Valentines R Us
J/D, ER, PG, 488 words
“Once upon a time, there was this ornery, exasperating, handsome Colonel in the U.S. Air Force. . .”
Daniel gave Janet a subtle-but-there smug look as he and the doctor stood next to the infirmary bed that held an unconscious Colonel Jack O’Neill. An explosion near the gate on a Goa’uld world had thrown a rock at Jack’s head. It had been eight hours of unconsciousness and Janet had been worried.
Daniel had decided that there was only one way to wake Jack up: to threaten to tell him an academic story. Or worse, a fantasy one.
Janet rolled her eyes and performed the usual responsiveness checks, then disappeared to bring in a portable CAT Scan to check his skull. The MRI machine was under scheduled maintenance so it was down to the device that would only show cracks in the skull, not bleeding in the brain.
After she left, Jack grumbled, “Water.”
Daniel handed him a blue plastic cup with a bendy straw. Jack sipped, but when he started to guzzle, even through a straw, Daniel took the water away. Jack Glowered. In capitalized letters.
All of this was done in silence.
Until Jack broke it with, “What day is it?” Daniel sat down on his stool and crossed his arms. Jack relaxed slightly. The relaxed, for Daniel, body language meant he was fine—relatively speaking.
“Valentine’s Day,” Daniel grinned. “Happy Valentine’s, Jack.”
“Drop dead, Daniel,” Jack said, shading his eyes. Daniel got up and turned the lights down. Jack’s headache lightened a smidge. Migraine. Perfect. When Daniel sat back down, Jack said, “Once upon a time, Jack was an asshole and Daniel left. The End.”
“Never in a billion years,” Daniel said, smirking. “Stop pushing me away. It won’t be that easy. Ass.”
“Dickhead.”
“Sunshine of my life.”
“Pain in my ass.”
“Always.”
Jack sort of, maybe, grinned a little. “Backatcha.” Daniel raised a brow. He still couldn’t do a reliable Teal’c. But Jack gave in. “Okay, fine. Happy Valentine’s. And I thought we covered that already.”
“Your response was ‘Drop Dead, Daniel.’ You thought I was being sarcastic. I wasn’t. But don’t worry, you’ll get a proper Valentine when you’re healed.” He just might have winked.
A slow smile spread over Jack’s face. “Promise?”
“Cross my heart,” Daniel said, air-drawing the X over his heart.
“Sweet.” He dropped his voice. “We alone?”
“For a sec.”
“Then give me a kiss. I desperately need reassurance.”
Daniel got up and brushed his lips quickly over Jack’s and breathed, “Liar.”
“I need hazard pay,” Jack said abruptly.
“You already get hazard pay.” Daniel kissed him lightly again and sat back down. “Now, do I need to tell a story to get you to go to sleep?”
Jack gave Daniel a knowing smirk. “Always.”
“Once upon a time . . .” Daniel said softly as Jack closed his eyes.
. . . . . . . .
The End
Happy Valentine’s Day