Archive of Our Own

"Daniel?" Jack said, maneuvering his crutches to the table, and sitting down next to Daniel. Even after surgery, he still had collateral muscle damage and would be doing physical therapy for six months before he'd even have a shot at walking normally. "I turned in my retirement papers today."

"You said you were going to." Daniel smiled, and dished out the lasagna he'd made. "Are congratulations in order?"

"It's the right time." There were several new teams, younger ones, in better shape, who could go through the gate. There were other issues too. Issues that had waited a long time and that Jack seriously hoped would be resolved soon.

"Eat." Daniel said, nodding towards Jack's plate. "What now?"

The smell made Jack's mouth water. Damn, Daniel made the best lasagna he'd had ever had the privilege to eat. "Not sure. It's going to take six weeks to process. That will give me some time to think about it."

Blowing on the chunk on his fork, Daniel bit into it. "Do you think there's too much garlic in this?"

"No. It's great, like always." Jack took another mouthful. "Hammond offered me a job as a part-time consultant doing risk analysis."

"You're going to do it?" Daniel took another bite and frowned. "I'm not sure I like this."

Jack pushed the last bits of lasagna into his mouth. "I'd be making more than what I'm making now for about half the amount of time. What do you think?"

Daniel pushed his plate away. "I'm not the one who is retiring? After all is said and done, what do you want to do: sit around the house bored?"

Bored wasn't his first choice. He snagged Daniel's plate. "Okay if I finish this?"

"Sure," Daniel said absently.

For a while, Jack just ate, taking another piece from the pan when he'd finished Daniel's. He glanced up, and knew Daniel was waiting. "I know we haven't talked about it, but I was kind of hoping...I thought..."

"Yes." Daniel nodded and smiled at him.

The relief was a rush. They'd never discussed it, not out loud. Thank God, he hadn't been wrong. "Do you want to live here or should we buy a place together?"

"Um...Jack? Daniel stared at him, mouth open, shock written across his face. "What are you talking about?"

Jack didn't like the sound of that. He put his fork down carefully, and squared his shoulders before he met Daniel's gaze. "I'm talking about us being together. Living together. Till death us do part kind of thing."

Daniel's eyes widened and he stood up, pushing the chair back so hard it scraped loudly on the wooden floor. "Um. I don't know what to say."

Jack had to swallow sharply before he could speak. "I think you just said all you needed to."

"No." Daniel shook his head. "No. Wait. I... I just need a second to process this. You're moving kind of fast, here."

Carefully, Jack stood, too. "I thought..." He smiled self-deprecatingly. Why did he think this was going to be easy? "That's the problem isn't it? I should know better. Thinking isn't my strongest point."

"Don't be an ass." Daniel glared at him.

There was nothing else to say on the subject. He'd only humiliate himself. And that was not how he wanted this to end. "Look, I think we're done here. Why don't you go home and I'll see you in the morning."

For a second, it looked like Daniel might do as he asked. He took a step towards the door. But then, of course, he stopped and looked back at Jack. "No. No. Wait a minute. You're not letting me think."

"Daniel please...just go." The hollow feeling in Jack's chest was expanding, telling him that he needed to be alone, sooner rather than later.

"I said wait, damn it!" Daniel looked like he was trying to understand something, but Jack had nothing more to give. "What do you expect from me?"

"Nothing," he said. "Nothing at all. What could I possibly have expected? Realistically, I do understand. Who would want to be saddled with a broken down wreck for the rest of your life?"

"God, Jack. You're such an idiot. What are you talking about?" Daniel was silent for a beat, his brow furrowed, his mouth tilted down. "Okay, so you want us to live together?"

"Clearly you don't." Jack managed to keep the tone of his voice even. Thank God for all the years of training himself to keep his emotions in check. It served him very well right now. "It's not a problem."

"I didn't say that." Daniel shook his head, still frowning. "You didn't give me time to say anything."

"Yes. You did." Jack wasn't going to belabor the point, especially after he'd got it wrong the last time. Fuck it.

"No. I didn't." Daniel's face was grim and annoyed. "I asked what you were talking about. Jack, it's not like we're involved here or anything."

"In about six weeks, we could have been. Wasn't that the whole point; that eventually we would be able to get involved, and to stay that way, permanently?" Jack's shoulders and back were tightening up. He was going to have to sit down pretty soon. "I don't want to argue about it."

"Too bad. You're still going to be working for the SGC." Daniel sighed. "All of the original arguments still hold."

Jack held up a finger. "All Except one. And it's the most important one."

Daniel raised an eyebrow.

"I won't be in the military anymore. I won't be your superior officer anymore. Being together won't be a court-martialable offence."

"Is that why? Daniel looked somewhere between incredulous and angry. "Is that why we didn't make love, because it was against regulations?"

Jack looked down and then back up at Daniel. "One of many reasons. Chain of command issues are hard to ignore. Not to mention the idea of getting thrown out on my ass does give me pause."

"Yeah. Okay."

"It was your idea to wait anyway." Not that Jack hadn't agreed. The risks of their being involved were too great, the repercussions too far reaching. He might even have been willing to take the risk, if it were just him and Daniel to consider, but the SGC was bigger than both of them. "Okay. Let's just forget I brought the whole thing up."

"No. If you're willing to risk it now..." Daniel trailed off looking away. "How could I not be?"

"As far as I can see, the biggest risks are gone. But heaven forbid that I force you into something that you don't want." Not that anyone, even Jack, could actually force Daniel Jackson to do anything he didn't want to do.

"Like some kind of master strategist, you've had this all planned out. How about you let me in on your plans and we work it out together for a change?" Daniel looked at him, but Jack had nothing more to say.

"How 'bout we don't." Jack's chest still hurt too much to breathe easily. No way he could talk about what his dreams had been for as long as he'd been in love with Daniel. Maybe he'd let it go for now. It was too fucking hard to think. "Just go, okay?"

Daniel folded his arms over his chest and glared at Jack. "If you think I'm leaving you've got another thing coming."

"Fine." Jack picked up his crutches and carefully maneuvered his way to the living room. Much to his chagrin, there was no stalking off in a huff anymore.

After he sat down on the couch, he pretended Daniel wasn't across the room, staring at him. There was a game on. He was going to lose himself in it until Daniel gave up and went home.

Jack flipped the channels on the remote. Fuck. Where the hell was the game anyway?

"Try channel 27," Daniel said, sitting down next to him.

He glared, pressing the channel in. The game flicked on, and Jack concentrated on it, but Daniel didn't move. "Don't you have a TV at home?"

"I plan to annoy you until you talk to me." Daniel's cheerful words were at odds with the grim stubborn look in his eyes.

"As if that will work," Jack grumbled, turning the volume up.

"It has in the past, and I'm pretty sure it won't fail me now." Daniel edged a little closer, until his shoulder was against Jack's and made a grab for the remote.

Pulling away, Jack held it out of Daniel's reach, and smirked at him. "I do not want to talk about this. Can I make myself any clearer?"

Daniel held his hand out pointedly. "I want to talk."

Jack shook his head. He was so not giving it up or giving in. Turning the sound down a little was his one concession. "Too bad."

"I'm sorry I've hurt you." Daniel put his hand on Jack's shoulder, his tone soothing, conciliatory. The great communicator trying to do so with his less than willing subject.

Fuck that, thought Jack. "You didn't hurt me. I was surprised, that's all." Okay, really surprised. But it wasn't that much of a shock. Nothing was ever that easy with Daniel.

"You forget how well I know you." Daniel's tone was still conciliatory, but it now had a definite edge.

"Not as well as you think," Jack said, pulling away. "I'm fine. Go home and let me watch the game in peace." Jack tried for casual and unaffected.

Daniel wasn't buying. "No, you're not and no, I won't."

"You know, sometimes you drive me nuts?" Jack tried to swallow back his annoyance. "What do you want from me? Okay, I made a few assumptions. You didn't agree. It's fine."

"I work at it. You didn't even give me a chance to think about what you wanted. You just dumped it on me." Daniel sighed . "I wasn't expecting it."

"Daniel --"

"Jack--"

"Let it go. I don't have a problem with this." Jack was fine, really. He'd move on. Find something else to fill his time with.

"You keep saying that, and I can see it's not true. I just didn't expect you to want to... um change the status quo." Daniel looked down. "As least not so drastically. So quickly."

"You like this? I think it sucks big-time, personally." Jack wondered how could Daniel want to stay in this... limbo of emotions where everything was so fucked up? "You like not being able to touch?"

"I hate it, you know that," Daniel said. "I want to be lovers. I have for years."

"I thought I did. I thought you did. When I suggested living together, you didn't like that idea at all." Jack switched off the TV and tossed the remote onto the coffee table.

"It's the living together part that threw me, not the being lovers part."

"Oh." Jack went back over their previous conversation. How had he missed that? Maybe they could work something out. "Okay. I understand. I'm good enough to sleep with but I'm not good enough to live with."

Daniel's face flushed. "I wouldn't have put it that way."

Jack smiled.

"You bastard. You're fucking with my head."

"Not about the lovers. I want that. I want to live together, too."

Daniel sighed and leaned his head onto Jack's shoulder. "Tell me what you had in mind."

After the beginning of this conversation, Jack found it hard to express what he wanted, wished for. It would hurt all the worse if Daniel rejected it a second time. "Just what I said before. I want us to be together. Committed."

"I'd like to think I'm already committed to you." Daniel put his hand on Jack's, not exactly holding it, but resting his fingers on the back of Jack's hand. "You know how I feel about you. You know what you mean to me."

"I know. Ditto. But the rest?"

"I don't know. I mean, if I moved in here, where would we put my stuff?" Daniel made a point of glancing around the neat, but crowded room.

That was the least of their problems. "I was going to build built in book shelves in the second bedroom and we could go through your furniture and mine and keep some of both. I was thinking your bed is bigger and softer than mine."

"Just like that?" Daniel shot him an unsure look. "You'll just give up half your house?"

A lot more easily than Daniel seemed to realize. "I was thinking we could pay off the mortgage with what you get from selling the condo and put the house in both of our names. Or we could just get a new house, one that is suited to both of us."

"Wow." Daniel was silent for a minute. "I think I'd rather stay here. You're going to build me bookcases?"

"Oh, yeah. The second bedroom is bigger than the other one, and it will make a nice office for you."

Daniel leaned forward until their faces were close, his hand sliding along Jack's thigh. "I could kiss you now."

Jack thought about it. He put his hand over Daniel's. "I could too. But..."

With a deep sigh of regret, Daniel pulled back. "You, uh, want to wait until it's done. Until you're completely out?"

Jack nodded, not meeting Daniel's eyes. It didn't make sense, even if they somehow got caught now, there wasn't much anyone could do. Still, the first time he touched Daniel, Jack wanted it to without any chance of taint. "Yeah. We've waited this long. A little while longer won't matter so much."

Daniel nodded. "I understand."

Sometimes, Daniel knew him better than he knew himself. "About the rest?"

"The rest will work itself out."

"I hope so," Jack said, looking at the open drapes and then back at Daniel.

"Soon," Daniel said, moving a little bit further away. "Very soon."

"Not soon enough." Jack sat back on the couch and reached for the remote.

Six weeks later.

"Had an interesting conversation with Hammond today before I left." Jack said, maneuvering his crutches to the table and then sitting down heavily in his chair. After eight weeks of physical therapy he could actually stand for a few minutes without any kind of aid. He supposed that was progress.

"Oh," Daniel looked down at him as he put a salad on the table. "What was that, beyond good-bye and good luck?"

Jack eyed the salad suspiciously; Daniel liked to put extra things in there, stuff that just didn't belong mixed with the greens, things like raisins or nuts or... he shuddered, flowers. "Not good-bye at all. I'll be back in two weeks." After careful examination, he decided the salad was okay, and he took a couple of spoonfuls. "He told me that even though he didn't approve, he was glad we'd always been so discreet."

Daniel laughed. "What did you say to that?"

"What could I say?" Jack took a mouthful of the greens and chewed. It was surprisingly good. "I said we'd been so discreet that we'd never done anything."

"And?" Daniel actually looked curious. When the subject had come up in the past, Daniel usually got annoyed. People always assumed it, even if it weren't true.

"I'm not sure he believed me."

"I know everyone thinks we're lovers. But," Daniel smiled sweetly, and Jack felt his heart flip. "You know, I'm hoping it won't be true for much longer."

"That everyone thinks that we're lovers?"

"No. That we're not lovers."

"I know," Jack said. "I told Hammond that I was leaving as his straight Colonel, but I was coming back as his gay civil service consultant."

"You didn't," Daniel choked.

"I sure did."

"What did he say?"

"He sort of ... coughed a couple of times and turned a lovely shade of red. Said that was too much information." Jack took a big bite of his salad and smiled.

Daniel laughed again. "I can't believe you said that."

Jack just grinned at him, kind of like he had with Hammond. "Why not? I've no longer got anything to hide. That's what the waiting was about. Fuck 'em if they can't take a joke."

A sweet, companionable silence fell between them, edged with anticipation. Jack tried to concentrate on dinner, but his mind wouldn't settle. Too many thoughts of what might or might not happen later on teased him.

Pretty much, he was terrified. A few teenaged groppings and a lot of embarrassing, not to mention arousing, research were not enough to give him confidence in what he was hopefully going to be doing in the very near future.

"Oh, I heard from the realtor today. Finally," Daniel said, putting down his fork and pushing his salad bowl away. "We close on the condo a week from Wednesday. I should be completely out of there by then."

"The shelves are finished. I put the last coat of polyurethane on them last night," Jack said.

"I saw them when I came in. They are beautiful. I've never had anything so fine. Thank you."

"Well," Jack looked down, and fought a blush. It had been such a small thing, making shelves for Daniel's rocks and bits of plaster. Carter had drawn up plans and installed the humidifier, but he'd done all the wood work himself. "Well, if you're going to move in here, then you needed a place for all of that stuff."

Silence fell again, and this one wasn't so comfortable. Jack wanted nothing more than to lean across the table and kiss Daniel. With that in mind, he caught Daniel's eye and deliberately dropped his fork into his bowl. "Are you hungry, really?"

Slowly, Daniel put his napkin on the table and shook his head. "Not in the slightest. Let me turn off the oven."

Without his crutches, Jack climbed to his feet, moving very slowly and stood in the doorway between the two rooms, leaning on the jamb. When Daniel finished, he came to stand in front of him. They looked at each other, eye to eye.

Daniel reached out and traced a line on Jack's cheek. "I can't believe this is going to happen," he said softly, leaning in and pressing his lips lightly to Jack's, pulling back almost before it had begun.

The second kiss held for a second. As Daniel's tongue brushed his lips, Jack's stomach plummeted into free fall.

Perfect.

It was perfect. Absolutely fucking perfect. More perfectly perfect that he could have ever imagined a kiss could be.

More. He wanted more. Wanted everything.

His arms slipped around Daniel's waist, gathering him close. He breathed in deeply. Daniel's scent filled his lungs and he was light-headed, dizzy, out of breath.

His mouth closed more firmly on Daniel's, tongue sliding in, tasting, savoring, delighting in finally having Daniel in his arms. Full and soft and demanding, Daniel's lips devoured his.

Oh, God, he'd waited and wanted and never, ever expected it to be so good. His eyes stung, and his heart pounded. He moaned.

Years of held back desire rushed forward, flooding him, and he pressed into Daniel, pushing him against the wall, moving hard against him. Need drenching all of his senses, infusing his entire body, Jack was drowning. Could anyone survive this kind of onslaught? .

With a primal cry that sounded like victory, Daniel clutched at him, hands on his waist, on his ass, pulling him closer. Hot and sweet and dirty, he canted his hips forward into Daniel, pressing deeply against the hardness with his own, grinding together through all of their clothes, heat seeking heat.

Jack panted, reaching between them he fumbled with his belt and zipper and could feel Daniel doing the same. Flesh, he had to feel flesh now. He wanted, needed, had to have it. Now.

God, God, God. All that existed was Daniel. Only Daniel. Finally Daniel.

Pulling off his shirt, he reached for Daniel's. Together they moved against each other, pushing clothes aside desperately moving sliding, grinding.

Heaven.

Hot. Hot. Scorching hot. Hot beyond bearing.

Jack lost himself in the sight, and sound and smell of it, wanting it to last forever, to go on and on and on. There was no holding back as sensations rushed at him, burning him up in white incandescence.

"Oh, God, Daniel. I love you. I love you." He gasped as he came against Daniel's body and felt an answering wetness against his own.

For a while, he panted, trying to catch his breath, trying to make sense of what had just happened.

The fulfillment of his dreams, and not nearly enough to satisfy him.

He opened his eyes, leaning against Daniel, looking into his amused face. "Hey," he said, kissing Daniel again, tasting the sweetness of his mouth. "How did we wait so long?"

"I don't know how we waited. That was something." Daniel's hand slowly caressed Jack's chest, moving through the warm slickness on his belly. Bringing a finger to his mouth, Daniel met his eyes, and sucked on it.

Jack groaned and closed his eyes for a minute, tremors moving through him. "Yeah, Daniel, it was something else. I've never felt anything..."

Daniel smiled brilliantly. "Me either. It was --"

"Oh, yeah, it was." Jack nodded.

Daniel ran his finger through the slickness, tasting it again. "Mmm. Not too bad."

"I can't believe you're doing that."

"Why not? I wanted a taste. I plan to swallow it when the time comes." Daniel's eyes danced with glee. "I'm hoping you will too."

"Probably." Jack knew he would. Any pleasure he could give Daniel, he intended to lavish upon him. His knee started to throb. Or more likely the endorphins had worn off enough for him to notice. "I need to get horizontal."

"My thoughts exactly." Daniel stepped back and pulled off the few remaining clothes he'd been wearing, then held out his hand. "Come on."

After pulling off his clothes as well, Jack took his arm and had to lean on him to make it into his, their, bedroom. He sat down heavily on the bed. "What's next on the agenda?"

"Everything else." Daniel sat next to him and kissed him again. Desire flared fast, but Daniel pulled away before it could get out of control. "I want to fuck you. Then have you fuck me."

Excitement spiked, and he closed his eyes. "God, yes. Probably not both tonight. The old gray mare ain't what she used to be," Jack said with some regret. He wanted to do both so badly he could almost taste it. "Have you done that before?"

"Which?" Daniel kissed him again, moving closer, touching along Jack's arms.

He did the same, touching Daniel now, finally allowed to stroke along his biceps, up over his shoulders. It took him a second to pull back and answer the question. "Fucking."

"Um. Yes. Actually, I have." Daniel sounded a little hesitant, as if he didn't want to admit he had done this before.

"At least one of us knows something. A lot?" Jack asked, trying not to sound too curious.

"No. Only one person and only for a few weeks when I was first at the university. Even in academic circles at the time, it wasn't that well accepted."

"I would have thought it was."

"You wouldn't go to prison for it. But in some places, they can make your life pretty damned difficult."

"I wouldn't have thought UCLA would have been one of them."

"That was a different story. With me, the guy was my advisor, and it was pretty much frowned upon."

"I should think so. I hope they fired the bastard."

"Nope, but he didn't get tenure, which I suppose amounts to the same thing. Seems he did that sort of thing with all the new students." Daniel put his hands on Jack's shoulders, and leaned over to kiss him again. "You?"

"Me? What?" He was supposed to make conversation after that kiss?

"Have you ever, you know?" Daniel sort of nodded his head and smiled.

"Fucked anyone like that? No. Well, yes, without too much information, I have tried it that way with women. A woman. One time." Sara had not liked it a whole lot, so they'd never done it again.

"Okay, as long as we kind of know where we stand."

"Or sit. I can't bend this knee very well, so we might have to be inventive with the positioning."

Daniel put his hand on Jack's knee, giving it a tiny caress. "No problem. I'm thinking on your side the first time." He leaned over and kissed Jack again, slowly this time, deeply.

Heat rose in Jack. If Jack had anything to say about it, they were going to take their time this time. He pulled back, and moved down the bed, to lie down. "Daniel?"

Daniel came to him, into his arms, kissing him, fingers stroking along his chest and arms. He was still a mess from the last time, but there was no point in trying to clean up, they were only going to get messed up again.

Putting Daniel on his back, Jack started slowly, kissing his neck, sucking along his Adam's apple, and down to his chest. He brushed a hand over Daniel's nipples, caressing, pleased by the groan of pleasure. When he touched his tongue there, Daniel arched into his mouth with another soft moan. Jack repeated the moves on the other side with much the same results.

Giving pleasure was such an easy thing, and Jack loved finally being able to do so for Daniel.

There was no hesitation, no fear. He kissed his way down Daniel's body. This was Daniel, and he'd been thinking about doing this, dreaming about it for way too long. He wanted Daniel. All of him. There he was, spread out before him like a meal, a feast, and Jack was going to gorge himself until he couldn't open his mouth anymore.

He moved slowly, carefully, tasting each bit of flesh, and loving the sound of Daniel's sighs and gasps.

But Daniel was not one to remain passive for very long, he turned the tables on Jack before he'd gotten half-way through his banquet. Well, it was only fair.

Then it was his turn to writhe and shake and beg. Daniel's mouth and hands touched him everywhere. No secrets, nothing left to hide. God, would he be able to survive this assault on any front? It really didn't matter if he did or didn't. He belonged to Daniel as surely as Daniel belonged to him.

Daniel gently pushed him onto his side, and Jack shifted until he was comfortable.

"Is this going to be okay?" Daniel asked, scooting behind him, and running a hand down and over his hip.

"I think so. If it's not, I'll let you know." Jack could bend his knee a little, but not enough for several positions he wanted to try. They'd get there eventually. Right now, all he wanted was to feel Daniel inside him and then to be inside Daniel.

"Okay. Relax." Daniel pressed a kiss to his nape, and then stroked his hands slowly downward, and then around to his chest, drifting over his nipples. His fingers teasing through the hair on Jack's chest.

Jack arched and pressed into the caress.

"Greedy, aren't you?" Daniel said with a laugh.

"Oh yes. You're going to give me what I want, right?"

"Soon." Daniel said, his mouth moving leisurely along Jack's spine.

Before Daniel's lips pressed onto him, Jack would have said that his back wasn't one of his erogenous zones. Tiny sparks of pleasure raced outward with each touch of Daniel's mouth. When Daniel reached his ass, and parted his cheeks, Jack shivered in anticipation over what he hoped was coming next.

A cry was wrenched out of him as Daniel's tongue pressed in. It was unbelievable, freakin' unbelievable, and he lost it, coming harder this time than last, crying out as the world when white and then dark. Never had he felt anything, anything that came close to that.

A slick finger replaced Daniel's tongue, and Jack pressed back against it. It felt good, very good in his relaxed state. More fingers, pressing in just as respectfully, and Jack went with it, loving the feel of it, and when Daniel pulled them out, he was disappointed.

Daniel slid his thigh over Jack's hip, and angled him downward a bit; his dick pressed against Jack's ass.

"Are you ready?" Daniel asked, nudging carefully.

"As ready as I'll ever be."

Daniel pressed in firmly, embedding himself partway and then stopped, letting him get used to the feel. He was relaxed enough and open enough that there wasn't a lot of pain, only a very full feeling and a slight burn. Pressing back, he took more of Daniel in, and finally, something gave inside him and Daniel was in all the way.

Arousal came as a big surprise, even with Daniel's dick hitting the sweet spot inside him. He was getting hard again. Un-fucking-believable. Guys his age just didn't get it up three times in one night. He would have laughed at the incredulity of it, but he was too busy savoring it.

Pushing back as Daniel pushed in again, feeling the heat coalescing in his balls each time the pleasure shot through him, Jack groaned. It was good and it was hot and it was right.

Daniel's teeth bit into his shoulder, clutching at him tightly, and Jack could almost feel the heat of his coming inside him. It tripped him over the edge, and he cried out, the orgasm seemingly ripped from his guts, from the very depths of his being.

A while later, he thought about moving, but Daniel had to move first.

"Mmm," Daniel said, pulling out and moving over to take Jack into his arms, giving him a lengthy, sleepy kiss. "You okay?"

"Fine. I came again." Jack still couldn't believe it. "Three times. Three freakin' times."

"I know." Daniel chuckled, his tone filthy and full of pride. "I'm good, aren't I."

"Yes. You sure are." And Jack planned to benefit from that talent as often as possible in the future.

Daniel kissed him again. "But I'm too tired to move. We'll have to finish this up tomorrow."

Snuggling closer, Jack buried his head on Daniel's chest, half-asleep already. Tomorrow was soon enough for whatever was next. "Love you."

"I love you too." One more kiss from Daniel, and Jack was asleep.

Two nights later

Jack lay with his head pillowed on Daniel's chest, content to never move again. In his entire life, he could not remember at time when he'd had so much sex in such a short span of time, even on his honeymoon.

Daniel's hand slipped from his waist, underneath the elastic of his sweat pants, and caressed his butt possessively.

"No more, please," Jack groaned. He was too sore to move. Not just his ass either, he was pretty sure his dick was chapped.

Daniel laughed softly. "Just touching. No intent. I doubt I could anyway."

"Tell me about it." Jack chuckled, wondering if he'd ever get it up again. But even as he thought it, his dick stirred, making the effort. Points for trying.

"All I want to do is sleep tonight," Daniel said, giving him one last fond pat. "Do you think the glamour has worn off so quickly?"

"More like two middle-aged guys who've done it too much," Jack said, levering himself up to kiss Daniel.

He snorted. "Middle-aged? Speak for yourself, old man."

Jack pinched Daniel before he pointed out, "You're closer to forty than you are to thirty."

"Do I need to remind you how close to fifty you are?" Daniel asked, his hands moving back down, this time on the outside of the fabric.

Jack shook his head, too happy to care. To have reached this age meant he'd finally gotten the one thing he'd wanted most. Daniel. "When are we going to start moving you in?"

"If I can move, tomorrow is good. I've already started packing and I've got the week off."

"You didn't mention that."

"I wanted to give myself as much lead in time as possible. I figure it's going to take a few days, and I wasn't sure I'd be able to walk anywhere for a few days after."

"You got that right." Jack yawned and settled back on Daniel's chest, letting sleep court him.

--finis

2/1/2002