Gigi Sinclair

The heat hit Jack like a punch to the face the instant he walked through the Gate, just as it had the first time he'd come to Abydos, and the second time, and every time since then.

Automatically staggering backwards, Jack adjusted his sunglasses and wondered why Daniel loved this climate so much. Jack was more of a late-autumn-in-Colorado type of guy. He liked snow, as long as there wasn't enough of it to need shovelling, and he liked the crisp, but not cold, mountain air. His idea of a perfect day was a walk through the fallen leaves, then back to his place for a fire and a hot toddy and a little "indoor recreation."

Daniel's perfect day, on the other hand, involved wearing a stupid hat, drinking gallons of fetid, plastic-tasting canteen water, and repeatedly dicing with heat exhaustion before the sun went down and he suddenly found himself in very real danger of freezing off his sidearm.

Still, Daniel was Daniel, and Jack wouldn't have him any other way. Unless it was naked in front of a fireplace—environmentally friendly, of course—on a culturally sensitive yet traditionally accurate Navajo blanket, bought from a store that donated a significant portion of purchase price to non-patronizing indigenous peoples' aid societies.

As he headed away from the Gate, Jack started scanning the horizon for signs of Daniel. Jack didn't see him, but as he got closer to the town, a familiar figure appeared.

"O'Neill!"

"Skaara." Jack looked into the young man's wide, beaming face. He still couldn't get over how much Skaara had changed. He'd grown into a man in every sense of the word, maturing physically as well as emotionally beyond anything Jack could have imagined when that young boy had befriended Daniel all those years ago. Sometimes, Jack wondered if it would have been the same watching Charlie grow up, but then, hopefully, Charlie wouldn't have suffered half of what Skaara had been through. "How are you?"

"I am well." Skaara's grin got even wider, showing off those dazzling white teeth of his. "And soon, I will be even better. My wife and I are expecting a child."

"No kidding!" Jack slapped him on the back. "Congratulations." For a moment, Jack thought about the effect that news might have had on Daniel, then he returned to searching the landscape. "Where's our boy?"

"Dan'yel is with my father. They will be most pleased to see you." Despite his newfound maturity and pending fatherhood, Skaara practically raced across the sand, leaving Jack to follow behind him.

Daniel and Kasuf were standing outside the village, wearing their Lawrence of Arabia head-dresses and staring at a patch of sand that looked like every other patch of sand on the entire planet.

"Dan'yel! Father! O'Neill is here!" Skaara announced, and Daniel turned around, worried.

"Jack? Is something wrong?"

"Nope."

Jack could see Daniel furrowing his eyebrows behind his sunglasses. "I told General Hammond I'd be back in two days." "And I told him I thought I'd come get you a little early."

"I'm not ready to go."

Jack shrugged. "So I'll wait here till you are. Take your time. I'm sure Skaara can give me a spot on his couch. Or something." He glanced at Skaara, who nodded happily.

Daniel, however, was less enthusiastic. "So you came out here to get me, but you aren't taking me back?"

"Hammond's expecting us in two days. We've got a mission the day after that. I wasn't doing anything, so I thought I'd come on over."

"And you are most welcome, O'Neill." Kasuf gave him a beatific smile. "I will inform our cook there will be one more guest at the table this evening." He headed back to the village, the still- smiling Skaara by his side. As soon as they were out of earshot, Daniel's look turned calculating.

"Spill it, Jack."

"There's nothing to spill, Daniel. I missed you, so I thought I'd come out and see you."

It was true. The house had been damn empty without Daniel around, not to mention boring as hell. It was strange, Jack thought, how easy it was to get used to not being alone. And how hard it was to go back.

"Oh." Daniel looked like someone had just told him the pyramids had, in fact, been built by regular humans to honour mortal kings and purely mythical gods. "You…ah, you missed me?"

"A lot."

"I see." Daniel blinked, then seemed to think something else was required. "I missed you, too."

Jack smiled, happy just to be on the same planet as Daniel again. "Sweet."

"Actually," Daniel clarified, the look on his face slowly sliding from confused to intrigued, "it's hot."

"Yeah." Jack looked up. "Hundred and ten in the shade, I'd say, not that there's much of that. But you're the one who was born on a camel…"

"I mean the idea of you missing me enough to come all this way is hot. Strangely."

"Oh." Suddenly, just being on the same planet as Daniel wasn't nearly close enough. "Does that mean…"

Daniel shook his head. "It's too hot out here."

"Right."

"But when we get back home," Daniel promised, as they headed across the scorching sand, "there's a Navajo blanket and a hot toddy with your name on it."