Chapter Text
“Stop it.”
Daniel was only half-serious, but Jack giving him a surprise hug from behind was quite distracting when he had translations to do. “What?” Jack feigned innocence, stroking his hands up and down Daniel’s arms.
“Jack,” Daniel protested, despite leaning into the touch. “I have work to do—Jaaaack.” he added as the other man planted a sloppy kiss on his cheek.
“I’m not stopping you,” Jack replied, nuzzling into Daniel’s neck.
Daniel grabbed onto Jack’s hands, not sure if he wanted to push them away or pull them closer. “What about Sam and Teal’c?”
“They’re on the other side of the ruins.” Jack raised a hand to Daniel’s cheek, turning his head to capture his lips in a passionate kiss.
For a moment, Daniel let him get away with it; then he gently pushed Jack away. “Snugglebutt,” he accused, but his tone was warm.
Jack smiled. “Fine. Go translate. I’ll find something to explore.”
“Have fun,” Daniel said.
“You betcha.” With a last grin, Jack turned and strolled into the next room, whistling.
Daniel watched him go, then resumed his exploration of the room. The writing across the walls was similar to Sumerian cuneiform, and though his progress was slow, he could translate it. The rest of SG-1 was scattered around the temple, happy to explore somewhere without the imminent threat of Goa’uld invasion. For once, Daniel could afford to take a few hours to simply be an archaeologist; he couldn’t remember the last time that had happened. As much as he liked Jack’s impromptu cuddles, he could get those any time. Jack could wait.
After ten minutes, Daniel had translated enough of the room to know that it wasn’t terribly important. He could move on and let someone from SG-11 look at it later. He smiled. Being the department head had its perks. Grabbing his notebook and pack, Daniel made his way into the next room, the opposite direction from where Jack had gone.
The room was small, almost like a closet, perhaps six feet by six feet. Daniel gave the inscriptions on the wall a perfunctory once-over and was about to leave when something caught his eye. One of the symbols on the farthest wall was glowing. The longer Daniel watched it, the brighter it grew. It wasn’t a particularly special word—as far as Daniel could tell, it meant “livestock”—but it was the only one shining.
Intrigued, Daniel took a step closer, which was preciously when the walls started quaking and the ceiling collapsed on top of him.
“Jack—!” was all Daniel managed to shout before his world went dark.
Jack was wandering the temple, creating a mental map of the ruins, when he heard a distant rumbling. “Jack—!” he heard Daniel cry faintly just before an ominous crash resounded across the empty rooms.
Before the echoes had even stopped, Jack was sprinting to Daniel’s last known location. “Carter, Teal’c,” he barked into his radio, “get over here. Three rooms south of the entrance. Hurry.”
“Yes, sir, we heard,” Carter responded. “We’re on our way.”
Jack burst into the room where he had left Daniel at full speed. “Daniel!” he called. Immediately, he saw the pile of rubble that had once been the next room over. “Daniel!” Jack yelled, running over to it. “Daniel! Can you hear me!?” There was no response.
“O’Neill!” Teal’c and Carter rushed into the room behind him.
“We need to clear this out,” Jack ordered, referring to the rubble. “I think Daniel’s under there.”
Teal’c immediately grabbed onto the nearest massive rock and, with Jack’s help, dragged it away. Carter began clearing away the smaller pieces of stone as quickly as she could. The next few minutes passed in tense, concentrated silence as the three searched desperately for any sign of their friend. Jack’s was uncomfortably aware of his own heartbeat.
When Carter shifted a stone to reveal a hand underneath, she gasped. Jack and Teal’c were by her side in an instant, clearing away the rubble until Teal’c was able to grab Daniel by the shoulders and pull him away.
Jack’s heart pounded in his throat and he wasn’t sure he remembered how to breathe as Teal’c reached out to check Daniel’s pulse. After a moment, Teal’c looked up at the other two, shock in his eyes. Quietly, disbelievingly, he spoke the words that they all dreaded to hear: “He is dead.”
And Jack sank to his knees, staring at the lips he had been kissing fifteen minutes ago, uncomprehending in the face of the knowledge that the man he loved was gone.