When Jack moved to Washington
Daniel realises he is lonely again when Jack moves to Washington and he looks for a new hobby which allows him to develop a new, surprising talent.
Written for Carlyn7865 for the 2016 Jack/Daniel Ficathon
Requirement (#1): mission/post-mission (I stretched this a bit but it is post-mission but not mission related)
Requirement (#2): First time
Optional Request: Jack or Daniel displays a surprising talent
Restriction (#1): no character death
Thanks to my proofreader Mific
When Jack moved to Washington, Daniel found he had time on his hands. It wasn’t that they’d spent all their free time together but he missed the Friday evenings and the sometime stayovers that lasted most of the weekend when they’d do yard work, catch a movie or exhibition and generally kick back and relax. Even when they had team evenings that he or Sam hosted with Teal’c and Cam and later, Vala, he felt there was something missing. He spoke to Jack as regularly as he could but these calls were becoming few and far between due to commitments for both of them. Jack had been back to Colorado Springs quite a few times and Daniel made it to Washington occasionally but it wasn’t the same.
Eventually, he realised that he was actually lonely again; there was a huge hole in his life without Jack. He’d discovered this about twelve months after Jack had moved. He then had tried various new hobbies; he’d gone to evening sessions and learned yet another language, he’d thought about joining a gym but that was silly when he had access to all the facilities at the SGC. He’d started hiking in the Rockies foothills, enjoying walking without the fear of a bunch of Jaffa attacking.
What he did find was a family with two children, seemingly searching for something in the Garden of the Gods. Being Daniel, he asked if he could help and it turned out that they were geocaching. The cache they were looking for was called Frozen tree 1 (GC4MJ1J) and the youngest of the family took great delight in telling Daniel all about geocaching. Together they found the cache and Daniel went home to research this pastime that he had never heard about, on www.geocaching.com.
Well, he was hooked. Now, much of his spare time was taken walking, driving and even cycling (yes, he bought himself a bicycle) in the local area, finding caches and logging them under his pseudonym, Iamana (short for Iamanarchaeologist). But this was a secret pastime; there were hundreds of caches for him to find in Colorado Springs, let alone the rest of Colorado and there were nearly 3 million in the world. He was close to being obsessed but then, anything Daniel did, he did with nothing less than one hundred percent. It filled a hole in his private life; it wasn’t the same as having Jack there but he was meeting people and talking to strangers to whom he was just a regular guy and he found it refreshing.
Not long after the Ori had been defeated, Daniel was driving past the area where Jack used to live. He was in search of a new cache that had just been published and something drew him to the house; he was surprised to see it was for sale again. Daniel fished for his phone and rang the realtor; the house was vacant and he could be there in 15 minutes. Not really knowing why he was doing this, Daniel sat in his car and waited for the associate to arrive.
Three weeks later, he was the proud owner of Jack’s old house. Many years at the SGC meant he was quite a wealthy man and, as he gave notice on his apartment, he contemplated his reasons for doing this. The move went ahead.
He hadn’t, as yet, told Jack what he had done and tonight was to be his first night in the house. He’d just returned from a tedious off-world mission, negotiating for Trinuim and having to keep a very close rein on Vala who was being particularly annoying. He was looking forward to a quiet evening relaxing and reminiscing about happier times. He’d opened a bottle of his favourite wine and was sitting on the steps from the deck overlooking the backyard; he’d ordered from his favourite Chinese takeout and was enjoying the meal and the solitude as much as he could but there was something, no, someone missing. Daniel sighed and poured another glass of wine, ignoring the nagging reminder that he still had umpteen boxes to unpack in the house behind him. His cell rang.
“Daniel, where the hell are you? I’ve just got up to your apartment and it’s empty.” Daniel had not thought about the fact that Jack had a key; he would have walked into completely bare rooms!
“Hello to you too, Jack! When did you get in and why?”
“Where the hell are you?” Jack shouted down the phone. Daniel sighed and wondered why he missed the man but deep down he was glad to hear his voice - he was just a bit worried about Jack’s reaction to him buying the house.
“Daniel?”
“Sorry, Jack, just thinking.” Then inspiration hit. “Why don’t you come home?”
“What?”
“Jack, just come home.” Daniel cut the call and ignored Jack ringing him back. He’d give him an hour then, if Jack hadn’t turned up, he’d call him back.
Forty minutes later, Jack sat outside the house he’d sold when he moved to Washington. Daniel’s jeep was parked on the drive. He slowly got out of his rental and stood leaning on it, contemplating his next move. What was Daniel doing at his old house? Should he go to the front door or sneak round the back to the yard? He decided on the latter and was greeted by Daniel who was sitting on the steps of the deck with a glass of wine and a few cartons of takeout.
“Whatcha doing Daniel?” Jack was confused; this was the only place he thought of as home, even though he’d sold it.
“Just enjoying a glass of wine and Chinese takeout on my deck,” was Daniel’s smug reply. “What are you doing?”
“Looking aghast at you! Why are you here? Why’s your apartment empty? Why are you at my house?”
“Your old house, Jack. I moved in today. So glad you’ve come to help me unpack. Shall I take the master bedroom and set up the spare room for you? How long are you staying? Why are you here? Jack?” Jack wandered over to Daniel and stopped below him on the grass by the steps.
“Feel like sharing?” Jack nodded his head at Daniel’s takeout and the latter passed it over. “Got any beer?”
“In the fridge but it won’t be that cold as it’s only been switched on for a few hours. Shall I…?”
“No, I’ll go. Is it in the same place?”
“Jack, even you can’t miss a fridge in a kitchen!” Sheepishly, Jack climbed the few steps and fetched a beer. A passing glance at the myriad of boxes told him that Daniel was indeed moving in. Walking back from the kitchen, he spotted a GPS unit on the table. Picking it up, he walked back out onto the deck.
“Not got any chairs yet?” he wanted to know.
“Not yet, need to go to Home Depot tomorrow and get some deck furniture. You coming with me?”
There was no reply.
“We gonna talk about this?”
“What’s this, Daniel?” Jack held up the GPS. “This isn’t standard issue, it’s a Garmin GPS unit. The Air Force don’t use Garmin, especially not off world.”
“No, it’s not. It’s for my hobby. I go geocaching but don’t change the subject. Why are you here?”
“Why are you in my house?”
“I’m not!”
“Yes you are!”
“No, I’m not, you sold it, remember!”
“It’s still my old house. Why are you here?”
“I bought it!” There I’ve said it thought Daniel.
“Why?”
“Why not?”
“What kind of answer is that?”
“A good one!”
“When?”
“When what?”
“When did you buy it?” Jack was getting exasperated.
“Well, I exchanged contracts last week and have moved in today.”
“Why?”
“It came on the market, I bought it.”
“Why?”
“Jack, I always liked this house. I felt at home here. It was for sale, I bought it, OK? Now, answer my question, why are you here?”
“Can’t I come visit an old buddy?”
“Jack, I’m not really old yet, am I?” the last said with a slightly less confident tone.
“Sorry, Daniel. This is all a bit of a surprise and not the surprise I wanted it to be.” Daniel looked quizzically at Jack and he continued. “My visit was supposed to be a surprise….”
“Oh, it is, Jack!”
“Don’t interrupt, Daniel.”
“Sorry!”
“There you go again. Why have you bought my house?” Daniel sighed. This wasn’t turning out quite as he had hoped.
“Daniel?”
“I missed it, OK? And when I saw it was for sale, I rang the realtor on a whim and now I am the proud caretaker of said house.”
“Caretaker?”
“Well, I did think I’d have more than a few hours of ownership before you returned. You are stopping, aren’t you?”
Jack was flabbergasted. Surely Daniel hadn’t bought his old house back for him. Did he really know what Jack’s plans were? Jack had retired, again, although he had been retained by the Air Force in a civilian capacity and was to be attached to Cheyenne Mountain. He had a week’s leave now before returning to Washington for a three month handover period. He then had a month’s leave before returning to Colorado Springs and had intended to grab Daniel for some house hunting and chilling time. He’d actually checked first with Landry and, unbeknownst to Daniel, had him cleared for a week’s leave.
He became aware that Daniel was staring at him.
“Um, Hi?” Daniel smiled and Jack’s world lit up. It crossed his mind that they could both live in his house, his old house, he reminded himself and returned Daniel’s smile.
“So, what you got planned for the next few days, Daniel?”
“Unpacking, purchasing and some chilling over the weekend then it’s back to work.”
“No.”
“No?”
“No, I got you next week off too, saw Landry before I came over, to your apartment, I might add!”
“Jack!” Daniel was a little exasperated at his friend organising his life for him. “I could have arranged my own leave if I wanted it!”
“Well, I need some help. I have some house hunting of my own to do!” Daniel glared at Jack over his glasses.
“Don’t you think this house is good enough anymore?”
“Well, I wouldn’t want to presume! And how did you know?”
“I heard a whisper.”
“From?”
“Paul.”
“Ah! And just what did the Major - who is soon to be promoted but don’t tell anyone - have to say?”
“Just that he thought a certain General was retiring soon and that the SGC was getting a new, high level civilian consultant. It was easy to put two and two together and, Jack, don’t go sending Paul to Antarctica, he didn’t actually tell me it was you. I hadn’t really thought about it that much but, only a few days later, I was driving by and saw the sign, rang the realtor and here I am, back on the property ladder.”
“Daniel, you don’t just drive by here on your way to the mall or the Mountain. Where were you going?”
“Ah, well, that brings me back to that machine.” Daniel pointed at the Garmin on the deck behind them where Jack had rather unceremoniously dumped it. “I was going geocaching.”
“What?”
“Geocaching. It’s my new hobby.”
“What on earth is girocatching?”
“It’s geocaching and it’s a bit like a treasure hunt. You put coordinates in the Garmin and go to them and find a box, sign the logbook and then log into the webpage and record your find. I’ve found 154 already!” Daniel finished proudly. Jack just stared at him.
“And you don’t think you do enough hunting around for rocks and stuff at work?”
“Oh, Jack, this is so different. I’ll take you tomorrow - I was going to combine my shopping trip with a little caching anyway; there’s a couple near Home Depot at the end of 87.”
“OK, so you’ve developed a new, surprising talent whilst I’ve been in Washington and you’ve purchased a house, my house to be exact; what else have you been up to?” Daniel raised his glass.
“Done too much of this on my own. Are you really coming back? Are you retiring for good this time?”
“Yeasureyoubetcha! That stint on the Destiny, swapping bodies with someone far younger than me just about did it for me. Now they’re all in stasis, the best place for me is here at the SGC and the only way I could finagle that was to retire and consult. That basically means train recruits, lecture and maybe go off world occasionally. Bit like you really.” Jack knew Daniel had cut back on his off-world trips since the Ori had been defeated; Teal’c spent a great deal of time with the Jaffa, Sam was back and forth from Area 51 and Cam and Vala were constantly nagging at the three of them to return, moaning as much as Jack used to when having to deal with interim personnel.
“Sooo…” drawled Daniel. “What’s the timescale?”
“Well, I have a week’s leave now, as do you, no need to thank me by the way, then a three month handover period then a month’s leave and I’ve checked with Landry that you could have that too. Then it’s three days a week with open options. What’s your schedule?”
“I seems like I have a week’s downtime and a vacation in just over three months with you. At least, I presume that’s why you booked me leave?”
“You OK with that?” Jack asked, rather tentatively. He was a little concerned over Daniel’s non-reaction to all this. “You gonna help me find real estate?”
“No,” was Daniel’s emphatic response. Jack paled and then Daniel laughed. “We can both live here, we’ve done it before …. but maybe you don’t want to ….” Daniel trailed off, suddenly not so sure of himself. Jack was silent; he might not be saying anything but his mind was going at a huge rate of knots. Could he live with Daniel as best friends again? He’d missed the guy so much in Washington; in fact, he had decided that he might actually be a bit in love with Daniel and, if that was the case, he was hoping to, maybe, test out the waters. No stranger to male on male encounters due to years in the military surrounded by guys, he’d never considered himself gay, it had all been stress relief.
Jack knew that Daniel had had a relationship with a male, albeit very short and painful, due to having access to his personal files and the Air Force never left a stone unturned in such a top secret programme but Daniel had never shown Jack any inkling of anything but solid heterosexual behaviour. They hugged and touched occasionally but for all their drunken evenings spent in this very house or Daniel’s various abodes, they had never shown each other any desire to be more than just the very best of friends. Oh, there was a lot of UST but that was just them. He was woken from his pondering by Daniel tentatively calling his name.
“Sounds like something to think about, Daniel, but I still think I should case the market, see what’s on offer, go see a few properties.” Daniel looked crestfallen then quickly schooled his expression back to neutral.
“Whatever you like, Jack. Can I have my Chinese back if you’re not gonna eat anymore?”
“I’m gonna order pizza,” said Jack, pulling his cell out of his jeans and hitting the speed dial. Daniel raised his eyebrows at Jack still having the local number programmed in. Jack caught his quizzical look and said “What? I always thought I’d come back one day!”
The evening was cooling off and they went inside to prepare the bedrooms before Jack’s pizza arrived and then Daniel would reheat his Chinese. Then they spent the next few hours eating, drinking and gossiping, Daniel occasionally getting up and pulling a belonging or two out of a box. About midnight, they headed off to their separate beds, Daniel nearly heading for the guest room out of habit causing a slightly embarrassing moment for the two friends. He used as an excuse the fact that they hadn’t really made arrangements for the following day, Daniel suggested a quick caffeine fix in the morning then IHOP for breakfast as it was in the same block as Home Depot.
It was fun having Jack around again. He made everything seem like a huge joke from the maple syrup that erupted out of the bottle all over Daniel’s pancakes to the flirting with the shop assistant in Home Depot where they eventually left with chairs and a table for the deck, a fire pit (which Jack had always meant to add to his yard) and a brand new, sparkling, top of the range gas barbeque. They’d then hit Safeway just up the road for groceries, steak, salad, bread, donuts, froot loops and beer plus whatever took their fancy. Between them, they’d spent over $1000 and they’d had a ball.
“I can’t ever remember getting so much enjoyment out of shopping, Jack. I’ve missed you.” Daniel declared, opening his mouth and putting his foot in it without thinking; it just seemed so natural to tell Jack he had missed him. Jack smiled.
“Backatcha, Danny!” Daniel heaved a sigh of relief and quickly changed the subject.
“Right, time for a geocache! There’s one just up the road and round to right - here Jack,” he yelled as Jack was about to sail past the turning into E ST Elmo Ave. “It’s called “-4 Narcissistic Swan” and is a bit of a puzzle. Pull over here.”
Daniel had turned the GPS on and the cache was only 78 feet away. He showed Jack what to do, how to follow the compass arrow and watch for the distance to fall and they set off, looking for a micro cache.
“The container is going to be small, Jack, maybe like an old 35mm film canister or one of those magnetic key card holders.” The machine beeped. “We’re in the vicinity, Jack. They’re sometimes hidden behind utility boxes.” Jack reached behind the gas pipe at the GZ (Ground Zero) and triumphantly held out a camouflaged playdoh container. He looked as though he’d found a million bucks.
“This it, Danny?” Daniel smiled and nodded.
“Open the container, Jack and there should be some paper in it to write our names on and the date. Hey, you’re gonna need a handle.”
“What’s yours, Daniel?”
“Iamana, short for Iamanarchaeologist, all one word.”
“Couldn’t you have chosen something longer?”
“Well it could have been Iamanarchaeologistandiworkatcheyennemountain.” They both laughed. “So, Jack, what’s it gonna be?”
“Iamaretiredgeneral? No, that’d look like I’m old and tired. I think I’ll just be FlyboyJack and he scribbled his name in the log, passing it over to Daniel who added his alias.
“What’s this?” Jack had been routing around in the small container and found a coin that was about the same size as a quarter.
“Wow, it’s a trackable. See these six digits here, they are unique and when we get back home, we can enter them on the website and see where it has travelled. Then we put it in another cache and send it on its way.”
“Great.” Jack replaced the lid and set the cache back behind the gas pipe. “Anymore round here?”
On their way back to the house, they stopped for four more caches. Jack was having the time of his life and Daniel just loved being with Jack and seeing him so happy and carefree. The last few years had been hard on the General. He hated paperwork and the politics that had surrounded him in Washington and had relied on his aides, including Major Paul Davis. Despite the attitude he gave the man and Daniel over his friendship with said Major, Jack had a lot of time for him; he just sometimes got a teeny bit jealous over that friendship. He knew Paul was partial to male lovers and, more than once, Jack had been scared that Daniel was going to succumb to his charms and that it would affect their friendship. Anyway, Jack now had plans for his friendship with Daniel. He had finally let himself contemplate what it might be like to have a relationship that was more than platonic friendship with the good Doctor Jackson and Paul Davis was not going to get in his way. In just over three months’ time, Jack would be free of his of his military oath and he hoped …..
“Jack! Jack, are you listening?”
“Sorry, Daniel, wool gathering here. What’d you say?
“Help me with this barbeque please, it’s heavy.” They set to unloading Daniel’s jeep which couldn’t possibly have held anymore purchases.
The rest of the day was busy. Deck furniture was assembled as was the barbeque. Then Jack set to digging the hole and setting the fire pit whilst Daniel did some more unpacking. Only a brief stop for lunch was allowed and it was early evening before Jack had the grill fired up and the steaks well on their way to cremation. Daniel had hit the shower first and came out onto the deck with two beers, hair awry and no glasses, looking delicious. Jack was rather stunned at his thoughts and quickly downed half the beer to cover his confusion. He then made a quick exit for his own shower to hide the fact that his body was betraying him. With the warm water cascading over his still lean body, he knew he was in trouble; he definitely had fallen, hard, for his archaeologist, no doubt about it. Just the thought of returning to Colorado Springs and being able to live here again, in this house and with Daniel, well, he was over the moon. Sobering up though, he knew he and Daniel needed to talk about living arrangements and maybe even sleeping arrangements. They still had to go to a realtor but that was to buy a cabin in the foothills to retreat to and for Jack to have an address if he still needed one.
The steaks were nearly done when there was a knock at the door. Daniel opened it to admit Sam and Teal’c. He knew Sam was back from her latest stint at Area 51 and had messaged her to come over this evening and get hold of Teal’c which she obviously had. An SG1 reunion was in full swing and Jack now realised why Daniel had bought so much food! He threw a couple more steaks on the grill after the hugs and warrior handshakes. The four friends enjoyed the best evening they’d had for a long time and the chatter and drinking went well into the early hours of the next morning.
By 2am, Daniel was drowsing on the sofa and Sam and Jack, who had been involved in a lively debate about The Simpsons, had run out of steam. Teal’c, although no longer needing to Kelno’reem, was either meditating or asleep sat cross-legged on the carpet. Sam muttered something about calling a taxi knowing she wasn’t fit to drive and Jack immediately offered her the bed in the spare room. Without giving him time to rethink she was gone and asleep within minutes. Daniel opened an eye.
“Jack, you can share with me; it’s not like we’ve not slept in the same space before and the bed is huge. Just help me up.” Always the lightweight where alcohol was concerned, Jack knew he would need to give Daniel a helping hand and together they staggered up the few stairs and headed towards the main bedroom, whispering a rather drunken “Goodnight” to Teal’c who ignored them.
Taking turns in the bathroom, a few minutes later they were both led on their backs, hands behind their heads, staring at the ceiling in Jack’s old bedroom, Daniel’s new one. Neither had made any real attempt to settle down and sleep. Jack waited.
“Jack?” Just what he expected; a question.
“Yes, Daniel.”
“This is nice.”
“Daniel, you’re drunk. A baby elephant would seem nice to you at the moment.”
“Talking of elephants, you know that elephant that’s often in the room with us?” Jack twisted to face Daniel, propping his head on his right arm.
“Yeesss,” he drawled.
“Are we going to do anything about it when you retire?” Daniel turned his head to look at Jack, squinting with one eye and no glasses.
“Do you want to?”
“Do you?”
“I asked first.”
“True but I brought up the topic.”
“So, you should answer first!” Jack declared. Daniel sighed and then turned to mirror Jack’s position.
“We’ve always had a bit of UST about us, haven’t we.” stated Daniel.
“Daniel, answer the question!”
“Don’t you think that we should have this conversation when we are sober?”
“You started it, Daniel, answer the question, damn it!”
“OK.” Silence. “Yes!”
“What was the question?”
“Jaacckkk!” Jack had the decency to look remorseful.
“OK.” he replied
“What’s that supposed to mean, Jack? You remember the question, you’re OK with my answer or your answer is OK.”
“All of the above!” Daniel gulped.
“So, what do we do now because the elephant has now become ginormous and it’s taking up far too much space in my bedroom?”
“Well, we could practice!”
“Jack!” Daniel’s exclamation was cut off by Jack leaning forward and touching his lips very gently to Daniel’s. Jack leant back.
“Well?”
“Not sure, need more experience before I make a judgment!” quipped Daniel with a beautiful smile; he rolled on top of Jack, throwing all of his passion into a deep and prolonged kiss.
Eventually, Daniel raised his head and looked down on a rather debauched looking Jack. Jack raised an eyebrow.
“Need more practice?”
“Oh, definitely.”
A little later, they both came up for air and Daniel rolled onto his back. He felt around with his left hand and grabbed Jack’s right. Jack interlaced their fingers.
“Daniel?” Jack was tentative. “Umm, would you be really upset if I said could we wait for three months? I’d hate to be caught just before retiring.” When there was no immediate reply, Jack turned back on his side.
“Daniel?”
“Sleeping here. But, no, I’ve been waiting for years, what’s a few months?”
“So you’ll wait for me? Let me finish my tour of duty? Then can I move in with you? I’ll pay half the mortgage!”
“Jack, yes, I’ll wait for you. It won’t be easy after that brief but very rewarding titbit if that’s any example of what’s to come but yes, I think I can wait another 3 months and there is no mortgage.”
“What?”
“I bought the house outright.”
“You bought the house outright?”
“Yes, Jack.”
“The Air Force pays you too much!”
“Jack, I’ve worked for the SGC for over 12 years now. What’ve I needed money for apart from rent, beer and pizza? But you can pay the utilities for a while if you like.”
“Oh, Daniel, you crack me up!” He leant over and kissed Daniel again.
“Just as well you are going back to Washington soon, Jack!” Daniel smiled and squeezed Jack’s fingers. “What about this coming week?”
“I’ll go back in the spare room for the rest of the week.”
“Do you have to?”
“Daniel, we’ll never last otherwise!”
“True, but I’m missing you already and you haven’t even gone yet. How about we seal the deal with a kiss?” Eventually, Jack pushed Daniel away. Both breathing heavily, they were, once again, flat on their backs, looking at the ceiling.
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
They got through the night though neither slept well. They got through the week too although their occasional heavy make out sessions nearly became full on love making but Daniel always stopped it. He knew Jack didn’t want to break his oath and he didn’t want to be responsible for him doing so and maybe getting blamed later on.
They kept themselves busy. They found a cabin in the mountain foothills and set the purchase in motion. Jack paid and put both their names on the deeds. This prompted Daniel to produce the deeds for his house which, funnily enough, had both their names on. Now they felt equal, both owning both properties and they managed to fit in a visit to their solicitor to legalize everything even though they were each other’s beneficiary and had power of attorney for years. Daniel unpacked his boxes; Jack retrieved everything from storage (Daniel had no idea he had a lock up in The Springs) and they began to set up home together. They did yard work. They spent a day walking in the foothills of the Rockies, geocaching of course and Sam had another SG1 evening. This time Vala and Cam came, during which Jack got so wound up by Vala that they ended up coming out to their teammates. Teal’c just nodded - he knew it would happen sooner or later. Sam had guessed it too; in fact, she’d already called Pete and asked if he was prepared to try again (and he was). Vala declared “I knew it” and Cam just wished them all the best.
When Jack went back to Washington, Daniel moped. There was no other word for it. Paul told him on a visit to the SGC six weeks later that the General was even more of a bear with a sore head. He’d guessed what had happened and, sat in the living room, heard the tale Daniel had to tell. Daniel trusted Paul and, knowing his proclivity for male lovers, knew he would keep the secret.
Daniel was ecstatic when the three month hand over was done. Jack had organised the return of his belongs in his residence on the East Coast the week before and was read to fly home. Unknown to Daniel, he’d bought a brand new truck whilst in Colorado Springs those three months ago. He had the airman drop him at the garage, finalised the sale and drove home. By now, it was 5.30 in the late afternoon.
Putting his key in the door, Jack found himself thinking he was the luckiest man in the world. Gentle opera was playing on the stereo, the blinds were drawn and candles were lit. The smell coming from the kitchen was divine; Daniel had obviously been very busy putting together a welcome home meal. Jack stood and looked around. He’d finally come home!
He called for Daniel who appeared in front of him and kissed him solidly.
“Welcome home, Jack. Dinner will be ready soon. Do you want a beer or shall we …” Daniel tailed off. Jack smiled, took his hand and led him to the bedroom.
Written for Carlyn7865 for the 2016 Jack/Daniel Ficathon
Requirement (#1): mission/post-mission (I stretched this a bit but it is post-mission but not mission related)
Requirement (#2): First time
Optional Request: Jack or Daniel displays a surprising talent
Restriction (#1): no character death
Thanks to my proofreader Mific
When Jack moved to Washington, Daniel found he had time on his hands. It wasn’t that they’d spent all their free time together but he missed the Friday evenings and the sometime stayovers that lasted most of the weekend when they’d do yard work, catch a movie or exhibition and generally kick back and relax. Even when they had team evenings that he or Sam hosted with Teal’c and Cam and later, Vala, he felt there was something missing. He spoke to Jack as regularly as he could but these calls were becoming few and far between due to commitments for both of them. Jack had been back to Colorado Springs quite a few times and Daniel made it to Washington occasionally but it wasn’t the same.
Eventually, he realised that he was actually lonely again; there was a huge hole in his life without Jack. He’d discovered this about twelve months after Jack had moved. He then had tried various new hobbies; he’d gone to evening sessions and learned yet another language, he’d thought about joining a gym but that was silly when he had access to all the facilities at the SGC. He’d started hiking in the Rockies foothills, enjoying walking without the fear of a bunch of Jaffa attacking.
What he did find was a family with two children, seemingly searching for something in the Garden of the Gods. Being Daniel, he asked if he could help and it turned out that they were geocaching. The cache they were looking for was called Frozen tree 1 (GC4MJ1J) and the youngest of the family took great delight in telling Daniel all about geocaching. Together they found the cache and Daniel went home to research this pastime that he had never heard about, on www.geocaching.com.
Well, he was hooked. Now, much of his spare time was taken walking, driving and even cycling (yes, he bought himself a bicycle) in the local area, finding caches and logging them under his pseudonym, Iamana (short for Iamanarchaeologist). But this was a secret pastime; there were hundreds of caches for him to find in Colorado Springs, let alone the rest of Colorado and there were nearly 3 million in the world. He was close to being obsessed but then, anything Daniel did, he did with nothing less than one hundred percent. It filled a hole in his private life; it wasn’t the same as having Jack there but he was meeting people and talking to strangers to whom he was just a regular guy and he found it refreshing.
Not long after the Ori had been defeated, Daniel was driving past the area where Jack used to live. He was in search of a new cache that had just been published and something drew him to the house; he was surprised to see it was for sale again. Daniel fished for his phone and rang the realtor; the house was vacant and he could be there in 15 minutes. Not really knowing why he was doing this, Daniel sat in his car and waited for the associate to arrive.
Three weeks later, he was the proud owner of Jack’s old house. Many years at the SGC meant he was quite a wealthy man and, as he gave notice on his apartment, he contemplated his reasons for doing this. The move went ahead.
He hadn’t, as yet, told Jack what he had done and tonight was to be his first night in the house. He’d just returned from a tedious off-world mission, negotiating for Trinuim and having to keep a very close rein on Vala who was being particularly annoying. He was looking forward to a quiet evening relaxing and reminiscing about happier times. He’d opened a bottle of his favourite wine and was sitting on the steps from the deck overlooking the backyard; he’d ordered from his favourite Chinese takeout and was enjoying the meal and the solitude as much as he could but there was something, no, someone missing. Daniel sighed and poured another glass of wine, ignoring the nagging reminder that he still had umpteen boxes to unpack in the house behind him. His cell rang.
“Daniel, where the hell are you? I’ve just got up to your apartment and it’s empty.” Daniel had not thought about the fact that Jack had a key; he would have walked into completely bare rooms!
“Hello to you too, Jack! When did you get in and why?”
“Where the hell are you?” Jack shouted down the phone. Daniel sighed and wondered why he missed the man but deep down he was glad to hear his voice - he was just a bit worried about Jack’s reaction to him buying the house.
“Daniel?”
“Sorry, Jack, just thinking.” Then inspiration hit. “Why don’t you come home?”
“What?”
“Jack, just come home.” Daniel cut the call and ignored Jack ringing him back. He’d give him an hour then, if Jack hadn’t turned up, he’d call him back.
Forty minutes later, Jack sat outside the house he’d sold when he moved to Washington. Daniel’s jeep was parked on the drive. He slowly got out of his rental and stood leaning on it, contemplating his next move. What was Daniel doing at his old house? Should he go to the front door or sneak round the back to the yard? He decided on the latter and was greeted by Daniel who was sitting on the steps of the deck with a glass of wine and a few cartons of takeout.
“Whatcha doing Daniel?” Jack was confused; this was the only place he thought of as home, even though he’d sold it.
“Just enjoying a glass of wine and Chinese takeout on my deck,” was Daniel’s smug reply. “What are you doing?”
“Looking aghast at you! Why are you here? Why’s your apartment empty? Why are you at my house?”
“Your old house, Jack. I moved in today. So glad you’ve come to help me unpack. Shall I take the master bedroom and set up the spare room for you? How long are you staying? Why are you here? Jack?” Jack wandered over to Daniel and stopped below him on the grass by the steps.
“Feel like sharing?” Jack nodded his head at Daniel’s takeout and the latter passed it over. “Got any beer?”
“In the fridge but it won’t be that cold as it’s only been switched on for a few hours. Shall I…?”
“No, I’ll go. Is it in the same place?”
“Jack, even you can’t miss a fridge in a kitchen!” Sheepishly, Jack climbed the few steps and fetched a beer. A passing glance at the myriad of boxes told him that Daniel was indeed moving in. Walking back from the kitchen, he spotted a GPS unit on the table. Picking it up, he walked back out onto the deck.
“Not got any chairs yet?” he wanted to know.
“Not yet, need to go to Home Depot tomorrow and get some deck furniture. You coming with me?”
There was no reply.
“We gonna talk about this?”
“What’s this, Daniel?” Jack held up the GPS. “This isn’t standard issue, it’s a Garmin GPS unit. The Air Force don’t use Garmin, especially not off world.”
“No, it’s not. It’s for my hobby. I go geocaching but don’t change the subject. Why are you here?”
“Why are you in my house?”
“I’m not!”
“Yes you are!”
“No, I’m not, you sold it, remember!”
“It’s still my old house. Why are you here?”
“I bought it!” There I’ve said it thought Daniel.
“Why?”
“Why not?”
“What kind of answer is that?”
“A good one!”
“When?”
“When what?”
“When did you buy it?” Jack was getting exasperated.
“Well, I exchanged contracts last week and have moved in today.”
“Why?”
“It came on the market, I bought it.”
“Why?”
“Jack, I always liked this house. I felt at home here. It was for sale, I bought it, OK? Now, answer my question, why are you here?”
“Can’t I come visit an old buddy?”
“Jack, I’m not really old yet, am I?” the last said with a slightly less confident tone.
“Sorry, Daniel. This is all a bit of a surprise and not the surprise I wanted it to be.” Daniel looked quizzically at Jack and he continued. “My visit was supposed to be a surprise….”
“Oh, it is, Jack!”
“Don’t interrupt, Daniel.”
“Sorry!”
“There you go again. Why have you bought my house?” Daniel sighed. This wasn’t turning out quite as he had hoped.
“Daniel?”
“I missed it, OK? And when I saw it was for sale, I rang the realtor on a whim and now I am the proud caretaker of said house.”
“Caretaker?”
“Well, I did think I’d have more than a few hours of ownership before you returned. You are stopping, aren’t you?”
Jack was flabbergasted. Surely Daniel hadn’t bought his old house back for him. Did he really know what Jack’s plans were? Jack had retired, again, although he had been retained by the Air Force in a civilian capacity and was to be attached to Cheyenne Mountain. He had a week’s leave now before returning to Washington for a three month handover period. He then had a month’s leave before returning to Colorado Springs and had intended to grab Daniel for some house hunting and chilling time. He’d actually checked first with Landry and, unbeknownst to Daniel, had him cleared for a week’s leave.
He became aware that Daniel was staring at him.
“Um, Hi?” Daniel smiled and Jack’s world lit up. It crossed his mind that they could both live in his house, his old house, he reminded himself and returned Daniel’s smile.
“So, what you got planned for the next few days, Daniel?”
“Unpacking, purchasing and some chilling over the weekend then it’s back to work.”
“No.”
“No?”
“No, I got you next week off too, saw Landry before I came over, to your apartment, I might add!”
“Jack!” Daniel was a little exasperated at his friend organising his life for him. “I could have arranged my own leave if I wanted it!”
“Well, I need some help. I have some house hunting of my own to do!” Daniel glared at Jack over his glasses.
“Don’t you think this house is good enough anymore?”
“Well, I wouldn’t want to presume! And how did you know?”
“I heard a whisper.”
“From?”
“Paul.”
“Ah! And just what did the Major - who is soon to be promoted but don’t tell anyone - have to say?”
“Just that he thought a certain General was retiring soon and that the SGC was getting a new, high level civilian consultant. It was easy to put two and two together and, Jack, don’t go sending Paul to Antarctica, he didn’t actually tell me it was you. I hadn’t really thought about it that much but, only a few days later, I was driving by and saw the sign, rang the realtor and here I am, back on the property ladder.”
“Daniel, you don’t just drive by here on your way to the mall or the Mountain. Where were you going?”
“Ah, well, that brings me back to that machine.” Daniel pointed at the Garmin on the deck behind them where Jack had rather unceremoniously dumped it. “I was going geocaching.”
“What?”
“Geocaching. It’s my new hobby.”
“What on earth is girocatching?”
“It’s geocaching and it’s a bit like a treasure hunt. You put coordinates in the Garmin and go to them and find a box, sign the logbook and then log into the webpage and record your find. I’ve found 154 already!” Daniel finished proudly. Jack just stared at him.
“And you don’t think you do enough hunting around for rocks and stuff at work?”
“Oh, Jack, this is so different. I’ll take you tomorrow - I was going to combine my shopping trip with a little caching anyway; there’s a couple near Home Depot at the end of 87.”
“OK, so you’ve developed a new, surprising talent whilst I’ve been in Washington and you’ve purchased a house, my house to be exact; what else have you been up to?” Daniel raised his glass.
“Done too much of this on my own. Are you really coming back? Are you retiring for good this time?”
“Yeasureyoubetcha! That stint on the Destiny, swapping bodies with someone far younger than me just about did it for me. Now they’re all in stasis, the best place for me is here at the SGC and the only way I could finagle that was to retire and consult. That basically means train recruits, lecture and maybe go off world occasionally. Bit like you really.” Jack knew Daniel had cut back on his off-world trips since the Ori had been defeated; Teal’c spent a great deal of time with the Jaffa, Sam was back and forth from Area 51 and Cam and Vala were constantly nagging at the three of them to return, moaning as much as Jack used to when having to deal with interim personnel.
“Sooo…” drawled Daniel. “What’s the timescale?”
“Well, I have a week’s leave now, as do you, no need to thank me by the way, then a three month handover period then a month’s leave and I’ve checked with Landry that you could have that too. Then it’s three days a week with open options. What’s your schedule?”
“I seems like I have a week’s downtime and a vacation in just over three months with you. At least, I presume that’s why you booked me leave?”
“You OK with that?” Jack asked, rather tentatively. He was a little concerned over Daniel’s non-reaction to all this. “You gonna help me find real estate?”
“No,” was Daniel’s emphatic response. Jack paled and then Daniel laughed. “We can both live here, we’ve done it before …. but maybe you don’t want to ….” Daniel trailed off, suddenly not so sure of himself. Jack was silent; he might not be saying anything but his mind was going at a huge rate of knots. Could he live with Daniel as best friends again? He’d missed the guy so much in Washington; in fact, he had decided that he might actually be a bit in love with Daniel and, if that was the case, he was hoping to, maybe, test out the waters. No stranger to male on male encounters due to years in the military surrounded by guys, he’d never considered himself gay, it had all been stress relief.
Jack knew that Daniel had had a relationship with a male, albeit very short and painful, due to having access to his personal files and the Air Force never left a stone unturned in such a top secret programme but Daniel had never shown Jack any inkling of anything but solid heterosexual behaviour. They hugged and touched occasionally but for all their drunken evenings spent in this very house or Daniel’s various abodes, they had never shown each other any desire to be more than just the very best of friends. Oh, there was a lot of UST but that was just them. He was woken from his pondering by Daniel tentatively calling his name.
“Sounds like something to think about, Daniel, but I still think I should case the market, see what’s on offer, go see a few properties.” Daniel looked crestfallen then quickly schooled his expression back to neutral.
“Whatever you like, Jack. Can I have my Chinese back if you’re not gonna eat anymore?”
“I’m gonna order pizza,” said Jack, pulling his cell out of his jeans and hitting the speed dial. Daniel raised his eyebrows at Jack still having the local number programmed in. Jack caught his quizzical look and said “What? I always thought I’d come back one day!”
The evening was cooling off and they went inside to prepare the bedrooms before Jack’s pizza arrived and then Daniel would reheat his Chinese. Then they spent the next few hours eating, drinking and gossiping, Daniel occasionally getting up and pulling a belonging or two out of a box. About midnight, they headed off to their separate beds, Daniel nearly heading for the guest room out of habit causing a slightly embarrassing moment for the two friends. He used as an excuse the fact that they hadn’t really made arrangements for the following day, Daniel suggested a quick caffeine fix in the morning then IHOP for breakfast as it was in the same block as Home Depot.
It was fun having Jack around again. He made everything seem like a huge joke from the maple syrup that erupted out of the bottle all over Daniel’s pancakes to the flirting with the shop assistant in Home Depot where they eventually left with chairs and a table for the deck, a fire pit (which Jack had always meant to add to his yard) and a brand new, sparkling, top of the range gas barbeque. They’d then hit Safeway just up the road for groceries, steak, salad, bread, donuts, froot loops and beer plus whatever took their fancy. Between them, they’d spent over $1000 and they’d had a ball.
“I can’t ever remember getting so much enjoyment out of shopping, Jack. I’ve missed you.” Daniel declared, opening his mouth and putting his foot in it without thinking; it just seemed so natural to tell Jack he had missed him. Jack smiled.
“Backatcha, Danny!” Daniel heaved a sigh of relief and quickly changed the subject.
“Right, time for a geocache! There’s one just up the road and round to right - here Jack,” he yelled as Jack was about to sail past the turning into E ST Elmo Ave. “It’s called “-4 Narcissistic Swan” and is a bit of a puzzle. Pull over here.”
Daniel had turned the GPS on and the cache was only 78 feet away. He showed Jack what to do, how to follow the compass arrow and watch for the distance to fall and they set off, looking for a micro cache.
“The container is going to be small, Jack, maybe like an old 35mm film canister or one of those magnetic key card holders.” The machine beeped. “We’re in the vicinity, Jack. They’re sometimes hidden behind utility boxes.” Jack reached behind the gas pipe at the GZ (Ground Zero) and triumphantly held out a camouflaged playdoh container. He looked as though he’d found a million bucks.
“This it, Danny?” Daniel smiled and nodded.
“Open the container, Jack and there should be some paper in it to write our names on and the date. Hey, you’re gonna need a handle.”
“What’s yours, Daniel?”
“Iamana, short for Iamanarchaeologist, all one word.”
“Couldn’t you have chosen something longer?”
“Well it could have been Iamanarchaeologistandiworkatcheyennemountain.” They both laughed. “So, Jack, what’s it gonna be?”
“Iamaretiredgeneral? No, that’d look like I’m old and tired. I think I’ll just be FlyboyJack and he scribbled his name in the log, passing it over to Daniel who added his alias.
“What’s this?” Jack had been routing around in the small container and found a coin that was about the same size as a quarter.
“Wow, it’s a trackable. See these six digits here, they are unique and when we get back home, we can enter them on the website and see where it has travelled. Then we put it in another cache and send it on its way.”
“Great.” Jack replaced the lid and set the cache back behind the gas pipe. “Anymore round here?”
On their way back to the house, they stopped for four more caches. Jack was having the time of his life and Daniel just loved being with Jack and seeing him so happy and carefree. The last few years had been hard on the General. He hated paperwork and the politics that had surrounded him in Washington and had relied on his aides, including Major Paul Davis. Despite the attitude he gave the man and Daniel over his friendship with said Major, Jack had a lot of time for him; he just sometimes got a teeny bit jealous over that friendship. He knew Paul was partial to male lovers and, more than once, Jack had been scared that Daniel was going to succumb to his charms and that it would affect their friendship. Anyway, Jack now had plans for his friendship with Daniel. He had finally let himself contemplate what it might be like to have a relationship that was more than platonic friendship with the good Doctor Jackson and Paul Davis was not going to get in his way. In just over three months’ time, Jack would be free of his of his military oath and he hoped …..
“Jack! Jack, are you listening?”
“Sorry, Daniel, wool gathering here. What’d you say?
“Help me with this barbeque please, it’s heavy.” They set to unloading Daniel’s jeep which couldn’t possibly have held anymore purchases.
The rest of the day was busy. Deck furniture was assembled as was the barbeque. Then Jack set to digging the hole and setting the fire pit whilst Daniel did some more unpacking. Only a brief stop for lunch was allowed and it was early evening before Jack had the grill fired up and the steaks well on their way to cremation. Daniel had hit the shower first and came out onto the deck with two beers, hair awry and no glasses, looking delicious. Jack was rather stunned at his thoughts and quickly downed half the beer to cover his confusion. He then made a quick exit for his own shower to hide the fact that his body was betraying him. With the warm water cascading over his still lean body, he knew he was in trouble; he definitely had fallen, hard, for his archaeologist, no doubt about it. Just the thought of returning to Colorado Springs and being able to live here again, in this house and with Daniel, well, he was over the moon. Sobering up though, he knew he and Daniel needed to talk about living arrangements and maybe even sleeping arrangements. They still had to go to a realtor but that was to buy a cabin in the foothills to retreat to and for Jack to have an address if he still needed one.
The steaks were nearly done when there was a knock at the door. Daniel opened it to admit Sam and Teal’c. He knew Sam was back from her latest stint at Area 51 and had messaged her to come over this evening and get hold of Teal’c which she obviously had. An SG1 reunion was in full swing and Jack now realised why Daniel had bought so much food! He threw a couple more steaks on the grill after the hugs and warrior handshakes. The four friends enjoyed the best evening they’d had for a long time and the chatter and drinking went well into the early hours of the next morning.
By 2am, Daniel was drowsing on the sofa and Sam and Jack, who had been involved in a lively debate about The Simpsons, had run out of steam. Teal’c, although no longer needing to Kelno’reem, was either meditating or asleep sat cross-legged on the carpet. Sam muttered something about calling a taxi knowing she wasn’t fit to drive and Jack immediately offered her the bed in the spare room. Without giving him time to rethink she was gone and asleep within minutes. Daniel opened an eye.
“Jack, you can share with me; it’s not like we’ve not slept in the same space before and the bed is huge. Just help me up.” Always the lightweight where alcohol was concerned, Jack knew he would need to give Daniel a helping hand and together they staggered up the few stairs and headed towards the main bedroom, whispering a rather drunken “Goodnight” to Teal’c who ignored them.
Taking turns in the bathroom, a few minutes later they were both led on their backs, hands behind their heads, staring at the ceiling in Jack’s old bedroom, Daniel’s new one. Neither had made any real attempt to settle down and sleep. Jack waited.
“Jack?” Just what he expected; a question.
“Yes, Daniel.”
“This is nice.”
“Daniel, you’re drunk. A baby elephant would seem nice to you at the moment.”
“Talking of elephants, you know that elephant that’s often in the room with us?” Jack twisted to face Daniel, propping his head on his right arm.
“Yeesss,” he drawled.
“Are we going to do anything about it when you retire?” Daniel turned his head to look at Jack, squinting with one eye and no glasses.
“Do you want to?”
“Do you?”
“I asked first.”
“True but I brought up the topic.”
“So, you should answer first!” Jack declared. Daniel sighed and then turned to mirror Jack’s position.
“We’ve always had a bit of UST about us, haven’t we.” stated Daniel.
“Daniel, answer the question!”
“Don’t you think that we should have this conversation when we are sober?”
“You started it, Daniel, answer the question, damn it!”
“OK.” Silence. “Yes!”
“What was the question?”
“Jaacckkk!” Jack had the decency to look remorseful.
“OK.” he replied
“What’s that supposed to mean, Jack? You remember the question, you’re OK with my answer or your answer is OK.”
“All of the above!” Daniel gulped.
“So, what do we do now because the elephant has now become ginormous and it’s taking up far too much space in my bedroom?”
“Well, we could practice!”
“Jack!” Daniel’s exclamation was cut off by Jack leaning forward and touching his lips very gently to Daniel’s. Jack leant back.
“Well?”
“Not sure, need more experience before I make a judgment!” quipped Daniel with a beautiful smile; he rolled on top of Jack, throwing all of his passion into a deep and prolonged kiss.
Eventually, Daniel raised his head and looked down on a rather debauched looking Jack. Jack raised an eyebrow.
“Need more practice?”
“Oh, definitely.”
A little later, they both came up for air and Daniel rolled onto his back. He felt around with his left hand and grabbed Jack’s right. Jack interlaced their fingers.
“Daniel?” Jack was tentative. “Umm, would you be really upset if I said could we wait for three months? I’d hate to be caught just before retiring.” When there was no immediate reply, Jack turned back on his side.
“Daniel?”
“Sleeping here. But, no, I’ve been waiting for years, what’s a few months?”
“So you’ll wait for me? Let me finish my tour of duty? Then can I move in with you? I’ll pay half the mortgage!”
“Jack, yes, I’ll wait for you. It won’t be easy after that brief but very rewarding titbit if that’s any example of what’s to come but yes, I think I can wait another 3 months and there is no mortgage.”
“What?”
“I bought the house outright.”
“You bought the house outright?”
“Yes, Jack.”
“The Air Force pays you too much!”
“Jack, I’ve worked for the SGC for over 12 years now. What’ve I needed money for apart from rent, beer and pizza? But you can pay the utilities for a while if you like.”
“Oh, Daniel, you crack me up!” He leant over and kissed Daniel again.
“Just as well you are going back to Washington soon, Jack!” Daniel smiled and squeezed Jack’s fingers. “What about this coming week?”
“I’ll go back in the spare room for the rest of the week.”
“Do you have to?”
“Daniel, we’ll never last otherwise!”
“True, but I’m missing you already and you haven’t even gone yet. How about we seal the deal with a kiss?” Eventually, Jack pushed Daniel away. Both breathing heavily, they were, once again, flat on their backs, looking at the ceiling.
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
They got through the night though neither slept well. They got through the week too although their occasional heavy make out sessions nearly became full on love making but Daniel always stopped it. He knew Jack didn’t want to break his oath and he didn’t want to be responsible for him doing so and maybe getting blamed later on.
They kept themselves busy. They found a cabin in the mountain foothills and set the purchase in motion. Jack paid and put both their names on the deeds. This prompted Daniel to produce the deeds for his house which, funnily enough, had both their names on. Now they felt equal, both owning both properties and they managed to fit in a visit to their solicitor to legalize everything even though they were each other’s beneficiary and had power of attorney for years. Daniel unpacked his boxes; Jack retrieved everything from storage (Daniel had no idea he had a lock up in The Springs) and they began to set up home together. They did yard work. They spent a day walking in the foothills of the Rockies, geocaching of course and Sam had another SG1 evening. This time Vala and Cam came, during which Jack got so wound up by Vala that they ended up coming out to their teammates. Teal’c just nodded - he knew it would happen sooner or later. Sam had guessed it too; in fact, she’d already called Pete and asked if he was prepared to try again (and he was). Vala declared “I knew it” and Cam just wished them all the best.
When Jack went back to Washington, Daniel moped. There was no other word for it. Paul told him on a visit to the SGC six weeks later that the General was even more of a bear with a sore head. He’d guessed what had happened and, sat in the living room, heard the tale Daniel had to tell. Daniel trusted Paul and, knowing his proclivity for male lovers, knew he would keep the secret.
Daniel was ecstatic when the three month hand over was done. Jack had organised the return of his belongs in his residence on the East Coast the week before and was read to fly home. Unknown to Daniel, he’d bought a brand new truck whilst in Colorado Springs those three months ago. He had the airman drop him at the garage, finalised the sale and drove home. By now, it was 5.30 in the late afternoon.
Putting his key in the door, Jack found himself thinking he was the luckiest man in the world. Gentle opera was playing on the stereo, the blinds were drawn and candles were lit. The smell coming from the kitchen was divine; Daniel had obviously been very busy putting together a welcome home meal. Jack stood and looked around. He’d finally come home!
He called for Daniel who appeared in front of him and kissed him solidly.
“Welcome home, Jack. Dinner will be ready soon. Do you want a beer or shall we …” Daniel tailed off. Jack smiled, took his hand and led him to the bedroom.