Shaping Our Lives On Atlantis 4

Jack's Back

by Bethany

URL: http://www.stargateslash.com/asb/bethany6/shapin04.php
Summary: Jack is recovered, and he and Daniel talk about life on Atlantis before and after his recovery

Daniel looked at Jack, in the Infirmary bed, and thought again, how this was a day he figured he'd never see... "Good morning..." He said, as Jack opened his eyes. He was afraid every time Jack closed his eyes actually, that the dream bubble would burst, and the recovery would not be true... And the reality would be colder than ever...

"I'm still here then..?" Jack managed to comment.

"In Atlantis' Infirmary, yes..." Daniel said gently. When Jack had woken last time, and begun to remember snippets, he'd begun to worry as, even here, things weren't as he'd remembered them briefly. Sam had moved on. Woolsey was in charge! Etc...

"Woolsey still in charge..?" Jack asked.

Daniel nodded. "Yep... You've not slipped into an AU, Jack..."

"More's the pity..." Jack tried to laugh.

"He's not that bad, Jack... He's actually been doing a good job, shrugged off some of the paperwork..." Daniel reprimanded his love gently.

"He just likes freezin' people!" Jack said hoarsely.

Daniel helped him drink some ice chips.

"I've been cold enough for the last who knows how long..!" Jack joked, afterward.

"I do!" Daniel replied.

Jack looked at Daniel's face, and smiled. "I bet you do..." He said affectionately. "By the way," he began, recalling more stuff. "Which one of us is Francis, and which is Virginia..?"

"You remember that..?" Daniel asked, totally shocked.

"It was more of a dream..." Jack replied.

"We'll have to figure out who's who..." Daniel laughed softly, squeezing Jack's hand for a second, feeling the warmth in his flesh, saying thanks to whichever God he still believed in after all these years...

"Oh, and I'm not retiring..!" Jack announced.

"You're not??" Daniel queried.

"No. I'm not! Someone's got to keep an eye on Mr Woolsey!" Jack joked.

"Jack..." Daniel warned him not to get too paranoid, and to rest!

"And anyway," Jack continued, "I've tried retirement... You spend too many hours of the day looking up at the sky, waiting for the other shoe to fall on ya!"

Daniel smiled, knowingly. "That I agree with..." He paused. "But, Jack, don't stay here just for me..." He whispered.

"Find a prince more charming while I was in the freezer cabinet?" Jack half joked.

"No!" Daniel quickly, quietly assured him. "I'm just happy to go home with you..."

With his slowly returning strength, Jack tried to squeeze Daniel's hand, in a mirror image of the moment earlier. "If the good folks here will have us, and the good folks at home will let us stay, I say we try and keep the enemy from the Pegasus Gate... I've got a lot of people to thank before I go home anyway..!"

"Right..." Daniel agreed. "That's true, for both of us..."

Jack coughed. " You're not gonna live me, are ya, Doctor Jackson?!"

"Not at all..." Daniel said firmly.

"SG1 is all but disbanded, Danny... Besides, we can get together for old time's sake, occasionally, go on a Mission..." Jack stated.

"That's what got us into this mess! You particularly..!" Daniel pointed out.

"Should I have asked which one of us was Stan Laurel and which one of us was Oliver Hardy..?!" Jack grinned tiredly.

"Do you have to even ask..!??" Daniel joked back, holding Jack's hand for a moment.

"Thanks for keeping an eye on me all this while..." Jack told Daniel.

"I kept both my eyes on you, General O'Neill..." Daniel deliberately played around with a quote from their dear friend, Teal'c.

Jack smiled. "Not the first time is it, either..?"

"Not really...!" Daniel smiled. "But anyhow, now I know you did the same for me, too..!"

"Try to..." Jack admitted. "Always have..."

"I know..." Daniel promised him, as their hands clasped still...

Outside of the Privacy curtain around Jack's bed, which Carson had allowed there because Daniel was around to keep an eye on Jack, Carson himself coughed, giving the two men inside some warning...

Their hands slipped apart, for the moment...

"Did I just here someone cough in here..?" Carson asked, drawing back the curtain.

"Sounds like it's going around, Doc..!" Jack noted.

"Not really...!" Carson assured. "I'm just here to check up on you!"

"Oh, joy!" Jack bemoaned his hourly check up with mock disgruntlement...

The End

Author's Note: I make no money, and mean to step on no one's toes at all,by writing my stories... Feedback welcome as long as it is always polite.