Archive of Our Own ^beta

"Jack..."

In the darkened bedroom, Danielle's voice was barely above a whisper as she drew out his name like a physical caress. She said it that way, often, knew the effect that the lazy, husky drawl had on him. Direct line right to his cock, never failed. It was precisely why she was forbidden from calling him 'General O'Neill' anywhere that he couldn't just haul her to the nearest horizontal position and molest her extremely delectable person. Jack was pretty sure that being addressed by rank wasn't supposed to be a guaranteed turn on but...yeah. Danielle saying it in *that* voice, almost always accompanied by the pout and the fluttering eyelashes, brought whole new meaning to the words unscheduled activation.

He'd thought about asking General Hammond about it, but, well, there were just some things about George that he really didn't want to know.

"Jack..." Rolling over to face him, Danielle hooked one leg over his, pressing the length of her body against him. Bare naked archaeologist pressed up against bare naked general...Jack couldn't really see the bad in that. Well, he could and whatever she was gearing up to ask him was gonna be a doozy. She was hitting every last one of his favorite kinks, right down to peering at him through messy hair with the perfect mix of innocence and mischief.

He really had to learn some willpower where Danielle was concerned. Really had to. He gave in way too easily to her. Course, in his defence, Danielle could be damned persuasive when she wanted to be with the arsenal of tricks she had up her sleeve. Like the big blue eyes, and oh lord, there it was...

She'd broken out the pout.

The pout with the peek?

Dammit.

"Jack..." Saying his name again, Danielle let her fingers start playing over his chest. "You up?"

Was he up? Was she kidding? He got any more up he'd be hitting himself in the forehead. Something, he was sure, she was damn well aware of but, nevertheless, he went with the standard male response to such a question.

Noncommital grunt.

She smiled knowingly, a quick flash in the dimly lit room, and yup, that confirmed it. He'd officially been a bad influence on her. Not that he particularly minded. When Danielle decided to put all that training to use...he ended up walking around the base with a smirk the size of Texas on his face. "We needed to talk about something."

Oh, she *was* good. She'd used her most persuasive 'oh please, Jack?' look, the strength of which had to be set on No Mercy and he was already losing ground. When exactly had he lost his ability to say no to her?

Danielle shifted closer, propping her head up on her free hand, watching him with those eyes and he remembered.

What ability to say no? He'd never had one. Not that she'd listen if he did.

"Talk about what, exactly?" He asked, going for nonchalance but spoiling the effect by staring at her mouth. She would pick that moment to lick her bottom lip.

Dammit.

"The Antarctic base."

He blinked. Okay, hadn't seen *that one* coming. Middle of the night, a night spent occupied by - if he did say so himself - the best sex of their lives and she wanted to talk about the friggin' *Antarctic Base*? The Ancients?

So, not as bad an influence he'd thought.

"You wanna talk shop *now*?!"

The disbelief in his voice elicited a soft laugh. "Clearly, or I wouldn't have brought it up."

He gave her a suspicious look even as he slid a hand back and forth on her thigh. "Trying to take advantage of the post coital mush that you've left my brain in, huh?" He lifted a brow and would've bet a month's pay she blushed in response. It never ceased to amuse that a forty year old woman with a wickedly inventive mind could still blush at the drop of a hat. Or, more accurately, a slightly suggestive comment made by him.

Danielle rolled her eyes and slapped his chest lightly. "Behave."

He grinned. "I am."

If she'd been wearing her glasses, the 'yeah right, try me again, Jack' look would've been more effective. Without the over the rims look it just didn't pack the same punch but he still got the message loud and clear.

Not that he was paying any attention to it. He never did. Which, of course she knew. But she did it anyway.

"Right," he waved the hand that had been on her thigh, gesturing for her to continue. "Behave. So, what about the Antarctic base?" If Weir thought she was gonna steal away his own personal geek...Lady had another thing coming. He really didn't want to have to kill her though. He kinda liked Liz.

"They need my help." Danielle explained quickly, clearly expecting resistence, confirming his suspicions. "Elizabeth's been asking me for a while."

"Not a chance in hell." Well, whaddya know? He *could* say no to Danielle. Quite vehemently in fact. Just to be sure, he tried it again. "You are *not* running off to Antarctica, Danielle. No." Ooh, he could do it. Jack played about with the discovery in his head, slightly tempted to go mad with power. 'No, Danielle, no getting out of bed for a week.' 'No, Danielle, do not stop to check 'just one more thing'...

Of course, that last one might've come in handy if he'd learned it say, when he was still in the field. Not that she'd listen but...ah well. She was talking again.

Or, more accurately, frowning at him and talking again. "Why not? They need me, Jack."

Nooo...He needed her. They couldn't possibly need her as much as he did. Nope. Not even close. Let Weir get her own damn linguist. Jonas maybe. He'd picked up a fine command of the Ancient language. Seeing she was clearly waiting for an explanation, Jack fumbled for one. "Now's a bad time, Danielle. With yet another changeover in command, the SGC needs its top people working on base. Not another continent." So, yeah, he definitely needed to practice his 'General'. That one had sounded flimsy even to him. Trying again, he added, "Besides, you've gotta be here to make sure I don't piss the boys in the Pentagon off too much or declare war on Finland or something."

"That's what you've got Paul for...and, well, Jack, I don't think you *can* declare war on anybody. At least, nobody on this planet anyway." She shifted her leg, rubbing it against him, sending all manner of nice sparky feelings through already highly interested areas. "I've been working off video and photos from the site but it's not enough. I need to get down there and look around the outpost with my own eyes. The translation'll go much faster if I can."

It was his turn to frown. She'd been thinking this one over before bringing it up. Dammit. "You've got an entire department of linguists and geek types working for you, Danielle. Send one of them."

At the word geek she looked heavenward and Jack was yet again happy that she'd left all those handy dandy superpowers behind with Oma and the gang. He'd've gotten one of those lovely lightning bolts for that for sure. Course, he still was gonna pay for it. She was just going to think on it a bit before letting him have it. He sensed hours of educational programming in his future. The Discovery Channel, those damn A & E specials she loved so much...

The things he did for love.

"I'd love to." She responded in that infuriatingly logical voice he hated. The one that she used when she was right and he didn't have a leg to stand on. The traitors. "And, just as soon as you can point out one that's had as much experience with the languages of the Ancients as I have, I will." She tilted her head, watching him knowingly. Yup, she had him there and they both knew it. Danielle was the SGC's foremost expert on the Ancients. Hell, she'd gone native for a year. None of the others could make the same claim. If they wanted it done right...

He scowled, stymied, and she smiled triumphantly. "How long?" Before she could answer, he held up a cautioning finger. "Keeping in mind this is not me saying yes. This is me wondering how long."

"It depends." Danielle hedged, smile dimming, sensing that her victory might be on shaky ground. Even if she was the most qualified, Jack could still get her on the length of time involved.

"On what exactly?"

"The material. There's just so much down there..." She looked on the verge of one of her infamous long winded monologues but one look from him convinced her to go with the Cliff Notes version. "My primary intent is finding out where Atlantis really is and just what we have down there we can use at present but I will be trying to teach some of Elizabeth's people, including Elizabeth herself, enough of the language to be able to do some of it themselves. I mean, I could easily spend years studying the -- " She was cut off, mid ramble, when Jack pulled her mouth down to his for an enthusiastic kiss.

Caught off guard, she fell forward on to him, her hands pressing into the pillow on either side of his head. Recovering quickly from the surprise, she returned the kiss with much enthusiasm of her own. She moaned quietly when Jack's hands skimmed over her body, mapping out the curves, before he reluctantly released her.

Blinking hard, Danielle unconsciously licked her lower lip as she tried very hard to regain her train of thought.

"How long did you say exactly?" He prompted with a faint grin.

"Umm...not really, not...not long." She managed finally, stammering over her words. "A couple of months, possibly?"

Jack kissed her again, feeling Danielle melt into the kiss just a little more, her resistence waning. "Yeah?"

"Yeah." She nodded absently. "And, um, you can visit, right? Often?"

"Oh yeah...I can visit. Plus, there's always phone sex."

"JACK!"