Chapter 2
The entire team had quickly taken care of any necessary work that required immediate attention, dressed in their civvies, and met up on top. Teal’c had grabbed his belongings that he would need for the four day weekend at Jack’s house.
“Okay campers, where to?” Jack asked his team.
“I think its Daniel’s turn to decide, Sir,” Carter offered.
“Indeed it is DanielJackson’s turn,” Teal’c echoed.
“Um, well, we can’t go to O’Malley’s anymore. How about we try that bar-b-que place down the street from me. My neighbor said it was pretty good,” Daniel said.
The other’s agreed. Jack, with Teal’c riding shotgun, took off in his truck, while Sam drove herself and Daniel, whose car had broken down once again, at a more sedate and reasonable pace (she had gotten another speeding ticket the week before). They met up again and decided to order their food to go when they saw the crowd in the dining area.
Since it was Daniel’s night to host, they went back to his home to eat their food and watch some movies. It was a typical stand-to night for the team. There were rules that had to be obeyed though. First, titles could not be used; everyone went by first name basis. Second, under no circumstances was Jack allowed to indulge in a Simpsons’ marathon. The first and last time that had happened, the entire team had threatened to kill him and fix it so no one would ever find his body.
Once secure at Daniel’s house and his beer was liberated by Jack (Teal’c drank only orange juice while Sam drank tea), Daniel popped in one of his favorite movies: Indiana Jones and Raiders of the Lost Ark. They sat through that movie and the one after that, Terminator 3.
“You know,” Jack spoke up. “After dealing with the Replicators, I really don’t like the idea of killer robots.”
“What if the Replicators duplicate a humanoid that looks like Arnold?” Daniel wondered out loud, earning a groan from Sam and a pillow to the head from Jack.
“Hey Daniel, I got a stupid question,” Sam piped up suddenly.
“Coming from you Sam, I don’t think that is possible,” Jack said.
“Seriously. Why do you have so many weapons? I mean, look at your sword collection,” she said, waving at the five swords carefully displayed on his living room wall.
“Two were gifts,” Daniel said easily. “They’re kind of neat, I guess.”
“What about the knives on that shelf over there? Do you have some sort of fixation on sharp shiny things Danny?” Jack asked.
“Like your fixation with fat, yellow middle age cartoon characters?”
“Hey, you leave Homer out of this!”
Teal’c, silently appraising the collection, spoke up. “Do you know how to use such weapons DanielJackson?”
Daniel shrugged. “Somewhat,” he lied, knowing full well that he was a master swordsman. His long life helped to testify to that fact.
“Show us,” Jack taunted his teammate.
Daniel briefly debated the wisdom of this, but ignored the tiny voice in his head that was telling him not to do anything stupid. It was amazing how often in his life he ignored that wise voice.
He picked up the katana that rested lengthwise on two pegs and told everyone to follow him out into the back yard. Along the way, he grabbed an apple from the refrigerator.
Since his back yard was fenced in by a privacy fence and the neighboring houses were not tall enough to allow peering eyes to see over the barrier, he felt relatively comfortable in doing this demonstration.
He flipped on the lights and walked outside with the others following. He then handed the apple to Jack and told him to throw it up in the air in front of him (Daniel - not Jack) when told to.
Daniel walked about six feet from his friends and turned his back on them with his sword pointed towards the ground. With a deep, centering breath he raised the weapon and shouted for Jack to toss the fruit.
With lightening fast reflexes, Daniel spun and cleanly cleaved the apple in two while it was still in the air.
The two halves thumped on to the ground, impressing and amazing his friends.
“Satisfied?” he asked pleasantly.
“Uh yeah. Totally,” Jack said slightly dumbfounded. “When did you learn how to do that?”
Only a few thousand years ago, Daniel thought smartly to himself. “College. A friend got me interested in martial arts, swordsmanship really” he shrugged, trying to make it sound like it wasn’t a big deal.
“Cool. So if we get stranded on some god-forsaken ninja planet you can save us,” Jack said flippantly.
Daniel gave a feral grin. “Only if you don’t manage to piss me off between now and then Jack.”
“I am so doomed,” Jack said, his head hanging low.
“Okay, can we go back in now,” Sam complained. “Its early spring and it’s cold.” They dutifully trooped back inside for their next movie, Along the Waterfront.
~SG1SG1SG1SG1SG1~
The next morning, Daniel woke early, determined to make a somewhat decent breakfast for everyone who stayed over the night before. Sam was the only one absent; she had managed to drive herself home while Jack passed out on Daniel’s couch. Teal’c also stayed over night and slept in Daniel’s guest bedroom.
“Morning Jack. Morning Teal’c,” Daniel said in a false, cheerful voice.
“Good morning DanielJackson,” Teal’c responded in his usual formal fashion.
“Eat shit and die Spacemonkey,” Jack snarled, hoping his venom would have an effect on the archeologist. He was feeling the extreme effects of a hangover and wanted everyone in the world at that moment to feel as bad as he did.
Daniel, who was not phased in the least, simply replied: “The aspirin is on top of the refrigerator and the coffee is brewing.”
“How in the hell can you be so damn happy? You drank as much as I did!” Jack exclaimed, wincing at the bright sunlight that filled the room. “Can’t you at least close the goddamn curtains?”
Silently, Daniel gave thanks for his Immortal tolerance for alcohol and quick healing abilities. It would have taken much more alcohol than what he had consumed the night before to get him really blasted. “Just blessed by the gods, I guess,” he said lightly.
Jack snarled something incomprehensible to Daniel’s ears and went in search of the aspirin. Teal’c, hearing what Jack had said, raised an eyebrow.
“O’Neill, I have seen DanielJackson completely without clothing before and I am sure that is physically impossible.”
Daniel, getting Teal’c meaning, spit out his coffee and turned bright red while Jack dropped the aspirin bottle, scattering the white pills everywhere.
“Shut up Jack. I don’t want to hear any jokes about size. Besides, I have never, I repeat never, in my entire life had any complaints in that department,” Daniel said, his eyes narrowed. “And Teal’c, promise me you will never say anything like that again.”
Teal’c merely quirked up his eyebrow and gave a sly smile (well, sly for a Jaffa). “As you wish, DanielJackson.”
“So, Jack, do you have any big plans for today?” Daniel asked, hoping he wouldn’t.
“No, not really,” Jack said slowly. “Why?”
Daniel took another sip from his coffee cup (the one with ‘Kiss the Archeologist’ on it) before replying. “Um, well. Could you take me to Wal-Mart? If it’s not too much trouble.”
“Sure, as long as we can stop by my house first. I need to change my clothes. These smell funny.” Jack took a quick whiff of himself
“That’s because you decided at one point to douse yourself with Lysol after coming out of the bathroom. You stunk up the place and figured the smell had stuck to you so you Lysoled yourself,” Daniel said, rolling his eyes. Teal’c concurred with a raised eyebrow.
“Please tell me that Sam was not here for that one,” Jack begged.
Daniel briefly considered giving his friend a hard time, but thought better of it. Jack might actually kill him. “No. You saved that special moment for Teal’c and me.”
“Anyway, breakfast is ready,” Daniel pointed to the scrambled eggs, toast, and juice he had laid out on the kitchen table. “Eat up while I take a shower.”
When Daniel left the room, Jack turned to his friend. “Tell me if I am wrong, but didn’t Daniel drink as much, if not more than I did last night? He rarely seriously drinks, but when he does he’s never hung over. What kind of cosmic cruelty is that?”
“You are right. While you were embarrassing yourself by quoting the Simpsons, DanielJackson remained completely in control. And before you ask, yes, SamanthaCarter was here for that.”
Jack sank down on a kitchen chair and buried his face in his hands. Thankfully there was a third rule of a team stand-to: Whatever happened during a stand-to, stayed there.
~SG1SG1SG1SG1SG1~
Jack, Teal’c, and Daniel were walking up and down the aisles of Wal-Mart. Jack was randomly grabbing things off the shelves and tossing them into his cart, while Daniel consulted his list before adding anything to his cart.
They managed to make it out of the store in about an hour. As they were loading their bags into the truck, Daniel felt a familiar sensation wash over him.
Oh for crying out loud! Daniel thought to himself. This is Wal-Mart! And I’ve been hanging around Jack too much; I’m starting to sound like him! And I need to quit talking to myself!
Daniel froze and scanned the parking lot for the near-by Immortal. He spied a man walking towards him, wrapped in a thigh length coat, hands shoved in his pockets, and his eyes were darting everywhere before finally resting on Daniel.
Daniel stepped a little away from his friends. He looked at the stranger, quickly sizing the man up. Although he did not want a fight with the other Immortal, it never hurt to be wary and cautious. The other Immortal had dark hair and dark eyes. He was shorter than himself, but looked physically tough. His presence was erratic and wild. He did not seem overly old to Daniel, but he knew that a youngster could be more dangerous than an ancient like himself. Overconfidence and arrogance killed more Immortals than an opponent’s skill. If he were to bet on it, he would have wagered that the Immortal was no more than a decade past his first death.
Daniel took his hands out of his pockets, letting the other see that he was not obviously armed.
“My name is Matthew Price. Who the fuck are you?” the stranger snarled.
“No one you need to concern yourself with,” Daniel said evenly. “Besides, we are in public, in a Wal-Mart parking lot. A fight between us is not appropriate at the moment.”
“Fuck that. We can go behind the store and get this over with. Or are you too new at this and scared to face me?” Price taunted.
Daniel sighed. Young ones could be so fucking annoying and sword-play crazy. Plus this one had no clue as to how old he really was. Moron, he thought tiredly.
“We’re at Wal-Mart you fucking idiot,” Daniel hissed. He would have said more, but at that moment, Jack and Teal’c came over to see if their friend needed help. Nobody messed with their teammate, except for them of course.
“Daniel. Is there a problem?” Jack asked in a voice low. Teal’c stood there, silent and menacing.
“No interference. You know the rule,” Price said in a quiet, grave voice.
“And I don’t accept your challenge. Get out of here while you can,” Daniel said, his voice deadly serious. A visage came over him, letting Price know that he was not a newbie like himself and it would be foolish to try and pressure him into a fight.
Price looked Daniel over, as if trying to figure out how to save face in front of others. “We’ll see,” he finally replied.
“Joy,” Daniel muttered and watched the guy leave.
“What in the hell was that about?” Jack asked, confusion written across his face.
Daniel shrugged, but would not directly answer any of his friend’s questions. Although he trusted Jack and Teal’c, thinking of them as not only as friends but as brothers, he was not willing to let them in on his secret. The General and Janet knew. Hammond knew because he had once befriended an Immortal when he was younger and that particular Immortal had been a friend of his. Janet knew because she was a doctor and noticed little things about him. It made more sense to tell her, rather than hide his Immortality from her. However, it made him nervous letting people know about the existence of Immortals and his place within the Game. A part of him said that they were not ready for that kind of information, even though they were his closest friends. He also feared their reaction, the loss of their friendship. It had happened before.
The three teammates of SG-1, eventually left the store’s parking lot and drove back to Daniel’s home. Jack and Teal’c dropped him off before they headed over to Jack’s place.
As they were driving, Jack and Teal’c discussed the odd incident at the store. Neither of them had ever seen Daniel act in that way before. He usually gave a person the impression of being lost in deep thought, a little distant, scattered sometimes, except in battle, Teal’c noted with pride. At the store, Daniel was focused and seemed almost dangerous. It was a new side to their friend that they had never seen, outside of life at the SGC.
Teal’c also mentioned Daniel’s abilities with a sword. That had made quiet an impression upon the Jaffa. While he preferred his staff weapon, he could easily see and admire the skill with which a sword would require to wield it effectively.
“Yeah, that was impressive,” Jack conceded. “I wonder what other secrets the Spacemonkey has been keeping from us?” he reflected, curiosity written across his face.