Rating: PG 
Pairing: Jack/Daniel (main pairing), Jack/Sam, Daniel/Paul Davis 
Category: A/U, Angst 
Date: April 22, 2003 

Disclaimer: The characters and situations of Stargate: SG-1 belong to MGM and lots of other people. I make no claim of ownership and I make no money from this. 

Notes: I would love feedback. 
Warnings: No sex in this one. Sorry. 
Summary: The one where Jack and Daniel come clean.

Daniel sat back in the restaurant chair, swirling his glass of wine idly, watching his lover of five years flag down a waiter. Paul looked incredible tonight, dressed in a dark charcoal gray suit that somehow brought out the green in his eyes. And those eyes were soft as they sought out Daniel from across the table. 

He swallowed hard, feeling so much like he was being ogled, like Paul couldn't wait to take him home and get him naked. They hadn't made love much since Daniel had returned from Minnesota: Paul had been extremely busy organizing the Press Conference, which kept him in Washington, DC. Daniel himself had been loaded with work, finishing up grading finals, and dissertation advising. The entire situation had worked to his advantage; he and Paul hadn't been around each other enough for Paul to notice anything was wrong. 

Now that the press conference was over, they had time for themselves, and Paul had taken immediate advantage, planning this evening out. Daniel stared at his glass, avoiding his lover's intense eyes for the moment. Instead he thought of Paul's latest success. The conference had gone over well, Jack and Sam being lauded as heroes as they stood on the stage, shaking hands with a confident looking Thor. 

Daniel had watched from the crowd, figuratively holding his breath. His deepest nightmares involved Thor blurting out his and Jack's secret to the entire crowd with something along the lines of "I had assumed that you and Daniel Jackson were married from your activities in Minnesota," in a dry metallic voice. Fortunately, Thor kept his comments to the alliance between Earth and the Asgard. 

Paul himself had become something of a media figure. It took all of Daniel's skill to stay out of the limelight. Even though things had changed and Paul having a male lover would have little to no repercussions, he still wanted to hold back, especially if things fell apart between him and Paul. At the moment, he was still not sure what he was going to do. 

The waiter returned, carrying a bottle of champagne, and two glasses. "Thank you," Paul smiled, holding his glass as the young man poured. 

"Celebrating a successful press conference?" Daniel asked, picking up his glass about to take a sip. 

"That, among other things," Paul answered obliquely. "Shall we toast?" 

Daniel held out his glass. "Kampai!" he said, showing off his Japanese. 

Paul chuckled, "I was thinking something more along the lines of `to us and to the future.'" 

Daniel could feel his face flush, the heat rushing to his cheeks. "To us," he repeated, taking a hasty sip of champagne, which slid down his throat awkwardly. 

His lover drank, then placed the glass on the table. "I know I've been distant lately. And I'm sorry, you don't deserve that." 

"Paul." 

"I love you Daniel, you know that. We've been together for five years, and this, this is long overdue." Paul reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a small black box. "Daniel Jackson, will you marry me?" 

The phone shrilled out its incessant whine as Jack pushed the door open, ducking as he entered since he was carrying his son on his shoulder at the time. Sam and Cris ran past them and into the kitchen, presumably to get that phone. Damn thing had sounded funny ever since Christmas. 

Jack set Jake down gently, "Ok, kid. It's good to be home, huh?" 

Jake smiled up at him, and Jack couldn't resist placing a kiss on his forehead. 

Sam entered the room, holding the cordless phone. "Jack? It's Daniel, and he sounds kind of upset." 

"Crap," Jack muttered, moving across the living room to take the receiver from her hand. 

"I'm going to the car to get the rest of the stuff," she called, taking Jake with her. 

Jack was grateful for the privacy, but he still took the phone upstairs with him, heading for the master bedroom. "Daniel?" he asked anxiously, hearing heavy breathing on the other side of the line. Any other time he would crack a joke, but Sam had said Daniel was upset, so he hoped the deep gulping breaths didn't mean that Daniel was crying. 

"J-Jack?" And that beloved voice was so full of anxiety that it caused all of Jack's instincts to go on alert. 

"What happened?" Jack asked, knowing that something bad went down. He sat down on the bed, figuring he wasn't going to like this, not at all. 

"Paul asked me to marry him." 

"Oh, for crying out loud." 

"And, I kinda told him about us." 

Jack closed his eyes and fell back onto his bed, staring up at the ceiling. "Crap." 

"Yeah," Daniel agreed and it sounded like he was swallowing or something, trying to regain his composure. 

"Where are you?" Jack asked suddenly, worried about his illicit lover's state of mind. 

"I'm in my office at the University," Daniel replied miserably. "He told me to get out. I had no place else to go." 

"Oh, Daniel," Jack sighed. "You want to come out here?" 

Daniel hesitated. "That would be a very bad idea, Jack." 

Daniel was right, having him appear suddenly was a very bad idea. Especially since all Jack wanted to do was gather the younger man in his arms and comfort him, stroking that soft hair. Jack wanted to be his rock, much like he had been during their early days at the SGC. 

How would he explain that to Sam, exactly? "Daniel broke up with his boyfriend cause he was cheating on him with me, can we keep him?" God, this was so fucked up. 

"I think, maybe," he said quickly into the phone, "that I should tell her." 

"Jack, don't." 

"It's not right, you getting to make all the sacrifices." 

"I was thinking of breaking it off anyway," Daniel said in a rush. "Before this. When we were in Minnesota. I couldn't deal with lying to him anymore. But when this happened, when he told me to leave, god, that's when I realized how much I still loved him." 

"Daniel," Jack interrupted, "are you thinking of going back to him?"

Daniel laughed, the sound bitter and harsh. "How? By groveling? Swearing I'll never do it again? No, Jack, that, that's not going to work." 

No, it wouldn't and Jack didn't want him debasing himself any more. Jack wanted Daniel to himself, not in the arms of another man. "Fly out here," he said into the phone. 

"Jack." 

"I'm going to tell her." 

"Do you want to lose everything?" 

That hurt, probably because Daniel was right. If he told Sam he was going to lose his family, might never see his kids again.NO, that wouldn't happen, because he wouldn't let it happen. The dream Teal'c was right, Jack couldn't move forward while things were like this, while he wavered over his love for Daniel and Sam, debating on which one he wanted to be with. 

"Daniel, I have to tell her. I wouldn't be right, otherwise. And it's because I owe her an explanation. She deserves to know," he decided. "Then we'll go from there." 

Daniel was quiet on the other end of the line, and Jack strained his ears, hearing some kind of sniffing and licking noises? "Who the hell is licking you?" 

And that surprised a genuine laugh out of Daniel, startling him out of his somber mood. "My dog," he answered. 

"Man's best friend," Jack chuckled, knowing if he didn't laugh, then he was going to cry. 

"I g-guess," Daniel stuttered into the phone, "we're not going to fight over custody of the dog." 

"Ah, Daniel," Jack sighed. "Do you want me to fly out there?" 

"Yes. No. Not yet," Daniel sighed. "I don't know. Are you going to tell her now?" 

"I'll call you right after," he promised. 

"Love you," Daniel whispered. 

"Me too," Jack said just as quietly before clicking off the phone. God Dammit, would his life never stop being complicated? 

Sam appeared in the doorway, crossing her arms. "Is everything all right?" 

Jack shook his head, sitting up. "Not exactly." 

Daniel set the phone down absently as he buried his head in his hands. God, whatever had possessed him to tell Paul? And on tonight of all nights, after Paul had opened up his heart and proposed! Talk about bad timing. 

Indy barked indignantly at his feet, wanting attention as usual. He picked her up and cuddled the soft white dog in his lap. She was all he had left from his ruined relationship with Paul, and it was his own fault. 

When Paul had first taken out that little black box, his breath caught, and for a moment he could not speak, could not react. Before the other man could open it, he reached out and placed his hand over the box, covering it from view. "Paul. I'm sorry, I can't." And now had finally come the time to tell Paul that they should split up because Daniel couldn't go on living this lie. 

Paul merely blinked at him, his eyes cloudy and hurt at the sudden rejection. "Ok," he took a moment to swallow. "Don't take any time to think about it or anything." 

"God, Paul," Daniel closed his eyes, trying to get his bearings. 

Paul took a gulp of his drink, putting the glass down none too gently. "Ok, maybe it's my fault, I haven't been around and I'm sorry." 

"Paul!" Daniel had to stop him, couldn't let his lover go on blaming himself when it was all Daniel's fault. "It's not y-you, it's me, god, I know that sounds horrible.we shouldn't talk about this here. let's go home." He pleaded with his eyes, hoping Paul would agree. 

Nodding, Paul signaled the waiter and soon enough they were on their way. 

Daniel drove, the few sips of champagne he had managed to drink were not enough to impair him. But his mind was clearly elsewhere and his fingers trembled on the steering wheel. They didn't talk on the drive, and Daniel doubted his own resolve all the way home. 

He pulled in behind Paul's car in the driveway. They sat there for a moment not speaking until Daniel turned off the car. Paul slammed his door shut and preceded into the house, not looking at Daniel. Daniel followed slowly, not wanting to do this. He still wasn't sure exactly what he was going to say. There was no way he could explain his early statement, except for coming clean. 

Paul dropped his coat on the couch, then paced aimlessly around the living room. Indy bounded into the room and barked at Daniel's feet. He picked her up and hugged the small dog, taking comfort in her warm presence. 

"Look," Paul began, obviously agitated, "If you're worried about my career, it's not an issue." 

"Paul, you'd be the first openly married gay military man," Daniel argued, "That's not something to take lightly, I mean, living with a man is fine, but no one's tested the new marriage laws.Dammit, that's not what this is about!" He let the dog jump down and then sat heavily on the couch. 

"Then, Daniel, just tell me! I can't think why you'd say no. Don't we have something good here? Something special?" And Paul was kneeling by his side, those green eyes looking so hurt. Daniel couldn't help but reach out and touch Paul's cheek with his fingertips. 

"God, Paul, I'm so sorry." 

"Daniel!" 

"I do love you," he whispered, not willing to continue this without saying that first. 

Paul sat back on his heels, just staring at Daniel, waiting. And that's when he blurted it out, unable to stop himself suddenly. "I've been sleeping with Jack." 

"Jack?" Sam repeated his name, "What's going on?" 

He sat up, wincing at the sudden stress on his back. God, why did he feel so old all of a sudden? Jack set the phone next to him, twirling it around on the bed to avoid looking at his wife. "Are the kids in bed?" 

"Jake is." She sat next to him on the bed, reaching out with one arm, but he pulled away from her. He couldn't do this while in such close proximity to her. "Jack?" 

He stood and made sure the door was closed, didn't want Cris coming in unexpectedly. He leaned his head against it, closing his eyes and gathering his thoughts. "I need to tell you something." 

When Sam moved to stand, he waved her back. "Just sit, trust me, it'll be easier like that." 

"Now you're starting to really worry me," she said sarcastically. They'd been together so long, he thought absently, so much of each other had rubbed off on the other. 

"I've been having an affair," he blurted. 

To his surprise, she laughed. 

"You think that's funny?" he shot back. 

"Jack," she sighed, "You can't be having an affair. You're too busy, taking the kids to school and practice. I've never had to reach you and couldn't find you. I've never smelled another woman's perfume on you. And there's never been any money missing from the household account." 

Scientists, he thought with tender affection. Trust Sam to use logic when faced with a situation like this. He hated to burst her bubble, but he had to do this. It wasn't right, hiding like this. `Teal'c, buddy,' he thought, `you'd better be right, or I'll be joining you shortly!' 

"You're wrong about me not having the opportunity," he said softly, letting her know how serious he was. 

"Jack, the only time you've been away." she paused, "was when you went to Minnesota with Daniel. Who was she, Jack?" 

"Not she," he sighed. "Daniel." 

"What?" 

"Daniel's the one I've been having the affair with." 

And he nearly laughed at the look on her face. But that would have been too cruel, and he bit down the chuckle with a cough. 

"You can't be serious." Sam leapt up from the bed. "It doesn't make any sense!" 

"I'm sorry, Sam," he said tiredly. 

She started at him from across the room and he held her gaze, accepting everything he saw in her eyes. He deserved whatever she decreed; she was the wronged party here. 

However, Sam just appeared confused. "I," she began, and then cleared her throat. "I have to go out. You'll stay with the kids?" 

"Of course," he replied in surprise. She still wanted him with their children? That was a good sign. 

"I don't know when I'll be back." 

He moved to let her out of the way, and for a moment entertained a bit of fear. Jack had thought Sam would toss him out, he couldn't conceive of her leaving him and the children behind. The kids didn't deserve to lose their mother over his stupid actions. "You'll come back?" he called as she was halfway down the hallway. 

She just nodded and kept walking. 

Jack couldn't help the sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. 

Sam didn't know what to think or believe as she slid into her car. She didn't remember putting the keys in the ignition or starting the car, but somehow she made her way onto the main highway. Jack, her Jack, the father of her children was having an affair with Daniel Jackson? The man she had encouraged Jack's friendship with? 

God, a man whom she had once considered a dear friend. The irony of the situation sat up and smacked her on the forehead. 

She hated Daniel right then, feeling the anger well up until she was gripping the steering wheel so hard her fingers were turning white at the knuckles. She shouldn't be driving like this; she needed to stop. 

She needed to talk to someone. That decided, she took the next exit and made her way to Janet's house. 

"Sam?" Janet opened her door, surprised to see one of her closest friends standing in her doorway so late at night. Sam was always considerate, and never dropped by without calling. Something had to be wrong. "Are you ok? I was on the phone." 

Sam brushed past her, her entire demeanor was somehow off, and her body language was stilted and sluggish. "Talking to Dr. Richardson again?" 

It was a common joke between them: Sam would tease her about the long distance relationship she had developed with the handsome surgeon. But Sam's heart apparently wasn't in the teasing, the words carried no weight, just seemed to come out of her mouth automatically. 

Janet closed the door and sighed. "What's wrong Sam?" 

Sam didn't look at her and her voice was muffled as she said, "Jack's been having an affair." 

"Sit down," Janet moved across the room and guided Sam to the couch. "Hold on right there. I'll put some tea on." 

She left Sam for a moment, knowing that this situation needed delicate handling, and some old fashioned home comforts. The herbal tea she pulled from the cabinet was one of Sam's favorites, and would give the younger woman something else to focus on as she spoke. 

When she returned to the living room, Sam was bent over, her hands resting on her knees. "Here," Janet turned over one of the mugs in her hands. 

Sam breathed in the rich cinnamon scent for a moment, then took a long drink. 

"Now," Janet sat next to her with her own drink. "What makes you think Jack is having an affair?" 

"Because he told me." 

"Oh." Well, that certainly put a different spin on things. "Then you're going to have to decide what you're going to do." 

"What do you mean?" Sam looked up from her drink, her eyes looking watery, though there were no tears, not yet. 

"Him telling you has put this situation under your control. Do you want to save this marriage? He's given you that opportunity." 

"Janet." 

"Lots of marriages do move on after an infidelity," she tried to be optimistic, though her own first marriage hadn't. 

"You don't understand," Sam put in earnestly. "He's been sleeping with Daniel Jackson." 

"Ah," she blew out a bit of air, blowing some hair off of her face. So Jack and Daniel had finally given in to the sexual tension around them. They had been fighting it for so long, she had watched it nearly destroy their friendship. Then when Jack married Sam, she thought that settled the question. This, however, changed things. She pondered this, only half hearing Sam's next words. 

"You don't seem surprised." 

"Frankly, I'm surprised that it's taken them so long," she answered without thinking. 

"Janet!" 

God, what had she said? She put down her mug and placed her hand over Sam's arm, trying to apologize. "I'm sorry Sam. I had known Daniel was in love with Jack. I never really thought this would happen though. Jack seemed so, so." 

"Straight? I thought so too. I thought he loved me." Sam looked away. 

"Stop that. Of course he loves you!" Janet wanted to shake some sense into her. "If he didn't love you do you think he'd have told you? He'd just be gone one morning and you'd never know why!" Ok, that was hitting a bit close to home, and she had to pull back her emotions. Jack wasn't Eric. Eric was a bastard and even after 20 years she was amazed she could still hate a man so much. 

Sam stared into her mug, then setting it down with a decisive thump. "What do I do, Janet?" 

"I can't tell you that," she sighed. 

"I'm just so angry," Sam exhaled, "and I can't believe this is happening. It doesn't make any sense." 

"Oh, Sam." Janet pulled her friend into a hug as Sam finally gave in and began to cry. 

Daniel jerked awake, realizing he was falling asleep in his chair. He looked at his watch and was surprised to find he had slept a few hours. It was coming in on 4 am. Jack hadn't called back. It would be only about 1 am on the west coast. 

He couldn't suppress the sinking feeling that Jack wouldn't be calling. He didn't expect Jack to tell Sam, hell, didn't want Jack to tell her. If he became responsible for Jack losing his kids, then Jack would never forgive him. 

And where did that leave Daniel? Alone, again. 

He rested his head on his desk, once again remembering the pained looked on Paul's face after he had blurted out his secret. 

Paul had stood up and backed away from him, his hands curled into fists at his sides. "Get out," he said softly, coldly. 

"Paul, please," Daniel stood and tried to move towards him, but Paul wouldn't let him get close. 

"I trusted you!" he cried, "When you told me it wasn't like that between you and him. And you lied! When did it start Daniel? When you saw him again in DC?" 

Daniel couldn't hide the flinch at those words. He had jumped into bed with Jack at the first opportunity, betrayed his lover's trust with hardly a second thought. "Paul," he struggled to say, seeing his life crumbling before him. This wasn't supposed to happen like this. It wasn't supposed to hurt so much, seeing Paul standing there and hating him. 

"Do you think he's going to leave his wife for you, Daniel?" Paul spat out. "Are you honestly that stupid?" 

"You don't know anything about it!" Daniel shot back. Paul didn't know, didn't understand what he had with Jack. 

Paul sighed, and the anger seemed to drain out of him. "You're right, Daniel, I don't know. Because you chose to deliberately do this behind my back, to throw our relationship out the window." 

"Paul, I'm sorry." 

"Not as sorry as I am, Daniel," Paul turned away and began climbing the stairs. "I'm going to bed." 

"Paul!" 

He stopped in mid step, on hand on the banister. "There's nothing more to talk about Daniel. You've decided already what you want. Just let me know when you're coming back for your things, so I can be elsewhere." 

That brought him here, to his office. He hadn't known what to do, where to go. So he had grabbed his coat from the front closet and when Indy barked at being woken up, he had to take her with him. He didn't care if Paul wanted the dog back; Indy was his. 

The sound of his cell phone ringing woke him out of the half doze he had fallen into again. He scrambled around, looking for his coat, which was where he had secreted the phone. Absently, he wondered why Jack wasn't calling his office phone, but then, Jack had never been good with remembering numbers. 

Finally, his fingers found the hard plastic and he pulled the phone out and snapped it open. "Hello?" he said breathlessly into the mouthpiece. 

"Daniel?" 

"Paul?" 

The sound of the car pulling into the driveway woke Jack up with a start. He looked around, a bit confused before he realized he was half on the couch in the living room. The other half of him was on the floor. He sat up fully, wincing at the pain in his lower back; he really needed to quit doing that. 

Footsteps on the concrete outside caused him to look up. Sam, she was finally back. It was well past 1:00 am. He didn't care, he was just glad she did come back. 

He stood as the door opened, meeting her startled gaze as she entered. "You waited up for me?" she asked softly. 

"Of course," he answered, just as soft. 

"Jack," she began, closing the door behind her and resting against it. "I'm not sure what to say." 

"Say anything," he told her. He wasn't good with this feeling stuff, and he would rather Sam just decide what the hell they were going to do here. He'd feel better if she just laid it all out, so he could go and pack, or whatever. 

She closed her eyes for a moment and when she looked at him again, he could see the tears welling there. God, he felt even more like a heel. 

"Just, tell me one thing," she pleaded, "you, me, this wasn't just because you wanted kids again. You didn't use me for that?" 

"Sam!" he approached her, placing his hands on her shoulders, glad when she didn't flinch away. "What the hell made you think that?" 

She shrugged slightly, but not enough to disengage his hands. "What am I supposed to think? After ten years of marriage suddenly you're sleeping with your very male friend." 

"It was a shock to me too," he said wryly. Then he shook his head. "I love those kids," he told her, "And I love you." 

"But it's not enough." 

He couldn't deny that, and could only wrap his arms around her and hold her. Amazing that she would even let him near her. Maybe she wanted to fix this, forgive him for everything. They would go on tomorrow as they always had. Sam would go to her high profile job, and he would get the kids out of bed and ready for summer camp. She would come home in the evening and he'd have managed to scrounge something up for dinner. Cris would be bouncing up and down, talking about whom she bested in sports during the day and Jake would have a drawing he wanted to show them. They would still be a family tomorrow. 

Where would that leave Daniel? The thought caused him to go cold. 

"It's not enough," he whispered, pulling away from her. 

She gasped, then searched his face, her eyes narrowing for a moment before she nodded. "When should I expect the divorce papers?" 

"Sam?" he cried, not willing to let it go that far, not yet. Realistically, he should have figured this, there was no way he could have Sam and Daniel. 

"Jack." before she could continue, the phone rang, breaking into the rhythm of their conversation. 

"God dammit," he swore. 

Sam scooped up the receiver, which he had left earlier on the couch. "Hello?" 

He wondered who it could be, this late at night. He hoped Daniel hadn't given up and tried calling himself. That could only hurt Sam more right now, to hear the voice of the man her husband was trading her for. 

"Colonel Davis?" she said into the mouthpiece. 

"Son of a bitch!" he shouted. He couldn't believe that Davis would stoop so low as to call up his wife and rat out him and Daniel. The bastard! What right did he have to interfere in something that was so private between Jack and his own wife! 

Sam held up one hand and fixed him with one look. His heart sank; he knew that look. That was the look she had when Cris fell out of her tree house and broke her arm. The same look when she came to tell him that her father was dead. Something serious was going on, and his first thought was of Daniel. 

God, please don't let anything have happened to Daniel, he pleaded mentally. He could think of no other reason that Davis would be calling them, unless something was terribly wrong. 

Sam went on with her conversation, "We can be there tomorrow, I just need time to arrange for child care. . Thank you, that would work fine. I understand . Goodbye Colonel." She hung up the phone. 

"What's up?" he asked, trying to sound nonchalant and failing, he knew. 

"That was Paul Davis." she looked away from him. "There's trouble in Cheyenne Mountain, with the Stargate. We've been recalled." 

"Fuck." 

"And that about sums it up." She turned and began walking towards the stairs. "I suggest you get some sleep. Our flight is at 10. I'll have to see if Janet can look after the kids, unless she's been recalled too, then I'll have to get a babysitter.maybe Cassie?" 

"Sam? What about.?" 

"It will have to wait, Jack," She said, looking down at him from the top of the staircase. "Daniel's coming to Colorado too." 

Great, the four of them would be together again. Awkwardness would abound, he thought grimly. And the world probably needed saving. Again.

End, for now