J/D Birthday fic for green_grrl!

[sid]

Some Season One pre-slash in honor of your important day!  Hope it's been great!  *smooches*

POLITE AWAKENING

It was the sound of the chair rolling across the floor that first filtered into Daniel’s consciousness, although he didn’t identify it until a hand clasped his shoulder and he fully woke. A sheet of paper clung to his face as he raised his head, and Daniel fumbled it away.

 

Jack was seated next to him, his hand still on Daniel’s shoulder. “You shouldn’t push yourself so hard,” he said.

 

And maybe Daniel had been dreaming about his mother; about the way she would say things to him, her voice filled with loving concern. Maybe he was still dreaming a little. He blinked his eyes, trying to focus. His glasses were on the desk, where he’d laid them around three o’clock this morning when he’d achieved that peculiar degree of eyestrain where he could see better without them, and the few hours of sleep he’d gotten since then had done nothing to correct the condition.

 

So it was with a strange and strained clarity that he looked at Jack and saw the warmth in his eyes and wondered at it. The man he had first met had been cold and closed off. The man who had taken Daniel home with him that first night back from Abydos had been a little more open; cautiously friendly. The man who led him in the field was alternately exasperated, amused, furious, appreciative.

 

This man looked at Daniel with affection. How long had that been going on, Daniel wondered foggily. Why hadn’t he noticed it before?

 

What did it mean?

 

Jack dropped his hand from Daniel’s shoulder to his knee and leaned a little closer, and Daniel remembered another dream and caught his breath.

 

“We’re going to find your wife, Daniel, even if you get a decent night’s sleep once in a while. Got that?”

 

“Oh.”  Daniel exhaled. He felt himself flushing as he looked down to where Jack’s thumb stroked his leg.

 

“In fact, I’m ordering you to start taking better care of yourself.” Jack squeezed Daniel’s knee before letting go.

 

“Okay,” Daniel said weakly.

 

“Starting with breakfast,” Jack said, standing up and moving his chair back around to the other side of the desk. “So go powder your nose.”

 

Daniel stood up and went to push up his glasses by force of habit, but of course they weren’t there and he started to feel like he really must be turning into a complete idiot. Jack didn’t see, fortunately, because he was busy curling his lip at the abandoned tuna sandwich from the vending machine that had briefly seemed like a good idea at one a.m., and whisking it into the trash can. And that just seemed like such a Jack thing for him to be doing that Daniel took comfort from it, and decided that the universe really was still in order and that probably all he needed….

 

“Boy, do you need caffeine,” Jack remarked. “Scoot!”

 

Daniel scooted.

 

Comments

[zats-clear.livejournal.com]

this makes me all melty! how sweet!!!

[sid]

I'm glad you enjoyed! :-)

[charmedstrange1.livejournal.com]

Oh yay! I love it when people have birthdays around here!

This was so Awwwwww! Poor bewildered Daniel, and sweetly comforting Jack. What a nice warm fuzzy. :)

[sid]

That's why we love them so. They give us everything: warm fuzzies, snappy banter, awkward confessions, heart-wrenching fights, sweet lovin' and hawt sexin'.

*huggles them*

[princessofg.livejournal.com]

PURRRRFECT.

thank you.

Your Jack is so effing REAL. That comforts me immensely.

[sid]

When Jack is there in the moment, really there... *sigh*

Yay for comfort! (and joy, comfort and joy, oh tidings...oops, sorry, hee!)

[green-grrl.livejournal.com]

Oh, lovely, lovely, lovely. What a perfectly illustrated moment in time, when Daniel realizes, but when Sha're is still this huge invisible presence. And what a comfort Jack being Jack is. *smoosh* Thank you!!!

[sid]

For a second there, Daniel was aware with a capital A, but now he's drifting back into his comfort zone. And look who's there. :-)

I'm very glad you like it! The idea came to me a couple of days ago, but I needed incentive to write it. Happy Birthday!

[green-grrl.livejournal.com]

And that's exactly why they're so perfect for each other -- they fit together on so many levels.

Any time you need a poke, I'll be sure to come up with an incentive for you. ;-)

[sid]

I'll take you up on that! *g*

[janedavitt.livejournal.com]

They are so supportive of each other that it chokes me up. Love it.

[sid]

The perfect couple-to-be. :-)

Thank you!

[paian]

So lovely. ::huggles fic, and you, and green_grrl::

[sid]

*is huggled*

*goes to happy place*

[jd-junkie.livejournal.com]

*sighs happily*
Someone else in early seasons Happy Place. :-)
Love the description of Daniel pushing the missing glasses up his nose. I do it all the time when I take mine off ... lovely touch and so Daniel.
I'm all warm and fuzzy after this.
Thank you. :-))

[sid]

Warm and fuzzy Happy Place. It doesn't get any better than that! I'm glad you enjoyed!

[tresa-cho.livejournal.com]

Aww, lovely! Motherhen!Jack. Nicely done.

[sid]

Thank you! I love Jack when he motherhens. :-)

[starting-gate.livejournal.com]

No matter the circumstances, an awakening Daniel is a wonderful thing. ;-)

[sid]

Yes, so true! Obviously, naked in Jack's arms is the very best awakening!Daniel, but we take what we can get! :-)

[ctheinvisible17.livejournal.com]

A sheet of paper clung to his face...
I swear that just happened to me. I now am the proud owner of the words 'appy Birthd' inked on my face.

Anyway, this fic? So sweet! ♥

Just one thing. Daniel without caffeine? What is this madness you speak of? ;)

[sid]

The caffeine wore off while he was sleeping! Thank goodness Jack has recognized the problem and is dealing with it swiftly. ;-)

Glad you enjoyed the schmoop!

[adafrog.livejournal.com]

awwww...great.

[sid]

Thank you! :-)

[kuonji14.livejournal.com]

Very sweet and dream-like. I like the title. :)

[sid]

It's kind of a goofy title, but it seemed to fit! I'm relieved that you liked it. LOL

Thank you.

[damietta.livejournal.com]

Somehow the 'dreaming about his mother' line made me tear up...well done (and very, very Jack).

[sid]

I'm not sure if he'd actually been dreaming about her or if it was the loving care he heard in Jack's voice that made him think of her. I know from experience that the dreaming brain can twist and turn on a dime to try to make everything fit into dream-logic, and Daniel's not completely awake yet.

Well, either way, yes it's very Jack of Jack to make his point with touch and open concern and then move quickly on to disgusting, dried up tuna sandwiches! :-)

[rosie012.livejournal.com]

This was a beautifully expressed moment in time. Very atmospheric. I love his dawning awareness of Jack happening with his awakening from sleep. Lovely the way the thoughts of his mother's loving care transforms into to that of Jack's care. And their symbiotic thoughts at the end, proving the point, though Daniel is letting the dream go. Though short, there is a lot here. This was a wonderfully warm read for a miserable cold snowy day. I wish it was longer, but then I have things to do and they wouldn't get done, so... Thanks.

[sid]

Lovely fb, thank you! :-)

For a moment there, Sha're was the furthest thing from Daniel's mind, which was filled with recollections of his mother, Jack's warmth and dream-memories (of an erotic nature?)

And then it's back to reality and trying to put that new awareness firmly into the realm of imagination. *sigh*

[spacemonkeyphd2.livejournal.com]

Aawww, so sweet. *hugs the stuffing out of fic and Jack & Daniel*

[sid]

Thanks, Monkey dear! :-)

[justhuman.livejournal.com]

Nice! Deftly done

[sid]

Thanks so much! I'm happy you enjoyed it.

[lokei.livejournal.com]

Oh, Daniel. This whole scene made me smile--like someone else already said, there's just so much here. Friendship with all these briefly visible extra undercurrents, like a twig that breaks the surface of a brook and gets pulled back under, though you can still see its outline travelling downstream if you look for it. Gorgeous.

[sid]

And gorgeous feedback, thank you!

Slashers are very insistent on tracking that twig's outline as we wait impatiently for it to bob back to the surface. :-)