Staying Behind
by Isabelle Ashe
E-MAIL: thaliamuse2000@yahoo.com
RATING: PG
SEASON: set season 8
SPOILERS: Stargate: Atlantis episode "Rising," "Heroes," "New Order," Stargate: The Movie
CATEGORY: Daniel/Janet, Jack/Daniel friendship, angst
SUMMARY: Why did Daniel want to go on the Atlantis mission, and why didn't Jack let him?
DISCLAIMER: All publicly recognizable characters and
places are the property of MGM, World Gekko Corp and
Double Secret Productions. This piece of fan fiction
was created for entertainment not monetary purposes
and no infringement on copyrights or trademarks was
intended. Previously unrecognized characters and
places, and this story, are copyrighted to the author.
Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is
coincidental and not intended by the
author.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: As far as I'm concerned, the jury's
still out on Atlantis: I don't know whether I like it
or not. My favorite part was Daniel's little role in
the beginning, and I *definitely* think there's a bit
of Daniel/Janet ship to be eeked out there. Hence, I
thought I would roll out (probably?) the first
Daniel/Janet Atlantis fic. This was almost just a
drabble, but I decided to turn it into a vignette;
it's still pretty darn short, though.
General Jack O'Neill scanned the skeleton crew in the
control room. It was nearly midnight, and no teams
were off-world, so only two technicians stood watch.
Jack walked to the window and looked down into the
gate room.
"How long's he been down there?" he asked one of the
sergeants.
"A couple of hours, sir."
Jack nodded and left the room, descending the stairs
into the gate room. A lone figure stood at the base of
the ramp, staring at the dormant stargate. "If you
think this is cool, you should see it when it starts
spinning around and this blue stuff kind of whooshes
out of it."
Daniel Jackson started at his friend's words. "Oh, hi,
Jack. I, uh, didn't hear you come in."
"Whatcha doing?" Daniel didn't answer, and Jack
decided to try a different approach. "You realize it's
late, don't you? And you're scaring the night crew. Go
to bed, Daniel."
"What do you suppose they found when they got there?"
Daniel asked meditatively. "Do you think they found
Atlantis?"
"I certainly hope so. If not, we just spent a whole
lot of time and money, not to mention our one and only
zed-thingy, on nothing."
"Not nothing," Daniel said with conviction. "I know
they found something. I just—I wish I could have been
a part of it."
"We need you here, Daniel," Jack answered without
hesitation.
"But this wasn't just some routine mission, Jack," the
younger man protested. "The Lost City of the Ancients,
Atlantis—it's practically what I've been working
toward my whole life." He paused and looked down at
the floor. "Besides, what do I have for me here
anyway?"
"Your team; your friends. We've worked too hard to get
you back to just go throwing you out to some other
galaxy on a suicide mission."
Daniel sighed with frustration. "I don't think it's a
suicide mission. I mean, even if they can't make it
back, just think of all they can learn. And who knows,
maybe they'll find plenty of power sources to dial
home again. We can hardly imagine what they'll
encounter there."
Jack studied his friend's profile for a long moment.
"Maybe I misjudged your motivations," he conceded.
"But can you tell me truthfully that you wanting to go
on this mission has nothing to do with Janet's death?"
Daniel's head snapped around to face Jack, his face
momentarily stricken with pain. "What do you mean?" he
whispered.
"Look," said Jack, "all I'm saying is I know how when
you lose someone, sometimes you just want to get as
far away from the pain as possible. You know why I
went on the original Abydos mission in the first
place. If that's your motivation, it's not a good
one."
Daniel didn't say anything but nodded faintly.
Finally, he answered slowly: "I really don't know,
Jack. I *am* genuinely excited about the possibility
of finding Atlantis. I think my motivations are pure,
but at the same time," he paused, "the thought of
going away is not exactly unappealing." He pulled off
his glasses and rubbed his eyes.
"If Janet were still alive, would you still want to
go?"
This time, Daniel did not hesitate. "Not for all the
lost cities in the universe."
Jack put his hand on his friend's shoulder and sighed.
He opened his mouth to say something and then closed
it again.
Daniel swallowed hard. "Yeah, well, the question is
really moot anyway. The Atlantis team is long gone,
and—and Janet's—" He took a deep, shaky breath. "It's
getting late. I should probably go to bed."
Jack nodded, not wanting to push too far and allowing
Daniel to end the conversation. "Good idea," he
conceded. "SG-1 has that mission tomorrow, and Carter
and Teal'c need you awake and alert."
Daniel gave the gate one last look before turning and
leaving the room.
"'Night, Daniel," said Jack under his breath.
***
The End
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