The younger man paused in swallowing as he listened to the strange conclusion, not having expected things to go that way, and only noting in the back of his mind that there was a little more bite to his drink than he thought should be there. Then everything clicked. He choked down the peach-flavored liquid, took another big drink, somehow managed to set his glass down, and started laughing harder than he had in a very long time.
Jack sat back proudly as he took in the sight before him. Daniel had completely cut loose. This was something he never expected to see in his lifetime - and he, Jack O’Neill, was the cause of it. Life was good. Hell, life was better than good. He was sitting on a beach in the Bahamas next to his best friend, looking forward to five more days of vacation with him and the other two people in the galaxy he was closest to, knowing when it was all over they’d be returning to the most satisfying job he’d ever had the privilege of taking part in. It was a glorious thing.
He looked up at that point and saw Carter in the bar next to Teal’c frantically waving her arms in what he assumed was an attempt to get either his or Daniel’s attention. Seeing she’d gotten it, she pointed at her drink then at Daniel. Oh, well, yeah. Danny’d gotten his drink. Jack smiled and gave her a thumbs-up, pointing at the drink resting in the sand on the other side of the chair.
Carter didn’t stop waving. What the heck did she want? He’d ask Daniel, but the other man was in no condition to answer. Instead of calming down like he probably should have by that point, the laughter in appreciation for what O’Neill was confidently sure was a very funny joke quickly turning into a full-fledged laughing fit. Oh, boy. Maybe he should let Daniel laugh himself out without any more stimuli - before the man hyperventilated. While he was at it he could find out what had Carter’s panties in a bunch.
“Hey, Daniel?” he asked with a gentle hand on the laughing man’s shoulder after he got to his feet.
“Yeah, Jack?” Daniel replied through his giggles. Tears were streaming down his cheeks as he gasped for air.
“It looks like you’ve reached the laughing fit stage, so I’m going to go for a little bit and let you calm down, okay?”
Daniel tried to wave a hand dismissively. “Sure, Jack. Whatever you say.”
“I’m just going to go over to the bar and find out what Carter’s practically trying to take flight to try to tell me.” That set the seated man off again. Jack rolled his eyes. “Look, Daniel, the only way you’re going to calm down and not hyperventilate is to just sit here. Don’t talk to anybody, don’t look at anybody...” He looked at his friend critically. “In fact, why don’t you just sit there and stare at the sand?”
Another wave of laughter was the response. Daniel gave the standing man an exaggerated thumbs up. “Can do, Jack!” he assured his friend cheerfully before sticking his head between his knees and doing as requested, his nose maybe three inches from the sparkling white sand.
Jack couldn’t help but chuckle as he turned and headed for the pair of friends he could no longer see thanks to a group of people that had just walked up to the bar. He was never in a million years going to let Daniel live this down. Never.
* * * * * * * *
Jack had barely gotten out of hearing range when one of the locals walked up to the ridiculously positioned Daniel. “Hey, mon,” the dark-skinned man greeted the obvious tourist. When he didn’t get a response, he leaned over to see just what was so fascinating. “Whatchu lookin’ at?”
Daniel’s head popped up, a wide grin on his face. “Shhh,” he admonished through a giggle, bringing an uncoordinated finger up to his lips for a brief moment. “Sand! It’s everywhere!” He giggled again. “And if you think this is a lot, wow... Did you know there are planets out there that are completely covered in this stuff?”
The native gave him an odd look, but figured this could still be worth his while. “Uh, sure, mon, whatever you say. Why don’t you forget the sand? Let’s go parasailing!”
The loopy archaeologist sat bolt upright at the suggestion. “That sounds superb, my good man! Lead me on!” He jumped to his feet, tore off his glasses completely, tossed them onto his chair, and followed his new friend toward the water line, barely managing to avoid a large crowd of college students that were heading for the beach volleyball courts.
The pair of them made their way to a platform sticking out into the water just on the other side of the steel mesh fence Sam had mentioned to Teal’c. A widely smiling Daniel was helped into a harness attached to the parasail while two other men sat in the boat barely paying attention to the proceedings and drinking beers. It didn’t take long before the rope was securely attached to both man and boat, and Daniel’s buddy hopped into the driver’s seat and started everything up.
There was no warning before Daniel was jerked off his feet and was sailing into the air. The brown-haired man giggled as he took in the view, looking around with gleeful amazement. “Look at the fishies!” he called out, pointing at the forms he could see swimming in the water next to the launch platform he’d just taken off from. “Hi, fishies!” He couldn’t help but think that this was the best time he’d ever had.
* * * * * * * *
Jack finally made his way through the suddenly crowded bar just in time to catch Sam and Teal’c before they could start elbowing their way through the overabundant college students. Apparently it was time for all good university-bound young men and women to get up and swarm to the beach. Jack couldn’t help but wish they’d waited another half hour.
“Colonel! Finally! You can’t let Daniel have that drink!” Sam announced, desperation and relief warring for supremacy in her tone.
“Why?” Jack retorted. “It’s not like he’s allergic to peaches or anything.”
The blonde woman fought the urge to shake the man. “It’s not the peaches, sir. Here,” she said offering him her glass. “Take a sip. You’ll understand what I’m talking about.”
The colonel raised a skeptical eyebrow. “There’s a reason I didn’t order a Peach Swizzle, Carter.”
“Please, sir!”
“Do as Major Carter requests, O’Neill,” Teal’c seconded seriously.
“Okay, okay, since it’s so important to you...” SG-1's team leader took the glass and took a sip, coughing immediately after swallowing. “Jesus! How much vodka did they put in this thing, anyway?” He thrust the drink back at its owner.
“I don’t know, sir. What I do know is that the bartender made a mistake and made Daniel’s Peach Swizzle the same way.” Sam looked her CO right in the eye, willing him to understand.
He didn’t. “Oh, God, Daniel’s not going to like this. He hates it when his drinks are heavy on the booze.”
The Air Force major took a deep breath to control her frustration. “Colonel O’Neill, you remember your little tussle with Daniel this morning?”
Jack flinched with the remorse he still felt over the incident. “Of course I do, Carter. I had to go and get Daniel’s prescription for... him...” His brown eyes widened as the light bulb finally went on. “Oh, shit! He took half a pill of Vicodin before coming down to the beach!” He glared at his 2IC. “Why didn’t you just tell me?”
“I thought you’d get it when you tasted how much alcohol was in my drink. Where’s Daniel now, sir?”
“And I thought he was just caught up in a laughing fit...”
“O’Neill? Daniel Jackson’s location?” Teal’c prompted.
“I left him in his beach chair staring at the sand. It seemed the best way to keep him from hyperventilating while he avoided noticing anything that would keep him going. He’s probably still there.” Just then, as though the Fates had parted them to taunt the members of SG-1, the herd of students cleared a path to where they had laid out their towels, revealing the absence of one Doctor Daniel Jackson, trouble magnet extraordinaire. “Or not,” Jack finished with a resigned sigh.
“We’ve got to find him, sir,” Sam said, a resigned look of her own shaping her features.
“Well, that’s just a given.” Jack led the three of them back to the abandoned beach chair.
Teal’c picked up the lonely, chip-on covered glasses. “Daniel Jackson will not be seeing clearly,” the Jaffa commented.
“Oh, that just makes things so much better,” O’Neill griped as he picked up the abandoned mixed drink and realized his friend had tossed back about half of it.
“With the number of people who have recently passed this position, I will not be able to track where he has gone,” the big man continued.
The colonel nodded, putting the glass back down. “That doesn’t surprise me. Sand’s not all that great at holding tracks in the first place.” He took a deep breath and released it. “I suppose we’re going to have to split up to cover the beach. Something must have caught his attention - which is easy enough to do when he’s not as high as a kite, and I have a hard enough time stopping him from wandering off then. Carter, you go...”
Jack never got a chance to tell Sam where to head as a loud, high-pitched scream rang out from high above them. The three galactic explorers - along with a large number of other people on the beach - immediately looked up. “I believe I have located Daniel Jackson,” Teal’c said with a straight face.
With the Jaffa’s superior eyesight, there was no doubt he was sure. “You know,” Jack drew out, “when I said he was as high as a kite, I didn’t think it was literally.” The other two shot him a quick, exasperated look, then returned their attention to their flailing friend floating so high above them. Only Daniel...
* * * * * * * *
As he admired the view, Daniel didn’t notice himself reaching the limit of the length of rope attaching him to the boat zooming around the lagoon below him. With a jerk, the rope went completely taut; what also came with the jolt of the expanse of nylon was a return to reality. Daniel blinked and took another look around him. And just like that, his fear of heights rushed back with a vengeance.
Even the archaeologist was surprised by the volume and pitch of the involuntary scream that tore out of his throat. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw that the two guys that had been drinking beer when this whole fiasco began were still paying next to no attention to him, but the driver gave him a quick grin and thumbs-up. “No!” Daniel yelled frantically. “Bring me down! Bring me down!”
Down on the boat, the driver looked back at his two friends. “What did he say?”
The two beer drinkers shared a look. “Take ‘er around,” one of them answered.
“Around the lagoon it is!”
On the third circuit of the lagoon, Daniel, who had long since given up on getting them to understand his pleas, squinted at the dark shapes swimming in the water. There seemed to be an awful lot of large fish... His bright blue eyes widened as he realized the creatures he’d previously thought were fish were in actuality the sharks that Jack had been so eager to swim with that morning. He also realized that the platform he’d taken off from in his drug-induced stupor was on the wrong side of the barrier that kept the vicious meat-eaters from sharing swimming space with the tourists. Could they sense that he’d recently had surgery? He could only hope that Jack hadn’t ruptured anything with that elbow to the stomach. God, what else could go wrong?
He shouldn’t have asked. The boat driver finally decided the fun and games were over and started to bring them back in. Daniel offered up a prayer of thanks to whoever or whatever might be listening before some motion from the boat drew his attention. The two men who had up to that point been pretty much ignoring his existence wore nearly identical panicked looks on their faces, and were alternately poking the driver and pointing up at him. Wondering what in the hell could be freaking them out so badly, Daniel looked straight down at the water - and very quickly put two and two together.
They were going to miss the platform.
Not by a whole lot, mind you. But enough.
Soon afterward, the linguist’s toes were skimming the top of the water, and his entire attention was focused on the platform, fully determined to make his dunking in the lagoon as short as possible. “Just poke ‘em in the eye!” the driver yelled out frantically.
“Who?” Daniel yelled back, momentarily confused.
“The sharks!”
“Oh my God, the sharks!”
Daniel’s teammates came to a screeching halt at the edge of the beach at the end of the platform the young man was heading for, all of them aware of his situation. Their breath caught as Daniel somehow managed to take advantage of his momentum and practically ran across the top of the water, diving with amazing accuracy onto the landing platform. Jack hit the ground rolling with hysterical laughter at the other man’s antics as Daniel tore off the harness and immediately strode off toward the beach, his whole body shaking. The archaeologist glanced over at the odd commotion, saw it was caused by his friends who weren’t even looking in his direction, and took off running with a hurt expression.
Sam, who had glanced down at her commanding officer in amazement at the exact wrong moment, looked up in time to see the figure of her friend disappear into the crowd. Then she got angry. “Really, sir, how could you?” Jack was laughing so hard he couldn’t respond.
“O’Neill, should we not check on the condition of Daniel Jackson? He appeared to be quite upset,” Teal’c added, mystified by the laughing man’s behavior.
“I’m... I’m sure... he’ll... be fine... once he has... a chance... to calm down...” Jack managed to gasp out. “Did you... see... that dive?” And he was gone again.
The driver of the boat came running up at that point, keeping Sam from taking an action that would have been sure to get her severely disciplined, if not outright court-martialed. “He did not pay for the ride!” he exclaimed, outraged, looking off in the direction of his missing fare.
Teal’c and Sam stared daggers at the man, making him flinch, but not back off. Realizing he wasn’t leaving without his fee, whether or not he had taken advantage of someone in a drug-induced haze, the frustrated astrophysicist took a quick look around and snatched the wallet that was about to fall out of the pocket of Jack O’Neill’s swim trunks. “Here,” she said shortly, stuffing a wad of bills into the islander’s outstretched hand. “Consider the rest an incentive to stay away from us the rest of the time we’re here.”
The native did a swift inventory of his good fortune and grinned. “Of course, lovely lady. Consider it done.” He did an about face and headed back to his boat where his two friends were packing up the parasail.
“Now, Teal’c,” the major said to the Jaffa at her side as she handed him the nearly empty billfold and took Daniel’s glasses, “why don’t you stay here and make sure the colonel doesn’t hurt himself laughing too hard at Daniel’s expense? I’ll go check on Daniel.”
“Of course, Major Carter. Is there a time and place you will meet us later?”
Sam considered it. “Daniel’s going to have to sleep this off, I think. How about dinner tonight at the hotel restaurant? Say, seven o’clock?”
“Damn, Carter, it’s only eleven in the morning,” Jack said from the sandy ground.
The other two ignored him. “That will be acceptable,” Teal’c agreed. “We will meet you then. Assure Daniel Jackson that I am most concerned for his welfare.”
“Uh, guys, what about what I think?” O’Neill asked, looking from one teammate to the other as he sat up, his laughter over.
They still ignored him. “I’ll do that, Teal’c. We’ll see you later.” Sam turned and walked off toward the hotel, figuring Daniel was most likely headed there.
There was a long moment of silence. “I really screwed this one up, didn’t I?” Jack said at last, his eyes on the place where he’d lost sight of the upset woman. “I’m going to have to apologize when they come down.”
Teal’c looked down on him, eyebrow raised. “Indeed.”
* * * * * * * *
When Sam keyed herself into the team’s suite, she was happy to find her guess had been correct. Daniel lay stretched out on the couch, absently staring at the Animal Planet on the television. And he was still upset. He completely ignored her entrance, seeming to pay even more attention to what was happening on the screen.
“Daniel, are you all right? I was worried when you ran off like that.”
“Sure you were,” Daniel drawled. “That’s why you couldn’t tear your eyes away from Laughing Boy O’Neill rolling around in the sand instead of seeing if I’d made it okay. I really appreciated the concern.” He still hadn’t looked at her.
Sam sighed. “The colonel surprised both me and Teal’c by doing that, Daniel. You ran by before we could look back. Neither one of us meant to hurt you.” She paused. “I don’t think the colonel meant to hurt you either, not really. This was another one of those ‘act before you think’ moments of his.”
There was a long stretch of silence. “I guess you could be right,” the lounging man finally conceded. His mouth began to twitch. “I even suppose it was pretty funny to see.”
The physicist let herself relax and moved over to stand at the end of the couch, placing the eyewear discreetly on the end table. “Maybe, but I’m sure it wasn’t funny to go through. Are you all right?”
Daniel finally made eye contact and smiled. “Yeah, I’m fine. I think I pulled something during my mad dash for the platform, but I took the other half of the Vicodin pill so it’s nothing to worry about.”
That made Sam stiffen again. “Oh, Daniel. You do realize you didn’t get loopy just on the Vicodin, don’t you? The bartender accidentally made you an alcoholic Peach Swizzle. It was the combination that set you off.” She bit her lower lip. “I hope it’s out of your system before that other half hits.”
The archaeologist’s eyes widened. “There was alcohol in that drink? Oh my God. Although that does explain why I felt such a kick...” His brow furrowed in consideration. “I think adrenalin took care of most of it, but I’m still feeling a bit light-headed.” He sighed. “I better sleep this off before I do something even more stupid.”
“I thought you might have to. I told Teal’c we’d meet him and the colonel for dinner at the hotel restaurant at seven. Are you okay with that?”
Daniel nodded. “That should be more than enough time. But I don’t want to keep you from enjoying your first full day in the Bahamas. Go ahead and find something fun to do in the sun. Take lots of pictures and tell me about it later.”
“I don’t want to go off by myself, and I’m still a little upset with the colonel for the way he treated you. I think I’d rather just spend some time with you, maybe watch a movie or two, relax.” She gave her friend a tentative look. “That’s okay, isn’t it?”
A slight giggle escaped her friend’s lips. “As long as you’re okay with it, I don’t have a problem. It’ll be nice to spend some time alone with you.” Bright blue eyes widened as he realized what he said. “I don’t mean that way. I mean, we don’t get to do things together alone a lot anymore, as friends or anything, you know. Not that I wouldn’t like spending time that way with you, because you’re a beautiful woman and everything, but we’re friends so I wouldn’t and I try not to think of you that way since I don’t want to be uncomfortable and I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable so don’t worry I’m usually really successful at not thinking about you that way and I feel really guilty when I do because I know you don’t think of me that way and I’m still not quite over Sha’re but I think she liked you when she met you on Abydos and I think she just would have liked you more had she gotten a chance to know you better like I do and I don’t think she’d have a problem with me moving on now that she’s gone and, and, and... well, you know.” Daniel lay there almost breathless at the end of his long tirade.
Sam had listened to it all with her jaw practically on the ground. Apparently there was still a little bit of alcohol in his system after all. She never would have guessed that Daniel had ever even thought about thinking about her that way. Sam herself had shoved away thoughts like that about Daniel after Sha’re had planted that incredibly possessive kiss on him after the physicist had been introduced to the scientist she’d only read about previously. Not that she’d always been successful. But she’d done her best to try. Now, thanks to a drug-induced loosening of the tongue, she was beginning to think those thoughts might not be quite as taboo as they used to be.
But she wouldn’t take advantage of the situation. “Daniel,” she said with a gentle, accepting smile, “I think you need to sleep the drugs off before we talk anymore about this.”
“You’re probably right. If I keep talking, I’ll end up telling you how much I’ve wondered what it would be like to kiss you lately, and then I’d be embarrassed.” He stopped and considered what he’d just said. “Oops. Too late. I think I’ll just go to sleep now.” He closed his eyes.
“Daniel, you should probably move to your bedroom.” Sam looked down at her friend with a bemused look and shook her head at the position he was in. His six-foot frame was a little too long for the sofa, making him rest his ankles on the arm rest closest to her while his neck was situated at an uncomfortable angle against the other one. “Daniel?”
“Don’t wanna move,” he mumbled. “Wanna have background noise from the TV.”
“Then if you can move off the couch for a minute, I can pull out the sofa-bed.”
That made him open his eyes. “Okay!” he chirped, then flopped onto the floor. Before Sam could ask if he was all right, Daniel crawled around the far end of the davenport and poked his head back up above the arm rest. “All yours, Sam.”
There was nothing that could be said in response to that, so the blonde major made short order of the rearrangement of the common room furniture, finishing it off with the blankets and pillows from Daniel’s bed. “There you go, Daniel. Get comfortable.”
“Thanks, Sam.” The archaeologist jumped under the covers and snuggled into the thin mattress. “There’s only one thing that could make this better,” he sighed, his eyelids drooping.
“What’s that?” Sam queried, sitting on the arm rest.
Daniel gave her an impish grin. “Company.” He patted the space next to him. “You can’t tell me you don’t want to watch...” He looked at the screen, frowned, and changed the channel. “... a special about the history of ice cream. I know you can’t.”
Sam laughed. “How can I with that kind of invitation?” She took off her sarong and sandals then laid down next to her friend, accepting the pillow she was offered. “There we go. Comfort at its best.”
“You know it.”
The two of them watched the show for a long while, a comfortable silence having settled over the pair. Then, out of the blue, Daniel turned his head and captured Sam’s regard when she investigated the movement. “I know what I want now, Sam,” he breathed, his gaze deep and intense.
The woman’s breath caught as he raised himself up onto his left elbow and slipped his right arm across her stomach. Her eyes widened as his face came closer and closer to her own, then closed as she waited for what would happen next. They sprang back open when she felt him snuggle his face into the crook of her neck, his left arm sliding underneath her and pulling her extremely close. She couldn’t help but feel like a giant plush toy.
She felt the smile against her skin. “I can’t wait to talk to you about everything later, Sam,” Daniel whispered, obviously barely hanging on to consciousness. “It’ll be a good talk.”
“Yes, it will, Daniel,” Sam murmured as she laid her head on the one so close to her own and returned the embrace. “I’m really looking forward to it.” It wasn’t too long before she had joined the archaeologist in slumber, both of them dreaming about what the future would hold.
Back to 'Ship Fiction