INCENTIVE
"Do me a favor,
"Bury these with it?" Daniel asked, eyebrows raised.
O'Neil shrugged. "Seems like a good time to quit."
"It's always a good time to quit, but..."
"Skaara didn't think much of them," O'Neil said with another shrug.
"Ah! Ah!" Daniel's face lit up. "That's what he was talking about! I heard him talking to some of the other boys, but I couldn't quite make out what it was all about."
"Was there spitting involved?"
"There was."
O'Neil quirked his lip in response to Daniel's grin. "And he's got my lighter now anyway, so..."
Daniel's head turned as Shau'ri and two other women approached. O'Neil glanced towards them and then looked back at Daniel, observing how his face changed. His eyes had grown soft, and a loving smile curved his lips gently. Shau'ri was a lucky woman, O'Neil thought.
When Daniel turned back to him, O'Neil's heart gave a strange little thump. Daniel's expression hadn't changed. The affection showing in his eyes almost seemed to be directed at....
"I'm glad," Daniel said quietly. "You'll live longer."
And suddenly that didn't sound like such a bad idea.