Life's Music 2

We Will Stay Together

by Bethany

URL: http://www.stargateslash.com/asb/bethany7/lifesm02.php
Summary: Daniel meets his grandfather for the first time since he was eight. The pain of this causes him to have a The Light Balcony-esque moment on a cliff top
Info: Inspired by SG1 eps: Crystal Skull and The Light, as well as the final scene from Diagnosis Murder's S8 episode, starring Helen Reddy, Swan Song

Jack went with Daniel to the home to visit his grandfather, Nick Ballard, when the home had traced Daniel. Daniel had not seen his grandfather since before his parents died when he was eight years old...

"Are you ok to go into the room with him on your own?" Jack asked.

"They think it's best." Daniel talked nervously of the medical doctors and carers looking after his only living relative.

"You're my priority." Jack told Daniel.

"I'll be okay. You're right here, outside the door, right?" Daniel asked. "And some of the Doctors will be in there with us..."

"Just call if you need me..." Jack told Daniel.

"Always." Daniel smiled, and touched one of Jack's arms, as though in reassurance for them both, and strength for him...

****

"Daniel?" Nick Ballard asked. "They tell me it's you!"

"It's me." Daniel sat in the chair before his grandfather rather hesitantly.

"Your Mom and Dad said you would come to see me..." Nick stated.

****

Jack stood up from his seat in the hallway as soon as he saw Daniel. In truth, he had only just sat there. He'd been pacing, or standing up with the help of the wall ever since Daniel had gone in to that room to see his granddad. He took Daniel into his arms.

"He told me Mom and Dad told him I was going to visit..." Daniel was trying hard not to cry.

Jack kissed Daniel's face and held him close.

"I've always felt like it was him who abandoned me..." Daniel whispered through emotion. "But maybe it was me who abandoned him. They said I couldn't stay with him when I was eight because what happened to his daughter and son in law, my Mom and Dad, had unhinged him..."

"See!" Jack said. "They said you couldn't stay with him. You did not abandon him, Daniel. You were eight years old, for crying out loud..!" Jack said, upset for his lover.

"But I should have looked for him sooner..." Daniel said. "I have the money to put into a search..."

"Daniel, don't be that hard on yourself. You have the money now to make sure he can stay with these people, in the best of care!" Jack hugged Daniel, and stood with him in the Hospital's hallway for what seemed like an absolute age... Not that he cared about the time that passed....

****

Since the visit to his grandfather, Nick Ballard, in the Home, Daniel had been so quiet... The only noise he seemed to make was his music; practising for a concert he had to play in L.A...

Jack had gone with him to the concert; let him get on with his work, but stayed around, watching the show on the night... Now, Jack realised Daniel had been out for a walk for quite a while, and though he knew privacy was important sometimes, Jack also knew he had to go look for Daniel...

****

"Daniel," Jack began carefully. "Please, step back, away from the edge... Come to me. Please."

"Nothing's worth it any more... None of it makes sense!" Daniel was crying.

Jack walked as close to Daniel, on the cliff's edge, as he could.

"What if I'm like him??" Daniel asked. "What if I go mad? And I can't play my music anymore... And..." Daniel cried again.

"You won't, Daniel. You'll be fine..." Jack said, as calmly as he could.

"He mentioned Mom and Dad..." Daniel recalled, as though he'd forgotten it for one moment.

"I know, sweetheart..." Jack was filled with compassion, almost overwhelmed by it.

"It won't be fair on you if I go mad, Jack... I should go now... Maybe I'll see Mom and Dad and all the people we've loved and lost in Heaven! You'll make sure my money goes to Nick, won't you??" Daniel asked urgently.

Jack edged even closer, damning the danger, and grabbed Daniel's arm, pulling him away from the edge, and making sure they both stepped back. He pulled Daniel into his arms protectively, and let him cry as hard as he wanted to, in safety and assurance, since they were alone on the cliff. "I don't want you to die, Daniel... I know that's selfish, but I don't! Please, don't! Stay with me as long as you can on this Earth!"

"You'd follow me anyway, wouldn't you..?" Daniel murmured into Jack's soaked shirt.

"Yes." Jack answered with absolute honesty, crying himself at this point. "One more death, your death, is one too many than I can deal with... And there are a lot of people in Heaven I wanna see again, too. But I can't let you die, and while you don't die, I have something to live for..."

He and Daniel clung to each other.

"You'll be okay, Daniel... You won't turn out like your Granddad. You won't. But if you ever did, in some alternate universe, or this... I'd never leave you..." Jack told him.

"Like I left him..." Daniel sobbed.

"You did not, Daniel. I've told you that..." Jack reaffirmed.

"I know." Daniel tried to believe."He said he could see my Mom and Dad... " Daniel said. "He already lives in some kind of AU..."

"I'm sorry, Daniel..." Jack meant about Daniel's Grandfather, Nick Ballard, and also, his own choice of words.

"Don't be. It's okay..." Daniel said.

"It isn't. You don't deserve all the crap you've had.

"Neither do you..." Daniel told Jack.

Jack wanted to believe that.

"Do you wanna come back to your beach-house or mine..?" Jack put an arm around Daniel's waist, and began to walk with him back into the direction of their houses.

"Yours." Daniel said, looking into Jack's gorgeous brown eyes. "Do you think we could get building permission to make them one place..?" Daniel asked, hugging close to Jack's warmth, trying to regain his strength, his voice still croaky.

"We'll work on it..!" Jack smiled, looking into his Daniel's eyes.

"Can we work on a few other things, too?" Daniel asked.

"Of course..." Jack grinned, steadily continuing to help Daniel back along the beach, and up to where they lived.

"Like sitting on the sofa watching Hockey, and then, going to bed and making love?" Daniel asked, not caring, this time, how sappy he knew he sounded.

"That's a wonderful plan... A lazy afternoon and a busy evening!" Jack hugged Daniel still.

"Very busy, maybe..." Daniel fought a wave of emotion trying to make him cry.

"Sexual healing can be a real thing..." Jack pondered, trying to stay upbeat, like Daniel's words, if not his frame of mind. "We'll work on it! We'll work on everything together – But I'll leave the music to you!" Jack laughed a little.

"And I'll leave the surfing to you..!!" Daniel replied.

"But we can always play some street hockey together..!" Jack suggested. "There's enough room in the backyard..."

"Especially if we take the fence down between our yards..." Daniel mused.

"Good idea!" Jack smiled, as they reached his place. "We'll work on that, too!"

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.