The Middle Path: Stepping on the Path
Author:Debra Terry
Fandom:Stargate SG-1/Highlander:The Series
Genres:Crossover, AU
Relationship(s): Jack/Daniel, Jack/Daniel/OFC, Methos/Duncan, past Methos/OFC, past Methos/Duncan/OFC
Disclaimer: I can but dream. I don't own any of the characters but the AU is pretty much mine.
Rating: NC-17
Spoilers: Minor for Abyss
Warnings: Dunno.......you tell me.
Summary: Something wyrd happens in Jack's cell that will change his, Daniel's, and the SGC's fate forever.
Author's Note: Feel free to flame, if this fic makes you uncomfortable or offends you in any way, I want to know about it. Just please respect the community and send them to me at quester@sunflower.com. Everyone will be answered will a rationale for WHY the thing that bothered you is there.
All that Jack could think of is to make the pain stop. Over and over they beat and tortured him, with fire, with whips, with acid that ate into his very bones and over and over they put him in the sarcophagus to heal him so it could all start again. Things were starting to blur around the edges, reality had started to bend. Then he started to hallucinate Daniel, as if he didn't have pain enough.
At first he threw a shoe through him, passed right through, so it must be a hallucination……… right? But Daniel kept insisting that he was real and that he could rescue Jack in the only way that was possible for him, he could choose to ascend. What a pile of crap that was! Ascending was for people like Daniel, brilliant principled people who do good in the universe, not old broken down colonels with so many shadows in his closet he practically had to have two. Anyway what was so great about ascension, he'd be with Daniel sure, something that had been aching in him ever since the archeological pain in the ass had left him, wounded to the heart and alone. Hurt more than he really cared to think about most of the time that Daniel was gone, knowing that if he did actually think about it the gun would have come into his hand and a swift bullet to the brain would follow. But even if he was with Daniel, ascended and everything, they wouldn't be able to….. touch. He was sure that they could combine or some weird ass shit like that but in all of Jack so private bedroom fantasies there had always been touch, a lot of touching, in a lot of ways. No there was only one way to really deal with this mess and he asked his friend, his very best friend, to do it for him.
"You can make sure that the next time I go into the sarc, I don't come out." He stated grimly.
"I can't do that Jack." Daniel said in his usual calm, infuriatingly calm, way, "All you have to do is *want* to ascend."
"Dammnit Daniel! If it was you, I'd do it…………. for you!" He knew inside that he was lying, he would never, could never put out the light that was Daniel Jackson. That light had to be kept burning forever, no matter what the sacrifice.
"Jack." Daniel said then suddenly looked around as a white mist started to obscure everything. He looked confused, Jack thought that a hallucination or an Ascended being, whatever the hell he was now, looking confused was… odd to say the least.
"There is a….. Middle path." A calm, richly toned feminine voice came out of the mist and following it came a figure appearing swiftly from nothing. The first thing that Jack noticed about her was her flaming red hair that was bound in a braid and twisted around her head like a shining crown. She was small too, not much more than Janet Frasier's height, but from the way she held herself and from the sword and spear she carried with casual familiarity he could tell that she was a warrior of some kind. "Wow" Jack said, "Now I'm hallucinating people I don't even know." Jack murmured.
The woman turned immediately to him, smiling calmly, but there was pain in her eyes, lots of different kinds of pain, "I'm not a hallucination, Jack." She said and walked over to him. She crouched down and touched, caressed actually, his cheek. He felt the calluses of hard fighting on her hand, her eyes fluttered closed for a moment and she breathed his name, somehow making it more than it was, more than it had ever been before, he felt a brief flash of…… something, and then the pain was gone. Not only was the pain gone but the weariness and the blurring caused by repeated uses of the sarcophagus was gone. He blinked at her, not missing the flicker of agony that went over her features. "Who the hell….what the hell are you!" Jack asked in a breathless tone.
"I'd uh kinda like to know that myself." Daniel said, sounding almost…. annoyed, "And I'd like to add where are we?"
The woman stepped back and stood and equal distance from both Jack and Daniel. In fact now that Jack thought about it they were in an almost triangular arrangement, weird. "My name is Ariana Pierson and I actually come from Earth, I am….. well, "she looked down and blushed, "quite a few things but right now I'm mostly here as a servant of the Gods….. the True Gods of Logres and probably most of the rest of them as well but I'm not really sure about that." She had some laughter in her voice, something that made Jack want to smile but he didn't. Whenever he heard about Gods it was usually bad news, deadly bad news.
"Logres…..that's a very old name for Britain." Daniel said, "But Gods?" Daniel had now added confused to annoyed. Jack was wondering if he had gone completely nuts, but the feel of her hand on his face had felt so warm…. So real and why would a hallucination of a woman have calluses on her hands?
"Yes Daniel Gods….. the True Gods, the Deities of the Land, and Sea, and Sky. Not an alien race, not technology, not one of your Ascended beings." Her gaze darkened briefly, "They were there before the Ancients, in various forms, and will be there until the Earth is no more; they are a part of the Earth and….try to keep its balances with its people. They are much diminished now but there is still power there and still people who follow Their way. I am one of them."
"And you are offering what….exactly." Jack made sure to keep a sarcastic edge to his tone, trying to push this woman's buttons, make her reveal her true purpose. She just smiled at him fondly as if she were expecting that, in fact the look on her face was not someone meeting new people, she looked as comfortable around them as if she was one of their team mates. That made Jack distinctly uncomfortable. He shifted restlessly and was still surprised by the total absence of pain.
"Like I said a middle path. Not Ascension," she nodded towards Daniel, "And most definitely *not* death." She looked at Jack and something grim in her eyes said to him that that choice was and would never be acceptable to her. There was more stone hard determination in her eyes then he had even seen in Daniel at his most passionate. "There is a way to get back to Earth or actually to the Alpha Site, which is a bit safer for you, but there are a few catches." She looked distinctly disturbed and a bit ashamed, like she wanted to just give him, them, this gift and ask for nothing, except it wasn't allowed her.
"Oh here we go! What do we have to do give up our souls or swear eternal allegiance or something?" Jack was SO not happy about this.
"No, that allegiance is not yours to swear. Such a commitment can only be taken knowingly and willingly, with all your heart, soul, and mind. What you have to do, and it has to be both of you, is choose to take me as your guide and walk this path before you. That will mean that Daniel must choose to descend and Jack, you must give up some control and follow my lead for a time. The path through the mists always tests you. We will all be tested, just as I was tested to get here, and it will take some time. I'm not really sure how much time exactly, time moves much differently in the Mists then it does out side it. I was able to get here fast because the need was great and I had paid the price. The way back will not be so fast."
Daniel raised a finger in protest and Jack almost laughed, it seemed like they were back at the SGC in the briefing room. "Let me understand this here. I have to Descend to get on this middle path and what exactly happens if I don't?" Jack could tell that Daniel was starting to shade from annoyed into angry and Jack wasn't far behind him. Was this woman just going to hang him out to dry if Daniel didn't give up the damned UNIVERSE to help Jack?
"Then I'm afraid Jack will remain here." She raised her hand as both men started to protest. "And I will remain with him. I have abilities to hide myself from his captors, I am an empath and a Healer and will be able to take his pain and injuries even unto death, and even then I am an Immortal so unless my head suddenly flies from my shoulders I will revive and heal from every death. I knew this coming in, it was part of my price, and I am willing to pay." She said this so calmly, Jack somehow knew that she would endure everything that he did, everything that they would do to him. Why the Hell was she doing this?
"Why?" was all he managed to get out of that question.
"Because you are important to Earth, both of you. The Earth has felt your absence these many months, Daniel, and she has grieved." This Ariana wasn't looking at them directly, she was hiding something; Jack wondered what but Daniel beat him to the punch.
"You talk of the Earth as if it were a sentient being, not a planet." Daniel said, Jack had seen this sparkle in Danny's eyes before, he was making connections.
"She is, the Mother of us all, and she has children both Homo Sapiens Sapiens and," she shrugged, "The Gods. Everything has a soul Daniel, even planets." She said softly, like a mother to a child.
"A lot of cultures go through the stage of thinking that…."
Ariana shrugged again, "They're right. Or at least they are A right. Truth comes in many forms. As someone once told you all paths lead to the Great Path."
Both men reared back in surprise: no one outside the SGC should know this, "Shifu." Daniel murmured, "But isn't being Ascended the….uh Great Path?" Daniel eyebrows furrowed in complexity.
"No Daniel, I'm sorry, it is not. The Ancient….. Ascended Path is one that focuses on a single personality evolving to a different plane of not so much existence as experience. Then there is the path that most humans of Earth take, it can lead to many lives in which they learn, or even just one, whatever they believe in their hearts to be right for them. It is always down to personal choice, but mostly taken in ignorance. Then there is the middle path that some still follow, where mortals choose their lives knowingly to learn and Immortals strive in their physical lives to learn. To exist in balance between the mind and heart and spirit, between the individual, the People, and the Earth herself. That is the way I am offering you both. But you only have to…. well accept it's existence and trust me as guide long enough to get the hell out of here and to the Alpha site." The woman, who Jack could see was wearing some kind of woolen garments under some crude leather armor, wiped her forehead. Her whole face was bathed in sweat.
"What wrong with you? And how do you know about us, even our names, and what are you getting out of this!?" Jack had always believed in a healthy self interest for anyone, he hadn't met a supposed ally yet that didn't want SOMETHING for their time.
"Right now I am holding you in a kind of Limbo, Jack, so your captors can't come for you. That requires some energy, some effort." Ariana said, "As to how I know you, about you I can't tell you or show you until after you have made your choice. As for what I'm getting." Ariana looked away from them and a slight blush stained the cream of her cheeks, "I get to offer the choice."
"I thought the Earth, or well the Gods of Earth were offering the choice?" Daniel asked quickly, tilting his head in inquiry.
Ariana's reply was very low and a little shaky, "I asked them to offer the choice."
Jack was getting tired of this, he clambered to his feet, "Okay then again we come around to the same question, WHY are YOU doing this!?"
Ariana half bowed, as if she had been struck in the stomach, "I CAN'T tell you, either of you. Not until the choice is made. My reason would influence the choice and the choice must be made FREE, not in obligation or for repayment of any sort! Jack, do you want to get out of here?" she demanded, cutting down to the bottom line.
"Hell, YES!"
"Okay. Daniel, "Ariana turned to the former archeologist, "will you walk the middle path, come back to Earth, back to SG-1, back to Jack?" A speaking look passed between this strange woman and Jack's friend that left the Colonel confused.
"Give up being ascended to get Jack out of here….. and you." Daniel mused.
"I am immaterial; I am where I must be." Ariana replied stiffly, "I am where I am needed."
"But that doesn't absolve me of the responsibility." Whatever else Daniel was going to say was interrupted by the sudden presence of another being, a shining form that Jack well knew.
"Well, Oma Desala, the gang's all here." Jack commented bitterly. He had seen what Oma could do, he KNEW the Ascended being could tear this place apart and rescue him without taking this 'middle path' whatever it was. Her power was strongly evident, battering against both Jack and Daniel; however Ariana seemed unaffected and in fact affronted.
"Daniel you are violating the rules." She first scolded Daniel like an irritated mother, "You know you must give up these corporeal things to grow. You must give up your old life to live your new." Then she turned to Ariana, who had crossed her arms over her chest, "Lady, you are trying to take one of my children."
"I am not TAKING anyone." Ariana said in a voice so full of rage that both Daniel and Jack took a step back, "I am giving one of Earth's children a CHOICE, you who would mask herself as the Earth Mother! They may leave with my help, or they may stay with my help, either way they get my help."
"And I know why!" Oma raged, Jack was stunned to see a supposedly always serene ascended being lose it so badly, "It is because you…"
"NO!" Ariana stated in a command voice so absolute that Jack felt his own mouth seal shut; it seemed to have the same effect on Oma. "That is not your secret to tell and would influence the choice, for good or ill. The choice must be made free. You and your kind left the Earth a long time ago, making your choice and leaving her concerns behind for your other path, leaving her to be taken over by the goua'ld, also for good or ill. Only the Sacred Isles were spared until a new defense was formed." Somehow Jack didn't think she meant the SGC. "Daniel," she appealed again, "I am giving you the choice, we are at a crossroads here, and it is for you to choose the path."
Daniel looked at Oma, who still somehow couldn't speak. He looked at Ariana, standing ready to take whatever action came from his choice. And then he looked at Jack, he looked at Jack a long time. "There was an old Irish story about a bard taken by the Faerie, he saw one path, broad and wide, that led to Hell. Then there was another road, narrow, rocky and full of," he glanced at Jack again, "sacrifices. And then there was a middle path, only to be taken by bards, dreamers, and the Fae."
"Yes." Ariana breathed in confirmation. It felt to Jack like the whole universe held it's breath for Daniel's next sentence.
"I ….." he looked at Jack again, and Jack saw something there that he had only half glimpsed before, "I choose the middle path." Daniel and Jack both found themselves taking steps forward and taking one of Ariana's hands in theirs. Oma seemed to try to protest, try to fling around her power at them but she was lost in the mist in seconds as were they.
"Welcome to the middle path." Ariana smiled at them both as if all her wishes had suddenly come true. It was beautiful, blinding, and of fierce, fierce joy.
Jack and Daniel walked for awhile, blinded by the mist, guided only by the hands of Ariana and connected by each others' hands that they had blindly sought out in the mist. After a while however it cleared. And though the near horizon was still shrouded by the same white mist, they could see under their feet grass and the suggestion of rolling green hills. "Are we on Alpha already?" Jack asked, "Do you really even know where Alpha is?" he asked the flame haired woman that had become their guide.
"No we are not there. But I do know where we are going or at least how to get there." she panted back at them, laying her spear with the due care of a warrior upon the ground and practically collapsing down beside it. "We are in the Otherworld, sometimes known, Daniel, as Faerie. It's a place between realities where everything is equally possible. Where most of the Gods, and some of the dead who chose to, live. You can get anywhere through the mists, but the farther out from Earth, at least for someone born of Earth, the more effort it takes. You were….. very far out, so if you could give me a moment." She was still breathing heavily and even seemed to be shaking a bit from her effort. She drew up her knees and clasped them against her chest.
"Jack!" Daniel clutched Jack's hand probably unconsciously, looking around with unalloyed delight "This is just like in the old fairytales; The Land of Summer's Twilight!"
"Uh Daniel." Jack pointed out, tugging on his hand, "You're like….. solid." He brought his other hand up to pat Daniel's face, "Yup, definitely solid." Jack felt like he wanted to jump for joy and run some kind of victory lap. His best friend, the man he had secretly been in love with for quite some time was solid to his touch again. Jack wanted to pull him into a hug but didn't dare, he knew it would give him away. He thought he had known what he'd seen in Daniel's eyes when he made the choice but he was sure yet. And he had to be sure before he could make a move, a wrong move right now could destroy them both.
Daniel jumped back a bit and dropped Jack's hand, the Colonel kinda hoped it was only in shock, "Uh yeah, I am. Am I…..descended?" he asked their guide, who was still resting on the ground.
Ariana grinned wearily up at them, "Well, let's just say you are descending. By the time you reach Alpha you will have lost the memories of most of what you have done as an ascended, only the really personal important things." She glanced up at him wickedly, "Only those things where you skirted those pesky rules for your friends will remain. The rest will remain with Oma. I'm afraid, the Ascended don't share their secrets widely."
Jack collapsed on the ground somewhat wearily himself, "Why am I not surprised, every time we think we might get ahead…." He thumped his P-90 on the ground and then suddenly he realized he had a P-90 to thump. He looked down and realized he was completely redressed in full SG-1 gear, as was Daniel. "What the Hell?"
"Truth Jack." Ariana said, smiling softly, "The first thing this place shows you is the truth about how you essentially see yourselves: you two see yourselves as members of SG-1, and so there you are, dressed to fit the part."
Daniel sat down a little more sedately then Jack had, "What you are wearing, it isn't clothing from any modern Earth culture I've ever heard of."
"That's because it isn't." Ariana answered, "The tribe I was born in doesn't exist anymore. I was born to a small obscure tribe that lived in Britain about 500 B.C.," a flash a pain and guilt so intense it made Jack jump slightly appeared over her face and then it was gone, "It's long since disappeared along with it's name and history. When I told you I could survive anything but my head coming away from my shoulders I meant it. I'm Immortal and roughly 2500 years old. I've just recently discovered that the Immortals were," she scratched the side of her face, "sort of brought forth by the Earth and Her Gods to act as a defense against the Goua'ld, perhaps others not of the Earth as well. A last line of defense. And if I ever find the idiot who started 'There Can Be Only One'……." She cut herself off and her normally bright emerald eyes darkened towards the deepest black for a moment, but she shook herself out of it with an effort. "Well that's a whole other situation, frankly yours was more immediate. That was my first test, which should I go to first, you or any Immortals that I knew."
"You came to us," Daniel murmured in his 'trying to put all the facts together voice', "You *asked* to come to us to give us this choice." He looked over her fairly exhausted state, "And it wasn't easy for you…."
"Yeah, again I gotta ask why? We've made the choice, can you answer now? I'm dyin here! How do you even know us?"
Ariana looked at the ground, practically squirming in embarrassment, "Okay." She said, shifted to her side away from the spear and waved her hand over the grass. A pool of clear water appeared, she looked at their shocked faces, "Here, gentlemen reality is quite relative and somewhat fluid. It only takes knowing the trick of it to change it. This will show you how I experience alternate realties in a way you can understand."
"Alternate realties, like the Quantum Mirror we found?" Daniel asked.
"Exactly, except the Quantum Mirror isn't able to reach all the realities that there are. It is a finite object and so can only capture finite realities, the human, or Immortal, mind is infinite. Not only for every decision made is there an alternate reality but for every decision thought of there is also a reality. And even more strange to you, not only those choices made in what you would term 'real' reality but in fiction as well." In the pool Jack and Daniel saw themselves in various situations, various lives, most of them passed too fast for them to identify anything other than the fact that it was indeed them.
"So for every piece of fiction there is a reality in which it happened." Daniel postulated.
"Exactly so and the reverse is also true. For everything that you hold as 'real' there is a world that it is fiction on." The pool cleared and it showed someone they couldn't quite see watching a television set. On the television set was THEM, one of their early missions, both Jack and Daniel recognized it. It shocked them to the core. "Hmmmm, looks like reruns tonight, or DVD's." Ariana murmured.
"How….how do you KNOW, how did you DISCOVER this!" Daniel gasped. Somehow neither of the men could deny what they were seeing was real for some reason, it stuck too true.
"I'm an anomaly." Ariana said, waving her hand over the water and clearing it of the disturbing image. "Not many of my alternates are very much like me. Most don't have the same name or face, not totally sure why, we only share the same spirit, the same passions." For some reason this made her blush. "I was trained, programmed really, by the elders of my tribe to take glimpses into the future, but I found as time passed that the more I looked into the future the more alternates I saw. The more alternates I saw, the more curious I became about looking 'sideways' so to say, and I've seen some *very* strange things." She shuddered, her whole body shaking, "Some things I can't really even bring myself to face for various reasons. But some 'realities' are stronger than others. Like that television show you saw, that gets a lot of viewers, a lot of people thinking, following, and giving it an…. Energy of a sort. From it have spawned many 'smaller' realities."
"But which one is the 'main' reality?" Daniel asked.
Ariana shrugged and laughed, "Beats the hell out of me! I figure you have to do the best with the reality you are given. On some of the realties I've seen my alternates are practically powerless for one reason or another, even house bound, here I…. well I have a lot of talents as you will come to know. I figure my talent for looking at these realities gives me a chance to make things better here, where I can make a difference."
"And that's why you came for us?" Jack surmised.
"Yes!" Ariana agreed almost eagerly, then there was a thunderclap overhead, deafening them for a moment, although the sky was clear. As their hearing returned they could hear Ariana swearing or apparently so, sulfurously, Jack only recognized half the words but those would make an entire Marine squad blush, "The …..inhabitants of this place don't take kindly to untruths or," she yelled at the sky, "Even half truths! You could have given me a little time you know!"
Jack shook his head groggily, "Excuse me?"
Ariana sighed and looked at the two men then focused on Jack, "Look I was first and foremost an empath-born, my power comes from my passions, my emotions. The more passion I have, the more power I possess." Her eyes bored into Jack's, willing him to make the connection but it was Daniel who connected the dots, of course.
"So for you to reach that deep into interstellar space, to another planet on the other side of the galaxy you would have to be…."
"Deeply, irrevocably, passionately, madly, hopelessly in love? Yeah, that about covers it." Ariana looked down at her fidgeting hands, as red as a beet, and the two men starred at her. They looked at each other, not knowing what to say.
Jack cleared his throat uncomfortably. "Look I'm sure you are a very nice lady and I am really, really, grateful that you got me out of that mess but that doesn't mean….." He was stopped by Ariana leaning forward and putting gentle fingers on his lips. Her eyes were infinitely understanding and infinitely loving.
"Jack, I don't expect anything from you." She removed her fingers immediately, not wanting to make him uncomfortable apparently. She looked at Daniel, who looked equally uncomfortable and actually rather pissed. "Either of you. All I'm telling you is what gave me the power to get me to you and to offer this path. And it is, the passion, for both of you." She looked down at the ground, twisting blades of grass around her fingers. "I personally wouldn't want to live in a universe where Jack O'Niell didn't have Daniel Jackson at his side. When I see realties where that doesn't happen or one of you dies for real and forever…." Silent tears watered the ground. "…can't face it." She whispered.
"That's why it had to be both of us on the middle path." Daniel said, shaken and a little awed by this woman's power of emotion, and what it brought forth.
"Partially." Ariana said in a quiet voice, "that is part of it truly. The other part you have to tell each other." She abruptly got to her feet. "If you'll excuse me for just a minute I think I have embarrassed myself enough to last at least a century or two." She walked a little distance away from them, facing away and staring out into the mist, undoing her braid absently.
"The other part we have to tell each other." Daniel echoed, "Is there something you need to tell me, Jack?"
Daniel's face was a mask; Jack couldn't tell whether he saw fear, revulsion, hope or desire in his eyes. For a moment Jack was going to get past the moment with some kind of humor, some kind of sarcastic wisecrack, anything to take the pressure off him, but then he remembered the reaction to Ariana's less then perfect truth and sighed, "Daniel….Danny, ever since you've been gone, God! My heart's been this big heavy stone in my chest. I look at Jonas on the team and I HATE him because he's not you. I've been like a wounded grizzly bear since you left." He sighed again, finally letting the truth free, feeling the burden of it lift off him. "The fact is, Danny, I've been in love with you for a while. That's why I started pushing you down, that's why I started that stupid flirting with Carter! I didn't want anyone, least of all you to find out. I didn't realize what I was missing until you left." Jack sat up straighter, then jumped to his feet. "When you left!" He ran to Ariana whirled her around and started shaking her. "Where the hell were you when Kelwona happened, huh?! Where were you when his flesh was dripping from his bones! Where were you when I had to let him go!" Jack's shaking grew violent, his grip bruising.
"Jack stop it!" Daniel grabbed him and pinned his arms to his sides, pulling Jack away from Ariana, "Jack I love you too! I did love you and it was hurting too much! That's one of the reasons that I left." Jack collapsed on the ground, pounding it in his fury and grief, Daniel holding him and trying to comfort him through his own tears, and Ariana was collapsed nearby where Jack had practically thrown her, also weeping.
"I….I didn't know Jack." She sobbed, "I don't…I don't just look I also live, and a very dangerous life. I was….I was involved with some," she licked her lips, " things that made me begin the search that finally led to you and the search was long in itself. You were very, very easy to fall in love with Jack. Both of you were. And I saw what you were doing right before Daniel left, and I ached. Then I saw….him leave only a week after it actually happened!" Her cry was one of despair remembered as she clutched her hands to her chest and started rocking, "I wanted to come to you Jack, for your pain, for mine. But you could have never accepted me in Daniel's place, you had a Daniel-shaped hole in your life that I could not hope to fill and you would have hated me for trying. I had to wait for an opportunity, a crossroads where Daniel could have a chance to remake his choice without the threat of death. I would have taken your pain Jack, your torture and your deaths. I would have kept you free from the sarcophagus, kept you alive no matter what, even if it cost me my head. It's all I could do if Daniel hadn't chosen this path and I would have done it gladly and in perfect love and perfect trust." Her voice had sank to a small sobbed whisper and she still rocked back and forth, trying to comfort herself.
Jack also rocked and pounded the ground in his fury and long withheld grief, but he had Daniel beside him. Daniel, who was solid and warm, who was rocking with him his arms around him, who was gently kissing his neck and his face and everywhere he could reach. Daniel who gentled him with calming words and firm caresses, "It's okay now Jack, I'm here and it's over. I'm here and it over and I love you too, God so much!" It finally penetrated Jack's fog and dissipated his rage and grief.
"God Danny…. Danny." Jack whispered with a roughened voice. He turned and took his first taste of Daniel's lips. He must have imagined it and dreamed it a million times and it was a million times better than his wildest dreams. It felt so good, so right. Daniel fit right into his arms as if they were made for each other and the two men practically dove into each other's mouths, devouring each other until they absolutely had to come up for air. Then Daniel's head cocked and Jack could hear the quiet sobs still going on behind him.
"Something was happening to you, wasn't it Ari?" the gentle archeologist asked, still holding onto Jack, still soothing him. "Something that started you looking else where, something that MADE you look."
Ari nodded, but couldn't seem to speak, she looked almost paralyzed with grief, on the verge of going into shock. Then Jack made the connection, she was an empath, she was feeling their emotional storm as well as her own, "Can," Jack croaked and then cleared his throat, "Can you tell us about it?" It was the least he could do for some one who had brought Danny, HIS Danny back to him.
Ari shook her head, gulping air to try to calm herself, "Not, not yet but I'm sure you're going to learn the whole sorry tale. This is a place not only for truth but of Balance. By the time we get to Alpha you two will probably know as much about me as I know about you. It's….part of the price."
"And you knew the price before you came for us, for Jack?" Daniel asked softly.
Ariana sighed shakily, tears still running down her face, "Oh……yeah. I pretty much knew what would happen whichever the choice came down to. I was….informed about it but I just couldn't handle what was happening to Jack," she bowed her head again, "Just couldn't!"
Daniel drew just a little away from his colonel, "Jack?" he asked a whole volume of questions with a single word. Jack answered with a nod. Daniel got up and went over to Ariana, picking her up with gentle hands. She leaned against him, wrung out from all her efforts and emotions, their emotions as well Jack knew. "What do you need Ari?" the infinitely gentle man asked her.
"Heartbeat. Need Jack's heartbeat. Please." She whispered, barely able to stand. Daniel half-carried her over to Jack and the (not so tough as nails) colonel gathered the woman to his side, placing her head just where she wanted it while he laid down, also exhausted. "Yes. Heartbeat. Safe now." The woman sighed, her hair spreading over Jack's chest like a blanket. The two men looked at each other. Safe from what, they wondered.
"Danny, keep watch, can you? I think you are the best off of us." Jack said softly. Daniel's kiss had been the best thing in his life to date but Ariana softly nuzzling into his chest wasn't half bad either. He didn't know if it was her empathy or what but some how he knew that she trusted him absolutely, and she had given him back his Danny, made their love complete. That was more than enough to make him cradle her gently, rubbing her back. The leather armor seemed to have disappeared but then she said this place was malleable. Jack shrugged a bit.
Daniel picked up the P-90 and settled down next to the older man, sliding one hand into his silver grey hair, "I'll keep watch, Jack. You sleep for a while. I've got your six and don't intend to let go….ever." Jack chuckled sleepily at his Danny's determination and let himself drift away.
Fandom:Stargate SG-1/Highlander:The Series
Genres:Crossover, AU
Relationship(s): Jack/Daniel, Jack/Daniel/OFC, Methos/Duncan, past Methos/OFC, past Methos/Duncan/OFC
Disclaimer: I can but dream. I don't own any of the characters but the AU is pretty much mine.
Rating: NC-17
Spoilers: Minor for Abyss
Warnings: Dunno.......you tell me.
Summary: Something wyrd happens in Jack's cell that will change his, Daniel's, and the SGC's fate forever.
Author's Note: Feel free to flame, if this fic makes you uncomfortable or offends you in any way, I want to know about it. Just please respect the community and send them to me at quester@sunflower.com. Everyone will be answered will a rationale for WHY the thing that bothered you is there.
All that Jack could think of is to make the pain stop. Over and over they beat and tortured him, with fire, with whips, with acid that ate into his very bones and over and over they put him in the sarcophagus to heal him so it could all start again. Things were starting to blur around the edges, reality had started to bend. Then he started to hallucinate Daniel, as if he didn't have pain enough.
At first he threw a shoe through him, passed right through, so it must be a hallucination……… right? But Daniel kept insisting that he was real and that he could rescue Jack in the only way that was possible for him, he could choose to ascend. What a pile of crap that was! Ascending was for people like Daniel, brilliant principled people who do good in the universe, not old broken down colonels with so many shadows in his closet he practically had to have two. Anyway what was so great about ascension, he'd be with Daniel sure, something that had been aching in him ever since the archeological pain in the ass had left him, wounded to the heart and alone. Hurt more than he really cared to think about most of the time that Daniel was gone, knowing that if he did actually think about it the gun would have come into his hand and a swift bullet to the brain would follow. But even if he was with Daniel, ascended and everything, they wouldn't be able to….. touch. He was sure that they could combine or some weird ass shit like that but in all of Jack so private bedroom fantasies there had always been touch, a lot of touching, in a lot of ways. No there was only one way to really deal with this mess and he asked his friend, his very best friend, to do it for him.
"You can make sure that the next time I go into the sarc, I don't come out." He stated grimly.
"I can't do that Jack." Daniel said in his usual calm, infuriatingly calm, way, "All you have to do is *want* to ascend."
"Dammnit Daniel! If it was you, I'd do it…………. for you!" He knew inside that he was lying, he would never, could never put out the light that was Daniel Jackson. That light had to be kept burning forever, no matter what the sacrifice.
"Jack." Daniel said then suddenly looked around as a white mist started to obscure everything. He looked confused, Jack thought that a hallucination or an Ascended being, whatever the hell he was now, looking confused was… odd to say the least.
"There is a….. Middle path." A calm, richly toned feminine voice came out of the mist and following it came a figure appearing swiftly from nothing. The first thing that Jack noticed about her was her flaming red hair that was bound in a braid and twisted around her head like a shining crown. She was small too, not much more than Janet Frasier's height, but from the way she held herself and from the sword and spear she carried with casual familiarity he could tell that she was a warrior of some kind. "Wow" Jack said, "Now I'm hallucinating people I don't even know." Jack murmured.
The woman turned immediately to him, smiling calmly, but there was pain in her eyes, lots of different kinds of pain, "I'm not a hallucination, Jack." She said and walked over to him. She crouched down and touched, caressed actually, his cheek. He felt the calluses of hard fighting on her hand, her eyes fluttered closed for a moment and she breathed his name, somehow making it more than it was, more than it had ever been before, he felt a brief flash of…… something, and then the pain was gone. Not only was the pain gone but the weariness and the blurring caused by repeated uses of the sarcophagus was gone. He blinked at her, not missing the flicker of agony that went over her features. "Who the hell….what the hell are you!" Jack asked in a breathless tone.
"I'd uh kinda like to know that myself." Daniel said, sounding almost…. annoyed, "And I'd like to add where are we?"
The woman stepped back and stood and equal distance from both Jack and Daniel. In fact now that Jack thought about it they were in an almost triangular arrangement, weird. "My name is Ariana Pierson and I actually come from Earth, I am….. well, "she looked down and blushed, "quite a few things but right now I'm mostly here as a servant of the Gods….. the True Gods of Logres and probably most of the rest of them as well but I'm not really sure about that." She had some laughter in her voice, something that made Jack want to smile but he didn't. Whenever he heard about Gods it was usually bad news, deadly bad news.
"Logres…..that's a very old name for Britain." Daniel said, "But Gods?" Daniel had now added confused to annoyed. Jack was wondering if he had gone completely nuts, but the feel of her hand on his face had felt so warm…. So real and why would a hallucination of a woman have calluses on her hands?
"Yes Daniel Gods….. the True Gods, the Deities of the Land, and Sea, and Sky. Not an alien race, not technology, not one of your Ascended beings." Her gaze darkened briefly, "They were there before the Ancients, in various forms, and will be there until the Earth is no more; they are a part of the Earth and….try to keep its balances with its people. They are much diminished now but there is still power there and still people who follow Their way. I am one of them."
"And you are offering what….exactly." Jack made sure to keep a sarcastic edge to his tone, trying to push this woman's buttons, make her reveal her true purpose. She just smiled at him fondly as if she were expecting that, in fact the look on her face was not someone meeting new people, she looked as comfortable around them as if she was one of their team mates. That made Jack distinctly uncomfortable. He shifted restlessly and was still surprised by the total absence of pain.
"Like I said a middle path. Not Ascension," she nodded towards Daniel, "And most definitely *not* death." She looked at Jack and something grim in her eyes said to him that that choice was and would never be acceptable to her. There was more stone hard determination in her eyes then he had even seen in Daniel at his most passionate. "There is a way to get back to Earth or actually to the Alpha Site, which is a bit safer for you, but there are a few catches." She looked distinctly disturbed and a bit ashamed, like she wanted to just give him, them, this gift and ask for nothing, except it wasn't allowed her.
"Oh here we go! What do we have to do give up our souls or swear eternal allegiance or something?" Jack was SO not happy about this.
"No, that allegiance is not yours to swear. Such a commitment can only be taken knowingly and willingly, with all your heart, soul, and mind. What you have to do, and it has to be both of you, is choose to take me as your guide and walk this path before you. That will mean that Daniel must choose to descend and Jack, you must give up some control and follow my lead for a time. The path through the mists always tests you. We will all be tested, just as I was tested to get here, and it will take some time. I'm not really sure how much time exactly, time moves much differently in the Mists then it does out side it. I was able to get here fast because the need was great and I had paid the price. The way back will not be so fast."
Daniel raised a finger in protest and Jack almost laughed, it seemed like they were back at the SGC in the briefing room. "Let me understand this here. I have to Descend to get on this middle path and what exactly happens if I don't?" Jack could tell that Daniel was starting to shade from annoyed into angry and Jack wasn't far behind him. Was this woman just going to hang him out to dry if Daniel didn't give up the damned UNIVERSE to help Jack?
"Then I'm afraid Jack will remain here." She raised her hand as both men started to protest. "And I will remain with him. I have abilities to hide myself from his captors, I am an empath and a Healer and will be able to take his pain and injuries even unto death, and even then I am an Immortal so unless my head suddenly flies from my shoulders I will revive and heal from every death. I knew this coming in, it was part of my price, and I am willing to pay." She said this so calmly, Jack somehow knew that she would endure everything that he did, everything that they would do to him. Why the Hell was she doing this?
"Why?" was all he managed to get out of that question.
"Because you are important to Earth, both of you. The Earth has felt your absence these many months, Daniel, and she has grieved." This Ariana wasn't looking at them directly, she was hiding something; Jack wondered what but Daniel beat him to the punch.
"You talk of the Earth as if it were a sentient being, not a planet." Daniel said, Jack had seen this sparkle in Danny's eyes before, he was making connections.
"She is, the Mother of us all, and she has children both Homo Sapiens Sapiens and," she shrugged, "The Gods. Everything has a soul Daniel, even planets." She said softly, like a mother to a child.
"A lot of cultures go through the stage of thinking that…."
Ariana shrugged again, "They're right. Or at least they are A right. Truth comes in many forms. As someone once told you all paths lead to the Great Path."
Both men reared back in surprise: no one outside the SGC should know this, "Shifu." Daniel murmured, "But isn't being Ascended the….uh Great Path?" Daniel eyebrows furrowed in complexity.
"No Daniel, I'm sorry, it is not. The Ancient….. Ascended Path is one that focuses on a single personality evolving to a different plane of not so much existence as experience. Then there is the path that most humans of Earth take, it can lead to many lives in which they learn, or even just one, whatever they believe in their hearts to be right for them. It is always down to personal choice, but mostly taken in ignorance. Then there is the middle path that some still follow, where mortals choose their lives knowingly to learn and Immortals strive in their physical lives to learn. To exist in balance between the mind and heart and spirit, between the individual, the People, and the Earth herself. That is the way I am offering you both. But you only have to…. well accept it's existence and trust me as guide long enough to get the hell out of here and to the Alpha site." The woman, who Jack could see was wearing some kind of woolen garments under some crude leather armor, wiped her forehead. Her whole face was bathed in sweat.
"What wrong with you? And how do you know about us, even our names, and what are you getting out of this!?" Jack had always believed in a healthy self interest for anyone, he hadn't met a supposed ally yet that didn't want SOMETHING for their time.
"Right now I am holding you in a kind of Limbo, Jack, so your captors can't come for you. That requires some energy, some effort." Ariana said, "As to how I know you, about you I can't tell you or show you until after you have made your choice. As for what I'm getting." Ariana looked away from them and a slight blush stained the cream of her cheeks, "I get to offer the choice."
"I thought the Earth, or well the Gods of Earth were offering the choice?" Daniel asked quickly, tilting his head in inquiry.
Ariana's reply was very low and a little shaky, "I asked them to offer the choice."
Jack was getting tired of this, he clambered to his feet, "Okay then again we come around to the same question, WHY are YOU doing this!?"
Ariana half bowed, as if she had been struck in the stomach, "I CAN'T tell you, either of you. Not until the choice is made. My reason would influence the choice and the choice must be made FREE, not in obligation or for repayment of any sort! Jack, do you want to get out of here?" she demanded, cutting down to the bottom line.
"Hell, YES!"
"Okay. Daniel, "Ariana turned to the former archeologist, "will you walk the middle path, come back to Earth, back to SG-1, back to Jack?" A speaking look passed between this strange woman and Jack's friend that left the Colonel confused.
"Give up being ascended to get Jack out of here….. and you." Daniel mused.
"I am immaterial; I am where I must be." Ariana replied stiffly, "I am where I am needed."
"But that doesn't absolve me of the responsibility." Whatever else Daniel was going to say was interrupted by the sudden presence of another being, a shining form that Jack well knew.
"Well, Oma Desala, the gang's all here." Jack commented bitterly. He had seen what Oma could do, he KNEW the Ascended being could tear this place apart and rescue him without taking this 'middle path' whatever it was. Her power was strongly evident, battering against both Jack and Daniel; however Ariana seemed unaffected and in fact affronted.
"Daniel you are violating the rules." She first scolded Daniel like an irritated mother, "You know you must give up these corporeal things to grow. You must give up your old life to live your new." Then she turned to Ariana, who had crossed her arms over her chest, "Lady, you are trying to take one of my children."
"I am not TAKING anyone." Ariana said in a voice so full of rage that both Daniel and Jack took a step back, "I am giving one of Earth's children a CHOICE, you who would mask herself as the Earth Mother! They may leave with my help, or they may stay with my help, either way they get my help."
"And I know why!" Oma raged, Jack was stunned to see a supposedly always serene ascended being lose it so badly, "It is because you…"
"NO!" Ariana stated in a command voice so absolute that Jack felt his own mouth seal shut; it seemed to have the same effect on Oma. "That is not your secret to tell and would influence the choice, for good or ill. The choice must be made free. You and your kind left the Earth a long time ago, making your choice and leaving her concerns behind for your other path, leaving her to be taken over by the goua'ld, also for good or ill. Only the Sacred Isles were spared until a new defense was formed." Somehow Jack didn't think she meant the SGC. "Daniel," she appealed again, "I am giving you the choice, we are at a crossroads here, and it is for you to choose the path."
Daniel looked at Oma, who still somehow couldn't speak. He looked at Ariana, standing ready to take whatever action came from his choice. And then he looked at Jack, he looked at Jack a long time. "There was an old Irish story about a bard taken by the Faerie, he saw one path, broad and wide, that led to Hell. Then there was another road, narrow, rocky and full of," he glanced at Jack again, "sacrifices. And then there was a middle path, only to be taken by bards, dreamers, and the Fae."
"Yes." Ariana breathed in confirmation. It felt to Jack like the whole universe held it's breath for Daniel's next sentence.
"I ….." he looked at Jack again, and Jack saw something there that he had only half glimpsed before, "I choose the middle path." Daniel and Jack both found themselves taking steps forward and taking one of Ariana's hands in theirs. Oma seemed to try to protest, try to fling around her power at them but she was lost in the mist in seconds as were they.
"Welcome to the middle path." Ariana smiled at them both as if all her wishes had suddenly come true. It was beautiful, blinding, and of fierce, fierce joy.
Jack and Daniel walked for awhile, blinded by the mist, guided only by the hands of Ariana and connected by each others' hands that they had blindly sought out in the mist. After a while however it cleared. And though the near horizon was still shrouded by the same white mist, they could see under their feet grass and the suggestion of rolling green hills. "Are we on Alpha already?" Jack asked, "Do you really even know where Alpha is?" he asked the flame haired woman that had become their guide.
"No we are not there. But I do know where we are going or at least how to get there." she panted back at them, laying her spear with the due care of a warrior upon the ground and practically collapsing down beside it. "We are in the Otherworld, sometimes known, Daniel, as Faerie. It's a place between realities where everything is equally possible. Where most of the Gods, and some of the dead who chose to, live. You can get anywhere through the mists, but the farther out from Earth, at least for someone born of Earth, the more effort it takes. You were….. very far out, so if you could give me a moment." She was still breathing heavily and even seemed to be shaking a bit from her effort. She drew up her knees and clasped them against her chest.
"Jack!" Daniel clutched Jack's hand probably unconsciously, looking around with unalloyed delight "This is just like in the old fairytales; The Land of Summer's Twilight!"
"Uh Daniel." Jack pointed out, tugging on his hand, "You're like….. solid." He brought his other hand up to pat Daniel's face, "Yup, definitely solid." Jack felt like he wanted to jump for joy and run some kind of victory lap. His best friend, the man he had secretly been in love with for quite some time was solid to his touch again. Jack wanted to pull him into a hug but didn't dare, he knew it would give him away. He thought he had known what he'd seen in Daniel's eyes when he made the choice but he was sure yet. And he had to be sure before he could make a move, a wrong move right now could destroy them both.
Daniel jumped back a bit and dropped Jack's hand, the Colonel kinda hoped it was only in shock, "Uh yeah, I am. Am I…..descended?" he asked their guide, who was still resting on the ground.
Ariana grinned wearily up at them, "Well, let's just say you are descending. By the time you reach Alpha you will have lost the memories of most of what you have done as an ascended, only the really personal important things." She glanced up at him wickedly, "Only those things where you skirted those pesky rules for your friends will remain. The rest will remain with Oma. I'm afraid, the Ascended don't share their secrets widely."
Jack collapsed on the ground somewhat wearily himself, "Why am I not surprised, every time we think we might get ahead…." He thumped his P-90 on the ground and then suddenly he realized he had a P-90 to thump. He looked down and realized he was completely redressed in full SG-1 gear, as was Daniel. "What the Hell?"
"Truth Jack." Ariana said, smiling softly, "The first thing this place shows you is the truth about how you essentially see yourselves: you two see yourselves as members of SG-1, and so there you are, dressed to fit the part."
Daniel sat down a little more sedately then Jack had, "What you are wearing, it isn't clothing from any modern Earth culture I've ever heard of."
"That's because it isn't." Ariana answered, "The tribe I was born in doesn't exist anymore. I was born to a small obscure tribe that lived in Britain about 500 B.C.," a flash a pain and guilt so intense it made Jack jump slightly appeared over her face and then it was gone, "It's long since disappeared along with it's name and history. When I told you I could survive anything but my head coming away from my shoulders I meant it. I'm Immortal and roughly 2500 years old. I've just recently discovered that the Immortals were," she scratched the side of her face, "sort of brought forth by the Earth and Her Gods to act as a defense against the Goua'ld, perhaps others not of the Earth as well. A last line of defense. And if I ever find the idiot who started 'There Can Be Only One'……." She cut herself off and her normally bright emerald eyes darkened towards the deepest black for a moment, but she shook herself out of it with an effort. "Well that's a whole other situation, frankly yours was more immediate. That was my first test, which should I go to first, you or any Immortals that I knew."
"You came to us," Daniel murmured in his 'trying to put all the facts together voice', "You *asked* to come to us to give us this choice." He looked over her fairly exhausted state, "And it wasn't easy for you…."
"Yeah, again I gotta ask why? We've made the choice, can you answer now? I'm dyin here! How do you even know us?"
Ariana looked at the ground, practically squirming in embarrassment, "Okay." She said, shifted to her side away from the spear and waved her hand over the grass. A pool of clear water appeared, she looked at their shocked faces, "Here, gentlemen reality is quite relative and somewhat fluid. It only takes knowing the trick of it to change it. This will show you how I experience alternate realties in a way you can understand."
"Alternate realties, like the Quantum Mirror we found?" Daniel asked.
"Exactly, except the Quantum Mirror isn't able to reach all the realities that there are. It is a finite object and so can only capture finite realities, the human, or Immortal, mind is infinite. Not only for every decision made is there an alternate reality but for every decision thought of there is also a reality. And even more strange to you, not only those choices made in what you would term 'real' reality but in fiction as well." In the pool Jack and Daniel saw themselves in various situations, various lives, most of them passed too fast for them to identify anything other than the fact that it was indeed them.
"So for every piece of fiction there is a reality in which it happened." Daniel postulated.
"Exactly so and the reverse is also true. For everything that you hold as 'real' there is a world that it is fiction on." The pool cleared and it showed someone they couldn't quite see watching a television set. On the television set was THEM, one of their early missions, both Jack and Daniel recognized it. It shocked them to the core. "Hmmmm, looks like reruns tonight, or DVD's." Ariana murmured.
"How….how do you KNOW, how did you DISCOVER this!" Daniel gasped. Somehow neither of the men could deny what they were seeing was real for some reason, it stuck too true.
"I'm an anomaly." Ariana said, waving her hand over the water and clearing it of the disturbing image. "Not many of my alternates are very much like me. Most don't have the same name or face, not totally sure why, we only share the same spirit, the same passions." For some reason this made her blush. "I was trained, programmed really, by the elders of my tribe to take glimpses into the future, but I found as time passed that the more I looked into the future the more alternates I saw. The more alternates I saw, the more curious I became about looking 'sideways' so to say, and I've seen some *very* strange things." She shuddered, her whole body shaking, "Some things I can't really even bring myself to face for various reasons. But some 'realities' are stronger than others. Like that television show you saw, that gets a lot of viewers, a lot of people thinking, following, and giving it an…. Energy of a sort. From it have spawned many 'smaller' realities."
"But which one is the 'main' reality?" Daniel asked.
Ariana shrugged and laughed, "Beats the hell out of me! I figure you have to do the best with the reality you are given. On some of the realties I've seen my alternates are practically powerless for one reason or another, even house bound, here I…. well I have a lot of talents as you will come to know. I figure my talent for looking at these realities gives me a chance to make things better here, where I can make a difference."
"And that's why you came for us?" Jack surmised.
"Yes!" Ariana agreed almost eagerly, then there was a thunderclap overhead, deafening them for a moment, although the sky was clear. As their hearing returned they could hear Ariana swearing or apparently so, sulfurously, Jack only recognized half the words but those would make an entire Marine squad blush, "The …..inhabitants of this place don't take kindly to untruths or," she yelled at the sky, "Even half truths! You could have given me a little time you know!"
Jack shook his head groggily, "Excuse me?"
Ariana sighed and looked at the two men then focused on Jack, "Look I was first and foremost an empath-born, my power comes from my passions, my emotions. The more passion I have, the more power I possess." Her eyes bored into Jack's, willing him to make the connection but it was Daniel who connected the dots, of course.
"So for you to reach that deep into interstellar space, to another planet on the other side of the galaxy you would have to be…."
"Deeply, irrevocably, passionately, madly, hopelessly in love? Yeah, that about covers it." Ariana looked down at her fidgeting hands, as red as a beet, and the two men starred at her. They looked at each other, not knowing what to say.
Jack cleared his throat uncomfortably. "Look I'm sure you are a very nice lady and I am really, really, grateful that you got me out of that mess but that doesn't mean….." He was stopped by Ariana leaning forward and putting gentle fingers on his lips. Her eyes were infinitely understanding and infinitely loving.
"Jack, I don't expect anything from you." She removed her fingers immediately, not wanting to make him uncomfortable apparently. She looked at Daniel, who looked equally uncomfortable and actually rather pissed. "Either of you. All I'm telling you is what gave me the power to get me to you and to offer this path. And it is, the passion, for both of you." She looked down at the ground, twisting blades of grass around her fingers. "I personally wouldn't want to live in a universe where Jack O'Niell didn't have Daniel Jackson at his side. When I see realties where that doesn't happen or one of you dies for real and forever…." Silent tears watered the ground. "…can't face it." She whispered.
"That's why it had to be both of us on the middle path." Daniel said, shaken and a little awed by this woman's power of emotion, and what it brought forth.
"Partially." Ariana said in a quiet voice, "that is part of it truly. The other part you have to tell each other." She abruptly got to her feet. "If you'll excuse me for just a minute I think I have embarrassed myself enough to last at least a century or two." She walked a little distance away from them, facing away and staring out into the mist, undoing her braid absently.
"The other part we have to tell each other." Daniel echoed, "Is there something you need to tell me, Jack?"
Daniel's face was a mask; Jack couldn't tell whether he saw fear, revulsion, hope or desire in his eyes. For a moment Jack was going to get past the moment with some kind of humor, some kind of sarcastic wisecrack, anything to take the pressure off him, but then he remembered the reaction to Ariana's less then perfect truth and sighed, "Daniel….Danny, ever since you've been gone, God! My heart's been this big heavy stone in my chest. I look at Jonas on the team and I HATE him because he's not you. I've been like a wounded grizzly bear since you left." He sighed again, finally letting the truth free, feeling the burden of it lift off him. "The fact is, Danny, I've been in love with you for a while. That's why I started pushing you down, that's why I started that stupid flirting with Carter! I didn't want anyone, least of all you to find out. I didn't realize what I was missing until you left." Jack sat up straighter, then jumped to his feet. "When you left!" He ran to Ariana whirled her around and started shaking her. "Where the hell were you when Kelwona happened, huh?! Where were you when his flesh was dripping from his bones! Where were you when I had to let him go!" Jack's shaking grew violent, his grip bruising.
"Jack stop it!" Daniel grabbed him and pinned his arms to his sides, pulling Jack away from Ariana, "Jack I love you too! I did love you and it was hurting too much! That's one of the reasons that I left." Jack collapsed on the ground, pounding it in his fury and grief, Daniel holding him and trying to comfort him through his own tears, and Ariana was collapsed nearby where Jack had practically thrown her, also weeping.
"I….I didn't know Jack." She sobbed, "I don't…I don't just look I also live, and a very dangerous life. I was….I was involved with some," she licked her lips, " things that made me begin the search that finally led to you and the search was long in itself. You were very, very easy to fall in love with Jack. Both of you were. And I saw what you were doing right before Daniel left, and I ached. Then I saw….him leave only a week after it actually happened!" Her cry was one of despair remembered as she clutched her hands to her chest and started rocking, "I wanted to come to you Jack, for your pain, for mine. But you could have never accepted me in Daniel's place, you had a Daniel-shaped hole in your life that I could not hope to fill and you would have hated me for trying. I had to wait for an opportunity, a crossroads where Daniel could have a chance to remake his choice without the threat of death. I would have taken your pain Jack, your torture and your deaths. I would have kept you free from the sarcophagus, kept you alive no matter what, even if it cost me my head. It's all I could do if Daniel hadn't chosen this path and I would have done it gladly and in perfect love and perfect trust." Her voice had sank to a small sobbed whisper and she still rocked back and forth, trying to comfort herself.
Jack also rocked and pounded the ground in his fury and long withheld grief, but he had Daniel beside him. Daniel, who was solid and warm, who was rocking with him his arms around him, who was gently kissing his neck and his face and everywhere he could reach. Daniel who gentled him with calming words and firm caresses, "It's okay now Jack, I'm here and it's over. I'm here and it over and I love you too, God so much!" It finally penetrated Jack's fog and dissipated his rage and grief.
"God Danny…. Danny." Jack whispered with a roughened voice. He turned and took his first taste of Daniel's lips. He must have imagined it and dreamed it a million times and it was a million times better than his wildest dreams. It felt so good, so right. Daniel fit right into his arms as if they were made for each other and the two men practically dove into each other's mouths, devouring each other until they absolutely had to come up for air. Then Daniel's head cocked and Jack could hear the quiet sobs still going on behind him.
"Something was happening to you, wasn't it Ari?" the gentle archeologist asked, still holding onto Jack, still soothing him. "Something that started you looking else where, something that MADE you look."
Ari nodded, but couldn't seem to speak, she looked almost paralyzed with grief, on the verge of going into shock. Then Jack made the connection, she was an empath, she was feeling their emotional storm as well as her own, "Can," Jack croaked and then cleared his throat, "Can you tell us about it?" It was the least he could do for some one who had brought Danny, HIS Danny back to him.
Ari shook her head, gulping air to try to calm herself, "Not, not yet but I'm sure you're going to learn the whole sorry tale. This is a place not only for truth but of Balance. By the time we get to Alpha you two will probably know as much about me as I know about you. It's….part of the price."
"And you knew the price before you came for us, for Jack?" Daniel asked softly.
Ariana sighed shakily, tears still running down her face, "Oh……yeah. I pretty much knew what would happen whichever the choice came down to. I was….informed about it but I just couldn't handle what was happening to Jack," she bowed her head again, "Just couldn't!"
Daniel drew just a little away from his colonel, "Jack?" he asked a whole volume of questions with a single word. Jack answered with a nod. Daniel got up and went over to Ariana, picking her up with gentle hands. She leaned against him, wrung out from all her efforts and emotions, their emotions as well Jack knew. "What do you need Ari?" the infinitely gentle man asked her.
"Heartbeat. Need Jack's heartbeat. Please." She whispered, barely able to stand. Daniel half-carried her over to Jack and the (not so tough as nails) colonel gathered the woman to his side, placing her head just where she wanted it while he laid down, also exhausted. "Yes. Heartbeat. Safe now." The woman sighed, her hair spreading over Jack's chest like a blanket. The two men looked at each other. Safe from what, they wondered.
"Danny, keep watch, can you? I think you are the best off of us." Jack said softly. Daniel's kiss had been the best thing in his life to date but Ariana softly nuzzling into his chest wasn't half bad either. He didn't know if it was her empathy or what but some how he knew that she trusted him absolutely, and she had given him back his Danny, made their love complete. That was more than enough to make him cradle her gently, rubbing her back. The leather armor seemed to have disappeared but then she said this place was malleable. Jack shrugged a bit.
Daniel picked up the P-90 and settled down next to the older man, sliding one hand into his silver grey hair, "I'll keep watch, Jack. You sleep for a while. I've got your six and don't intend to let go….ever." Jack chuckled sleepily at his Danny's determination and let himself drift away.