DISCLAIMER: All publicly recognisable characters and property of Stargate SG-1 belong to MGM/UA, World Gekko Corp. and Double Secret Productions. This fan fiction was created solely for entertainment purposes and no money was made from it. Also, no copyright or trademark infringement was intended. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author. Any other characters, the storyline and the actual story are the property of the author. Not to be archived without permission of the author(s).
Chapter 11: White Out
'Oh, shit..'
Jack couldn't move.
It was cold again.but parts of him were warm.
Looking back over his shoulder, he could see most of his legs trapped under debris. Little snowflakes drifted in through the.damn big.hole in the roof, barely visible in the dim light provided by what was left of the fire.
There was another warmth below him.
'Below? Daniel?'
Jack moved his aching arms toward the warmth. Hair, cold skin, something wet.
"Daniel? "Daniel, c'mon, buddy. Wake up and yell at me here."
Only silence answered him, silence and the howl of wind in the trees.no longer muffled by the solid house.
'Son of a bitch.Uncle Gil's gonna kill me.Or maybe I'll kill him, it's his roof.'
Jack tried to shift around, pull his legs free of the debris and found only painful resistance.
'Damn, damn, damn..'
As nearly as he could see he was effectively pinned in position by one of the large beams settled on top of what looked like an inordinately large amount of debris.cedar shingles, broken planks, leaves, snow.. Daniel was lying perpendicular to Jack, top to tail as it were. Jack swallowed hard.
'Two more feet. Two more feet and it would have been Daniel's head buried under all that stuff.'
"Daniel!"
Jack tried to shift his weight and found he could only move enough to keep himself off Daniel's head, still needing to rest his head on Daniel's back.
Strange.he could hear Daniel's heartbeat, steady, strong, reassuring..and a raspy sound with each exhalation.lungs becoming congested.
'Oh, hell, Danny.Why didn't we just stay home.?'
Jack shook off that line of thinking and shifted his wrist around, touching the light-up dial of his watch.3:55. Nearly three hours until daylight and he had no way of knowing how badly hurt either of them was. He felt.pretty okay.uncomfortable, but not too bad. He'd been in similar situations often enough to know that feeling 'pretty okay' wasn't always a sign everything was okay, but at this point he didn't feel he was in a position to question small favors. For the moment he was.pretty okay. It was enough.
"Daniel!" Jack patted a little harder at the cold skin beneath his hands, thankful to whatever power had placed Daniel anywhere other than the couch he'd been sleeping so deeply on earlier. If Daniel hadn't been awake.if he hadn't called out the warning to Jack.they would both be as totally buried as the sectional sofa, no longer visible at all.
Jack shuddered with delayed reaction, one hand subconsciously tightening on Daniel's shoulder.
'Close. Once again and as usual. We have got to be running a deficit on those nine lives by now.'
Jack huddled closer to the body sprawled awkwardly beneath him, listening again for the heartbeat.letting the rhythm and warmth convince him that somehow.together.they would be all right.