DISCLAIMER: All publicly recognisable characters and property of Stargate SG-1 belong to MGM/UA, World Gekko Corp. and Double Secret Productions. This fan fiction was created solely for entertainment purposes and no money was made from it. Also, no copyright or trademark infringement was intended. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author. Any other characters, the storyline and the actual story are the property of the author. Not to be archived without permission of the author(s).
Chapter 3: Chill Wind
The expressions flitting across Daniel's face, the tired sigh, the stillness of his hands expressive in their utter lack of the motion so intrinsic to Daniel's mood...all of it told Jack so much more than words ever could about Daniel's state of mind. Jack shivered as much from the silent revelation as from the increasing cold. What had begun as light snow half an hour before was coming down now in thick, furious clumps requiring Jack to keep all of his attention on the rapidly disappearing road.
Daniel had gone quiet...'quieter,' Jack thought. The younger man's hands were buried now in his pockets, collar turned up and almost concealing his face, but his eyes were alert...worried...
'Join the SGC...learn to live on adrenaline...'
"How much further, Jack?"
Jack checked the trip counter. "A little less than five miles..." Feeling the rear wheels slip a little, Jack reduced his speed yet again. "Twenty -thirty minutes at this rate..."
Daniel nodded and settled deeper into his coat. Even after three years of living in Colorado, Jack knew Daniel still had trouble acclimating to cold weather. Jack smiled a little as he remembered the first snowfall after Daniel's return...
Finding Daniel on the mountaintop after a concerned guard had called to let him know his 'pet civilian' had been outside long enough to worry the checkpoint sentries. Jack had grumbled, but gone up and discovered Daniel wrapped in a parka several sizes to large for him, fine flakes of white coating his long hair like a demented halo and a sad smile on his face. It was far from the first time Daniel had caused Jack to feel a disconcerting lump in his throat...or confusion at the mysterious ways the scientist's mind seemed to work... but he recognized pain when he saw it...
Daniel had rather apologetically told his baffled team leader, "I never expected to see snow again..."
Jack had responded, not for the first time and definitely not for the last, to the raw edge of despair leaking out of Daniel in waves all too frighteningly familiar...
He threw a snowball.
The opening salvo...symbolic of Jack's head-on approach to life in general...was met with a slightly shocked quirk of Daniel's eyebrow, followed closely by a sizable return volley and a laugh...a release...a step forward in an unlikely friendship...
Jack sighed at the memory. They'd both been younger then...neither of them able to claim innocence, but it had felt 'good'...lightening the burden of life for a fragile, crystalline moment in time...
From the little Jack knew about Daniel's past, he gathered that most of the kid's life had been spent in warm places...Egypt, California, Abydos...it bothered him that he really didn't know anything about the years in between the landmarks of Daniel's birth, college, marriage, and loss. There was so much about Daniel, even after all the years they had worked together, that Jack didn't know...a fact which bothered him. He should know these things, they should have shared all the little details of their lives by now...not that they hadn't shared a lot of the big ones, it just seemed to Jack that Daniel knew a hell a of a lot more about his life than he could ever claim to know about Daniel's.
It bothered Jack that he didn't know where Daniel grew up after his parents died....who he lived with, whether he was able to be happy again...who his first crush was...had any girl ever looked at him with the pure adoration of Sha're?
'Why haven't we talked about that stuff?'
Time. Too much time spent in fighting the Goa'uld. Not enough time spent fostering those fleeting moments of joy and companionship...
'Not to mention the fact that getting a piece of personal information out of Daniel is like jerking out teeth...against a three gee pull...'
Jack was pulled out of his reflections by a hard gust of wind, thundering into the side of the Explorer, nearly pulling the big Ford out of his control.
'Great...even the weather can't cooperate...'
Jack heard a small snort from the man beside him. "What?"
Daniel shook his head, laughing. "Nothing...I was just thinking we should have expected this..."
Jack grinned broadly. "Maybe it's a Goa'uld plot to keep us from ever getting any downtime..."
Jack could almost feel the spark of tension flare through Daniel at the name.
'Damn...'
"God, I hope not..." The tone was deliberately light, but Jack knew it was forced.
'When the hell am I gonna learn...'
Jack's self-castigation was interrupted by still another rough jerking on the Explorer...a combination of wind and loss of traction...and quickly replaced by adrenaline as he fought to regain control of the vehicle. Steering into the skid, Jack straightened the big Ford momentarily...only to lose control again...
"Jack!"
Daniel's warning came a moment too late as Jack felt the tires leave the road...plunging them over the mountainside...