Previously on The Pentangular Gate ...

[paian]

Been hoping for a second shot at any of the previous prompts? This is your chance! Reply to this post with a new response to any of the prompts here (add comments to your first comment if you need more room -- no length restrictions, and no screening), or with a link to a response you posted after the unscreening of any previous set (to let people who might have missed it know it's there).

To keep things clear, include the prompt as the subject header of the comment or at least at the top of the comment itself. Rules and requests regarding warnings are in the community userinfo.

We'd especially like to encourage partial responses. Didn't post because you couldn't come up with five things, but have at least one? We'd love to see! Post whatever you've got as comments here, or comment with links to where you posted elsewhere.

The list that follows is all the prompts we received in our first solicitation, in the order in which they appeared in the comm.

The prompts:

(Prompts that had no responses at all when this entry was compiled are bolded in red. Extra gratitude to anyone who writes those!)

01.01 Five vegetables Jack O'Neill will never eat again.

01.02 Five things Daniel wishes he could tell his parents.

01.03 Five things Mitchell wishes he'd known before joining the SGC.

01.04 Teal'c's five favorite board games.

01.05 Five times Jack wished Daniel was a girl.

01.06 Sam's five biggest regrets.

01.07 Five things Cassie Fraiser did as soon as she left Colorado Springs.

01.08 Five things overheard in the SGC cafeteria two minutes after SG-1 leaves.

01.09 Five things Vala wishes she'd never learned.

01.10 Five things Hammond did as soon as he retired.

02.01 Five team conversations that no one else understood.

02.02 Five injuries Jack never healed from.

02.03 Five things that will break Cam, in the end.

02.04 Five events General Hammond most decidedly did NOT include in any of his reports.

02.05 Five Jaffa Teal'c wishes he could have saved.

02.06 Daniel's Top Five sexual fantasies.

02.07 Five items Daniel keeps in his nightstand drawer.

02.08 Five reasons Janet never re-married.

02.09 Five ways Jack never met Vala.

02.10 Five times SG-1 stepped foot on a planet, only to immediately turn around and go home.

03.01 Five times Jack has ended up wearing a "skirt."

03.02 Five things Daniel took out of Jack's hands.

03.03 Five times Ronon didn't tell John.

03.04 Four times Jack cried and one time he didn't.

03.05 Five things Sam wanted to be when she grew up.

03.06 Five times Cameron said "no" to Daniel.

03.07 Five things that Teal'c learned from watching Jello-wrestling.

03.08 Five things that Vala will never do to Daniel.

03.09 Jack's five pet peeves.

03.10 Five ways SG-1 said goodbye before going their separate ways.

04.01 Five times Jack listened to Daniel in the field without question.

04.02 Five times Daniel followed an order from Jack in the field without question.

04.03 Five pets Jack O'Neill remembers.

04.04 Five reasons Jack thinks God might actually exist despite the galaxy's attempt to prove otherwise.

04.05 Five things about Abydos Daniel doesn't miss.

04.06 Five things Sam knew about Cameron before they met up again at the SGC.

04.07 Five times Teal'c almost walked away.

04.08 Five ways George and Walter shared a first kiss.

04.09 Five hot and dirty things Carson wants to do to Rodney.

04.10 Five costumes worn to the SGC Halloween Party.

05.01 Five things Cam wishes Jack had told him about leading SG-1.

05.02 Five things Jack wishes he had told Cam about SG-1.

05.03 Five reasons Jack loves fishing.

05.04 Daniel's five favorite sex toys.

05.05 Five things Daniel shouldn't have touched.

05.06 Five times Daniel took a swing at Jack.

05.07 Five things Urgo made them do that will never be spoken of again.

05.08 Five things Sam and Teal'c did on their one and only date.

05.09 Five times Vala got what she wants: and regretted it.

05.10 John's five favorite foods.

06.01 Five ways Daniel let Jack down easy.

06.02 Five ways Jack thinks he let Daniel down.

06.03 Five reasons Jack took the job in Washington.

06.04 Five times Sam almost said something, but didn't.

06.05 Five, er, unusual civilian outfits Teal'c has worn.

06.06 Five things Daniel remembers from when he was Ascended, but hasn't admitted to.

06.07 Five things SG-1 did on Daniel's birthday the year he was Ascended.

06.08 Cam's five biggest fears.

06.09 Five things Siler left Jack in his will.

06.10 Five reasons Teyla will never marry.

07.01 Five things Daniel packed in Jack's suitcase when he left for Washington, D.C.

07.02 Five things Jack packed in Daniel's suitcase when he left for Atlantis.

07.03 Five Jaffa tattoos that make Jack snicker.

07.04 Five things Daniel can do with his tongue.

07.05 Five things Sam really liked about being a military brat.

07.06 Five times Cam made Teal'c's eyebrow go up.

07.07 Five things Daniel will never tell Vala.

07.08 Five missions that required an immediate trip to the showers.

07.09 Five times Sam almost told Jack she loved him.

07.10 Five things Rodney hopes John never, ever finds out.

08.01 Five things Daniel 'dug' up.

08.02 Five rules Jack wishes generals could make.

08.03 Five people Vala conned.

08.04 Five ways to tell Daniel and Cameron apart in the dark.

08.05 Five ways John surprised Rodney.

08.06 Five winter-holiday gifts Daniel got that Jack never admitted came from him.

08.07 Five winter-holiday gifts Jack got that Daniel never admitted came from him.

08.08 Four things Teal'c doesn't understand about Christmas, and one he does.

08.09 Five times Sam got the team to watch her favorite Christmas shows with her.

08.10 Five annual traditions that take place at the SGC in December.

09.01 Five reasons Atlantis accepted the Earthers.

09.02 Five languages that Daniel has used to get SG-1 out of trouble.

09.03 Five ways Jack told his team he was leaving command of the SGC.

09.04 Five times Jonas Quinn wanted to go home.

09.05 Five things Sam wished she had fixed.

09.06 Five conversations Teal'c never had.

09.07 Five people Ba'al has never broken.

09.08 Five reasons Cameron can't call Daniel "Daniel."

09.09 Five reasons Jack doesn't call Daniel "Danny" anymore.

09.10 Five things Sam regrets about getting involved in a threesome with Jack and Daniel.

10.01 Five things Jack will never admit to Daniel.

10.02 Five things Daniel had hoped for Jack.

10.03 Five sex toys/methods/positions Jack and Daniel really want to try.

10.04 Five times Jack held Daniel's hand.

10.05 Five times Jack pounces on Daniel.

10.06 Five things Sam wishes Jack had never said in bed.

10.07 Five times Jack almost told Sam he loved her.

10.08 Five ways Jack flirts with Sam.

10.09 Five ways Sam pissed Jack off.

10.10 Five things Daniel said after Jack caught him with Sam.

11.01 Five things that Jack wants to be when he grows up.

11.02 Five missions Jack fantasizes about.

11.03 Five scars that Jack wishes he didn't remember getting.

11.04 Five things Jack gave away to SG-1 when he packed up his house to move to D.C.

11.05 Five things Jack went fishing for.

11.06 Five things Jack likes about Ba'al.

11.07 Five ways Jack screwed the regs.

11.08 Five ways Jack wishes he was like the rest of SG-1.

11.09 Five things Jack saw in his rear-view mirror on the way to Washington, D.C.

11.10 Five planets Jack would like to retire to.

12.01 Daniel's first five languages.

12.02 Five things Daniel left on Abydos.

12.03 Five things Daniel misses about having long hair.

12.04 Five Goa'uld that Daniel wishes he'd had the chance to meet.

12.05 Five things Daniel touched that thrilled him.

12.06 Five laws Daniel broke.

12.07 Five things Daniel does when he can't sleep.

12.08 Five critical mistakes Daniel has made in translation.

12.09 Five ways Daniel improves Atlantis.

12.10 Five ways Daniel Jackson didn't die.

13.01 Five stories Jack will never tell, but Daniel might.

13.02 Five ways Sam got off thinking about one or more of her team members.

13.03 Five magazines Teal'c subscribes to.

13.04 Five times Jack made Teal'c laugh.

13.05 Five things Teal'c learned while kel'no'reeming with Daniel Jackson.

13.06 Five times Elizabeth bit her tongue.

13.07 Five ways Elizabeth dies.

13.08 The first five purchases Vala made on Earth.

13.09 Five true things about Cameron Mitchell that he doesn't know about himself.

13.10 Five people the original SG-1 really hope the press don't interview about them when the program goes public.


To sort the prompts by SG-1 team members, supporting characters, and SGA, use the links at the top of the page. In case you want to poke around the individual sets of ten prompts each, here are the tags: Set 1, Set 2, Set 3, Set 4, Set 5, Set 6, Set 7, Set 8, Set 9, Set 10, Set 11, Set 12, Set 13.

Thanks again to everyone who provided prompts! You can always give us new ones, too.

Comments

Five Times Jack Almost Told Sam He Loved Her

[skidmo-fic.livejournal.com]

1. There was, of course, the obligatory, “We’re gonna die now” time.

You’d think he’d get the urge more often, actually. They almost died every other week. Or she almost died. Or he almost died. So really, you’d think he’d be almost saying it about every other week or so.

But he wasn’t.

He’d almost died too many times to give in to the urge to say things that were probably better left unsaid. He’d almost died so many times, in fact, that he’d almost lost the urge completely.

But there was this one time…

He was surprised this situation hadn’t come up before. He was almost dying, which was nothing new. Carter was trying to save him, which was also nothing new. But for the first time since he’d realized that, scientist or not, Sam Carter was every inch a woman (beautiful, brilliant, all the other things he’d never admit attracted him to her), it had been her fault.

Sam Carter. Major Carter. The brilliant and perfect Major Samantha Carter. She’d screwed up, and though she was desperately trying to fix it, there didn’t seem to be anything she could do. She’d set off a booby trap in the goa’uld artifact they’d been looking at, and before she knew it, he’d been caught in the explosion.

Now he was lying in the grass by the DHD, the all-too-familiar feeling of bleeding out washing over him, and she couldn’t get the DHD to dial out. She’d hooked up all her doodads and whatsits and thingies, but nothing was working, and he couldn’t bear to see her like that. Hopelessness and fear evident in her blue eyes.

And he’d felt it.

The urge to tell her. To say something to let her know that he could never, ever blame her for something like this. Hell, she could’ve pulled the trigger on the gun that put the bullet in his heart, and he still wouldn’t blame her. Because…well, because she was Carter and he would always, sometimes thought he had always, well…

And then the gate activated, and he knew he’d never have the “We’re gonna die now” urge again.

2. Then there was the “Never going to get a chance like this one” time.

He was stuck in freaking Groundhog’s Day.

It had taken him and Teal’c way too long to figure out what that really meant for them. Teeing off through the Stargate would have been even more fun on the third day than it was on the thirty-third.

He’d kissed her, which was a big enough risk in itself, but it was something he could write-off. It was a very Jack O’Neill™ thing to do. It was impulsive, it was reckless, and above all, it was a big ol’ joke.

He’d been tempted though. Tempted to use his new freedom to say something he knew he’d never otherwise say.

And he’s glad he didn’t. If he’d told her…it would’ve been like telling an alternate reality Carter. He’d get one moment to be honest with her, something he’d never really wanted with any other woman except for maybe Sarah, and then he’d have to go back to the lie they were both living. And that was something he wasn’t sure he could survive.

Besides, it would have completely ruined the joke.

3. There was the “Goddamn Marty sticking his nose in our business” time.

Well, it was lots of times really.

How many snakes does a guy have to have in his head to get anywhere with her anyway? The guy was practically a goa’uld. Tok’ra. Whatever.

Okay, so maybe he was a little jealous.

Enough to almost make it worth it. He knew that if he told her, she’d drop Marty like a hot potato. Snake or no snake. And it wouldn’t really be a risk, because Carter would never tell anyone, she knew how important his career was, not to mention hers. Nothing would come of it, but she would at least know, and that would be enough to keep any future competition out of the picture.

But she seemed to really like the guy, even if he was an alien. And she was happy when they were together.

So he told himself that it wasn’t really Carter, it was just the remnants of Jolinar that made her think she was in love with Marty.

And sometimes he believed that.

And sometimes it mattered.

Re: Five Times Jack Almost Told Sam He Loved Her

[skidmo-fic.livejournal.com]

4. There was the “I’m gonna die and never gonna get a chance like this one” time.

There were very few days in which he didn’t think the universe was playing some gigantic practical joke on him.

Today was one of those days.

Today he was almost sure that the universe’s real plan was to get him declared certifiably insane. And he was pretty sure it was working.

After all, what else would you call a guy who voluntarily (mostly) had all the knowledge of the Ancients downloaded into his head for a second time.

They were above the outpost in Antarctica, and the fight was raging around them. It would have been so easy. So easy to just grab her arm as they made their way to the rings, pull her aside and say “Amar.” Daniel wouldn’t have been there to translate, and even if she figured it out, she’d never have the guts to ask Daniel to confirm it. It would have been something special. Something just for her.

In the end, he told himself she’d understand that when he said, “Aveo…amicus,” the “friend” was stronger for her than for the others.

5. And there was, most recently, the “I almost think we could make it work” time.

He was leaving the SGC.

It would have been more difficult for him if he hadn’t spent the last year sitting behind a desk.

He thought about it then.

Thought about asking her to resign her commission. Even if she didn’t come to Washington with him, he could see to it that she was hired on as a civilian consultant. He probably wouldn’t even have to pull any strings. She belonged there, and the program would fall apart if she left, and everyone there knew it.

It could work. He almost believed it.

But he couldn’t take her away. She belonged there. And she belonged in the Air Force. She was Lieutenant Colonel Samantha Carter, and she belonged there. Taking that away from her…making her into Dr. Carter…it would have been like stepping through a quantum mirror. Everything’s the same except where it’s not.

He told himself it would be the last time he almost told her.

08.01 Five things Daniel 'dug' up.

[peri81.livejournal.com]

1. The first thing Daniel ever dug up was never displayed. He had found it with his parents. They had shown him how to clean around the artifact and take care to get it out of the ground without damage. It took him years to even look at sand again.

2. A stereotypical Native American arrow head. Daniel wasn't that impressed with it, but the children in his third foster home were. He would roll his eyes at them, but didn't have it in him to tell the children that it wasn't real.

3. On their last visit to Abydos, Daniel went to what was his and Sha're's abode. He walked to the middle of the abode and started digging. SG-1 just watched not sure what to make of Daniel's action. With his team standing around him he kneeled by the hole in the floor. He slowly lifted up something wrapped in cloth. "It was our wedding announcement" Daniel told his friends "Burying it in the middle of the abode was supposed to bring us blessings and many happy announcements."

4. When Daniel bought a house he thought it was a good idea. It was a good idea until he realized he had no time to care for it like he should. Daniel spent his free time digging up weeds in his garden.

5. Daniel dug up the dirt on Carter's latest boyfriend. It wasn't that he didn't like the guy or trust him. It was just that it was Carter and the guy just wasn't worthy of Carter.

Re: 08.01 Five things Daniel 'dug' up.

[paian]

Thanks so much for offering a response to this prompt! I especially like #3 ... owwwwwch. ::heart aches for Daniel::

Re: 08.01 Five things Daniel 'dug' up.

[charmedstrange1.livejournal.com]

These are all sweet and very Daniel. I love the protective Daniel in #5, and in #2, in a different way. So sad for Daniel in #'s 1 and 3, and he's kind of wistful in #4 as well. I enjoyed these. :)

Five things Daniel 'dug' up

[charmedstrange1.livejournal.com]

1. An Egyptian artifact.

When Daniel was four, his mother would allow him to follow her around the dig sites. She felt safe doing so because he stayed close, and because even at his young age she and his father had instilled in him a respect for what they did there, and with his solemn intelligence he seemed to grasp the precious nature of the items they discovered.

One day when Daniel had wandered a little farther away than usual, he found a brush someone had left behind, and emulated his mother in gently and carefully sweeping away sand and sediment from a bright, ruby-encrusted gold Akhenaten-era medallion. Then, without disturbing it from its resting place, he went and touched her on the knee, and looking up with serious, piercing-blue, four-year-old eyes, said, "Mommy, come see what I found."

Claire Jackson cataloged the find as one of their own, hers and Melbourne's, and for the rest of her days made sure that Daniel always had something to occupy his busy hands and mind.


2. His memories of Abydos.

He worked so hard after his "decension" to recover all that he could of his memory, about everything- from his childhood, to academia, to his early days with SG-1, to his relationships and history with his teammates. But his time on Abydos seemed especially important to him, and precious, as if he could feel the absence of his memories there like a phantom limb.

He studiously worked on Abydos, read over his old journals written just after he came back to Earth, read over mission reports- his own, and the team's when they were there while he was "gone". He kel-no-reemed with Teal'c, looked at and handled and spent time with any belongings or clothing or items he had been able to bring back from there, when he had visited in the times after- after visiting Kasuf, being with Skaara- after Sha'ure's funeral.

He made all this effort consciously, but mostly it seemed his memories of Abydos would come to him in his dreams. He dreamt of the sweet smell of sand stirred by warm night breezes, the sound of canvas flapping against rope, sun, and heat, and purpose, and family, and belonging.

It was a long time before he thought to wonder if these were only memories of Abydos, or if Egypt was there as well. It took very little time for him to decide it really didn't matter.

3. The tablet on P3X-459.

It was a routine mission, a "milk run", and one of the last ones they all had together, their original four, before Jack allowed them to kick him upstairs and they all started having inklings of going their own, separate ways.

It was a beautiful, abandoned, useless planet. Some ruins to look at, some soil samples to take- nothing to write home about.

Daniel figured out the language chiseled into the temple walls fairly easily; it was an odd little derivation of Latin, and after all he had been doing this a while. Mostly it was fables, or words of wisdom- "Think before you act" or "It is better to patch one's roof than to feel the rain on one's head." Cliche's, Jack might have called them.

They were about ready to call it and head to the gate, when Daniel spotted the initial words inscribed on a half-buried tablet, and he had to take just that few minutes longer to satisfy this particular curiosity.

The top of the tablet read, "The meaning of life is"- and Daniel carefully, quickly excavated, but in truth without much hope for finding anything profound, based on his experience thus far with this particular culture's brand of literature.

Daniel uncovered the last of the chiseled words and blinked twice, and said, "Huh."

"Daniel?" Sam said, and he looked up at her concerned, attentive eyes, then at Jack, who was rocking back on his heels, hands propped on his P-90, waiting, for once, almost patiently, and at Teal'c, strong profile to Daniel as he scanned the horizon.

Daniel smiled a tiny, wistful little smile and said, "Let's go home, Sam."

He left the tablet uncovered, but still resting on the ground where he had found it, where the words may someday greet another traveler who needed to see them. "The meaning of life is in the hearts and hands you are given to hold."

Re: Five things Daniel 'dug' up

[charmedstrange1.livejournal.com]

4. The truth about Jack.

It was yet another team night when they had all overdosed on beer and bad movies, and Daniel was the last one lingering at Jack's house.

Jack had clapped Daniel on the knee as he stood from where he'd been sprawled on the couch beside him, and said, "I'm turning in, Daniel. Guest room's yours for the taking."

Daniel had been in a silly, tipsy mood and for no other reason than that said, "How is it I'm the only one who's ever in your guest room, Jack? You might as well start calling it my room."

Jack had turned and looked at him, and for a split second his expression had been unguarded, and Daniel saw something like longing, and fear, and embarrassment, and chagrin, before Jack covered it, only just, with an attempt at humor as he said, "Whatever you say, Danny. What's mine is yours."

Daniel didn't return his smile but looked steadily at Jack, solemnly, holding his gaze, as the pieces clicked into place for Daniel. Jack had begun to look uncomfortable again, and looked about to say something by the time Daniel cut him off to say, "Okay."

Jack closed his mouth, and the emotions played over his face again- questioning, disbelieving, guarded.

"Okay." Daniel said again, and nodded once, and got up to follow.

Daniel never slept in Jack's guest room again.

5. His calling.

Or rather, his own understanding, finally, of his calling.

What brought him to this epiphany was just a mundane task, really, an everyday occurrence. He was working on a translation, actually assisting with one, when the best and brightest in his department had been stumped by a peculiar turn of phrase in an Ancient dialect that was peculiar to begin with.

Daniel read and mumbled over the words, and something in the phrasing almost sounded- oddly enough- like a combination of Dutch and and obscure Abydonian phrase that Sha'ure used to use. He rolled the words- what he imagined would be the sound of the words- over his tongue, and tried to put it in context- then with a slight change in intonation on one syllable the meaning changed, and the phrase fell together in place like a puzzle box.

Daniel's breath caught in his chest at the simple beauty of it, the balance and the melody of it, and at the joy of *getting* it. He was smiling even as he stood, gathering his papers and files from his desk, to rush this back to the linguistics team and meet in the gate room with 5- quick glance at his watch- make that 3 minutes to spare.

Somewhere after dropping off his notes and before he reached the gateroom, fully equipped and weaponed up, Daniel got it.

*He* was the only one who could have made that connection, who had all the necessary pieces to put together. He knew he wasn't indispensable, and he wasn't irreplaceable. But heading out to meet his team, Daniel also understood he was filling his spot to do his job as only he could do it.

However he'd failed, however he'd succeeded, all of his life had been bringing him to here, to this place, to this duty, to this calling, to this team.

8.05 Five ways John surprised Rodney. CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR 3,17 IN NO 4 & 5

[telscha.livejournal.com]

1. With flowers on his birthday. It had started as a joke with Rodney saying no one had ever given him flowers. So John got to thinking that no one ever would so perhaps he should just to shut Rodney up. It did. For a whole five minutes. Then Rodney started on about something else.

2. When Rodney started on a very scientific explanation John amazed him but not only understanding every single word he said but even had a very helpful comment or two to add to the discussion. Of course what Rodney never knew was that Elizabeth was listening in via the radio and feeding John the information he needed.

3. By not only offering to cook on the last away mission they had but actually succeeding in making it edible. Usually known for burning marshmallows John wanted to keep his street cred as a useless chef intact. But faced with a choice of cooking or starving, which it would be if Rodney cooked... then he had no choice but to cook.

4. For teaching him to play golf off of the side of the city. He'd heard about doing it through the Stargate, lets face it who hadn't, but he'd also heard about how Gen Hammond sent O'Neill and Teal'c to retrieve said golf balls. Hopefully Elizabeth wouldn't have the same idea.

5. By being there for him after the most difficult weekend either of them had ever experienced. For being a shoulder to cry on when he was trying to cope with his own grief. And for never once blaming him for not taking Carson fishing and getting him away from the base that day.

Re: 8.05 Five ways John surprised Rodney. CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR 3,17 IN NO 4 & 5

[paian]

Yay! Thanks so much for providing a response to this prompt!

The Cyrano moment in #2 made me grin, and the 'never let the boss know you can type' reluctance in #3 (smart Sheppard), and it's fun to imagine the golf lessons, and #1 and #5 are lovely.

Five things Daniel 'dug' up

[dhae_knight_1]

1: The truth about his friendly, local priest. It wasn't that 14-year old Daniel was a junior reporter by any means, he just noticed that the younger kids who were very involved in the local church had a sort of love/hate relationship with the priest. He takes care to watch, and just 'accidentally' wanders into the office when he knows the priest is alone with one of the choir-boys.

He tells his foster-mother about what he saw, but she brushes it off; tells him that it's a man of God he's accusing of a terrible sin - and a man of God wouldn't.

A few weeks later Daniel is moved to a different town, to a different foster-family. He doesn't know if the priest was ever punished - but he never forgot the lesson: Just because someone believes, doesn't automatically make them good people.

2: The monograph by Sir Richard Burton. Oh, he ended up giving it away, because who could take the idea of people with super-senses seriously - but for a whole week he had it. Although he didn't know it at the time, it was probably one of the rarest books in the world - but to a 16-year old, knowledge-hungry Daniel, it was just a very old, very well-worn book he'd dug out of a pile at the local second-hand bookshop.

3: On his first dig since his parents died, he dug up a scull. Now that doesn't sound out of the realm of possibility for an archaeologist, but when the scull was obviously pierced between the eyes by a bullet - well, that becomes a problem. Even more so, when the Egyptian authorities so very obviously did not want a bunch of archaeologists digging around in that particular area.

They didn't succeed in driving Daniel's team away, because, after all, there were limits to how much force they were willing to apply to american citizens; but Daniel and the rest of his team dug out the remains of no less than 10 individuals, all killed by gunshots, all buried shallowly in sand.

And Daniel dug out a very important piece of pottery, which proved that somewhere in the vicinity, a tomb could be found. So Daniel learned that tenacity won out over brute force - a very valuable lesson when dealing with annoyed colonels. And almost 20 years later, a new team of archaeologists dug out the tomb Daniel had found proof of - and found a ZPM inside.

4: The first year he worked with Jack, he made it his personal mission to dig out Jack's education. So far, he figures he's probably still the only one besides Hammond and possibly Janet to know that Jack O'Neill has a master's degree in psychology. He takes a kind of perverse pleasure in knowing that, when Sam still treats Jack like he's stupid.

5: Coming back from the ascended, Daniel figures he'd better learn about his team-members' interpersonal relations. So he digs around a little, asking innocent questions, playing amnesiac for all he's worth.

The first thing he finds out, hurts him. Really, he thinks, how could they even think something that happened on base could be kept a secret?

The second thing he finds out, surprises him. Who knew so many people at the SGC had such filthy, creative imaginations? And using two previously married men as the subject material, as well!

The third thing he finds out through sheer luck. If he hadn't happened past Teal'c's quarters just then, if the door hadn't been gaping open - just a bit, if Teal'c hadn't said - just as he passed: "O'Neill." in that deep, threatening tone he had; then Daniel hadn't stopped, hadn't listened and hadn't learned.

In the end he was surprised at how many people at the SGC who got it right.

Re: Five things Daniel 'dug' up

[paian]

What cool choices! And fun 'twist' in the last one. Thanks for doing this one. :-)

09.01 Five reasons Atlantis accepted the Earthers [Partial]

[niamaea.livejournal.com]

+ She was never intended to feel – it was a quirk in her design, something her designers never intended and couldn't undo – and in the strictest sense, she didn’t. There were no true emotions, and what there was never belonged to her. She could only feel what existed inside her walls, what her children brought. When her children went away, and she didn’t feel anything but the occasional flicker of loneliness and worry for a very long time.

Much later she woke, and the first thing she felt was fear and confusion, a twisting knot of unease deep inside; but also there was excitement, and joy, and wonder, and when she began to stir beneath their hands the wonder grew. It had been so long since she had felt anything. She had almost begun to forget.

+ Because she already knew them. Someone had come before, not like them, although he once had been. He had wandered her halls and towers for a time for a time, and remembered his people to her, and before he had to go away, he told her to wait for them.

When he came back he was different, and he didn’t remember her, and she already grown to love the Earthers who had come on their own merits. But she was glad to show him that she had been ready.

+ Because they were so small, and knew so little that they thought they were keeping her safe. No one had ever tried to protect her before, and she would do anything to return the favor, for that.

Re: 09.01 Five reasons Atlantis accepted the Earthers [Partial]

[paian]

Oh, these are wonderful! She's so alive in these, so thoughtful and feeling, and #5 is just beautiful. I'm so glad you posted. And the number feels just right. It doesn't feel like a partial at all. Neat.

I only have three SGA icons (huh ... symmetry?), so I give you guh. *g*

Re: 09.01 Five reasons Atlantis accepted the Earthers [Partial]

[soapbox-solo38.livejournal.com]

Oh, pretty. :) These are perfect, even if they are partials; #2 in particular brings up a lot of plot bunnies. Nice job!

04.04 Five reasons Jack thinks God might actually exist... [Partial]

[niamaea.livejournal.com]

+ Jack had no memories – no good memories – of Skaara that weren’t colored orange and yellow, that didn’t smell like the desert. In that weird, sterile blue-grey light, he looked all wrong: too dark, too foreign in the washed-out monochrome the Tollans favored.

But Skaara grinned at him and looked just like a kid Jack had known once, one who had swiped a cigarette and saluted him, and this time there was nobody else behind it.

+ The people on P7X-932 didn’t think SG-1 were gods, or demons, or prime candidates for slavery. There was a village within sight of the Stargate, and it wasn’t half destroyed, or impoverished, or stricken with some weird space plague. The Goa’uld had probably been there (Daniel was apparently very interested with the snake imagery in their creation myth) but so long ago that everyone thought Teal’c was just fascinating. There was a stable government with no political crisis afoot. No natural disasters; no problems with the DHD.

They also had no technology worth acquiring, no nadquada in the soil, no particularly interesting medicines or plants. They did have a very tasty and entirely non-alcoholic spiced drink they liked to ply the team with at every opportunity, and some kind of sweet bread with raisins in that featured at every meal. And they did have some strong solar winds that caused a pretty cool aurora effect in the sky a few clicks north of the village.

They spent three days there, about a week after Reese, with had been right after K’Tano, which had been not so long after the fucking nightmare combination of Daniel’s little rendezvous with Osiris and the Carter-Lantash-Elliot thing that was going to take a long time to shake. If the next mission out had been a rough one, if there had been anything to cause any kind of serious dissension in the ranks – someone would have cracked. They were all too worn down; it was too much. But instead they got 932 and raisin bread, and three days to breathe, and when they finally walked back down the ramp everyone could look everyone else in the eye again without immediately looking away, without needing to be somewhere else. When they left again to go clean up Maybourne’s mess, they did it acting like they were, in fact, all on the same team.

Kelowna happened, and it and was unthinkable. It wasn’t Jack’s worst nightmare, it was the one that lurked behind it, the one he couldn’t have even contemplated before it happened, to lose one of them like that. But afterwards, some of Jack’s most recent memories of Daniel were not of him sitting hunched over a dead robot, eyes bright with tears and fury and failure. They were of Daniel, sprawled flat on his back next to Carter on a flat rock, glasses reflecting blue-green waves of light back into the night sky; chuckling over the rim of a wooden cup at something some village woman said. It didn’t bring him back and it didn’t make the empty space where he wasn’t any less oppressive. It did give Jack a closed, quite space in his head to go during those long months before he found out that Daniel hadn’t gone so far after all, and that was something. Small mercies, big mercies – he would take what he could get.

Re: 04.04 Five reasons Jack thinks God might actually exist... [Partial]

[niamaea.livejournal.com]

+ It was near 0300 by the time Jack actually eased the front door shut, toed off his boots, and crept up the stairs with a deft avoidance of all the spots that creaked. His bedroom door was open; the room beyond was lit in slanted moonlight and absolutely silent. It used to freak Jack out that he could never hear Sara breathing unless he was right next to her. It was the way she slept, when she had the bed to herself: sprawled out almost on a diagonal, foot dangling off one side, face in the pillow. Jack tapped his finger on the door frame, debating with himself, but then the pile of blankets stirred at about shoulder level and he shook his head, smirked a little, and turned away.

The door across the hallway was mostly shut. Jack nudged it open with his foot, stepped halfway in, and took stock. The humidifier was sputtering a little, probably needed a refill; the night-light was on, turning and slowing spinning pale golden stars across the walls; Charlie was flat on his back in the crib, wide awake (as usual) and watching him. Jack stood over the crib for what felt like a very long time, watching his boy watch him. It’d only been two weeks, but he looked – bigger. Older. Charlie kicked a little, chewed on three fingers, and Jack thought a month stand down had never sounded so short.

His boy, his baby, he had been a gift. Jack was sometimes overwhelmed by the weight of it. Years later, after Charlie and those hellish months that followed, after Abydos, after that year of waiting, after everything…he knew, still, Charlie had been a gift. God had given him something precious and he would never, ever, forget. When he lost it, and everything with it…well, that was Jack’s fault, and no one else’s.

12.08 [partial] 5 Critical Mistakes Daniel's Made in Translation

[dunv-i.livejournal.com]

There's only two; it's just, I wrote these down when the prompt, and couldn't ever even think of another.


1. "Okay," Daniel said, "I - I think I have it."

"You think?"

"No! No - I have - I have it. Okay. Okay, so, this says to put /this/ symbol on top of /this/ one, then put them both on the plate, and then put your hand here..."

"Daniel?"

"Yes, yes."

"All right." Jack picked up the little stone slab with the engraved symbol Daniel had indicated and dropped it on top of the other one Daniel had indicated. "And I'm the one who has to do it?"

"You're the leader, Jack. It says, /right here/, 'The leader must-'"

"Okay!" Jack said quickly, then picked up the two slabs and dropped them on the plate, and pressed his palm against the blank slab next to it -"

"Oh. Oops."

"Dan -"

BANG

Jack closed his eyes. He didn't need to look down to know his clothes were all gone. However, he did need to look down to know just what that tingling had been, and he wasn't quite ready. He slowly opened his eyes and looked down. Yup - butt naked. But... what had happened to his skin? "Daniel?"

"I, uh..."

"Daniel..."

"I think I switched the ablative and the nominative cases, so I told you to put the wrong one on the other, and you really should have put the one on top on the bottom ultimately, so, uh..."

"Daniel!"

"The punishment for such an elementary grammatical mistake," Daniel said, translating the newly appeared blinking lights at high speed, "is to publically embarrass and humiliate the perpetrator."

Jack sighed. "Daniel, can I just have something to wear before Teal'c and Carter -"

"Get here?" asked Daniel, eyes widening as they focused on something behind Jack.

"They're right behind me, aren't they."

"Uh -"

"... Sir, why are you... green?"


2. "Uh - he will lock you up and, uh, torture you, and hang your torso in three pieces with your - bookcase?"

"What?"

"What?"

The minor wanna-be Goa'uld with aspirations of rising by presenting them to the system lords looked at Jack and Daniel confusedly.

"Daniel, you're supposed to be translating the insults so I can make appropriately witty comebacks. I can't do that if you got telling me he's planning on hanging me by my /bookcase/."

"Well, I could have sworn he said bookcase, though he might have said cortin'l, which would be eyelash, which is even more unlikely. (Here, the minor Goa'uld's eye twitched, and his hands jerked around an invisible neck.) Or I suppose it could've been -"

RAT-A-TAT-A-TAT

The jaffa and the Goa'uld all fell to the ground. Behind them stood Carter and Teal'c, eyeing the two of them, still kneeling on the ground, bickering. "Finally!" Jack burst out, immediately rising. "What took you so long? Daniel had to resort to confusing what's-his-name with translations."

Daniel grimaced and straightened his glasses. "Actually, I wasn't kidding. I thought he said 'bookcase'. Carmi'nel is probably a derivative combination of carim and in'nel, which mean the keeper and to read respectively, and -"

"Carmi'nel means intestines, specifically used as ropes."

Daniel turned faintly green. "Oh," he said. "Ah - thanks, Teal'c."

"You are welcome, Daniel Jackson."

Re: 12.08 [partial] 5 Critical Mistakes Daniel's Made in Translation

[paian]

lol! These are great!

So glad you posted. Would hate to have missed these.

Five Reasons Cameron Can't Call Daniel "Daniel"

[happydog57.livejournal.com]

Five Reasons Cameron Can't Call Daniel "Daniel"

Hope I'm doing this right. I posted this one after the unscreening.

http://community.livejournal.com/sg1_five_things/26936.html?thread=885560#t885560

Re: Five Reasons Cameron Can't Call Daniel "Daniel"

[paian]

Done exactly right. Thanks!

5 reasons Jack took the job in washington

[dhae_knight_1]

1: It wasn't because he liked Washington, or because he'd suddenly developed a liking for politics. It wasn't because he wanted to spend even *more* time behind a desk, buried in paperwork, or because he felt at all comfortable with diplomacy. It wasn't even because it was the next step in a career he'd always thought would end with the silver eagles, and certainly not because Hammond ever actually *asked*.

It was because of the look in Hammonds eyes when he watched his grandchildren.


2: Teal'c was the first to announce that he was going off to join the new Jaffa Nation.

Carter followed, after a lot of thought, with the decision to take the position at Area 51 and finally get some *serious* science in.

Daniel had been talking about Atlantis on-and-off for a year; but he'd grown ever-more persistent since they got the message from Pegasus.

Jack couldn't let any of them go - but he didn't have the heart to stop them, either. He figured different general would be capable of what Jack wasn't - and wold let them go do what they wanted.


3: It wasn't that Jack was a stranger to politics, or that he was naive. Maybe he'd just never fully realized how little control the Man in charge of the SGC actually had - or how little the people in power understood that the SGC was about life and death for people who risked it all for Earths survival.

He moved up to, maybe, get a little more leverage.


4: Jack was never without self-awareness, although mostly he fought it hard. But it was hard to deny, when it kept hitting him over the head.

He was too close. It hurt him physically every time he watched SG-1 step through the gate without him. Every time they missed a check-in. Every time one of them went missing. It hurt him every time he had to send them on a dangerous mission - and every time he expected it to be a peaceful one, because he knew just how fast they could go to hell.

And he cared too much. Was too soft on Carter, because he liked her spunk and her courage. Relied too much on Teal'c, because... well, because he'd always been able to. Cared too much... hell, *loved* Daniel waay too much, because he'd always had a thing about feisty, brilliant people who didn't take any crap from him.

So he removed himself from the equation, before he reached the point where he'd start making decisions with his heart rather than his head.

It was just luck, really, that Hammond called about that job in Washington.


5: He'd known about SG-1 for years, but never really *known* until he spent most of his time behind a desk, waiting for them to come back. SG-1 had been a *team*. Sure, sometimes he'd felt absolutely useless... but most of the time he *had* realized that he had his part in the team, too. Carter was a brilliant scientist and a good officer - but the last year he'd become more and more convinced she just wasn't cut out to lead a team like SG-1. He'd watched her grow more and more arrogant and reckless. He'd watched Teal'c involve himself more and more in the Jaffa fight for freedom, now that it finally seemed like something he might see in his lifetime. And, worst of all, he'd watched Daniel turn into something entirely different. More soldier, less scholar.

It was Daniel's transformation, more than anything else, that had made him accept Hammond's offer.

When he'd accepted the promotion and the SGC, he hadn't been capable of passing Carter over for another, more experienced officer. Sure, she deserved the promotion, and he'd thought she was ready, but...

And now, that he realized what a mistake that had been, he didn't have it in him to undo it. Nope. Better encourage Carter to move on to something different. Pray to God that the man he'd find to lead the SGC could help SG-1 back on track.

Re: 5 reasons Jack took the job in washington

[paian]

These are very cool, and I really love #4.

Thanks for writing this!

12.09 Five ways Daniel improves Atlantis.

[findo.livejournal.com]

1. Jack doesn’t want Daniel to go to Atlantis until Daniel persuades him to spend some of his retirement there. They have adjoining quarters in a quiet part of the city. Most people don’t want to live there – it’s a little too creepy on the outskirts – but Daniel says the peace and quiet helps him work and Jack is there for when he’s had enough peace and quiet. The General seems okay with this plan, and when Daniel is buried deep in a deskful of coffee and scrolls, he wanders Atlantis seemingly at random. He never offers advice until he is asked, but whenever his advice is needed he just happens to be around.

Jack’s presence affects Atlantis in myriad ways. Competence at hand-to-hand combat goes way up; the food gets better and more varied; when good people have died and the burden of her responsibilities is getting to Elizabeth, she knows someone she can talk to in the quiet part of the city.

It’s not all good; Ronon now deals with boredom on missions by practising his newly-developed Simpsons impressions, and since Ronon’s idea of boredom is not getting to shoot anyone, it quickly starts to grate on his team’s nerves. After one excruciatingly non-violent mission, Teyla goes to the General’s quarters to ask politely if he would consider asking Ronon to return his dvd boxsets. He isn’t in and when Teyla explains the problem to Daniel, he stands in his doorway looking as aloof as a man can when dressed only in a bathrobe, folds his arms and says in a suspiciously loud voice: “Tell me it’s irritating when you’ve endured it for ten years.”

2. It takes a while for Doctors Jackson and McKay to get talking, but one day they are seen sitting on their own in the corner of the mess hall, clearly having an intense discussion. As Lorne and the others approach, Rodney is making short choppy gestures with his hand and Daniel responds by frowning and waving both hands wildly. Entertainment is usually in short supply in the city, so Lorne and co. sit at the nearest table and eavesdrop with no pretence at subtlety. These guys are both notorious firebrands, so this should be good.

“But Rodney, if the dimensions in spacetime aren’t fixed concepts but fluid entities that shift with our point of view, then how can you be right? The p-branes…”

“Oh please, the only pea-brain in action here is you! The type IIA theory may appear at first to be a ten dimensional theory in the normal perturbative limit, but it actually reveals an extra space dimension…”

And they go on like that for several incomprehensible minutes, maybe longer, Lorne doesn’t know because by then he’s got bored and gone in search of chocolate pudding. It doesn’t take long before the space around them is empty again.

The two of them are seen having a set-to about once a week, and every time it’s about some convoluted theory or obscure philosophical point. Their colleagues regret the lack of a more interesting showdown, but still regard it as a plus because McKay’s intellectual spats with Jackson seem to have a calming effect on him; for a couple of days after he’ll be bearable, if not tractable. People who need anything from McKay tend to wait for a day when they’ve seen him at the corner table with Doctor Jackson arguing ferociously about who-cares-what.

Re: 12.09 Five ways Daniel improves Atlantis.

[jenlev.livejournal.com]

ah, these are utterly fabulous. daniel speaking just loudly enough in response to teyla is *perfect*. hee!

12.09 Five ways Daniel improves Atlantis (contd)

[findo.livejournal.com]

3. It takes a while for Daniel and Rodney to trust each other but once they do, they start to drop little hints and then Rodney finally has someone he can talk to about the utter pointlessness of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and the highs and lows of loving a man who answers to his duty as well as his heart. At last he can compare data and begin to tease out the mystery of which traits were instilled by the military and which are just John being an idiot. He can talk about his hopes for their future and his fear they won’t survive long enough to have one. He tells Daniel about the days he thinks John isn’t right for him, and the days he thinks he isn’t good enough for John.

Daniel listens, questions, and gently mocks Rodney’s paranoia until it begins to erode. He shares his own experiences of Jack and what a lifetime of secrecy can do to a good man. If either of them sees someone approach, they break out the long words and argue vehemently about a pre-agreed concept. This being Rodney, he has instituted a points system based on how long you can bullshit convincingly about the other man’s field of expertise and how many stupid things you can say about your own. Nobody has ever worked out that Daniel knows next to nothing about string theory and Rodney could not care less about the implications of anthropomorphising an alien species. Once any interlopers have been scared off, they get right back to the stuff that’s difficult to talk about. It’s amazing how alike Jack and John can be, even though if you asked them they’d insist the only things they have in common are their careers and a damn fine game at chess. For example, both men pretend not to know what is really going on but they watch from a safe distance and if the conversation goes on for an unusually long time, John and Jack will flick an eyebrow at each other and they will get out fast in case they are required – horror of horrors - to participate. Some days Rodney times them to see how long it takes before they run for it.

After his conversations with Daniel, Rodney finds his heart lighter and his head clearer. He doesn’t ever admit it out loud, but secretly he recognises he’s been snapping at people a lot less since Daniel got here.

4. Radek is helping Daniel to improve his Czech. He doesn’t mind; it’s good to talk to someone in his native language and it’s funny hearing Doctor Jackson practise swearwords in his gentle measured tone.

Teyla is teaching Daniel about her people. She finds it oddly relaxing to tell him tales of the past and it helps with her secret fear that the Athosians are losing themselves to another culture.

No-one wants to be around Hermiod long enough to know what he talks about with Daniel; the Asgard respects Jack, but Daniel is the only human he appears to like.


5. One day when Rodney and Daniel are sitting at the same table as the others they begin to argue about the Wraith. This time, it’s an argument everyone can follow. What do they really know about their enemy? Which potential weaknesses merit further investigation? They quiz Carson on medical matters and they remind each other of tiny details from mission reports and debate their significance fiercely. General O’Neill asks them to clarify the more obscure points (although he doesn’t put it quite that tactfully) and they break things down for him while people on the tables around them listen in. In return, they ask him about Wraith tactics and what they reveal. Then they quiz him on how the Wraith design and fly their ships and what that tells an experienced pilot who has flown many kinds of spacecraft. That gets John involved, and he calls some guys over to join them. Two hours later, the mess hall is full of people and everyone is throwing in a thought here, a theory there. The conversation goes on into the night. Elizabeth feels a new energy in the room and sees no reason to break it up. The next day, eight people ask her for permission to suspend their current research while they investigate an idea they’ve had.

Twelve months later, the people of Atlantis are no longer fighting for their lives against the might of the Wraith; they are patiently hunting down and exterminating the last traces of a dying race.

Ronon is starting to do Simpsons impressions again.

Re: 12.09 Five ways Daniel improves Atlantis (contd)

[paian]

Holy moly. These are wonderful!

My biggest grin came from This being Rodney, he has instituted a points system based on how long you can bullshit convincingly about the other man’s field of expertise and how many stupid things you can say about your own, because that is just massively awesome, but really I loved every thought and every sentence. Beautiful!

Five times Jack wished Daniel was a girl

[rebeccavoy-icon.livejournal.com]

1. There were certain disadvantages to this whole ‘one locker room’ deal. While they usually all dressed together before going out on their missions – with their years of working together closely having generated more than a passing familiarity and a quick and efficient method of change – the guys usually cleared out for a while once they got home. This afforded Sam a little privacy to wash off whatever mud, grime or alien goo she had acquired during the mission in relative peace. It was one of the few concessions to her being the ‘girl on the team’ that she never called them on. But on days like today, when both the smell of her shampoo and the muffled sound of her singing wafted out to the three mud-coated men waiting dutifully in the hall, Jack sure wished Danny was a girl so he could send him in after her, hauling her out so they could finally get their turn.

2. There are 147 white tiles on the infirmary ceiling, all revolving around that one black one that had been blasted, Jaffa style, a few years back. So that was 148 all up; 148 tiles, one small doctor with a penlight fetish and nine nurses all vying for the attention of the bruised and battered man in the next bed over. The man was damn near unconscious and still he had all the girls after him. It wasn’t fair, the nurses never paid him any attention. Sometimes he wished that the ‘good Doctor Jackson’ (commonly referred to in these parts as the ‘Love Doctor’) was girl, then maybe he could recover in peace.

3. Jack couldn’t remember the last tome they had been surprised when an alien native had handed Sam a more ‘appropriate’ outfit. It was just part of the routine by now: meet, greet, get changed, get shot and, if necessary, arrange to have Daniel bought back to life. Sam had long since stopped protesting and Danny, space monkey that he was, had taken to surreptitiously snapping pictures of them all, slowing building up his collection of blackmail material. When the tables had turned, however, Jack was not pleased. Somehow he didn’t get the same thrill out of seeing Daniel in a weird lycra-like contraption (not to mention being in one himself), and the sight of Danny’s hairy knees peeking out the bottom was downright scary. It was bad enough he was in this mess without that image following him home. He changed his mind, however, when he saw his Major sneakily pull the camera out of his pack. Sam may be sneaky, but at least she’d keep the incriminating evidence for her own amusement and torture. If Danny had been a girl, he had no doubt that the image would have been in every inbox by morning.

4. When Jack caught sight of the blonde head bobbing past the booth, he ducked his own head down closer to the table to avoid being seen himself. Damn it, why wasn’t Danny a girl? Then he could at least pretend he was on a date. Then maybe the fact that he had only had one date with this perfectly nice woman before decided that, looks aside, she was not the person he was looking for wouldn’t have felt so foolish.

5. Jack knew he was a pretty handsome guy that he looked good for his age – hey, just because he didn’t go looking for the ladies didn’t mean he didn’t hear them – but even so, the sight in front of him had him tugging on his shirt and smoothing down his hair in every attempt to make himself look more presentable. The team was going out to dinner tonight, something they did often, but today Daniel had had some diplomatic to-do to go to (one of the many jobs Hammond fobbed off on the fool too naïve to realise why), and had only his suit to change into. When he had walked down the hall to meet Sam and Teal’c at the elevators, as was their custom, Sam’s mouth had dropped and she looked him over slowly, clearly appreciative of his appearance, while I, standing behind him in my khakis and dirty sneakers, shot daggers at the back of his head. If he was a girl I wouldn’t have this problem.

Re: Five times Jack wished Daniel was a girl

[paian]

Lots of fun ideas here that no one else who responded to the prompt touched on in theirs, iirc -- thanks for the fresh take.

1.06 Sam's Five Biggest Regrets

[rebeccavoy-icon.livejournal.com]

1. The day itself had been respectful; everything was grey and cold, as if the sun just knew that its appearance would be inappropriate. They had stood together at the church and again at the interment, her father’s dress blues a bright backdrop for the dark navy of her dress and the even darker face of her brother. Together they were a single unit, the remains of a broken family held together by grief and responsibility. But as soon as he last person had drained away, the temporary bond was overrun by the anger that had become second nature to them and two watched as the third stalked off to his car, not to be seen again for the better part of a fortnight. When Jacob reached out to his daughter, to try to comfort and hold on to the one child who was still talking to him, his hands met empty air as she stepped away from his embrace. The act had been completely instinctual and, as she looked up and saw the look of pure heart-break on her father’s face, she regretted it immediately but there was nothing she could do to erase it. Ever.

2. When the back of her hand slammed into the wall, her cheek red and stinging from the imprint of his hand, she knew she had to get out. As she slid down the wall, her body slinking much slower than her own sense of regret, she watched him turn on his heel and stalk out of the room. She couldn’t believe the situation she had found herself in, could not believe that she had convinced herself that she could help him – a premise he had could clearly refuted, declaring her continual attempts to ‘heal the emotionally wounded’ useless as he propelled her across their small apartment.

When she had first met Lt. Jonas Hanson he had been charming and witty, keeping up his efforts to persuade the young officer Samantha had been to join him for dinner despite her generally solitary nature. He was still charming when he wanted to be and certainly had a way with words – though now his persuasive wit was not directed at getting a smile of laughter from her but at ensuring her compliance in all things he said and thought.

Closing her eyes against the deafening pounding in her head she saw the same scene running over and over in her mind: Jonas grinning broadly as he pushed the engagement ring onto her finger. It was funny that now, as she gingerly checked her limbs for injury, she couldn’t remember ever actually saying ‘yes’.

3. Sitting across the room from him, her eyes stared directly into his as she coaxed his confession from him, inch by painfully remembered inch. Never before could she recall being both so unbelievably happy and yet still so guilt-ridden. She knew it wasn’t really her fault, that it was just an unfortunate circumstance that they both had to get through, but still, the fact that she had to prompt him, guide him along that carefully straight line that revealed something that neither of them were ready to admit, that she normally would never have asked of him caused her very soul to ache. He returned her gaze completely, never looking away from her. ‘I understand,’ it said. ‘We’ll get through this.’ But still, it ached.

When it was over, she forced herself to face him, to say the words that she knew she would regret for the rest of her life (… leave it in the room). She didn’t like it, she hated it, but it had to be done.

Re: 1.06 Sam's Five Biggest Regrets

[rebeccavoy-icon.livejournal.com]

4. His face looked odd peering up from the pillow; features long since memorised etched into a sallow mask that she had never before seen from him. She was used to seeing him injured. Shot, burnt, bleeding and gasping, all of these she had experience with, but illness, this was unexpected terrain that she had no idea how to cross. No idea except one.

She regretted that she had to be the one to do this, hated that she was their best bet and resented that everyone had known it. It wasn’t fair, but just as she had known this, she also knew that there was no way she could even have turned this ‘assignment’ down … just a she also knew that he would never turn her down. He would refuse, he would be appalled, and, if he had the strength, she knew he would damn well be yelling too. But in the end he would agree. He would look into the eyes that just could not manage to hide the desperation and unyielding fear that was pooling behind them and he would agree.

For her, he would agree.

5. The sound of regret, it turns out, is that of a man in love walking away in a straight line. Sitting on the bench outside the house he had bought for them, for their life together, Sam’s guilt grew with each step Pete took across the perfectly green grass, towards the perfect little mailbox, and took the ‘sold’ sticker of the sign, never looking back at the woman who had just returned the heart he had presented to her so willingly.

She hadn’t meant to hurt him, to use him. She thought she had loved him and that they could be happy together, but, as it is wont to do, the truth crept up on her slowly, day by day, until she could no longer see anything but its large black form. She had made a mistake – an understandable, well-intentioned, but heart-breaking mistake – and she has not willing to let him live with the consequences. Either of them.

1.04 Teal'c's Five Favourite Board Games

[rebeccavoy-icon.livejournal.com]

1. The chess board sat between them like a general’s map of the battlefield: pieces being arranged and rearranged in a continued attempt to gain the upper advantage, collect just one more square of footage.

Despite this, the air between them (while serious) was comfortable in its silence. Games of chess between Jack and Daniel was truly a battle, each piece being moved to accompany each jabbing point of an argument; games with Cassie were filled with laughter and squeals of delight as she realised each day how much closer she was getting to beating her Uncle Jack; and games with Sam were stilted, their equally determined competitiveness eradicating propriety until a teasing comment bought them slamming back to reality. But games between Jack and Teal’c were calm, solid, thoughtful. Teal’c looked forward to that weekly game, to when he was able to practice his strategic abilities against a worthy opponent.


2. When Ry’ac was small he would wait at the door when he knew his father was coming home. If he had been good, if he had been respectful of his mother and mindful of his training, then he knew he would be allowed a special treat: a game of Rom’t’net with his father. In the weeks his father was away, Ry’ac tucked the wooden board with its interlocking sticks away under his bunk, out of his sight. He knew that if he asked his mother she would play with him, but this was for his father; he would wait.

The years had made Ry’ac almost as tall as his father, but when he arrived in the Tau’ri gateroom, a wife and infant tucked under one arm and the battered board under another, Teal’c rose from where he was waiting and went to join him. His son was home.


3. When Jack O’Neill finally put his colonel’s foot down and declared that there would be no more Star Wars viewings on team nights he had to come up with not only a new activity, but one that would pacify the 7 foot sulking Jaffa sitting in his living room. While Jack was more than happy to declare a poker night, Teal’c liked his movies and they had learned the hard way that it was impossible to reason with him when he got like this.

Sam came to the rescue however with a shiny new board game: Trivial Pursuits on DVD.

Now, if only they could find a way to beat the alien.

Re: 1.04 Teal'c's Five Favourite Board Games

[rebeccavoy-icon.livejournal.com]

4. In the corner of Apophis’ throne room there had been a small table holding a golden box. On a few rare occasions Teal’c had been summoned to his Lord’s presence at such a time that permitted him to witness he and his lady playing sennet, moving the jackal-headed pieces with characteristic confidence.

When he had come to the SGC he had noticed the same game sitting on a shelf in Daniel Jack’s office. It wasn’t gold, or beautiful; in fact it was rather scuffed and loose to the point of breaking, but still it was the same game: the game of the Gods.

When Daniel had caught him staring at it constantly he offered to teach the game to him. It had taken some time for him to bring himself to handle the pieces with any degree of ease but now, as he placed his final victorious piece, he took great satisfaction in his triumph over the small gods he moved around the board.

5. There were few instances that Teal’c had reason to admit complete and utter defeat. His skills as a warrior were rarely met completely and his skills as a citizen of the Tau’ri were increasing with each passing year. Yet as he sat across from his two opponents, both of whom wore matching wide grins and bright eyes, he had never been so willing to accept this defeat.

The games had started when both he and young Cassandra Fraiser had come down with the chicken pox at the same time – it appeared that his symbiote did have a weakness after all, if only they could introduce it to the Goa'uld at large, perhaps they could scratch themselves out of existence. They had both been tucked into a corner of the SGC infirmary, under the careful eye of Dr. Janet Fraiser and been left to entertain themselves. However, when Major Carter had gifted the young girl with a board game, the pair had quickly taken to spending their days on never-ending Monopoly games. When Cassie enlisted a partner in the form of Sam, however, Teal’c found his ruthlessness challenged by their wide eyes and innocent smiles. He had long since accepted the fact that, when it came to these two, he would never win, yet their company made the long hours pass quickly and the game found its way into his favourites.