Part 55
Jack didn't sleep well. Philip had tossed and turned and fretted all night and that kept him awake. A rather bad coughing fit had Jack's nerves on edge and after settling Philip with a neb of Atrovent and some more painkillers, the young man slept while Jack laid awake.
He was too tired to clean the Neb unit, but still too awake to sleep either - every nerve ending on full charge, it seemed. He lay in the dark room, listening to the loud breathing of the man beside him and thinking about the changes within Philip this past week alone. A snuffling beside him drew him from those thoughts and he shut his eyes and snuggled against the warm body, hoping that sleep would claim him soon.
It must have. Jack woke to the sound of the front door slamming shut. His first reaction was to sit bolt upright in the bed and feel for Philip, to make sure he was still in the bed and not wandering again. If he hadn't been so asleep he'd have heard him - or at least his breathing - before having to feel for him. Suddenly the bedroom door flew open and, before Jack could gather up the bedding, Graham stood at the end of the bed.
"It's - ugh - it's oh-eight-hundred, Sir!" He announced, wide eyed and slack-jawed. Jack leapt from the bed, cursing and hopping across the room with his foot caught in the sheet. Graham reached out and grabbed him, stopping him from falling and giving him the leverage to turn and unhook his foot from the tangled mess.
"Shit!" Jack groused under his breath then he ran across the hallway to the bathroom where he started the shower. As he stripped off he kicked the door closed.
Graham went around the bed to check on his sleeping brother then he straightened up and went into the kitchen to make himself a much needed hot chocolate before hitting the bed.
Jack ran across the small hall in a towel then he searched the room frantically for some underwear. The door opened a crack and Graham reached his arm in, holding all of Jack's clothes from the living room. The colonel rolled his eyes as he went across and snatched the clothes.
"Thanks," he muttered as he pulled his pants on.
The door closed again.
He finally emerged about five minutes later, his gray hair wet and sticking up all over the place and his clothes crumpled from a night on the floor. Graham took a long look at him then returned his attention to the television screen.
"Um, Phil's asleep again. Are you going out today?" Jack asked.
"No, I didn't plan to. I'll probably sleep until after lunch," the lieutenant said.
"It's just.. Jack perched himself on the arm of the chair. Graham frowned and looked at him. "He didn't sleep well last night. I ended up nebbing him about three this morning and he's been sucking back on the MDI like it's candy."
Graham nodded.
"And.." Jack was reluctant to add, "considering he wandered.."
"I understand. He can spend the day here, I'll make sure he doesn't go until you get off duty and can take him home. How's that?"
"Um.." the older face screwed up as Jack lowered his chin to his chest. "From what he just told me - and I'll admit he's very asleep and might not even remember a word of it - but this is his home now."
"Not your place?" Graham's arched, black brow knitted.
"Um, no. But he's not to have anymore cigarettes!"
"I'll do my best." Graham nodded again.
"Luckily he lost the pack from last night. He's just asked me to buy him some more but he's got a snowflake's chance in hell of that happening!"
"I agree. He's having enough troubles breathing now, without adding that gunk to it!"
"Good, well I have to go," the older man got to his feet and crossed to the door. "Oh, and sometimes he forgets things, so you might need to remind him a few time of where I am. I've found putting notes around the house helps to reinforce that."
The young man looked crestfallen but he nodded slowly. "I'll do that then."
"And, for crying out loud, don't let him out of your sight!"
With a wry smile Graham nodded. "I won't, Sir."
"Hey!" Jack pointed at him. "Didn't I tell you last night that you're not to call me that when we're off duty.."
"Sorry."
"Okay," Jack said, then opened the door and headed off to work.
**
Jack entered his office and looked at the three people already waiting inside. As he placed his satchel onto the desk he slipped himself into his seat and said, "Morning. Sorry I'm late."
Carter looked at him. "That's okay, Sir. We just didn't fancy waiting in the corridor."
"Wise," he said with a nod as he flipped open the bag and slid out a compendium.
Daniel had been watching him carefully and was well aware of the dark marks under the brown eyes. "Rough night?"
The tired man simply looked across the desk at him then said, "Oh, yeah!" with a tight mouth.
Sam looked between the two of them then at Jack, sensing that the two of them knew something, and that that 'something' wasn't particularly good. "Everything okay, Sir?"
"We can discuss that a little later," Jack mumbled, flicking open the notebook in front of him. Tapping his pen onto the pad and in a voice that tried not to sound as weary as it was, he said, "Right now, I need reports from you all. What, other than our fair share of gate travel, have you all been up to lately?"
They all watched as he lowered his face and rubbed the heel of his hand into his eye. Sam shot Daniel a concerned glance and saw how his lips pursed together and the frown on his face grew sharper as he watched Jack's forlorn actions. Her gaze drifted past him to the man sitting beside him. Teal'c was also watching Jack's actions with certain concern. As the colonel looked up Daniel was the first one to stammer into life, but unfortunately his brain, preoccupied with concern for his friend right now, wasn't keeping up with his mouth.
"Um, Teal'c and I have been... Well-" He adjusted his glasses then coughed as he shifted in his seat. Jack frowned and looked at Teal'c then back at Daniel.
In a growl of a whine, the colonel said, "What? I'm supposed to guess? For crying out loud, Daniel, out with it!"
"Sorry, I was just.... Uncomfortable. These seats are terrible," the young man mumbled as he sat up straight again.
Jutting his chin slightly Teal'c took up the report from his friend. "Daniel-Jackson and I have been trying to decipher the symbols on the parchment retrieved by SG-8 from P3x4571."
The graying brow arched as Jack tilted his head and looked at Daniel. "And it says?"
"That the Pocus were an ancient race who served Ra.." The anthropologist told him, raising both brows and creasing up his forehead as he blinked fast and held Jack's gaze.
"Ra?"
"Yup."
"Great."
"That's what I said," he added unenthusiastically. After holding his finger in the air briefly he then tapped it against his lips as he chose his next words carefully. "Anyway, it also goes on to say how all is revealed every one-thousand years in an act of nature called the 'opening of the rocks'."
Sam frowned. "Could that be like an earthquake or something?"
"No, according to Hunt," Daniel noticed the jerk of Jack's head and the questioning look in his eyes so he clarified for him who Hunt was; "He's the team's Geologist."
When Jack said a silent 'oh' Daniel returned his attention to Sam, "He said that there doesn't appear to have ever been any seismic activity on that world."
"SG-8 have a Geologist?" Jack interrupted.
Daniel looked at him. "You've got a Linguist."
The colonel shrugged then went back to his noting. Daniel frowned for a moment, then went on, "Anyway, General Hammond's going to let the team go back there .. to P3x4571... the day after tomorrow and see if they can't come up with something else about the Pocus race." There was a hopeful look in Daniel's blue eyes now.
"And let me guess. We're right on time to witness this 'opening of the rocks' too?"
Daniel nodded. "Ah, yeah. Actually, we are."
Jack nodded now. "And you wanna go along for the ride?"
The anthropologist shrugged then said, through a clenched-teeth smile, "Yeah. Kinda."
Jack looked at him a long moment, seeing the wild hope behind the blue eyes. Dipping his face, he muttered, "Timing could have been better, Danny," as he wrote a note on his paper.
"Why?" Daniel asked, his eyes drifting to what Jack was writing then up to meet the brown eyes when they focused on him again. "I mean Jack, this is the perfect time. We won't get another opportunity to witness whatever this 'opening of the rocks' is..?" Folding his arms across his chest he sat back and said, "It's just for a week."
"We'll talk about this later," Jack told him. Daniel frowned and slowly his lips parted as he tilted his head, realizing that Jack wasn't so much saying 'no' but 'I might need you myself this week'. With a blink and slight nod in return, he let Jack know that they would definitely talk later.
The colonel's thin lips twitched with a faint smile but it soon vanished. "Carter," he said, in a voice that seemed force out of his body.
She sat up straighter in her chair then said, "I've been studying the Goa'uld hand device and trying to work out whether it is a molecular reaction that causes the power in the device or if it's brain impulses that makes it fire and if it is, whether it's my thoughts or Jolinar's memories that make it work.."
Jack sighed then rubbed his eyes once more. With his head in his hand he tapped his pen on his paper and asked, "Anyone getting any of this?"
Sam lowered her chin to her chest and went quiet.
"You remember the hand device we picked up on Cimmeria?" Daniel began, patiently.
"I remember Thor," Jack mumbled with a shrug.
"Well, I collected a few things from Kendra's grave while I was there. The Hand Device was one of them," Sam explained.
Jack nodded then asked, tiredly, "And you're trying to work out how to switch it on?"
She gave her best smile, given his flat mood, as she said, "Something like that, Sir."
He nodded then scratched a note onto his page. Looking up, he tilted his head and said, "So - not much progress yet, eh?"
"No," she said, then looked at his noting before adding, "Because I simply haven't had the time." She twisted slightly and held her hand up to indicate towards Daniel. "But if Daniel goes to P3x4571..."
"You can study your device?" Jack concluded for her, nodding as he wrote. After a quick sigh he clasped his hands together and looked at his team.
"So, basically what we're asking for here a bit of time away from SG-1. To disband and work on a few private projects for a while?"
With a wavering smile, Daniel said, "You make us sound like a rock group, but yeah, I guess so." Jack eyed the Major who pursed her lips and gave an uncertain shrug. Then he turned to look at Teal'c. "What about you?"
"What about me, O'Neill?"
"Do you want to go with Daniel on this trip?"
The two men in question exchanged glances then Teal'c looked back at Jack. "I do not."
Sensing something, but unsure what it was, or even if it was - or if it was just his own strange mood warping things, Jack gave another sharp nod as he finished up his notes.
"I will remain and assist you in whatever way I can, O'Neill," Teal'c said. Jack stopped writing and looked up once more.
He seemed to take his time before speaking, and when he did speak, his voice was drained and tight. "Well, actually, it's like this kids." He laced his fingers together again then said, "I'm putting in for time off."
Daniel instantly stiffened beside Sam, but it was her who spoke first. "If you don't mind me saying so, you do look a little like you could use it," she said kindly. He took it that way too, and gave her a flit of a smile.
"When?" Daniel's voice croaked as he spoke. He was fully aware of why Jack would be asking for the time off and it concerned him greatly.
"Now. Today," Jack told them all. Daniel's eyes went wide.
"How long will you be absent from the team?" Teal'c asked.
The colonel sighed and he made a clicking sound in his cheek as he tilted his head. "That, I can't tell you."
The blond-haired man sat forward in his seat and leaned his forearms against the edge of Jack's desk. "Is he that bad?" He asked, concern for the both of them now tainted his words.
Jack stared straight back at him then he said, "Yeah."
"Philip?" Sam asked, also sitting forward in her seat to close up the conversation. Jack looked at her worried blue eyes and told her, "He's starting to..." He waved his hand around beside his head and she nodded, completely getting the picture.
"I'm sorry to hear that, Sir," she said.
"Ah, thanks," he said, then shifted his gaze back onto Daniel's intensely concerned face.
"Not good timing....." The younger man agreed - about his proposed trip away. His disappointment showed on his face as his furrowed brow rose slightly and his eyes squinted up.
Sadly, Jack shook his head. "No." He pressed his palms flat onto the surface of the desk as he lowered his voice and said, "Look, Danny. I completely understand if you still want to go away."
"No," Daniel said resolutely. "I'll stay."
"Can I ask what's happened?" Sam interrupted the intense stare between the two friends.
<End of part 55>
Stories on this page are the property of Nessessitee and Slida. Please do not copy these without the written permission of the Author. All Rights are acknowledged for MGM, Gekko and Stargate Productions as to the Copyrights of the characters within this story and no infringement on the copyrights are intended. For the Bombshells Series the character of Philip Simmons is entirely the creation and intellectual property of Nessessitee and Slida.
While the performances given by RDA and MS help to fuel the author's desire to write for their characters in a niche that she feels is present on the actual show, the portrayal of their characters in loving relationships in no way reflects the Author's opinion of the men's private life, nor should it be construed in that manner.