'Ahmureena', Jack/Daniel, NC-17
Thank you to
princessofgfor encouragement and
jd_junkiefor beta duties. I truly appreciate it, ladies.
5,600 words wherein Jack is whumped. Warnings: SAD. Also porny.
AHMUREENA
Jack was guest of honor at a dinner party being thrown by the governor of the province. It wasn’t nearly as boring as he’d been expecting, because, surprisingly, politics appeared to have been put aside for the evening. The other guests were all members of the Governor’s extended family. Sure, they were probably on his side politically, and Jack assumed he was being very smoothly ‘handled’, but there were no boring speeches to sit through and the food was good and there were two or three babies being passed along from lap to lap, and Jack was actually having a pretty good time.
He’d have a better time if his team were there, but Daniel was back on Earth recovering from a bout of bronchitis, and Teal’c and Carter were off at another dinner, less than a mile away, as guests of the city mayor. The Mayor and the Governor were of different generations, different political persuasions and different religions. They loathed each other cordially, and SG-1 was prudently playing no favorites.
After the dinner was over, the banquet table was pulled apart into a dozen smaller sections which were pushed to the sides of the room, leaving the center of the floor open for circulating and chit chat, and for the relatively well-behaved children present to do a little running around to let off some of the steam that had inevitably built up during dinner.
Jack was talking to the Governor’s wife and her brother when the bomb went off.
Something struck him in the side of the head and face, and he went down.
He must have grayed out for a minute. People were screaming and crying and shouting. His first thought was for his teammates before he remembered. Hands rolled him over. “I’m all right,” he said automatically. It was one of the Governor’s sons, helping him to his feet. Jack touched a hand to his bruised cheek and looked around.
The explosive force had been confined to one corner of the room. The people nearer the exit were relatively unscathed. But in the corner, tables were overturned, chairs shattered, chunks of the ceiling had caved in, the floor was buckled. Men were sifting through the debris. Dust and the taste of burned metal filled the air.
A woman passed them, heading for the exit, supporting a man with blood dripping down his sleeve. Head ringing, Jack went to see how he could help.
A man on hands and knees was trying to hold up the end of an inverted table with his shoulders as he reached for someone trapped against the wall. Jack hurried over to take most of the burden of weight. The man called a name, and a screaming child crawled from the bleeding arms of its mother.
“Shh, shh,” the child’s rescuer soothed, gasping. “Papa… Papa has got you now.”
Jack tried to get a closer look at the mother. He saw her leg move. “We need some help over here!” he shouted.
A teenaged girl ran and crouched down. “Sawnde!” she exclaimed, tears streaking her face.
“Take your cousin outside,” the man begged her. The child went willingly into her arms, transferring his stranglehold from his father’s neck to hers, and she whisked it away.
Three men came to help lift the table clear of the injured woman, and Jack left them to it after that, scanning the room. People were being carried or supported to the exit; three obvious corpses had jackets draped over their heads. Two of the Governor’s older grandsons and their father were methodically working their way across the room, double-checking for any victims or survivors that might have been missed in the initial panic.
Jack was about to join them when his attention was caught by the doorway that led to the tiny hall that contained the bathrooms. One of the two swinging doors was still in place, most of the glass blasted out of it. The other door was gone. Had anyone checked the hall and the bathrooms?
No one had. There was a little girl stirring feebly under the wreckage of the missing door. Bits of glass still clung to the frame, so Jack lifted it off of her carefully. He knelt beside her. Her face was pale except for the large bluish lump on her forehead. Her right pupil was blown. Blood trickled from a myriad of small cuts. She began to tremble.
“What’s your name, sweetheart?”
“Ahmureena.”
“Mine’s Jack.”
“I know.” She shivered more violently.
“Can you wiggle your toes and fingers for me? That’s great. I’m just going to feel your neck, real gentle, won’t hurt a bit, I promise.”
“What happened?” Frightened tears welled in her eyes.
“There was an accident,” Jack said. “It’s okay now.”
“I want Mama. Please!” The tears spilled over.
“Then we should go find her,” Jack said. He smiled at her. “Okay? Think you can sit up?”
“Yes.”
“Good girl. Now just put your arm around my neck. Here we go.”
Jack rose with Ahmureena in his arms and began to crunch his way over the shards of broken glass towards the door to the banquet hall.
That was when the second bomb went off.
~~~~
Jack awoke to darkness and the sound of a child’s whimpers. Something warm and wet was running down his neck. When he tried to move, there was a shooting pain along his side and a moan that wasn’t his. A tiny hand scrabbled at his collar. He drew a blank for long, confused seconds. Dinner. Explosion. Tables. Glass. A little girl with frightened eyes and long dark hair glittering with bits of glass, and a green dress flecked with red. “Ahmureena?”
“Mama.” It was a quiet, hopeless plea.
They were pinned down. Buried in rubble. Jack couldn’t even turn his head; it came up against something hard when he tried turning it to the right, and… Ahmureena’s face lay against it on the left. “Can you move at all?” he asked, and coughed. His ribcage twinged again. The child’s weight pressed against him, making it hard to breathe; no, obviously something else was weighing her down. “Can you move, sweetie?”
She whimpered.
Jack was able to move his left hand, and he flailed around until he got a grip on her. Her elbow, it felt like. The hand at his collar twisted weakly into the fabric. He blinked, coughed again, bracing for the pain this time, and fought down a rising sense of panic.
Two. Two explosions.
The darkness around them was gray, not pitch-black. That was good. That was good. Jack strained his ears, but could only hear Ahmureena’s labored breathing. Not so good. “Hold on to me,” he soothed. “They’ll find us soon, you wait and see.”
“Ma….”
“I’m never wrong about these things. We’re gonna be just fine. Just hold on to me.”
She didn’t answer.
Jack kept on soothing and encouraging her, and kept getting no response. His anxiety and sense of powerlessness grew until he was begging her to fight, to hang on. The words were all too familiar, and they burned in his throat.
It was a long time before she stopped whimpering.
Her last breath gusted across his lips just as he inhaled. Her fingers uncurled against his neck.
She was gone. Gone. He’d tried to save her and he’d failed. He was useless, and another child had paid the price for his failure.
He began to sob. Ahmureena’s body shifted with his body’s involuntary movements; her lips touched his.
Jack went away.
He escaped into the past, because the old pain was a familiar one, and almost comforting in comparison to this fresh horror.
He waited with Charlie for death or rescue.
~~~~
“Two bruised ribs on the left side. Moderate concussion with little or no memory loss. Strained right ankle and numerous minute lacerations on the left arm caused by broken glass. Irritated respiratory tract from inhaling contaminated air.” Janet looked up from the chart. “We’ve strapped the ankle and bandaged the arm and administered oxygen and a cough suppressant. Unfortunately, I can’t give the Colonel anything stronger than Tylenol for the pain at this point, but after we see how he gets through the night I’ll be able to do more for him and those ribs.”
Hammond nodded and turned to Jack’s bed. “You were lucky, son.”
Carter had dialed in to the SGC, and Hammond had sent troops to help search the rubble and aid the victims. Jack had been found by his own people, light and sound pulling him slowly back from his safe haven. Teal’c had been the one to wrap the child’s body in a blanket and take her away. Jack had wanted to scream his relief.
“Yes, sir,” Jack agreed tonelessly.
“Is there anything you need?”
“Out of here.” Jack didn’t look at Janet.
“Doctor Fraiser?” Hammond asked.
“The Colonel needs to be monitored, as I’ve already explained to him. He’s suffered two concussions….”
“I only blacked out once,” Jack told the General. “As I’ve already explained to the warden, here.”
“I’d want to monitor you even if it were just one event, but just because you didn’t lose consciousness doesn’t mean that you weren’t concussed. You were knocked down by a blow to the head and later you were knocked out, which would only serve to compound any damage that might have been caused in the first place.”
“That certainly sounds to me like you’re exactly where you need to be,” Hammond said, shaking his head.
“‘Monitored.’ Meaning you’re going to shine a light in my eyes every couple of hours, right?”
“It’s SOP, Colonel. You’re well aware of that,” Janet answered.
“I’m aware,” Jack said wearily. “It doesn’t have to be here, though, does it? Can’t I sleep in my own bed at least?”
“And have someone stay with you? Doctor? Would that be satisfactory?”
Janet pursed her lips. “I’ll be willing to discuss it a couple of hours from now.”
Jack rolled his eyes.
“Behave,” Hammond said sternly.
~~~~
“Colonel, I don’t want to make the mistake of taking your condition lightly. If anything goes wrong, it would be much better for you to be right here.”
Jack stared up at the lights grimly.
Janet lowered her voice. “I’ll put you in a private room, so you won’t be disturbed.”
Jack blinked and looked at her, at her eyes. “You mean so I won’t disturb anyone. Somebody’s been talking.” He clenched his fists.
“I know a little more about the circumstances surrounding your injury, if that’s what you mean.”
“Carter, I suppose? Teal’c must have told her, but I don’t think he’s the type to go gossiping to you. Was it Carter?”
“Does it matter? It’s important information for me to have in order to treat my patient properly.”
“So now you’re going to get all sensitive and psychological, right? Fucking spare me.”
“Colonel….” Janet’s voice was gentle.
It was the last straw.
“Jesus, just let me go home! I can’t… I can’t….” Jack was horrified to hear a sob catch in his throat. He closed his eyes and turned his face away.
“Did you know that one of the side effects of concussion can be that emotions are brought very close to the surface? It’s an entirely normal reaction.” Janet touched Jack’s shoulder.
Jack swallowed. “No, I didn’t know that. Doesn’t change anything. My entirely normal reaction is to want to get the hell out of here. Take my… nightmares and my temper tantrums home with me. I’m asking you to please let me do that.”
Janet sighed. After a minute she responded, “All right, Colonel. If your vital signs hold up for the next hour, and if you have someone reliable to stay with you, I’ll let you go home.”
~~~~
“Tylenol. Throat lozenges. Cough syrup, which I’d recommend you take at bedtime. An inhaler, which I don’t expect you’re going to need, but I’d rather be safe than sorry.” Janet added the sealed plastic bag containing the inhaler to the sack Daniel was holding open. “The instructions for the inhaler, so you can both read them ahead of any need.”
She looked at Daniel and he nodded.
“Tylenol with codeine for tomorrow. That’s it. No alcohol, wake him every two or three hours, call me right away if you have any concerns.”
“I will.”
“Let’s go,” Jack said brusquely. But he gave Janet’s hand a squeeze as Daniel wheeled him past her.
They left the wheelchair at the main entrance and Jack stood and waited for Daniel to bring his car around to pick him up. It was the first time he’d been on his feet except for a brief bathroom trip. The ankle wasn’t too bad, but he definitely wasn’t ready for any hikes. And limping, as he was reminded when he took the few steps needed to reach the car, jarred his ribs unmercifully.
Daniel wisely didn’t try to help Jack in, or get him settled. In fact, he stared out the windshield the entire time, wincing at Jack’s grunts of pain and drumming his fingers on the steering wheel.
There was no way Jack was putting on a seatbelt. He slowly reached out and turned on the radio, pushing the preset button closest to him. His button. Music from a string quartet filled the air. Daniel put the car into gear, and Jack turned his face to the window.
Six killed. Two critical cases. The bombs had been either poorly designed or poorly placed or poorly timed, or maybe all three. There had been upwards of forty people at the banquet… and the fortunate survivors would be attending a lot of funerals over the next few days. Heavily guarded funerals. The Mayor had placed the city under a strict curfew, the police were out in full force and army troops patrolled the streets while martial law was being considered.
Two extremist groups had claimed responsibility, which could mean it had been neither of them. One had spewed hatred towards off-worlders in their ranting statement, and the other hadn’t even mentioned SG-1 or Earth, just….
A car in the right-hand lane decided that it needed to turn left at the upcoming light, and started to cut across in front of them. “Two o’clock,” Jack warned, bracing himself.
“Wha… whoa!” Daniel braked hard and the offending vehicle cleared their front bumper with about two feet to spare, then slid over into the left-turn lane, where it was greeted with furious honking from whichever unlucky soul it had cut off. Daniel stepped on the gas with a hasty look at the rearview mirror.
“Idiot,” they said in unison, Jack following up his utterance with a groan.
Daniel cleared his throat and laid a hand on Jack’s leg.
Jack sat up a little straighter and turned his face back to the window. After a few more seconds Daniel took his hand away, but Jack knew that it wasn’t due to his lack of response. It was just that Daniel was a two-hands-on-the-wheel at all times kind of guy.
When he realized that he was smiling, he stopped.
~~~~
They were in Jack’s kitchen, and Daniel was unloading the sack of medical supplies. “Are you hungry? Is there anything in the house?”
“They gave me something masquerading as food around suppertime,” Jack answered. “I’d just as soon head straight for bed.”
“Sure, okay. Tylenol and cough syrup first, though, right?”
“Yeah, right.” Jack watched as Daniel got the two bottles open and turned to the sink to fill a glass with water. “What about you? Have you eaten?”
“Yeah, Teal’c and I ate in the mess.” Daniel turned back with the glass.
Jack’s head, which had been slumping towards his chest, lifted. “It was you. You were the one who told Fraiser.”
Daniel’s mouth opened, but he didn’t say anything.
“Damn it, Daniel! What the hell did you think you were doing?”
“Now, look. I was just making sure that Janet knew, which of course it turned out she didn’t, any more than I did before Teal’c told me.”
“So, what, I should have made an announcement to the entire fucking SGC? Or are you taking care of that for me?”
“Jack, this isn’t….”
Jack put a hand to his head, which was aching, and interrupted. “I don’t want to be angry, I don’t want to fight with you.” He took a slow breath and looked at Daniel between his fingers. “I’m cranky.”
Daniel made a face. “Yeah.”
Jack lowered his hand and raised his eyebrows.
“Oh, no, I just meant that you were entitled.” Daniel blinked rapidly, in the way that normally had Jack melting.
“You were going to say something.” Jack waved his hand.
“Oh, I was just going to say that, really, none of this had to do with me hearing about it from Teal’c, or me telling Janet. It really was all about the fact that you weren’t talking about it.”
Jack straightened and narrowed his eyes. “You want me to talk about it? Are you sure?” His voice rose. “You sure you want to hear about what it felt like to….”
“Jack!”
Jack glared.
“Can we go back to you not wanting to be angry?” Daniel set the glass of water down on the counter and slid it and the meds towards Jack. “I didn’t mean to imply that you should have been talking about it.”
Jack turned towards the counter and concentrated on swallowing and washing down the Tylenol through a tight throat.
“I only meant that there was a… a significance to your not talking about it, and I thought that it was important for Janet to have all the facts.”
Jack nodded grudgingly. He could see the logic in that.
“I thought it might sway her in favor of letting you leave, too.”
Jack stared. “Did we have a conversation that I’m not remembering? Asked the man with a concussion, or two.”
Daniel looked taken aback. “What, you think I couldn’t tell that you wanted to get out of there? Aside from which, Jack, you always want to get out of there.”
“True.”
“And after I talked to Teal’c….”
“You figured that I’d prefer to have my nervous breakdown at home.” Jack felt his anger rising again. Which made no sense, because why should he be angry that Daniel understood him better than anyone else?
“Well, again, you’re entitled.”
“Well, that’s just peachy, then,” Jack snapped.
Daniel sighed. “I really am hopelessly inadequate at this kind of thing.”
“No comment,” Jack mumbled.
“I heard that.” Daniel sounded inexpressibly weary.
Jack relaxed the fist he hadn’t realized he’d clenched. “Cranky. Told you. Hey, listen. The guest room’s made up, so why don’t you…?”
“Guest room?”
The air between them vibrated.
“Am I detecting outrage?”
“A little, yeah! All of a sudden you want to shut me out of your life?”
“Jesus, Daniel, way to overreact. It’s one night.”
“One really, really bad, enormously sucky night. Which I have no intention of letting you spend alone.”
“Don’t you think that’s my decision? And you’re going to be popping in every two hours anyway. Speaking of sucky.”
“You’d rather die in your sleep, maybe?”
“Again with the overreacting.”
Daniel’s voice gentled. “There’s no reason for me not to be with you.”
“I am not feeling like company. End of story.”
Daniel paced from one end of the kitchen to the other. “Look, we’ve helped each other through bad dreams before, Jack,” he said rapidly. “I know this is fresh and raw, and unbelievably traumatic. But we both know that time…” he swallowed and turned his head away, “time will help make the unbearable more bearable.”
Jack saw the moisture glistening in Daniel’s eyes and felt a pang. The loss of Sha’re was more recent than his loss of Charlie, and her death, even more recent, must still feel painfully new. It had only been five months.
Five months since he’d tried to comfort Daniel, taken him in his arms, whispered useless words. Five months since the unspoken, unacknowledged thing between them had been made flesh, to put it blasphemously; given voice, ultimately given a name.
“I don’t have to be asleep,” he blurted. “All I have to do is close my eyes. She’s right there.”
And Daniel was right there, in four swift strides. And Jack could see him adjust, in the instant before his arms went around Jack. He avoided the ribs and the bandaged arm and the tender side of the face that would be showing a bruise by morning, and cradled Jack with exquisite care.
It was like the tears that had shone in Daniel’s eyes came rolling out of Jack’s. He wasn’t conscious of them until they fell, soaking Daniel’s shirt.
~~~~
Daniel helped him undress and Jack attended to business in the bathroom on his own. Daniel was in the bed waiting for him when he came out. He settled slowly onto the mattress, wincing, and put out a hand to stop Daniel from pulling the covers up over him. “I was thinking,” he said.
“Oh?” Daniel frowned inquiringly.
“I was thinking that what I really need is to fall asleep fast.”
“Following you,” Daniel said slowly.
“And there’s one sure way to do that.”
Daniel’s eyebrows rose high. “Still following you, I think, but are you sure you’re up to that?”
“Well, nothing too energetic, obviously.”
“Anything’s bound to hurt,” Daniel worried.
“Well, I thought maybe, if you did all the work….”
Daniel smiled at Jack and touched his face. “I could do that.” He threw back the covers and rose to his knees.
Jack carefully spread his legs, and Daniel crawled between them.
“Don’t you move a muscle,” Daniel murmured as he bent forward.
Jack leaned back into his pillows and watched as Daniel’s mouth made a slow approach towards his cock. The first contact of his lips felt good. Daniel was kissing him, and that felt good in all kinds of ways that weren’t sexual. His cock wasn’t terribly interested, but Jack appreciated the display of affection.
Tongue came into play as Daniel went after that one spot, right there, that one on the underside of his cock about two inches down from the head that always got Jack purring. Daniel played with it and Jack’s cock bounced and got a little bit harder, but still not very hard at all. Daniel was going to have to be patient tonight.
Because Jack was a conflicted man. As soon as he came he would be able to drift off to sleep. But as soon as he came he would have to sleep, have to close his eyes. His body craved rest, his mind feared the dark. It was hard to get aroused under the circumstances, and the circumstances included the sharp pain that accompanied every unwary breath or movement, like those that had just taken place when Daniel engulfed the head of his cock and swirled his tongue.
Jack watched Daniel’s face, saw his eyes close as he savored the taste of his favorite plaything. Jack felt the muscles of his own face relaxing. Daniel would be patient. Daniel enjoyed taking his time.
Jack took a deep breath and let it out, feeling the twinge in his ribs.
Daniel opened his eyes and looked up at him. Jack smiled and Daniel’s eyes smiled back, staying locked with his as Daniel opened up wide and slid his mouth down Jack’s shaft. Up and down, slowly, three times as he stared up at Jack.
And then Daniel’s breath caught and he lifted his head hurriedly, coughing. It wasn’t the nasty deep bark that had come with the onset of bronchitis, that was long gone; in fact he’d barely coughed at all in the last few days, not that Jack had heard anyway.
“Well, that was sexy as hell,” Daniel gasped. “Sorry.” He coughed again.
Jack’s heart sank. “This wasn’t such a hot idea.”
“What? No. I’m fine.”
“No you’re not. Neither one of us is really up to this.”
“Jack, you don’t have to do a thing. And I just need to play things a little differently; use my hand more, not go so deep.”
“It’s not worth it. To be honest, I’m having a hard time getting into it. It would just take too long. Let’s forget it.”
“Hard time getting into it?” Daniel shifted position, climbing over Jack’s leg and kneeling next to him. “I can get you in the mood, Jack.” He gave his palm a slow lick and dropped his hand to his cock. “Can’t I?” He started stroking himself.
Jack stared, all thoughts of ‘forgetting it’ forgotten.
Daniel started jerking himself off, using his thumb and forefinger. His other hand crept slowly up over his stomach, his fingers found a nipple and began to toy with it.
Jack made a wordless sound.
“You like watching me,” Daniel murmured. He shifted his knees farther apart. His balls bounced up and down as the skin at the base of his cock was pulled taut and released with each stroke. “And I like putting on a show for you.” He moved his fingers from his nipple up to his mouth and then changed his mind. He stretched his hand out towards Jack’s face. “Get them wet for me,” he said.
Jack opened his mouth and Daniel’s fingers entered. Jack sucked on them softly, watching Daniel’s cock and feeling his own lift. Daniel rubbed Jack’s tongue, and Jack slurped as the fingers left his mouth and went back up to rub saliva onto both nipples, leaving them glistening.
“You are hotter than a really hot thing,” Jack said sincerely.
Daniel smiled. He switched hands, squeezing his cock with his left now and reaching over with his right to cup Jack’s balls. “You make me hot.” His thumb stroked the underside of Jack’s cock. “Getting into it now?”
“Oh, yeah,” Jack acknowledged. “Push those buttons, baby.” He slid his right hand over between Daniel’s spread thighs and underneath his jiggling balls. Daniel leaned forward, pressing himself down into Jack’s hand. Jack squeezed with just the right amount of force, and Daniel’s hand picked up the pace, stripping up and down his cock rapidly. Jack knew Daniel’s buttons, too.
A drop of pre-come appeared in the slit of Daniel’s cock, and Daniel wrapped his fist tight around his shaft and pulled upward slowly, gasping. The droplet oozed out, and Jack abandoned Daniel’s sac to reach up for it. He caught it with his thumb and spread it around in the slit for a few seconds, then brought his thumb to his lips and licked at it, watching Daniel’s face flush.
“You want a taste?” Daniel knelt up and inched closer. “Just a little taste, just a lick. We don’t want you to start coughing.”
“Jesus, no,” Jack agreed wholeheartedly. “I’ll be good.”
Daniel leaned over him and Jack opened his mouth. Daniel pressed his cock down, dragging it over Jack’s lower lip, making it damp. Jack shuddered with pleasure and then winced with pain as his ribs protested. He stuck out his tongue and licked his lip, inhaling Daniel’s musky scent.
“Jack,” Daniel whispered, pressing shallowly into his mouth.
Jack closed his lips around Daniel’s hardness, and the salty and slightly bitter tang that met his tongue electrified him. He’d grown to love this taste, strange at first but welcomed. Very soon it had become necessary, part of him. He let his tongue slide over silken steel, softly, then firmly. He moaned to let Daniel know how good it was to have even an inch of him in his mouth. Daniel stroked his hair and let him have his moment.
Finally Daniel pulled out, gave Jack a hard kiss and climbed back between his legs. “That’s a happier looking cock,” he said, smiling.
“Mm-hm,” Jack agreed, pressing his palms down into the mattress and sliding his fingers back and forth.
Daniel gave both their cocks a few long, smooth jerks and then pressed the dripping head of his cock against Jack’s shaft and rubbed it up and down. Kneeling back, he wrapped his hands around Jack and twisted gently in opposite directions. “That’s my come making you all slick for me.”
“Some of that might be mine,” Jack gasped.
Daniel slid a hand over the head of Jack’s cock, gathering up the moisture beading there and re-distributing it. “Yes,” he said. He began to stroke upwards, one hand, then the other. Again and again.
It was different without actual lube, their constant companion. Rougher, a different sort of friction. Even the air was different without that familiar scent. The only smells in the room were those produced by their two bodies, by nature. It was, somehow, intimacy without barriers, as intense as the first time they’d fucked with the box of condoms relegated ceremoniously to the wastebasket.
Jack watched Daniel’s swiftly moving hands and would have been prepared to swear in a court of law that he could feel his fingerprints. When Daniel added a twist to each upstroke, Jack’s hips moved, and his brain gave him a split-second’s warning about the twinge that would follow. But the pain was muted at this point. Arousal and whatever attendant endorphins were floating through his bloodstream apparently trumped bruised ribs.
Daniel’s mouth was on him now, sliding sideways up his cock, licking the head, sucking the top two inches in while his hand jerked and squeezed the base of his shaft.
“God, Daniel,” Jack groaned. He reached down and gripped Daniel’s shoulder. His breath hitched as he neared his climax.
Daniel sucked harder.
“Coming,” Jack warned.
Daniel lifted his head, smacking his lips, and began to pump his fist furiously.
Jack’s semen dribbled out, coating Daniel’s fingers and spattering onto his own stomach. He cried out and spurted again.
Daniel dropped down over him onto one hand and jerked himself off with the hand covered with Jack’s come. His knuckles brushed repeatedly over Jack’s post-orgasm hypersensitive ball sac. Jack’s spent cock twitched in response. Daniel’s eyes screwed tight-shut as he came, clear liquid spraying over Jack. Daniel’s lips were parted soundlessly.
“Baby,” Jack said in tired appreciation.
Daniel opened heavy-lidded eyes and swayed on his knees. He stared down at their commingled fluids, lowered his head. Rubbed his face gently against Jack’s package and belly, kissing him quietly. His face was streaked with come when he raised it. He crawled over Jack wearily, and kissed him with lips that glistened.
Jack was filled with a warmth that stunned him a little. The quick orgasm that he’d envisioned sending him off to dreamland had turned somehow into something laced with meaning and rarely-expressed emotions. But when Daniel pulled away and smiled down at him, all Jack said was, “We taste good.”
Daniel’s eyes crinkled. “Yeah, we do.” He patted Jack’s shoulder. “I’ll get something to clean up with.”
Jack stared at the ceiling thoughtfully. And realized that no matter how far down ‘almost dying’ ranked on his personal list of how incredibly shitty things were, it was undoubtedly the foremost thing in Daniel’s mind.
Daniel was back, with a warm soapy washcloth and a towel, and he was wiping Jack clean with all the care he’d give to an extremely breakable artifact.
“I’m going to be fine, you know.” Jack offered what he could.
Daniel blinked a few times. “Sure.” It almost sounded like a question.
“You know what I need, though?”
Daniel bent down over him. “Anything.”
“I could really use one more pillow.”
Daniel straightened, shook his head and walked out into the hallway, heading for the guest room.
Jack’s half-grin turned to a grimace as he slowly turned over onto his undamaged side.
Daniel appeared with the pillow. “Under your arm?”
“Please.” Jack lifted his left arm and Daniel slid the pillow into place. “Thanks.”
Daniel turned off Jack’s lamp and walked around the bed. He sat down and Jack heard musical beeps. Eventually they stopped and the other lamp went out.
“I’ve set my cell alarm to go off every two and a half hours.”
“Ugh.” Jack heard the sound of a pillow sliding on sheets.
“Yeah,” Daniel said, shifting slowly and carefully behind Jack. “Blame Janet.” He settled in, more towards the foot of the bed than usual.
Jack felt Daniel’s lips press against his shoulder blade, and the arm that draped around him rested on his hip. Daniel’s hand splayed over his abdomen.
Jack felt protected. He let his body relax, but willed his eyes to remain open. Daniel had left the bathroom light on and the door ajar. Jack stared with unfocussed eyes at the thin rectangle of light.
Daniel kissed his shoulder again and Jack smiled. His eyelids sank and slowly rose. Afterglow and industrial strength Tylenol and physical and emotional exhaustion pulled at him enticingly. Sleep. Sleep was good. He was safe. Sleep.
~~~~
Ahmureena was there waiting in the darkness when Jack’s eyes finally closed, but so was Daniel. Warm and alive.
All through the long night, and through all the long nights that followed.
~~~~
It was to be a traditional three-sided tombstone. The carver had to frequently pause in his work. He had daughters of his own.
****
Ahmureena Nerakan
Beloved daughter, sister
granddaughter, niece
Now and forever
eight years old
****
Murdered by the hands
of the wicked
Lifted to the light
to be Eternal
with the blessed
****
She lives on in the hearts
of her people
and guards her soul’s
final guardian,
USAF O’Neill of Earth
****
princessofgfor encouragement and
jd_junkiefor beta duties. I truly appreciate it, ladies.
5,600 words wherein Jack is whumped. Warnings: SAD. Also porny.
AHMUREENA
Jack was guest of honor at a dinner party being thrown by the governor of the province. It wasn’t nearly as boring as he’d been expecting, because, surprisingly, politics appeared to have been put aside for the evening. The other guests were all members of the Governor’s extended family. Sure, they were probably on his side politically, and Jack assumed he was being very smoothly ‘handled’, but there were no boring speeches to sit through and the food was good and there were two or three babies being passed along from lap to lap, and Jack was actually having a pretty good time.
He’d have a better time if his team were there, but Daniel was back on Earth recovering from a bout of bronchitis, and Teal’c and Carter were off at another dinner, less than a mile away, as guests of the city mayor. The Mayor and the Governor were of different generations, different political persuasions and different religions. They loathed each other cordially, and SG-1 was prudently playing no favorites.
After the dinner was over, the banquet table was pulled apart into a dozen smaller sections which were pushed to the sides of the room, leaving the center of the floor open for circulating and chit chat, and for the relatively well-behaved children present to do a little running around to let off some of the steam that had inevitably built up during dinner.
Jack was talking to the Governor’s wife and her brother when the bomb went off.
Something struck him in the side of the head and face, and he went down.
He must have grayed out for a minute. People were screaming and crying and shouting. His first thought was for his teammates before he remembered. Hands rolled him over. “I’m all right,” he said automatically. It was one of the Governor’s sons, helping him to his feet. Jack touched a hand to his bruised cheek and looked around.
The explosive force had been confined to one corner of the room. The people nearer the exit were relatively unscathed. But in the corner, tables were overturned, chairs shattered, chunks of the ceiling had caved in, the floor was buckled. Men were sifting through the debris. Dust and the taste of burned metal filled the air.
A woman passed them, heading for the exit, supporting a man with blood dripping down his sleeve. Head ringing, Jack went to see how he could help.
A man on hands and knees was trying to hold up the end of an inverted table with his shoulders as he reached for someone trapped against the wall. Jack hurried over to take most of the burden of weight. The man called a name, and a screaming child crawled from the bleeding arms of its mother.
“Shh, shh,” the child’s rescuer soothed, gasping. “Papa… Papa has got you now.”
Jack tried to get a closer look at the mother. He saw her leg move. “We need some help over here!” he shouted.
A teenaged girl ran and crouched down. “Sawnde!” she exclaimed, tears streaking her face.
“Take your cousin outside,” the man begged her. The child went willingly into her arms, transferring his stranglehold from his father’s neck to hers, and she whisked it away.
Three men came to help lift the table clear of the injured woman, and Jack left them to it after that, scanning the room. People were being carried or supported to the exit; three obvious corpses had jackets draped over their heads. Two of the Governor’s older grandsons and their father were methodically working their way across the room, double-checking for any victims or survivors that might have been missed in the initial panic.
Jack was about to join them when his attention was caught by the doorway that led to the tiny hall that contained the bathrooms. One of the two swinging doors was still in place, most of the glass blasted out of it. The other door was gone. Had anyone checked the hall and the bathrooms?
No one had. There was a little girl stirring feebly under the wreckage of the missing door. Bits of glass still clung to the frame, so Jack lifted it off of her carefully. He knelt beside her. Her face was pale except for the large bluish lump on her forehead. Her right pupil was blown. Blood trickled from a myriad of small cuts. She began to tremble.
“What’s your name, sweetheart?”
“Ahmureena.”
“Mine’s Jack.”
“I know.” She shivered more violently.
“Can you wiggle your toes and fingers for me? That’s great. I’m just going to feel your neck, real gentle, won’t hurt a bit, I promise.”
“What happened?” Frightened tears welled in her eyes.
“There was an accident,” Jack said. “It’s okay now.”
“I want Mama. Please!” The tears spilled over.
“Then we should go find her,” Jack said. He smiled at her. “Okay? Think you can sit up?”
“Yes.”
“Good girl. Now just put your arm around my neck. Here we go.”
Jack rose with Ahmureena in his arms and began to crunch his way over the shards of broken glass towards the door to the banquet hall.
That was when the second bomb went off.
~~~~
Jack awoke to darkness and the sound of a child’s whimpers. Something warm and wet was running down his neck. When he tried to move, there was a shooting pain along his side and a moan that wasn’t his. A tiny hand scrabbled at his collar. He drew a blank for long, confused seconds. Dinner. Explosion. Tables. Glass. A little girl with frightened eyes and long dark hair glittering with bits of glass, and a green dress flecked with red. “Ahmureena?”
“Mama.” It was a quiet, hopeless plea.
They were pinned down. Buried in rubble. Jack couldn’t even turn his head; it came up against something hard when he tried turning it to the right, and… Ahmureena’s face lay against it on the left. “Can you move at all?” he asked, and coughed. His ribcage twinged again. The child’s weight pressed against him, making it hard to breathe; no, obviously something else was weighing her down. “Can you move, sweetie?”
She whimpered.
Jack was able to move his left hand, and he flailed around until he got a grip on her. Her elbow, it felt like. The hand at his collar twisted weakly into the fabric. He blinked, coughed again, bracing for the pain this time, and fought down a rising sense of panic.
Two. Two explosions.
The darkness around them was gray, not pitch-black. That was good. That was good. Jack strained his ears, but could only hear Ahmureena’s labored breathing. Not so good. “Hold on to me,” he soothed. “They’ll find us soon, you wait and see.”
“Ma….”
“I’m never wrong about these things. We’re gonna be just fine. Just hold on to me.”
She didn’t answer.
Jack kept on soothing and encouraging her, and kept getting no response. His anxiety and sense of powerlessness grew until he was begging her to fight, to hang on. The words were all too familiar, and they burned in his throat.
It was a long time before she stopped whimpering.
Her last breath gusted across his lips just as he inhaled. Her fingers uncurled against his neck.
She was gone. Gone. He’d tried to save her and he’d failed. He was useless, and another child had paid the price for his failure.
He began to sob. Ahmureena’s body shifted with his body’s involuntary movements; her lips touched his.
Jack went away.
He escaped into the past, because the old pain was a familiar one, and almost comforting in comparison to this fresh horror.
He waited with Charlie for death or rescue.
~~~~
“Two bruised ribs on the left side. Moderate concussion with little or no memory loss. Strained right ankle and numerous minute lacerations on the left arm caused by broken glass. Irritated respiratory tract from inhaling contaminated air.” Janet looked up from the chart. “We’ve strapped the ankle and bandaged the arm and administered oxygen and a cough suppressant. Unfortunately, I can’t give the Colonel anything stronger than Tylenol for the pain at this point, but after we see how he gets through the night I’ll be able to do more for him and those ribs.”
Hammond nodded and turned to Jack’s bed. “You were lucky, son.”
Carter had dialed in to the SGC, and Hammond had sent troops to help search the rubble and aid the victims. Jack had been found by his own people, light and sound pulling him slowly back from his safe haven. Teal’c had been the one to wrap the child’s body in a blanket and take her away. Jack had wanted to scream his relief.
“Yes, sir,” Jack agreed tonelessly.
“Is there anything you need?”
“Out of here.” Jack didn’t look at Janet.
“Doctor Fraiser?” Hammond asked.
“The Colonel needs to be monitored, as I’ve already explained to him. He’s suffered two concussions….”
“I only blacked out once,” Jack told the General. “As I’ve already explained to the warden, here.”
“I’d want to monitor you even if it were just one event, but just because you didn’t lose consciousness doesn’t mean that you weren’t concussed. You were knocked down by a blow to the head and later you were knocked out, which would only serve to compound any damage that might have been caused in the first place.”
“That certainly sounds to me like you’re exactly where you need to be,” Hammond said, shaking his head.
“‘Monitored.’ Meaning you’re going to shine a light in my eyes every couple of hours, right?”
“It’s SOP, Colonel. You’re well aware of that,” Janet answered.
“I’m aware,” Jack said wearily. “It doesn’t have to be here, though, does it? Can’t I sleep in my own bed at least?”
“And have someone stay with you? Doctor? Would that be satisfactory?”
Janet pursed her lips. “I’ll be willing to discuss it a couple of hours from now.”
Jack rolled his eyes.
“Behave,” Hammond said sternly.
~~~~
“Colonel, I don’t want to make the mistake of taking your condition lightly. If anything goes wrong, it would be much better for you to be right here.”
Jack stared up at the lights grimly.
Janet lowered her voice. “I’ll put you in a private room, so you won’t be disturbed.”
Jack blinked and looked at her, at her eyes. “You mean so I won’t disturb anyone. Somebody’s been talking.” He clenched his fists.
“I know a little more about the circumstances surrounding your injury, if that’s what you mean.”
“Carter, I suppose? Teal’c must have told her, but I don’t think he’s the type to go gossiping to you. Was it Carter?”
“Does it matter? It’s important information for me to have in order to treat my patient properly.”
“So now you’re going to get all sensitive and psychological, right? Fucking spare me.”
“Colonel….” Janet’s voice was gentle.
It was the last straw.
“Jesus, just let me go home! I can’t… I can’t….” Jack was horrified to hear a sob catch in his throat. He closed his eyes and turned his face away.
“Did you know that one of the side effects of concussion can be that emotions are brought very close to the surface? It’s an entirely normal reaction.” Janet touched Jack’s shoulder.
Jack swallowed. “No, I didn’t know that. Doesn’t change anything. My entirely normal reaction is to want to get the hell out of here. Take my… nightmares and my temper tantrums home with me. I’m asking you to please let me do that.”
Janet sighed. After a minute she responded, “All right, Colonel. If your vital signs hold up for the next hour, and if you have someone reliable to stay with you, I’ll let you go home.”
~~~~
“Tylenol. Throat lozenges. Cough syrup, which I’d recommend you take at bedtime. An inhaler, which I don’t expect you’re going to need, but I’d rather be safe than sorry.” Janet added the sealed plastic bag containing the inhaler to the sack Daniel was holding open. “The instructions for the inhaler, so you can both read them ahead of any need.”
She looked at Daniel and he nodded.
“Tylenol with codeine for tomorrow. That’s it. No alcohol, wake him every two or three hours, call me right away if you have any concerns.”
“I will.”
“Let’s go,” Jack said brusquely. But he gave Janet’s hand a squeeze as Daniel wheeled him past her.
They left the wheelchair at the main entrance and Jack stood and waited for Daniel to bring his car around to pick him up. It was the first time he’d been on his feet except for a brief bathroom trip. The ankle wasn’t too bad, but he definitely wasn’t ready for any hikes. And limping, as he was reminded when he took the few steps needed to reach the car, jarred his ribs unmercifully.
Daniel wisely didn’t try to help Jack in, or get him settled. In fact, he stared out the windshield the entire time, wincing at Jack’s grunts of pain and drumming his fingers on the steering wheel.
There was no way Jack was putting on a seatbelt. He slowly reached out and turned on the radio, pushing the preset button closest to him. His button. Music from a string quartet filled the air. Daniel put the car into gear, and Jack turned his face to the window.
Six killed. Two critical cases. The bombs had been either poorly designed or poorly placed or poorly timed, or maybe all three. There had been upwards of forty people at the banquet… and the fortunate survivors would be attending a lot of funerals over the next few days. Heavily guarded funerals. The Mayor had placed the city under a strict curfew, the police were out in full force and army troops patrolled the streets while martial law was being considered.
Two extremist groups had claimed responsibility, which could mean it had been neither of them. One had spewed hatred towards off-worlders in their ranting statement, and the other hadn’t even mentioned SG-1 or Earth, just….
A car in the right-hand lane decided that it needed to turn left at the upcoming light, and started to cut across in front of them. “Two o’clock,” Jack warned, bracing himself.
“Wha… whoa!” Daniel braked hard and the offending vehicle cleared their front bumper with about two feet to spare, then slid over into the left-turn lane, where it was greeted with furious honking from whichever unlucky soul it had cut off. Daniel stepped on the gas with a hasty look at the rearview mirror.
“Idiot,” they said in unison, Jack following up his utterance with a groan.
Daniel cleared his throat and laid a hand on Jack’s leg.
Jack sat up a little straighter and turned his face back to the window. After a few more seconds Daniel took his hand away, but Jack knew that it wasn’t due to his lack of response. It was just that Daniel was a two-hands-on-the-wheel at all times kind of guy.
When he realized that he was smiling, he stopped.
~~~~
They were in Jack’s kitchen, and Daniel was unloading the sack of medical supplies. “Are you hungry? Is there anything in the house?”
“They gave me something masquerading as food around suppertime,” Jack answered. “I’d just as soon head straight for bed.”
“Sure, okay. Tylenol and cough syrup first, though, right?”
“Yeah, right.” Jack watched as Daniel got the two bottles open and turned to the sink to fill a glass with water. “What about you? Have you eaten?”
“Yeah, Teal’c and I ate in the mess.” Daniel turned back with the glass.
Jack’s head, which had been slumping towards his chest, lifted. “It was you. You were the one who told Fraiser.”
Daniel’s mouth opened, but he didn’t say anything.
“Damn it, Daniel! What the hell did you think you were doing?”
“Now, look. I was just making sure that Janet knew, which of course it turned out she didn’t, any more than I did before Teal’c told me.”
“So, what, I should have made an announcement to the entire fucking SGC? Or are you taking care of that for me?”
“Jack, this isn’t….”
Jack put a hand to his head, which was aching, and interrupted. “I don’t want to be angry, I don’t want to fight with you.” He took a slow breath and looked at Daniel between his fingers. “I’m cranky.”
Daniel made a face. “Yeah.”
Jack lowered his hand and raised his eyebrows.
“Oh, no, I just meant that you were entitled.” Daniel blinked rapidly, in the way that normally had Jack melting.
“You were going to say something.” Jack waved his hand.
“Oh, I was just going to say that, really, none of this had to do with me hearing about it from Teal’c, or me telling Janet. It really was all about the fact that you weren’t talking about it.”
Jack straightened and narrowed his eyes. “You want me to talk about it? Are you sure?” His voice rose. “You sure you want to hear about what it felt like to….”
“Jack!”
Jack glared.
“Can we go back to you not wanting to be angry?” Daniel set the glass of water down on the counter and slid it and the meds towards Jack. “I didn’t mean to imply that you should have been talking about it.”
Jack turned towards the counter and concentrated on swallowing and washing down the Tylenol through a tight throat.
“I only meant that there was a… a significance to your not talking about it, and I thought that it was important for Janet to have all the facts.”
Jack nodded grudgingly. He could see the logic in that.
“I thought it might sway her in favor of letting you leave, too.”
Jack stared. “Did we have a conversation that I’m not remembering? Asked the man with a concussion, or two.”
Daniel looked taken aback. “What, you think I couldn’t tell that you wanted to get out of there? Aside from which, Jack, you always want to get out of there.”
“True.”
“And after I talked to Teal’c….”
“You figured that I’d prefer to have my nervous breakdown at home.” Jack felt his anger rising again. Which made no sense, because why should he be angry that Daniel understood him better than anyone else?
“Well, again, you’re entitled.”
“Well, that’s just peachy, then,” Jack snapped.
Daniel sighed. “I really am hopelessly inadequate at this kind of thing.”
“No comment,” Jack mumbled.
“I heard that.” Daniel sounded inexpressibly weary.
Jack relaxed the fist he hadn’t realized he’d clenched. “Cranky. Told you. Hey, listen. The guest room’s made up, so why don’t you…?”
“Guest room?”
The air between them vibrated.
“Am I detecting outrage?”
“A little, yeah! All of a sudden you want to shut me out of your life?”
“Jesus, Daniel, way to overreact. It’s one night.”
“One really, really bad, enormously sucky night. Which I have no intention of letting you spend alone.”
“Don’t you think that’s my decision? And you’re going to be popping in every two hours anyway. Speaking of sucky.”
“You’d rather die in your sleep, maybe?”
“Again with the overreacting.”
Daniel’s voice gentled. “There’s no reason for me not to be with you.”
“I am not feeling like company. End of story.”
Daniel paced from one end of the kitchen to the other. “Look, we’ve helped each other through bad dreams before, Jack,” he said rapidly. “I know this is fresh and raw, and unbelievably traumatic. But we both know that time…” he swallowed and turned his head away, “time will help make the unbearable more bearable.”
Jack saw the moisture glistening in Daniel’s eyes and felt a pang. The loss of Sha’re was more recent than his loss of Charlie, and her death, even more recent, must still feel painfully new. It had only been five months.
Five months since he’d tried to comfort Daniel, taken him in his arms, whispered useless words. Five months since the unspoken, unacknowledged thing between them had been made flesh, to put it blasphemously; given voice, ultimately given a name.
“I don’t have to be asleep,” he blurted. “All I have to do is close my eyes. She’s right there.”
And Daniel was right there, in four swift strides. And Jack could see him adjust, in the instant before his arms went around Jack. He avoided the ribs and the bandaged arm and the tender side of the face that would be showing a bruise by morning, and cradled Jack with exquisite care.
It was like the tears that had shone in Daniel’s eyes came rolling out of Jack’s. He wasn’t conscious of them until they fell, soaking Daniel’s shirt.
~~~~
Daniel helped him undress and Jack attended to business in the bathroom on his own. Daniel was in the bed waiting for him when he came out. He settled slowly onto the mattress, wincing, and put out a hand to stop Daniel from pulling the covers up over him. “I was thinking,” he said.
“Oh?” Daniel frowned inquiringly.
“I was thinking that what I really need is to fall asleep fast.”
“Following you,” Daniel said slowly.
“And there’s one sure way to do that.”
Daniel’s eyebrows rose high. “Still following you, I think, but are you sure you’re up to that?”
“Well, nothing too energetic, obviously.”
“Anything’s bound to hurt,” Daniel worried.
“Well, I thought maybe, if you did all the work….”
Daniel smiled at Jack and touched his face. “I could do that.” He threw back the covers and rose to his knees.
Jack carefully spread his legs, and Daniel crawled between them.
“Don’t you move a muscle,” Daniel murmured as he bent forward.
Jack leaned back into his pillows and watched as Daniel’s mouth made a slow approach towards his cock. The first contact of his lips felt good. Daniel was kissing him, and that felt good in all kinds of ways that weren’t sexual. His cock wasn’t terribly interested, but Jack appreciated the display of affection.
Tongue came into play as Daniel went after that one spot, right there, that one on the underside of his cock about two inches down from the head that always got Jack purring. Daniel played with it and Jack’s cock bounced and got a little bit harder, but still not very hard at all. Daniel was going to have to be patient tonight.
Because Jack was a conflicted man. As soon as he came he would be able to drift off to sleep. But as soon as he came he would have to sleep, have to close his eyes. His body craved rest, his mind feared the dark. It was hard to get aroused under the circumstances, and the circumstances included the sharp pain that accompanied every unwary breath or movement, like those that had just taken place when Daniel engulfed the head of his cock and swirled his tongue.
Jack watched Daniel’s face, saw his eyes close as he savored the taste of his favorite plaything. Jack felt the muscles of his own face relaxing. Daniel would be patient. Daniel enjoyed taking his time.
Jack took a deep breath and let it out, feeling the twinge in his ribs.
Daniel opened his eyes and looked up at him. Jack smiled and Daniel’s eyes smiled back, staying locked with his as Daniel opened up wide and slid his mouth down Jack’s shaft. Up and down, slowly, three times as he stared up at Jack.
And then Daniel’s breath caught and he lifted his head hurriedly, coughing. It wasn’t the nasty deep bark that had come with the onset of bronchitis, that was long gone; in fact he’d barely coughed at all in the last few days, not that Jack had heard anyway.
“Well, that was sexy as hell,” Daniel gasped. “Sorry.” He coughed again.
Jack’s heart sank. “This wasn’t such a hot idea.”
“What? No. I’m fine.”
“No you’re not. Neither one of us is really up to this.”
“Jack, you don’t have to do a thing. And I just need to play things a little differently; use my hand more, not go so deep.”
“It’s not worth it. To be honest, I’m having a hard time getting into it. It would just take too long. Let’s forget it.”
“Hard time getting into it?” Daniel shifted position, climbing over Jack’s leg and kneeling next to him. “I can get you in the mood, Jack.” He gave his palm a slow lick and dropped his hand to his cock. “Can’t I?” He started stroking himself.
Jack stared, all thoughts of ‘forgetting it’ forgotten.
Daniel started jerking himself off, using his thumb and forefinger. His other hand crept slowly up over his stomach, his fingers found a nipple and began to toy with it.
Jack made a wordless sound.
“You like watching me,” Daniel murmured. He shifted his knees farther apart. His balls bounced up and down as the skin at the base of his cock was pulled taut and released with each stroke. “And I like putting on a show for you.” He moved his fingers from his nipple up to his mouth and then changed his mind. He stretched his hand out towards Jack’s face. “Get them wet for me,” he said.
Jack opened his mouth and Daniel’s fingers entered. Jack sucked on them softly, watching Daniel’s cock and feeling his own lift. Daniel rubbed Jack’s tongue, and Jack slurped as the fingers left his mouth and went back up to rub saliva onto both nipples, leaving them glistening.
“You are hotter than a really hot thing,” Jack said sincerely.
Daniel smiled. He switched hands, squeezing his cock with his left now and reaching over with his right to cup Jack’s balls. “You make me hot.” His thumb stroked the underside of Jack’s cock. “Getting into it now?”
“Oh, yeah,” Jack acknowledged. “Push those buttons, baby.” He slid his right hand over between Daniel’s spread thighs and underneath his jiggling balls. Daniel leaned forward, pressing himself down into Jack’s hand. Jack squeezed with just the right amount of force, and Daniel’s hand picked up the pace, stripping up and down his cock rapidly. Jack knew Daniel’s buttons, too.
A drop of pre-come appeared in the slit of Daniel’s cock, and Daniel wrapped his fist tight around his shaft and pulled upward slowly, gasping. The droplet oozed out, and Jack abandoned Daniel’s sac to reach up for it. He caught it with his thumb and spread it around in the slit for a few seconds, then brought his thumb to his lips and licked at it, watching Daniel’s face flush.
“You want a taste?” Daniel knelt up and inched closer. “Just a little taste, just a lick. We don’t want you to start coughing.”
“Jesus, no,” Jack agreed wholeheartedly. “I’ll be good.”
Daniel leaned over him and Jack opened his mouth. Daniel pressed his cock down, dragging it over Jack’s lower lip, making it damp. Jack shuddered with pleasure and then winced with pain as his ribs protested. He stuck out his tongue and licked his lip, inhaling Daniel’s musky scent.
“Jack,” Daniel whispered, pressing shallowly into his mouth.
Jack closed his lips around Daniel’s hardness, and the salty and slightly bitter tang that met his tongue electrified him. He’d grown to love this taste, strange at first but welcomed. Very soon it had become necessary, part of him. He let his tongue slide over silken steel, softly, then firmly. He moaned to let Daniel know how good it was to have even an inch of him in his mouth. Daniel stroked his hair and let him have his moment.
Finally Daniel pulled out, gave Jack a hard kiss and climbed back between his legs. “That’s a happier looking cock,” he said, smiling.
“Mm-hm,” Jack agreed, pressing his palms down into the mattress and sliding his fingers back and forth.
Daniel gave both their cocks a few long, smooth jerks and then pressed the dripping head of his cock against Jack’s shaft and rubbed it up and down. Kneeling back, he wrapped his hands around Jack and twisted gently in opposite directions. “That’s my come making you all slick for me.”
“Some of that might be mine,” Jack gasped.
Daniel slid a hand over the head of Jack’s cock, gathering up the moisture beading there and re-distributing it. “Yes,” he said. He began to stroke upwards, one hand, then the other. Again and again.
It was different without actual lube, their constant companion. Rougher, a different sort of friction. Even the air was different without that familiar scent. The only smells in the room were those produced by their two bodies, by nature. It was, somehow, intimacy without barriers, as intense as the first time they’d fucked with the box of condoms relegated ceremoniously to the wastebasket.
Jack watched Daniel’s swiftly moving hands and would have been prepared to swear in a court of law that he could feel his fingerprints. When Daniel added a twist to each upstroke, Jack’s hips moved, and his brain gave him a split-second’s warning about the twinge that would follow. But the pain was muted at this point. Arousal and whatever attendant endorphins were floating through his bloodstream apparently trumped bruised ribs.
Daniel’s mouth was on him now, sliding sideways up his cock, licking the head, sucking the top two inches in while his hand jerked and squeezed the base of his shaft.
“God, Daniel,” Jack groaned. He reached down and gripped Daniel’s shoulder. His breath hitched as he neared his climax.
Daniel sucked harder.
“Coming,” Jack warned.
Daniel lifted his head, smacking his lips, and began to pump his fist furiously.
Jack’s semen dribbled out, coating Daniel’s fingers and spattering onto his own stomach. He cried out and spurted again.
Daniel dropped down over him onto one hand and jerked himself off with the hand covered with Jack’s come. His knuckles brushed repeatedly over Jack’s post-orgasm hypersensitive ball sac. Jack’s spent cock twitched in response. Daniel’s eyes screwed tight-shut as he came, clear liquid spraying over Jack. Daniel’s lips were parted soundlessly.
“Baby,” Jack said in tired appreciation.
Daniel opened heavy-lidded eyes and swayed on his knees. He stared down at their commingled fluids, lowered his head. Rubbed his face gently against Jack’s package and belly, kissing him quietly. His face was streaked with come when he raised it. He crawled over Jack wearily, and kissed him with lips that glistened.
Jack was filled with a warmth that stunned him a little. The quick orgasm that he’d envisioned sending him off to dreamland had turned somehow into something laced with meaning and rarely-expressed emotions. But when Daniel pulled away and smiled down at him, all Jack said was, “We taste good.”
Daniel’s eyes crinkled. “Yeah, we do.” He patted Jack’s shoulder. “I’ll get something to clean up with.”
Jack stared at the ceiling thoughtfully. And realized that no matter how far down ‘almost dying’ ranked on his personal list of how incredibly shitty things were, it was undoubtedly the foremost thing in Daniel’s mind.
Daniel was back, with a warm soapy washcloth and a towel, and he was wiping Jack clean with all the care he’d give to an extremely breakable artifact.
“I’m going to be fine, you know.” Jack offered what he could.
Daniel blinked a few times. “Sure.” It almost sounded like a question.
“You know what I need, though?”
Daniel bent down over him. “Anything.”
“I could really use one more pillow.”
Daniel straightened, shook his head and walked out into the hallway, heading for the guest room.
Jack’s half-grin turned to a grimace as he slowly turned over onto his undamaged side.
Daniel appeared with the pillow. “Under your arm?”
“Please.” Jack lifted his left arm and Daniel slid the pillow into place. “Thanks.”
Daniel turned off Jack’s lamp and walked around the bed. He sat down and Jack heard musical beeps. Eventually they stopped and the other lamp went out.
“I’ve set my cell alarm to go off every two and a half hours.”
“Ugh.” Jack heard the sound of a pillow sliding on sheets.
“Yeah,” Daniel said, shifting slowly and carefully behind Jack. “Blame Janet.” He settled in, more towards the foot of the bed than usual.
Jack felt Daniel’s lips press against his shoulder blade, and the arm that draped around him rested on his hip. Daniel’s hand splayed over his abdomen.
Jack felt protected. He let his body relax, but willed his eyes to remain open. Daniel had left the bathroom light on and the door ajar. Jack stared with unfocussed eyes at the thin rectangle of light.
Daniel kissed his shoulder again and Jack smiled. His eyelids sank and slowly rose. Afterglow and industrial strength Tylenol and physical and emotional exhaustion pulled at him enticingly. Sleep. Sleep was good. He was safe. Sleep.
~~~~
Ahmureena was there waiting in the darkness when Jack’s eyes finally closed, but so was Daniel. Warm and alive.
All through the long night, and through all the long nights that followed.
~~~~
It was to be a traditional three-sided tombstone. The carver had to frequently pause in his work. He had daughters of his own.
****
Ahmureena Nerakan
Beloved daughter, sister
granddaughter, niece
Now and forever
eight years old
****
Murdered by the hands
of the wicked
Lifted to the light
to be Eternal
with the blessed
****
She lives on in the hearts
of her people
and guards her soul’s
final guardian,
USAF O’Neill of Earth
****