With a deep groan the man on the bed woke up. Philip tilted his head to look at him, but didn't move from where he sat in the window sill. Jack stretched out, flat on his stomach, his back arching slightly as he lengthened and tightened throughout his whole body. With a grunt he curled up, dragging the bedding up with his knees then he tilted his face and struggled up onto his elbow - looking straight at Philip in the window.

"Morning," he said, a little unsure why the man was sitting over there, not coming over to him.

Slipping his leg from where it was bracing him, Philip eased himself up out of the window and stepped over to the bed, placing his coffee on the side table as he slipped onto the bed with Jack.

"Morning," he said, his eyes tracing over the older man's face, drinking in all the details that he wouldn't let himself recall as he sat at the window for fear he wouldn't be allowed near him again.

There was a semi-awkward silence then Jack rolled over, trying to see what the time was. He saw, instead, his pager by the bed and picked it up.

Moving to sit up against the bed head now, he straightened his legs as he scrolled through the messages on his pager.

"It fell out of your pants-" Philip said, remaining at a distance from the colonel. Jack nodded, but didn't look up as he read, with concern, the messages on the little screen.

"Can I use your phone?"

"Oh? Um, sure!" Philip got up, picked up the cordless receiver off the desk and passed it to Jack. "I'll get you a coffee if you like, so you can make the call in private."

The distracted man didn't look up as he punched the numbers into the keypad, still staring at the message on the little back object. Phil stood at the door briefly then headed out to the kitchen.

"SHIT!"

He startled as he heard Jack's curse from the bedroom. Suddenly the older man was there, tugging his pants back on as he hopped across the room.

"You're leaving?" Philip asked, trying to keep his voice level.

Jack sighed, then stopped his frantic dressing before looking up at him. "I have to go!"

He looked at the sad face, realizing that Philip had no idea why he was running from the room, so to speak. With two long strides, Jack was by his side, his hands hesitating at his side - wanting to touch Philip but feeling like that was the wrong thing to do. Stirring the coffee that no longer needed to be made, Philip avoided looking at Jack.

"Phil?"

With a smile that trembled, despite every effort not to let it, Philip tossed a quick look at Jack before looking down again.

The colonel sighed to himself. "I have to go. There was some trouble at work last night and they tried paging me 5 times about it." He wriggled the black object in the air before clipping it inside his pocket. Philip looked at the pants then at Jack.

"You know that your pants are screaming 'reckless abandonment on a kitchen floor' for all the world to see?" He said, as casually as his nervous heartbeat would allow. Jack looked down and saw how crumpled the pants were. Growling loudly now, he tossed his hand in the air. Philip smiled, despite himself.

"Take them off and I'll iron them. You drink your coffee!" He held one hand out for the pants and pointed to the coffee with his other hand. Jack started unbuttoning the fly again and was aware that Philip was watching. With the pants undone all the way, he decided to step closer to the man who seemed to be giving him the cold shoulder. Philip looked up at him.

"Are you okay? " Jack's voice dropped to a soft, concerned tone as his brown eyes traced over the chiseled features of the younger man's face.

"I'm not really sure, to be honest." Philip told him, as he stared at the roving eyes.

Jack's eyes finally met with his, and the colonel reached out tentatively to touch his wrist. Philip accepted the touch then shifted his arm so that his hand caught Jack's. Lifting the joined hands, Jack splayed his fingers and allowed Philip's to fall between, entwining their fingers. Stepping closer again, Jack brought their hands up and kissed the pulse on Philip's wrist lightly. Questions, unsaid but that had been obviously weighing on their minds, were answered in that one touch. Neither man was willing to simply 'forget' what had happened last night.

"I'm going to be a few hours, but .. uh.. can I come back here?"

Philip's breath stalled in the back of his throat then he gave a gentle smile. "Yeah, I'd really like that."

A silence hung over them for a few moments then Jack hesitantly lifted his hand to touch the side of Philip's face. The younger man nudged at the touch, his dark eyes blinking as he looked back at the colonel. The bare feet shuffled closer as Jack reached forward, gently pressing his mouth against Phil's. With a soft sigh, the artist opened his mouth, inviting the probing tongue inside.

Jack's fingers lightly caressed through the dark hair as he pulled back from the kiss. Smiling as he looked into the darkened orbs, he said, "As *soon* as I'm free, I'm coming back here. Okay?" He pressed his forehead lightly against Philip's as he spoke. The younger man smiled.

"I'll be waiting for you." His quiet voice was a little more than a breathy whisper. Jack angled the face once more and sealed their mouths, his tongue brushing the full bottom lip as it pressed through to the awaiting tongue. There was a sound behind him and Jack pulled back suddenly, leaving Philip breathless and slightly off balanced.

"What?"

Jack hissed; "Where's your brother?"

A smile lit the young face then he said, as he gathered Jack in his arms once more, "He's out. I would have told you straight away if he was home."

"Ah." Jack nodded as he swung around again, allowing himself to relax within his partner's arms once more.

"Come on Jack, let's have those pants of yours!"

With a wry grin and a slight chuckle, Jack started easing the pants down over his rump again, then stepped out of them. Before he had the chance to reach down for them, Philip had squatted, then he looked up at Jack from where he was, and seeing no resistance, he leaned forward and rubbed his face against the flaccid groin. Jack moaned, his head tilting back as he knew there was no time for this, but he wasn't willing to stop it yet either. Sensing that Jack was allowing the touch, but unable to give him more, Philip rose to his feet slowly, one hand holding the fatigues, the other gently cupped the now awakening groin, his thumb caressing across it.

The colonel groaned as the younger man kissed across his arched throat, nudging his face against the warm skin until Jack slowly lowered his chin, breaking the contact. Releasing his handful, Philip stepped back, wetting his lips as he gave Jack a lopsided smile.

"Sorry, I got ..." //carried away//

"No, that's okay.." //For crying out loud, you are so damn gorgoeous!//

"I need to iron these..." //Before I ravish you - right here - right now!//

"I'll drink my coffee..." //And keep my hands and mouth otherwise occupied!//

Philip smiled once more then dipped his face as he stepped around Jack. The older man smiled also, as he reached for his drink and cradled it between two hands as he wandered into the living room to perch on the arm of the sofa and watch the rain fall against the window. Soon Philip returned to where Jack was and again the men exchanged smiles as Philip placed his hand on Jack's bare thigh while he reached across and put the fatigues on the sofa beside him. Jack tackled him, the two of them slipping onto the sofa together, side by side and then they struggled until Jack was on top, pinning the slighter man beneath him.

"Jack!" Philip said as the colonel held his hands above his head, pressed down onto the seat cushion.

"Sorry." Jack released him. "You don't like that?"

"No, that's fine," he said, lifting his eyes to indicate to where his hands had been, then he arched his back as he struggled and huffed a little. Suddenly he pulled the fatigues from beneath him and held the up. "But I *hate* having my work wasted!"

Jack grinned and carefully laid the pants on the back of the sofa, deliberately smoothing out the material. Then he lowered himself onto Philip's body a little more.

"You have to go to work!" The younger man laughed as Jack kissed and sucked at his throat.

"I have to go to work," Jack grumbled against the warm skin.

Philip relaxed and allowed himself to give into the attention, his back arching as Jack's hand slipped down his side then pushed in to nestle between the sofa and the arched back. Their legs tangled - one of Jack's falling in between Philip's parted thighs, the other coiled around Philip's leg with their bare feet brushing lightly together as they rested on the arm of the sofa.

As Jack sucked on the soft warm skin on the artist's neck, Philip throat arched, his tongue restless within his mouth to taste Jack once more. Jack became breathless as their playfulness turned passionate and the little bites and sucked became gentle love-bites and heated kisses. Blindly Jack's mouth found its way to Philip's and they were both breathless as they engulfed each other in a passionate kiss.

During the kiss Philip ran his hands up Jack's back, over the muscles moving under the black t-shirt as the older man touched him, and then he grasped the gray head, tugging back on it and breaking the kiss.

"Jack, you- have - to -go - to -work!"

Slowly the dark eyes opened and the colonel stared down at him. There was no tease in his eyes or voice as he cupped the dark head in his hands and he said, "You know, I don't think I've ever *not* wanted to go to work before - until now."

A sweet smile curled Philip's lips as he reached up, caressing Jack's face. "But you do have to go."

"Yeah," Jack shifted so that he could now sit between his lover's thighs. "I *have* to."

Philip pushed up into a sitting position, his legs still around Jack.

"All this can wait until you are finished. Will you be long?"

"A few hours, I'm afraid."

Nodding, Philip said, "Well, I'll make us some dinner then."

"What about Simmons?"

A smile curled one side of Philip's face. "His name is Graham and he's not coming home. He's at Chris' so I'm not expecting him home tonight at all.

Jack nodded then reached behind him, snaring the pants in his hands and standing up. Philip got up and retrieved Jack's boots and jacket from the bedroom then he dropped them onto the sofa.

"Should I make you some toast? To go?"

"No, I don't eat breakfast.."

With a smile that Jack didn't see, Philip said, "Jack, it's almost lunch time."

The colonel checked his watch then groaned as he stood and stamped into his boots. Reaching for his jacket he shrugged it on as he headed to the front door. Philip went with him, his hand resting on the doorknob ready to let Jack out. With a quick touch to Jack's wayward short hair, Philip smiled. Jack roughly combed his fingers through the unruly locks.

"That's what you get for going to bed with wet hair," Philip told him.

With a grin that took a few brief moments to broaden as he recalled the shower, Jack nodded. "I have a brush in my locker at work."

Philip nodded then they kissed gently but briefly before Jack stepped out of the apartment.

.oOo.

After Jack left Philip wandered around, a little lost. He reached down for his cigarettes and searched for his lighter but couldn't find it. He went to the kitchen, lit it by the flame on the stove and grabbed a long trench coat before stepping out in to the garden. Walking around, he aimlessly picked dead leaves off a plant here and there, the cigarette perched between his lips as he worked with both hands. Every now and then he stopped, dragged back then removed it from his lips to blow out the smoke, his tongue darting out to wet his lips before replacing the cigarette. Climbing onto the ladder he looked across to the mountain, wondering what had been so important that they had tried to reach Jack five times in the middle of the night. The pages had to have come in the middle of the night, as he and Jack would have heard them, so what had happened in Deep Space Telemetry at three am that required the colonel's immediate attention in the morning? With a wry grin to himself, Philip climbed down the ladder then headed back into the house, a little more confident that whatever his big brother did for a living, it was NOT as simple as watching deep space. What it was though, he had no idea and respected the fact that he'd probably never know for sure.

Once inside again, he closed the door against the chilled day and turned to stand in front of the radiator that was still on from the previous night. Now warm again, he went to his room, put on his headphones and pressed play on the CD - searching for a particular track that had been running through his head all morning. He picked up his pencil and resumed the work on the sketch of Jack asleep in his bed while the Simply Red version of All I need is the Air that I breathe.. started up. He'd always liked the song but today the words seemed so much more poignant to him.

A shiver ran up his spine, and a smile filled his face as the words led him to recall the night before. Pushing the picture of the sleeping man aside, he reached for a clean piece of paper as he started a close up sketch of Jack's face from memory. Totally abandoned to the drawing and music, he sang along to the song, a little off key. As he was unable to hear himself sing as he was wearing the headphones - he sang *loudly* -

He was lost in the eyes that he was sketching. Lost trying to capture the smoldering depths of them, the twinkle that was there, the passion within them. Smiling to himself, he was happy with the results he achieved and tried to move onto Jack's mouth, deciding to capture the little way he had of pursing his lips together, almost creating dimples on his cheek.

So engrossed in the music and drawing was he that he didn't hear anything around him until loud banging on his bedroom door finally caught his attention. He turned to see Graham standing by his door. Twisting so that he inconspicuously covered the drawing from his brother's view, he dropped the headphones onto his shoulders before asking Graham, "What's happened?"

"Nothing. I just wondered if you wanted a coffee?"

Reaching up, he drained his cup of the last of the cold drink, then he saw Graham enter the room. He got up and met him at the foot of the bed instead, keeping him from his desk - and the drawings on it.

"He's gone?" Graham shot a quick look at the rumpled bedding. He didn't want to sound too nosey.

"He had to go to work."

"Oh, I see."

The two men stepped into the kitchen together.

"I thought you were going to see Chris."

"And I did," Graham said with a nod, his voice a little strained.

"So?"

With a heavy sigh, Graham dropped his chin to his chest. "I ended it."

Blinking quickly, Philip tilted his head as he asked, "Why?"

"Basically, because I still have feelings for Dan."

Nodding, the younger brother patted him on the shoulder. "You didn't resolve them at the time, so they've festered in your mind.."

"Or, maybe I truly did love him and I lost the best thing to ever happen in my life?"

Raising his brow, Philip had no response to that.

Shooting his brother a sideways glance, Graham continued, "I'm thinking of telling him..."

The dark eyes went wide. "Oh."

Graham screwed his nose up, then sighed as he rubbed his tired face. "You don't think I should."

"No," Philip said in a soft voice, "No, I didn't say that. But, I do wonder if you've really given this any thought...."

"It's all I think about. *He's* all I think about," he said, tossing the teabag into the bin roughly.

In a patient tone, Philip asked him, "Would you still be intimidated at work? What about Jack?"

"Jack?" Graham queried the familiar tone.

"I meant Colonel O'Neill," he corrected himself, hoping the slip wasn't too noticeable.

Graham sighed again. "I really don't know..."

Nodding, Philip said, "Then as someone who's been there himself, do me a favor? Don't talk to him until you *know*... please." He touched his brother's shoulder again. He wasn't sure that Jack would feel any different about the two of them, despite the attachment between him and Phil at present. He would probably ask Jack at some stage, but it would have to be when the time was right. Until then, he worried that Graham was going to try to win Daniel back, just like John had with him when the loneliness got too much. But Philip had been strong, knowing that what had separated them in the first place was still going to be there. He just worried that the same was for Graham and Daniel. Jack was still there, and he did have residual feelings for Daniel. There was no guarantee that the colonel would be any happier this time around as he was before. "Don't do that to Danny. He doesn't deserve a head fuck like that."

They were silent a moment then Graham looked at him. "Speaking of head fucks, what about you!" He said it with a happy smile on his face, letting his brother know he was happy, if not surprised, by the discovery of a man in his bed. Philip laughed softly, dipping his face to look down into his cup of hot coffee in his hands.

"Yeah, how about that, huh?' He said, lifting his head and trying to bite back the huge grin he knew was plastered all over his face.

"What's his name?"

"Uh," he barely hesitated, "Jonathon."

"Oh? Not..."

"Oh, god no!" Philip shook his head then turned to go into the living room, sitting on the sofa while his brother sat in the single chair.

"And he knows..?"

Philip nodded. "I told him, like I always tell them. He insisted it didn't matter."

"But you were careful?"

"Oh, yeah. He was incredible!"

"So I can see!" Graham teased the smile on Philip's face. The younger brother blushed a little and lowered his face. "No, seriously Phil. I'm really happy for you. If it's what you want?"

"Want. Need. It's weird but I didn't 'need' it until ... him."

Rolling his eyes, Graham nodded.

"So, you just tend to go for these 'Jonathan's, don't you?" He teased gently.

"Well, I didn't know his name before our first kiss..."

Shaking his head, but still smiling, Graham lifted his cup to his lips.

'First kiss' - he remembered how wonderful they felt. He suddenly recalled his first kiss with Daniel. They were at a party for a mutual friend and started talking out of necessity - being the only two people from the SGC there. Stilted and awkward at first, their conversation went through many caged passages, lots of laughter and a slowly growing realization that they shared a lot of things in common. The conversation turned to Daniel's past and he mentioned a person called 'Blair Sandburg'. With nothing more than a look between them, the two men realized that they'd both been 'intimate' with this anthropologist. The penny dropped for them and with a shy confidence, and a downward tilt of his face, Daniel had asked Graham if he was bi-sexual. The heart beating rapidly in Graham's throat had stifled all attempts of a verbal confirmation so he merely nodded - ever so slightly. He watched as Daniel wet his lips quickly and his intense blue eyes traced over the features on his face. He'd said that he thought Graham was always nervous around Sam, and Graham had laughed softly and responded - only when he was with her. With a few quick blinks, Daniel had smiled shyly at that response then an awkward invitation for coffee was made...

They headed back to Graham's place, as it was closer. Daniel hadn't even noticed the painting as he went through to the garden, waiting for Graham to bring out the coffees. They sat and talked a little longer in the warm, evening breeze then at one point Daniel had dipped his head, his smile a little shy on his lips as he nodded his agreement to something Graham had said then tilted his face to look at him again, his bottom lip captured between his teeth. Even now Graham felt his breath stall in his throat as he recalled the smile on Daniel's face, then the hesitant moments when they slowly came together for their first kiss. Their lips touched ever so lightly before they pulled back, silently checking that the other was okay, then they engulfed each other in a hungry, needy, passionate kiss.

Graham sighed and sunk back in his seat, his body tingling as he recalled the following night - the start of his affair with Daniel Jackson. All the time the lieutenant was unaware that his brother was watching him carefully, with concern in his dark eyes....

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