Jack took it in in stunned silence. When there was no immediate response, Daniel looked up sharply at his face, afraid of what his reaction might be.

"Whoa! Way to go, Danny!" he exclaimed, once the synapses in his brain started firing again.

Self-loathing.

"Please, Jack," Daniel said beseechingly, "it's not something I'm proud of." "No - no, I can see you wouldn't be." "Jack, don't you understand? I'm a murderer!" "Oh, for crying out loud! D'ya feel the same about all the Jaffa you killed? Or all the guys I've killed?" "That was different. It was self-defence - done in the heat of battle. When I killed the Master, it was done with malice aforethought."

"Daniel, ya think I haven't done that too? I was in special ops., remember."

"But it was still in the line of duty, Jack. You didn't hate the guys you killed."

"You think that makes it better somehow? I killed in cold blood, Daniel. Guys I didn't know - guys who'd never done me any harm personally - guys with families... children..." Jack's voice had faded to a whisper.

"Oh god, Jack! I'm sorry! I'd never really thought about it that way."

"No, well, can't change the past. Just know that... I've been there too. And remember what you said about Teal'c to the Byrsa - we're not the same people we were back then."

"I suppose," Daniel agreed dubiously.

"And hey! At least you saved me the bother of having to search this guy out and kill him myself!"

"Be serious, Jack," Daniel said with an affectionate smile.

"Ya think I'm kidding?"

Daniel didn't answer that - couldn't answer that.

"So how did you kill the Master, then?"

"Poison."

"Poison? That's—"

"Nasty."

"But no more than he deserved, Daniel."

"Maybe, but it wasn't my right to act as judge and executioner."

"Somebody had to. Did he have any redeeming features?"

"Ah, he was kind to his dogs..."

"Hey, so was Hitler! Still think he deserved what he got..." Jack muttered. "Ah, what did he get?"

"Belladonna. Mahir used to put drops of it in our eyes to enlarge the pupils and make us more - ah - alluring. It made your mouth very dry - made you thirsty too, so you'd willingly drink the 'fruit juice' they plied you with. Don't know what was in it, but it made you very... pliant. I was lucky. I didn't get the eye-drops very often because my pupils're normally quite large and the Master liked to see the blue. The bottles of belladonna were kept in a carved 'magic box'—.

"Magic box?"

"Yes. To all appearances it was locked, but there was no key, and no keyhole either. The secret was that there was a sliding bar in the front, disguised by the carving, so unless you knew it was there, you'd never notice it. Slide the bar and the box opened. The box was just kept in the make-up and costume closet. Guess they didn't think anyone would figure out how to open it. I'd come across that kind of thing before in any case.

"The big problems were how to administer it, and how much of it I'd need. There wasn't any chance of slipping any in his drink with Kadar there, and other servants - or slaves more likely - always coming in and out. Besides, he might have given it to one of the others. Or me. Anyway, one day, when Mahir was putting that ghastly red lipstick - the Master's favourite colour - on me, I had an idea that I thought might work. I don't suppose you ever taken much notice of lipsticks or the containers they come in?"

Eat your heart out, MacGyver!

"Well duh. No." "They're all different shapes and sizes, Jack. Luckily there were one or two that were what I wanted - a long metal outer casing with a flat end, and a plastic inner casing round the lipstick itself. I took one of them, slid the lipstick up to the end and broke it off - dumped it in the trash. Broke most of the inner casing off too - didn't want it sitting in the poison - just wanted enough left to act as a lid.

Then I filled the outer tube three-quarters full of belladonna - didn't want to get it on my hands. I stood it in one of the holes in the pierced brick work that served as both window and prison bars - put it as high as I could reach, and hoped out of sight. I left it in the sun so it would evaporate the water from it, thus concentrating the poison. I kept topping it up whenever I could. I did that for - oh, about a week, I guess.

"One day, the Master wanted all of us 'to play with him'. There were eleven of us by then. 'Hamal' never reappeared after that first day. I'm afraid he was probably dead."

Daniel paused, and Jack wrapped a reassuring arm around him and hugged him slightly. He drank some of the, by now, lukewarm coffee before he took up the tale again.

"Anyway, the Master had a couple of house guests and wanted to entertain them once the heat of the day was receding. It suited my purpose. With a lot of... action... there was less chance of anyone seeing what I was doing. I tucked the tube, carefully capped, into the waistband of my shalwar. In the playroom, the Master had one of the boys give another a blow job while a third one fucked him - just to provide an initial stimulation for his guests. Then he invited them to take their pick... One of them looked as if he was going to choose me, but my luck was in, because the Master grabbed me while the guy was dithering - overcome by the choice, I guess.

"He wanted me to suck him off - seemed to think I had a natural talent for it— What? Jack? Are you all right?"

Jack nodded, coughing, his eyes watering - caught between revulsion at what Daniel had been forced to do and a sudden inappropriate desire to test that natural talent for himself.

"H'm okay," he wheezed. "K'heep going."

Daniel rubbed his back, looking concerned, until the fit passed.

"I think we need some more refreshment," he said, making to stand up.

"Later," Jack insisted. "I'm all right. Finish this, then breakfast."

"Well, if you're sure... Okay then. The Master was laid out on the floor cushions. He never let anyone fuck him, but he loved having his prostate massaged. I lubed the fingers of my right hand then slipped the lipstick tube out of my shalwar before I got on to my knees, being careful to keep it upright. As I went down on him, I took the top of the tube and smeared some lube over the end. I pushed first one and then two fingers in and gave him what he wanted. When he was close - too close to object even if he noticed - I pulled my fingers out. He came as I pushed the tube up inside him. I figured the mucous membranes would absorb it quite well."

"Remind me never ever to piss you off again, Daniel," Jack said, looking at him with a new respect.

"You think I might try the same thing on you?" Daniel asked with a speculative look and a gleam in his eye.

The question, with its obvious implication, left Jack completely bereft of any answer. His jaw opened and closed without producing any sound.

"How to shut up a special ops. colonel, huh?" Daniel asked with a fleeting grin.

Jack went for a diversionary tactic.

"So— it worked then?" he asked.

"Ah, not immediately. I didn't know then that it takes over six hours before the effects begin to show, and I was really scared about what would happen if he found that tube up his ass before then. I managed to warn the other boys not to finger him. Most of them weren't entirely firing on all cylinders, but I think they got the message.

"When the - ah - revelers were pretty well sated, the Master called a break for dinner for his guests and we were sent back to the harem. Several hours later, we were all called back to - um - entertain the guests again. The Master was looking flushed and walking a little stiffly. He had a servant on hand plying him with an assortment of drinks. That kinda told me that the belladonna was working on him. He settled in his throne and chose to be a voyeur for a while - which I was kinda glad about. It hadn't occurred to me till then that maybe, if he came inside any of us, we might be poisoned too. Hoist by my own petard... Then I figured that if anybody should suffer from secondary poisoning, it ought to be me, so I... I volunteered my services."

He looked at Jack, trying to gauge if he were disgusted by his behavior. Jack looked back at him curiously.

"You've never had any sense of self-preservation then?" he asked mildly.

"Well it wouldn't've been right if an innocent died because of me, now would it?"

"No, guess not. It's just— That attitude is so... you. 'S no wonder you keep dying..."

Jack heaved a big sigh.

"Look on the bright side, Jack. I haven't managed to stay dead yet," Daniel grinned.

The grin faded when Jack didn't join in.

"I wish you wouldn't make such a habit of that. It— gets to me..." he said. "Every time."

"Ahm, I've only actually died twice Jack. The first time, we'd only just met and the second time, you were dead too."

"Daniel, do you have to be so literal? You've come this close, " he snapped, holding his finger and thumb a hair's-breadth apart, "far more times than I care to think about. And as you very pissily told me yourself, when we got back from sorting out the replicators the first time - and I quote - 'I went through hell, thinking you were dead, Jack'."

"Yeah, okay, I sorry."

"Yeah, so am I. So how come you didn't die that time? Belladonna not that poisonous?"

"Um, I don't know. It was never tested. He back-handed me across the face - knocked me sprawling on the floor - and yelled at me - yelled that I was a filthy whore and to get out of his sight. 'I don't want any girls corrupting my boys!' he shouted."

"Huh?"

"I did some research a few years later. Some of the symptoms of belladonna poisoning are aggressive behavior and delusions - hallucinations even. So anyway, then he turned on Kadar. 'I'll have you!' he said. So Kadar got it up the ass instead." Daniel smiled malevolently. "He screamed like a stuck pig. For a guy who was so happy to dish it out when he felt like it back in the harem, he sure couldn't take it.

"So the Master's humping him but good. His heart was beating like a jack-hammer - the Master's, that is. It was so loud we could hear it. Then he straightened up, gave a final thrust and collapsed, gasping. At first, we thought it was just a rather spectacular orgasm. Looking back, I'd guess he'd had a major heart attack. With his obesity, and all the fucking that day, the poison must've overloaded his system.

"When he didn't show any signs of recovering, everyone started panicking. Kadar was still screaming, the guests were trying to rouse the Master, the house slaves were running round like headless chickens while the boys were trying to keep well out of everybody's way.

"I sneaked up behind Kadar and grabbed his keys, then I shepherded the boys out of the room. One of the boys who'd been there longest knew a way out. He took us through the servants' quarters so we helped ourselves to food from the kitchen and robes from the laundry on our way. Once we were outside, we split up - figured we'd be harder to track down than we would be as a group - then we all legged it. I've never seen any of them since.

"Anyhow, it didn't take me long to realize I was in Sana'a, the capital of Al-Jamhuriya al-'Arabiya al-Yamaniya—"

"I thought you said you were in the Yemen?"

"Yes, Jack, that's the Yemen Arab Republic as it then was."

"Oh."

"It has an American embassy, so I found my way there. I didn't say anything about what'd happened - didn't dare. Just said I'd been kidnapped - which was true, and that I'd escaped - also true. They didn't make too much of it because, apparently, Yemeni tribesmen up in the mountains have a habit of kidnapping tourists, and soon I was on my way back home - well university anyway - and with several weeks work to catch up. Which was good. I needed something intellectual to focus on - something to ground me... Um, talking of grounds, Jack... Please..." he said, holding out a mug and smiling.

Having started yet another brew of coffee - and it had to be unhealthy the amount of the stuff Daniel drank - Jack set about cooking breakfast. The smell of frying bacon drew Daniel to the kitchen.

"You don't have to cook for me now, you know."

"Hey, I'm cooking for me! Stomach thinks my throat's been cut," Jack scowled, "but if there's any left over, I might let you have some..."

"Oh. Sorry, Jack - very sorry," Daniel said looking shamefaced.

"No need to beat yourself over the head about this, Daniel. It's just a small blip in our otherwise peaceful and totally untrammeled relationship."

Daniel looked sceptical.

"Look, if it'll make you feel any better, then I forgive you - mostly..."

"You're not still mad at me...?"

"Danny, I could never stay mad at you for long - even though you'd try the patience of any number of saints. Now just put some more bread in the toaster, would you... ...Then you and I have a few more things to talk about, don't you think?"

Daniel paused as he reached for another slice of bread. The color drained from his face momentarily then came rushing back to flush his face a guilty shade of pink.

"Errrm, well okay, Jack. I guess I owe you—"

"Yeah, you do... One blow job, at least..." he grinned as Daniel's jaw dropped, "...plus interest."

"Jack?!" Daniel gasped, choking.

"But we'll save that discussion for after breakfast," Jack said, reaching over to pat his tormentor's back. "I'm famished." It didn't take them long to consume breakfast, sitting side by side at the breakfast bar. Jack wolfed down most of it while Daniel picked halfheartedly at the rest and stared with a faraway gaze out of the kitchen window to some place way beyond the Rocky Mountain scenery.

The view from Daniel's window.

He'd known when he embarked on this regrettable campaign that there would be a reckoning sometime but, borrowing one of Jack's clichés, he'd decided that he'd cross that bridge when he came to it. Until today, he'd been focussed to the point of tunnel vision.

Now he was wondering exactly what Jack's take on the whole thing was going to be. So far, he'd been understanding and supportive, which Daniel was sure he would be to any member of his team. But was that all there was to it?

He'd kinda had the feeling that Jack was... interested - had noticed the fashionable new clothes of which Daniel had carefully left the top few shirt buttons undone. It was hot work, translating. And Jack had made a few ambiguous remarks earlier which could be construed as interest, too. Or was it just wishful thinking applied to Jack's off-the-wall sense of humor. How could you pin down the mental processes of someone who called you 'Spacemonkey'...?

The more he thought about it, the more uncertain he became. Yes, Jack was good with his hands, had given more than required or asked for. Daniel's dick responded to the memory. He also gave very good head - fucking wonderful head, in fact. His dick was positively enthusiastic about that thought. Jack obviously wasn't a novice.

But.

Jack didn't talk about his experiences in Iraq. Or any other unpleasant experiences, come to think of it. Maybe, like himself, he'd had to learn perforce. In his own case, the inclination was already there. Was it there with Jack too? Or not?

'Daniel, don't you think you've taken this far enough?'

If he hadn't had the taser, what would Jack have done then? He had no idea.

'You are one sick bunny, you know that don't you?'

That wasn't very encouraging either...

~ Oh shit! what've I done? ~

"Okay, Daniel," Jack announced, mopping up the remains of the egg yolks with a corner of toast, "time for that little chat..."

"I'll - er - I'll just load the dishwasher—" Daniel said, leaping to his feet.

"Later, Da— You have a dishwasher?"

"Um, yes Jack," Daniel replied, trying to look innocent.

"And you let me wash up by hand?"

This was good. Jack was getting distracted into discussing domestic details. He could handle that.

"Oh? Did you?" he asked, still more innocently. "But you did find the washing machine - didn't you?"

Jack gave him a suspicious look. Oops, maybe he'd overdone the feigned innocence.

"Yes, well never mind that now. And no, you can't have any more coffee, so just sit yourself back down again."

Daniel capitulated and sighed.

"I guess I've kinda outed myself, haven't I?"

"Just a tad."

"I'll hand in my resignation as soon as we— I... get back to the S.G.C."

"Why?"

Daniel did a double take.

"W-well... because of what I've done— what I am..." he floundered. "I mean, you've taken this amazingly well, considering, but you sure wouldn't want to work with me again."

"Hm, so 'want' to work with you might be stretching a point, given how insubordinate and stubborn and argumentative you can be, but I've coped with it for several years now. About what you did, well, those demons needed exorcizing and while I wasn't thrilled at the way you chose to do it, that's in the past now and, if you're able to, then I think we should move on. What you are... does cause me problems..."

Daniel looked down at his hands, his shoulders sagging.

"It's not easy going on missions with you," Jack continued, apparently oblivious, "watching your six - I mean, ass..."

He paused, waiting for Daniel to register what he'd just said. Slowly, Daniel's head came up and turned towards him looking uncertain, wondering if he'd heard aright.

"...And wanting to do this..."

He placed his hand under Daniel's chin and pulled him slowly forward until their lips met, softly, sweetly and oh so tenderly. After what seemed like aeons but probably wasn't, Daniel broke the contact. He buried his face in Jack's neck and hugged him so hard that his ribs were in imminent danger of cracking. He was also muttering something in a language - languages? - Jack didn't understand.

"Need to... breathe..." Jack wheezed.

"Oh. Oh sorry," Daniel sniffed, hastily letting go.

Jack saw the tracks of tears down his cheeks and realized his face was wet too.

"Well, this is..." he said.

"Yes, it is, isn't it?" Daniel agreed, reaching out to wipe away the wetness. "I can... I can hardly believe you've let me in... at last..."

He shuddered and closed his eyes as Jack caught the hand and pressed a kiss into his palm.

"That's me saying, 'Sorry, Daniel'," he said.

Daniel's eyes shot open.

"Sorry? What for?"

"Driving you away. I feel that everything you've done this weekend has been well deserved for the way I've been treating you the past few months. No no, don't interrupt. Let me speak. You've had your turn," Jack said with a brief smile. "See, this crabby old colonel—"

"Not old," Daniel muttered, sotto voce.

"—got scared - couldn't handle it. It was soon after Sha're died when I realized... when I admitted to myself that what I... felt - for you - wasn't just gratitude for saving my life, that I didn't love you like a - a brother-in-arms... that I was in love with you. And I shouldn't be - not in the military. So I tried to put a little distance between the two of us, so I wouldn't be tempted to - er - put the moves on you. Didn't want to jeopardize the friendship we already had. Just fucked it up instead." He grimaced.

"And I thought it was because you suspected I wasn't entirely straight."

"Oh no. I never suspected that until a coupla weeks ago, when you - ah - changed your image. You seemed to be..."

He waved a descriptive hand.

In teasing mood...

"Flaunting myself? Sam... Sam said I was... flaunting myself," Daniel said with a sideways look under his lashes. "Uh, yeah, that would be a - a good description," he agreed. "And would you just stop that. I can't concentrate when you do the... the lashes thing," he added, wiggling his fingers in the air. "Sorry Jack," Daniel grinned, and provocatively ran his tongue along his lower lip. "Or the lip thing! Know what? A pricktease is all you are. Now where was I?" "Looking for the clue bus? Sorry. Shutting up now." "Hey, wait a minute. You mean Mr. Three Degrees missed the clue bus too?"

"Um, apparently so, though considering Mr. Special Ops. Colonel covered his tracks so well, that was hardly surprising. It wasn't till I saw you..."

"...checking out the new terrain while you were..."

"...flaunting myself, yes - that I thought maybe we were at least on adjacent pages."

Just what he wanted to hear.

"So what do we do now, Daniel?" "Turn over a new leaf, I guess... If you want it?" "More than life, Daniel, more than life," Jack said huskily, pulling him in for a second tender kiss, then murmuring in his ear, "Ya know, there have to be more comfortable places for this than the breakfast bar." "Mm-hmm, good idea - lover." "Oh yeah, not just a pretty fa— Lover?" Jack exclaimed softly as Daniel grabbed his hand and hauled him off in the direction of his bedroom.

"It's what you want to be, isn't it?"

"Er, yeah. Lover..." Jack repeated as if testing out a new word. "Sounds good, especially the way you say it - sexy."

Daniel turned his head towards him as they went and gave him a look that positively smoldered. Jack felt his skin tingle in all sorts of sensitive places. They'd reached the bedroom now. As they moved to the bed, Daniel started to strip off.

"No wait," Jack said, taking hold of a hand to stop him. "Let me."

Slowly he eased the top upwards, his hands gliding over Daniel's torso, fingers lingering over each nipple, watching as they reacted under his touch - watching Daniel's face as he closed his eyes to concentrate on the sensations Jack was arousing.

With Daniel's top gone, Jack slid his hands down inside the waistband of his pants - let them coast over the firm buttocks as his forearms pushed the soft material downwards and his warm breath huffed against Daniel's right ear. He moved his hands to the front to free Daniel's eager erection - sat down on the edge of the bed to slide the pants to the floor - swiped his tongue up along Daniel's dick eliciting a sharp groan.

"Okay, step out - lover."

Daniel did so. He pulled Jack to his feet then set about returning the favor, exploring Jack's body in minute detail as he would a precious artefact. He ran his fingers over every scar and gently kissed each one. It felt to Jack as if he were setting his skin on fire with each kiss. When his clothing was discarded, Daniel, kneeling before him, took him by surprise. Jack discovered for himself that 'natural talent' as the linguist slowly slid his lips around Jack's dick and all the way down till they reached his balls, his tongue slithering around his shaft as he went.

"Daniel," he squeaked, "if you're gonna do that, I gotta sit down!"

Equally slowly, those sweet lips retreated along Jack's dick as the hard-assed colonel whimpered. As he reached the glans, Daniel finished with firm suction that very nearly tipped him over the edge right then and there. Jack sat down on the bed with a thump and groan.

"Okay, keep going," he croaked.

"Just a moment," Daniel said, pulling aside the black and gold quilt. "Now move over."

Jack wriggled into the middle of the bed.

"Ready when you ahhhh!"

He gasped as Daniel deep-throated him in one. The sensations produced by Daniel's talented lips and tongue, combined with watching himself disappear into that sensuous mouth, was just too much. With his self-control shot to hell, Jack found himself pumping down Daniel's throat and screaming.

"Sorry about that," he panted when he could catch his breath again. "It's been - it's been a long time..."

Daniel chuckled.

"Nice to know I haven't lost my touch," he said, looking smug. "Payback's not always a bitch."

"Huh?"

"You did say I owe you one blow-job... with interest."

"Daniel, that was not a - a 'blow-job'. That was making love. Now c'm'ere and kiss me— Lover..." Jack growled, and they spent some time rolling around the big bed in a passionate lip-lock until the need to breathe could no longer be ignored.

"So what do you... want for... interest?" Daniel panted. "Want to fuck me?"

"I think... under the... circumstances... you ought to... fuck me..."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, just... like I said... it's been a while, so - ah - be gentle with me," Jack grinned.

"Right."

"Woo-hoo— Spacemonkey in action," Jack chuckled, goosing Daniel's balls as he scrambled over him to get to the nightstand for the lube.

"Arghhh! Watch it, Fly-boy!" Daniel giggled, rolling out of reach.

He grabbed the Astroglide and turned back. He stopped for a moment as though moonstruck, taking in his lover's naked form spread out like a feast, just for him.

"Think I just died and went to heaven," he murmured.

Then he realized Jack was looking right back at him, open-mouthed and equally spellbound.

"Jack?"

"Hm? Oh, you... are... just beautiful," Jack whispered.

"Hey, enough with the sap! Spread 'em!"

"Way to spoil the moment there, Daniel," Jack scowled.

"Sorry. Just... ah... just a little embarrassed. No one's ever called me that before," Daniel muttered, kneeling beside his unlikely angel.

"Well, maybe not to your face—"

Daniel shut him up with a searing kiss. Jack, feeling light-headed, wondered if there'd be scorch marks on the mattress. Next he knew, Daniel's slick finger was sliding over and around his sphincter, teasing a response from it. His appreciative groan encouraged the roving finger to slip inside. A second finger joined it, stroking and scissoring as Daniel's tongue stroked and caressed his tonsils.

He groaned again as Daniel broke the kiss to climb between his legs.

"Want me to roll over?"

"No. Want to watch you - see your face," Daniel replied huskily, lubing his cock. "You sure about this?"

"Well duh," Jack grunted, hooking his long legs, one after the other, over Daniel's shoulders.

He realized he was holding his breath as he waited for his lover's next move. Lover... There it was again - that magical word, used as a synonym for Jack O'Neill by Daniel Jackson - his lover. The elation that the thought evoked coincided exactly with the moment Daniel pushed inside him, putting an end to all further thought.

"Oh god, Jack!" Daniel breathed, fighting against the urge to slam home and nail Jack all the way through to the floor.

Little by little, inch by inch, a small thrust then smaller withdrawal, he advanced till his balls made contact with Jack's buttocks. He paused for a moment, closing his eyes as he strove to maintain control by focussing on his lover's comfort. Jack, rising again, gave a strangled growl of frustration.

"Gahh, goddammit, Daniel, will ya quit teasing!"

"Uh, I thought... you wanted me... to be, ah... gentle... with you..."

"Oh fuck that! Just fuck me!"

So Daniel did. Without the constraint, Daniel surrendered to passion and pounded into him hot and hard. He stopped for a second on the brink, then orgasm took him. A cascade of sensations came shuddering through him, powering his thrusts as he shot his load with ragged cries of ecstasy. Jack's legs slipped from his shoulders as he collapsed on to his chest. Arms wrapped around him holding him like a vice as his lover's body began to spasm. Daniel felt the wet warmth spill between them as Jack came again.

Both lay there, panting for several minutes till Jack rolled Daniel off him. He was quite a dead weight. Jack wasn't surprised to find he was asleep. He sighed gently, pulled the bedclothes over them, laid a protective arm around Daniel and then dozed off himself.

After the intense if rather short love-making session, the emotional stains and stresses of the previous thirty six hours had caught up with them. Jack was the first to rouse and felt distinctly disoriented. He didn't normally awaken to the sensation of a distinctly masculine arm and leg draped across him. So obviously dreaming, then. He attempted the rolling over manoeuvre, which was hampered by said arm and leg, making the dream seam even more realistic.

When he finally got a look at the limbs' owner, he closed his eyes, waited a while, then opened them again to see if the phantasm was still there. It was. Slowly the cloud of befuddlement lifted, aided by certain other sensations around the region of his ass, and clarity returned. With it came a thrill of excitement like he hadn't felt since that long ago Christmas morning when he awoke to his first puppy dog licking his face. Grinning, he ran his tongue along Daniel's cheek and across his eyelids.

Daniel flinched a little in his sleep. Jack licked him again, and moved on to nibbling his ear. Daniel giggled, still asleep. Next he laid a series of soft lover-like kisses all over his face until Daniel's eyelids fluttered open.

"Jack...?" he said dreamily, "You're—"

"Real?"

"I was going to say, 'still here'?"

"Where else did you think I'd be with no clothes and no money...?"

Daniel bit his lip, a guilty smile flitting across his face.

"Making coffee," he said provocatively.

"Think I need a shower before I do anything else, and as I'm now your guest, I'll leave the coffee-making to you."

"There is something else you could do first."

Jack returned a questioning look.

"Me," Daniel said, looking suddenly serious. "You could do me."

Jack's lips parted in surprise at the generous offer.

"You don't have to bottom," he said.

"I... want to. I love you, Jack, and I want to, so... so it wouldn't be a... a violation.

"Oh god, Daniel, if you knew how much I've wanted to bury myself in your ass—!"

"Well then, do it," Daniel ordered, pulling the bedding aside as he rolled over, stuck his ass in the air and wiggled it.

Jack stared mesmerized for a moment then leaned over and dropped a kiss on that - that tempting... peachy... ass, then sat back on his heels.

"I really don't feel that now is the right time," he said reluctantly. "I love you too much... Don't want to be associated in your mind with what that - that 'master' guy - did to you."

"No 'tainted love', huh?"

"Something like that, yeah. And I haven't felt as happy as this for years, so don't think I'm feeling deprived."

He smiled as he spoke and it seemed to Daniel that he was filled with an inner glow.

"Colonel O'Neill is a total sap! Who knew?" Daniel chortled. "You know, I'm gonna have to do something to irritate you sometime soon. You turn up at the mountain tomorrow looking like that, and they're gonna know something's up...!"

"Oh, I'm sure you'll manage to find something, Daniel," Jack said with a playful scowl. "Now I'm hitting the shower!"

"Ah, not that one, Jack," Daniel said as Jack headed for the door to the hall. "The other one's better."

"Huh? The other one?"

Daniel pointed to the other door as he walked towards it. Jack shrugged and followed, thinking that a shower was a shower. He changed his mind and gave a soundless whistle when he saw Daniel's 'other shower'.

"A two-person shower, Daniel?"

"Ah, yeah. I had it installed last year, after we visited Kheb. I hoped that, one day, I might have someone to share it with - specifically you actually. You seemed to be thawing towards me then... a little anyway. I guess this is Day One." He chuckled. "'The first day of the rest of our lives'. "

"Daniel? Sap?"

"Guess we're as bad as each other," Daniel smiled wryly, and leaned in for a kiss. "Da mi basia mille, deinde centum, dein mille altera*," he murmured as the kiss ended.

"Yeah, whatever. You can collect 'em later. Right now I need a shower..."

"Sometimes, I think you have no soul, Jack," Daniel responded as he stepped into the cabinet.

He waited for Jack to slide the doors closed then turned on the hand-held shower head and waited for the water to run warm. Then he pressed one of the buttons on the control panel. Jack looked round suspiciously.

"Daniel, you got a bird in here?"

"Ah no. Ambient sound system - this one's sounds of the jungle," Daniel grinned, replacing the hand spray. "You can have ocean surf or a mountain stream or a waterfall or—"

"Yeah, yeah, I get the picture."

Jack elbowed Daniel away from the control panel and read the options on it.

"Interesting. 'Stimulate'... What does that do?" he asked, leering at Daniel.

"Don't—" Daniel began as a couple of ice cold jets of water hit Jack either side of his dick.

Jack squealed.

Daniel doubled up with laughter as two more icy jets shot out at waist-level. Jack squealed again. Belatedly catching on, he moved aside but not before one of the third pair blasted a nipple. The fourth pair harmlessly splashed against the door as Daniel collapsed on to one of the seats unable to breathe for laughing.

"You might have warned me this thing doubles a torture chamber," Jack gasped.

"It's okay, it'll be warm now," Daniel said once he'd got his breath back.

"Anymore surprises?"

Ah, not really. Just ask first before you touch anything else."

"That would be do as I say, not do as I do, huh?" Jack remarked snarkily.

Daniel gave him a darkling look, then took him through all the controls.

"And it also doubles a steam room," he finished.

"Cool!"

"Not even close, Jack. We're not talking Arctic mist here, y'know."

Jack eyed the four central pairs of nozzles with misgiving.

"You're sure about that?"

Daniel switched to steam mode.

"Sit down, Jack. Close your eyes and imagine you're somewhere hot and steamy..."

"I am somewhere hot and steamy."

"Funny! I meant like a jungle."

"Jungles have trees, and you know how I feel about them. They also have snakes. And bugs. Big honkin' bugs. This only has you."

Daniel noted the sappy look and leaning forward, raised him a sultry one.

"You're saying I'm not dangerous?"

"You're freakin' scary sometimes..."

The sultry look died, replaced by one of remorse.

"No, I didn't mean— Look, let's put the past behind us... Unless you need to talk some more. I mean..." Jack floundered. "Oh hell, I'm no good with words!"

On the basis that actions speak louder, he took Daniel's face between his hands and laid a kiss on him that rocked his world. When he leaned back, Daniel didn't move - remained as if in a catatonic trance, except for the tears coursing down his face.

Concerned, Jack moved over and put his arm gently round Daniel's shoulder.

"Are you okay?" he asked when Daniel still didn't move.

"Oh yeah," Daniel breathed. "Better than okay." He looked at Jack then, and added with certainty, "We're gonna be all right, aren't we?"

"Yeah. We are. —Ah, Daniel, can you kill that bird? 'Cos if not, I'm gonna bring some C4 next time I come here..."

Daniel choked.

"Jack O'Neill, you are one crazy sonovabitch!" he gurgled, "but I love you anyway."

"Ahh, it's arll part of the O'Neill charrrm," Jack said with a phoney Irish accent and a very smug smile. "Now about that shower we were going to have... I want to get my soapy hands all over that peachy li'l butt of yours again."

"Peachy?!"

"Oh yeah!" Jack affirmed, rising to the occasion.

They enjoyed a languorous session. Slippery hands sliding over soap-slicked bodies combined with slow and sloppy kisses. This culminated in sensational simultaneous orgasms that had them screaming, shaking and breathless.

"Good idea putting seats in this thing," Jack said after a while, still panting a little.

"Yeah," Daniel agreed. "Now all we have to do is rinse off."

When the suds had gone, he surreptitiously twitched the temperature knob, giving his lover another Arctic experience, then fled before Jack had time to react.

"Daniel Jackson, you are so dead!" he squawked.

Afterwards, Daniel cooked a 'forgiveness dinner' by way of making amends for his earlier treatment of his 'slave'. Jack demurred about that, reaffirming that it was all in the past.

"But you still owe me for the cold shower!" he added with a calculating gleam in his eye.

Dinner was based on a Cajun recipe that Daniel had sweet-talked Janet in letting him have a few weeks back. As it was followed by a move into the living room with a thirty year old bottle of Auchentoshan single malt, they decided to stay overnight at Daniel's den as Jack persisted in calling it.

"And you're the lion in Daniel's den, I suppose?" Daniel asked whimsically.

Jack gave a playful growl.

"So when did you get this place?" he asked.

"About a year ago."

"You never told me."

"You were stuck on Edora, and by the time you came back, it'd kinda slipped my mind."

"Slipped your mind?"

"Yeah, and when I remembered, you'd gotten yourself retired and then promptly jumped into bed with Harry Maybourne."

"I did not!"

"Did too! Well, not literally. Maybe..." Daniel smirked at Jack's astounded expression. "Anyway, when I tried to reach out to you—"

"Aw, please. I said I was sorry!"

"Yeah, well... It's not like I come here often, though I suspect it might get more use now... I bought it mainly as an investment, seeing as I don't have that much opportunity to live up to my income. And maybe - if I'm very, very lucky - I might get to retire here some day - like you with your cabin."

The lake with fish.

"Sounds nice. Um, any fishing round these parts?" "Funny you should ask that," Daniel grinned. "Oh?" "There's a small lake about a half-mile away. It has fish in it though. Would that be a problem?" "I could live with the disappointment." "Then maybe we'll get to retire here together... One day."

"Till then, dabo tibi basia mille, deinde centum, dein mille altera," Jack said, wrapping his arms round Daniel and kissing him.

"I think I was wrong, Jack," Daniel murmured happily. "You do have a soul."

Fizz... Ting!

NOTE: This is just a story, but in the real world, slavery still exists.
Please scroll down and read a short note on present day slavery.
Thank you.

*"Give me a thousand kisses, then a hundred, then a thousand more." - Catullus: Carmina iii.

The introductory quotes at the beginning of each part are from Shakespeare's Scottish play.

Slavery in the Real World

http://www.antislavery.org/english/default.aspx
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But the reality is slavery continues TODAY.

Human trafficking is the fastest growing form of slavery today. At least 700,000 women, children and men around the world are affected by this abuse, forced by deception, coercion and threats or use of violence into slavery.

Anti-Slavery International is the world's oldest international human rights organisation, founded in 1839. It is the only organisation in the UK working exclusively for the elimination of all forms of slavery in the world today.