"Why do I have to do it?"
God, he hated how whiny he sounded. How, he wondered, could he expect anybody - much less the two people in this world who knew him best - to take him seriously when he sounded like a petulant five-year-old?
Which begged the question... did they ever take him seriously?
"Can't we draw straws or something?" he suggested.
But Teal'c and Carter were an impenetrable wall, one armed with physical strength and the other with reason and logic. "I think it would be best if it came from you, sir," said the Major. She crossed her arms, barely holding back a small, smug smile. Jack almost did a double take. Carter had been acting increasingly self-satisfied ever since... Well, ever since that McKay - McCoy? He was bad with names, especially names of scientists - had left the base. He decided he really didn't want to know.
Teal'c was also in a disturbingly-good mood. He wasn't all smiles or anything, but he'd still been bursting with fatherly pride ever since he, Bra'tac and Ry'ac had returned from their little Anubis-ass-kicking adventure. The three Jaffa were well aware that their actions were the reason the Stargate program was not, after all, being shut down. And they were pretty pleased with themselves. "I agree, O'Neill."
Jack shot Teal'c a dark look. "You would."
"And," Teal'c added, "it was your idea."
Jack looked sharply at Carter, fully expecting a snicker or a snort or some other derisive sound. She simply stared back, blinking those big blue eyes in a vain attempt to look not only innocent but utterly supportive of her commanding officer. Jack glared again - just for good measure - but neither she nor Teal'c seemed particularly impressed, and he wilted. "Yes, yes it was," he muttered. And he wasn't going to let them forget it, either.
Heaving a sigh that would have made a petulant five-year-old cringe in embarrassment, Jack turned and started to limp pathetically down the hallway, hoping for just a smidgen of sympathy. "See... I'm going..." he announced, glancing over his shoulder.
Carter nodded. Teal'c clasped his hands behind his back and stood sentry-style. So much for making a break for it.
There really were disadvantages to working with the two people in this world who knew him best.
Clenching his jaw, he shuffled down the hallway a few more yards, looked down the way he had came - yes, they were still standing there, and Carter actually had the nerve to wave at him - and made a slow left turn into Daniel's office.
No. Not Daniel's office. That was all too clear. Boxes were piled up to the ceiling, obscure but semi-familiar strains of classical music were coming from a small stereo on the other side of the room, and a half-empty mug on the nearest table held tea, not coffee. He'd only been in here once in the last three months, back when Daniel's things had just started to be packed away. Jack had been offended... which was stupid, since he understood the situation as well as anybody. They were inside a mountain, for crying out loud; they had limited space, and they couldn't afford to waste an entire room just because Daniel might - might - want to move back into it some day. What were they supposed to do, Jack had asked himself after his first visit to the orphaned lab, leave everything untouched... just in case? Maybe set up little placards, cordon the area off with velvet ropes, preserve everything as it had been the day SG-1 had left for Kelowna? Archeological tendencies aside, Daniel wouldn't have wanted that anyway. After all, he'd moved on... now it was left for Jack and his team to do the same.
Standing stock-still in the doorway as though paralyzed in the threshold, Jack realized that the room wasn't unoccupied, as he'd hoped. But of course, it was the middle of the day... where else would Jonas Quinn be?
He was reading, of course. Jack figured every time he had seen the guy these past months - which hadn't been often - he'd had his nose in a book. At the moment he was sitting at the desk, a fat volume open in front of him, and he was so motionless - except for the scanning of his eyes from left to right and back - that Jack almost hadn't seen him. Jonas, in fact, seemed so absorbed in whatever he was reading that he hadn't even realized he had a visitor.
The sight was so unexpectedly familiar - a young man surrounded by thick tomes and liquid stimulants, so deeply engrossed by the words in front of him - that for Jack, it was also unexpectedly painful.
Mindful of the fact that, if he loitered too long, Carter and Teal'c were liable to come up behind him with a cattle prod, Jack took one and then two grudging steps into the room. When the motion didn't attract any attention, Jack cleared his throat. Loudly.
Startled, Jonas looked up and - when he saw who the intruder was - stiffened almost imperceptibly. "Colonel O'Neill," he said, although Jack couldn't tell if it was a greeting or a question or just good old-fashioned surprise. Considering how their last encounter had gone, Jack figured he was about the last person Jonas had expected to see any time soon.
"Yeah," Jack said, because 'yeah' was always a good answer in these kinds of situations. Now how the hell was he supposed to say this? Hammond had always taken the responsibility before...
Jonas stood, looking more unsure of himself then Jack had seen thus far. Probably wondering if they'd decided to boot him back to Kelowna after all, or maybe just drop him out in that endless expanse between Colorado Springs and Area 51. Jack thought that the idea was not entirely without merit, and then he reminded himself that he was turning over a new leaf. And that this was his idea. Right. Thanks a lot, Teal'c.
He opened his mouth to say it, just say it, but Jonas had apparently decided on a reason for Jack's visit and was looking increasingly worried. He jumped in: "Colonel, I wanted to say that I'm sorry about earlier, I certainly didn't mean to offend you, I was probably... out of line, but I just need to do something and--"
"You're on the team."
There. He'd said it. Ha.
Jonas' mouth snapped shut. He frowned, looking circumspectly from side to side as though expecting the rest of the SGC to burst from the walls and start laughing at him. "I'm..."
"A member of SG-1," supplied Jack, just to see if it stung to say. And it did... but not as much as he'd thought it would.
The other man swallowed, waited for the punch line... realized that Jack was serious, and nodded solicitously. His mouth attempted to form at least three different words, none of which made it to the sound stage, and finally managed to work out a humble "Thank you".
For all of his hard work and campaigning, Jack realized, Jonas had probably never expected to actually succeed. He certainly looked subdued right now... but maybe Jonas thought that was how one had to act in Jack's presence. Maybe the second Jack turned his back Jonas would be doing cartwheels around the room.
"Yeah, well," he said, if nothing but to break the awkward silence, "You should be thanking Carter and Teal'c, too."
He nodded again, this time with more enthusiasm. "Of course."
"And Hammond." Hammond, who had been undoubtedly pleased by Jack's choice but simultaneously concerned about his mental health. 'Jonas?' the General had repeated. 'Jonas Quinn?' Just in case there was another Jonas running around the base.
Jonas - the only one Jack knew of - smiled tentatively. "Right... I definitely will thank him."
"And the Russians," added Jack, deciding to be honest.
His smile not so much fading as turning perplexed, Jonas inquired, "The Russians?"
"I... eh, forget it." Honest was overrated anyway. Besides, truth was that Jack had made up his mind long before Hammond's explanation of the deal they had made with the Ruskie devils... not that he would ever admit that to anyone. It was weird enough admitting it to himself. But this guy... he had pluck -- something Jack could admire, maybe. And he was smart, if the envious techies he'd overheard earlier were any indication. And he had Carter and Teal'c's endorsements... which meant more to Jack then anything else.
So maybe he could do this.
He cleared his throat again, this time for his own benefit. "Hammond's going to want to go over some... things with you later today. And SG-1's got a briefing scheduled for Wednesday, 1100 hours."
Automatically glancing at the watch on his right wrist, Jonas grinned. "I can't wait!"
Fighting the urge to roll his eyes, Jack gave a final nod and turned back to the door. Well now, that hadn't been so hard--
"Oh, Colonel O'Neill?"
Crap. He looked back. "Yeah?"
Frowning slightly - obviously he'd been giving this question a lot of thought - Jonas glanced down at his blue BDUs. "What color should I wear? To the briefing, I mean."
For the love of... "Blue," said Jack immediately. "You can stick with the blue." He made a mental note to have a set of clean set of green BDUs by Wednesday.
Jonas thanked him - again. Jack grunted, and left. It had been a long, hard couple of days. He'd gotten himself torn up, been threatened by melodramatic Gou'ald punks, been up and back and up and back from outer space -- or at least the general vicinity. And he'd landed in the damn ocean.
He needed cake.
* * *
They were out of cake.
Jack cursed under his breath, searching the dessert tray again in case he'd missed something his first time through. Sure, there was some cake, but not the good stuff, not the kind he wanted, the diabetic's worst nightmare: rich chocolate, nice and moist with a good inch of fluffy chocolate icing... Jack tried to catch the attention of the young men behind the counter, but they all edged away, avoiding his eyes.
"Ahem."
Jack turned and saw Carter standing in front of one of the nearest tables, looking decidedly mischievous. He hadn't seen her when he'd come in, and he blamed his tragically low blood sugar for that. Teal'c was seated at the table behind her, methodically eating grapes. Also on the table was a thick piece of scrumptious chocolate cake and, in Carter's hand, a second plate of the heavenly dessert.
Two pieces of cake. Well. If she was trying to make up for being insufferable earlier... actually, this was a pretty good start. He took a step out of the line and she held the plate out, moving it back and forth enticingly. "So... how did it go?"
Jack's eyes were locked on the cake, watching it sway from left to right with hypnotic power. "Fine," he said absently, coming closer.
Carter pulled the plate back, frowning. "Did you tell him?"
He tore his eyes from the plate and looked up at her. "Told him," he said shortly. "Told him about Wednesday." Told him to wear blue, he added silently, but what was the fun of having a new guy around if you couldn't mess with him... just a little?
Apparently having decided he was telling the truth, Carter handed over the cake with a bemused shake of her head. They sat down with Teal'c, Jack taking the seat facing the commissary door. Carter pushed a fork at him, and jubilantly he began to enjoy his reward.
For the first few minutes, they ate in silence.
At one point, Jack looked up - for no particular reason - just in time to see Jonas Quinn push through the doors and enter the room.
Jonas saw their table immediately, and for a fleeting second the 'deer in headlights' look flashed across his face. Neither Carter nor Teal'c looked up, as absorbed in their food as Jonas had been in that book earlier, and for a moment Jack considered resuming eating without another glance at the other man. After all, how much could they expect from him in one day? Joining SG-1 was one thing, but lunch...
Right. He was being stupid again.
Raising his head, catching Jonas' eye, Jack nodded subtly at the empty fourth chair at their table, the one between him and Teal'c.
Immediately, Jonas understood -- he brightened, quick-stepped across to select a sandwich from the counter, and then approached the table.
As though they were marionettes controlled by the same set of strings, Carter and Teal'c looked up, looked at Jonas, and looked at Jack. Both faces registered surprise as Jonas took a seat, beamed at them, and began unwrapping his tuna sandwich... as though they expected Jack to explode at this sudden imposition and maybe try to gouge Jonas' eyes out with his fork.
He simply stared back, blinking his big brown eyes in a vain attempt to look not only innocent but utterly obvious of the source of their confusion.
Teal'c's worried expression lingered a second longer, and then he went back to his grapes.
Carter looked back at her cake, smiling at it as she couldn't exactly smile at him. Not in public, anyway.
Jonas suspiciously eyed his sandwich filling, but ate it anyway.
Yeah. Maybe they could do this.
The end