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Jack saw the hunched figure sitting on the steps to his back deck. He should have expected this after calling him but it was still... odd. He grabbed two beers out of the fridge and went outside. With a little grunt as his knee complained, he sat down on the step next to his clone and wordlessly handed him a beer.
His clone took it with a sigh that was much too old for his body and said, "So Sara's getting remarried...."
Much later, when the beer had been swapped for whiskey, Jack left his drunk clone to sleep it off on the couch. He went and flopped into bed himself and his last drunken thought was to wonder whose hangover was going to be worse in the morning.
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"Hey," Jack said in the way of a greeting."
"Yeah?" his clone replied equally verbose.
"I just wanted to let you know that Hammond's leaving."
"He's finally retiring?"
"No, promoted. He's heading for Washington."
"Ah. So which poor schmuck is taking over his command?"
"Civilian, a Dr. Weir."
"A civilian? Are they nuts?" his clone practically screamed into the phone.
"My thoughts exactly."
"You know this is going to end badly, right?"
"Yep. But it's not up to me. And frankly it's not going to be my problem for much longer anyway."
"Why? Gonna try a retirement that actually sticks this time?"
"Not exactly. More like a vacation. A permanent one."
"Explain."
"Remember when I had to take a trip and make some new little friends that helped me get a bunch of stuff out of my head?"
It only took his clone a moment to parse that and he said, "Yeah. Wait... you didn't?"
"I did, and look there's no use getting worked up about it. What's done is done. The reason I'm calling to let you know that left instructions with everyone that when I'm gone you can come to the house and take what you want. I thought you might want some... things."
"You idiot," was the only reply on the other end of the phone.
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"Ding, dong, the witch is dead," Jack said cheerfully when his clone answered.
It was the middle of the night and Jack's clone could tell that the other man had been drinking. He grumbled into the phone, "What the hell are you talking about?"
"We did it." Jack said with a drunken giggle.
Jack's clone shook his head not believing that he was hearing General Jack O'Neill giggling. There was just something really not right going on. "Did what exactly?"
"All the bugs are gone and the over-dressed, melodramatic snakes, too." More drunken giggling followed that turned into Jack humming the melody from the Wizard of Oz scene that had opened the phone call.
Jack's clone sat up straight in bed at the implication. A little in awe he asked, "All of them? Seriously?"
"Seriously."
Thankfully he was alone in his apartment when he hung up the phone, because if it was weird for an Air Force General to be giggling, it would have been even weirder for a former Air Force Black-ops Colonel to be seen doing a victory dance on his bed in his boxer shorts.
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There was a box on his kitchen table. He knew it was coming because Jack had called, he just didn't expect Jack to have broken into his apartment to deliver it personally. He shucked off his book-laden backpack and dropped it on the chair and took a deep breath before opening the box. He went through the photos and mementos the box held, some making him smile while others made his chest tighten in response. There was more in the box than he expected to see when Jack had called and told him he was being promoted and was selling his house and moving to Washington and that he had set aside some things for him. If Jack didn't know what to make of his clone, it was times like this that his clone didn't know what to make of Jack. He picked up the phone and was grateful he got Jack's voicemail, it was simpler. He left a one word message, "Thanks."
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"Hey. It's me."
Again in the middle of the night, what was with him and calling in he middle of the night? His clone groused, "Do you have any idea what time it is?"
"Yes, I know what time it is."
He sat up and the other person in the bed with him shuffled around and stole all the blankets. "Why do you always call in the middle of the night? Some of us do try to sleep ya know."
"Well if you would be quiet a minute maybe I'd be able to tell you why I'm calling so late."
He scrubbed his face with the hand not holding the phone and tried to keep his temper. "I'm listening."
"Remember our old buddy Bocce?"
He snorted and his reply was a little waspish, "As if I could forget?"
"He's dead."
He sat up a little straighter and was suddenly very awake. "Seriously? You're not pulling my leg are you?"
"Saw it with my own eyes."
He was sorry to have missed it himself, killing Ba'al was a favorite fantasy of his. "How?"
"Let's just say it was friends of Jacob."
The Tok'ra. He was a little stunned with the weight of the news and didn't exactly know what to say. "That's... wow. And for the record, that's definitely middle-of-the-night news worthy."
"I just... well, I just thought you should know."
Jack knew the nightmares they shared, and knew that Ba'al's death would be the only thing to truly bring them both closure. He took a breath and hesitated then replied gently, "Thanks. This is sort of big news, how you handling it?"
"I'm alright. You gonna be?"
He glanced over at the other side of the bed, the blanket had slipped back down revealing a strong set of shoulders and the faint light in the room made the sleeping man's beard stubble seem even darker. They had met their first day of college classes and he had reminded the clone a little of Daniel. Having always prided himself on learning from his mistakes, he hadn't hesitated when the interest was returned and now a year later they were inseparable. He wasn't alone, and he knew Jack wasn't any longer either and he'd be willing to bet that Daniel wasn't twenty feet away from Jack, listening in on the conversation. He knew that both he and Jack would be okay, they both had strong, unwavering lovers that would be there for them. He gently tugged the blanket up over the sleeping man's shoulders and answered softly, "Yeah, I'll be fine."
"Okay then, that's all I wanted."
He and Jack had come to an uneasy civilness over the years and he knew how much it cost the other man to make the periodic phone calls to his clone that he felt were necessary. He couldn't just tell the other man that he was grateful, that wasn't who either of them were, but he knew that Jack would get it, no one knew him better. "Thanks... for calling."
"Yeah."
The line went dead and he put the phone back in the cradle on the nightstand. He slipped back down under the covers and molded himself around his sleeping lover. He slipped a hand around and placed it against his heart, savoring the strong beating pulse there as he tried to calm his mind and go back to sleep.
A warm hand soon covered his and a low whisper broke the quiet of the room. "Good news?"
He gave a little squeeze and said, "The best."
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the end.