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“We’ve got somewhat of a procedure for these kinds of meetings, folks.” General Hammond looked at the newcomers. “For the ease of communications, the natives of this reality will be referred to by their first names, while you, our visitors, will be called by your last names. The visiting Teal’c will be known as Murray. Everyone’s rank and status is assumed, as it has already been confirmed. Does that meet with your approval?”
“Yes, Sir,” O’Neill and Carter replied as Jackson chimed in, “Yes.” Murray indicated his approval with a nod and his favorite “Indeed.”
Hammond continued, “Because we have a maximum of about 48 hours together, we have a planned agenda for visitors who come through our quantum mirror. We are currently in Phase 2, which is the official ‘meet and greet.’ We have up to three hours to discuss your most pressing concerns. We will then break into counterpart groups: the O’Neills together, and so forth. That Phase 3 will last for 12 hours or so, and will include two meals and a sleep shift. Afterward, we’ll have just about a full day to collaborate however is necessary, during Phase 4. We prefer to send our guests back about 40 hours after arrival, which we will do no later than 45 hours after your arrival to keep everyone safe. Any questions?”
About three hours later, SG-1 separated into four groups of two. Jack led O’Neill to his office.
O’Neill looked at Jack. “What’s with you and Daniel?”
“Our sweet, gentle Daniel? He’s become a well above average soldier these last few years. He’s also been working out more recently, right? Training with Teal’c on staff weapons? Yoga? Our gangly geek has become quite the graceful warrior, hasn’t he? Don’t tell me; I can tell by the way you watched him walk away from you. You’ve been looking in the showers; surely you’ve seen the gun show. Haven’t you?” Jack asked.
O’Neill flushed briefly, nodding in reply.
“That ‘sweet, gentle Daniel’ is a beast, O’Neill. He needs a hole to empty his balls into, on average, three times a day.”
That got his counterpart’s attention. Jack watched O’Neill’s facial expression closely as he revealed this intimate secret. O’Neill’s face first briefly registered shock, quickly followed by blown pupils.
Jack chuckled softly. “So you have thought about it.” O’Neill remained silent, and looked at his feet.
“O’Neill.” O’Neill looked up, and Jack looked him in the eye. His tone was quiet, and deadly serious. “If you’ve never been with Daniel, I promise you that you’ve never had a real orgasm in your entire life.”
O’Neill made a strangled noise in the back of his throat, still dumbstruck from Jack’s revelations.
Jack continued, “Your reality seems to be the closest one to our own that we’ve encountered so far. If your Daniel is anything like mine—and it damn sure seems like he is—he will worship you. And all he needs to fuel it, in return, is your worship.”
Hot tears began to prickle behind O’Neill’s eyes. He quickly blinked them away, and whispered, “I already do.”
“You thought the Stargate blew your mind open?” Jack snorted. “That’s nothing—nothing—compared with the love from that incredible soul. You need to get the fuck out of your own way and go claim your soulmate. He belongs to you. Hell, my Daniel is probably telling him all about it right now.”
O’Neill’s eyes flashed with anger and frustration. “Okay, genius, I’m listening. How’d it happen? We’ve got DADT, too, you know.”
Now it was Jack’s turn to blush. “I read his journal,” he admitted.
O’Neill blew out a breath. “You did what?!”
Jack sighed. “Before I knew the outcome, I wouldn’t have called it one of my proudest moments. However, since it all worked out, it was the best dumbass decision I ever made. I came to his office looking for him, hoping we could have lunch together, just like most days. He’d been held up in a meeting that ran long, and I was bored. So, like I always do, I picked something up and started fiddling with it. I didn’t realize it was his personal journal; at the time, I thought it’d be interesting to get a glimpse into his take on our missions—you know, unsanitized…like our official reports are.
“He walked in while I was reading his latest sexual fantasy about us. It described in detail how he planned to let me know how he felt about me. Or, more accurately, how he planned to get into my pants. Unsurprisingly, he was livid with me. That is, until I closed and locked his office door and kissed him. At that point, it seemed a safe bet that he felt the same way about me. It was the best risk I ever took.
“We’ve been together for nearly three years, and I love him more every day. I don’t think I could live without him, and the feeling is absolutely mutual. I don’t ever want him more than 90 seconds away from me. We’ve done a good job of keeping our secret, so at least for now, we don’t have to worry about being apart. Certain key people here know; they help us maintain our cover.”
O’Neill sputtered, hissing, “You told people?! You do know what ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ means, right?”
Jack held his hands palms-out to O’Neill. “Relax, O’Neill. I’m about to tell you why. Doc Frasier had to be told. We refused to risk being found out during one of our damned thrice-daily medical exams, and relied on doctor-patient privilege. And, as it turned out, she gave us a secret of her own to keep.”
“Oh?” O’Neill raised an eyebrow, intrigued.
“Yeah. In this reality, Janet and Carter—err, sorry, Sam, have been together pretty much since the day Janet was stationed here. So Sam and Janet know; we keep their secret, and regularly hang out together to keep up appearances. Teal’c knows, too. Those three people are the only people on this planet who officially know.”
“And…unofficially?”
“I’m certain Hammond suspects. Hell, I’m 95% sure Hammond is sure. George, I’ll never ask or tell. But that man loves Daniel almost as much as I do; loves him like a son. He thinks Daniel hung the moon. I’m pretty sure we’d be safe with George unless Daniel and I had sex in front of the President. We strongly suspect Jacob has figured it out. Thor totally knows…”
“I don’t understand why you’re telling me all this. To remind me of what I don’t have? The risks? For crying out loud, that’s why I’ve settled for the friendship being enough.” O’Neill sighed, scrubbing his hand across his face.
Jack hadn’t expected that response. “As a matter of fact…yes. I do want to remind you what you don’t have. And you obviously know the risks as well as I do. I’m telling you all of this so that you don’t miss out on the chance of a lifetime. The love of a lifetime. Walk away from all your preconceived notions about what a relationship is supposed to be. Just…walk away. This is different. This is better. So much better than anything you’ve ever imagined. The rewards outweigh the risks by magnitudes.
“My cousin emailed me this cat picture a few months back. It said ‘Be the person you needed when you were younger.’ At the time I rolled my eyes, but later that day it struck me that if I had the chance to tell my younger self about the life I’m living today—if I could tell him that one day I would honest-to-god end up with something to truly live for—I might have felt better about some of the things I did in the field.” Jack looked into O’Neill’s eyes again, waiting for his double to let that statement sink in.
Jack continued, “The last time we had an encounter with an alternate reality, we decided to start an ongoing package to give to our alternate selves; you know, specifications, gate addresses, tactics: anything we could share that might give our counterparts an advantage—whether or not it might be something they already had. You guys will get one too, to take back with you.
“Anyway, while we were putting it together, I remembered that damn cat and realized I had the chance to be the person my other selves might need. I can’t help Past Jack, but I can help Other Jacks. And so now you have my personal care package to you. That is why I’m telling you all this.”
“I…don’t really know what to say.” O’Neill’s mind was reeling from information overload. Suddenly, he scrunched up his entire face. “So, you bottom?”
Jack barked out a short laugh. “Wow. You just went directly there, huh? That’s what you got out of all this? No, I don’t exclusively bottom, although the ratio is probably 70/30ish.”
O’Neill blushed. “And…you like it?”
Jack’s amused eyes turned soft. “Like nothing ever before. The first few times we had sex, I topped Daniel, but I didn’t ever want him to feel like he isn’t my equal. Make a note of that, by the way. He is your equal, in all things. In all things. Be sure he always knows that, okay?
“Daniel took my virginity; tell me, do I in any way seem emasculated to you? The first two times were good, but on the third time, I had my first prostate orgasm. Ever had one of those?” He waggled his eyebrows at his counterpart suggestively.
“No. I never really understood the appeal of the…mechanics of all that.”
“Listen to me. If you take absolutely none of my other advice, take this: When you get home, get on the internet and do some research. Buy yourself a toy.”
O’Neill winced. “Do what now?”
Jack gave O’Neill an indulgent smile. “There are zillions of sex toys for men, too, you know. You owe it to yourself to have the experience. It is a…truly amazing thing. But give yourself a few times to figure out how to get it just right. I know damn well you didn’t learn how to jerk off properly in a day. Besides, I’m pretty confident that you and Daniel will figure all this out soon; in which case, you’ll be grateful for the advice. I wouldn’t trade how it went for me for the world, but if for some reason I’m wrong here, at least you’ll still be coming like a freight train.
“Did it escape your notice how much more tightly strung your Daniel is than mine? How on guard he is? I think not. My Daniel has learned how to live in his own body, as well as exactly how to use it. That’s because he’s sexually satisfied. Not to mention because he understands how much he’s loved. He’s sharper, more perceptive, and an even quicker wit these days. He’s a goddamned treasure.”
“Jesus, Jack, you’ve got it real bad, don’t you?” O’Neill sneered.
Jack smirked. “No worse than you, my friend. The biggest difference between you and me is, I’m not pining anymore. I’ve got more than I ever wanted. I feel like I owe it to you to help you get it, too.”
O’Neill shook his head, looking defeated. “I understand loving Daniel. That’s not new, not by a long shot. I…fantasize about him, but I literally have no frame of reference when it comes to the sex.”
“I think you’re looking at it from the wrong angle. Any two people who have sex with each other have to teach and learn how to please each other, right?”
O’Neill perked up at that. “You’re right. I…never thought about it that way. So you’re saying Daniel and I can teach each other how to do the sex?”
Eyes dancing, Jack laughed. “Of course. And there will be bad sex, messy sex, and every other kind of sex as well. Here in this reality, Daniel had quite a bit of experience with other men; he’s always been bisexual. Now that we’re pretty much experts with each other’s bodies, sex with Daniel is transcendent. He will fuck your mind. He likes to tell me—in painfully exquisite detail—exactly how he wants to make me come each time, and then carries out his plan exactly as described.”
Jack heard O’Neill make another strangled sound, and noticed his dilemma. “Sorry, man. I got hard thinking about that, too. My bad.
“But seriously. Some day the Stargate program will go public. Let Daniel write the book of memoirs on the Stargate adventures. You write the book of your love story for after DADT is repealed and you can get married. That story’s every bit as important as the ‘Gate itself, because it’s all intertwined. If you end up with a love that approaches ours, we’re talking about the love of a generation—and not because Daniel is one of his generation’s best minds. Take the chance. I don’t know enough details about your ‘normal’ relationship with Daniel, so I can’t necessarily tell you the best way to proceed. But I urge you to figure it out. Don’t make me hunt you down. I don’t relish the idea of experiencing cascade tremors.”