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J/D, Pre-Slash, Angst/Humor
Summary: Plans for the first date are upended when Jack and Daniel get into trouble.
Note: “Casting Call” is a play on words.
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Twelve hours earlier. . .
P3X-492. Yet another recon mission for closer Trinium depth analysis.
“This is what SG-13 is supposed to be doing,” Jack grumbled as the humidity rose on their long walk through a sparse forest.
“At least the gate’s not far,” Daniel said.
“Relatively speaking,” Jack replied with a sigh. “I hate humidity. Humidity is only good for one thing. . .” he began. The ground began to rumble.
“Sir!” Carter called out.
“O’Neill!” Teal’c shouted.
“What the fu—” Jack began as the ground began to give way under his feet.
“Jack!” Daniel yelled and reached for him. Their hands had barely touched when the ground disappeared beneath them.
NOW
Infirmary, Isolation Room 5
Sam stood in the observation room, arms crossed, biting at her lip. She looked up as Teal’c and Hammond entered. No one said anything for a moment as they stared down at Janet’s team of nurses and corpsmen as they worked on Jack and Daniel.
Finally, Hammond spoke. “Is the Isolation Room truly necessary if all that was found was fungus?”
Teal’c answered. “Unknown plant material was found in the open wounds of their compound fractures. I believe Doctor Fraiser is being cautious.”
Sam said, “She said she’d rather be safe than sorry, sir. So, the lab’s running tests on the plant material.”
“What was different about it exactly?” he asked.
“It looked . . .” Sam began, still biting her lip. “Charred.”
“Charred?”
“Yes, sir. As if contact with the Colonel and Daniel made it char. We couldn’t discern another cause. But Janet is checking all the boxes.”
Down below, Fraiser looked up, nodded, and left the iso room to join them in the observation room. She snapped off her gloves and said, “Lab says the fungus isn’t charred but a reaction to a foreign substance. Defensive, not offensive. But it’s best to keep them under observation and away from the other patients in the standard ward. We can move them after 48 hours.”
Hammond nodded. “Prognosis?”
“Cautiously, they’ll be fine. But SG-1 is all but down, sir. For at least six months. The colonel fractured his right femur and Daniel fractured his left. They’ll take several weeks to heal and then several more for physical therapy. And then physical training to get them back to mission status.”
“Understood,” Hammond said with a disappointed sigh.
Isolation Room 5
Jack opened his eyes and groaned as his body began to report cuts, bruises, and sores. He started to push up until a nurse, Major Strauss—according to the insignia on her collar and white uniform—placed a hand on his chest and gently kept him from moving further.
“Sir, you’ve got a broken leg. You’re not going anywhere,” she said firmly.
Jack groaned loudly and shaded his eyes with a hand. “Figures. Stupid sinkhole.” He paused, then added, “Where’s Daniel?”
“Next to you,” Daniel said with a resigned tone. “Same condition.”
Jack sighed in relief, then covered it with anger. “Why did you come after me? You got your ass injured.”
Daniel rolled his eyes. “Come after you? Jack, we fell in at the same time. But even if I had gone after you, it falls under leave no one behind, right?” He closed his eyes. “So much for dinner.”
Jack made a grumbling noise. “Temporary set-back. Have to expect them in this job.”
Daniel started to chuckle and the pain in his leg said that was a bad idea. “Ow.” He paused to catch his breath. The pain meds in the IV needed to be turned up. A lot. Finally, he said, his words slightly slurred, “After seven years, we know the drill. It’ll still work, Jack. All it takes is patience and faith.”
Jack could only muster a grunt in agreement as he too fell asleep.
Five Hours Later
The isolation room was quiet except for the soft beeping of the monitors and the occasional rustle of sheets as Jack and Daniel slowly came back to consciousness. The painkillers were still working their magic, but the dull ache of their broken legs was starting to sneak back.
Jack blinked against the low light, squinting up at the ceiling. The clock there read 18:36. “Huh… you think we missed dinner?”
Daniel turned his head, his voice hinting at amusement. “We definitely missed one,” he said pointedly. “But for the one in the mess hall? No. Is that what you meant?”
“Yeah, I meant the one where my stomach is growling,” Jack said.
“We almost slept through it.”
“Not our fault,” Jack mumbled, still groggy. “Pain meds are like a warm blanket.”
“I guess,” Daniel replied. He then tried shifting, clearly uncomfortable.
“You’re thinking about our missed date,” Jack said.
“Yeah.”
“Classic case of bad timing,” Jack grumbled.
Daniel smiled, then winced a little as he adjusted his position. “So, when we’re able to walk again… what do you think? Should we just go ahead and have that date, or should we wait until we’re healed?” He swallowed and felt a little nauseated, hoping Jack didn’t say the latter.
“Strike while the iron is hot.” Jack looked over at him, his expression softening despite the grogginess. “We could always do the whole thing in here, right? No need for a fancy restaurant when we’ve got this place.”
“You mean a sterile, white-walled room with the scent of antiseptic? Romantic.” Daniel’s voice was light, teasing.
“Hey, nothing says, ‘I love you’ like an isolation room,” Jack shot back with a grin. “Maybe we could even make a real dinner out of it.”
The words hung in the air for a moment, and then Daniel laughed, despite the slight discomfort of the situation. “Well, I’d settle for soup, but I have a feeling we’re not going be that lucky.”
Observation Room
Sam looked at Janet with an intrigued smile. Teal’c, standing silently beside them, raised an eyebrow at the conversation unfolding.
“Well, that’s weird,” Sam said, crossing her arms. “A date? Seriously?”
Janet’s eyes narrowed as she watched through the one-way glass. “You know the Colonel. He wouldn’t have said it otherwise.”
Teal’c spoke up in his usual deadpan manner. “It appears they wish to engage in the act of a first date, though under significantly less favorable circumstances.”
“That’s one way to put it,” Sam agreed with a grin, nudging Janet. “So, what do you think? Should we help them out?”
Janet looked at her, then back to the two men. “I think that if they get out of here without being absolutely embarrassed by all of us, we’ve done something wrong.”
Teal’c gave a small nod, his serious expression giving way to the faintest hint of amusement. “Indeed.”
Isolation Room 5
Daniel was wincing in pain, waiting for his turn, as Jack returned from the bathroom, guided by Major Strauss. He eyed his future partner and said, “Hold on, buddy. Just a little more . . .” He grimaced at the discomfort in the small of his back and shifted slightly, testing his balance. “Let me give it a try,” he told the nurse. She let him go as he was only two steps from the bed, but the fresh cast on his leg did nothing to ease the pain and she had a hold of him before his shout of angry frustration was done leaving his chest.
“I don’t like needing a babysitter,” Jack grumbled.
“I don’t blame you, sir. But until you can handle the meds and crutches at the same time, this is our lot for the foreseeable future.” She turned her attention to Daniel, who was grimacing even more. “Let’s get you sorted, Daniel.”
The routine was repeated, and when Daniel was eased back into bed, he sighed. “My back teeth were floating.”
“I could always arrange a catheter,” Strauss said.
“Hell no,” said both men in stereo.
She nodded. “I’ll see about dinner,” she said, and left the Isolation room.
Jack sighed and settled back, grabbing the remote to the bed and raising it slightly. He gave Daniel a concerned look. “You good?”
Daniel didn’t answer right away. He shifted again, groaning softly. “Yeah, just . . . you know.” He cracked an eye open, meeting Jack’s gaze with a wry smile. “How’s the leg?”
“Doin’ great,” Jack said sarcastically. “Couldn’t have picked a better way to spend my afternoon.”
“The next six months, you mean,” Daniel snorted, then winced slightly. “On the whole . . .” He left it unfinished.
“Yep,” Jack agreed, and when a low throb began in his leg, he growled, “Six months. Could be worse.” Daniel didn’t answer. And Jack blurted out, in lower tone, “Listen, about our date . . .”
“Are you changing your mind?” Daniel asked, eyes widening slightly. “I’m not. It’ll just be a while.”
Jack tipped his head in acknowledgement, neither agreeing nor disagreeing. Then his attention was drawn across the room as the door opened and Janet came in pushing a cart.
“Oh, thank Christ,” Jack said, smelling chicken. “I’m starving.”
“Don’t get ahead yourself,” Janet warned as she rolled the cart to the foot of Daniel’s bed. She then placed their covered food trays on the rolling bed trays and slid them into place before taking the remote for each bed and raising them to a sitting position for eating. When she removed the cover from each tray, both men groaned. The chicken was just broth, with a side of unbuttered toast. There was a bowl of cherry Jell-O next to it. Surprisingly, it was topped with whipped cream.
Jack and Daniel exchanged a glance. Daniel pointed at the Jell-O while looking at the man. “Check it out. We gotta present.”
Janet gave them both a long look. “You’re both staying put for another forty-eight, then moved to the regular ward. No private room, sorry, not until we move you again to the hospital at Pederson. So, I figure you may as well have a few perks here and there. Accommodations will suck, gentlemen. But on the bright side, that fungus isn’t a problem. No danger of alien invasions by way of infection. Now, have a good dinner date and I’ll be back later.”
“Wait, what?” Jack snapped.
“Figure of speech,” Janet called as she left, waving at them over her head.
Jack narrowed his eyes. “Is that woman getting squirrely? How the hell did she . . .”
Daniel thumbed at the observation room. “Um.”
Jack looked over and rolled his eyes. “For cryin’ out loud,” he muttered, and picked up the bowl of broth, discarding the spoon. He drank slowly until of the hot liquid was gone, then gave a happy sigh afterward. “Drink your dinner,” he ordered.
“Hmm,” Daniel murmured as he picked up the bowl of Jell-O. Dipping the tip of the spoon into the whipped cream, he said, “You ever do anything creative with whipped cream?”
Jack coughed. “Are you insane? They’re listening.”
“I don’t care,” Daniel said, and spooned some whipped cream and cubed Jell-O into his mouth. He tried extremely hard not to look at Jack as he licked a stray glob of whipped cream off the end of the spoon, and not because the peanut gallery might be in the observation room. From his peripheral vision, he thought he could tell that Jack was watching him. He cleared his throat and carefully spooned the next bit into his mouth, leaving no bits to lick off afterward.
“I know you’re not doing that on purpose,” Jack said.
Daniel slowly let his gaze find Jack and he then looked away because he felt a blush creeping up his cheeks. “No.”
“That’s good,” Jack said tightly, and sighed heavily afterward. He dropped his voice a few octaves. “Because this is neither the time nor the place, and as such, what you just did was sexier than shit.”
Daniel looked over, careful not to let his eyes widen. “It was?” he said, honestly innocent.
Jack barked out a short laugh. “How the hell can you be so experienced, so intelligent, and yet be so utterly surprised when I say something like that? Is it that horrible stupidity in your head about never taking credit for the good things you’ve done?” Daniel didn’t answer and Jack gave a mock scowl. “I’ve got work to do. A lot of work.”
Then Daniel suddenly smiled. It was a shy but knowing one. “Yes. You do.”
End