Work Text:
Everyday Needs
by Orrymain
Doctor Daniel Jackson stood silently, staring out the narrow window pane at the front of his lover's country-style home. His arms folded protectively across his chest, the archaeologist wore a fading pair of denim blue jeans with a light blue plaid shirt that was not tucked in. His white socks warmed his feet that were also guarded by the dingy white tennis shoes, its laces loosely tied causing them to flop perilously whenever the shaggy-haired man walked.
Staring a bit mindlessly out onto the street, Daniel caught notice of the wind ripping through the leaves of the trees and causing the greenery near the house to bristle. The skies were clear, but he had heard the wind gusting earlier when he'd gone outside to enjoy his morning coffee. Of course, he'd already enjoyed two more hot cups since then.
The house was still as the clock neared the 10:20 mark; that is, until the familiar footsteps of Colonel Jack O'Neill were heard. Dressed in khaki pants with a warm navy blue pullover sweater, the Air Force veteran stopped and stood just behind and to Daniel's left.
“You ready for this?” Jack questioned tentatively.
With a slight glance at the other man, Daniel nodded and responded, “Yeah. I'll drive.”
“Oh, no,” Jack mused while shaking his head. “That old jalopy of yours is scheduled to break down again any day.”
“It's not that bad.” Daniel saw the unbelieving stare of his partner and finally gave a relenting sigh. “Okay.”
“Besides, I need gas.”
“You had gas last night,” Daniel retorted, referring to the aftermath of the overly spicy and indulgent combination of Mexican and Chinese foods the two had eaten.
Jack grinned at the jest. It was the first even slightly humorous remark Daniel had made since their disastrous visit to P3R-636. Thanks to a rather self-indulgent princess, the archaeologist had become addicted to the sarcophagus and had suffered mightily as a result. He had even attempted to kill Jack in one of the storage rooms at Stargate Command. His recovery was making steady progress, but this joke was the first sign of real life returning to the emotionally scarred and physically injured genius.
~You're coming back to me, Dannyboy,~ Jack thought to himself as he headed for the door, hope in his heart that the nightmare would soon be over.
Daniel began to follow Jack, shaking his head when his lover asked him if he wanted to get a jacket. Stepping onto the porch, he solidified his opinion. He figured it was about seventy degrees out, and right now, that suited him just fine.
====
Pulling into the service station, both men exited the Ford truck.
“I'll do the tank,” Daniel volunteered.
Nodding, Jack proceeded to grab the long-handled wiper from the well. He dipped it into the water and then began cleaning the front windshield. It was unusually dirty at the moment.
~Gotta start paying attention to the windshield while I'm driving instead of those Mary Steenburgen images in my head.~
With Daniel silent as he continued to man the gas pump, Jack eventually walked to back of the truck cab and leaned over to give it a good wipe down as well. With a glance to his Love, the mischievous colonel smiled internally.
Calmly, Jack headed back for the bin of water. Soaking the wiper, his inner child covertly walked toward the rear of the truck, only from the other side of the gas pumps. Lost in his own world, the younger man was oblivious to his colonel's movements until he suddenly felt a stream of sprinkles on his neck.
“Jack!”
“Gotcha!”
“Grow up, Jack.”
“Grow down, Danny,” the older man returned, flicking the damp wiper with his wrist and causing a few more specks of water to land on the archaeologist.
“You asked for it,” Daniel accused, leaving the nozzle resting as it continued to fill the tank and then reaching into the truck bed and retrieving a plastic container that just happened to be there. He went to the water container, filled the bucket, and began to chase his lover around the gas pumps, much to the amusement of a teen bicyclist who was riding by and stopped to watch the adults at play. “I'm faster than you!”
“But you have to get to me first,” Jack taunted as he rounded the front pump.
“Jack!” a gray-haired man called out from the step of the office. “Still acting like a kid?”
“Well, you know how it is, Dennis,” Jack responded, smiling as he walked past his soulmate to properly greet the man. Shaking hands, he added, “Good to see you.”
“You, too. Who's your friend?”
“Danny!” Jack beckoned, nodding for Daniel to join him.
With the tank now full, Daniel put the nozzle back into pump and then headed over to where Jack and Dennis stood.
“Dennis, this is Doctor Daniel Jackson. He has more letters after his name than are in the alphabet.” Turning to the PhD, he informed, “Danny, this is Dennis Rickenbacher, the greasiest of the grease monkeys.”
The three chatted politely for a minute, though Daniel said only a few words, and then Daniel excused himself to return to the truck where he made sure to secure the gas cap.
“Quiet, isn't he?” Dennis observed, motioning over towards the archaeologist.
“Too quiet, but I'm working on him.”
After another minute, Jack said goodbye to the station owner and opened the driver's side door to get inside. Just as he opened it, a full cup of water splashed across his face.
“Refreshing,” Jack smirked as he pulled out his handkerchief and dried his face. Sliding onto the now slightly wet seat, he praised, “Good one.”
“Thank you,” Daniel replied flatly.
After Jack closed the door, the two men looked at each other and then broke out into joint laughter.
“Okay, next stop,” a pleased Jack stated as he started his truck.
====
Jack and Daniel walked into an auto parts store on a mission to buy an oil filter for Jack's truck. Though he often took his truck in for service, sometimes the colonel enjoyed tinkering with it himself. Since it was time for an oil change, he'd decided to handle the maintenance on his own. Daniel was nowhere near as handy with car repairs, though Jack was educating him on the subject.
“What are we looking for?” Daniel asked for the second time in five minutes.
“Oil filter,” Jack responded as he searched for the correct aisle.
“Here's one,” Daniel stated, picking up an object and tossing it to Jack.
“Whoa, there, Danny,” Jack chided lightly, barely catching the object before it fell to the white floor below. He let out a chuckle and pointed out, “Daniel, this is an air filter.”
“We need a filter for air?”
Jack looked at his lover skeptically, noting the seriousness on Daniel's face. He put the item back on the shelf and then located the correct aisle.
Selecting the needed filter, Jack held it in front of his Heart and advised, “This is an oil filter. Notice the difference in shape.”
Shrugging nonchalantly, Daniel replied, “A filter is a filter,” after which he turned around and headed for the checkout counter.
“You're joshing me, aren't you?” Jack accused uncertainly. “Danny?” Seeing his lover round the corner, the Air Force officer began to sprint as he called out, “Daniel!”
Rounding the tall corner, Jack bumped directly into a smiling Daniel.
“Gotcha!” Daniel exclaimed. “I may not know how to do an oil change, but I do know the difference between an oil filter and an air filter; and there's one more thing.”
“What's that?”
“I can read.”
~That's my Danny,~ Jack thought with a smile.
The colonel paid for his purchase, and the two men went on to complete their next errand.
====
Next, the lovers went to a nearby market to buy a few groceries. At one point, they found themselves in the bread department where they planned on getting a regular loaf of bread for use with sandwiches or just some toast in the mornings. Suddenly, Jack picked up a long loaf of French bread.
“What's that for?” Daniel inquired.
“I thought I'd make some cheese bread to go along with lasagna tonight,” Jack answered.
“We're having lasagna?”
“Something wrong with that?”
“No ... no, I ... I just think it's a bit much after that load from last night.”
“Last night, we indulged your Chinese fantasies,” Jack reminded. “Tonight, it's Mama Mia's lasagna.”
“Wh...who is Mama Mia?”
Jack shrugged and put forth, “An Italian mama?”
“That's a big help,” Daniel responded. Looking at the loaf, he noted, “That's sweet bread.”
“Best kind,” Jack opined as he started to put the loaf into the shopping cart.
“No, this is,” Daniel offered, one hand going up to stop his lover's movement to the cart and another reaching over to grab a loaf of the sour variety.
“Sweet,” Jack insisted.
“Sour,” Daniel countered stubbornly.
“I prefer sweet.”
“And I prefer sour.”
“Sweet,” Jack repeated.
“Sour!”
“Sweet, Sweetness,” the older man maintained with the added somewhat snarky endearment.
“Sour, Sourpuss.”
“Sour...” Jack began, his complaint about the adjective cut off by Daniel's next movement and response.
“Thank you,” the archaeologist said with a smile, grabbing the sweet bread and putting it back on the shelf and then quickly tossing the sour bread into the cart.
“...puss,” Jack completed, stunned by the speed at which his Love had completed the bread switch. He stood motionless as Daniel began to push the cart up the aisle. ~What am I going to do with him?~
The colonel exploded with a grin. He knew exactly what he was going to do with his lover, and he hoped it would be soon.
====
The next item of business was to deposit a few checks into Jack's bank account. All three were repayments for small loans Jack had made to friends at Stargate Command.
“Great timing, O'Neill,” Daniel sighed as they entered the busy bank and saw a long line of customers waiting to be helped.
Glancing at his watch and noting it was in the middle of the lunch hour, Jack let out a groan and suggested, “I'll do it next week.”
“Jack, you've had those checks for two months,” Daniel complained about the three checks that were visible in the older man's hands.
“Then another week won't hurt.”
“Maybe not for you, but what about the guys who wrote them?”
“Gives them more leeway,” Jack rationalized.
“Or it messes up their accounting.” With the other man just staring at him, Daniel continued, “All I'm saying is that Colonel Ferretti's wife is probably on a budget. She remembers writing that check for him and she's expecting the money to have been withdrawn from their account by now. The more time that passes, the better the odds are that she'll forget and use money they don't have and ...”
“Overdrawn,” Jack groaned with a bob of his head and acquiescing to the notion of waiting for his turn in line. “Should have deposited them last month.”
“Exactly.”
Tapping Daniel's shoulder with the checks, Jack playfully began, “Second man in line.”
Daniel stepped to the side a bit to get a look and responded, “Lawyer.”
“Because of the suit?”
“Because that's John Mendolson.”
“Burgdoff's brother?” Jack asked about one of the nurses stationed at Cheyenne Mountain.
“Yes.” After Jack nodded, Daniel stated, “The lady with the white handbag.”
“Secretary running errands for her boss.”
It may have been silly, but the lovers played their little game of observation and guessing people's professions for several minutes as the line moved forward until Jack could finally deposit the checks.
When the banking was done, the two dropped by Daniel's apartment. He'd been staying with Jack since being released from the infirmary and while the two had made sure the fish had been fed, the apartment needed some cleaning, especially with Daniel's allergies always a factor, even with the medications he took for them. When that was done, the two returned to Jack's place.
====
That afternoon, Jack gave Daniel a lesson on oil changes and then prepared a wonderful Italian feast for the two to consume. As the evening moved forward, the two settled in with good books. Daniel was on the sofa while Jack was relaxing in his favorite chair. In the background, a CD of opera music played.
Out of the blue, Daniel put his book on his lap and sighed.
“You okay?” Jack questioned.
“I was thinking.”
“Always dangerous,” the older man teased.
“It's just ... today.”
“What about today?”
“It was ... normal. I mean, uh, grocery shopping, depositing your check, cleaning my apartment: just ... normal stuff.”
“No Goa'uld,” Jack pointed out.
“No Goa'uld,” Daniel repeated softly.
“Or crazy princesses.”
“She's not crazy, Jack.”
“I know exactly what she is, Daniel. Don't defend her to me,” Jack stated sternly.
“My point is that it was ... a good day, just doing simple things,” Daniel purported quietly.
“Everyday needs,” Jack asserted.
“What?” Daniel asked, uncertain about his lover's meaning.
Putting down his book, Jack stood and crossed over to the sofa. He sat down, his body facing the younger man.
“All the stuff we did today, from shopping for car parts to cleaning the toilet at your apartment, are simple things but people need simplicity sometimes. We do right now. The basics, the little stuff, the everyday needs: we need that to put the past behind us and get on with our lives. I love you, Danny.”
“And I love you,” Daniel replied, happy to feel Jack's lips on his a second later. When the kiss ended, the linguist asked about the music playing in the background, “Is that a new album?”
“Yeah, some British kid; big voice.”
“So I hear. What's his name?”
Making a bit of a face, Jack stammered, “El...Elfie or Belfie ... something like that.”
“Something like that?” a disbelieving Daniel echoed. “Jack, you know his name or you wouldn't have bought the record.”
“Yeah, I know it. He's good; could be the next Pavarotti.”
“He did a nice job with those last 'vincerò's',” Daniel opined, referring to the ending of the aria called Nessun Dorma that the singer had sung.
“Daniel, why are we talking about opera?”
“Because you aren't kissing me.”
“I'll fix that.”
Jack kissed his Love, not just once but repeatedly, leading into a gentle foreplay and a passionate round of lovemaking. Like the victor of the aria, both men were winners in the game of love. Daniel was on the mend. He still had a way to go, but with Jack's help, it wouldn't be long until he would be ready to return to SG-1. For now, though, he and Jack had their own everyday needs to handle in the quaint house that rested in a peaceful suburb of Colorado Springs.
~~Finis - Finished - Done - The End - But is it ever Really?~~