Back in the beginning we addressed each other as 'Colonel' and 'Jackson'. We were both strangers in a strange land.
The next time I saw him it was 'Jack' and 'Daniel'.
After a while he started to call me 'Danny'. Sometimes. Knows I don't really like it, does it anyway. And I let him. Because Jack's my friend.
Occasionally he even comes up with something completely new. Like Space Monkey, or Plant Boy. Another sign of affection.
But today...after what happened today the word 'Colonel' comes to mind whenever I think of him and what he did.
And he hasn't called me Danny for a long time.
We're becoming strangers again.
As if the argument with Jack...Colonel O'Neill...hadn't been bad enough, the general had to throw the name of that...creature...back in my face.No, General, you *don't* have to remind me that Apophis is still alive...I was shocked, hurt and angry. I wanted to scream. The temptation to lash out at him was almost overwhelming. Pacing, I knew I had to get the rage and frustration under control. Fast. And I did. But just barely. Nobody seemed to understand the point I was trying to make. Nobody wanted to listen. I might as well have been speaking Sanskrit.
Thank God Sam finally began to see the light.
And I refrained from decking the general. Almost wish I had. Might have made me feel better about what happened later...
It's not the first time that the colonel's told me to shut up. And it hurt just as much as the last time. That he did it in front of others...
Even the Eurondans were embarrassed by his outburst.
The colonel can be such an ass. Wonder what he would have done if I'd told him to "eat my shorts"?
Jack would have laughed. The colonel? He probably would have tossed me back through the Stargate without the benefit of a GDO.
But it wouldn't have changed anything. Would have just made the tension between us infinitely worse.
Torn Jack and Danny even further apart. Again.
I didn't find out until later what exactly it was that made him change his mind. Apparently it's okay to help a genocidal maniac, but not a racist bigot. Wonder if the colonel... Jack... would have come to his senses if Alar had said something similar about guys with glasses?
In all the years we've known each other, our...disagreements...have never descended to the level of a personal attack. I thought I was doing my job, but Colonel O'Neill obviously didn't see it that way. He had the keys to the candy store and he didn't want to give them back.
When he couldn't counter my arguments any more, he turned on me.
Jack would never have done that, but Jack seemed to have gone temporarily AWOL.
It took Alar's words to bring him back. Alar's words...not mine. I failed. What good is a linguist who can't make himself understood? Useless. Totally useless.
But in the end I obeyed his orders. I always do. No matter how much I disagree with him, I always do as he says. Just...not always right away.
The argument was bad. Being told to shut up was worse. But the thing that really left me in shock was what happened after the colonel came to his senses. Sort of. It was like Jack popped up to say a brief 'hello' then went AWOL again as Colonel O'Neill went to the opposite extreme. Not satisfied with withdrawing his support for the Kindred, he just had to help the Breeders to defeat them. We should have just left.
God, that sounds awful. So cold.
But we'd already made the decision not to help the Kindred, and the Breeders didn't need our help to win, despite the assist from Colonel Jackass.
Who were we to judge whether they were any better? It wasn't our war. We didn't have all the facts.
We should have just left.
Next time, Jack, just put a bullet in my head - it'd hurt less.
You've got one more chance.
Being your friend is getting too damned hard.