Curve-ball 8

Thinking

by Bethany

URL: http://area52hkh.net/asb/bethany5/curveb08.php
Summary: After a busy and emotional day, Daniel opens up to Jack about the past, present, and the future

Daniel sat on the sofa, with his sleeping son's head on the pillow on his lap...Nicky's new little pair of glasses were on the table. Daniel had taken them off when his son got sleepy... Daniel could picture his son twenty or thirty years from now... He'd look just like his father... His hair would go iron grey as he got older... He'd have the same grin, be just as tall, laugh about the same things, observe matters in the same way. He'd look like he worked every day in the sun, even on the days he didn't. His attention span would be just as minimal probably, and he'd get a glint in his eyes sometimes... But those eyes would be blue, like his mother's, and occasionally, he would have 'her' quizzical look, or look over the top of the glasses he wore when someone asked him a question about the book in his hands (which probably wouldn't be there for long, him being Jack's son!), just like ''Danielle' did...

In his nostalgia, Daniel looked across the room at the photos taken the day he and Jack got married, and the day Nicky-Frederic was christened...

The wedding happened where else but at the cabin..? Daniel had not worn a dress. It would have been a bit much. Instead, he'd worn a cotton ivory trouser suit, with short sleeves. Everyone had been on best behaviour about everything because, of course, citizens were at the wedding... Jack's family mostly. His mother, Anna Gibbs-O'Neill, father, Joseph, brothers, Joshua and Jethro, and sister, Jenny... Along with their families.

In the here and now, this past weekend, Jack and Daniel had been at the cabin again, and Jack's family had visited again. One of his nieces, Tina, had just had a baby girl, named Faye, and so, the whole family had come to show her off to great-uncle Jack...

Daniel tucked Nicky's hair behind his ear, still watching him sleep... He worried about Nicky being an only child, but Jack and Daniel would certainly never be able to give him siblings now – Not after Daniel's precautionary hysterectomy op...

For a moment, Daniel got distracted in his own dream. A hot one, about himself and Jack... Naked, completely naked... Of course, there were times when they still had to be cautious... Namely a few weeks after each Mission Daniel still took through the Gate... Who knew what you could catch, or how, on an alien planet..? So, for a while again, they'd have to use protection until the test results came back...

"You alright?" Jack walked into the living room...

"Just daydreaming about a whole stream of things..." Daniel replied. "Looking at those over there..." He pointed at the photos.

Jack turned to look at the photos, picking each of them up in turn. "He was just a babe in arms for both of these..." Jack said, putting the photos down, and bending to kiss his son's cheek. "You alright?" He asked Daniel. "Need to get up yet?"

"I'm alright for a while..." Daniel said.

"Just thinking, huh??" Jack sat next to Daniel.

"Yeah..." Daniel replied. "Do you remember when I had to have someone to 'give me away' at the wedding ceremony..? Everyone insisted upon it... And they all made sure that the girls, Sam and Janet, fussed around me..?"

Jack nodded. He remembered how 'embarrassed' Daniel had felt, because of course, he really was not a woman... And yet, no one could deny it. He was.

"When Teal'c gave me away, he said to me... 'I have taken love away from you before, for which I will never stop being sorry, so it is right that I should be the one to give you back into happiness, Daniel Jackson...'" Daniel remembered, a tear in his eye.

Jack rubbed and held Daniel's hand. "And are you still happy, sweetheart?" He asked.

"Yes!" Daniel said. "I love you..!"

Jack rubbed his thumb over Daniel's lip, and caressed 'his' face.

"I just want him to grow up, and have all our joys, never to have to suffer the legacy of the tragedies in our lives..." Daniel looked down to Nicky... "Or suffer his own because of the world we brought him into..!"

"He will be okay, Daniel..." Jack said.

"There are so many awful things out there that can happen... Ask Vala... I see the bittersweetness in her eyes every time Nicky hands her a painting he's done for her, because she and Adria could not have this life..." Daniel noted.

"But she loves Nicky, Daniel... She's very good with him..." Jack assured.

"I know... Don't worry... I know." Daniel replied. "And it's not just that... He's got no other family but us, Jack... What happens when we go..?He'll be all alone... He won't be like your nieces and nephews, all of whom have brothers and sisters. He'll be lonely!"

"Ooh, sweetheart, hush now..." Jack held Daniel's hand tight. "He has family. He will not be alone!"

"It's my fault!" Daniel said tearfully. "I had that op... I was selfish enough, because it made my life easier..!"

"You did what you did to try and further protect Nicky, and give him an easier, more normal life..." Jack wiped a tear of Daniel's away...

"Is it going to work though..?" Daniel looked up to Jack and asked.

"This little boy is going to have such a long and happy life..." Jack replied, looking to his son.

"I'm sorry..." Daniel said. "I didn't mean to remind you of Charlie... It's me that should be assuring you of this... It's you that has more right than me to all these fears... You've been through more than me!"

Sitting beside Daniel still, Jack carefully pulled Daniel's head toward him, to rest on his shoulder, while he caressed Danielle's skin... "We've both been through a lot, Daniel... We've both been through a lot..." He turned, and kissed the top of Daniel's head. "I love you..." He said. "Have faith, Daniel... We both have reasons to try and believe in Heaven... We've got to try and believe in a god that isn't false as well... It's true. He couldn't help us before, but I think He can now... I think He will now... We've been through so much to get to this day, Daniel... We've got to have faith that, even though it's still far from perfect around us at the moment, it will all be okay..."

Daniel smiled, looking up, and kissing Jack... "I love you..." He said, as he did so....

The End

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