Jack precariously balanced his beer and the bowl of pretzels in one hand while handing Carter her beer with the other. He set the pretzels down on the coffee table in front of Teal’c before answering the front door.
It must have started raining in earnest, because on his doorstep shivered a completely drenched Daniel Jackson.
“Been out for a swim?”
“You just had to invite us over during a monsoon, didn’t you?”
“I had it shipped in special just for you.” Jack stepped back so Daniel could squelch his way in. “The others are already here. They both managed to stay remarkably dry. Try not to drip on the rug.”
Carter frowned from her cozy spot on the couch under Grandma O’Neill’s afghan as they entered the living room. “Geez, Daniel. You look like something the cat dragged in.”
“Actually, he looks more like something the cat hacked up.”
Daniel glared at him. “Thanks, Jack.”
Jack grinned. “You’re welcome.” He gestured towards the bathroom. “C’mon. There’s a towel in there, and I’ll get you a change of clothes. I’ll even get you a beer while you change.”
“Make it a glass of wine and I’ll consider it,” Daniel said, shutting the bathroom door in Jack’s face.
Jack poured out a glass of an already open bottle of Merlot, sniffing it briefly before putting it down on the coffee table in the living room. It was the same bottle Daniel had brought and opened the last time he was there. When was that? Three weeks ago? Four? Should still be good, right?
He found some sweat pants and a T-shirt and knocked on the bathroom door. It opened slightly and a hand reached out, grabbed the clothes, and shut the door again almost instantly.
Jack smirked. “You’ve got nothing I haven’t seen before, you know.”
“Should I be disturbed that you want to see it again?” came the muffled response. “Why aren’t you pouring me some wine?”
“Already done. Just waiting for you so we can start the movie.”
“What are we watching? Whose turn is it? Sam’s?”
“Nah, it’s Teal’c’s.” Jack had to struggle to contain a chuckle at the sudden silence that followed. Daniel and Teal’c had very different tastes in movies.
There was a loud sigh. “Great.”
The door opened and a rumpled looking Daniel stepped out in Jack’s old clothes, his feet bare. His hair was sticking out in all directions from what must have been vigorous towelling, and he was holding his soggy clothes at arm’s length. Jack was tempted to make a quick dash for his camera, until he remembered that the batteries were dead. Too bad. He could have made a fortune selling that photo on base.
Daniel gave him a look that told Jack he knew exactly what he’d been thinking, and that if Jack acted on it he’d find himself with a bruised jaw and a broken camera.
No sense of humour at all.
Daniel headed downstairs, presumably to put his stuff in the dryer. Jack went back out to the living room and settled himself comfortably in his favourite recliner. He sat back and enjoyed his beer while they waited.
A few minutes later, Daniel padded into the room and sat down near Carter, whose face had that look all females seemed to get around tousled archaeologists. Daniel shivered slightly and Carter just couldn’t resist him. “Oh, Daniel. You’re freezing. C’mere.” She lifted up the afghan and patted the couch next to her.
Daniel didn’t hesitate before snuggling in beside her, letting her curl herself around him. She tucked the blanket back over both of them and pulled his head down onto her shoulder.
Lucky bastard. The only time Jack had ever been invited to cuddle with her was while he was suffering from hypothermia and hypovolemic shock, with the occasional hug during really rough patches thrown in. And yet Daniel was barely even damp. That was just so unfair.
Jack briefly considered making a big deal over the fact that he remembered the term hypovolemic, but since Daniel honestly didn’t seem to know about the mother-inducing effect he had on women, Jack decided to save it for another time.
“Thanks, Sam,” Daniel said, giving her a brief smile, but the look he directed at Jack could only be described as smug. He’d arranged this on purpose, the conniving little—
“We have all arrived. It is time to begin the film,” Teal’c announced, pointing the remote at the screen.
“What’ve we got, T?” Jack asked.
“Die Hard.”
Daniel let out a soft whimper. Carter patted his shoulder sympathetically. Jack grinned. The sideshow was promising to be better than the movie itself.
As the trailers started, Daniel reached for his wine, probably so he could better tolerate the movie, Jack figured. He took a small sip and grimaced, setting the glass back down on the coffee table. Guess four weeks was a little too long for an open bottle of wine. Ah well. Served him right for not choosing a nice fresh beer.
Jack settled in to enjoy the movie, but McClane had barely gotten out of his limousine when lightning flashed across the sky and the power went out. SG-1 was suddenly plunged into a dark silence.
The silence didn’t last for long. “Well now, that’s just too bad,” Daniel’s voice said dryly.
Jack grunted. He stood up and carefully felt his way over to the cabinet. A few minutes later, the room flickered with candlelight. Jack set a couple of flashlights down on the coffee table before settling back into his chair.
“Huh,” Carter said. “That might have been the shortest movie night in history.”
“The night doesn’t have to end just because we can’t watch Die Hard.”
Daniel seemed to be frowning, but it was hard to tell for sure in the dimly lit room. “What did you have in mind, Jack?”
“I dunno. We could play some sort of game.”
“Like what?” Yup. Daniel was definitely frowning.
“What about ‘I Never’.”
“Not a good idea, sir,” Carter said.
“Uh, no.” Daniel tried another sip of his wine, though why was beyond Jack’s understanding, since he clearly hated it as much this time as previously. “Really bad idea, in fact.”
“Ah, what’s the harm?” Jack asked. “Even Teal’c will play. Won’t you, big guy?”
“I am not familiar with this game, O’Neill. Please explain.”
“See, Jack? That’s a problem right there. Do you really want to play ‘I Never’ with an alien?”
Jack thought about it for a moment. Now that Daniel had pointed it out, it really didn’t seem like such a brilliant plan. Not if any of the Earth natives wanted to be able to walk in the morning. “Alright, then you come up with something.”
“How about I go and get my clothes out of the now-useless dryer?” Daniel stood up, grabbed a flashlight, and headed downstairs without waiting for an answer.
Jack frowned at his retreating back. For someone who’d just had cuddle-time with Carter, he sure was grumpy. The least Daniel could do was show some appreciation for the clothes Jack had found for him. After all, they were fresh from the laundry the day before. Well, the sweats were, anyway.
Jack had another idea on the entertainment front. One which intrigued Teal’c, though Carter didn’t seem keen. Perfect. Now he just had to convince Daniel. He made his way downstairs with the help of the other flashlight.
The suggestion didn’t go over very successfully.
“Seriously, Jack, can’t you find something better to do?”
Jack swallowed his smile and put on his best petulant face. “Excuse me for wanting to get to know my team a little better, maybe even do a little bonding.”
“Bonding.” Daniel looked over his shoulder at him as he hung his still-soaked jeans over Jack’s drying rack. “You want us all to bond?”
“Yes, Daniel. Bonding. Personality sharing. Dare I say it, fun. You may have heard of it.”
“You don’t think fighting a war for the fate of the planet side by side for the past seven years has helped us bond enough?”
Jack rolled his eyes. “C’mon, where’s your sense of adventure? What else are we going to do with no power?”
“Cards? Scrabble? Trivial Pursuit?”
“Teal’c or Carter always win at cards. You always win at Scrabble. You or Carter always win at trivia. This is something team building, rather than competitive. Aren’t you the one who’s always bleating about cooperation?”
“Gee, when you put it that way... No.”
Jack rocked back on his heels, clasped his hands behind his back and played his secret ace. “Teal’c’s going to play.” Still nothing. “So is Carter.”
Daniel sighed heavily. “Oh, alright.” He finished hanging up his socks and followed Jack upstairs.
Jack managed to stop him when he made a break for the front door. He gave Daniel a shove back into the living room, where they found Teal’c apparently communing with a candle, and Carter slouching on the couch, absently playing solitaire with the deck of cards she’d wanted to play poker with. “Okay, Carter. I talked Daniel into it. You have to play too.”
Jack didn’t miss the betrayed look his 2IC shot the archaeologist. Nor did he miss the pissed off archaeologist’s glare in his direction. “You told me she was going to play.”
“She said she would if I convinced you to. I convinced you. So she’s playing. No harm, no foul.”
Daniel rolled his eyes and sank back into his spot next to Carter. “Remind me again why he’s in command?”
“He’s a colonel. I’m a major. You’re a civilian, and Teal’c’s an alien. It’s unfair, but there it is.”
“Hey! A little respect, please, at least when I can hear you,” Jack said.
Carter gave the most half-assed “Sorry, sir” Jack had ever heard, and Daniel just stuck out his tongue.
“Didn’t anyone ever teach you how to behave in front of a superior officer?”
“I have witnessed Major Carter’s ability to do so on more than one occasion, O’Neill,” Teal’c said. “Perhaps if you located such an officer you would receive a demonstration.”
Daniel didn’t even bother trying to cover his snort, and Carter was overcome by a sudden coughing fit. Teal’c wasn’t exactly smiling, but his eyebrow was doing a damn fine impression of it.
“Fine.” Jack plopped back into his recliner. “Just for that we’re starting off with favourite Simpsons characters. Carter?”
She sighed, and then seemed to physically will herself to get into the spirit. “Lisa.”
Jack shook his head. “Not even going to bother asking why there. Brainiac females of the world unite! Teal’c?”
“I am most amused by Maggie Simpson. She does not speak, yet one is well aware of her intelligence and honour.”
Interesting viewpoint. “Daniel?”
“Smithers.”
“Excuse me?” Jack was glad he had swallowed the swig of beer he’d just taken, or it might have ended up all over Teal’c. Something the Jaffa probably wouldn’t have been all that pleased about. “Something you want to tell us there, Daniel?”
Daniel rolled his eyes. “I’m not coming out, Jack. I just have some sympathy for the guy. He’s obviously got a good heart, yet he spends his time following a maniacal lunatic around, trying to get him to do the right thing once in a while. It strikes a chord.”
“Oh, very funny.”
“I thought so.”
“Well,” Jack said with a glare. “I was going to go with Burns, but I can see now that’d be a bad idea. So I guess I’ll pick Bart. Gotta love a kid with such a profound respect for authority.”
Daniel pursed his lips. “So you admire a lack of respect in a cartoon character, but not in Sam?”
“Not that I’ve ever been tempted to tell you to eat your shorts, sir,” Carter added, earning her a shoulder nudge and a smile from Daniel.
Well, at least they were having fun. Even if it was at Jack’s expense. “Of course you haven’t, Carter. Of course you haven’t. Alright. Who’s got the next one?”
Carter raised her hand. “I do. Who’s your favourite mathematician? I’ve always been fond of Fibonacci.”
“Carter!”
“Thought I was going to pick Hawking, didn’t you, sir?”
“I am also intrigued by Leonardo Fibonacci’s work, Major Carter,” Teal’c said.
Jack stared at the Jaffa. “Oh, for crying out loud. Daniel, you pick something. Not mathematicians.”
“No problem. Favourite archaeologists. And if anyone says Budge I may have to zat them.”
“We're not doing archaeologists, Daniel.”
“You're just saying that because you don't know of any besides me.”
“Not true. There's Indiana Jones.”
“Fictional.”
“Those guys in The Mummy.”
“Also fictional, and complete morons I might add. I still can’t believe I wasted two hours of my life on that movie. No offence, Teal’c.”
“None has been taken.”
“How about Lara Croft?” Carter asked with a smile.
Daniel rolled his eyes again. “Not helping, Sam.”
“The guy in Jurassic Park?” Jack asked.
“Oh, for the love of— He’s a palaeontologist, Jack. He studies dinosaurs. Completely different field. And, oh yeah.” Daniel waved a hand through the air. “Fictional.”
“Whatever. Think of something else.” Jack squinted at Daniel just as he was about to speak. “Ah! No Pharaohs, hieroglyphs, extinct languages, or weird cultures. TV or movies only, people.”
Daniel thankfully closed his mouth on whatever Ancient Egyptian Mummy of the Month theme he’d been about to suggest.
Jack turned to Teal’c. “Your turn to pick a topic, T. Let me guess. Star Wars?”
“I am already aware of your favourite Star Wars characters. I have found another program of interest on the science fiction channel. It is known as Star Trek.”
“Ah. Nice to see you’re branching out. Who’s your favourite character, big guy?”
“I am most partial to the Klingon Worf. He is a warrior of great skill and honour, yet he fights alongside the humans of Earth rather than his own people.”
Jack nodded. “Sounds familiar. What about you, Carter?”
Carter appeared to ponder the question for a while. “I can’t decide between Miles O’Brien and Julian Bashir.”
“Why?” Jack asked.
“O’Brien can fix just about anything, but Bashir is a genius. He’s also remarkably easy on the eyes.”
Yes, well. Jack could see how those traits might appeal. What with them all applying to her as well.
He cleared his throat. “I’ve always liked Uhura. I just lived to hear her say ‘Hailing frequencies open, Captain’.”
“It was the skirt, wasn’t it?” Daniel asked.
“No, Daniel, as a ten year old boy in the sixties I admired her for her intelligence and personality. Of course it was the skirt.”
“You’re a shining example to us all.”
“And who’s your favourite, wise guy? I’m putting ten bucks on Hoshi.”
Carter raised her hand. “I’ll take that bet, sir.”
“Who’s Hoshi?” Daniel asked.
“Ensign Hoshi Sato is the communications officer on the program Star Trek: Enterprise,” Teal’c said.
“Yeah, she’s their linguist.” Jack hadn’t seen the other new Star Trek shows, but for some reason Enterprise had caught his attention. He’d seen the premiere not long after Martin Lloyd had introduced his idiotic and ripped-off cable show. He blamed that for giving him a hopefully temporary interest in Sci Fi. Two years and counting was still temporary, right?
“Never seen that show,” Daniel said.
Jack muttered a few less than complimentary comments about workaholic scientists under his breath. “Fine, Carter. I owe you ten. But I think Daniel does know who she is and dislikes her out of spite because she knows more languages than he does.”
Daniel blinked. “Really?”
“Yep. Even Klingon.”
“bIjatlh 'e' yImev.”
“Gesundheit!” Carter grinned.
Jack closed his eyes and rubbed a hand across his forehead. “Tell me you don’t speak Klingon, Daniel.”
“Not fluently, no.”
“But you do speak some?” Jack shook his head in disgust. “Just when I think you couldn’t possibly be a bigger geek, you go and prove me wrong.”
“Hey, the fact that a functional language has come out of a work of fiction is very interesting from both a linguistic and an anthropological perspective. Of course I learned some of it. It’s intriguing.” Daniel leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “For example, the genders of nouns in Klingon don’t indicate inherent gender as they do in English, but aren’t arbitrary either like in many other Earth languages. Instead—”
“Daniel! Don’t even think about it. Just tell us who your favourite character is.”
Daniel shrugged. “Not sure. Chekov, I guess.”
Not what Jack had been expecting. “After all the negotiating you’ve had to do with Colonel Chekov, I can’t believe you’re even saying that.”
“What?” Daniel looked puzzled for a moment. “Oh. I never made the connection.”
“Why does that not surprise me? Okay, why Chekov?”
“I always felt bad for him because most of the humiliating or painful stuff happens to him.”
“Like what?”
“I guess in the sixties the male heroes couldn’t really be seen to scream, and you couldn’t go around torturing women either, so they needed a younger secondary character to do it. Chekov gets killed at the OK Corral. He’s terrified by dead bodies in the one where everyone ages. His evil double gets put in the pain chamber thing.”
Daniel paused for a moment, growing more sombre. “And my personal favourite, he gets implanted with brain eels that try to control him in The Wrath of Khan. I never could watch that scene after Sha’re...” His voice trailed off, and he looked down at the floor. He tolerated a sympathetic squeeze to his arm from Carter and then stood up abruptly. “If we’re just about done here, I think I need a drink. Feel free to continue playing without me.”
Jack blew out a puff of air as he watched Daniel grab a beer from the fridge. He leaned heavily on the kitchen counter, watching the storm outside as he took a pull on the bottle. Which was going down far more quickly than it normally would, Jack noted. “Well, that went well.”
Teal’c frowned. “Do not blame yourself. You could not have known that he would be reminded of his wife.” The Jaffa got out of his chair and went to stand beside Daniel. Neither one spoke, but Jack hoped Daniel would draw some comfort from Teal’c’s proximity.
All of Daniel’s memories had come back, thankfully, but recalling many of them had reopened old wounds, something Jack hadn’t really been able to help with. Sha’re’s enslavement and death were without doubt the most painful, though there were plenty of others.
Jack got up and sat back down next to Carter, whose eyes were watching Daniel through the doorway. “You okay?” he asked softly.
“You know, I don’t really remember the scene with the eels anymore. Just the ending. I haven’t been able to watch Wrath of Khan since...”
“Kelowna,” Jack said.
She nodded, her eyes never leaving Daniel. “It just hurt too much. I couldn’t watch someone else die that way. Not even a fictional character.”
“It was the movie of the week about a month after Daniel...left. I’d never seen it before.” Jack closed his eyes. “I’ll never watch it again.”
“Me neither.”
They sat in silence, watching their friends in the kitchen.
Eventually, after Daniel had grabbed another beer and everyone was back in the living room, Jack asked, “So, now what should we do?”
Teal’c raised an eyebrow, still watching Daniel, though not as obviously. “Perhaps we should consume the projectile and attempt Trivial Pursuit, O’Neill.”
Jack sighed. “It’s ‘bite the bullet’, T, and I’d really rather...” He trailed off as he saw the spark of interest both Daniel and Carter were displaying. “Fine. But there’s gotta be some way to keep it fun for everyone.”
“Perhaps we should consider your earlier request for ‘team building’. I propose that Major Carter and I challenge you and Daniel Jackson.”
Actually, that wasn’t such a bad idea. One genius per team ought to keep it fair. Carter and Daniel seemed fond of the idea, already placing bets on who would kick whose ass. Jack got up and dug out the board from the hallway closet.
Two hours, three arguments about the idiocy of the game’s researchers, and an unhealthy amount of alcohol later, Jack triumphantly placed the orange Sports and Leisure piece into his and Daniel’s pie. As if he wouldn’t know who’d won the Stanley Cup in 1996. It joined the other four pieces which Daniel had earned, and the Entertainment pie which even Jack had admitted was a complete fluke. Their next roll was a six, landing them smack on the hub of the wheel for the winning question.
Carter and Teal’c conferred for a moment before reaching consensus. “Pink!”
Great. Entertainment. Too bad Carter wasn’t dumb enough to choose History.
Carter pulled the card out of the box, and groaned as soon as she saw it. “What short-lived television series featured Colonel Danning and a team of explorers travelling throughout the galaxy by means of a Star Portal?”
Jack grinned. “Gee, tough one. You got this or should I, Daniel?”
“Um, let me think.” Daniel smiled as well.
“Wormhole X-treme!” they chorused together.
Carter didn’t even bother flipping over the card. “That was so unfair.”
“Carter, if there’s anything in this world you should have figured out by now, it’s that life is never fair.”
“Thank you , sir. That was very profound.”
“Indeed,” Teal’c added.
“Well, I’m a profound kind of guy.”
“Uh huh, sure you are. I’m gonna get another drink.” Daniel stood up, wavering as the alcohol already in bloodstream made itself obvious to his nervous system and everyone around him. He flopped gracelessly back down onto the couch. “Or maybe not.”
“You’re not even done the one you’re holding,” Carter pointed out with a smile.
Daniel stared at the bottle in his hand for a long moment, tilting it one way and then another. “Huh. You’re right.” He took a swig and leaned back in the couch, closing his eyes. “So, now what’re we going to do?”
Jack smirked and pointed at Daniel with his own bottle. “I’m thinking of sitting back and playing ‘let’s watch the archaeologist pass out’.”
“It is an inevitable conclusion to the evening,” Teal’c agreed.
Carter giggled, causing Daniel to crack an eye open and look at her. “I’m thinking the physicist won’t be far behind.”
She swatted at him with one of the couch pillows. “I’m not as think as you drunk I am.”
Jack rolled his eyes. “You did that on purpose.”
“Yep,” she agreed.
“Which only proves that she’s drunk,” Daniel said, closing his eye again.
“Yep.”
“As are you all,” Teal’c said.
Jack nodded, content. “Then I’d say this has been one of our more successful movie nights.”
For once, nobody disagreed with him.
XXXXX
The power came back on at about 0300 hours. Jack was the only one to notice.
Daniel was slouched on one end of the couch, his head tilted back and his legs sprawled out in front of him. He was snoring softly and yet miraculously still hadn’t dropped the beer bottle dangling from almost-slack fingers. Daniel would never admit it, but Jack would stake money on the archaeologist’s subconscious protecting the bottle like any other artefact. Too bad Daniel’s conscious mind wouldn’t hesitate in the slightest before winging the bottle at his head, if Jack so much as mentioned his theory.
Carter was taking up the rest of the couch, her head resting on a pillow in Daniel’s lap. She too was fast asleep, one of her legs twitching slightly, and a small puddle of drool forming on the pillow. She snorted, perhaps sensing someone’s eyes on her, and pulled the afghan tighter around herself.
Teal’c was sitting cross-legged on the floor in front of the recliner. He now had to sleep rather than merely meditate, just like the rest of them, but Jack had no idea how he managed to do it in that position. Still, a hundred-year-long habit didn’t get broken easily, he supposed.
Jack smiled with pride, flipping off the lights and hitting the power button on his TV’s remote. They were his team. Completely nuts, each and every one of them, but his just the same. Of course, he couldn’t really complain, Jack realized as he settled back into his chair in the room rather than heading for his perfectly good bed. Not when he was just as nuts as they were.
END