Fic: We Are All Captured Beasts -2
Title: We Are All Captured Beasts - part 2
Author: maab_connor
Summary: Jack and Daniel are gravely injured and captured offworld by an inhuman enemy. How will they get home? How can they hope to continue to hide the secret love they hold for each other when there might not be a later?
Word Count: about 13k
Rating: NC-17
Disclaimer: I do not own SG-1, if I did it would still be on the air and we would have canon slash… and apparently a lot of whumpage too. Also, since I cannot keep a word count down, CotG would have taken 17 hours to show. The title of this fic comes from a poem of the same name by Fyodor Sologub.
Written For: tresa_cho
Prompt: Two (2) Requirements:1. hurt/comfort 2. hostage situation Optional Request: first time Restriction #1: Sam-bashing Restriction #2: character death
Notes: Eternal thanks to my two betas ladymorgana13 who stepped up due to awesome friendship even though this isn’t her fandom. And to callygal1 who is a new fandom friend and without whom this fic would not exist.
The actual nighttime hours were short and Daniel woke with the light, feeling like he hadn’t slept at all. He realized two things very quickly: their captors weren’t far from their hidey hole and his fever was back.
Jack’s hand was on his shoulder, reassuring and quieting at the same time.
Daniel looked over and saw Jack’s face in the dim light. He reached up to his own shoulder and took hold of Jack’s hand. He was so overcome by fear, not just for himself, but for Jack as well; fear that Jack was going to be taken again, that they were going to take him away again and make him hurt and break him. They weren’t allowed to do that to Jack, not his Jack. He couldn’t lose him. Not like that. Not ever.
And then the most amazing thing happened, all of that fear and all of that love and all of that rage… was reflected right back at him.
Jack gasped. And then he smiled.
“Jack…?”
“Later,” Jack said, his eyes shiny with emotion. He handed the scissors to Daniel and struggled to stand.
Daniel forced himself to his feet and helped Jack up. He pulled Jack in close. “There might not be a later.”
Jack’s hand moved to cup Daniel’s bearded cheek. “There has to be a later.”
Daniel felt something he hadn’t felt in a long time: Hope. He kept his eyes on Jack’s, felt himself lick his lips and lean in just a little.
Before he had a chance to follow through though, there was an explosion from outside that rumbled the ground and threatened to collapse the crevasse.
“We have to get out of here,” Jack said.
“Jack… I …”
”Move it Daniel! You do not get to die on this rock!” Jack pushed him towards the entrance when another explosion sent down a rain of dust and small rocks.
Daniel felt one of the larger rocks hit his head, he saw stars for a moment but he forced himself to keep going, keep moving, get out before the next explosion.
As soon as they were out in the open air, it was apparent that they were in a war zone. Dozens of the insectile creatures were all around them, climbing on the rocks themselves, covering the way to freedom. It seemed as though they were being lead there, all of the aliens were turned around, facing out.
A staff blast whizzed past Daniel’s head, missing him by millimeters and scorching the edge of the opening behind him. “I don’t like this planet,” he said to Jack, who had already started wielding the scalpel on the preoccupied aliens.
“You’re tellin’ me,” Jack returned, kicking aside a still-twitching body.
The two men worked back-to-back so that none of the aliens could get close enough to hurt them. They couldn’t move far, both injured and Daniel struggling for breath; but they were able to kill a few aliens before Jack tracked something in the air.
“GRENADE!” he shouted and pulled Daniel as quickly as he could to the other side of the rocks just in time to be out of the way of the blast. “Standard issue,” Jack said.
“It’s the SGC,” Daniel said with a smile. “SAM!? TEAL’C?!”
They called out for their teammates over the sounds of the battle raging around them. It brought more attention from the bugs closest to them. As one a group of five turned to them and started advancing.
They fought as hard as they could, swinging their tiny weapons. But the bugs were smart, and they were well organized. Daniel took a hard-swung pincer to the side of his head and fell to the ground. Jack was hit in his injured knee and fell with a shout.
Jack didn’t realize that Daniel was unconscious until he was on the ground beside him. He kicked wildly with his uninjured leg and backed himself up to defend Daniel's unconscious form. The thought struck him, rather hard, that he really should have kissed Daniel when he had the chance. Now he was going to die without ever knowing what that felt like.
And then the heads of the small squadron exploded one-by-one in quick succession.
Jack smiled broadly when he saw who was standing there. “T, buddy, great timing!”
“Are you well O’Neill?” Teal’c moved his staff to resting position and Jack realized that all of the bugs were dead.
“Been better,” he said honestly. “Be one hell of a lot better back on Earth.”
Teal’c gave that enigmatic smile and head tilt. “They are over here!” he called out. And then kneeled down beside Jack and checked Daniel’s injuries.
There was the sound of several small engines and then ATVs came into view and stopped not far from where Jack and Daniel were.
Carter came running over, her face was streaked with dirt and the blood of the bugs, but she was smiling and securing her P-90.
“Nice job there, Carter.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“Valet to the gate is a nice touch.”
She rolled her eyes only slightly as she helped a medic to secure Daniel to a backboard and lift him onto the rescue sled.
“Hop on Colonel,” Nurse Fred Tsumi said as he laid another back board on the ground.
“I don’t need that.”
The nurse just looked at Jack’s mangled knee. Jack hadn’t felt it when it happened, but his knee was bloody.
Jack sighed and hoisted himself onto the bright yellow board. “How’s Daniel?”
“They’re working on him,” Nurse Tsumi said vaguely.
“We need to go now!” Carter called out.
Jack’s heart was in his throat as he was hoisted onto the other rescue sled. Teal’c sat beside him on the rail of the sled, one large hand resting comfortingly on Jack’s shoulder even though his eyes were constantly scanning their surroundings.
It took about twenty minutes to get back to the gate; to Jack it felt like three hours.
~~~
“What happened to him?” Doctor Werner was asking as soon as Jack and his ATV escort rematerialized through the gate.
“Massive trauma to the right knee,” Nurse Tsumi said quickly. “Other cuts, abrasions, hematomas, minor trauma to every other joint, possible internal injuries.”
“I’m fine,” Jack said, “where’s Daniel?”
“He’s being prepped for surgery, Doctor Frasier is taking good care of him, don’t you worry. Right now, we’re taking you to get an MRI and then you’re being prepped for surgery,” Werner answered. He pulled out a syringe, “This will take the edge off the pain and help to relax you.”
The meds hit his veins and he was asleep within seconds.
~~~
Jack floated back to consciousness on the fuzzy edge of morphine and with an overly-dry mouth.
“Welcome back Colonel,” was said, voice sweet as southern honey.
“Hey,” he said with a smile.
“I can see you don’t need another dose. How back are you?”
Jack thought about the answer for a moment, but then he was distracted by the light refracting off of his saline drip.
“Why don’t you get some more sleep?” Janet patted his hand gently.
“Wait…” Jack pulled his disjointed thoughts together. “Daniel? How’s Daniel?”
“He’s in recovery. We were able to save his leg, but the wound went septic, so no promises it’ll stay that way.”
He can’t die, Jack thought. I love him.
“I know you do, Colonel. Now get some sleep, we’ll talk later.” Janet double checked on her way out to make sure she knew which nurses were on duty for the Colonel and Dr. Jackson.
~~~
The next time Jack opened his eyes, his mind was a little clearer and the world was a little less bright. His own heartbeat was beating a steady rhythm through the monitor and he was in a regular bed. Carter was sitting on a stool beside him, her laptop open on his hospital tray; she was typing away, engrossed in her own world. But she knew when he hit fully awake.
She looked at him, her eyes slightly blurry, focused and smiled a small smile. “Good morning, sir.”
“Morning, Carter. Did I miss anything important? How’s Daniel?”
She handed him a small cup of water to soothe his obviously-parched throat and her smile turned awkward. “You’ve had a double knee replacement.”
“That explains the drugs.”
She suppressed a small laugh. “You were also dehydrated and had some internal injuries. They removed your spleen.”
“How long was I out?”
“About twenty hours.”
“And Daniel? Janet said something about him going septic?”
She heaved a deep sigh. “Teal’c is sitting with him. He’s been upgraded to stable and Janet’s optimistic that they’ll be able to save his leg. But if you need more details, you’ll have to talk to her.”
Jack felt like there was a rather large land mammal sitting on his chest. The words upgraded to stable kept running on a loop through his head. Daniel could have died. Daniel nearly did.
Carter, never one who was good with emotions, chewed her lip. “Actually, I should go get Janet anyway, let her know you’re up.” She beat a hasty retreat.
It wasn’t quite twenty seconds before Janet came in looking tired, but smiling. She was wearing scrubs and sneakers rather than her preferred class Bs; that was never a good sign. “How are you feeling, Colonel?”
“I want to see Daniel.”
“And you will, in just a minute.” She closed the door and they were alone in the room. “He’s stable, Teal’c is sitting with him.”
“Carter said that.”
“I was able to save his leg. Who debrided the wound?” She picked up his chart and looked it over.
“I did, with a headlamp, a scalpel and a prayer.”
“You did a good job.”
“He went septic,” Jack argued.
“He wouldn’t have made it two days if you hadn’t; I saw the size of the injury. And to debride in the field, without the proper tools… you pulled off a hat trick, Colonel. He’s lucky to be alive.”
“And yet, he was critical when he came in,” Jack argued.
“You both were. You had both been held hostage for six weeks and three days. You were tortured, you were both dehydrated and malnourished and covered in grime when you came through the gate. Daniel had a septic wound and head trauma as well as fluid in his lungs.
“Doctor Werner found your kneecap in three different places,” she continued, “and it took him half an hour to drain your knee enough to operate. Both your tibia and your femur on your right leg were fractured from compression - either during your torture or your escape. One of your ribs had been broken and chipped; the chip had punctured your spleen. You were lucky, it was less than half an inch from your lung; also it seems like the sliver didn’t fully puncture the spleen until the last fight and you didn’t have time to bleed out. When Doctor Werner realized the extent of the damage, he ordered a full body CT scan for you; there are signs of other breaks, healing on their own, and stress and swelling on every joint in your body. The vertebra in your neck show that you were nearly killed from your head being twisted until your neck broke.”
Jack was cringing at the clinical recounting of his torture. “I know, I was there.”
“I’m telling you not to beat yourself up over this. You’re both alive.” She made a few notes in his chart and then hung it back on the end of the bed. She moved Carter’s computer and sat on the stool. “And now that I know you’re awake and cognizant, there are things we need to talk about.”
“I know what you’re going to say,” he cut her off.
“You do?”
“I knew back on the planet. They killed my knee and I knew it. I’m never going through the gate again. This shiny new titanium is to stay planet-side.”
She nodded deeply. “How do you feel about that?”
“Ask me a week or two after rehab when I’m going stir crazy.”
Janet sighed. “I hope Daniel takes the news as well.”
“What? I thought he’s going to be fine?”
“You’re still technically his team leader, so I can tell you this. I also know you’re the one he’ll talk to about this when he’s ready. The reconstruction to his femoral artery was done with an alien material and has left a weak spot on his arterial wall. Compounding that, I don’t know if his thigh muscle will ever fully recover. There is every likelihood that he will walk with a cane for the rest of his life. The possibility that he will ever recover fully enough to be cleared for gate duty registers in the millions to one.”
Jack felt like he’d been shot. He couldn’t compute the new data. It was one thing to know that he would never be going through the gate again; hell, he’d been expecting it and was frankly surprised it had taken this long in coming. But Daniel… Daniel could never answer the questions of the universe if he was stuck on Earth.
“There’s one other thing,” Janet said. “When you were partially under sedation?”
“If I was inappropriate to any nurses, I apologize and blame your Really Good Drugs.”
Janet smiled at that. “Thankfully you weren’t quite as… handsy this time as you’ve been known to be. You called out for Daniel a bit more than usual.”
“We were stuck there together,” he covered quickly.
Janet just smiled that smile that told him off for thinking she was an idiot. “You were vocal about some other things that you never would have said had you been in your right mind.”
Jack couldn’t understand why his heart monitor was beeping so fast when he was sure his heart had stopped in his chest.
“Relax Colonel… Jack. I wanted you to be made aware of that fact only so that you would understand why you were quarantined while in recovery. Daniel has also been quarantined; however since Teal’c is a Jaffa we can be fairly certain that he’s safe to be in there with Daniel.”
“And Carter? She was in here.”
“You were safe by that point, though it is possible that the scuttlebutt between two female friends might have inferred the reason for the quarantine; and that she then decided, for her own health, that it was a better idea if Teal’c, with his immunities, were to be the one to sit with Daniel.”
Jack smiled. Janet had spoken to Carter off the record and Carter had told Teal’c. Once Jack was no longer babbling like an opium addled poet, Carter came in to sit with him to make sure he wasn’t alone and her career was safe. Teal’c, who wasn’t technically a part of the US military, was sitting with Daniel, so it didn’t matter what he said. But Jack also knew it was a good bet Daniel had said he loved Jack too.
“Thanks,” he mumbled, hoping that Janet didn’t notice the blush creeping up his neck.
She smiled and gently squeezed his hand. “The ortho will be in tomorrow to start your PT. The General will want your report as soon as you’re up to it; he’ll take verbal at first just so that he can write the official report on Johansson.”
Jack nodded. “I’m good whenever he has a minute.” It definitely wasn’t something he was looking forward to, but it was something that had to be done.
Janet sighed but gave him the understanding smile. “I want you sitting up on the side of the bed, legs dangling. I’ll send in Nurse Tsumi in to give you a hand, I’ll even make sure he’s got The Big Needle.” She winked and walked out of the room.
~~~
Jack’s physical therapy started in earnest the next day. And that was fine, Jack had been expecting it. What he wasn’t expecting was that he would have to go to Academy while Daniel was still in a fevered sleep. He understood the why of it, with every joint in his body having undergone trauma and the extent of reconstructive titanium in his legs, he had to go to an inpatient rehab; there was no way that he could recover at the SGC or at home. But the idea of leaving before Daniel was awake - let alone out of the woods… he hated it.
Doctor Sanchez was the head ortho over at Academy, he was also the only ortho who had clearance for the SGC. He greeted Jack with a big smile, having done his last knee surgery as well as the replacement. “Colonel O’Neill, how are you feeling? Ready to go?”
Not in the slightest, he thought.
“Don’t worry, Colonel, you’re a tough guy, you’ll be fine.”
And just like that Jack was pulled away when all he wanted to do was run toward. Daniel was on the other side of the infirmary in a clean room. It was only his supreme trust in Teal’c and Janet that forced him to take the few shaky steps with his walker to the wheelchair.
It broke his heart, but the sooner he was better, the sooner he could come back and be there for Daniel.
~~~
A week later, Jack was ready to take his crutch and gore Sanchez with it. The man was a sadist. That was the only explanation. Why else would the doctor manipulate Jack’s legs asking “does that hurt” and then when he got an answer in the affirmative, do it again harder?
Jack was going to kill him. And it would not be a pretty death. No simple garroting with that stupid cord that held the pen to the clipboard. No way. That was too good for him. Being gored by the blunt end of a forearm crutch though? Yeah, that sounded about right.
Jack was laid out, flat on his back on a therapy table while Jensen, physical therapist and evil henchman of Sanchez, was manipulating his legs.
“Careful, he looks ready to start swinging.”
Jack opened the eyes he hadn’t realized were closed and looked up to the upside-down face of Daniel Jackson. He felt his own face split into a huge smile. “Daniel!” He reached up and felt tension leave him when Daniel took his hand in what would appear to anyone else to be a simple handshake. Jack dismissed Jensen rather rudely, but he didn’t care. He sat up and got a good look at Daniel.
His hair was very short, like it had been shaved in the infirmary, but it was growing back; he hadn’t shaved the beard, but instead trimmed it. He was a little too thin, but that just enhanced the short hair and beard to make him look like some tragic, romantic poet. There was a weariness behind his eyes, but he smiled when Jack took away the four-pronged cane and pulled him down to sit on the therapy table.
Jack didn’t care who saw, he pulled Daniel into a tight hug. “How are you?” he asked when he pulled away.
“Better,” Daniel said in the same dismissive tone he used for fine. “How… how about you?”
“You mean besides going slowly nuts at the hands of sadistic physical therapists?”
Daniel smiled a little at that. “Yeah, besides that.”
“Could be worse.”
They sat there for a moment in awkward silence.
“You wanna go for a walk?” Jack asked.
“Can you?” Daniel returned.
Jack smiled as he picked up his forearm crutches. “I have accessories.” He gave Daniel a soft smile. “And don’t tell anyone…” Jack looked around suspiciously and whispered, “we match.”
Daniel did smile at that. “Surgical grade aluminum looks good on you.”
Jack felt himself blush. Then he threaded his arms into the crutches and pushed up to his feet with only a small wince. “Shall we?”
Daniel sighed, but he picked up his cane and levered himself up into a standing position.
“Colonel?” Jensen called out.
“Just taking a lap.”
The therapist nodded and turned back to his other patient.
The spring had truly set in Colorado, the air was still crisp, but warm and finally didn’t smell like snow. The sun was bright and Daniel stood there for a moment, soaking it up.
“I was underground way too long,” he said at last.
“Yeah,” was all Jack could say. He mentally calculated the route through the massive courtyard that would keep them in the sunshine the whole time.
They made their way in silence for a while.
“I’m sorry,” Daniel said at last.
Jack stopped short, nonplussed. “Why?”
Daniel just looked at him, and then his gaze tracked down to the crutches.
Jack sighed, shifted his weight and reached out to put a hand on Daniel’s shoulder. “Hey… no, look at me. This isn’t you. This has been coming since I was twenty seven. My unit parachuted into a war zone. My chute didn’t open in time and I landed hard. My first knee surgery was less than a month later, but by that point the damage was done. And I’ve been running on them for a long time now; eating dirt out there and falling on hard stone every time those bastards made me kneel. And yeah, the last straw was the last mission, but that going to hell in a hand basket had nothing to do with you. It’s not your fault.”
Daniel remained silent, but the look he had clearly stated that he didn’t buy it.
“Oh for cryin’ out loud. C’mere.” He shifted his hand and pulled Daniel in to him; hugging him hard. Jack couldn’t deny that something inside of him uncoiled when Daniel returned the hug; he’d been so worried that he had been lying back on that planet when he promised Daniel that there would be a later.
“I was so scared,” Daniel whispered.
“Me too.” Jack pulled out of the hug before anyone watching would think it had changed to something inappropriate. “But we’re back now. And… we know.”
Daniel blushed and looked off to the side, suddenly shy. “Yeah, we do. And… you’re… uh, you’re sure that it’s… what you want?”
Jack smiled wolfishly and blatantly looked over Daniel’s body. “Oh yeah.” He shifted back onto his crutches and nodded that they should continue.
A few minutes later Daniel mumbled, “Only took us seven years to get on the same page.”
“Eight,” Jack corrected. “But who’s counting.”
“Apparently you. And you count the year I was… ya know… dead?”
“I still loved you, Daniel.”
Daniel stopped short this time.
Jack turned slowly. “I was planning the first time I said that to be… romantic… at the very least, planned.”
Daniel started to smile and it bloomed across his face until he was beaming with it. “Not the worst plan you’ve ever had.” He looked around to make sure they weren’t overheard. “And, just so you know, it’s reciprocated.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
The rest of the walk, during which they brushed shoulders quite often, Jack felt full of hope and love and pride. He may as well have had wings on his feet.
~~~
Three weeks of the most extreme sexual frustration he’d ever experienced, and Jack was released from the hospital. The swelling in all of his joints was down and his breaks were nearly healed. His post-op was ahead of schedule and he could even do stairs without too much trouble. He had his staples removed that morning along with the wound care spiel that hadn’t changed since he was nineteen.
He’d pulled Daniel aside in the halls later. “They’re springing me today.”
Daniel looked shocked for a moment. “That’s good, congratulations.”
Jack wanted to reach out and touch, but the nurses were doing their rounds and there were eyes everywhere. There were always eyes everywhere, that was the problem. “I’ll still be back for PT, three times a week.”
“Don’t apologize, you’re working your ass off. I’m just jealous that you go home, that’s all,” Daniel lied with a small smile.
Jack smirked, “You’re gonna miss my ass.”
“You can bet your ass,” Daniel said softly.
Jack smiled wolfishly, “I have to say, I like where this conversation is going.”
“Unfortunately it’s not going anywhere in this place. Sometimes I really hate the military.”
“You could… come help me pack.”
“You don’t have anything but a few pairs of sweats.”
“Don’t overthink it Daniel.”
A sizzling spark registered in Daniel’s eyes when he realized what Jack was saying.
“Come help me pack?”
Daniel nodded and whetted his lips.
Once they were in Jack’s room, Jack made a bit of a show of mentioning that he had some things hanging on the back of the door. He closed the door and leaned against it, crooking a finger in Daniel’s direction.
Daniel was smirking and blushing just a bit as he came over to where Jack was. He stopped well within Jack’s personal space.
Jack reached up and cupped Daniel’s face, running his thumbs over the edge of Daniel’s beard, toying with the texture of flesh and beard. “I’ve never kissed anyone with a beard before,” he admitted.
Daniel leaned in a bit more, one hand on the door, one on Jack’s hip. “I’m a big fan of learning.”
Jack smiled and leaned in, closing the distance between them and meeting Daniel in a hungry kiss. The beard tickled and numbed the flesh around Jack’s lips, but the taste and the feel of Daniel brought every cell in his body to life.
Daniel gave a tiny little whimper and wrapped his arms tightly around Jack’s waist, bringing their bodies into full contact.
Jack felt Daniel's dick hard and ready, cradled against his own and growled like a dog in rut. One hand carded into Daniel’s too-short hair and the other traveled down to grope and grab at Daniel’s firm ass. It was awesome, it was glorious, it was everything he had always dreamed of. Jack felt like he was knocking on heaven’s door.
And then he realized that that wasn’t it at all. Someone was knocking on his door. Right behind his head.
“I can’t catch a break,” Jack muttered, leaning his forehead against Daniel’s.
“Colonel O’Neill?” one of the nurses called.
“Just a second!” Jack returned.
Daniel was laughing, he pulled away and covered his mouth, trying to stifle the sounds of his outright gaffaws.
“What the hell is so funny?” Jack demanded in a whisper.
“That….” He stopped and caught his breath. “That hasn’t happened to me since I was sixteen.”
Jack couldn’t help the quick laugh at that. Back in control, he opened the door to see the nurse. “Sorry, I was, ah… stretching. Behind the door.”
“Uh huh. I have your discharge paperwork here.”
“Paperwork. I knew there was more paperwork.”
Daniel smiled and picked up his cane. “Jack, I’ll talk to you later.”
“You bet your ass.”
Daniel’s eyebrows shot up, but he walked out of the room.
~~~
Teal’c picked him up, and though it goaded Jack to know he wasn’t cleared to drive yet, he couldn’t complain too much when he walked out into the warm spring air and saw Teal’c standing by the truck in his ridiculously oversized cowboy hat.
“T, buddy!” Jack smiled broadly and even gave Teal’c a hug. “Good to see you!”
“It is good to see you as well, O’Neill. How is your recovery?”
“Ahead of schedule. Damn it.”
Teal’c’s lips twitched. “And how is Daniel Jackson?”
Jack tossed his pack into the back of the truck and maneuvered with his cane - trying not to put any actual weight on it - to back into the truck’s passenger side seat.
Teal’c was indeed impressed with how well O’Neill was moving, his research had been rather… broad on how quickly the average human would recover from such a procedure. He wasn’t sure if it was O’Neill’s need to be moving constantly or if it was simply what he called his Pure Irish Stubbornness, but either way, he was on the fastest end of the spectrum.
Once Jack was settled in the seat he answered as though Teal’c had asked a serious question. “He’s doing better.”
Teal’c buckled and started the engine. “I believe that is what is known as shrubbing.”
“Hedging. And you’re right. He hasn’t talked about not going through the gate anymore. And I know it’s bugging the hell outta him.”
“Is it not also bugging the hell out of you, O’Neill?”
“I won’t lie, it is. Mostly though it’s the idea of you guys going out there without me. I’m not gonna miss getting shot at, having ribbon devices turned on me, getting thrown into alien dungeons. I know I’m not gonna miss hearing the phrase bow before your god.”
“The Goa’uld do seem to enjoy that phrase above all others,” Teal’c agreed.
“What about you?”
Teal’c raised an eyebrow in question, not following the change in conversation.
“You and Carter are just as affected by this as Daniel and I are. How are you two holding up?”
Teal’c took a moment to gather his thoughts. “I believe that at the moment we are more concerned for the well-being of yourself and Daniel Jackson.”
“Now who’s hedging?” Jack challenged.
“You will be missed in the field. I for one, have rarely had the opportunity to work so closely, for such a long time with such a leader.”
“You can say that again.”
Teal’c nodded in acknowledgement. “You can rest easily, however, knowing that you have saved so many and accomplished more than I think you can know.”
Jack didn’t know what to say to that.
“Though I do believe that your next challenge will be no easier than your last.”
“And what’s that? Permanent desk duty?”
“Taking care of Daniel Jackson.”
Jack smiled, his heart hammering in his chest. “Noticed that, huh?”
“Indeed. And I wish you to know that should you decide against a duty to the desk, I shall offer my protection to Daniel Jackson.”
Jack couldn’t help the chuckle. “Don’t let Daniel hear you say that, he’ll take it as an insult. And don’t try to act like I don’t know you already do that for a few men and women on base; I would take that as an insult.”
“I have never insinuated any such thing.”
Jack swelled with pride and love for his friend. “You never know, I might just retire from the Air Force and go consultant, make the good money.”
The rest of the drive was in companionable silence.
Carter’s car was in his driveway when they pulled up to the house at last. Jack saw that the lawn was mowed and the azaleas had been watered and couldn’t help the smile any more than he could help the feeling of warmth that filled him.
Carter met them at the door; she was wearing her grubbiest, oldest USAF sweatshirt and a pair of jeans with a hole in each knee. “I’m a terrible scientist,” she said in lieu of hello.
Jack and Teal’c both cocked an eyebrow.
“I’m pretty sure I just destroyed sentient life in your vegetable crisper.”
“Well,” Jack responded, “with the idea that the entire planet was made in seven days; I can only imagine what my fridge accomplished in ten weeks.”
“I’m going to scientist hell.”
“Nah. No scientist goes to hell. They don’t believe in it.”
“There is that. How are you feeling, sir?”
“Barely using the cane and cleared to do stairs. I won’t be running any marathons in the near future, but that’s ok, I didn’t have any planned. Well… not in ink.”
“Glad to hear it. I mean-“
“It’s ok Carter. I gotcha. And thanks, for taking care of the place for me.”
“Least we could do.”
“Well, I appreciate it.”
Carter smiled awkwardly. “Well, I have gutters that I have to clean out and a mountain of laundry at home; and Teal’c mentioned a Horde Raid.”
“I find that I quite enjoy internet battle.”
“Yeah. You kids have fun now.”
Carter danced in place for just a moment before she leaned forward and gave Jack a quick, mostly awkward, hug. “It’s good to have you back, sir.”
“Good to be back. Thanks for saving my ass… again.”
She didn’t know what to say to that, so she just nodded and lead the way out.
“Enjoy your evening, O’Neill,” Teal’c said with a bow.
“You too, buddy. Go… kill trolls… or whatever.”
“Alliance,” Teal’c corrected.
“Them too.”
After they were gone and Jack was alone, he found that he felt slightly lost. He hadn’t been wont for something to do in… years, but now there was no lawn to mow and no flowers to water and no fridge to clean; hell, Carter had even dusted.
He finally settled on doing some laundry, more because he felt like he really needed to be wearing jeans again. He’d been stuck in sweats for weeks and filthy -more than likely now-incinerated - BDUs for weeks before that.
He changed the sheets and checked what he still had in stock in the kitchen. Looked like Teal’c had shopped while Carter had cleaned. Any time that she shopped, she got him healthy stuff; Teal’c bought the Froot Loops and Twinkies.
There was nothing for him to do. He was bored.
He was just about to call for pizza -something he felt like he’d been sorely missing- when headlights rounded through the living room; someone had pulled into the drive.
Jack got to the door and saw Daniel getting carefully out of his Jeep, the sun bathing his freshly-shaved face. Just looking at Daniel, Jack felt like he could breathe again. He hadn’t realized how worried he’d been.
“I signed myself out,” Daniel announced.
“I thought Sanchez said that with a few more intense weeks he could up your prognosis to Not Totally Screwed?”
Daniel walked up to the porch, finally at ease with the cane, and stopped in Jack’s personal space. “He was just trying to stay positive, when I grilled him he changed his tune. Hope you don’t mind the cane.”
“Not a bit,” Jack said truthfully.
“Besides,” Daniel smiled with a flare of passion in his eyes, “I think I like the idea of being totally screwed.”
Jack pulled Daniel to him in a quick, hard kiss. “Get inside.”
Daniel brushed his entire body against Jack’s on the way in.
Jack had a quickfire of lust race through his veins as he followed Daniel into the house.
Daniel was simply walking down the hallway towards the bedrooms.
Jack followed without saying a word.
Once in Jack’s dimly-lit bedroom, Daniel started stripping, towing off his shoes and kicking them away, then leaning his cane against the tall dresser. By the time Jack came into the bedroom, Daniel was throwing his shirt vaguely towards the chair.
Jack smiled, reaching for the hem of his teeshirt, enjoying the hell out of Daniel’s show. “Clearly you think that foreplay is overrated?” Jack said.
“Not at all. I just think that seven years of it is enough. Don’t you?”
Jack smiled and walked the two steps to where Daniel was half naked and waiting for him. He cupped Daniel’s face in his hand and took half a second to revel in the difference of a shaved face. “I was just getting used to the beard.”
“Says the man who shaved before he left the infirmary,” Daniel returned, his hands caressing Jack’s chest, playing with the hair.
“Hey, I’m military, I had to.” He smiled softly and said, “I like it though. You look like Daniel again.” He wound his arms around Daniel’s muscular frame and held him close.
“Starting to feel like him again too.” Daniel fitted himself perfectly along Jack.
“That’s good.” He nosed gently against Daniel’s neck and then kissed along his jaw.
“Tell me you want me,” Daniel said, brave and scared and willing to show weakness only to Jack; only ever to Jack.
“I do. You can feel how much,” he rolled his hips against Daniel’s causing just a tease of friction. “I want you all the time. There hasn’t been a moment… I’m not good at this.”
“Doing just fine if you ask me.” Daniel held just a little harder.
“I want so much right now… and I don’t know if my body will do what I tell it to.” Daniel wasn’t the only one showing his vulnerabilities, but Jack wasn’t scared, not when it was Daniel he was showing.
“There are no rules here, Jack. It’s just you and me. We’ve never been too good at rules anyway.
Jack huffed a small laugh against Daniel’s ear.
“If this is all we do… well… I’ll have a massive case of blueballs and will probably have to go jerk off at some point -“
Jack groaned at the mental image of Daniel laying back, his own dick in his hand, working it hard, body flushed under a sheen of sweat.
“-but it would be ok. Because it’s us. If there’s anything you don’t want to do, or feel like you aren’t healed enough to do… we’ll work around it.”
“Same here,” Jack said, licking along the shell of Daniel’s ear and nipping at the lobe.
“What do you want?” Daniel asked, kissing Jack’s shoulder.
“You. I want you. I always want you.”
Daniel started swaying his hips, seeking more friction. “I want you too. But I need specifics. And I think you do too.”
“I want to make love to you. I want to be inside of you. I want to come inside of you, even though I know it’s not gonna happen like that. I want to be covered with your sweat and your kisses and your come. I want to watch my dick disappear into your body. And I want you to love it.”
“You keep talking like that and you’re gonna be covered in my come right now.”
Jack chuckled, low and deep. “I just know that I can’t be kneeling right now. And if I want to take you… See, in my head… every time I’ve fantasized about this-“
“Have you?”
“Yeah. Quite a lot, actually.”
“I like that,” Daniel’s voice was soft and husky, thick with lust. “What did you see?”
“You, on your back; on my bed, spread out and hard and begging. And me, between your spread thighs, lining up and pushing into your body. Kissing you as I take you. Your arms around me, holding on, your fingers scratching my back.”
Daniel did just that; ran his nails down the length of Jack’s back.
Jack cried out, arched his body, and pushed his cock harder against Daniel. “Oh god!”
“Like that?”
Jack pillowed his head on Daniel’s strong shoulder and willed himself not to come. “Yeah… just like that. Maybe not so evil.”
That new, sexy chuckle of Daniel’s played through their bodies. “Couldn’t help myself.”
Jack grunted at that. “What about you? What did you have in mind?”
“Changes depending on my mood. Sometimes I would picture you taking me, soft and gentle like you just described. And sometimes I would picture you, on my bed, on all fours, your ass-“ he gripped Jack’s ass in both hands “-up in the air and begging for it. Does it bother you that I thought of topping you?”
“No,” Jack said, his voice barely audible.
“I know we’ve never talked about it before, for obvious reasons, but you have been with guys before, right?”
“Not many, just a couple,” Jack admitted. “And I haven’t ever bottomed. Never trusted anyone enough.”
“Oh.”
“I trust you though,” Jack clarified. He felt Daniel relax a bit in his arms. “What about you?”
“I’ve tried pretty much everything once. Some more than once. I like topping and bottoming, so if you don’t want to bottom, that’s ok. I love sucking cock.”
Jack’s whole body followed his dick and shivered at that thought.
“I want to do everything with you,” Daniel said easily. “Eventually. Right now, I just want you.” Daniel pulled back and kiss Jack properly. He seemed to just melt into it, his whole body melting against Jack’s as they devoured each other’s mouths. Their hands were exploring each other’s bodies, finding all those places that made the other gasp or shudder or stutter; all those secrets that only a lover knew, they wanted to discover them all.
Jack was so lost in the kiss that when he started to sway, he thought it was just the rhythm of them, but then he realized that his body was shaking with more than just passion. He pulled away gently. “Damn it, I can’t keep standing.”
Daniel smiled at him. “Go sit in your chair,” he nodded to the small armchair in the corner of the room; the one that had been covered with laundry before Jack’s little stretch of boredom earlier. “Which drawer has the lube?”
Jack pointed to the bedside drawer that had all of his hidden little naughties and made his way over to the chair.
“Lose the pants,” Daniel said before Jack sat.
A small race of dread went through Jack at that. His surgical scars were still red and angry, not smooth and pale, not attractive in the least. But this was Daniel; Daniel would never hold his scars against him, not even the new ones. Still, he saw Daniel notice when he turned around and limped over to where Jack was sitting.
Daniel too, was trepidations at showing his injuries. He knew that Jack knew about it and yet he was worried that Jack would think him somehow deformed; somehow less. But he swallowed that fear and pushed his pants down past his full cock and past his ruined thigh. He only relaxed when he saw that there wasn’t any judgment in Jack’s eyes, in fact there wasn’t anything but love and lust.
Daniel was naked before him, and it had never been truer for anyone Jack had been with; Daniel was naked and exposed and beautiful. He came over and moved his legs to either side of the chair where Jack was sitting, and there was not a choice involved when Jack leaned up and in and took Daniel’s full, red cock into his mouth without any warning.
“Oh Jesus fuck!” Daniel cried out, his head falling back, his hands going immediately to Jack’s shoulders, dropping the tube of lube in Jack’s lap. He was so suddenly and so unexpectedly surrounded by the wet heat of Jack’s mouth that he had to reach down to the base of his cock, reach down in front of Jack’s face, and clamp down or come right there. He had never, in his wildest dreams imagined that Jack would just… suck his cock like that. And Jack was good, he held Daniel’s balls down away from his body, helping him to not come, not yet; but his mouth was wicked and sinful and miraculous. “Ok, seriously, stop or I’m going to come right now and I want to come on your cock,” Daniel said, all in one breath.
Jack pulled away, entirely pleased with himself. “You think you’re the only one who likes to suck dick?”
Daniel growled as he lowered himself into Jack’s lap. Jack took his weight halfway down; and it was a good thing because Daniel’s bad leg was already protesting the strange angle. “I am not complaining, believe me,” Daniel said, his breath panting in his chest. “But we only get one shot at our first time. And I don’t plan on ruining it by coming like a virgin on prom night.” He settled his weight on Jack’s thighs, careful not to put any weight on the still-healing incisions, and made sure his own angry new scar was going to last the night without hurting too much.
Daniel settled, pressing his forehead against Jack’s and they just sat there for a minute, breathing each other’s breath, kissing occasionally and calming enough to take the edge off. Jack took the time to really look at Daniel, look like he’d never been able to let himself for fear of being found out, called out, kicked out. He smiled when he realized that he had the chance to walk away from it now, turn and walk and never have to worry about frat regs again. He picked up the lube and kissed Daniel harder, signaling that they were done cooling off, it was time to heat things up again. As he coated his fingers with the lube he whispered, “How much prep do you need?”
“It’s been a while,” Daniel answered.
Jack nodded and dove in for another kiss even as he reached between them and under Daniel to find the entrance of his body. He circled the tight pucker with his finger and mimicked the movement with his tongue in Daniel's mouth.
Without warning, Daniel’s body seemed to get with the program and took Jack’s probing digit into itself with almost no pressure. Daniel called out as his body bucked, loving the invasion. “More,” he demanded.
“I thought you said it’s been a while?”
“It has, but it doesn’t matter. Open me fast, Jack, I need you inside of me.”
“Yes sir,” Jack said with a sultry smile. He pulled his finger nearly the whole way out and pushed back in with two, making Daniel curse and claw his back.
“Where’d you put the condom?” Jack asked into Daniel’s mouth.
“Didn’t,” Daniel answered as he started to ride Jack’s fingers.
Jack stilled. “What do you mean, didn’t?”
Daniel just smiled his most dangerous smile. “I mean I didn’t get one when I was over there. You said you wanted to fuck me bare; I want that too.”
“Daniel-“
“I’m clean, you’re clean, we just bled all over each other for six weeks. I want you. It’s the only thing I’ve never done. And I want it with you.”
Jack didn’t realize his hand was moving again.
“Tell me it’s not ok and-“
“No… I mean I should say that… but… Oh just shut up.” He pulled Daniel to him by the hair and kissed him hard.
It was almost no time at all before they were rearranging slightly and Daniel was lowering himself onto Jack’s cock so slowly Jack thought he was going to die.
“Watch, Jack,” Daniel panted. “Watch your cock disappear into me. Watch my body swallow you up.”
Jack did look down and the sight was nearly his undoing. His eyes were proving, making fact, that this was Daniel who he was sliding into. The tight flesh that was opening to him and letting him in, the heat that was welcoming his bare flesh, that was Daniel.
When he was finally fully seated, Daniel held Jack close, kissed him with gentle, open-mouthed kisses that tasted like salt and love from the sweat that they were both covered in.
“This isn’t gonna last,” Jack apologized, it couldn’t, not when it felt this good to his flesh and his heart and his soul.
“Me neither. Don’t care. It’s you. I love you Jack.” Daniel rolled his hips, riding Jack gently, loving the burn and the pull and the fullness of Jack inside of him.
“Love you too, Daniel. Love you so damned much.”
“Show me.”
They were fast and frantic even as they were barely moving; it was all in the intensity of the moment, the connection between the two of them, the final joining of their hearts and their minds through the joining of their bodies.
Jack learned that Daniel keened and growled and grunted and panted; that all of those amazing words in all of those multitude of languages deserted Daniel when they weren’t needed. Jack learned a new language in that though.
Daniel learned that Jack swore like a drunken sailor; he swore worse than when he stubbed his toe, Daniel hadn’t thought that possible. But there was something else beneath the “fuck, fuck my cock, so damned good, shit you’re amazing, my amazing cock slut,” there was something positively gentle to it. Daniel learned that Jack was a never-ending puzzle and he couldn’t wait to be challenged everyday for the rest of his life.
And when they exploded into orgasm, both without words, they said everything that they needed to.
Afterwards, Jack held Daniel, covered with his sweat and come and kisses, letting their breath return to normal before pulling out. He allowed himself to remain joined with Daniel, to hold onto that connection until Daniel’s eyes opened and met his own; he realized then that they were always connected.
Author: maab_connor
Summary: Jack and Daniel are gravely injured and captured offworld by an inhuman enemy. How will they get home? How can they hope to continue to hide the secret love they hold for each other when there might not be a later?
Word Count: about 13k
Rating: NC-17
Disclaimer: I do not own SG-1, if I did it would still be on the air and we would have canon slash… and apparently a lot of whumpage too. Also, since I cannot keep a word count down, CotG would have taken 17 hours to show. The title of this fic comes from a poem of the same name by Fyodor Sologub.
Written For: tresa_cho
Prompt: Two (2) Requirements:1. hurt/comfort 2. hostage situation Optional Request: first time Restriction #1: Sam-bashing Restriction #2: character death
Notes: Eternal thanks to my two betas ladymorgana13 who stepped up due to awesome friendship even though this isn’t her fandom. And to callygal1 who is a new fandom friend and without whom this fic would not exist.
The actual nighttime hours were short and Daniel woke with the light, feeling like he hadn’t slept at all. He realized two things very quickly: their captors weren’t far from their hidey hole and his fever was back.
Jack’s hand was on his shoulder, reassuring and quieting at the same time.
Daniel looked over and saw Jack’s face in the dim light. He reached up to his own shoulder and took hold of Jack’s hand. He was so overcome by fear, not just for himself, but for Jack as well; fear that Jack was going to be taken again, that they were going to take him away again and make him hurt and break him. They weren’t allowed to do that to Jack, not his Jack. He couldn’t lose him. Not like that. Not ever.
And then the most amazing thing happened, all of that fear and all of that love and all of that rage… was reflected right back at him.
Jack gasped. And then he smiled.
“Jack…?”
“Later,” Jack said, his eyes shiny with emotion. He handed the scissors to Daniel and struggled to stand.
Daniel forced himself to his feet and helped Jack up. He pulled Jack in close. “There might not be a later.”
Jack’s hand moved to cup Daniel’s bearded cheek. “There has to be a later.”
Daniel felt something he hadn’t felt in a long time: Hope. He kept his eyes on Jack’s, felt himself lick his lips and lean in just a little.
Before he had a chance to follow through though, there was an explosion from outside that rumbled the ground and threatened to collapse the crevasse.
“We have to get out of here,” Jack said.
“Jack… I …”
”Move it Daniel! You do not get to die on this rock!” Jack pushed him towards the entrance when another explosion sent down a rain of dust and small rocks.
Daniel felt one of the larger rocks hit his head, he saw stars for a moment but he forced himself to keep going, keep moving, get out before the next explosion.
As soon as they were out in the open air, it was apparent that they were in a war zone. Dozens of the insectile creatures were all around them, climbing on the rocks themselves, covering the way to freedom. It seemed as though they were being lead there, all of the aliens were turned around, facing out.
A staff blast whizzed past Daniel’s head, missing him by millimeters and scorching the edge of the opening behind him. “I don’t like this planet,” he said to Jack, who had already started wielding the scalpel on the preoccupied aliens.
“You’re tellin’ me,” Jack returned, kicking aside a still-twitching body.
The two men worked back-to-back so that none of the aliens could get close enough to hurt them. They couldn’t move far, both injured and Daniel struggling for breath; but they were able to kill a few aliens before Jack tracked something in the air.
“GRENADE!” he shouted and pulled Daniel as quickly as he could to the other side of the rocks just in time to be out of the way of the blast. “Standard issue,” Jack said.
“It’s the SGC,” Daniel said with a smile. “SAM!? TEAL’C?!”
They called out for their teammates over the sounds of the battle raging around them. It brought more attention from the bugs closest to them. As one a group of five turned to them and started advancing.
They fought as hard as they could, swinging their tiny weapons. But the bugs were smart, and they were well organized. Daniel took a hard-swung pincer to the side of his head and fell to the ground. Jack was hit in his injured knee and fell with a shout.
Jack didn’t realize that Daniel was unconscious until he was on the ground beside him. He kicked wildly with his uninjured leg and backed himself up to defend Daniel's unconscious form. The thought struck him, rather hard, that he really should have kissed Daniel when he had the chance. Now he was going to die without ever knowing what that felt like.
And then the heads of the small squadron exploded one-by-one in quick succession.
Jack smiled broadly when he saw who was standing there. “T, buddy, great timing!”
“Are you well O’Neill?” Teal’c moved his staff to resting position and Jack realized that all of the bugs were dead.
“Been better,” he said honestly. “Be one hell of a lot better back on Earth.”
Teal’c gave that enigmatic smile and head tilt. “They are over here!” he called out. And then kneeled down beside Jack and checked Daniel’s injuries.
There was the sound of several small engines and then ATVs came into view and stopped not far from where Jack and Daniel were.
Carter came running over, her face was streaked with dirt and the blood of the bugs, but she was smiling and securing her P-90.
“Nice job there, Carter.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“Valet to the gate is a nice touch.”
She rolled her eyes only slightly as she helped a medic to secure Daniel to a backboard and lift him onto the rescue sled.
“Hop on Colonel,” Nurse Fred Tsumi said as he laid another back board on the ground.
“I don’t need that.”
The nurse just looked at Jack’s mangled knee. Jack hadn’t felt it when it happened, but his knee was bloody.
Jack sighed and hoisted himself onto the bright yellow board. “How’s Daniel?”
“They’re working on him,” Nurse Tsumi said vaguely.
“We need to go now!” Carter called out.
Jack’s heart was in his throat as he was hoisted onto the other rescue sled. Teal’c sat beside him on the rail of the sled, one large hand resting comfortingly on Jack’s shoulder even though his eyes were constantly scanning their surroundings.
It took about twenty minutes to get back to the gate; to Jack it felt like three hours.
~~~
“What happened to him?” Doctor Werner was asking as soon as Jack and his ATV escort rematerialized through the gate.
“Massive trauma to the right knee,” Nurse Tsumi said quickly. “Other cuts, abrasions, hematomas, minor trauma to every other joint, possible internal injuries.”
“I’m fine,” Jack said, “where’s Daniel?”
“He’s being prepped for surgery, Doctor Frasier is taking good care of him, don’t you worry. Right now, we’re taking you to get an MRI and then you’re being prepped for surgery,” Werner answered. He pulled out a syringe, “This will take the edge off the pain and help to relax you.”
The meds hit his veins and he was asleep within seconds.
~~~
Jack floated back to consciousness on the fuzzy edge of morphine and with an overly-dry mouth.
“Welcome back Colonel,” was said, voice sweet as southern honey.
“Hey,” he said with a smile.
“I can see you don’t need another dose. How back are you?”
Jack thought about the answer for a moment, but then he was distracted by the light refracting off of his saline drip.
“Why don’t you get some more sleep?” Janet patted his hand gently.
“Wait…” Jack pulled his disjointed thoughts together. “Daniel? How’s Daniel?”
“He’s in recovery. We were able to save his leg, but the wound went septic, so no promises it’ll stay that way.”
He can’t die, Jack thought. I love him.
“I know you do, Colonel. Now get some sleep, we’ll talk later.” Janet double checked on her way out to make sure she knew which nurses were on duty for the Colonel and Dr. Jackson.
~~~
The next time Jack opened his eyes, his mind was a little clearer and the world was a little less bright. His own heartbeat was beating a steady rhythm through the monitor and he was in a regular bed. Carter was sitting on a stool beside him, her laptop open on his hospital tray; she was typing away, engrossed in her own world. But she knew when he hit fully awake.
She looked at him, her eyes slightly blurry, focused and smiled a small smile. “Good morning, sir.”
“Morning, Carter. Did I miss anything important? How’s Daniel?”
She handed him a small cup of water to soothe his obviously-parched throat and her smile turned awkward. “You’ve had a double knee replacement.”
“That explains the drugs.”
She suppressed a small laugh. “You were also dehydrated and had some internal injuries. They removed your spleen.”
“How long was I out?”
“About twenty hours.”
“And Daniel? Janet said something about him going septic?”
She heaved a deep sigh. “Teal’c is sitting with him. He’s been upgraded to stable and Janet’s optimistic that they’ll be able to save his leg. But if you need more details, you’ll have to talk to her.”
Jack felt like there was a rather large land mammal sitting on his chest. The words upgraded to stable kept running on a loop through his head. Daniel could have died. Daniel nearly did.
Carter, never one who was good with emotions, chewed her lip. “Actually, I should go get Janet anyway, let her know you’re up.” She beat a hasty retreat.
It wasn’t quite twenty seconds before Janet came in looking tired, but smiling. She was wearing scrubs and sneakers rather than her preferred class Bs; that was never a good sign. “How are you feeling, Colonel?”
“I want to see Daniel.”
“And you will, in just a minute.” She closed the door and they were alone in the room. “He’s stable, Teal’c is sitting with him.”
“Carter said that.”
“I was able to save his leg. Who debrided the wound?” She picked up his chart and looked it over.
“I did, with a headlamp, a scalpel and a prayer.”
“You did a good job.”
“He went septic,” Jack argued.
“He wouldn’t have made it two days if you hadn’t; I saw the size of the injury. And to debride in the field, without the proper tools… you pulled off a hat trick, Colonel. He’s lucky to be alive.”
“And yet, he was critical when he came in,” Jack argued.
“You both were. You had both been held hostage for six weeks and three days. You were tortured, you were both dehydrated and malnourished and covered in grime when you came through the gate. Daniel had a septic wound and head trauma as well as fluid in his lungs.
“Doctor Werner found your kneecap in three different places,” she continued, “and it took him half an hour to drain your knee enough to operate. Both your tibia and your femur on your right leg were fractured from compression - either during your torture or your escape. One of your ribs had been broken and chipped; the chip had punctured your spleen. You were lucky, it was less than half an inch from your lung; also it seems like the sliver didn’t fully puncture the spleen until the last fight and you didn’t have time to bleed out. When Doctor Werner realized the extent of the damage, he ordered a full body CT scan for you; there are signs of other breaks, healing on their own, and stress and swelling on every joint in your body. The vertebra in your neck show that you were nearly killed from your head being twisted until your neck broke.”
Jack was cringing at the clinical recounting of his torture. “I know, I was there.”
“I’m telling you not to beat yourself up over this. You’re both alive.” She made a few notes in his chart and then hung it back on the end of the bed. She moved Carter’s computer and sat on the stool. “And now that I know you’re awake and cognizant, there are things we need to talk about.”
“I know what you’re going to say,” he cut her off.
“You do?”
“I knew back on the planet. They killed my knee and I knew it. I’m never going through the gate again. This shiny new titanium is to stay planet-side.”
She nodded deeply. “How do you feel about that?”
“Ask me a week or two after rehab when I’m going stir crazy.”
Janet sighed. “I hope Daniel takes the news as well.”
“What? I thought he’s going to be fine?”
“You’re still technically his team leader, so I can tell you this. I also know you’re the one he’ll talk to about this when he’s ready. The reconstruction to his femoral artery was done with an alien material and has left a weak spot on his arterial wall. Compounding that, I don’t know if his thigh muscle will ever fully recover. There is every likelihood that he will walk with a cane for the rest of his life. The possibility that he will ever recover fully enough to be cleared for gate duty registers in the millions to one.”
Jack felt like he’d been shot. He couldn’t compute the new data. It was one thing to know that he would never be going through the gate again; hell, he’d been expecting it and was frankly surprised it had taken this long in coming. But Daniel… Daniel could never answer the questions of the universe if he was stuck on Earth.
“There’s one other thing,” Janet said. “When you were partially under sedation?”
“If I was inappropriate to any nurses, I apologize and blame your Really Good Drugs.”
Janet smiled at that. “Thankfully you weren’t quite as… handsy this time as you’ve been known to be. You called out for Daniel a bit more than usual.”
“We were stuck there together,” he covered quickly.
Janet just smiled that smile that told him off for thinking she was an idiot. “You were vocal about some other things that you never would have said had you been in your right mind.”
Jack couldn’t understand why his heart monitor was beeping so fast when he was sure his heart had stopped in his chest.
“Relax Colonel… Jack. I wanted you to be made aware of that fact only so that you would understand why you were quarantined while in recovery. Daniel has also been quarantined; however since Teal’c is a Jaffa we can be fairly certain that he’s safe to be in there with Daniel.”
“And Carter? She was in here.”
“You were safe by that point, though it is possible that the scuttlebutt between two female friends might have inferred the reason for the quarantine; and that she then decided, for her own health, that it was a better idea if Teal’c, with his immunities, were to be the one to sit with Daniel.”
Jack smiled. Janet had spoken to Carter off the record and Carter had told Teal’c. Once Jack was no longer babbling like an opium addled poet, Carter came in to sit with him to make sure he wasn’t alone and her career was safe. Teal’c, who wasn’t technically a part of the US military, was sitting with Daniel, so it didn’t matter what he said. But Jack also knew it was a good bet Daniel had said he loved Jack too.
“Thanks,” he mumbled, hoping that Janet didn’t notice the blush creeping up his neck.
She smiled and gently squeezed his hand. “The ortho will be in tomorrow to start your PT. The General will want your report as soon as you’re up to it; he’ll take verbal at first just so that he can write the official report on Johansson.”
Jack nodded. “I’m good whenever he has a minute.” It definitely wasn’t something he was looking forward to, but it was something that had to be done.
Janet sighed but gave him the understanding smile. “I want you sitting up on the side of the bed, legs dangling. I’ll send in Nurse Tsumi in to give you a hand, I’ll even make sure he’s got The Big Needle.” She winked and walked out of the room.
~~~
Jack’s physical therapy started in earnest the next day. And that was fine, Jack had been expecting it. What he wasn’t expecting was that he would have to go to Academy while Daniel was still in a fevered sleep. He understood the why of it, with every joint in his body having undergone trauma and the extent of reconstructive titanium in his legs, he had to go to an inpatient rehab; there was no way that he could recover at the SGC or at home. But the idea of leaving before Daniel was awake - let alone out of the woods… he hated it.
Doctor Sanchez was the head ortho over at Academy, he was also the only ortho who had clearance for the SGC. He greeted Jack with a big smile, having done his last knee surgery as well as the replacement. “Colonel O’Neill, how are you feeling? Ready to go?”
Not in the slightest, he thought.
“Don’t worry, Colonel, you’re a tough guy, you’ll be fine.”
And just like that Jack was pulled away when all he wanted to do was run toward. Daniel was on the other side of the infirmary in a clean room. It was only his supreme trust in Teal’c and Janet that forced him to take the few shaky steps with his walker to the wheelchair.
It broke his heart, but the sooner he was better, the sooner he could come back and be there for Daniel.
~~~
A week later, Jack was ready to take his crutch and gore Sanchez with it. The man was a sadist. That was the only explanation. Why else would the doctor manipulate Jack’s legs asking “does that hurt” and then when he got an answer in the affirmative, do it again harder?
Jack was going to kill him. And it would not be a pretty death. No simple garroting with that stupid cord that held the pen to the clipboard. No way. That was too good for him. Being gored by the blunt end of a forearm crutch though? Yeah, that sounded about right.
Jack was laid out, flat on his back on a therapy table while Jensen, physical therapist and evil henchman of Sanchez, was manipulating his legs.
“Careful, he looks ready to start swinging.”
Jack opened the eyes he hadn’t realized were closed and looked up to the upside-down face of Daniel Jackson. He felt his own face split into a huge smile. “Daniel!” He reached up and felt tension leave him when Daniel took his hand in what would appear to anyone else to be a simple handshake. Jack dismissed Jensen rather rudely, but he didn’t care. He sat up and got a good look at Daniel.
His hair was very short, like it had been shaved in the infirmary, but it was growing back; he hadn’t shaved the beard, but instead trimmed it. He was a little too thin, but that just enhanced the short hair and beard to make him look like some tragic, romantic poet. There was a weariness behind his eyes, but he smiled when Jack took away the four-pronged cane and pulled him down to sit on the therapy table.
Jack didn’t care who saw, he pulled Daniel into a tight hug. “How are you?” he asked when he pulled away.
“Better,” Daniel said in the same dismissive tone he used for fine. “How… how about you?”
“You mean besides going slowly nuts at the hands of sadistic physical therapists?”
Daniel smiled a little at that. “Yeah, besides that.”
“Could be worse.”
They sat there for a moment in awkward silence.
“You wanna go for a walk?” Jack asked.
“Can you?” Daniel returned.
Jack smiled as he picked up his forearm crutches. “I have accessories.” He gave Daniel a soft smile. “And don’t tell anyone…” Jack looked around suspiciously and whispered, “we match.”
Daniel did smile at that. “Surgical grade aluminum looks good on you.”
Jack felt himself blush. Then he threaded his arms into the crutches and pushed up to his feet with only a small wince. “Shall we?”
Daniel sighed, but he picked up his cane and levered himself up into a standing position.
“Colonel?” Jensen called out.
“Just taking a lap.”
The therapist nodded and turned back to his other patient.
The spring had truly set in Colorado, the air was still crisp, but warm and finally didn’t smell like snow. The sun was bright and Daniel stood there for a moment, soaking it up.
“I was underground way too long,” he said at last.
“Yeah,” was all Jack could say. He mentally calculated the route through the massive courtyard that would keep them in the sunshine the whole time.
They made their way in silence for a while.
“I’m sorry,” Daniel said at last.
Jack stopped short, nonplussed. “Why?”
Daniel just looked at him, and then his gaze tracked down to the crutches.
Jack sighed, shifted his weight and reached out to put a hand on Daniel’s shoulder. “Hey… no, look at me. This isn’t you. This has been coming since I was twenty seven. My unit parachuted into a war zone. My chute didn’t open in time and I landed hard. My first knee surgery was less than a month later, but by that point the damage was done. And I’ve been running on them for a long time now; eating dirt out there and falling on hard stone every time those bastards made me kneel. And yeah, the last straw was the last mission, but that going to hell in a hand basket had nothing to do with you. It’s not your fault.”
Daniel remained silent, but the look he had clearly stated that he didn’t buy it.
“Oh for cryin’ out loud. C’mere.” He shifted his hand and pulled Daniel in to him; hugging him hard. Jack couldn’t deny that something inside of him uncoiled when Daniel returned the hug; he’d been so worried that he had been lying back on that planet when he promised Daniel that there would be a later.
“I was so scared,” Daniel whispered.
“Me too.” Jack pulled out of the hug before anyone watching would think it had changed to something inappropriate. “But we’re back now. And… we know.”
Daniel blushed and looked off to the side, suddenly shy. “Yeah, we do. And… you’re… uh, you’re sure that it’s… what you want?”
Jack smiled wolfishly and blatantly looked over Daniel’s body. “Oh yeah.” He shifted back onto his crutches and nodded that they should continue.
A few minutes later Daniel mumbled, “Only took us seven years to get on the same page.”
“Eight,” Jack corrected. “But who’s counting.”
“Apparently you. And you count the year I was… ya know… dead?”
“I still loved you, Daniel.”
Daniel stopped short this time.
Jack turned slowly. “I was planning the first time I said that to be… romantic… at the very least, planned.”
Daniel started to smile and it bloomed across his face until he was beaming with it. “Not the worst plan you’ve ever had.” He looked around to make sure they weren’t overheard. “And, just so you know, it’s reciprocated.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
The rest of the walk, during which they brushed shoulders quite often, Jack felt full of hope and love and pride. He may as well have had wings on his feet.
~~~
Three weeks of the most extreme sexual frustration he’d ever experienced, and Jack was released from the hospital. The swelling in all of his joints was down and his breaks were nearly healed. His post-op was ahead of schedule and he could even do stairs without too much trouble. He had his staples removed that morning along with the wound care spiel that hadn’t changed since he was nineteen.
He’d pulled Daniel aside in the halls later. “They’re springing me today.”
Daniel looked shocked for a moment. “That’s good, congratulations.”
Jack wanted to reach out and touch, but the nurses were doing their rounds and there were eyes everywhere. There were always eyes everywhere, that was the problem. “I’ll still be back for PT, three times a week.”
“Don’t apologize, you’re working your ass off. I’m just jealous that you go home, that’s all,” Daniel lied with a small smile.
Jack smirked, “You’re gonna miss my ass.”
“You can bet your ass,” Daniel said softly.
Jack smiled wolfishly, “I have to say, I like where this conversation is going.”
“Unfortunately it’s not going anywhere in this place. Sometimes I really hate the military.”
“You could… come help me pack.”
“You don’t have anything but a few pairs of sweats.”
“Don’t overthink it Daniel.”
A sizzling spark registered in Daniel’s eyes when he realized what Jack was saying.
“Come help me pack?”
Daniel nodded and whetted his lips.
Once they were in Jack’s room, Jack made a bit of a show of mentioning that he had some things hanging on the back of the door. He closed the door and leaned against it, crooking a finger in Daniel’s direction.
Daniel was smirking and blushing just a bit as he came over to where Jack was. He stopped well within Jack’s personal space.
Jack reached up and cupped Daniel’s face, running his thumbs over the edge of Daniel’s beard, toying with the texture of flesh and beard. “I’ve never kissed anyone with a beard before,” he admitted.
Daniel leaned in a bit more, one hand on the door, one on Jack’s hip. “I’m a big fan of learning.”
Jack smiled and leaned in, closing the distance between them and meeting Daniel in a hungry kiss. The beard tickled and numbed the flesh around Jack’s lips, but the taste and the feel of Daniel brought every cell in his body to life.
Daniel gave a tiny little whimper and wrapped his arms tightly around Jack’s waist, bringing their bodies into full contact.
Jack felt Daniel's dick hard and ready, cradled against his own and growled like a dog in rut. One hand carded into Daniel’s too-short hair and the other traveled down to grope and grab at Daniel’s firm ass. It was awesome, it was glorious, it was everything he had always dreamed of. Jack felt like he was knocking on heaven’s door.
And then he realized that that wasn’t it at all. Someone was knocking on his door. Right behind his head.
“I can’t catch a break,” Jack muttered, leaning his forehead against Daniel’s.
“Colonel O’Neill?” one of the nurses called.
“Just a second!” Jack returned.
Daniel was laughing, he pulled away and covered his mouth, trying to stifle the sounds of his outright gaffaws.
“What the hell is so funny?” Jack demanded in a whisper.
“That….” He stopped and caught his breath. “That hasn’t happened to me since I was sixteen.”
Jack couldn’t help the quick laugh at that. Back in control, he opened the door to see the nurse. “Sorry, I was, ah… stretching. Behind the door.”
“Uh huh. I have your discharge paperwork here.”
“Paperwork. I knew there was more paperwork.”
Daniel smiled and picked up his cane. “Jack, I’ll talk to you later.”
“You bet your ass.”
Daniel’s eyebrows shot up, but he walked out of the room.
~~~
Teal’c picked him up, and though it goaded Jack to know he wasn’t cleared to drive yet, he couldn’t complain too much when he walked out into the warm spring air and saw Teal’c standing by the truck in his ridiculously oversized cowboy hat.
“T, buddy!” Jack smiled broadly and even gave Teal’c a hug. “Good to see you!”
“It is good to see you as well, O’Neill. How is your recovery?”
“Ahead of schedule. Damn it.”
Teal’c’s lips twitched. “And how is Daniel Jackson?”
Jack tossed his pack into the back of the truck and maneuvered with his cane - trying not to put any actual weight on it - to back into the truck’s passenger side seat.
Teal’c was indeed impressed with how well O’Neill was moving, his research had been rather… broad on how quickly the average human would recover from such a procedure. He wasn’t sure if it was O’Neill’s need to be moving constantly or if it was simply what he called his Pure Irish Stubbornness, but either way, he was on the fastest end of the spectrum.
Once Jack was settled in the seat he answered as though Teal’c had asked a serious question. “He’s doing better.”
Teal’c buckled and started the engine. “I believe that is what is known as shrubbing.”
“Hedging. And you’re right. He hasn’t talked about not going through the gate anymore. And I know it’s bugging the hell outta him.”
“Is it not also bugging the hell out of you, O’Neill?”
“I won’t lie, it is. Mostly though it’s the idea of you guys going out there without me. I’m not gonna miss getting shot at, having ribbon devices turned on me, getting thrown into alien dungeons. I know I’m not gonna miss hearing the phrase bow before your god.”
“The Goa’uld do seem to enjoy that phrase above all others,” Teal’c agreed.
“What about you?”
Teal’c raised an eyebrow in question, not following the change in conversation.
“You and Carter are just as affected by this as Daniel and I are. How are you two holding up?”
Teal’c took a moment to gather his thoughts. “I believe that at the moment we are more concerned for the well-being of yourself and Daniel Jackson.”
“Now who’s hedging?” Jack challenged.
“You will be missed in the field. I for one, have rarely had the opportunity to work so closely, for such a long time with such a leader.”
“You can say that again.”
Teal’c nodded in acknowledgement. “You can rest easily, however, knowing that you have saved so many and accomplished more than I think you can know.”
Jack didn’t know what to say to that.
“Though I do believe that your next challenge will be no easier than your last.”
“And what’s that? Permanent desk duty?”
“Taking care of Daniel Jackson.”
Jack smiled, his heart hammering in his chest. “Noticed that, huh?”
“Indeed. And I wish you to know that should you decide against a duty to the desk, I shall offer my protection to Daniel Jackson.”
Jack couldn’t help the chuckle. “Don’t let Daniel hear you say that, he’ll take it as an insult. And don’t try to act like I don’t know you already do that for a few men and women on base; I would take that as an insult.”
“I have never insinuated any such thing.”
Jack swelled with pride and love for his friend. “You never know, I might just retire from the Air Force and go consultant, make the good money.”
The rest of the drive was in companionable silence.
Carter’s car was in his driveway when they pulled up to the house at last. Jack saw that the lawn was mowed and the azaleas had been watered and couldn’t help the smile any more than he could help the feeling of warmth that filled him.
Carter met them at the door; she was wearing her grubbiest, oldest USAF sweatshirt and a pair of jeans with a hole in each knee. “I’m a terrible scientist,” she said in lieu of hello.
Jack and Teal’c both cocked an eyebrow.
“I’m pretty sure I just destroyed sentient life in your vegetable crisper.”
“Well,” Jack responded, “with the idea that the entire planet was made in seven days; I can only imagine what my fridge accomplished in ten weeks.”
“I’m going to scientist hell.”
“Nah. No scientist goes to hell. They don’t believe in it.”
“There is that. How are you feeling, sir?”
“Barely using the cane and cleared to do stairs. I won’t be running any marathons in the near future, but that’s ok, I didn’t have any planned. Well… not in ink.”
“Glad to hear it. I mean-“
“It’s ok Carter. I gotcha. And thanks, for taking care of the place for me.”
“Least we could do.”
“Well, I appreciate it.”
Carter smiled awkwardly. “Well, I have gutters that I have to clean out and a mountain of laundry at home; and Teal’c mentioned a Horde Raid.”
“I find that I quite enjoy internet battle.”
“Yeah. You kids have fun now.”
Carter danced in place for just a moment before she leaned forward and gave Jack a quick, mostly awkward, hug. “It’s good to have you back, sir.”
“Good to be back. Thanks for saving my ass… again.”
She didn’t know what to say to that, so she just nodded and lead the way out.
“Enjoy your evening, O’Neill,” Teal’c said with a bow.
“You too, buddy. Go… kill trolls… or whatever.”
“Alliance,” Teal’c corrected.
“Them too.”
After they were gone and Jack was alone, he found that he felt slightly lost. He hadn’t been wont for something to do in… years, but now there was no lawn to mow and no flowers to water and no fridge to clean; hell, Carter had even dusted.
He finally settled on doing some laundry, more because he felt like he really needed to be wearing jeans again. He’d been stuck in sweats for weeks and filthy -more than likely now-incinerated - BDUs for weeks before that.
He changed the sheets and checked what he still had in stock in the kitchen. Looked like Teal’c had shopped while Carter had cleaned. Any time that she shopped, she got him healthy stuff; Teal’c bought the Froot Loops and Twinkies.
There was nothing for him to do. He was bored.
He was just about to call for pizza -something he felt like he’d been sorely missing- when headlights rounded through the living room; someone had pulled into the drive.
Jack got to the door and saw Daniel getting carefully out of his Jeep, the sun bathing his freshly-shaved face. Just looking at Daniel, Jack felt like he could breathe again. He hadn’t realized how worried he’d been.
“I signed myself out,” Daniel announced.
“I thought Sanchez said that with a few more intense weeks he could up your prognosis to Not Totally Screwed?”
Daniel walked up to the porch, finally at ease with the cane, and stopped in Jack’s personal space. “He was just trying to stay positive, when I grilled him he changed his tune. Hope you don’t mind the cane.”
“Not a bit,” Jack said truthfully.
“Besides,” Daniel smiled with a flare of passion in his eyes, “I think I like the idea of being totally screwed.”
Jack pulled Daniel to him in a quick, hard kiss. “Get inside.”
Daniel brushed his entire body against Jack’s on the way in.
Jack had a quickfire of lust race through his veins as he followed Daniel into the house.
Daniel was simply walking down the hallway towards the bedrooms.
Jack followed without saying a word.
Once in Jack’s dimly-lit bedroom, Daniel started stripping, towing off his shoes and kicking them away, then leaning his cane against the tall dresser. By the time Jack came into the bedroom, Daniel was throwing his shirt vaguely towards the chair.
Jack smiled, reaching for the hem of his teeshirt, enjoying the hell out of Daniel’s show. “Clearly you think that foreplay is overrated?” Jack said.
“Not at all. I just think that seven years of it is enough. Don’t you?”
Jack smiled and walked the two steps to where Daniel was half naked and waiting for him. He cupped Daniel’s face in his hand and took half a second to revel in the difference of a shaved face. “I was just getting used to the beard.”
“Says the man who shaved before he left the infirmary,” Daniel returned, his hands caressing Jack’s chest, playing with the hair.
“Hey, I’m military, I had to.” He smiled softly and said, “I like it though. You look like Daniel again.” He wound his arms around Daniel’s muscular frame and held him close.
“Starting to feel like him again too.” Daniel fitted himself perfectly along Jack.
“That’s good.” He nosed gently against Daniel’s neck and then kissed along his jaw.
“Tell me you want me,” Daniel said, brave and scared and willing to show weakness only to Jack; only ever to Jack.
“I do. You can feel how much,” he rolled his hips against Daniel’s causing just a tease of friction. “I want you all the time. There hasn’t been a moment… I’m not good at this.”
“Doing just fine if you ask me.” Daniel held just a little harder.
“I want so much right now… and I don’t know if my body will do what I tell it to.” Daniel wasn’t the only one showing his vulnerabilities, but Jack wasn’t scared, not when it was Daniel he was showing.
“There are no rules here, Jack. It’s just you and me. We’ve never been too good at rules anyway.
Jack huffed a small laugh against Daniel’s ear.
“If this is all we do… well… I’ll have a massive case of blueballs and will probably have to go jerk off at some point -“
Jack groaned at the mental image of Daniel laying back, his own dick in his hand, working it hard, body flushed under a sheen of sweat.
“-but it would be ok. Because it’s us. If there’s anything you don’t want to do, or feel like you aren’t healed enough to do… we’ll work around it.”
“Same here,” Jack said, licking along the shell of Daniel’s ear and nipping at the lobe.
“What do you want?” Daniel asked, kissing Jack’s shoulder.
“You. I want you. I always want you.”
Daniel started swaying his hips, seeking more friction. “I want you too. But I need specifics. And I think you do too.”
“I want to make love to you. I want to be inside of you. I want to come inside of you, even though I know it’s not gonna happen like that. I want to be covered with your sweat and your kisses and your come. I want to watch my dick disappear into your body. And I want you to love it.”
“You keep talking like that and you’re gonna be covered in my come right now.”
Jack chuckled, low and deep. “I just know that I can’t be kneeling right now. And if I want to take you… See, in my head… every time I’ve fantasized about this-“
“Have you?”
“Yeah. Quite a lot, actually.”
“I like that,” Daniel’s voice was soft and husky, thick with lust. “What did you see?”
“You, on your back; on my bed, spread out and hard and begging. And me, between your spread thighs, lining up and pushing into your body. Kissing you as I take you. Your arms around me, holding on, your fingers scratching my back.”
Daniel did just that; ran his nails down the length of Jack’s back.
Jack cried out, arched his body, and pushed his cock harder against Daniel. “Oh god!”
“Like that?”
Jack pillowed his head on Daniel’s strong shoulder and willed himself not to come. “Yeah… just like that. Maybe not so evil.”
That new, sexy chuckle of Daniel’s played through their bodies. “Couldn’t help myself.”
Jack grunted at that. “What about you? What did you have in mind?”
“Changes depending on my mood. Sometimes I would picture you taking me, soft and gentle like you just described. And sometimes I would picture you, on my bed, on all fours, your ass-“ he gripped Jack’s ass in both hands “-up in the air and begging for it. Does it bother you that I thought of topping you?”
“No,” Jack said, his voice barely audible.
“I know we’ve never talked about it before, for obvious reasons, but you have been with guys before, right?”
“Not many, just a couple,” Jack admitted. “And I haven’t ever bottomed. Never trusted anyone enough.”
“Oh.”
“I trust you though,” Jack clarified. He felt Daniel relax a bit in his arms. “What about you?”
“I’ve tried pretty much everything once. Some more than once. I like topping and bottoming, so if you don’t want to bottom, that’s ok. I love sucking cock.”
Jack’s whole body followed his dick and shivered at that thought.
“I want to do everything with you,” Daniel said easily. “Eventually. Right now, I just want you.” Daniel pulled back and kiss Jack properly. He seemed to just melt into it, his whole body melting against Jack’s as they devoured each other’s mouths. Their hands were exploring each other’s bodies, finding all those places that made the other gasp or shudder or stutter; all those secrets that only a lover knew, they wanted to discover them all.
Jack was so lost in the kiss that when he started to sway, he thought it was just the rhythm of them, but then he realized that his body was shaking with more than just passion. He pulled away gently. “Damn it, I can’t keep standing.”
Daniel smiled at him. “Go sit in your chair,” he nodded to the small armchair in the corner of the room; the one that had been covered with laundry before Jack’s little stretch of boredom earlier. “Which drawer has the lube?”
Jack pointed to the bedside drawer that had all of his hidden little naughties and made his way over to the chair.
“Lose the pants,” Daniel said before Jack sat.
A small race of dread went through Jack at that. His surgical scars were still red and angry, not smooth and pale, not attractive in the least. But this was Daniel; Daniel would never hold his scars against him, not even the new ones. Still, he saw Daniel notice when he turned around and limped over to where Jack was sitting.
Daniel too, was trepidations at showing his injuries. He knew that Jack knew about it and yet he was worried that Jack would think him somehow deformed; somehow less. But he swallowed that fear and pushed his pants down past his full cock and past his ruined thigh. He only relaxed when he saw that there wasn’t any judgment in Jack’s eyes, in fact there wasn’t anything but love and lust.
Daniel was naked before him, and it had never been truer for anyone Jack had been with; Daniel was naked and exposed and beautiful. He came over and moved his legs to either side of the chair where Jack was sitting, and there was not a choice involved when Jack leaned up and in and took Daniel’s full, red cock into his mouth without any warning.
“Oh Jesus fuck!” Daniel cried out, his head falling back, his hands going immediately to Jack’s shoulders, dropping the tube of lube in Jack’s lap. He was so suddenly and so unexpectedly surrounded by the wet heat of Jack’s mouth that he had to reach down to the base of his cock, reach down in front of Jack’s face, and clamp down or come right there. He had never, in his wildest dreams imagined that Jack would just… suck his cock like that. And Jack was good, he held Daniel’s balls down away from his body, helping him to not come, not yet; but his mouth was wicked and sinful and miraculous. “Ok, seriously, stop or I’m going to come right now and I want to come on your cock,” Daniel said, all in one breath.
Jack pulled away, entirely pleased with himself. “You think you’re the only one who likes to suck dick?”
Daniel growled as he lowered himself into Jack’s lap. Jack took his weight halfway down; and it was a good thing because Daniel’s bad leg was already protesting the strange angle. “I am not complaining, believe me,” Daniel said, his breath panting in his chest. “But we only get one shot at our first time. And I don’t plan on ruining it by coming like a virgin on prom night.” He settled his weight on Jack’s thighs, careful not to put any weight on the still-healing incisions, and made sure his own angry new scar was going to last the night without hurting too much.
Daniel settled, pressing his forehead against Jack’s and they just sat there for a minute, breathing each other’s breath, kissing occasionally and calming enough to take the edge off. Jack took the time to really look at Daniel, look like he’d never been able to let himself for fear of being found out, called out, kicked out. He smiled when he realized that he had the chance to walk away from it now, turn and walk and never have to worry about frat regs again. He picked up the lube and kissed Daniel harder, signaling that they were done cooling off, it was time to heat things up again. As he coated his fingers with the lube he whispered, “How much prep do you need?”
“It’s been a while,” Daniel answered.
Jack nodded and dove in for another kiss even as he reached between them and under Daniel to find the entrance of his body. He circled the tight pucker with his finger and mimicked the movement with his tongue in Daniel's mouth.
Without warning, Daniel’s body seemed to get with the program and took Jack’s probing digit into itself with almost no pressure. Daniel called out as his body bucked, loving the invasion. “More,” he demanded.
“I thought you said it’s been a while?”
“It has, but it doesn’t matter. Open me fast, Jack, I need you inside of me.”
“Yes sir,” Jack said with a sultry smile. He pulled his finger nearly the whole way out and pushed back in with two, making Daniel curse and claw his back.
“Where’d you put the condom?” Jack asked into Daniel’s mouth.
“Didn’t,” Daniel answered as he started to ride Jack’s fingers.
Jack stilled. “What do you mean, didn’t?”
Daniel just smiled his most dangerous smile. “I mean I didn’t get one when I was over there. You said you wanted to fuck me bare; I want that too.”
“Daniel-“
“I’m clean, you’re clean, we just bled all over each other for six weeks. I want you. It’s the only thing I’ve never done. And I want it with you.”
Jack didn’t realize his hand was moving again.
“Tell me it’s not ok and-“
“No… I mean I should say that… but… Oh just shut up.” He pulled Daniel to him by the hair and kissed him hard.
It was almost no time at all before they were rearranging slightly and Daniel was lowering himself onto Jack’s cock so slowly Jack thought he was going to die.
“Watch, Jack,” Daniel panted. “Watch your cock disappear into me. Watch my body swallow you up.”
Jack did look down and the sight was nearly his undoing. His eyes were proving, making fact, that this was Daniel who he was sliding into. The tight flesh that was opening to him and letting him in, the heat that was welcoming his bare flesh, that was Daniel.
When he was finally fully seated, Daniel held Jack close, kissed him with gentle, open-mouthed kisses that tasted like salt and love from the sweat that they were both covered in.
“This isn’t gonna last,” Jack apologized, it couldn’t, not when it felt this good to his flesh and his heart and his soul.
“Me neither. Don’t care. It’s you. I love you Jack.” Daniel rolled his hips, riding Jack gently, loving the burn and the pull and the fullness of Jack inside of him.
“Love you too, Daniel. Love you so damned much.”
“Show me.”
They were fast and frantic even as they were barely moving; it was all in the intensity of the moment, the connection between the two of them, the final joining of their hearts and their minds through the joining of their bodies.
Jack learned that Daniel keened and growled and grunted and panted; that all of those amazing words in all of those multitude of languages deserted Daniel when they weren’t needed. Jack learned a new language in that though.
Daniel learned that Jack swore like a drunken sailor; he swore worse than when he stubbed his toe, Daniel hadn’t thought that possible. But there was something else beneath the “fuck, fuck my cock, so damned good, shit you’re amazing, my amazing cock slut,” there was something positively gentle to it. Daniel learned that Jack was a never-ending puzzle and he couldn’t wait to be challenged everyday for the rest of his life.
And when they exploded into orgasm, both without words, they said everything that they needed to.
Afterwards, Jack held Daniel, covered with his sweat and come and kisses, letting their breath return to normal before pulling out. He allowed himself to remain joined with Daniel, to hold onto that connection until Daniel’s eyes opened and met his own; he realized then that they were always connected.