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Do you ever look through your harddrive and find something that you don't even remember writing??
Title: Underbelly
Fandom: SG1
Pairing: None - Jack/Daniel friendship
Rating: PG13
Word Count: 1,487
Spoilers: None
Notes: Episode tag for Proving Ground
Disclaimer: Don't own, don't sue, no offense, no money.
Summary: “Whatever it is, I don’t care. I think sometimes it hurts us that we’re friends.”
“I hate that thing.”
Daniel looked up from the tablet he had been brushing dirt and sand from with the tail end of his shirt. He’d been thinking that his old Archeology professor would have had kittens seeing him treat a priceless artifact with such little regard. Jack’s voice pulled him free of his ruminations and landed him back firmly in the present. “What thing?”
“That Goa’uld voice thing. Gives me the willies to know what you would sound like as a snakehead,” Jack said. He was leaning a hip in Daniel’s doorway and scratched absently behind his ear and then his fingers walked to the top nob of his spine, right where…
Nope, didn’t want to think about that…
“I wouldn’t sound exactly like that,” Daniel corrected, pulling his glasses off and almost rubbing the same piece of shirt on the lenses that he’d been cleaning the rock with. He diverted at the last second and instead put them safely on the desk, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Each Goa’uld has a distinctive voice and inflection. You can almost tell how old and what region-“
“Yeesh! Daniel, did I ask?” Jack held up his hands, venturing further into the office and dropping onto the only other stool.
“Kinda, yes,” Daniel sighed, rolling his eyes. “You know you don’t have to ask actual questions with me, just give me an in. It’s completely your fault that you haven’t learnt the rule by now.” He watched as Jack snagged his glasses off the bench and rubbed them over quickly with the sleeve of his dirt-free shirt before handing them back.
“Something’s bothering you, isn’t it?” Daniel asked, accepting the glasses and putting them on one-handed. He stood and carefully wrapped the stones with the black piece of material they had come in and set it aside. Jack watched his movements thoughtfully.
“How come your clumsy comes and goes?”
Daniel frowned. “My what?”
“Your clumsy. Five days ago I had to grab you because you nearly walked off a cliff, but two days ago you take out four cadets single-handedly with an ease that scared even me.”
Daniel shrugged. “I’m not clumsy. I fall over things because I’m not paying attention. That’s not what’s bothering you though. Spill it.”
“Fine,” Jack huffed. “I got you to play the bad guy in the recruit exercises because they used to have a chance against you. I’m finding I’m going to have to get someone else.”
Daniel blinked. “Is that some strange way of giving me a compliment?”
“No,” Jack said, pushing off the stool and skirting Daniel’s shelves, unerringly zeroing in on the one piece of valuable pottery he had and disregarding the five cheap trinkets that were sitting on either side of it. Daniel didn’t even try to rescue it, knowing that even though Jack would toss it about like he wasn’t even paying attention, it would be returned to its exact position, unharmed, when he failed to get a rise from Daniel.
“I’m just concerned. There’s been a marked improvement in your… non-suckiness lately.”
“Oh now I really feel flattered,” Daniel grumbled, leaning across the table and snatching the small pot out of Jack’s hands and setting it on the shelf behind himself.
“Honestly, what’s the deal?” Jack asked, rounding on Daniel with crossed arms. The small crease appeared in Daniel’s forehead, the one Jack had started thinking of as his fast-talk crease. It appeared when he was trying to placate the natives and convince them that they really didn’t want to eat the nice explorers.
“I was bound to get better at some point. I can’t be your geeky scientist forever. I’ve been in the field five years now.”
“Nah-ah,” Jack said, holding up a finger. “I’m not buying it. You got good enough to pass field training but refused to do anymore. There’s something going on with you and I want to know what.”
Daniel reached for the cold mug of coffee on his desk but Jack grabbed his hand halfway, giving his arm a little shake. His brow furrowed in concern when Daniel yanked his hand back. “Is someone… is someone bothering you?”
Daniel threw up his hands. “Jesus Jack, this isn’t some after school special. Do you honestly think I’m sneaking extra training behind your back because I’m getting, what… bullied or something?”
“I don’t know! Are you?”
Daniel dropped back onto his stool, everything slumping. He was of a height with Jack and for the past year or so had even been broader but he was able to revert to the skinny Doctor Jackson Jack had first met just with a slump of shoulders. “You were surprised, weren’t you?” he asked, voice low so Jack almost didn’t catch it.
“Daniel. What?” Jack prodded gently, knowing he was wading in to unfamiliar territory without a map but also knowing he was now committed.
“It was something General Hammond said a little while ago. It was just after P4X-787 and you’d gotten a couple of bruised ribs and Hammond said that he was surprised it wasn’t me. I was leaving the room and he said it to Sam and Captain Pritchard was still in there and he said ‘no, but it was because of Jackson’.”
“Daniel, no.” Jack said, shaking his head.
“He was right Jack. I fumbled my clip. It was just such a tiny thing but I started watching after that. With you and Sam and even Teal’c, anything like that was so practiced, so ingrained it was almost instinct. Sure, I was good enough to pass basic civilian field test but I… I got sick of being protected.”
“Hey buddy, I seem to remember you stepping in front of a staff blast with absolutely no training.”
Daniel snorted. “How do you know I didn’t just fall in the way?”
Jack’s eyes grew dark. “I know,” he snapped.
“Anyway, whenever we’re on base I have Dixon training me,” Daniel said, rubbing absently at the dirty place on his shirt.
“Dixon? SG-13 Dixon?” Jack asked, eyebrows climbing into his hairline. Daniel was certainly friends with SG-13’s archeologist but he had always thought he’d given the tough and usually abrasive CO a wide berth.
“I guess I got used to lame jokes while training. He seemed like the logical choice.”
“There was a more logical choice, Daniel. What does that say about your confidence in me?”
Daniel’s brows drew down in a frown. “It wasn’t about you,” he said, his tone resigned. “He doesn’t take it easy on me.”
“I wouldn’t take it easy on you,” Jack said, bristling.
“Jack, you do take is easy on me. With Sam and Teal’c, you’re tough as nails but with me, not so much. I’m not sure what it is, probably that you think I can’t take it or something,” When Jack opened his mouth to protest, Daniel held up a hand.
“Whatever it is, I don’t care. I think sometimes it hurts us that we’re friends.”
Jack rubbed a hand across his temple, not really liking where the conversation was going. “Yes, we’re friends, but-“
“You see me as the weak one.” Daniel said, his tone resolute.
“Daniel, I don’t-“
“Don’t insult us both by denying it,” Daniel said, holding up his hands, his tone flat. “Just be happy that I’m trying to change it. I’ve recognized a problem and I’m working on it.”
Jack was at a loss. “You’ve recognized a problem,” he repeated, not really knowing why those words rankled so much.
“Yes,” Daniel said brightly but Jack had learned long ago to recognize his false bravado, just like the giveaway line on his forehead. He realized that being seen as the weak one must have been something that was festering with Daniel for a long time, bad enough for him to seek help outside their circle. A curl of dread low in his belly made Jack finally acknowledge that Daniel wasn’t as thick skinned as he tried to come off. He had taken it to heart. Jack thought over every callous thing he had ever said to Daniel and knew that it was a pretty bad joke that Daniel thought he was taking it easy on him.
“We’re going to be okay, right?” Daniel asked, pulling a filing cabinet open and setting the black-wrapped stone inside and pulling something else free that was wrapped in green. Jack got the feeling he was being dismissed.
“Sure,” Jack agreed, injecting a smile into his voice and wondering if Daniel had learned to pick up on his false bravado. It didn’t seem it had as Daniel nodded absently, already absorbed in the new tablet he was unwrapping. “Hockey Friday,” Jack added, backing out of the room.
“Sure, Jack.” Daniel waved.
So ingrained it was almost instinct
Six months later, Jack was left wondering if it was instinct that drove Daniel to dive through a window on Kelowna.
Title: Underbelly
Fandom: SG1
Pairing: None - Jack/Daniel friendship
Rating: PG13
Word Count: 1,487
Spoilers: None
Notes: Episode tag for Proving Ground
Disclaimer: Don't own, don't sue, no offense, no money.
Summary: “Whatever it is, I don’t care. I think sometimes it hurts us that we’re friends.”
“I hate that thing.”
Daniel looked up from the tablet he had been brushing dirt and sand from with the tail end of his shirt. He’d been thinking that his old Archeology professor would have had kittens seeing him treat a priceless artifact with such little regard. Jack’s voice pulled him free of his ruminations and landed him back firmly in the present. “What thing?”
“That Goa’uld voice thing. Gives me the willies to know what you would sound like as a snakehead,” Jack said. He was leaning a hip in Daniel’s doorway and scratched absently behind his ear and then his fingers walked to the top nob of his spine, right where…
Nope, didn’t want to think about that…
“I wouldn’t sound exactly like that,” Daniel corrected, pulling his glasses off and almost rubbing the same piece of shirt on the lenses that he’d been cleaning the rock with. He diverted at the last second and instead put them safely on the desk, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Each Goa’uld has a distinctive voice and inflection. You can almost tell how old and what region-“
“Yeesh! Daniel, did I ask?” Jack held up his hands, venturing further into the office and dropping onto the only other stool.
“Kinda, yes,” Daniel sighed, rolling his eyes. “You know you don’t have to ask actual questions with me, just give me an in. It’s completely your fault that you haven’t learnt the rule by now.” He watched as Jack snagged his glasses off the bench and rubbed them over quickly with the sleeve of his dirt-free shirt before handing them back.
“Something’s bothering you, isn’t it?” Daniel asked, accepting the glasses and putting them on one-handed. He stood and carefully wrapped the stones with the black piece of material they had come in and set it aside. Jack watched his movements thoughtfully.
“How come your clumsy comes and goes?”
Daniel frowned. “My what?”
“Your clumsy. Five days ago I had to grab you because you nearly walked off a cliff, but two days ago you take out four cadets single-handedly with an ease that scared even me.”
Daniel shrugged. “I’m not clumsy. I fall over things because I’m not paying attention. That’s not what’s bothering you though. Spill it.”
“Fine,” Jack huffed. “I got you to play the bad guy in the recruit exercises because they used to have a chance against you. I’m finding I’m going to have to get someone else.”
Daniel blinked. “Is that some strange way of giving me a compliment?”
“No,” Jack said, pushing off the stool and skirting Daniel’s shelves, unerringly zeroing in on the one piece of valuable pottery he had and disregarding the five cheap trinkets that were sitting on either side of it. Daniel didn’t even try to rescue it, knowing that even though Jack would toss it about like he wasn’t even paying attention, it would be returned to its exact position, unharmed, when he failed to get a rise from Daniel.
“I’m just concerned. There’s been a marked improvement in your… non-suckiness lately.”
“Oh now I really feel flattered,” Daniel grumbled, leaning across the table and snatching the small pot out of Jack’s hands and setting it on the shelf behind himself.
“Honestly, what’s the deal?” Jack asked, rounding on Daniel with crossed arms. The small crease appeared in Daniel’s forehead, the one Jack had started thinking of as his fast-talk crease. It appeared when he was trying to placate the natives and convince them that they really didn’t want to eat the nice explorers.
“I was bound to get better at some point. I can’t be your geeky scientist forever. I’ve been in the field five years now.”
“Nah-ah,” Jack said, holding up a finger. “I’m not buying it. You got good enough to pass field training but refused to do anymore. There’s something going on with you and I want to know what.”
Daniel reached for the cold mug of coffee on his desk but Jack grabbed his hand halfway, giving his arm a little shake. His brow furrowed in concern when Daniel yanked his hand back. “Is someone… is someone bothering you?”
Daniel threw up his hands. “Jesus Jack, this isn’t some after school special. Do you honestly think I’m sneaking extra training behind your back because I’m getting, what… bullied or something?”
“I don’t know! Are you?”
Daniel dropped back onto his stool, everything slumping. He was of a height with Jack and for the past year or so had even been broader but he was able to revert to the skinny Doctor Jackson Jack had first met just with a slump of shoulders. “You were surprised, weren’t you?” he asked, voice low so Jack almost didn’t catch it.
“Daniel. What?” Jack prodded gently, knowing he was wading in to unfamiliar territory without a map but also knowing he was now committed.
“It was something General Hammond said a little while ago. It was just after P4X-787 and you’d gotten a couple of bruised ribs and Hammond said that he was surprised it wasn’t me. I was leaving the room and he said it to Sam and Captain Pritchard was still in there and he said ‘no, but it was because of Jackson’.”
“Daniel, no.” Jack said, shaking his head.
“He was right Jack. I fumbled my clip. It was just such a tiny thing but I started watching after that. With you and Sam and even Teal’c, anything like that was so practiced, so ingrained it was almost instinct. Sure, I was good enough to pass basic civilian field test but I… I got sick of being protected.”
“Hey buddy, I seem to remember you stepping in front of a staff blast with absolutely no training.”
Daniel snorted. “How do you know I didn’t just fall in the way?”
Jack’s eyes grew dark. “I know,” he snapped.
“Anyway, whenever we’re on base I have Dixon training me,” Daniel said, rubbing absently at the dirty place on his shirt.
“Dixon? SG-13 Dixon?” Jack asked, eyebrows climbing into his hairline. Daniel was certainly friends with SG-13’s archeologist but he had always thought he’d given the tough and usually abrasive CO a wide berth.
“I guess I got used to lame jokes while training. He seemed like the logical choice.”
“There was a more logical choice, Daniel. What does that say about your confidence in me?”
Daniel’s brows drew down in a frown. “It wasn’t about you,” he said, his tone resigned. “He doesn’t take it easy on me.”
“I wouldn’t take it easy on you,” Jack said, bristling.
“Jack, you do take is easy on me. With Sam and Teal’c, you’re tough as nails but with me, not so much. I’m not sure what it is, probably that you think I can’t take it or something,” When Jack opened his mouth to protest, Daniel held up a hand.
“Whatever it is, I don’t care. I think sometimes it hurts us that we’re friends.”
Jack rubbed a hand across his temple, not really liking where the conversation was going. “Yes, we’re friends, but-“
“You see me as the weak one.” Daniel said, his tone resolute.
“Daniel, I don’t-“
“Don’t insult us both by denying it,” Daniel said, holding up his hands, his tone flat. “Just be happy that I’m trying to change it. I’ve recognized a problem and I’m working on it.”
Jack was at a loss. “You’ve recognized a problem,” he repeated, not really knowing why those words rankled so much.
“Yes,” Daniel said brightly but Jack had learned long ago to recognize his false bravado, just like the giveaway line on his forehead. He realized that being seen as the weak one must have been something that was festering with Daniel for a long time, bad enough for him to seek help outside their circle. A curl of dread low in his belly made Jack finally acknowledge that Daniel wasn’t as thick skinned as he tried to come off. He had taken it to heart. Jack thought over every callous thing he had ever said to Daniel and knew that it was a pretty bad joke that Daniel thought he was taking it easy on him.
“We’re going to be okay, right?” Daniel asked, pulling a filing cabinet open and setting the black-wrapped stone inside and pulling something else free that was wrapped in green. Jack got the feeling he was being dismissed.
“Sure,” Jack agreed, injecting a smile into his voice and wondering if Daniel had learned to pick up on his false bravado. It didn’t seem it had as Daniel nodded absently, already absorbed in the new tablet he was unwrapping. “Hockey Friday,” Jack added, backing out of the room.
“Sure, Jack.” Daniel waved.
So ingrained it was almost instinct
Six months later, Jack was left wondering if it was instinct that drove Daniel to dive through a window on Kelowna.
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From:
no subject
*wails* Just so you know, you totally lied! *points fingers like a 5 years old* Jack and Daniel aren't friends here. *sobs*
This hurt. Not just the end, which we (as viewers) have seen and accepted), but the overall tone of the fic, the lack of friendship and understanding between Jack and Daniel. It was like a punch in the gut, and totally unexpected!
I loved the little bit at the beginning:
Jack said, pushing off the stool and skirting Daniel’s shelves, unerringly zeroing in on the one piece of valuable pottery he had and disregarding the five cheap trinkets that were sitting on either side of it. Daniel didn’t even try to rescue it, knowing that even though Jack would toss it about like he wasn’t even paying attention, it would be returned to its exact position, unharmed, when he failed to get a rise from Daniel.
This paragraph says so much aboput both Jack and Daniel: Jack, that he's not as stupid as he pretends to be and knows exactly how to wind Daniel up and Daniel, that he knows Jack so well, that he knows what Jack's doing. *g*
From:
no subject
Sorry to have hurt... um... *looks around* I do have fluffy fic somewhere around here... *rummages* I swear I do!
Read Downtime (http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2619491/1/) or Third Time Lucky (http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2213197/1/) and feel better... *cuddles*
From:
no subject
See, I completely missed that when I watched the episodes. It's only because fandom has knocked me over the head with this concept that I've got it.
And becasue I never said so the first time, this was a good hurt. It hurt, but in a good way. And I think a lot of the hurt was, as you said, that they knew the chasm was there but didn't know how to fix it.
I love the way you had to rummage around to find fluffly fic. *goes off to read*
From:
no subject
And hmmm... not sure what happened. I kinda started out a fluffy writer and migrated slowly over to the darkside.
Ok, that's a total lie. I think I'm more fluffly these days... time for more pegb methinks.