Summer Afternoons (Friends, Comrades, And Partners In Life)

by Bethany

URL: http://www.stargateslash.com/asb/bethany6/summeraf.php
Summary: Jack and Daniel decide to come out when they get invited to Sam's wedding

"Hi!" Sam said...

"Long time no see..!" Jack grinned, giving Sam a hug.

"I'm not around much..." She admitted, "What with the new job..." She spoke of working at Area 51 a lot of the time now. Not that she'd been home a lot when she was working in the Pegasus Galaxy either!

"I spend most of my days up at the cabin..." Jack mused aloud.

"It's beautiful up there..!" Sam announced.

"Uhu..!" Jack grinned again.

"I'm glad we bumped into each other..." Sam said.

"Oh?" Jack asked, curious.

"I've got something to ask you..." Sam announced.

Jack half panicked for a moment. Where was this going?

"Will you come to my wedding..?" She asked.

"Sure!" Jack replied. "Who to?"

"A guy I met through work..." Sam answered. "Found someone I can share my work with, as well as my hobbies, at last!" She smiled.

"Good for you!" Jack stated.

"I've got to leave invites for the others, too... Get in touch with them at the Mountain..." Sam pondered.

"I can tell Daniel for you..." Jack admitted.

"You can?" She asked.

"Yeah, we spend a lot of time together of late..." Jack paused. "Two semi-retired old men!"

"Teaching him to fish, are you?" Sam laughed gently.

"Kinda!" Jack told her.

"What about his allergies, with so much of an outdoor life..?" She checked.

"Takes pills, just like on the Missions..." Jack explained.

Sam nodded.

"What's the guy's name?" Jack suddenly wondered.

"Josh Finley..." Sam replied.

"Well, nice to meet you again, Mrs. Finley..!" Jack shook Sam's hand playfully.

She smiled. "And you..." She said.

"Don't you dare call me Sir!" Jack interjected.

Sam laughed. "Of course not, Jack..!" She said pointedly.

***

Jack sat in the garden, rubbing sun cream into Daniel's back, neck, and shoulders, in return for the fact that Daniel had done the same for him, moments ago. As his hands massaged Daniel, he asked him, "Should we tell?"

"Maybe..." Daniel said, measured. "What harm can they do either of us now..? I mean, they know, don't they? But they let it go by because we're both officially retired. They just keep us around for emergencies."

"But if we're so open about it, Daniel; that could change things all over again... They might decide that they certainly don't like us, and the example we set to others in the ranks..." Jack replied. "Scuttlebutt is Hell..!"

"True." Daniel mused, reaching over his shoulder, and clasping Jack's hand for comfort. "But we could tell our closest friends."

"There are a lot of people at weddings, Daniel... And this new Josh fella in Sam's life might not like me much..." Jack stated.

"You're gay, Jack!" Daniel smiled, as he let Jack's hands slip over his shoulder blades. "What possible threat could you be to him now?"

"He might decide to be rid of me by blabbing just because I once had a bit of a thing about his wife, and she about me, if I may be so immodest..!" Jack explained.

Daniel turned and looked into Jack's eyes. "But that was never absolutely real, was it?"

"No..!" Jack kissed Daniel's summer warmed rosy lips.

Daniel's arms curled around Jack's bare shoulders, and they sat in their garden, kissing in the summertime.

***

Jack sat under the canopy at Sam's wedding.

Daniel brought him over a glass of sparkling champagne.

"Thanks." Jack beamed up at him, while Daniel sat down beside him. Then, he watched Daniel sip his champagne.

Teal'c walked over. "It is a lovely day, is it not?" He mused.

Jack and Daniel raised their glasses at the same time, as if in a toast.

"Truly!" Jack replied.

Teal'c smiled, the way he smiled, and sat down beside them.

"How's Rya'c these days??" Daniel asked Teal'c, as he sipped his drink again.

"Rya'c and Karin are fine, as is their child!" Teal'c stated.

Jack turned to Teal'c. "Congrats, Grandpa!" He grinned, clapping T on the back.

"We didn't know!" Daniel said, surprised.

"It was a surprise to us all!" Teal'c smiled.

"Boy or girl..?" Jack asked.

"A son..." Teal'c announced. "He is named after me!"

Jack smiled.

Daniel noticed the fleeting sadness of memory. He shared it, thinking of himself as a child, with no parents... He placed his hand on Jack's knee, almost as fleetingly. "And is Bra'tac still well..?"

The Jaffa Warrior nodded, smiling gratefully. "Great-'Grandpa'," he said, checking with Jack, who nodded, then Teal'c continued, "is fine..." He paused again."You must visit Chu'lak soon, come and see my family..." Teal'c said, filing away the gesture he'd noticed occurring between Jack and Daniel.

"If they'll still let us travel through the Gate..!" Jack joked.

"I don't see why not, Jack!" General Hammond, the man who had given Sam away at her wedding ceremony earlier that afternoon, said, arriving to join the little group of seated comrades.

Jack smiled. "Thank you, sir..!"

***

The seated party of friends and comrades grew in the next half an hour. Soon, there was a huddle that consisted of Jack, Daniel, Teal'c, Vala, Cam, Hammond, and Landry...

Sam walked over, still in her wedding dress, beautiful as always, yet accentuated by her outfit, sparkling in the sunlight. "Hi, guys! Having a good time?" She sat down in a chair that Cam retrieved for her.

"Yeah-sure-you-betcha!" Jack grinned.

"Good!" She met his eyes.

"Where's Josh?" Vala asked.

"Speaking to his Mom and Dad at the moment..." Sam replied. "He'll be over in a minute...

Jack looked to Daniel, and squeezed his hand.

Everyone noticed, for sure, but not one of them said anything.

"Before he does," Jack said, "We've got something to tell you..."

"Sorry, Sam... It's not like we don't trust him." Daniel quickly added.

"No..." Sam said. "Go on... I understand..."

"We're not ready to tell the whole Galaxy just yet..." Jack explained.

"I don't think they'd let us..!" Daniel joked bitter sweetly.

"You guys are together, aren't you??" Vala nearly bounced with excitement!

"Talk about steal our thunder, Vala!" Daniel announced, trying to be grumpy with her.

"Oops! Sorry!!!" She smiled sweetly, genuinely. "But I mean, come on; tell us something we don't already know..! Like since when did you finally decide to just get on with it!??" She'd given up chasing Daniel when she'd realised he was truly in love with someone else, with O'Neill, and that O'Neill was truly in love with him, with Daniel...

Daniel smiled, laughingly. "Basically,"

Vala's mouth quirked upward at Daniel's choice of words.

He glared at her, and continued, "from the day we retired!"

"Congratulations!!" Teal'c clapped Jack on the back, in a mirror image of earlier. He leaned past the front of Jack, and shook Daniel's hand.

"Thanks, T!" Jack said.

"We're sorry if we just made things a bit awkward for some of you..." Daniel looked to Hammond, then Landry, then Mitchell, acknowledging their still active Military connections.

"Not a bit, son!" Hammond waved away Daniel's concerns.

"Like the lady said," Landry responded, turning to look at Vala as he mentioned her, (though he'd not always thought of her as a lady!) it's more a case of 'tell us something we don't already know!'..." He chuckled, then paused. "But Air Force attitudes are archaic. You're secret's safe with us..." Hank looked at both Jack and Daniel. "We want you to be happy!"

Jack smiled. That meant a lot. He knew there was a reason why, when he'd visited the SGC some time ago, Landry had confided in him something like, 'I will always worry about you...' – A reason, apart from the obvious one, (Jack considered) that he needed worrying about (!)...

Daniel answered, "Thank you..." He also knew it took a lot for Landry to say that, perhaps, though it was all in the past, and Daniel knew Hank Landry's words were genuine...

"Ditto!" Cam announced. "I'm happy for you – No problems here!" He told them honestly. "I always have thought that what they said in the church back home, in this instance, was a load of bull-crap anyway!" He agreed with Landry's assessment of U.S.A.F rules on the subject – Though he knew it wasn't really that good to fall in love with a man, or woman, on your team...

Jack and Daniel turned to look at Sam at the same time, a little nervously. They wanted her approval so much.

"Sorry..." Jack said.

"It honestly did take us this long to figure it all out..." Daniel told Sam.

"I know..." She smiled, reaching across, and patted his hand, and then, did the same to Jack. "I know..." She paused to look at him, let him see she meant it. "I just want you to be happy... I've finally found my happiness, and you two certainly deserve yours..." She looked at Jack and Daniel, and spoke with an honesty that was deep in her heart.

"Thank you..." Jack and Daniel, again, at the same time, said... Then, each of them got up and hugged Sam...

After a moment, in which Daniel wiped away a tear of relief after hugging Sam, there ensued a few minutes of hugs, back slaps, and shaking hands, all round, by everyone...

Then, the friends and comrades, simply sat down again, enjoying some banter in the summer afternoon sun, and waiting for Sam's new husband to join their little circle...

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.