For a moment, through the opened bathroom door, I admire the scenery of a freshly showered, wrapped-only-in-a-towel Daniel, before drawing attention to myself. "Daniel."

Daniel stops, one foot still in the bathroom, one foot just having crossed the threshold into the VIP suite. He peeks out from under the towel he's using to dry his hair. "Jack."

"Now that we've got the introductions out of the way, I know who you are, you know who I am, why don't you come to bed?" I pat the bed that takes up the majority of the room, then stretch out on my side, enticingly smoothing down the blanket.

He shakes his head, rolls his eyes, grabs a pair of blue scrubs folded on the table and goes into the bathroom, slamming the door.

To say the least, his reaction to my presence is a tad interesting, but I'm a patient man. I can find something to keep me entertained before he returns so he and I can have a little talk about his lack of enthusiasm. I toe off my shoes, then lean over and snag the remote off the nightstand. I smile as I hunt around for something sports related. The televisions in all the VIP suites are compliments of yours truly when I was *the man.*

The bathroom door opens, the light goes off and Daniel shuffles to the edge of the bed and sits heavily, his back towards me. "I'm going to sleep."

"You slept on the Odyssey." I flick the TV off and slide across the bed, pressing my palm into the small of his back.

Against his will, Daniel moves under my touch before reaching around and slapping my hand down. "Unconsciousness does not equate restful sleep. We've had this discussion before."

"Your eyes were closed. You were snoring—"

"No one snores when they're unconscious."

"That's my point."

He bends his head and brings his hands up to massage the back of his neck.

"You're tired."

"Give the man a kewpie doll." He stands.

I roll to the other side of the bed and stand also.

Daniel puts one hand on the blanket.

I put one hand on the blanket on my side of the bed.

"Jack."

"Daniel."

His gaze takes in the cameras mounted in the far corners of the room.

I shrug. "Oops."

"Oops?"

"Oops, like in Carter accidentally, on purpose, performed an electronic miracle and all the cameras in the VIP suites are currently on the fritz."

"Sam's a genius."

"Yup, that's exactly what Carter's resume says under job qualifications—genius. Reason I hired her for the job."

"You hired her?"

"Hired Carter. Brought Teal'c over to our side. Convinced Hammond that we needed a geeky archeologist to fill out SG-1. Brought in Mitchell. I even got televisions in the VIP suites." I touch my chest, only because with one of my hands holding onto the blanket, I can't reach around to pat myself on the back. "I'm full of good ideas."

"I'm thinking that's not exactly what you're full—"

"Eh!" I menace him with a finger. "Do not go there."

He manages a half smile. "And the guards? What about them?"

"What about the guards?"

"You must recall seeing them on your way into this room. My two lovely military escorts, compliments of Woolsey, who seems to have trouble believing I'm not a menace to him."

"Well, you did sorta beam him off the ship."

"I didn't hurt him."

"You scared him, Daniel." I shake my head and grimace. "Men like Woolsey don't like, nor do they appreciate, being scared, especially by geeky Priors."

"There's no such thing as a geeky Prior."

"You were carrying a book. Only geeks walk around carrying books. *And* you were a Prior. Hence the name."

"Hey! I was carrying a big stick. Geeks don't carry big sticks."

"Tell yourself another one, Daniel. Geeks carry big sticks to defend themselves against all non-geeks."

He opens his mouth, ready for a rebuttal, then shuts it. Score one for the General. "What about the guards?"

"Brigadier General Jack - *two L's* - O'Neill, took care of them."

"Took care of them?"

"Oh Jesus, Daniel, I didn't zat them or anything, I relieved them of duty. Being one of the highest ranking military men on the base they, as opposed to someone else I know, actually *listened* to my orders and happily obeyed them."

Daniel nodded. "So you volunteered yourself to keep an eye on me?"

"Yes."

"Good, you can watch me while I sleep." Daniel cheats and gets into bed and I'm left holding up my edge of the blanket.

* * *

I strip down to my boxers and tee, turn off the lights and get into bed. "Are you sleeping yet?"

"No, but it's not for lack of trying."

"So go to sleep, what's stopping you?"

"Not what. *Who's* stopping me."

"I'll leave." I'm not going anywhere, but I'll be polite and make the offer.

"It's not you, Jack. It's me."

"You?"

"Been a while since I've…"

"Slept with me? Don't pin that one on me, I wasn't the one that cancelled your trip to Washington before you became a Prior. Nope, that was all your—"

Daniel sighs, the type of sigh that says "takes a lickin' and keeps on ticking Jackson" has reached the end of his very long rope. Daniel's way past tired. His body has taken all it can take, but the man's mind obviously has other ideas.

"Merlin wouldn't let you down, Daniel. The weapon is going to work. As far as we know, it's *already* working."

"I know that."

"He may have scrambled your brains for a while, but he wouldn't let you down." If I say it enough times, I'm bound to start believing it.

"Thanks."

"My pleasure." Slowly, I slide to his side of the bed.

"Please, don't."

"No?"

"No. This, you here, is just fuel for Woolsey, if he—"

I poke him in his arm. Hard.

"Ow. What did you do that for?"

"Me. Here with you—well, not sleeping in the same bed as you, but me with you was Woolsey's idea."

"Huh?"

"Okay, I'll admit I kinda prodded him a long. Telling Weasel I knew you better than anyone and that I'd be able to detect quicker than any guard if you *really* were Daniel. So the man gave me a zat and sent me on my merry way. And here I am. With you. In bed."

"Where's the zat?"

"On the chair. Right on top of my neatly folded pants."

"Just in case…"

"If you can't fall asleep. I'll just zat you into unconsciousness."

"Jack."

"I trust you, Daniel. Teal'c, Carter, Mitchell… Vala… we all trust you."

He snorts and I see the shadow of his hand push up glasses he's not wearing. "I trusted me a lot more when Merlin and I were as one. Now, here, I'm not so sure."

I don't know what to say, but maybe I don't need to *say* anything. In this case, silence may be golden, because Daniel just keeps on going like that Energizer bunny whose batteries refuse to die no matter how long he's been left on.

"General Landry's never going to trust me again. These four walls are going to be my home from now on. These walls and my office. Hell, I probably won't ever be able to set foot offworld ever again—"

"Hank never said that, Daniel. He never even alluded to the fact that you're restricted to base. You're being paranoid."

"Paranoid? The General said, and I quote, "until further assessment, Doctor Jackson, you're restricted to base."

"He'll feel differently tomorrow."

"I'm not so sure he should. I mean, come on, Jack, I opened the Supergate."

"No, if you want to get right down to it, *I* gave the order to destroy the wormhole, which opened the Supergate." I refuse to tell Daniel that the President and I have date for dinner tomorrow night to discuss my part in all of this, but I don't think I'm going to mention that to Daniel, 'cause what he doesn't know, won't hurt him. There's enough guilt sitting on his shoulders already. "You did what needed to be done."

"Right, you make sure to remind Woolsey of that. How long do you think I have to walk around feeling like I have a bull's eye painted on my back?"

"You have friends in high places, Daniel." Maybe not this week, but give it a week or two and he'll be right back on the President's A List.

"Jack." His voice is slow and precise as if he's teaching me how to conjugate a Latin verb. "The President gave Woolsey the order to terminate me. I don't think I'll be getting a Christmas card from him anytime in the near future."

"Christmas is a few months away."

"Aren't we Mr. Optimistic?"

"Daniel…" I take a deep breath. "I'm not the enemy."

"Crap!" He covers his face with his hands. "I know that. Right now I think I'm my own worst enemy. Just ignore me."

"I've missed you. You're less than twelve inches away from me. It's hard to ignore you."

He reaches for my hand, fumbling in the dark until he finds it.

I give a silent prayer of thanks to Ancient old men with long grey beards who go above and beyond the call of duty protecting wayward archeologists.

Daniel sighs, squeezes my hand, then lets go. "I really need to go to sleep. I'm tired. Doctor Lam wants to scan another part of my body sometime tomorrow that has yet to be scanned, I've been sent to my room for bad behavior and…"

"It's your party and you can cry if you want to?"

He laughs.

I smile at the sound.

Slowly, Daniel's laughter dies away, and he shifts, trying to find a comfortable spot on a bed not really meant for two grown men to be sharing. I end up on my back, apologizing in advance to my knees because of this too soft mattress. Daniel ends up on his side, his chin digging into my shoulder, his breath tickling my neck. We last like that for all of ten minutes before Daniel remembers how tired he really. Sitting up, he punches the pillow, drags it away from me and lies down again, staking out a position that's much farther than twelve inches from me.

I listen, ten years of living in someone's pocket, as well as sharing a tent *and* a bed, and I know just when Daniel's on the cusp of sleep. "Daniel."

"Hmmm."

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Hmmm, question. Okay."

He's not really awake, which is what I was hoping for. "Remember on the Odyssey when I asked for you to prove Merlin wasn't still hanging around, and you waved two fingers at me?"

Daniel yawns. "I remember." He picks up his right hand and with eyes closed, he waves his middle and left pointer finger at me. And waves it again. And again.

I grab his hand mid-flight, kiss the finger tips and shove it under the blanket. "Yeah, just like that. What would Merlin have done that you couldn't do?"

He doesn't open his eyes, but answers my question with a lopsided grin which leads me to believe I misjudged Daniel and he's a bit more awake than I thought.

"I can do it, it's just that Merlin doesn't… didn't need the hands on approach."

"Care to explain—oh." The hand I had tucked under the blanket glides over my dick, which jumps to attention at Daniel's touch. I swallow. "Ummm… Merlin could do that with a wave of his hand?"

Daniel opens his eyes then nods. "All powerful."

"Do I want to know *how* you knew Merlin could do that with just a…" My hand flies upward while my hips jerk in response to Daniel's stroking.

"What makes you think the only thing Merlin downloaded into my brain was how to build a weapon?"

My appreciation for the Ancients and their knowledge kicks up a notch or two as Daniel fondles my balls.

* * *

I try to formulate coherent thought processes while being serenaded by Daniel's snores. Obviously, Merlin left behind some little tricks of the trade for Daniel as a thank-you present, though I'm pretty positive he didn't make mention of them to either Doctor Lam or the General, and I can't imagine these little moments will be written up in any mission report. I misjudged these ancient, ascended folks for believing they were as stuffy as I thought they were. Stupid me. Damn, if Daniel could do what he did to me with just a wave of his hand, I can't even imagine what he'll be able to accomplish with a flick of his wrist.