise. “Teal’c’s getting bored.”
Teal’c only took his finger off the call button when Jack threw open the door, still holding the cell phone, and stared at the two of them, side by side in the hallway, loaded with bags that looked (and smelled) like Chinese. “O’Neill,” he said. With the voice, the real solemn, dignified one. Like he wasn’t wearing a bright red cowboy hat and a t-shirt from Waffle House.
Daniel flipped his phone closed, barreled his way into the apartment, kicked the door shut once Teal’c was in behind him. “Thanks. We were starting to freak out your neighbors a little, I think.”
“Mm. Yeah, so…I have a few questions,” Jack said.
Daniel nodded. “Yes, but do you also have napkins?” Then his phone lit up, started ringing a second later, and Daniel shoved one of the bags into Jack’s arms, popped the cell with his thumb. “Hey Sam. Yeah, we’re in.”
“What, she’s parking the car?” Jack glanced into the bag, took a sniff. Egg drop soup. So there was a plus.
Teal’c looked sideways at him, raised an eyebrow, and he - it looked like he grinned for a second. “She is indeed.”
“Okay,” Daniel was saying. “Ready when you are, then.”
Jack blinked at Teal’c, blinked at Daniel, knew he was missing something, but before he could say anything his skin started to itch, prickle, like static. “Are you kidding me?” he asked, but the words were swallowed up in the beam.
When the light faded they were in the bridge of a Al’kesh, Earth filling the top half of the window, Carter at the main controls. “Okay,” she said, tapping a few keys on her laptop. “So that worked.”
There were…Jack had questions. A lot of questions. He started with, “These things can beam, now?” because it was the first thing that popped into his head, but oh. There were others.
“I’ve been trying to retrofit one for a while,” said Carter. They had gotten a table up somehow, chairs, and she took one of Teal’c’s bags and started digging through. “In my free time.”
“So Landry knows you’re up here?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Huh.” Jack put his bag down on a chair, watched for a minute as Carter set the table with paper plates and beer, and Teal’c sorted through the food, and Daniel stacked up the bags on the side. He shook his head and turned, wandered over towards the window, stared out at the stars. He was sure they had done weirder things in the past, they had to have, but he was having a hard time thinking of any.
Daniel came up behind him. “You’d better not be wondering about the game.”
“More wondering about how Carter got service on her phone in space.”
Daniel grinned, knocked Jack with his elbow. “Don’t think about it too hard.” He glanced over his shoulder, back towards the table, and the nudged Jack again, caught his eye. “Hey. Happy Birthday.”
Jack turned around. Teal’c had swapped out for a bright orange cardboard party hat and Carter had gotten a balloon from…Jack didn’t know where the hell she had gotten it from. Boxes, wrapped, stacked on one of the chairs. Jack couldn’t… well, there was really only one thing to say, so he swallowed, cleared his throat. Grinned. “Sweet."