Title: Five More Minutes

Author: MajelB

Email: majelitab@lycos.com

Status: Complete

Pairing: Jack/Daniel, est. relationship

Category: humor, POV

Spoilers: Window of Opportunity

Season: four

Rating: PG

Date: October 25, 2002

Author's Notes: This, my very first and potentially *only* J/D, is a present for my dear friend Devra. Hope this does the trick. <g>

Summary: Jack and Daniel are more alike than they care to realize.

Warnings: nope! <g>

When life throws you lemons, you make lemonade. Hah. The king of all clichés. Must be why I never much cared for the whole idea. I've long been a student of the 'when life throws you lemons, you throw them back… harder' school of thought.

I suppose everybody has a different take on the concept.

Daniel, for example, just seems to take those rotten lemons, cut 'em up and suck 'em dry… just as is. He takes what he's given and doesn't complain about it.

Unless it has something to do with exploring the dried and dusty remains of some obscure, long-gone civilization on another planet.

"But Ja-ack…"

Hmph. There it is. Right on schedule.

"Daniel. It's late. You can't even see what you're doing anymore. Let's *go*."

"Five more minutes, Jack," Daniel mumbles, his back still turned to me. He's utterly absorbed in whatever it is he's doing. He just looks so… well, he's just so… content. I hate to wreck his mood.

Although, I can't help but ask myself, just to double check… exactly who is in command of this team, anyway? What can I say? Daniel just has me wrapped around his little finger, and doesn't even know it.

Or maybe, he *does* know, but just won't let on that he knows. Maybe he gleans some perverse pleasure in making me squirm. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised.

"Fine," I sigh, and sit myself down on a random rock a few feet away from him. He's just so damned adorable… look at him, crouched over by that wall, his face bathed in the dying yellowish beam of his flashlight, glare reflecting off his glasses as he squints a bit in consternation. He scribbles something down in his notebook and squints again, biting down on his lower lip.

Ooh… last time I saw him do that was a few nights ago when I… oh, man…

"Daniel," I squeak. Squeak? Damn…

"Five more minutes, Jack," he mumbles again. I don't think he even cares that I'm getting really… antsy.

"That's what you said five minutes ago," I sigh, and hug my P-90 to my chest. He's not paying any attention to me at all. I try to amuse myself by humming the Jeopardy song… and maybe irritate Daniel a little bit in the process… but he's in his little *zone* and I have a short attention span anyway. I stand up and start to pace.

"Daniel, I can't believe I'm about to say this, but… what, if anything, can I possibly do to get you to wrap this up within the next thirty seconds?"

"Nothing, unless you're fluent in ancient Latin dia…lec…ts… Jack! Come here!"

Oh, so my genius has suddenly realized that I'm not as stupid as I look. I smile and walk over to his chunk of wall.

Wait… not as stupid as I… that came out wrong…

"Latin? Is that all?" I say lightly. I am so loving this…

Daniel rolls his eyes at me and scoots aside, giving me room.

"Hmmm…" I say. "Interesting syntax, here…" I'm grinning like a fool.

Jack's sitting cross-legged on the ground, right where I left him twenty minutes ago. Eww… he's chewing on my pencil.

"Jack… Sam just radioed me… she's getting kinda worried…" I say. He nods to himself, flips the pencil away from his teeth, taps the eraser on what must be a tricky word on the wall, then nods again and writes something down… in his illegible scrawl… in *my* notebook. Aww… he's gonna wreck my whole system…

"Jack!" I say again, louder and more insistent. His head perks up, like he only *thinks* he's heard someone call his name. I sigh. "Yes, Jack, I'm talking to you."

I've rarely seen him so absorbed in anything that wasn't The Simpsons. Well, that and… I gotta get my mind outta the gutter.

He blinks, then kinda half-smiles, then nods again. He writes something down then… Nooo… Jack, *don't* put my pencil back in your… ugh. Mouth.

"Justh five mol minifs, dan'l."

"That's what you said five minutes ago…"

The End

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