Living in Today (the Waiting for Tomorrow Remix) (Stargate: SG-1; Jack/Daniel, PG)

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Title: Living in Today (the Waiting for Tomorrow Remix)
Author: raisintorte
Summary: Even with all of the technology they had, nothing replaced a simple phone call.
Pairing: Jack/Daniel
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1,332
Fandom: Stargate: SG-1
Spoilers: Through Babylon.
Title, Author and URL of original story: Two Thousand Miles and a Phone Call Away by melayneseahawk.
A/N: Thanks to smittywing and wojelah for betaing. Thanks for omglawdork for cheerleading!



Jack snagged a beer from fridge and popped the top as he walked into the living room to see if there was anything good on TV. If SG-1 was off-world, at this point in the evening he'd be taking his beer and a nice good book or maybe some paperwork into bed and settling in for the evening. Jack had grown into a bit of a fuddy duddy now that he lived alone, halfway across the country from his friends, so there was no reason not to get into bed at 8:00 p.m. and fall asleep reading a good book (or a particularly scintillating mission report) - but with SG-1 on Earth, he knew at some point, if he could, Daniel would call. He did every night they were earth-side. And as much as Jack was enjoying his sojourn in Washington, he loved hearing tales of SG-1 (and Daniel).

Anyway, tonight was an on-Earth night, so he was at least going to make the effort to try and stay up so the phone wouldn't jolt him out of sleep. Jack flipped around on the tv looking for hockey, or the Simpsons, or something that wasn't about a bunch of teenagers who needed far more parental supervision than they got (and yes, he totally was a cranky old man now) and finally settled on a rerun of Joan of Arcadia, a fine show that had a hot mom and plenty of parental supervision.

---

"Because I ain't no hollaback girl, I ain't no hollaback girl." Jack jolted out of a light sleep as the phone sitting on his chest started vibrating and signing at the same time. He hated the stupid pop song Teal'c had set as his ring tone for Daniel, but he couldn't figure out how to change it and Sam and Daniel weren't helping. They both thought it was hilarious.

"Hello," he said, trying not to sound too groggy.

"Jack!" Daniel said with his usual cheerfulness. Jack could hear him futzing around in the background - it sounded like he was cleaning something up.

"Evening, Daniel. How goes it?" Jack sat up in his recliner and took a swig of his now-warm beer to get the taste of sleep out of his mouth. He glanced at his clock and saw it was a little past midnight - an early night for Daniel.

"Sam tried to blow herself up again today. Don't ask me what she was doing, but she singed the tips off her hair again. " Daniel paused and Jack could hear him closing the lid of his washing machine. "She says her hairdresser hates her, which, well, yeah. But then again Teal'c and I have been saying for years she needs someone who can handle her . . . special circumstances."

Jack chuckled as he pictured Sam with singed hair - it wasn't that hard to get the image and he'd seen it more times than he could count in person. Her hair was longer now, but Sam with singed hair always made him smile - she never did more than burn the tips, so they could all have a chuckle. "Remember that time she did that off-world and the natives flipped about sacred hair vessels or some crap like that, so she let Teal'c cut it?" Jack grinned as he remembered the final product and Daniel's bark of laughter came through the phone line loud and clear.

"Yes, and she ended up with an almost reverse mullet!" Daniel's voice was full of laughter and Jack could just picture him as he spoke. "General Hammond didn't know what to make of us when we came back through the gate. I thought he was going to keel over when Teal'c announced he was going to leave the SGC to become a hair stylist after the 'fun he had had styling Major Carter's hair.' I'm surprised anyone in the gateroom kept a straight face - Sam certainly didn't."

Jack shook his head and laughed. "Yeah, Hammond certainly perfected the 'don't wanna know, just glad you are safe look.' Speaking of safety - how's Mitchell doing?" Jack got up from his chair, stacking a few of his magazines before he made his way to the bedroom.

"Doing well, but he's about as good of patient as you were. From what Carolyn says, and what I've seen from my visits, he's chomping at the bit to get back through the gate."

"Of course he is - also, I would like to point out that I was an excellent patient!" Jack said indignantly as he stripped off his pants and got under the covers.

"Ha! You made the rest of us look like perfect little angels! I think the only worse patient than you was Vala." Daniel went silent and Jack could tell he was thinking about Vala and probably wondering for the millionth time if there was anything they could have done differently.

"Have you guys heard anything?" Jack knew they hadn't, but he asked anyway. No matter how much they had all complained about Vala, he knew she had grown on them and losing someone was never easy. And the sacrifice she'd made for them - well, that made her a hero in Jack's eyes.

"No, but Sam thinks there was a chance." Daniel sounded skeptical, but Jack knew Sam's words had given him hope. And with what they did every day - hope was a good thing. Jack wasn't counting Vala out just yet - from all he had read, she was a resourceful woman and it certainly wouldn't be the first time one of them had resurrected themselves. (But Jack hated to think about that, because it was usually Daniel doing the dying.)

They drifted into silence for a while - Jack could hear Daniel eating. He wasn't going to comment on the fact that he was pretty sure that whatever canned food product Daniel was slurping down at 12:30 in the morning was probably the first thing he had eaten in hours and probably had no nutritional value.

"So, are you going to be heading off-world anytime soon?" While Jack always knew who was going where with whom, with SG-1 grounded, he knew people would be chomping at the bit to get Daniel, or Sam, or Teal'c to go with them off-world - so there were always changes to the rosters, some of which he didn't learn about until after the fact.

"Reynolds asked me to go with him to PX3-495 next week - they're checking out some wacky Ancient device and want me along in case it's actually there."

"Watch your six." Jack said gruffly. Even though he hadn't been on active gate team with Daniel for years, he still didn't like the idea of anyone going out there with his people except him.

"I will." Daniel yawned deeply. "I should go, I have a full day tomorrow. I'm going through what I'm pretty sure are shards of ancient pottery but might also be the secret to the gate system - I haven't sorted it out yet. Anything you want me to pass along to anyone?"
.
"Nah. Just send me any pictures you may have of singed Sam. Never know when I might need a laugh." Jack paused for a second. He always hated this part. "Miss you." He said quietly as he leaned back in bed and closed his eyes, picturing Daniel halfway across the country, tidying up before bed. He could hear him brushing his teeth in the background.

"Miss you too, Jack." Daniel said softly. Neither of them liked to say goodbye, so Jack stayed on for a moment longer, enjoying the simple connection to Daniel before he snapped his phone shut and set it on the nightstand. One of these days he was going to finally retire and then he going to head home, where he could say goodnight in person.

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