Adjustments, Part 7
Mar. 22nd, 2006 09:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
brainofckTitle: Adjustments, Part 7
Author:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
muck_a_luck, posting in brainofck
Pairing: Daniel Jackson/Jack O'Neill
Rating: PG for most parts, NC-17 eventually
Summary: This story is a close cousin of Metamorphosis, except in this story, Daniel really has changed into a woman.
Content/warnings: Het content.
Disclaimer: If anybody is planning a script like this for SG-1, I'm certainly not going to claim any rights to it. However, I'd be delighted to work in a co-writing/consulting/first-reader/advisory-type capacity, with my fee to be negotiated at that time. :D
Archive rights: Absolutely none. My journals only.muck_a_luck and brainofck
The Matrix: She. The Matrix is located here.
For my loyal![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
rugbytacklers, I have done a Stargate crash course located here.
Adjustments, Part 1
Adjustments, Part 2
Adjustments, Part 3
Adjustments, Part 4
Adjustments, Part 5
Adjustments, Part 6
"Daniel! Oh my God! You wore girl clothes!"
He felt himself blush furiously and hated the little hesitation he felt in his own stride. He wanted people to notice, after all. That was the whole point of wearing the clothes to begin with.
Trust Cassie to announce his arrival to the crowd, though. He had just enough time to scan the yard and see that every eye was on him, before the girl barreled into him and he was being squeezed breathless by a child who really ought to still be child-sized, but now was almost exactly his own height. He returned the hug gratefully and kissed her cheek. It saved him from having to acknowledge anyone else in the yard for a few minutes.
Then Cassie grabbed him by the hand and dragged him across the yard.
"Cassie!" he protested, holding up the grocery bags in his other hand, but it was too late. With a final tug of Cassie's hand, he was standing before a jury of his peers. Sam, Janet, a couple of wives whose names he should know but didn't, Sergeant Jenkins, the only nurse who could draw blood from his arm without his veins collapsing. They were all eyeing him appraisingly. He waited for them to challenge him. Ask him what the hell he thought he was doing. He stood there in the warm spring sunshine and waited for the condemnation.
"Well, it's about time!" Janet said with a warm smile. Strangely, at this picnic being hosted by a single man, it was Janet and not Sam who seemed to be playing hostess.
"Gloria!" Janet called to a girl about Cassie's age sitting with a woman Daniel didn't recognize at the end of the table. Probably her mother. "Take Dani's bags into the kitchen." Janet peered inside and laughed. "You can tell Jack that as usual Dani brought the only decent beer at this party."
The girl smiled delightedly, snatched up the bags and proceeded to bounce across the yard.
Cassie rolled her eyes in annoyance.
"She has such a crush on Jack," Cassie said in disgust, though Daniel wasn't sure that he didn't see a little spark of jealousy under there. Cassie turned around to look at him again.
"You look great! But now you need to do something with your hair.
Daniel blushed again.
"You went shopping without me," Sam said accusingly.
He had. He had gone and gotten himself a pair of denim shorts that looked adorable with the simple camisole. But otherwise he'd just put on the Birks he wore around the house, rather than his usual day hikers. Looking at himself in the mirror this morning, he hadn't been neutral anymore. He was all bare arms, bare shoulders, bare legs and thighs and feet. He had almost chickened out. But today was not about hiding or being neutral. Today was his first day as a native, and he was not going to lose his nerve now.
Still. No sense starting off with one of the most important emissaries of his new culture angry with him.
"It was Teal'c's fault," Daniel said defensively, not hesitating to place blame where blame was due. "He bought me the top."
Sam spluttered into her bottle. It seemed the entire knot of women was drinking wine coolers. Very Berry seemed to be the flavor of choice. As all of his good beer had been sent to the kitchen, he flopped down next to Janet on the grass and reached back to fish around in the mini cooler for another bottle. Cassie sat behind him and immediately began stroking her fingers through his hair. Gloria came back and sat next to her.
"Teal'c?!" Sam asked.
"I'm guessing mail-order," Daniel said. "He does have a computer with an internet connection, after all."
Sam snickered.
"He also sits around my lab looking at all my junk mail," she confided. "Then the Colonel comes in hoping for a chance to filch my Victoria's Secret catalog and it's not there. It makes him very cranky."
The girls behind him giggled, particularly Gloria.
They tugged and pulled at his hair. He didn't even want to know what they were doing to it, but he gathered they were putting in cornrows.
"He'll be so pleased, then," Daniel said with a chuckle. "I put him down on their mailing list while I when there last night." More giggles from Gloria.
"They are having the best sale on panties right now!" said Sgt. Jenkins. The whole group descended into a round of small talk about underwear and bras. Apparently this was a topic that could open up communication, crossing boundaries between civilian and military, the medically trained and those who were not. It didn't require any security clearance.
Daniel leaned back on his arms and enjoyed the sun on his skin and the soothing tug of the girls braiding his hair. He finished off his first bottle, then his second, and listened attentively to all the things he ever might want to know about panties.
The sound of Jack's voice booming across the yard brought made him open his eyes. The group of women went quiet, with a storm of giggles from the two girls behind him and he was sure a few stifled chuckles from Sam and Janet, as well.
"So, ladies!" he called, striding over to them. "Who's eating what?" Then he let his eyes fall to Daniel and he adopted an expression of mock horror. Daniel felt a small, unexpected thrill of fear as Jack's eyes flickered over his bare legs. Then he was fully focused on the young women behind him.
"WHAT are you people doing to Dan-" Jack stumbled over what to call him and Daniel realized that after all these months they hadn't clued Jack in on the cover name."- my archaeologist's hair?!"
More giggles. Accompanied by excited tugging on his new braids.
"Ow," he muttered, then just followed the tugging and slumped back onto the two girls behind him. After much wiggling and squirming, he found himself on the ground staring up at the sky.
"Just stop that right now! Fix it!"
Then the mock scolding was over and Jack had turned his attention to rattling off the dinner options to Nurse Jenkins. Cassie was rolling her eyes at her honorary uncle. Gloria was bright-eyed and giddy from the attention.
"Well?!" suddenly Jack loomed into his vision.
"Uh?" Daniel responded intelligently. Jack looked about fifty feet tall from this position.
"Steak!" shouted Cassie.
"Good girl, that's the spirit!" Jack approved. "Gloria?"
"Me, too, steak!" Gloria agreed. Now both Cassie and Daniel were rolling their eyes.
"Excellent!" Jack rubbed his hands with all the glee of Mr. Burns hatching an evil and devious scheme.
Jack was finally looking at him again, and again stuck on what to call him. Janet stepped in.
"Dani? Chicken, hot dog, burger, or steak?" Janet prompted.
Daniel smirked to himself. He knew the right answer to this question.
"Chicken," he said, pushing himself up onto his elbows and smiling sweetly.
"Traitor!" Jack howled. Gloria could barely contain herself.
"So that comes to," Jack said, turning and eyeing the circle warily. "Chicken, chicken, chicken, chicken, chicken, chicken, steak, steak, and..." he paused for dramatic effect, "chicken." He sighed. "You are such a girl Danny," he finished. That got giggles from Sam, Janet, and Cassie. Daniel got the impression that Gloria might be pouting.
Jack pointed at his two hair stylists.
"You two. Make with the hair."
From the way Gloria was pulling the braids out, Daniel was very sure she was pouting now.
Then Jack was sauntering off, responding to hungry jeers from the poker table with "You ladies have to wait 'til I've taken care of those ladies!"
Freed from his duties as the entertainment for Cassie and Gloria, Daniel picked out a fourth bottle from the cooler – something peach calling itself Sex On the Beach.
"I should say hello to people," he said to Sam, who smirked back at him.
"What?" he asked. She was looking at his hair. He reached up to touch it. It was standing out from his head and felt kind of fluffy and kinky.
"You should get a perm," Cassie commented. "Or maybe we should just get you some hot sticks. Your hair takes curl really well." Daniel had no idea what to say to this, but Janet and Sam were collapsing on themselves laughing.
"Oh, yeah, sorry. I should have warned you," Daniel choked to Cassie and Gloria. If there was one thing his work with the SGC had taught him, it was how to bullshit your way out of a tricky situation.
"I had no idea Jack was dating!" said one of the women Daniel barely recognized. He realized with a certain amount of guilt that she was Ferretti's fiancé.
Nurse Jenkins nodded seriously in agreement, a teasing smile lurking in her dark eyes. She had been one of the hearts broken when Daniel originally cut his hair, as revealed by Sam in one of their adjustment sessions.
"It's about time," she said heartily.
"Sorry?" he asked. Then he understood. "Oh! No! I work on Jack's team, up at the mountain!"
"Really?" replied Ferretti's girlfriend. Daniel was starting to feel very annoyed with himself that he had let himself be dragged around by Cassie without making the rounds and getting introductions first. "What's an archaeologist do on a deep space radio telemetry project?"
Sam leaped in.
"Dani works with us because of her other specialty. She's got a PhD in linguistics. Anything really good or juicy comes in – she works it over, looking for signs of language or intelligent communication."
Ferretti's girlfriend looked first at Daniel, then her eyes cutting over to where Ferretti was playing poker with the boys. She was obviously the jealous type, and Daniel was setting her off. He wondered what a guy like Ferretti, who spent days, sometimes weeks away, told his fiancé about his absences.
Suddenly, Daniel needed a moment away from the tribe.
"I'm gonna go say 'hey' to Teal'c and Kowalski," he said more or less to everyone, and headed for the two men, sitting in lawn chairs in a shady spot, watching the poker table.
"So? What do you think?" he asked Teal'c. He gave a little twirl to show it all off. The spin left him a bit dizzy, and he flopped on the grass at their feet. A wine cooler too many, then? He took a long swallow of his Sex on the Beach in defiance of his lowered tolerances.
Teal'c gave him a pleased smile and nod of approval.
"I think the season becomes you, DanielJackson," he murmured.
The compliment flustered him, and had him blushing right down to the tips of his sandaled toes.
"And I think if you're not careful you're gonna get a reputation as the slut of the SGC," Kowalski snorted. "We've got some weird dynamics going on. Anna looks like she's ready to rip your head off. Jack looks like he might be thinking the same thing about me and Teal'c. Well, me at least."
Anna! That was the fiancé's name.
Daniel picked himself up from the grass again.
"If Anna's that type of woman, she and Ferretti are never going to last," Daniel said, not a little sadly. "I never even mentioned his name. Does he have a clue?"
Kowalski grinned. "He thinks it's adorable."
Daniel shrugged. "Well, speaking of Jack, it's time to go say 'hello' to our host."
Jack had just taken the chair for a quick hand at the poker table, leaving the chicken under the watchful eye of General Hammond.
Daniel walked over to the table, taking a quick inventory of the hands of the players. Dixon had a good hand. Pierce did, too. Mr. Nurse Jenkins had nothing. Ferretti looked to be the real winner. When he finally circled around behind Jack, he had to grin. Jack's hand was worse than Jenkins'.
"Hey! Jackson! No cheating!" objected Pierce with a good-natured grumble.
"Ya? Nikogda!" Daniel protested in amusement. Ferretti and Dixon were eyeing him suspiciously. Daniel rolled his eyes.
"Hey, guys. My Russki extends to da, nyet, spacibo and do svedania," said Jack. "Oh. And 'Ya amerikanskii spi.' Couldn't get through any Air Force language program in the '80's without learning that little gem."
"Besides, all she said was that she would never cheat," Jenkins commented, bemusedly eyeing the rest of the group, obviously not able to see what they found so suspicious about Daniel's presence.
Daniel couldn't get over how jarring it was for someone to call him "she." Nobody ever did that. Not a single person in the entire SGC.
He shook his head and smiled to himself. Today he wanted to be "she" and "her". Today was his first day as a native, right?
Daniel wanted to cheat, just because it was fun. He knew they were all watching him. He let the grin slip out again, just a flicker, before putting on his best concerned and thoughtful expression, complete with worry lines. They all caught it.
Dixon huffed in disgust and folded. "I'm out," he said.
Jenkins laughed and did the same, Pierce following him immediately.
"Hey!" Jack protested. "I just sat down for one hand. You guys not even gonna make this interesting?!" Jack craned around to look up at Daniel who just shrugged and put on his most confused face. He certainly didn't know anything. Jack's eyes narrowed suspiciously. Ferretti was looking back and forth, first at Daniel, then at Jack. Daniel gave him big innocent eyes. He growled and threw in his cards, muttering "Damn SG-1," and getting a snort from Pierce and Dixon.
Jack just shook his head in confusion and showed his cards.
"Read 'em and weep, gentlemen," he said laughing. He stood up from the table, pocketing his winnings of two dollars in change and turned to tower over Daniel. "I don't know what you did…" he said menacingly, tapping Daniel on the chest. For a moment Daniel's heart stopped, and he fought the reflex to look to Teal'c for help. Then Jack broke out into a huge grin. "…but good work!" he crowed, throwing his arm around Daniel's shoulders and dragging him over to the grill, where General Hammond was applying a last basting of barbecue sauce to the chicken before serving it out onto paper plates.
"Colonel?" the General asked, pointedly noting Jack's warm arm around Daniel's shoulder. Almost in defiance of his commanding officer's obvious disapproval, Jack bent to plant an affectionate kiss deep in Daniel's fluffed out hair, taking a deep breath of him before finally stepping back and letting him go. It took a fair amount of concentration and self-control on Daniel's part not to stumble. He carefully leaned against the railing of the deck, and had a really long drink from his bottle.
"Just something for Anna to see," Jack said softly, smiling delightedly at Daniel, as if he'd never been happier. "She looks like she'd like to tear his hair out, and as much fun as a catfight can be, it's not very classy for the neighbors to see one in your own yard."
"Yeah, well, I have to go back over there and sit with Gloria in a minute. Thanks a lot," Daniel said, pleased he didn't sound as breathless as he felt.
"So go sit with Teal'c. He'll protect you from the jealous twelve-year-old threat," Jack suggested, but Daniel was amused to see that he actually blushed. Daniel laughed. Though it came out sounding disturbingly like a giggle.
"Sounds like you've had a few too many wine coolers there, Daniel," Jack said. The smile was still there, and so was the blush, but Daniel met his eyes, and suddenly he knew the moment had passed. Jack turned back to the poker table and the men sitting on the lawn.
"Now how about you ladies? And Teal'c of course…"
Daniel sighed and didn't listen to the rest of the manly banter, just went to pick up a plate of chicken and take some potato salad from the table. The other women took their cue from him, getting up to come over and fill their plates. Gloria was sulking, and Cassie walked away from her in a huff and joined her mother.
Daniel didn’t feel like mixing with any of them. He stood leaning against the deck farthest from where Jack and Ferretti were now sniping at each other over the grill. General Hammond came over to stand next to him.
"I'm sorry this has been so hard for the two of you, son," he said very quietly, turned away from the activity on the deck, watching his granddaughters playing on the lawn. "I've thought about just moving you off SG-1 more than once, but then I couldn't imagine doing that. And I couldn't imagine moving Jack either. So I've left you two together, hoping you would find a way through the impasse. You always have before. Did I make a mistake?"
Daniel sighed and shook his head.
"I've thought about just quitting the program altogether, actually," he replied. Hammond twisted his head quickly, looking alarmed. "But I couldn't stand the thought of life on the outside after all this time and all the…" he gestured vaguely at himself. He grimaced.
"Well, for what it's worth, Dr. Jackson, I'm glad you decided to stay with us. And I think you're doing the right thing today, however Colonel O'Neill is reacting. Things have changed, and they don't look like they're changing back anytime soon. Might as well make the adjustment."
He looked at Daniel with a fond smile.
"You look lovely, if you don't mind my saying so. It's no wonder Anna's jealous." Then to Daniel's complete mortification, the General leaned over and placed a gentle grandfatherly kiss on his forehead. Then he picked up his plate and made his way out onto the lawn again to tell his granddaughters they had to give up on the horseshoes and get something to eat.
Daniel almost left.
Jack's little burst of, well, whatever that was. Anna's eyes following him around the yard. The residual flush of Teal'c's courtly compliment. General Hammond kissing him.
He almost gave it up.
But the whole point of the exercise had been to see if he could help Jack to see him differently. And to be fair, the results had been exactly what he wanted. This afternoon, at this picnic, he was Dani Jackson. He was she. Him was her. It was difficult and upsetting, and Daniel felt a little of that panic he used to feel back at the beginning, but he knew he could handle it, if he just held on and kept his eyes on the goal. And he thought at least now he had a better goal. It wasn't just to find a way to endure the bizarre unexpectedness of changing sexes. This time his goal was Jack. If he could achieve it, that goal was worth a lot of gentle forehead kisses from George Hammond.
So he didn't leave.
He finally went and sat directly between Sam and Janet, 'til the acquaintances headed home, until the General had to get his granddaughters off to bed, until Anna finally dragged Ferretti away from Jack and Kowalski and the poker table. And then Kowalski left, and Cassie had to get home to finish up some homework, and Sam drove Teal'c back to the base, and it was just him and Jack, cleaning up the last of the debris from the yard and putting the leftovers in the fridge.
They were standing on the cleared deck, watching the fireflies come out. Jack was drinking Daniel's good beer, as it was all that was left. Daniel had the last Very Berry wine cooler.
"I wish you hadn't worn that," Jack said quietly.
"Teal'c bought it. He thought it would be a push in the right direction."
"Teal'c?!" he choked out. There was a long pause.
"And what direction, exactly?" he asked darkly.
"He said, 'The situation is intolerable, DanielJackson,' and actually, I agreed with him."
"So, what? The situation is remedied when the two of you go shopping? You should have to answer to Carter for acting like a couple of girls," Jack sneered.
Daniel shrugged. He hugged himself against Jack's anger. He regretted the shorts now, for the hundredth time that afternoon. He felt too exposed.
"The thought was that I had to be willing to adjust. I needed to show you that I know who I am. That I'm not fighting this anymore."
Jack turned and looked at him. Daniel could see that he was confused, as well as angry.
"You're not supposed to be - this," Jack said haltingly. Daniel saw Jack's eyes linger on his bare arms, wander down over his hips and legs then drift away. Daniel's cheeks felt warm. Despite Jack's hostility, Daniel felt himself tingling in his fingers, his breasts, his thighs, just from the caress of Jack's eyes over his body. Suddenly, it was time to sit. His knees felt weak. He turned and walked back into the house. Gave in to weakness and huddled down into the arm of the couch.
Jack followed him in. Looking at him, Daniel thought Teal'c was wrong. This was just making Jack more defensive, more angry. Daniel trying to be the woman he could be was just making Jack hate him.
"I can't believe you've done this again," Jack growled.
"What, exactly," Daniel asked tiredly.
"Set yourself up to be alone with me. Not the slightest bit worried or alert. You're half drunk and dressed..." he didn't look, this time, just gestured.
"Dressed?" Daniel asked with raised eyebrows. Jack just gave him a dirty look. Daniel sighed in exasperation.
"Women don't spend all their time terrified of their male friends, Jack. Sam wouldn't be worried about staying to help you clean up. Janet wouldn't be afraid to be alone with you."
"Yeah, but I can keep my hands off them, can't I? One afternoon watching you parade around my backyard in that outfit, and I'm sniffing you right in front of the General. And you don't see any reason to be worried about being alone with me?"
"Nope," said Daniel, with more confidence than he felt at the moment.
"You know the things I could do with that body of yours?" Jack was practically snarling.
"Yeah, Jack, I've got a pretty good idea. I've been on your end of these kind of situations before."
Daniel manged to keep his voice level, even cool. Jack was towering over him now.
"Really?" Jack said, in mock surprise. "You know I could take you down, and have your delicate little wrists tied to your pretty little ankles before you knew what had happened? Get a knife from the kitchen and cut those cute Teal'c presents right off of you? I could do whatever I wanted. Shove my fist up your ass. Shove my naked dick in your cunt and give you a belly. What would stop me?"
Daniel casually leaned forward and set his empty bottle on the coffee table. He didn't want Jack to see that his hands were shaking now. Jack was obviously more drunk than Daniel would have guessed. And Jack could do the things he was describing. And Jack didn't use words like cunt. For the briefest moment, Daniel wondered if Jack was right and he should have left with Teal'c and Sam. Then he felt a certain shame at his own reaction. He trusted Jack, and Jack was trustworthy.
"You mean aside from the fact that tomorrow Teal'c would rip the still beating heart from your chest and present it to me as a token of his affections before your dying eyes?" Daniel said, as lightly as he could manage. "You're not going to scare me off by talking like that, Jack. I know you. I just don't get why you're so determined to piss me off and make me leave."
Jack seemed to deflate. The change was so sudden that Daniel almost moved to catch him. He looked like he might fall down right where he stood.
"True enough. About Teal'c, I mean." He half smiled, half grimaced.
He flopped down next to him, bouncing the cushions and sitting inside Daniel's personal space. Daniel's heart was tripping. He was having trouble shaking the mental image of Jack pumping into his helplessly bound body. Jack was pressed up against his side, and his hand had fallen on Daniel's knee. Almost immediately his always restless fingers began moving against Daniel's skin, tracing abstract patterns on sensitive flesh.
"You're supposed to be the most brilliant, arrogant, self-righteous, smug, lucky bastard I've ever had the pleasure and privilege of calling my friend," Jack said.
"You are not supposed to be tiny and sweet-faced and pretty with soft hands and silky thighs." Even as he said it, his fingers were stroking delicately.
Staring at that hand, moving so carefully, Daniel's brain was melting.
"Why can't I be both?" he finally whispered.
Jack barked a humorless laugh. He flattened his hand over Daniel's thigh at the same time he twisted so they were face to face, his palm now moving possessively up Daniel's bare leg, his chest pressing Daniel back into the corner of the couch.
"It can't be both because we have too much history, Daniel," he said, the hot breath of his words seeming to steal the air from Daniel's lungs. Daniel told himself firmly this was what he had wanted. He had wanted to seduce Jack, and it was working. But it wasn't anything like he had imagined. He whimpered when Jack's hand slipped up under the hem of his shorts and fingertips brushed against the damp crotch of his panties.
"Right now, all I want to do is stick my cock in every hole you've got, then put you to bed and bring you French toast in the morning." Jack's lips descended on Daniel's neck and Daniel hissed at the unexpectedly delicious feeling of Jack's slight stubble and the light touch of his teeth.
"That sounds fine to me," Daniel groaned. "And I don't see why that means I can't be both."
Jack was moving them, tugging Daniel under them so that he was crushed down on his back, Jack's weight on top of him. Jack rearranged his hand, pushing up the thin fabric of Daniel's shirt and slipping his hand down over Daniel's belly, under his waistband, until he was cupping Daniel's crotch, his fingers moving cleverly, making Daniel gasp and squirm.
"You can't be both," Jack said with certainty, and he pressed down strongly with his hips, so that the ridge of his erection was hot, high up on Daniel's bare thigh.
"All that history and all this wanting you is feeling a while lot like love to me. And you can't be both," Jack said. "I just don't see how you could be both," he whispered, and then Jack kissed him, tasting like beer and apple pie and salt, where his tears slipped between their lips.
"How can you be Daniel anymore, if I want to do this with you?"
This story has multiple endings:
Ending A
Adjustments, Part A1
Adjustments, Part A2
This ending is WIP.
Ending B
Adjustments, B1
Adjustments, B2
The B story line is complete.
If you're interested, all my stories, in order, from one page. Also, my fiction recommendations.
Author:
muck_a_luck, posting in brainofckPairing: Daniel Jackson/Jack O'Neill
Rating: PG for most parts, NC-17 eventually
Summary: This story is a close cousin of Metamorphosis, except in this story, Daniel really has changed into a woman.
Content/warnings: Het content.
Disclaimer: If anybody is planning a script like this for SG-1, I'm certainly not going to claim any rights to it. However, I'd be delighted to work in a co-writing/consulting/first-reader/advisory-type capacity, with my fee to be negotiated at that time. :D
Archive rights: Absolutely none. My journals only.
muck_a_luck and brainofckThe Matrix: She. The Matrix is located here.
For my loyal
rugbytacklers, I have done a Stargate crash course located here.Adjustments, Part 1
Adjustments, Part 2
Adjustments, Part 3
Adjustments, Part 4
Adjustments, Part 5
Adjustments, Part 6
"Daniel! Oh my God! You wore girl clothes!"
He felt himself blush furiously and hated the little hesitation he felt in his own stride. He wanted people to notice, after all. That was the whole point of wearing the clothes to begin with.
Trust Cassie to announce his arrival to the crowd, though. He had just enough time to scan the yard and see that every eye was on him, before the girl barreled into him and he was being squeezed breathless by a child who really ought to still be child-sized, but now was almost exactly his own height. He returned the hug gratefully and kissed her cheek. It saved him from having to acknowledge anyone else in the yard for a few minutes.
Then Cassie grabbed him by the hand and dragged him across the yard.
"Cassie!" he protested, holding up the grocery bags in his other hand, but it was too late. With a final tug of Cassie's hand, he was standing before a jury of his peers. Sam, Janet, a couple of wives whose names he should know but didn't, Sergeant Jenkins, the only nurse who could draw blood from his arm without his veins collapsing. They were all eyeing him appraisingly. He waited for them to challenge him. Ask him what the hell he thought he was doing. He stood there in the warm spring sunshine and waited for the condemnation.
"Well, it's about time!" Janet said with a warm smile. Strangely, at this picnic being hosted by a single man, it was Janet and not Sam who seemed to be playing hostess.
"Gloria!" Janet called to a girl about Cassie's age sitting with a woman Daniel didn't recognize at the end of the table. Probably her mother. "Take Dani's bags into the kitchen." Janet peered inside and laughed. "You can tell Jack that as usual Dani brought the only decent beer at this party."
The girl smiled delightedly, snatched up the bags and proceeded to bounce across the yard.
Cassie rolled her eyes in annoyance.
"She has such a crush on Jack," Cassie said in disgust, though Daniel wasn't sure that he didn't see a little spark of jealousy under there. Cassie turned around to look at him again.
"You look great! But now you need to do something with your hair.
Daniel blushed again.
"You went shopping without me," Sam said accusingly.
He had. He had gone and gotten himself a pair of denim shorts that looked adorable with the simple camisole. But otherwise he'd just put on the Birks he wore around the house, rather than his usual day hikers. Looking at himself in the mirror this morning, he hadn't been neutral anymore. He was all bare arms, bare shoulders, bare legs and thighs and feet. He had almost chickened out. But today was not about hiding or being neutral. Today was his first day as a native, and he was not going to lose his nerve now.
Still. No sense starting off with one of the most important emissaries of his new culture angry with him.
"It was Teal'c's fault," Daniel said defensively, not hesitating to place blame where blame was due. "He bought me the top."
Sam spluttered into her bottle. It seemed the entire knot of women was drinking wine coolers. Very Berry seemed to be the flavor of choice. As all of his good beer had been sent to the kitchen, he flopped down next to Janet on the grass and reached back to fish around in the mini cooler for another bottle. Cassie sat behind him and immediately began stroking her fingers through his hair. Gloria came back and sat next to her.
"Teal'c?!" Sam asked.
"I'm guessing mail-order," Daniel said. "He does have a computer with an internet connection, after all."
Sam snickered.
"He also sits around my lab looking at all my junk mail," she confided. "Then the Colonel comes in hoping for a chance to filch my Victoria's Secret catalog and it's not there. It makes him very cranky."
The girls behind him giggled, particularly Gloria.
They tugged and pulled at his hair. He didn't even want to know what they were doing to it, but he gathered they were putting in cornrows.
"He'll be so pleased, then," Daniel said with a chuckle. "I put him down on their mailing list while I when there last night." More giggles from Gloria.
"They are having the best sale on panties right now!" said Sgt. Jenkins. The whole group descended into a round of small talk about underwear and bras. Apparently this was a topic that could open up communication, crossing boundaries between civilian and military, the medically trained and those who were not. It didn't require any security clearance.
Daniel leaned back on his arms and enjoyed the sun on his skin and the soothing tug of the girls braiding his hair. He finished off his first bottle, then his second, and listened attentively to all the things he ever might want to know about panties.
The sound of Jack's voice booming across the yard brought made him open his eyes. The group of women went quiet, with a storm of giggles from the two girls behind him and he was sure a few stifled chuckles from Sam and Janet, as well.
"So, ladies!" he called, striding over to them. "Who's eating what?" Then he let his eyes fall to Daniel and he adopted an expression of mock horror. Daniel felt a small, unexpected thrill of fear as Jack's eyes flickered over his bare legs. Then he was fully focused on the young women behind him.
"WHAT are you people doing to Dan-" Jack stumbled over what to call him and Daniel realized that after all these months they hadn't clued Jack in on the cover name."- my archaeologist's hair?!"
More giggles. Accompanied by excited tugging on his new braids.
"Ow," he muttered, then just followed the tugging and slumped back onto the two girls behind him. After much wiggling and squirming, he found himself on the ground staring up at the sky.
"Just stop that right now! Fix it!"
Then the mock scolding was over and Jack had turned his attention to rattling off the dinner options to Nurse Jenkins. Cassie was rolling her eyes at her honorary uncle. Gloria was bright-eyed and giddy from the attention.
"Well?!" suddenly Jack loomed into his vision.
"Uh?" Daniel responded intelligently. Jack looked about fifty feet tall from this position.
"Steak!" shouted Cassie.
"Good girl, that's the spirit!" Jack approved. "Gloria?"
"Me, too, steak!" Gloria agreed. Now both Cassie and Daniel were rolling their eyes.
"Excellent!" Jack rubbed his hands with all the glee of Mr. Burns hatching an evil and devious scheme.
Jack was finally looking at him again, and again stuck on what to call him. Janet stepped in.
"Dani? Chicken, hot dog, burger, or steak?" Janet prompted.
Daniel smirked to himself. He knew the right answer to this question.
"Chicken," he said, pushing himself up onto his elbows and smiling sweetly.
"Traitor!" Jack howled. Gloria could barely contain herself.
"So that comes to," Jack said, turning and eyeing the circle warily. "Chicken, chicken, chicken, chicken, chicken, chicken, steak, steak, and..." he paused for dramatic effect, "chicken." He sighed. "You are such a girl Danny," he finished. That got giggles from Sam, Janet, and Cassie. Daniel got the impression that Gloria might be pouting.
Jack pointed at his two hair stylists.
"You two. Make with the hair."
From the way Gloria was pulling the braids out, Daniel was very sure she was pouting now.
Then Jack was sauntering off, responding to hungry jeers from the poker table with "You ladies have to wait 'til I've taken care of those ladies!"
Freed from his duties as the entertainment for Cassie and Gloria, Daniel picked out a fourth bottle from the cooler – something peach calling itself Sex On the Beach.
"I should say hello to people," he said to Sam, who smirked back at him.
"What?" he asked. She was looking at his hair. He reached up to touch it. It was standing out from his head and felt kind of fluffy and kinky.
"You should get a perm," Cassie commented. "Or maybe we should just get you some hot sticks. Your hair takes curl really well." Daniel had no idea what to say to this, but Janet and Sam were collapsing on themselves laughing.
"Oh, yeah, sorry. I should have warned you," Daniel choked to Cassie and Gloria. If there was one thing his work with the SGC had taught him, it was how to bullshit your way out of a tricky situation.
"I had no idea Jack was dating!" said one of the women Daniel barely recognized. He realized with a certain amount of guilt that she was Ferretti's fiancé.
Nurse Jenkins nodded seriously in agreement, a teasing smile lurking in her dark eyes. She had been one of the hearts broken when Daniel originally cut his hair, as revealed by Sam in one of their adjustment sessions.
"It's about time," she said heartily.
"Sorry?" he asked. Then he understood. "Oh! No! I work on Jack's team, up at the mountain!"
"Really?" replied Ferretti's girlfriend. Daniel was starting to feel very annoyed with himself that he had let himself be dragged around by Cassie without making the rounds and getting introductions first. "What's an archaeologist do on a deep space radio telemetry project?"
Sam leaped in.
"Dani works with us because of her other specialty. She's got a PhD in linguistics. Anything really good or juicy comes in – she works it over, looking for signs of language or intelligent communication."
Ferretti's girlfriend looked first at Daniel, then her eyes cutting over to where Ferretti was playing poker with the boys. She was obviously the jealous type, and Daniel was setting her off. He wondered what a guy like Ferretti, who spent days, sometimes weeks away, told his fiancé about his absences.
Suddenly, Daniel needed a moment away from the tribe.
"I'm gonna go say 'hey' to Teal'c and Kowalski," he said more or less to everyone, and headed for the two men, sitting in lawn chairs in a shady spot, watching the poker table.
"So? What do you think?" he asked Teal'c. He gave a little twirl to show it all off. The spin left him a bit dizzy, and he flopped on the grass at their feet. A wine cooler too many, then? He took a long swallow of his Sex on the Beach in defiance of his lowered tolerances.
Teal'c gave him a pleased smile and nod of approval.
"I think the season becomes you, DanielJackson," he murmured.
The compliment flustered him, and had him blushing right down to the tips of his sandaled toes.
"And I think if you're not careful you're gonna get a reputation as the slut of the SGC," Kowalski snorted. "We've got some weird dynamics going on. Anna looks like she's ready to rip your head off. Jack looks like he might be thinking the same thing about me and Teal'c. Well, me at least."
Anna! That was the fiancé's name.
Daniel picked himself up from the grass again.
"If Anna's that type of woman, she and Ferretti are never going to last," Daniel said, not a little sadly. "I never even mentioned his name. Does he have a clue?"
Kowalski grinned. "He thinks it's adorable."
Daniel shrugged. "Well, speaking of Jack, it's time to go say 'hello' to our host."
Jack had just taken the chair for a quick hand at the poker table, leaving the chicken under the watchful eye of General Hammond.
Daniel walked over to the table, taking a quick inventory of the hands of the players. Dixon had a good hand. Pierce did, too. Mr. Nurse Jenkins had nothing. Ferretti looked to be the real winner. When he finally circled around behind Jack, he had to grin. Jack's hand was worse than Jenkins'.
"Hey! Jackson! No cheating!" objected Pierce with a good-natured grumble.
"Ya? Nikogda!" Daniel protested in amusement. Ferretti and Dixon were eyeing him suspiciously. Daniel rolled his eyes.
"Hey, guys. My Russki extends to da, nyet, spacibo and do svedania," said Jack. "Oh. And 'Ya amerikanskii spi.' Couldn't get through any Air Force language program in the '80's without learning that little gem."
"Besides, all she said was that she would never cheat," Jenkins commented, bemusedly eyeing the rest of the group, obviously not able to see what they found so suspicious about Daniel's presence.
Daniel couldn't get over how jarring it was for someone to call him "she." Nobody ever did that. Not a single person in the entire SGC.
He shook his head and smiled to himself. Today he wanted to be "she" and "her". Today was his first day as a native, right?
Daniel wanted to cheat, just because it was fun. He knew they were all watching him. He let the grin slip out again, just a flicker, before putting on his best concerned and thoughtful expression, complete with worry lines. They all caught it.
Dixon huffed in disgust and folded. "I'm out," he said.
Jenkins laughed and did the same, Pierce following him immediately.
"Hey!" Jack protested. "I just sat down for one hand. You guys not even gonna make this interesting?!" Jack craned around to look up at Daniel who just shrugged and put on his most confused face. He certainly didn't know anything. Jack's eyes narrowed suspiciously. Ferretti was looking back and forth, first at Daniel, then at Jack. Daniel gave him big innocent eyes. He growled and threw in his cards, muttering "Damn SG-1," and getting a snort from Pierce and Dixon.
Jack just shook his head in confusion and showed his cards.
"Read 'em and weep, gentlemen," he said laughing. He stood up from the table, pocketing his winnings of two dollars in change and turned to tower over Daniel. "I don't know what you did…" he said menacingly, tapping Daniel on the chest. For a moment Daniel's heart stopped, and he fought the reflex to look to Teal'c for help. Then Jack broke out into a huge grin. "…but good work!" he crowed, throwing his arm around Daniel's shoulders and dragging him over to the grill, where General Hammond was applying a last basting of barbecue sauce to the chicken before serving it out onto paper plates.
"Colonel?" the General asked, pointedly noting Jack's warm arm around Daniel's shoulder. Almost in defiance of his commanding officer's obvious disapproval, Jack bent to plant an affectionate kiss deep in Daniel's fluffed out hair, taking a deep breath of him before finally stepping back and letting him go. It took a fair amount of concentration and self-control on Daniel's part not to stumble. He carefully leaned against the railing of the deck, and had a really long drink from his bottle.
"Just something for Anna to see," Jack said softly, smiling delightedly at Daniel, as if he'd never been happier. "She looks like she'd like to tear his hair out, and as much fun as a catfight can be, it's not very classy for the neighbors to see one in your own yard."
"Yeah, well, I have to go back over there and sit with Gloria in a minute. Thanks a lot," Daniel said, pleased he didn't sound as breathless as he felt.
"So go sit with Teal'c. He'll protect you from the jealous twelve-year-old threat," Jack suggested, but Daniel was amused to see that he actually blushed. Daniel laughed. Though it came out sounding disturbingly like a giggle.
"Sounds like you've had a few too many wine coolers there, Daniel," Jack said. The smile was still there, and so was the blush, but Daniel met his eyes, and suddenly he knew the moment had passed. Jack turned back to the poker table and the men sitting on the lawn.
"Now how about you ladies? And Teal'c of course…"
Daniel sighed and didn't listen to the rest of the manly banter, just went to pick up a plate of chicken and take some potato salad from the table. The other women took their cue from him, getting up to come over and fill their plates. Gloria was sulking, and Cassie walked away from her in a huff and joined her mother.
Daniel didn’t feel like mixing with any of them. He stood leaning against the deck farthest from where Jack and Ferretti were now sniping at each other over the grill. General Hammond came over to stand next to him.
"I'm sorry this has been so hard for the two of you, son," he said very quietly, turned away from the activity on the deck, watching his granddaughters playing on the lawn. "I've thought about just moving you off SG-1 more than once, but then I couldn't imagine doing that. And I couldn't imagine moving Jack either. So I've left you two together, hoping you would find a way through the impasse. You always have before. Did I make a mistake?"
Daniel sighed and shook his head.
"I've thought about just quitting the program altogether, actually," he replied. Hammond twisted his head quickly, looking alarmed. "But I couldn't stand the thought of life on the outside after all this time and all the…" he gestured vaguely at himself. He grimaced.
"Well, for what it's worth, Dr. Jackson, I'm glad you decided to stay with us. And I think you're doing the right thing today, however Colonel O'Neill is reacting. Things have changed, and they don't look like they're changing back anytime soon. Might as well make the adjustment."
He looked at Daniel with a fond smile.
"You look lovely, if you don't mind my saying so. It's no wonder Anna's jealous." Then to Daniel's complete mortification, the General leaned over and placed a gentle grandfatherly kiss on his forehead. Then he picked up his plate and made his way out onto the lawn again to tell his granddaughters they had to give up on the horseshoes and get something to eat.
Daniel almost left.
Jack's little burst of, well, whatever that was. Anna's eyes following him around the yard. The residual flush of Teal'c's courtly compliment. General Hammond kissing him.
He almost gave it up.
But the whole point of the exercise had been to see if he could help Jack to see him differently. And to be fair, the results had been exactly what he wanted. This afternoon, at this picnic, he was Dani Jackson. He was she. Him was her. It was difficult and upsetting, and Daniel felt a little of that panic he used to feel back at the beginning, but he knew he could handle it, if he just held on and kept his eyes on the goal. And he thought at least now he had a better goal. It wasn't just to find a way to endure the bizarre unexpectedness of changing sexes. This time his goal was Jack. If he could achieve it, that goal was worth a lot of gentle forehead kisses from George Hammond.
So he didn't leave.
He finally went and sat directly between Sam and Janet, 'til the acquaintances headed home, until the General had to get his granddaughters off to bed, until Anna finally dragged Ferretti away from Jack and Kowalski and the poker table. And then Kowalski left, and Cassie had to get home to finish up some homework, and Sam drove Teal'c back to the base, and it was just him and Jack, cleaning up the last of the debris from the yard and putting the leftovers in the fridge.
They were standing on the cleared deck, watching the fireflies come out. Jack was drinking Daniel's good beer, as it was all that was left. Daniel had the last Very Berry wine cooler.
"I wish you hadn't worn that," Jack said quietly.
"Teal'c bought it. He thought it would be a push in the right direction."
"Teal'c?!" he choked out. There was a long pause.
"And what direction, exactly?" he asked darkly.
"He said, 'The situation is intolerable, DanielJackson,' and actually, I agreed with him."
"So, what? The situation is remedied when the two of you go shopping? You should have to answer to Carter for acting like a couple of girls," Jack sneered.
Daniel shrugged. He hugged himself against Jack's anger. He regretted the shorts now, for the hundredth time that afternoon. He felt too exposed.
"The thought was that I had to be willing to adjust. I needed to show you that I know who I am. That I'm not fighting this anymore."
Jack turned and looked at him. Daniel could see that he was confused, as well as angry.
"You're not supposed to be - this," Jack said haltingly. Daniel saw Jack's eyes linger on his bare arms, wander down over his hips and legs then drift away. Daniel's cheeks felt warm. Despite Jack's hostility, Daniel felt himself tingling in his fingers, his breasts, his thighs, just from the caress of Jack's eyes over his body. Suddenly, it was time to sit. His knees felt weak. He turned and walked back into the house. Gave in to weakness and huddled down into the arm of the couch.
Jack followed him in. Looking at him, Daniel thought Teal'c was wrong. This was just making Jack more defensive, more angry. Daniel trying to be the woman he could be was just making Jack hate him.
"I can't believe you've done this again," Jack growled.
"What, exactly," Daniel asked tiredly.
"Set yourself up to be alone with me. Not the slightest bit worried or alert. You're half drunk and dressed..." he didn't look, this time, just gestured.
"Dressed?" Daniel asked with raised eyebrows. Jack just gave him a dirty look. Daniel sighed in exasperation.
"Women don't spend all their time terrified of their male friends, Jack. Sam wouldn't be worried about staying to help you clean up. Janet wouldn't be afraid to be alone with you."
"Yeah, but I can keep my hands off them, can't I? One afternoon watching you parade around my backyard in that outfit, and I'm sniffing you right in front of the General. And you don't see any reason to be worried about being alone with me?"
"Nope," said Daniel, with more confidence than he felt at the moment.
"You know the things I could do with that body of yours?" Jack was practically snarling.
"Yeah, Jack, I've got a pretty good idea. I've been on your end of these kind of situations before."
Daniel manged to keep his voice level, even cool. Jack was towering over him now.
"Really?" Jack said, in mock surprise. "You know I could take you down, and have your delicate little wrists tied to your pretty little ankles before you knew what had happened? Get a knife from the kitchen and cut those cute Teal'c presents right off of you? I could do whatever I wanted. Shove my fist up your ass. Shove my naked dick in your cunt and give you a belly. What would stop me?"
Daniel casually leaned forward and set his empty bottle on the coffee table. He didn't want Jack to see that his hands were shaking now. Jack was obviously more drunk than Daniel would have guessed. And Jack could do the things he was describing. And Jack didn't use words like cunt. For the briefest moment, Daniel wondered if Jack was right and he should have left with Teal'c and Sam. Then he felt a certain shame at his own reaction. He trusted Jack, and Jack was trustworthy.
"You mean aside from the fact that tomorrow Teal'c would rip the still beating heart from your chest and present it to me as a token of his affections before your dying eyes?" Daniel said, as lightly as he could manage. "You're not going to scare me off by talking like that, Jack. I know you. I just don't get why you're so determined to piss me off and make me leave."
Jack seemed to deflate. The change was so sudden that Daniel almost moved to catch him. He looked like he might fall down right where he stood.
"True enough. About Teal'c, I mean." He half smiled, half grimaced.
He flopped down next to him, bouncing the cushions and sitting inside Daniel's personal space. Daniel's heart was tripping. He was having trouble shaking the mental image of Jack pumping into his helplessly bound body. Jack was pressed up against his side, and his hand had fallen on Daniel's knee. Almost immediately his always restless fingers began moving against Daniel's skin, tracing abstract patterns on sensitive flesh.
"You're supposed to be the most brilliant, arrogant, self-righteous, smug, lucky bastard I've ever had the pleasure and privilege of calling my friend," Jack said.
"You are not supposed to be tiny and sweet-faced and pretty with soft hands and silky thighs." Even as he said it, his fingers were stroking delicately.
Staring at that hand, moving so carefully, Daniel's brain was melting.
"Why can't I be both?" he finally whispered.
Jack barked a humorless laugh. He flattened his hand over Daniel's thigh at the same time he twisted so they were face to face, his palm now moving possessively up Daniel's bare leg, his chest pressing Daniel back into the corner of the couch.
"It can't be both because we have too much history, Daniel," he said, the hot breath of his words seeming to steal the air from Daniel's lungs. Daniel told himself firmly this was what he had wanted. He had wanted to seduce Jack, and it was working. But it wasn't anything like he had imagined. He whimpered when Jack's hand slipped up under the hem of his shorts and fingertips brushed against the damp crotch of his panties.
"Right now, all I want to do is stick my cock in every hole you've got, then put you to bed and bring you French toast in the morning." Jack's lips descended on Daniel's neck and Daniel hissed at the unexpectedly delicious feeling of Jack's slight stubble and the light touch of his teeth.
"That sounds fine to me," Daniel groaned. "And I don't see why that means I can't be both."
Jack was moving them, tugging Daniel under them so that he was crushed down on his back, Jack's weight on top of him. Jack rearranged his hand, pushing up the thin fabric of Daniel's shirt and slipping his hand down over Daniel's belly, under his waistband, until he was cupping Daniel's crotch, his fingers moving cleverly, making Daniel gasp and squirm.
"You can't be both," Jack said with certainty, and he pressed down strongly with his hips, so that the ridge of his erection was hot, high up on Daniel's bare thigh.
"All that history and all this wanting you is feeling a while lot like love to me. And you can't be both," Jack said. "I just don't see how you could be both," he whispered, and then Jack kissed him, tasting like beer and apple pie and salt, where his tears slipped between their lips.
"How can you be Daniel anymore, if I want to do this with you?"
This story has multiple endings:
Ending A
Adjustments, Part A1
Adjustments, Part A2
This ending is WIP.
Ending B
Adjustments, B1
Adjustments, B2
The B story line is complete.
If you're interested, all my stories, in order, from one page. Also, my fiction recommendations.
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Date: 2006-03-23 09:43 pm (UTC)But, yeah, I can totally understand there being issues for Jack. He has problems with weird in the first place.