Disclaimer – MGM/Gekko/Double Secret own them. Lucky us!
Spoilers for 'Tin Man', 'The Devil You Know', 'Divide and Conquer', 'Ascension', 'Between Two Fires', '2001', and 'Last Stand'. A 'Last Stand' episode addition.
I figured it was time I finally wrote a real 'Jacob finds out' fic...oh all right. This was going to be a very different story that morphed into this. Maybe I'll write that other story as some kind of sequel...
*
"*You* are going to be fine."
It had been a long time since he'd been under the care of Dr Janet Fraiser; the last time he could recall being after his rescue from Netu. This second time he discovered that she was still as dedicated, no-nonsense and stubborn as ever.
He liked her. And, knowing how important she was to Sam by all the times his daughter had mentioned her, he should have got to know her much better a long time ago. But with fighting the Goa'uld on one hand and worrying about his daughter on the other, it wasn't easy to find the time. Especially not now - while he was mourning the loss of *them*. "Thank you, Doctor."
Placing the folder she'd been holding onto the bedside table, she folded her arms across her chest, and opened her mouth to speak-
Only to be pre-empted by The Jack O'Neill Channel.
"See?" Jack began, drawing their attention to the Colonel who was standing barely a foot away from the end of Jacob's bed. "I told you she'd fix you up, Jake."
He'd always hated that nickname. Always. But somehow he'd known from the first time Jack O'Neill had called him 'Jake' that telling him not to call him that would be about as effective as a waterproof suit with holes in it.
He knew what Jack was doing, of course. It was his way of 'dealing' with what had happened. Leaving Lantash and Lt Elliot behind, having to climb through the dead bodies to get to the gate...
The loss of the Tok'ra.
For someone who had been around as long as she had, Selmak was finding it hardest to deal with; perhaps because she *had* been around for as long as she had. She'd known those people, some of them on a level that normal human beings could never begin to understand.
Jacob had always felt...separated from the rest of the Tok'ra. Probably because he'd become involved so late in his life, and though everyone - including Selmak - did their best, he never quite felt one of them.
But then, he never felt quite human, either.
The truth was, since the blending he didn't fit in anywhere. Which is why he took on as many missions as possible. Most were assigned to him, but even when it wasn't required he'd volunteer; eager to do what he could to stop the Goa'uld, but more eager to go out into the galaxy alone, where it was just Selmak for company.
That wasn't bad. He liked Selmak.
She'd known, of course, of his psychological division from the Tok'ra all along; had in fact hoped that it was something he would 'grow out of' (as she put it - she always wanted to emphasise her old and wise thing), but as she'd actually suspected it hadn't happened.
Maybe it was because of the way he joined - he hadn't been a really willing candidate. Yes, he'd been told and had understood - as much as anyone could understand - what would happen and what would be required once they blended. Yet the truth was, he'd done it simply because he wasn't ready to die. There were things he needed to fix first, and though the fate he'd chosen for himself risked his life in a variety of ways more extreme than even he could have imagined, it had bought him the time he needed to fix the most important of things.
"Where's Sam?"
Jack blinked, obviously surprised - or annoyed - that Jacob had ignored his last statement. He'd always been someone who appreciated being the centre of attention.
He also knew...okay, so not always, but he usually knew when to shut up. This was one of those times.
"Uh, locker room, I think."
Of course. Probably the one place on base where she could really be alone at the moment. But when he thought about it... "I don't think I've ever been to the locker room."
Jack shrugged, then turned until he was half facing the exit. "I'll walk you there. Come on."
Feeling not entirely dissimilar from a dog, Jacob fought the urge to do his Alsatian impression - the way he used to do when Sam was a kid.
Deciding it was best not to imitate a dog when a doctor was right there and quite able to assess your mental health whether she was a psychologist or not, he pushed himself away from the bed, noticing the clothes he was wearing as he did so. Fortunately they'd provided him with green BDU's, so he could at least get out of that costume. Despite everything he'd seen and everything he'd 'shared' from Selmak, he still couldn't get over how ridiculously bad some of the Goa'uld outfits were.
Daniel's was another example. He'd gratefully changed out of that as soon as they'd returned - though Jacob suspected it was mostly because he feared the comments he'd be receiving from Jack 'overcompensate with humour' O'Neill.
Thanking Dr Fraiser - who warned him to take it easy, despite the lack of serious injury - Jacob shuffled out of the infirmary as Jack led the way.
The truth was, he did feel particularly crappy. He was exhausted, sick to death of death, Selmak was in hiding, and the wound on his head was throbbing despite the help of a symbiote and the appropriate drugs.
"You know," Jack drawled, his hands shoved into his pockets. "Fraiser'd have your hide if she knew you weren't feeling good. She'd have you back in that infirmary before you could say...Cumtrya."
"What?"
"Never mind."
"No, I mean how do you know I'm not feeling good?"
A smirk appeared as he reached the elevator and swiped his card. "I've worn that expression of 'desperate for freedom' a few too many times myself."
"Huh."
The elevator doors slowly slid open and they stepped inside. Jack pressed the button for some floor Jacob wasn't paying attention to, then both men rested against opposite walls.
Jacob would have been content to spend the journey in silence.
Unfortunately he knew Jack too well.
"So, I wonder if Yu is really dead. I mean I know he's got a sarcophagus and all that, but according to Daniel that knife was *huge*-"
"Jack, will you please *stop*?"
He did, and Jacob was determined not to feel guilty. Normally he enjoyed their banter - otherwise known as throwing vague insults - but today? All he wanted was to think about something else. "All I want is to see my daughter, Jack. She's been through a lot already this year."
A vague snort drew his attention to Jack, who was still leaning against the wall with his hands in his pockets; his gaze located somewhere on the floor. "Yeah. They've been falling all over her, then dropping like flies."
There was no anger or jealously in his voice, just quiet acceptance.
And Jacob realised something. Something he'd briefly considered then ignored, but never actually realised before. "Oh my God."
Jack looked up, immediately searching for danger and confused when there was none. "What?"
"Oh. My. God." It all made sense now!
"*What*?"
They'd reached their destination. The doors opened.
Jacob spoke.
"You're in love with my daughter."
A random airman whose uniform identified him as ‘Siler’, had been about to walk into the elevator. He paused.
Jack whacked another floor button, and the doors closed. "Don't be ridiculous."
Frowning, still trying to accept the revelation, Jacob looked at the panel. "Where are we going?"
"Back to the infirmary." When he saw Jacob's continued confusion, he pressed on. Although, really, he didn't actually see it because he suddenly wasn't looking at him. "Obviously there's some kind of damage that Fraiser missed because you've started spouting these weird ass theories that make no sense whatsoever."
"Jack,"
"You did get a rather nasty head injury, so who knows what that might have-?"
"What floor was the locker room on?"
"Seventeen."
Jacob pressed the appropriate button.
Jack stared from Jacob to the panel to the floor again. "What are you doing?"
"There is nothing wrong with me, Jack. I am going to see my daughter. *You* can go back to the infirmary if you want." Man, Jack and *Sam*? How? Why? Where?
Okay, he wasn't thinking about where.
In fact, he wasn't thinking about it at all, because if he did he was likely to get angry. And he actually had no proof that anything was going on. Just that Jack felt...felt...
The elevator reached level twenty-one, where the doors opened and soon after closed with little fanfare.
He and Jack were still both inside as it moved up again.
"So?" Jacob eventually asked. So much for not thinking about it.
"So what?" Jack mumbled.
"How long have you felt this way?"
"Geez, Jake," He was going to start scuffing his feet on the floor like a five year old soon. "Why do you keep pushing this? It mean it's so completely-"
"True," Jacob interrupted. "I may not have realised it earlier, but I-"
The doors opened. Siler was still waiting outside.
Jacob stared at him angrily. "Do you mind?"
Jack pressed another button, shutting out Siler's face and the rest of the base yet again.
"I may not have realised it earlier," Jacob continued. "But I know it when I see it. Do you know how inappropriate it-?"
"Oh for crying out loud!" Jack finally looked up at him, brought his hands out of his pockets, and gestured wildly. "Do you think I don't *know* that? Do you really think that I don't know this is so wrong it's not even funny? That, with one wrong word, one wrong look, I could ruin her career? That the odds of having a happy ever after are minuscule? Do you really think I'm *that* stupid?"
Wow. This really was serious. "Then you are."
He could see that Jack's response was almost "What? That stupid?", but suddenly he was back-pedalling even as he replied, seeming to think he'd gone too far. "I didn't say *that*."
A stern look was all that was needed.
Jack sighed, rubbing his hands over his face. "You want me to say it, don't you?"
And there was the quandary. Did he force it out of him to get the absolute truth, or leave it as it was with enough evidence inside the elevator to add up to the truth anyway?
The doors opened on level ten.
"No,"
He pressed the button for seventeen.
The elevator once again started its journey, and this time neither man spoke until it stopped.
Siler was no longer there.
Jack shrugged at Jacob. "Probably caved and took the stairs."
Long trip. Jacob stepped out, only to notice Jack wasn't moving. "Jack?"
The Colonel nodded to the end of the corridor. "Take a left, then a right, then the first door on your left. Probably best to knock first; make sure she's decent."
"You're not coming?"
Grimacing, he shook his head. "Probably not a good idea at the moment."
Frowning, Jacob took a step back towards him. "How does Sam fee-?"
"I don't know," Was the immediate reply. "Really."
There was more than a hint of sadness. Jacob tried not to feel sorry for the guy - this was his daughter - but he failed, just a little. "Listen, Jack, we don't have to mention this again." All this had almost been worth it for the expression of relief that suddenly appeared. "We can leave it-"
"-in the elevator?"
Finally finding something to smile about, or at least not grimacing about, Jacob nodded. "Yeah."
Jack pressed a button, and the doors began to shift. His smile was bitter. "Turns out I'm not too good at that."
And then he was gone.
With a permanent frown now engraved into his forehead, Jacob turned and began to follow Jack's instructions.
Selmak, finding something small to amuse her in the middle of her depression, stirred. {{That was interesting.}}
Jack O’Neill in love with his daughter?
"Shut up," Jacob growled.
~FINIS