Slash fic: A loving committed relationship between two people who just happen to be men.

Title: Descent

Author: Debi C

Date: 15 February 2003

Feedback: dcole6@satx.rr.com

Rating: PG-13

Pairing: Jack/Daniel

Category: Slash, First time, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, MAB (Meridian and beyond)

Status: Finished

Series: None

Season/Spoilers: Secrets, Forever In A Day, Maternal Instinct, The Light, Ascension, Meridian, Abyss

Archive: Alpha Gate. Area 52, TheBoy, The Cartouche. Anyone else please ask.

Synopsis: Based on spoilers for season seven. After the battle of Abydos, O'Neill witnesses something amazing.

Notes: Yes, I know, another Meridian fixit. I can't help it. I'm anxious. Thanks to Devra for the push to post. And as we all know, it's not nice no wise to fool with Mother Nature.

Warnings: This fic has the possibility of placing Jack and Daniel within the realm of Real Life in the seventh heaven season. Please do no read if you do not wish to see the guys engaged in any of the following: Sleeping, hugging, caring, loving, needing, giving and receiving comfort and love. Oh not beta'd and yes there are toes here but they're not a focal point this time. See Devra, it works fine.

Disclaimer: Stargate SG-1 and its characters are the property of Showtime/ Viacom, MGM/UA, Double Secret Productions, and Gekko Productions. I do not own the characters and indeed am only playing with them for a little while. I am not making any money from this so there's very little point in suing me. No copyright infringement whatsoever is intended. The story is for entertainment purposes only. At least I hope it's entertaining. The original characters, situations and story are mine. Please check with me first if you want to archive or link to this story.

Descent Debi C

The battle for Abydos was over. The Jaffa army of Anubis had been defeated, and now it was time to count the casualties and the cost.

Kasuf was in the thick of it now, counting, talking, soothing and guiding his people back from the confusion of battle. Skaara had been wounded early on in the fighting and had been relegated to bed by the women. Teal'c had been staff-weapon burned but not badly. Junior was on the repair job. Jonas had his first experience with a ribbon device and was sporting the characteristic burn mark and loss of equilibrium common to that type of injury. Carter had been zatted into unconsciousness again but she was recovering nicely under Fraiser's care. O'Neill himself had been bumped, bruised and blasted too many time to count, not that he bothered anymore. The injuries were fairly light. Jaffa that attacked him had been, oddly enough, struck by lightening.

Jack was doing a perimeter check of the headquarters area to insure that it was secure from any and all remaining enemies. As he gazed out into the vastness of the desert, he noted a sudden and unusual meteorological disturbance that had appeared over the Abydonian wilderness. If he was on earth, O'Neill might have said it was the beginning of a tornado funnel cloud. But, of course they weren't in Kansas anymore and he was getting a really bad feeling about this particular weather pattern of dark roiling clouds that were hanging so close to the planet's surface.

Uneasy, he started to walk towards the area of his concern. It was almost as if he was being summoned, called to come as a witness of some world-altering cataclysm. A fanciful idea began to form itself in his mind as he approached. What happens to a soldier who disobeys orders? What happens to an angel who disobeys orders? What happens to an ascended one who disobeys orders? And who did he know personally that had just disobeyed a whole bunch of orders?

As he started up the last tall sand dune, the gut feeling he'd been having kicked into overdrive, and Jack began to run...run as hard and fast as he was able given the circumstances of upward slope, loose sand and his weakened condition. He could hear someone back in camp calling his name, but he could also `hear' someone out there calling for him. And he also knew where he was needed most.

As he crested the dune, Jack was halted in his tracks by a sight of what appeared to be monumental electrical storm only a hundred or so feet off the ground. The black, billowing clouds were still there, twisting and convulsing, but they were now apparently exhibiting ball-lightening effects. Lightening bolts were flashing amongst approximately twenty or twenty-five miniature suns...as if they were arguing between themselves. There were five or six of the entities on one side gathered against fifteen or twenty of their kind on the other side. Static electricity filled the atmosphere causing an aurora borealis of lights. The rumble of thunder from the atmospheric upset filled the air. Then, suddenly, an explosion of thunder clapped the air around him, knocking O`Neill off his feet from the sonic impact. Then, one of the lights in the sky suddenly appeared to implode into a fireball, throwing its companions clear momentarily and causing its core to begin an uncontrolled reentry to the world below. Two of the other lights rushed together and seemed to join for a split second completely enveloping the shape. Then, they immediately dropped in altitude several tens of feet towards ground level, hovering to deposit a body gently to the desert's floor. That something lay where it had been cast down and the conflagration of glowing lights began to dissipate. Then, after a second or two and only after the majority of the glowing entities were gone, the last two or three beings finally left also, heading in a different direction from their fellows.

But there, abandoned and alone, was some thing on the ground. A shape, a form, which hadn't existed before or during the confrontation, was now left behind.

Jack O'Neill suddenly knew in his soul's heart who IT was. He started to run, to run as fast as he could. As he approached the form it began to resemble a heartbreakingly familiar shape, and he knew he was right.

"DANIEL! DANIEL! OH, GOD, DANIEL!

He fell beside the unresponsive body, grasped him by his shoulders and gently turned him over to see his face. "Daniel! Daniel, please, Danny." Jack bent over him and straightened out the crumpled body, taking in the sight of his beloved friend.

The face was as perfect as Jack remembered it to be. The skin flawlessly pale, the eyes closed the mouth slightly open. Was he breathing? Yes! Was he conscious? No. Was he back? Yes! Did he want to come back? For that knowledge he'd have to ask...but he could only pray that Daniel would and that he would have a chance to make everything up to him. Jack carefully brushed the sand from the dearly loved face. "Daniel, please, Danny, please, Danny, please..." he could seemingly only chant those particular words, his mantra of supplication. It was impossible to stop.

Then, suddenly Daniel's unconscious body began to move in tremors, shaking in little vibrations, shivers that shook, quivers that quaked, agitations that frightened O'Neill into a distraction of panic. "Daniel, please...don't do this. I can't do this, please Danny..."

Unable to resist the impulse any longer, he reached down and gathered the unconscious man in his arms and pulled him into his chest, still repeating the same phrase...please, Danny, please, Danny, please..." Daniel's body seemingly sought the contact as his body responded to the nearness of Jack. The long form retracted, curling into a conforming shape to cling to O'Neill. The lax arms wrapped around the older man, the legs following his own bodyline. Jack hugged Daniel closer and tipped his face and head into the hollow of his own throat. Unconsciously, he rocked the younger man to him in a calming motion while stroking the rigid vibrating back and shoulders, trying desperately to stop the fine shivering that was racking the younger man in seizure like waves.

A shadow fell over the two men, as they lay exposed to the desert sun. Jack glanced up to find Kasuf standing over them. The old man immediately pulled his outer robe off and covered his good son's nakedness. "What has happened, O'Neill? What is wrong with him?"

Jack could only shake his head, continuing to murmur to the man in his arms. He spared the headman one breath of voice. "Get doctor."

Kasuf, ever a man of action, turned and started back to the village."I will get the Fraiser woman. I will bring her myself."

Jack had no desire to answer, just to hold on to Daniel, hold him together, and hold him to his heart.

Within thirty minutes of the conflagration, the two men were in a desert tent that had been set up as a medical treatment center. Daniel was curled up on a stretcher, having been pried forcibly from Jack's arms. But O'Neill had remained in constant contact. His physical presence was evidently a mandatory position, because whenever he broke their bodily connection, Daniel went into seizures. Doc Fraiser was at her wits end. She was fearful of too much strain on his new or possibly recycled body. She was even unsure of that, as he carried the same scars as from before his ascension. Finally, after several hours all she could recommend was that the Colonel stay in close proximity, but get some rest if you can please.

Jack had nodded, not hearing a word she had said. But he sat, and waited, and touched and talked, coaxing his best friend back from the dark chasm of nothingness.

*******

It had been hours. Jack was exhausted. Daniel was no better. As the evening had worn on, Fraiser had set up another cot for Jack.

She could have saved the trouble. The only way this worked was when they were in as close a contact as possible. Jack had bowed to the inevitable, stripped to his boxers and bare chest and spooned in behind the suffering man. At least, now they could rest. It was as if Daniel needed to feel Jack's heart beating, and O'Neill had to admit, he didn't mind listening to Daniels beat as well.

He must have dozed off, exhaustion finally taking its toll on his tired body, but Jack was awakened from his sleep by his sixth sense. Someone was in the tent with them. Glancing at his florescent watch dial Jack saw it was twelve forty seven, well within the precincts of the witching hour.

"Who's there?" He called out. He had no weapons, but he was in an armed war camp and he had a treasure to safeguard. "Who are you?"

A luminescence began to glow softly a few feet from their shared cot. It grew to the size of a young boy. Then Jack recognized Shi'fu in the coalescing form. The boy softly approached the bed and laid a hand on Daniel's shoulder.

"Is he well?" It was a worried question.

Jack looked at the boy and shook his head. "No, Shi'fu. He's not." Jack replied sadly. "He's been like this since the party they threw for him upstairs. You know the one, I think you were there too...weren't you?"

The boy nodded. "He had been warned. The council had told him one more instance and he would be cast out." The small hand stroked the soft skin of the only Father he had ever known. "He wouldn't listen. He couldn't bear it."

O'Neill shifted slightly; pulling the arm out from under Daniel that had fallen asleep from being slept upon. After he'd gotten them both comfortable again, he smiled a small sad smile at Shi'fu. "No, son, that's not right." He bent and brushed his face against Daniel's hair, inhaling the familiar scent of his friend. "He heard them. Hell, he understood them, he just didn't care." Jack looked at the boy. "I've seen him do it a hundred times. Someone will tell him what to do, and he'll try to do what you want, but when his heart tells him to act he follows it...every time." Jack had to stroke the bristly cheek as if to emphasize it's value to him. "That's how he got into this fix in the first place, but that`s what makes him Daniel Jackson."

Another voice, a woman's voice, spoke. "And what do you do, Jack O'Neill?" Oma Desala came and stood behind the Harcesis. "What do you do?"

"I go and pick him up." His voice broke a little, "I go and pick up all the little Daniel pieces that I can find." Jack looked up at her. "And I try my damndest to put them back together. I have to, because I don't want to live in a universe that doesn't have a Daniel Jackson in it somewhere."

She reached out her hand and placed it on top of Shi'fu's. "I understand, O'Neill, because ... neither do I."

There seemed to be a warmth in the combined touch of Oma and Shi'fu that permeated the flesh of Daniel Jackson. Then, the heat passed through him and into Jack's tired, battered and bruised body. It felt so good, so comforting that he allowed himself to bask in its glow and simply watch. At first, he didn't see the third, four or fifth forms, one of a young man with longish brown hair and a soft kind face appear, then an older man of middle age and another woman and then another until they were surrounded by a small group of Ascendeds all putting their power into the healing touch. O'Neill was beginning to be a little intimidated by all the attention, but Shi'fu caught his eye and shook his head. So he lay silent witness to the restoration of a wounded soul and the giving of absolution to a fallen angel.

The last thing he remembered was Oma's voice giving a benediction."Your path here is not finished beloved child, when it is the proper time we will return for you and your soul mate. Go forth and be well."

*******

Jack O'Neill woke up to a pair of blue eyes watching him. His first response was lean over and kiss the lips below those eyes. Their expression changed slightly from one of contentment to one of puzzlement. So, he kissed them again. This time the kiss was shyly returned. Jack pulled back and smiled. "Hello."

"Hello."

"You can talk." Jack stroked the broad forehead with his hand. "I was getting a little...no, make that a lot... worried." He smiled at his companion. "A speechless linguist is an oxymoron after all."

"No more than a romantic warrior." Daniel answered back seriously. "Don't take this wrong, but where am I and uh, why?"

"You don't remember?"

"The last thing I remember is um, some sort of laboratory. We were on a planet like Earth but they had some new kind of Nacquadah..."

"Stop!" Jack panicked and slapped his hand over Daniel's mouth. "Stop! Stop, don't think anymore!" The blue eyes looked at him in frustration, then turned to curious. "Are you thinking?" A head shake no. Jack took the risk and removed his hand but he replaced it with his mouth as fast as he could. Daniel, never a stupid man, took full advantage of the opportunity and returned as good as he got. Finally, when O'Neill was satisfied that he had successfully derailed that train of thought, he released his partner's mouth. "We'll talk about it later, Daniel. I promise, but first...first I want to tell you something."

"What is it?"

"I'm never leaving you alone on another planet again...NO! Don't think! Think about us."

The blue eyes gazed steadily into his. "What's there to think about, Jack. Oma said it all, I wasn't nearly ready. My path is not finished, and neither is yours. We have a lot more to do here...together."

"I like the sound of that, Daniel."

"What? That we're not finished?"

"No. The together part."

The fair head nestled under his chin again. "So do I, Jack. So do I."

the end of the beginning.