Status: Completed 1/31/2009

Word Count: 2,065

Author's Notes: This is told mostly from Jack's PoV, but in order to kinda join the two stories together, I felt it needed to start with Daniel's PoV. I blame this on Annie! Why, because of a conversation we had on a mailing list we both belong to. She brought up a very good point. Daniel would not have let what Jack said just slide. My response to her, Daniel was too shocked and surprised by Jack's outburst and what he'd said. He just wanted to make Jack see that he hadn't deliberately set out to disobey an order or put his friends in danger. This fic explores that issue and Jack's reasoning behind his remarks. Thanks to Annie for the beta and the title!

Daniel sighed in frustration. He flipped the page again, of the book he'd been reading and tried to concentrate. Several minutes later he was no further along. Giving up on the translation he'd been working on most of the day, he shut the book. Although it had been several days ago, more and more he found his thoughts drifting back to the conversation he'd had with Jack. While he was willing to concede Jack's points on most of the issues his friend had brought up, the more Daniel thought about it, there were two things Jack had mentioned that were really beginning to bug the hell out of him. He'd let them go at the time because he'd been too shocked and surprised by Jack's outburst and what he'd said. He just wanted to make his friend see that he hadn't deliberately set out to disobey an order or put his friends in danger. He was more concerned, at that time, with making Jack realize that than to question Jack's remarks about things that had happened in the past.

That was then, though. It was really bugging him now that he'd had time to dwell on them. He needed to talk to Jack about them.

Now.

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"Enter," Jack called out at the knock on his door.

"Hey, Daniel, what's up?" He glanced at his watch then back to the report he'd been writing. It wasn't quite lunchtime and he wondered what had brought Daniel out of his office early. Usually, Jack had to drag him out.

"We need to talk."

"We talk everyday. We're talking right now."

"Jaaack."

Jack finally looked up and would have laughed at the near whiney tone in his friend's voice if it weren't for the serious look on said friends face. Sighing heavily, he put down his pen and slid the report away from him. He had a sinking feeling he knew what Daniel wanted to talk about. "Daniel, we've already discussed this. Why do you want to bring it up again?"

"No, Jack, we discussed what happened with the Enkarans. I'm talking about the discussion itself. Specifically, two things you brought up during the conversation."

"What's there to talk about Daniel? Why do you always have to beat things to death?"

"I do not," Daniel replied indignantly.

"Do too."

"Do not."

"Too."

"Jack!"

Jack could hear the frustration in Daniel's voice as he conceded, "Okay, maybe I do, sometimes, but not this time and stop trying to change the subject."

Realizing that something he'd said had really upset his friend and figuring he owed it to the other man to at least listen to what was bothering him, Jack relented. "Okay, so talk."

"Well, you mentioned "that mess with the Unas". What, exactly, did you mean by that? It's not like I just went up to him as said, "Hey, Chaka, why don't you knock me out and drag me off, make my friends worry about me? Here's a good spot right here, go ahead and give it a whack!" I didn't ask to be kidnapped, Jack."

Jack chuckled inwardly as Daniel pointed to his head as he spoke. "I realize that. I'm not talking about that. I was referring to your stepping in front of our guns and, once again, putting your self in harms way! That Unas kidnapped you, dragged you to that cave, and then offered you up as dinner and you just stood there. You didn't even try to get away even when you could."

"He wasn't going to hurt me."

"I could have shot you!"

"No, you couldn't have." Daniel replied as if that explained everything.

"How do you know that?"

"Because, I've seen you shoot. Your aim is too good, Jack, way to good. There's no way you would have ever even come close to hitting me.

"That doesn't make your not moving any less stupid!"

"Maybe, maybe not. Besides, I wasn't really in the line of fire."

Frustrated, Jack said, "Close enough. And what about him kidnapping you and dragging you to that cave to be dinner? Are you going to deny that too?"

"Yes, he did kidnap me and take me to the cave. We got to know each other, kinda, while he was taking me to the cave. We started to understand each other. He wasn't going to hurt me. I'm sure of . . ."

Interrupting, Jack said, "In your mission report, you even said yourself that you believed you'd been marked for death!"

Without missing a beat, Daniel continued, "When we got to the cave, I was supposed to be a sacrifice, but when the older Unas came for me, Chaka stood up for me, Jack. Besides, I seriously doubt he'd ever seen a human before that day. He didn't know what I was; just figured capturing me would make him a man, so to speak, to his people. It was a rite of passage."

"Yeah, well, hindsight is great, twenty/twenty and all that jazz, but you had no way to know that at that time. He could have just been saying that he wanted the first bite."

Recognizing the exasperated look on his friend's face, Jack sighed.

"I can't explain it," Daniel continued. "I just knew he was trying to help me, to tell the older one that I was a friend. I had to try to help him. Wouldn't you have done the same if our roles were reversed?"

Relenting, Jack said, "Yeah, maybe. I don't know. The fact is, Daniel, that instead of at least trying to control the situation when you had the chance, you let it, and your emotions, control you. Just like always." Jack rubbed his hands over his eyes a few times then ran them through his hair. Why couldn't Daniel see the danger he was constantly putting himself in?

"Jack, it wasn't like that! Not this time."

"Wasn't it, Daniel? Okay, maybe it isn't always, but wasn't it this time?" Deciding he really didn't want to discuss that issue anymore, Jack moved the conversation along. "Since you mentioned two points that you had an issue with from our last conversation, I'm assuming the other was the crystal deal. What about that? You did the same thing, let your emotions override your better judgment."

"That's something entirely different."

"It's the same damn thing, Daniel!" Jack slammed his fist on the table causing Daniel to grimace and take a step back. Rubbing his hand, he forced himself to relax, getting angry with his friend now wouldn't do either of them any good, nor would it resolve the issues between them. He really wanted to work this all out, to go back to that easy camaraderie they'd had before that mess with the Enkarans and the Gadmeer.

"You ignored me when that energy field started to envelop you and the radiation started to rise, I called your name."

"Uhhh, see, that's the thing Jack. I didn't hear you." At Jack's skeptical look, Daniel added, "Honest! I must have already started to phase by that time."

"See! That's what I'm talking about." Daniel looked at him in confusion and Jack clarified, "You never think before you act. What in the world would possess you to stare into that thing's eyes like that in the first place? Especially since you had the benefit of knowing what your grandfather said happened when he did it."

"I thought it was irrelevant at the time. I didn't believe him."

Frustrated, Jack sighed heavily. "That was for me to decide, not you. Whether you believed him or not was irrelevant. You had information you didn't share with me. I'm the team leader, Daniel. I decide what information is important on missions."

"It was just a skull, Jack! I didn't think anything would happen. Certainly not that I'd be shifted into another phase!"

Jack looked at his friend then softly asked, "Even knowing what your grandfather said happened when he did the same thing?"

"That's different!" Daniel protested.

Jack snorted, "How, Daniel? How is it any different? You should have given him more credit. Think about it and tell me if you really think his theory was any crazier than yours."

Daniel crossed his arms and lowered his head, his posture what Jack had come to think of as "unsure Daniel". It was how he stood when he was doubting himself, was confused or was simply contemplating a serious or difficult issue.

"Besides, like I said, you had an obligation to tell me everything you knew about that skull. No matter how crazy it sounded. This is just another example of you undermining my authority. You keep telling me you trust me and my command decisions, but yet you pull crap like this."

"I'm sorry you feel that way, Jack, but all I can do is reiterate that I do trust you."

"Teal'c saw the energy field that formed around you, you mean to tell me that you didn't?"

Seeming to suddenly find something fascinating about his sneakers, Daniel looked down at his feet, "Uhhh, kinda, I guess. I didn't really think much of it."

"That's exactly what I'm talking about," Jack exclaimed. "You rarely ever do. In this case especially, you should have. Regardless of how you felt about your grandfather at the time, the fact that the cavern was everything he described it to be should have been enough to send off some pretty damn loud warning bells in your head. The energy field enveloping you should have been enough to make you back off real quick."

Daniel seemed to consider that then said, "Yeah, I guess you're right. It all happened pretty fast though once I did look into the skulls eyes. One minute I'm looking at the skull, the next I was laying on the ground. Or that's how it seemed to me, anyway."

Daniel conceding his point relaxed Jack a little. "You called me an ass," he remarked, trying not to smile.

Daniel opened his mouth to deny it, apparently feeling Jack was angry about that as well then noticed the smile Jack couldn't quite hide. Grinning, Daniel said, "Actually, Jack, Nick called you an ass."

"Because you told him to!"

"No, I didn't. I said, "Don't be an ass", and he repeated it. Yes, I told him to repeat what I was saying, but I didn't mean for him to repeat that! Anyway, technically neither Nick nor I were calling you an ass, just telling you not to act like one."

Jack grinned broadly at that. It was a very Daniel thing to say. "You're splitting hairs." The grin vanished as Jack got serious, "Look, Daniel, I was upset and yes, a little angry, because of the reasons we just discussed, but I guess I was just as angry with Rothman. You just caught the brunt of it because I can't say anything to him and for that, I'm sorry."

Daniel looked at Jack in surprise, "Really? Why?"

"Because he is," pausing as he remembered what happened to Rothman, Jack amended, "was a pompous ass. He completely disregarded everything we told him and pretty much called Carter and Teal'c a liar to their faces!"

Daniel went reflective again and Jack was sure he knew what his friend was thinking about.

After a few minutes, Jack broke the silence. "Like I said before, I'm not asking you to stop caring, or even to care less, just be more careful. I don't want you to stop asking questions, just learn when and where is the time and the place and talk to me first. Start thinking with your head as much as you do with your heart." Almost as an after-thought, added, "Although it would make my job a lot simpler." Then he muttered, "And my life."

"What was that last part, Jack?" Daniel asked him with a smile although it was clear he'd heard it.

Recovering quickly, Jack returned his friend's smile and said, "What?"

Grinning broadly, Jack said, "How about I buy you lunch?"

"O'Malley's?" Daniel asked hopefully.

"Mess hall," Jack said, putting his hand over Daniel's shoulder and leading him out of his office. "I hear they're serving chocolate cake today!"

Daniel walked with Jack a few steps then, "Hey," he objected as he came to an abrupt halt. "The mess is free!"

Laughing as he nudged his friend along, Jack replied, "I know."

THE END