August 28th 2003 – Daniel’s office, SGC
Daniel was standing by the chalkboard
"Anyway, I think that these symbols here, which could represent – oh, but then that really wouldn’t work cause that would mean… "
Daniel rambled as fast as he could through his sentence, but the emotions were winning. He stopped to regroup and take a deep breath. You can handle this; just keep it together for a little longer. Jack doesn't want to see you lose it.
"Okay,” He took another deep breath. “So I guess... this doesn't matter much." And his voice cracked on those last few words.
Daniel scrunched his face and quickly turned his back in an attempt to hide this momentary loss of control from the person he was currently sharing his office with. Daniel had shared his entire life with Jack. Now Jack was leaving, he had been in a similar position two years ago, and it only hit him ten minutes ago, after returning from the briefing, that what he was feeling now was how Jack must have felt. Empty.
Daniel heard the chair squeak, a sign Jack was standing up and no doubt coming to his aid. He couldn't hold it in any longer, the moment Daniel could sense Jack’s presence next to him he dropped the chalk from his hands and wrapped both arms around Jack’s middle. Jack reciprocated in kind and wrapped his arms around Daniel’s shoulders.
There would be no long drawn out goodbyes for these two. No honor to serve, no speech about how much one meant to the other, no discussion of all the memorable times they’d shared. They were too close for any of that. No words could be said that either one of them didn’t already know by heart.
The only thing left to express was sadness.