'Professional Courtesy', PG-13, a remix by Sid
A remix of 'He Shall, From Time to Time' by
poohmusings.
Title: Professional Courtesy
Author: Sid
Fandom: SG-1
Genre: Slash
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Daniel Jackson/Paul Davis
Summary: the evolution of a friendship.
Thank you to my beta readers:
niamaea ,
tresa_cho , and
princessofg. They were a tremendous help to me, and any remaining errors are completely mine.
PROFESSIONAL COURTESY
The first time Paul Davis met him, Daniel wasn’t even there. It was during the foothold situation at the base, and Sam had disguised herself as Daniel using the aliens’ device. Paul told him much later on that he’d known it couldn’t really be Daniel, and not just based on the perplexed reaction he’d been seeing from Jack.
“I’d read all the SG-1 mission reports. No way was that you, with all the ‘Colonel’s and ‘sir’s and overall politeness. Not your style at all. Colonel O’Neill looked like he’d just fallen down the rabbit hole and stumbled out into Wonderland!”
“I’m sure Jack would appreciate the comparison of himself to Alice, but you should know by now that he’s more the Dorothy type,” Daniel snickered. Paul’s wide-eyed stare made Daniel add, “Um, Wizard of Oz?”
Paul compressed his lips like he was hiding a smile as he nodded. It took a few more seconds for Daniel to catch the reference to ‘The Friends of Dorothy’, and to burst into laughter.
They officially met during the debriefing after the remaining aliens had self-destructed. “The real Dr. Jackson, I presume,” Paul said as they shook hands.
“Afraid so,” Daniel answered.
“Then it’s a real pleasure to meet you,” Paul said, smiling broadly. Daniel dismissed it as nothing more than professional courtesy, and soon enough after the debrief got under way, all attention had been diverted to the astounding turnaround of Col. Maybourne, and Jack’s equally astonishing display of warmth towards the man. Paul and Daniel didn’t speak to each other again in any sort of personal way until they said their goodbyes. Another firm handshake and pleasant smile and Major Davis was Washington-bound, and Daniel more or less forgot he existed.
And then Daniel’s appendix burst, and while he was still feverish, in pain, and groggy, his world fell apart. His team was up on Thor’s ship, in imminent danger. The entire planet was in imminent danger. Daniel forced his aching body up from his infirmary bed and accepted help getting dressed before leaving, against strongly worded medical advice. No power on earth could have stopped him.
He’d just asked a concerned Hammond if there wasn’t something he could be doing, when Major Davis appeared. Daniel felt a flash of resentment. This man wasn’t part of the SGC family. On Daniel’s laborious trip to the briefing room, the hallways had been filled with the worried faces and sympathetic glances of his fellow SGC personnel, but this man couldn’t possibly understand.
And then Davis said that Thor’s ship would be attacked the moment it attempted to land. With SG-1 onboard. And Daniel’s resentment flared briefly back to life, but Paul’s sympathetic words and tone of voice and eyes conveyed his dislike of the situation and his determination to work towards a happier outcome.
As the Defcon level rose and sirens blared, Daniel could see Paul through the window of Hammond’s office, on the phone with the Pentagon. He could read the tension and ultimate frustration in Paul’s face as he spoke rapidly and then listened to the voice on the other end of the line. Paul’s head lifted and he met Daniel’s gaze. They stared at each other for a few seconds before Paul blinked and turned away.
Daniel sat on in the control room, regardless of entreaties that he return to the infirmary. He had to be there, be informed, be part of what was happening even if there wasn’t a single contribution that he could make. If he couldn’t be with his team….
At one point Paul brought him a cup of coffee and Daniel looked up at him in surprise. Paul gave him a brief, tight-lipped smile and a nod, and touched his shoulder for a second as he turned and left. Daniel realized then that Paul did understand. And more than just understanding the situation at hand and sharing the SGC’s unwavering position on MIA personnel, he got Daniel, who was used to being virtually ignored by outside military personnel.
“So, after spending all that time with Jack, we’d become more than just names on a piece of paper to you.”
“Yeah, that’s pretty much it. And, you…you looked like you were about to pass out any second. That whole time! Any second. Everybody else looked grim, and you had to be devastated, but you just looked dazed.”
“The fever, I suppose. I mean, it was all too real, but it still felt almost dream-like, you know?”
Paul nodded his head. “Maybe it was just as well. Maybe it was actually easier for you to handle that way. I kept wishing there was something I could do for you.”
“Was I that pitiful?” Daniel asked with a smile.
Paul grinned. “You were totally pathetic!”
Then the Stargate suddenly disappeared, and Daniel instantly knew that SG-1 was going to use it to escape from Thor’s ship. His excitement and joy were mirrored back to him by Paul, and Daniel felt bolstered and a little less alone. And later, when the fireball that had been Thor’s ship crashed into the Pacific, Paul made a point of reassuring him that no doubt he had been right, and escape had been SG-1’s objective.
Paul was on the phone when the wheelchair that Hammond had summoned arrived to take Daniel back to the infirmary. Daniel slumped into it, exhausted and filled with dreadful, despondent thoughts. What if they hadn’t made it?
After an examination of his wound and a brief but sharp lecture from Janet, Daniel was left alone in bed, drifting off as the pain medication took hold. A tear or two rolled down his cheeks, which he tried to attribute to physical weakness. There was still hope; there was no reason to grieve. Now they just had to wait until the beta ‘Gate was operational.
Daniel slept, and after he woke up, Paul came to see him on his way out of the Mountain. They exchanged a few awkward platitudes as they shook hands, and Paul promised to keep in touch. And he remained true to his word all through the following week, sending Daniel cheerful daily emails which inquired after his health and avoided all mention of the beta ‘Gate, even though they’d been routed through a secure server.
“Shit, those stupid emails. I didn’t have a clue what to say in them.”
“Didn’t matter. They were just what I needed.”
“That’s good to hear,” Paul said, eyes warm as he smiled at Daniel.
It was then that Daniel began to think of Paul as a friend, and something of a rock. A rock that he needed even more after SG-1 returned home. Because you’d think that the heroes that had saved the planet could have a few days off, but things didn’t work out that way. One Replicator had managed to survive the crash.
Paul was at his side, calm and competent, as Daniel watched Jack and Teal’c on that submarine with no way out and Replicators swarming at them. As a fist clenched around Daniel’s heart. As Jack ordered his own death, shouting at Daniel before turning to Paul. But Paul…bless him, Paul waited for Daniel to okay the order to launch the missile, and those few seconds may have been the difference that gave Thor and Sam enough time to rescue the trapped men.
Of course Daniel wasn’t thinking of that yet, as he gaped and stammered and pointed at the ceiling, overcome with joy and relief where only seconds earlier he’d been on the brink of witnessing his friends’ deaths. Paul’s hand clapped him on the shoulder, warm and solid and real. An anchor; a rock.
The room erupted with noise as tension evaporated like mist. Paul leaned in closer. “SG-1 does it again,” he said with a grin.
Daniel nodded, and felt tears trembling against his lashes, ready to fall and slide down the tracks that already stained his face. He fumbled for his pockets with hands that were suddenly shaking.
“Here,” Paul said, offering Daniel an immaculately pressed handkerchief.
Daniel held the monogrammed square of white linen, staring down at it. An unexpected feeling of intense warmth and affection flooded through him, and he raised his face to gaze at Paul with something approaching shock. He saw Paul’s smile fade and his eyes widen. Saw his chest rise and fall.
Paul looked down at the handkerchief and back up. “Keep it,” he said softly, holding Daniel’s gaze for a long moment before pushing his chair back and walking away.
Daniel took off his glasses, setting them down carefully with hands that no longer shook, and dabbed at his eyes.
They barely had time to speak before Daniel was whisked back to Colorado, and they had no privacy at all. Daniel gripped Paul’s hand in gratitude and appreciation, and he felt much, much more than those things. “I’d be hugging you if it weren’t for all these people,” he confessed without shame, not caring what his eyes might be conveying.
Color flared on Paul’s cheeks and his lips parted as he squeezed Daniel’s hand tightly. “I’d enjoy that,” he said softly, and then, more loudly, “Have a safe flight, Dr. Jackson.”
Daniel’s trip back was spent in something approaching a state of perfect happiness. His teammates would be there waiting for him, home and safe and alive. Another disaster averted, another threat repelled. Those things alone were more than enough to give Daniel a warm, fuzzy feeling, but he had the memory of the look in Paul’s eyes to carry with him, too.
~~
It was almost exactly two months later that Daniel found himself at Peterson AFB, watching Paul’s plane coming in for a landing. A recent mission to P3Y-446 had uncovered a rich vein of naquadah, and the natives were eager to negotiate a trade agreement. In fact, they were just plain eager to negotiate. And negotiate and negotiate and….
Nice enough people, and Daniel didn’t want to call them greedy. ‘Sharp’ might be a better word. They wanted what they could get and they were loving the process of getting it. Daniel was starting to feel like he was bashing his head against a wall. Repeatedly.
So, Paul had been summoned to assist in the process. When General Hammond told Daniel this, he heard himself offering to meet Paul’s plane and drive him back to the Mountain. Completely unnecessary, of course, with hot and cold running airmen at the General’s beck and call, but, well, as a matter of professional courtesy it seemed the least Daniel could do.
At least that’s what he’d been telling himself, and he must have convinced Hammond, because here he was, frying on the griddle of the sun-drenched tarmac. The plane was touching down, but it would be several more minutes easily before Paul disembarked, so Daniel looked for some shade and found it in a narrow passageway between two buildings.
When the plane’s door finally opened, Daniel’s heart began to thud. Two months of almost daily emails that carefully said nothing. One phone call filled with silences that spoke volumes. A stairway was wheeled up to the plane, and Daniel gulped and stepped out into the sunshine. Paul appeared, and all thoughts of professional courtesy flew from Daniel’s head.
Paul spotted him before he reached the bottom of the stairway, and Daniel could see his pleased surprise. He hurried towards Daniel, briefcase in hand. “Daniel, what…”
Daniel’s heart was hammering. He scanned the airfield over Paul’s shoulder. No one was watching, and he’d waited so long. He quickly pulled Paul deep into the dark recess behind them, pressed him up against the wall, and kissed him. Hard. Paul’s briefcase thudded at their feet.
Paul’s hands pushed at Daniel’s shoulders, and Daniel raised his head, breathing rapidly. Paul turned his head and searched the sun-filled expanse beyond the buildings that sheltered them. He looked back at Daniel and whispered quickly, “Not here,” before tugging Daniel towards him for a brief but intense kiss.
“So you missed me?”
“You know I did. And I’m going to miss you again when I have to leave tomorrow.”
“I wish we had longer. This is too good to rush,” Daniel said regretfully.
“I don’t feel rushed,” Paul said, stroking Daniel’s back. “This is nice, finally having time to talk.”
“Among other things,” Daniel murmured as he wriggled his hips against Paul’s.
“Mmm,” Paul agreed. “Yes. Just like…yeah.”
“Yeah,” Daniel breathed.